One day ,Daisuke was told to meet up with Mortimer at the old log cabin because he had something important to tell .Daisuke was free on that day from the academy so he could go out and thought it would be a good opportunity to introduce Ryousuke to Mortimer .And so they did and decided to go meet Mortimer together .They arrived at the log cabin and Ryousuke was spectalized with the beautiful view and fresh air of the surrounding though Daisuke ruin the mood "This place is nothing special but . . . it holds memories though"

Ryousuke made a sweat drop on his forhead and tried to ruin Daisuke's mood this time "You sound like an old man ,seriously . . ." At this certain point . . . well ,they started argueing with each other once again though they were pretty unaware of their surroundding and made a ruckus outside the log cabin .It sure would be a surprised for Mortimer to suddenly see two Daisuke's fighting with each other though . . .since they are identical and wearing the same clothes as well . . .

Mortimer was suddenly brought out of his work by the loud noises eminating from the two outside. Mortimer stepped back from the wall of string, pictures images and texts. At the very end of it was a picture of Daisuke.Looking almost ignorant of the long past before him. Almost.

Stepping outside Mortimer was rather disconcerted to see Daisukefighting with what appeared to be a clone of himself. Mortimer allowed them to duke it out awhile longer before leaning on the outer railing of the cabin and asking "Daisuke, before we begin, could you PLEASE tell me who this is?" Indicating the Daisuke clone.

After some time of fighting among the twin they saw Mortimer's leg and made a sweat drop that someone saw them fighting together
". . . . . . ." They both then faced upwards to see who was the person and it was Mortimer "Hey . . .?" Ryousuke said since he wasn't sure how Mortimer looked like yet "Oh hey Mortimer" Daisuke just gave out the answer though .Seeing that Mortimer was indication Ryousuke but since Daisuke forgetten to tell him earlier ,he just told him right now . . . "Oh him ,his my brother .Twin brother ,Ryousuke" He said as Ryousuke introduced himself as well "Hi ,I'm Daisuke's twin brother ,Ryousuke .Nice to meet you" He bows down in polite and so did Daisuke just to greet their self .

"ugh" was all he could say as he looked at them. "Well come inside. This affects you as much as it does Daisuke so you better both come inside.[/b]"

Turning Mortimer walked into his cabin, revealing the wall of research to the boys. Stretching across time and worlds the strung together timeline held every shred of information Mortimer could dig up on doppelgangers, transformation and objects turning into other objects. Sitting down in a high backed armchair. and without looking at the twins he asked "What does this tell you?"

They just entered the log cabin and saw the wall of research .They were totally silenced as they stared at the amount of research there were "Errr.....?" They had nothing much they could think about though since there were alot to read then Daisuke remembered he had he could absorb the data of the research but not sure whether Ryousuke knew so they took some time to whisper with each other .

Once both of them knew how to do it ,they scanned the entire research and all the data was already into their mind "Hmm . . .well it sure has alot of data on the doppelgangers as well as their magic . . . It's like ours " Daisuke and Ryousuke said but they couldn't answer much since this was quite a sudden .They were still quite slow to catch up on most of it so they took some time to think

"So basically this is the truth that we never knew" Daisuke said "But why did we not know anything about it ?" Ryousuke added .They started to think really deep into the topic with so many questions in mind but they couldn't ask much though .

Mortimer could tell that they didn't fully understand all of it. It was of course a lot to absorb all at once. Mortimer had spent almost three days asleep in a public library to find all of this... not to mention the ruins he had to raid to get half of this stuff. Regardless he felt an explanation was in order.

"I'll break it down for you two then. Quite simply doppelgangers have existed through centuries, sometimes recognized as such, sometimes ignored. In the original world they spread throughout the world hiding on the fringes of society in secluded orders, their powers passed on through a bloodline. Where this power originally came from I have no idea myself.

Mostly they imitated people in power and used their powers for assassination. This is where the stories about meeting ones doppelganger will lead to your demise.

The powers of the doppelgangers revolved mostly around changing their physical appearance to blend in with society, taking on their roles and obtaining prestige through others work. However much like normal magic, in the old world stories of doppelgangers and their activities have largely disappeared. This is in no way surprising.

However there comes a dramatic shift when we observe the doppelgangers who came to the magic world. These were not content to stay in the fringes. They used their powers of transformation and data manipulation to become regents. Instead of transforming into those in power, they transformed themselves into living weapons. Skin made of steel, hands like knives and muscles stronger than the fiercest animal. Altering their body chemistry some could live for centuries. These are only a few tales of the weaker doppelgangers.

However these acts of transformation and war ended in disaster. Although only the greatest of mages could equal the doppelgangers, a weakness was discovered. Rapid and excessive shifting caused immeasurable strain on the doppelgangers bodies. Transforming for doppelgangers is a very complex process. Organs and tissue have to be reconverted and recombined into different forms of matter and then transformed back so as to avoid lasting damage or death. A fatigued doppelganger could not do this, and with each successive transformation became more sloppy. In a combat situation, this became fatal as the doppelgangers would missallign a vein or expose a kidney to infection, only to die mid-transformation.

Using this to their advantage, those who hunted doppelgangers, slayers some called them, would only have to exhaust a doppelganger in a fight and wait for it to die through its own faulty transformation.

With this, the doppelganger population dwindeled becoming a fraction of a fraction until about three hundred years ago, they were believed to have gone extinct.

But then again you two are living proof that they didn't aren't you? The story of the doppelggangers goes blank until you show up on the doorstep to an orphanage. But seeing your brother here gives me a more interesting possibility.

Now bear wit me here. It is known that doppelgangers could change their form, manipulating their organs to any form they desired into anything they desired. So then, what if this was taken further, to actually produce different beings from a single individual and have them function as such? What if a single doppelganger survived and split himself up into many little parts... infants even, so that the doppelganger population could grow once more? What if, after hundreds of years a single indivdual split himself up and made you and who knows how many others? What would you two say to that?"

[Nice !You had just about the idea I was going to make heh he~ ]

After hearing Mortimer's long story they smiled .Daisuke said "Even if we are able to split into many . . ." and Ryousuke added ". . .Wouldn't their past be a wreck?" They both grinned all of the sudden like another persoanality took place .They suddenly came back to normal thnking "What did we just do?" It was odd that they suddenly said something without thinking .It is true that Dai and Ryou's past was a wreckage and still had to find their Missing Links but currently they are still unable to handle all the obstacles at their current level .That's why they had to train stronger .

Dai and Ryou seemed like they were in a sad mood all of the sudden again "If it were that simple . . . we wouldn't have to suffer the hardship . . . " It was like another person was talking but in their bodies like one "What happened on that day . . . What happened to me . . . Who was I . . . Where was I . . . Who was there . . . Where was there ?" All this rapid number of questions came out of their mouth like they suddenly lost their mind .Their eyes were blank as they went on like they were very confused ,so badly till they fell onto the floor on their knees crying "What's going on . . ." Their souls were possessed like it seems but then their necklase were slightly glowing but just slightly not easily to be noticed .

Mortimer could feel their souls light. It was strange... exactly the same in every way. Normally ,even among identical twins one would find that their morality and thoughts differed from one another. However these two had such a similar frequency. It really could have only meant one thing... they used to be a single entity. An entity Mortimer had no doubt was in fact hundreds of years old who had split itself apart in order to survive some cataclysmic event.

"The big question is, if this eventuality was in fact true, then what would these beings do if they ever came in contact with one another? Would they go their separate ways and continue to live their lives as separate and distinct individuals... or would they find that the crisis that made them split apart in the first place was over and that it would be to their benefit to become one again?"

They both felt sleepy like their head were heavy causing them to fall flat on the floor and passing out .Suddenly ,a magic circle appeared in the middle of both of them with a hologram of a book floating in mid-air .Soon after ,two more magic circles appeared around Daisuke and Ryousuke .This sure was surprising ,the book had a computerized voice "Book Of Azura Contract Imprint : Kousuke" A name was called that was neither Daisuke nor Ryousuke .The name Kousuke was imprinted onto the cover of the book and then the magic circles around Daisuke and Ryousuke disappeared but the book remained at it's same position .A magic circle this time appeared onto Mortimer's head erasing his memories of what had just happened .All living beings that saw what had just happened had their memories erased instantly .Once the process was done ,the book has disappeared into the magic circle and everything seemed to be normal again .

"So do either of you have any questions then?" Mortimer asked, oblivious to his memory being wiped.

Dai and Ryou felt like something just happened but can't remember anything at all due to passing out and memory erasement "So, this is what you had to show us. This is all the data you managed to receive from your research. I don't really have much thing to ask, well not from someone who isn't a doppelganger himself but... what was the reason for our past I wonder" It still has many mystery in this problem but the twins were unable to find out what it is especially with their memory in wreckage "Oh right, have you seen any Missing Links which looks like a shining peice of card or paper if I ain't wrong" Daisuke asked Mortimer as the Missing Links holds their memories of the past but the thing is that, only doppelgangers are able to see them and it's respectful owner is the only one able to retreive it into the memory.

Hmmm no I'm afraid I havn't seen anything like that.... but if I were you... well, one of you two, I'd go and check out the ruins several miles from here. Kagami, Taurou and Sai cleaned them out a while back butmaybe you two will have better luck there. Who knows you just might find something worthwhile?"

"Hmmm ruins I see, may be we could try out that for now since we have no other leads. Thanks for helping me with the research anyhow. Hopefully we are able to get some leads soon, it's really bothering us badly. Even if we are unable to find any leads on our past it may still be adventurous anyways" They then thanked Mortimer after they got the direction and what ever neccessary before they left for the mission.

[Would Mortimer like to follow by the way? And shall I create a new topic for it or continue on this?]

The shadow mage bid the twins farewell and, supplying them with a few provisions and the other neccessary things they might need in the underground ruins before pointing them off in the proper direction.

He sat in his chair and contemplated the twins actions. He didn't know what was happening but he knew that something strange had occurred during their visit.

The clock on his wall had not jumped ahead thirty seconds by itself... no. There must have been some kind of time-skip or perception alteration. It would make sense. If the dopplegangers had the power to rewrite the material around them who's to say that at a high enough level they could not warp spacetime? He contemplated this for a good ten minutes waiting until the twins were well on their way before proceeding.

Standing up Mortimer walked across the room and into his small study area underneath the loft, consisting only of a desk with some scattered notes and a burning candle. drawing out one of the drawers Mortimer pulled out the three jagged little pieces of paper he recovered from the ruins.

They didn't look like anything special. To Mortimer they were small scraps of paper but to the twins they might be much more than that.

Still, Mortimer new they were special. The scraps had the same aura as both "twins" but still he had thought it better not to mention the scraps to them. Mortimer felt that if the got their memories back that catostrophic results might occur. Their memories were scattered for a reason and until Mortimer could figure that reason out he wasn't going to hand the Links over to them... too many variables... too many complications... and frankly they just weren't ready... yet.

OOC; make a new thread for the cave. Mortimer won't be coming but if you want I can control the NPC's to give you a challange?)

[Alright, I'll take up on your offer. Now someone can grade this]

Rewards!!

Alberio: 1 SP, 1 MP and 50,000 Drachma.
Daisuke: 1 SP, 1 MP and 50,000 Drachma.