Joshua had just gotten to a city and decided to explore and maybe stay the night. The sun was still high in the sky so there was still a lot of time to kill. He decided to just take a look around and see if anything caught his eye. He walked for a good hour before finding a store that looked like it might have something interesting inside. The store was a small, out of the way store. It caught Joshua's eye because it was so out of the way. There didn't seem to be anyone going in or out of it but it was clearly a store. He decided to enter and take a look around.

As he walked into the store he heard a voice. The first few words he couldn't hear, he assumed they were talking to someone else. Then they spoke louder to him. "Can I help you with anything?"

"That depends, what do you have here." Joshua asked slowly walking around. It seemed that the store had some interesting and unique items but nothing that really caught his eye.

"There are things of all sorts here. If you have any questions feel free to ask." Said the voice back to him.

"I will." It wasn't a very big store and there didn't seem to be anything that really caught his eye but he decided to keep looking.

Tai is just walking down the street listening to noises and watching sights.

Lazy and bored he just stands outside in an alley next to a large building and a strange small store... Tai doesnt care what is around him except a single person who stands out from the crowd. the young man with a strange look of curiosity and discovery has walking down to the strange small store. he seemed as new as Tai is to this place for the fact his clothing didnt seem to blend very well with the other hooded figures in the crowd...

Tai decides to walk closer and investigate further. Tai walks up to the window of the shop and peered inside. he continued to stare at the contents of the store... a strange general store it was...

wait.. this wasnt a general store... its had assorted items like wands and wooden spherical objects. Other items include nick nacks that look like they belong to an old couple's house as decoration...

Tai finds the lost stranger as he walks to various parts of the store looking for nothing while still looking for something...

Joshua continued looking and after searching almost the entire store he spotted something on a shelf close by.

"What is this?" Joshua asked holding up what seemed to be a small black ball. Despite it's looks Joshua could feel something coming from it.

"Oh that..." They stopped to think about it. "To be honest I'm not quite sure."

"How much for it?" Joshua's interest was apparent.

"Actually, now that I think about it I don't even remember having that in my store for sale. If you like you can have it."

"Thank you." Joshua said as he put the orb in his pocket.

uhh! the shelves are in the way!! Tai cant see the man... oh he just moved... whats that in his hand? some kind of black chrome ball? huh weird... Tai feel as if he knows it from somewhere... but Tai has never seen it before...

Tai continues to stare down the man to see his next move...

"Hey kid! what you up to peering into that store huh?"

Tai turns to find this strange man in brown cloak a hood over his head.

"oh sir i wasn't doing anything just watching this guy look for something..."

"that's morally wrong kid... stalkin? you should be doin stuff like that... if the guards see you, you gonna be taken for interrogation."

"yes sir but im not planning to do anything sir... just watching...

Tai is distracted by the conversation with the cloaked man and forgets the man with the black ball for a moment...

After he finished placing the ball into his pocket he decided to leave the store. He promptly opened the door and started to leave. As he left he was walking past two men talking about something. He didn't care enough to listen in on the conversation, all that mattered right now is that he move to a safer place to examine this object a bit more.

"What secrets do you hold..." Joshua thought as he walked, his hand in his pocket holding onto this strange ball.

(I posted a shorter post because I figured you might want to react)

Tai is trying to lose the old man in the conversation, but he kept talking. Tai looked back in the store and he was gone! 'Oh crap' Not that Tai Needed to see him but he would have like to have met him... Tai turns around and catches a glimpse of the man he was watching going around a corner.

"Excuse me sir i have to go."

Tai dismisses the hooded man to follow the mystery man as deftly and discretely as possible.

Joshua casually strolled to a nearby inn as he was planning on staying the night.

"I better call it a day." He thought as he entered the inn.

It was a high end inn, 5 stars as stated on the wall. Joshua had money to spend and he did not mind having a nice big room. He had no plans to leave for the night nor had he expected any company. As he entered he heard a voice coming from the counter.

"May I help you sir?" Asked a young woman.

"Yes, I would like to stay the night." He told her calmly.

"What kind of room would you like?" She asked in the same tone.

"I would like a suite, I suppose." He responded.

After taking some information down she promptly handed him a key and he went off to the room.

[To be quite honest I'm not sure how you plan to go from here but feel free to find a way to get into the room or something.]

Tai saw the man enter an inn, Amiss Inn (strange little name), but Tai didn't follow.

'I don't think i can follow him unnoticed in there... why don't just ask him? No no no... that's gonna be stupid... What would i ask him? "Hello sir, may i ask What is your name? Where you're from? How bout your social security number?" Gah! Asking him sounds so suspicious...'

Tai looks up to the top of the 4 story building, and then looks to his side because something caught his attention in the corner of his eye... a suspicious guy in the driver's seat of a van. The guy stared at Tai for the longest time, so Tai began to move along the sidewalk away from the door of the inn. The guy was apparently focused on the door of the inn because as i move away he watches the door instead of me... 'wow... stalker stalking a stalker...'

Tai sits to the side of the inn to catch a few Z's.

3 hours pass the guy in the van slams his door and 7 other men pull out of the back of the van. They stomp so loudly that Tai awakes to their arrival. Their van is left attended by one man, the driver, and the back doors are left wide open. The men enter the the inn as a party to visit someone in their room.

Tai stands up, dazed by the arrival, and walks toward the van so Tai could see what is inside. He finds a duffle bag. He reaches for the bag, clutches it, and pulls it toward him making a loud sliding noise across the floor of the van.

"Who's there?

'Think fast Tai!'

"Tairus. I'm just checking the bag again."

"OH! Marcus! Why you aint with the gang the grab the loot? Yous the fastest one! Heh! The bag of loot is too much to resist huh? guess ya waiting here for them right?"
the driver said not looking back.

"uhh... Sure man. i guess ill stick around." 'lol idiot...'

Tai opened the bag, inside were lots of shiny objects including chain charms, rings, and ORBS of various colors.

'uh oh... i think they are after that man with the black sphere...'

Tai shouts
"AORU!"
and his hands ignite in flames he sees an explosive oxygen reserve on the side of the van. Tai twists the nozzle and the gas hisses out and catches the fire on Tai's hands leave a flamethrower like effect. Tai knows it is gonna blow soon so he runs for it with the bag zipped closed. His hands return to his normal state after not enchanting a spell.

"What the Hell Marcus?! What you do?"

Tai runs for the ally next to the inn and awaits the explosion.

[Hey! tell the story up to 3 hours before the incident... sorry for skipping past your side of the story.]

As Joshua entered his room everything was in order and as expected of this inn. After looking around for a bit he decided to start working on the orb, seeing what he could learn.

"Now I can finally see what this thing is all about." He thought as he pulled it out of his pocket and observed it.

As he held it he got the same feeling he had before, in the shop. He couldn't explain it but it seemed familiar. As if he should know something about it. After some time of thinking he realized something.

"What would be the chances..." His thoughts dove into the ideas of the orb.

After a couple hours of pondering he decided to try something.

"To Aru No Vaki Insara" The words resonated through the room and shadow balls similar to the one he held appeared from seemingly no where. With all the windows closed and the door locked he was in no hurry to see what might happen, nor did he think about anyone thinking of entering the room or interrupting him in any sense.

He took a moment for the shadow material that he summoned to move around the object and despite their defensive nature they seemed to stay at least a foot away from the orb. This he had never seen before. He knew this would be interesting.

Another hour passed and he heard an explosion outside. [The van blowing up] From that moment he knew something was horribly wrong. "What the hell was that?" He said to himself in a strange-for-others-but-normal-for-him calm tone.

He also heard a few people scream in the building and some movements in the hallway.

"What the f*** just happened?" Yelled a voice outside Joshua's door. It seemed to be a big enough explosion to alert everyone in the building and everyone within a 3 block radius.

Tai finds an emergency exit and the moment the van went up the building flooded with screams. Four people opened the exit and left while Tairus took the advantage to come inside to hopefully find the man with the black sphere.

'What if they really are after that man?'

Tai sprints along the hallway and turns along the upcoming corner and finds 7 men about to breach the room. They placed a frame blasting charge on the door and within seconds the door is obliterated and the men charge inside the door. they all wear blast helmets and light body armor. they are armed with small sub machine guns and a knife in the back pocket.

Tairus shouts "AORU!" and charges for the door with hands blazing with fire. As he approaches the door Tairus enchants "Hi o moyasu." and the fire grows.

Tairus turns his head, as he is beside the door to see in the room.

Joshua heard more chatter outside the door and heard something hit the door. Within a moment the door exploded and people started to run in. With his shadow swarm still active they protected him from all projectiles coming at him from the blast.

"Guess I've overstayed my visit..." He thought sarcastically.

"To Aru No Vaki Nikada Kota" He said as two shadow soldiers appeared behind him. "Protect me at all costs." Lyon commanded to them.

"Understood." They both said, only Joshua could understand.

The men burst through the door, guns in hand and ready to shoot. They hesitated when they saw more than just their target. The shadows took this opportunity to attack, without hesitation. Joshua stood back to watch, his swarm would protect him from the guns bullets.

Tai turns to hear guns blazing and shots crackling in the air and Tai began to join the mix with his attack, "Hi no YA!" and three arrows of blazing fire spread and head straight on at the foes.

One of the arrows pierces through 2 guys leaving charred burns on the two's chest as the body armor had no effect against the blaze.

One other arrow struck through the middle and hit the man in front while he was attacking a "Shadow Ghost Figure Thingy?" The arrow went through the man and hit the ghostly figure while the figure tries desperately to stop the attack of fire.

The third arrow just finished putting down three men in a row with one strike piercing each individual leaving burns and bare skin from the flame and also leaving one man standing.

The last man is being overran by the shadow-like phantom and the first phantom, which is recovering from the Ember Arrow, is preparing itself to come toward Tai as if he were a threat.

The last man panicked in a desperate manner "SHIT! GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE! GUYS GET UP! THIS GUY AIN'T WORTH THE LOOT! GUYS? GUYS?! MARCUS! JOE! ANSWER ME!" The men on the ground are motionless and moaning for the pain seems excruciating.

Then it hit Tai's mind that he wanted to befriend the man with the orb but he didn't want to be in an antagonistic mode with the guy, so Tai backs away from the ghost as it approaches him and awaits for further attempts of an attack directed toward him. Tai chants, "Aoru." and awaits in battle mode.

[Tai is still holding the duffle bag but he puts it down when he is backing away from the ghost. i forgot to mention that.]

[If you forgot to mention it why didn't you just edit it in? Just saying]

The shadows charged the three men that burst in. Before they could do much two of the men were dropped by an unseen attacker. The shots fired were easily stopped by Joshua's shadow swarm. One of the shadows morphed his arm into a blade and pierced the last man as he finished screaming to leave and was ready to attack the one who attacked the others than Joshua spoke.

"Stop. He seems to have no interest in attacking me." Joshua said to his shadows. Within a moments notice they stopped and returned to Joshua's side, still combat ready.

"Who are you?" Asked Joshua to the man standing not far from him, his shadow swarm moving around him. His tone also appeared as though nothing had happened, it was a somewhat unnervingly calm tone for this scenario.

Everything in the room seemed to stop, everything was still, the three intruders were motionless on the ground. There didn't seem to be fire so much as smoke from the explosions. Though outside the room there were continuous screams and panicking voices. There were sounds of sirens coming from the distance, fire department, police and paramedics were all on their way. None of this seemed to bother Joshua as he awaited his answer.

[Lazy... Laziness will be the end of me...]

Tai thought of responses to say to the man,
'Hi! I'm your stalker!... No... Why the hell would i say that?
Hi person who-I-don't-know... No...
Your fly's undone... WTH?!
Maybe if i explain the orb mystery... maybe...yeah.. I'll tell him that.'

Tai began to speak, "Your--" and then he was cut off by a man with a bloodied body and a shotgun behind him"Wat tha hell did ya do to my team?" Tai recognized the voice. It was the voice of the driver back at the van (which is in pieces now). The bag is still on the floor and the driver notices it. " What the hell ya doin wit our loot! give it back here! Toss it tah me!"

Tai does not turn around. Instead, Tai looked at the bag and saw a few crystal balls, opals, and a grenade next to the bag which Tai just realized he knocked over. Tai thought for a moment and wondered if the bag was better than his life. Sacrifice the loot with the grenade or find another option were the only choices that were open at the moment.

Tai waited for a miracle.

"Crap... this is exactly the way i solve everything... Blowing it up... but this bag and the man's orb have a connection. so should i break that connection to save my life?"

the driver chick-chick's his shotgun and says "NOW!"

Joshua heard the demanding voice. He didn't seem to realize Joshua was there. He spoke softly enough that only his shadows could hear him.

"Kill the man with the gun outside the room." As he finished his sentence the shadows both morphed into large (shadow) cats, similar to that of a tiger.

Within moments from changing they pounced past Tai and attacked the man in the hallway. The man clearly caught off guard attempted to shoot the gun but it was too late by then. The animals had hit him full force and knocked him to the ground. There was screams from him, he was being eaten/clawed to death and within a couple seconds he was silent. After the shadow cats ensured he was dead they casually walked past Tai and returned to Joshua's side.

"Now answer me. Who are you?" He asked again in the same tone as before.

'oh my god... the shadow transform?'

"Well as i was going to say, before i was deciding to blow him with this grenade or not-", Tai shows him the bag with strange jewels with the grenade being the only dull object visible, "I wanted to know who you were when you walked in the store back in the street. I see weird dark presence when look at you and i know that's not normal. i notice you have your little buddies here who are very obedient and that makes you even more fascinating. I want to know why you are here and if i can join you in your travels maybe."

Tai thinks some more and adds, "I am new here and i really don't have anyone to follow. I'm stuck trying to look for something important to me, but then the current incident happened and i found these., Tai pours the contents of the bag on the floor and looks upon the glimmering objects. Only three catch his eye and all three look like the orb which the man carries only separated by their color. One is a bright green, another is gloomy blue, and the last is vibrant yellow. Each of them have a

"These orbs and all the other jewels to led me to assume those crooks wanted what you have and i wasn't about to let them crush you, but as you saw, we took care of them. what are these things for? Why did that black orb interest you? why do the crooks want that orb? These orbs? All this treasure? You have any clue?"

Oh... i got so riled up in this mystery i forgot my name... I'm Tairus. Call me Tai."

Tai looks back at everything he just told the man and everything he said sounded like random rambling.

Joshua stood there as the man rambled on. Most of the information portrayed by the man was pointless to Joshua though he thought about the events that just took place. With the immediate threat Joshua released his shadow swarm, they dissipated instantly. He also released one of his shadow warriors in the same fashion.

"I have little interest in those orbs. They mean nothing to me." He said watching them roll around. "However the orb I possess is different and relates directly to my... magics." He wasn't sure how much information he wanted to tell 'Tai' as he called himself.

"I must be careful with my words." Joshua thought as he decided what to say next.

"The men that attacked me were blind to what they were collecting, they were probably hired to collect these things. The reason matters little but why they were so aggressive is interesting." He also pondered the request of Tai. "As for if I will let you accompany me on my travels I must decline. As I know little about you and what I do is of no concern to you or anyone else I find there be no reason you follow me." Joshua's voice showed no emotion as he spoke.

Feeling little emotions, Joshua was ok with telling people what he thought and in some cases doesn't realize how cold he could come across. This mattered little to him.

"where are you going now?"

Tai made a rejected face.

Tai looked upon the three orbs that differentiated from the rest as he waited for a response.

[on the last post i made i left out an important detail. :/ "each of them had a" brilliant sensation as if they were alive.]

"Well, if you haven't noticed we are standing in a destroyed room. There is mass panic in the surrounding area from that explosion and probably also from when my door was blown open. There are police and other emergency people looking for whoever is behind this and we are currently standing around dead bodies." Joshua said stating the situation.

"I am leaving, and I would suggest you do the same." Joshua told Tai as he walked casually out of the room. His voice consistently calm the entire time.

After stepping past Tai he casually walked down the hallway, heading for the stairs. The various sounds of panic, shouting and other commotions could still be heard in the surrounding area.

Tai looked crazed as he watches the man walk by with peace of mind and no care in the world for anything. 'whaat tha hell? walk away just like that?'

Tai hears the sirens coming and the panicking, so he decides to move to the exit he came from to leave. Tai picks up the duffle bag and walks frantically to the exit.

Tai arrives to the out doors and he finds a crowd shrieking out of the building and the floating whales appear and in the mass chaos is the calm man. "He never told me his name..." Tai walks in his direction and follows with him in sight nearly 10 feet away.

Joshua casually walked out of the building, the police and other emergency staff were already taking things under their control. Joshua figured there would be questions to him, though they had not cleared the building yet so he was pretty clear to go. As he sensed someone behind him a police approached him from the front.

"Can I ask you a couple questions sir?" Asked the policeman motioning Joshua towards a different spot.

"Sure. What would you like to ask me?" Joshua said as he followed the policeman.

At the same time another policeman approached Tai and asked him over to a different spot.

"We would like to ask you a few question sir."

"no comment."

"we insist you answer."

The police grabs his arm and pulls him out of the crowd.

'What the hell?'

"let go of me."

Tai shrugs him off and runs for the man with the sphere, grabs his arm, and pulls him with his strength away."They are trying to make the incident our fault! We have to RUN!"

Joshua was startled by the hand grabbing at him though he did not listen to him. He had no intent of running and if they would try and he also found it hard to believe that they would try and blame it on him.

"I can assure you that we are only after a statement from everyone. We cannot let people just leave, it's only for precautionary measures." The policeman said to both Joshua and Tai. Though his attention was on Tai. "Though you seem to be in a hurry, might I ask why?" Asked the policeman, his attention fully on Tai.

"What the hell is he thinking? These are police officers, they are seeking answers." Joshua thought as he looked around. "Though to be honest the first explosion might actually be his fault, based off the way he was acting and the confrontation with that other man with the shotgun earlier."

"I believe he was close to the explosion when it happened. It might have been traumatic to him." Joshua said trying to defend Tai. "He might just want to get away from such a place of potential danger." Joshua's voice continued to be calm and the policeman seemed somewhat reassured by this.

"What about yourself? Why are you here?" The policeman turned his attention to Joshua.

"I was staying in the hotel, I heard the explosion outside. Then I heard one much closer, I believe it was down the hall from where I was. The 5th floor I believe." Joshua said, the policeman nodded and used his radio to contact the people inside to see if this was possible.

He waited for a response before continuing talking to Joshua and Tai. "If what you say is true, than perhaps you..." The policeman motioned to Tai. "should go to the hospital. As for you, I will let you leave. You're story seems to check out."

Tai and the man walk out of the scene...

Tai whispers to the man."i still dont know your name! AND i DID Blow up the truck... i Want OUT!"

Tai drags the man and Tai realizes is far from the scene of the "accident" "Are we going to solve who those guys are or am i just going to keep with you for a while?" Tai said following the man. There are massive crowds running from the scene though not as many as before. Tai looks aound for suspicious characters but finds nothing but screaming heads and scared people.

[Wow... I totally forgot to post on... sorry. :D]

Joshua walked casually away and when they were well away from the wreckage he heard Tai say something.

"It doesn't matter who I am, as for what you did it does not concern me." Joshua said. Everything was calming down now, everything was getting under control.

"As for who those men were that attacked me, they don't seem to be a threat any more now so it seems irrelevant to try and find out who they are. Though I ask you, why are you so insistent on following me?" Joshua's voice was somewhat cold towards the man who didn't want to leave him alone.