Siege of Amberglass (Open to 3)

Metamorphi noticed that she appeared to be up to something, she held her arms out, appearing to be concentrating her powers to do something. Whatever it was, it was sure to be dangerous, Meta turned into paper and ran forward, he had to take advantage, but suddenly out of nowhere a terrible and horrible creation appeared, it was... a bath tub...? Meta stopped his charge, momentarily confused, the girl tried to tip the tub over, but it was too heavy for her, for a second it was pretty funny, but it became significantly less funny when she formed a huge cube of water in mid-air.

The water crashed down to earth, soaking the street, it clearly wasn't enough to do the whole job, so the girl started creating more cubes of water, the water wasn't too high yet. Meta's clothes were unaffected by his power, so until the water got past the soles off his boots he would be okay. He ran towards the girl, completely aware that he couldn't just stand by and let her do this, he jumped into the air and swung his foot at her torso, turning into steel at the last moment. It seemed like a mindless attack, but in reality he was not aiming to strike her body, but to strike the red dress she was wearing, if Meta's theory was correct, it was her weakness, just like her descendant's red balloon.

Meta came running up to her. He obviously knew what she was trying to do, and was trying to prevent it. Smart, fast, and strong. Meta seemed like the perfect solider. It was a shame he was fighting for the other side.

Meta's kick broker Jemmy's ribs and sent her flying into a building. It took a few seconds for her to catch her breath.

The dress had been hit by the full force of the attack, and the damage would have been been more than enough to destroy Jemmy's surrogate. The only problem was...the dress was not the surrogate, though the surrogate was certainly being worn by her. Aside from the dress, Jemmy was also wearing long red gloves and longer red socks. One of those items was allowing her to escape the consequences of her injuries. But which one was it? Jemmy certainly wasn't going to tell Meta that. If her surrogate got destroyed, then she would be in a real bad position.

Jemmy's body healed, and she pulled herself free from the wall. Some of the broken boards were sharp, and dug into her clothes. Jemmy's dress and right glove tore quite badly before she noticed. She sighed down at her ruined outfit. The glove repaired itself, becoming like new, but she didn't bother to fix the dress. The dress was pretty, but it kept getting stuck on stuff and tearing. Instead, Jemmy snapped her fingers, and the dress disappeared. For a second or two, Jemmy was showing her underwear and undershirt, but she didn't mind. With another snap of her fingers, a new dress appeared in its place. This one was less fluffy, and didn't even come down to her knees. It was tight-fitting and would not get stuck on things as easily. The dress also had some cool black designs mixed in with the red, though Jemmy couldn't remember where that inspiration had come from.

Now Jemmy was dressed for more of a fight.

"You don't seem confused by my powers, and you haven't given up yet. Have we met at some point in the past, Metamorphi? I don't remember people very well." Jemmy needed a moment to rest. Using so much magic and getting kicked around like that was exhausting. Thus the talking. "I'd tell you that it's useless to try to fight me, that I can't be harmed, but you won't believe that, will you? I'll bet that if I tried to bribe you, you'd refuse any price, wouldn't you? You're far too noble for that."

Jemmy smiled. "But I'm not. Tell me, Metamorphi, what do you have that I want? If you can bid high enough, I'm yours. I'll stop fighting you. I'll even help defend Amberglass, if that's what you want. Whatever we do, these humans are going to keep killing each other. It's what they do. It's what they want to do. But what do you want, Meta? And what are you willing to give to get it?"

Metamorphi watched her fly into the wall, for a second, it seemed like it was all over, Meta turned to walk away, but he heard a sound from the wall the girl was sent into. Surely it couldn't be her, he though, but there she was, her dress was ruined but otherwise she was completely unharmed. But how could this be? Did she have no weakness? Was Meta fighting a pointless battle? No, that couldn't be it, she had to have a weakness. Meta looked her up and down, barely registering the fact that she removed the dress and conjured a new one, she also had red socks and red gloves, one of those had to be the weakness, but it may also be an individual item, as opposed to a pair. The weakness could very easily be only one glove and she just created the other glove to make it look less suspicious.

Jemmy enquired as to whether or not they had met before, Meta frowned, she was probably just trying to buy herself time to regain stamina, but it gave Meta a chance to rest and plan his next attack, so he wasn't going to complain I've met someone like you in my time, so I knew a little about your powers even before the fight began Then she made an interesting proposition, if Meta gave her something she wanted then she would stop fighting and would even help defend Amberglass, Meta though this over for a second Even if I trust your word, I don't have anything you'd want, so thanks, but no thanks he then turned into paper and rushed at Jemmy, he raised his foot as if to strike the girl in the face, but then he stomped down, aiming his stomp at the girl's right leg, on an area that was covered by her red sock.

So, Meta did have an unfair advantage. He had met Jemmy at some point in time, but Jemmy didn't remember him back. It was bound to happen, she told herself. It was best not to worry about why she didn't remember people.

Nothing to offer? Jemmy was about to say that he didn't have to give her a 'thing.' He could always do her a favor. Before she could speak, though, he was back into action, running towards her.

"Alright," Jemmy said, a feral look in her eyes. "I hope you're thirsty." She conjured a giant cube of water, right on top of her. Paper man or not, she'd like to see Meta try to dodge this water while kicking her at the same time. Either way, she'd really get a kick out of it.

As the water collapsed around them, Meta raised his foot to strike her face. Stubborn fool. He hadn't learned anything. Suddenly, he switched his attack, kicking down at her right leg.

Jemmy fell over, and actually felt pain. Thankfully, Meta hadn't turned his leg into steel, otherwise she would have broken her leg. But still, getting kicked by a grown-up hurt. But why did it hurt? Jemmy panicked when she looked down and saw her poor right sock damaged. Meta had guessed correctly. The right sock was the surrogate, the thing that had been absorbing all of Jemmy's injuries up until this point. But now, being injured itself, the surrogate sock could no longer sustain itself. Unlike the dress and the glove, the sock faded out of existence, destroyed by the pain of a single attack.

And that left Jemmy without a sock, and more importantly, without her invincibility. She was now mortal, able to feel pain and unable to heal from her injuries.

The water fell on top of her, knocking her down to the ground and bruising the back of her head. Three seconds later, the water had spread out and Jemmy sat back up to face Meta.

At this point, she had no desire to continue a fight. Once there was the possibility of pain, it wasn't a game anymore. "Alright, you win," Jemmy said. "I won't attack anyone else here. Good game. We'll have to fight again some time. Maybe I'll attack some other city and you can defend it again. Anyways, I'm done for now. Whew. What a great fight. You wanna go get some fresh bread? My treat?"

As he went at her, she formed a huge cube of water around herself as she had been doing before, but he kept on going and struck her in the leg. In his haste he had not used his power to enhance his attack or protect himself from the water, so his paper body soaked the water, weighing him down and ridding him of the main advantage of the paper form, but that mattered little, he had won. The force of the water knocked her to the ground, Meta turned back to normal and placed a foot on her chest, keeping her on the ground.

Now that she was defeated, the girl tried to act as if she'd just lost a game and that it was time to go home now, Meta gestured to the dead bodies littering the floor You did this, killed all these people. I'm not going to forgive you over some bread. You want to bargain with me? I'll give you a bargain, defeat the Black Flag army and leave, never to return. Or, if you would prefer it, you could refuse To show what refusing would mean, he applied pressure to her chest, without her surrogate this would be immensely painful, especially considering she had the body of a child.

Metamorphi's words were heavy, almost as heavy as his foot.

"That...kinda...hurts."

Jemmy teleported, reappearing on top of a house on the other side of the courtyard. Sure, she could be harmed now, but she wasn't completely defenseless. Besides, Metamorphi's paper had gotten wet, meaning that he was no longer super fast, at least until he dried.

"Never to return? That's a laugh. Even if I agreed to destroy the Black Flag army, I would have to spend some time to become invincible again, otherwise they'll hurt me worse than you would. And if I'm going to become invincible, well, I'd probably end up going after you again. But I'm a good sport, whether you choose to forgive me or not. Farewell, Titan. We shall meet aga..."

An arrow pierced Jemmy's back and stuck out the front of her. She looked down at the blood-covered tip, horrified. This was...pain. It was too much. Jemmy was in agony, suffering just like the many that she had hurt. But this wasn't supposed to happen. She didn't care if they got hurt, as long as she was fine. But now...oh this hurt way too much. Jemmy's body started to shake violently, and as she fell on the rooftop, that shaking resembled a seizure.

Jemmy locked eyes with Metamorphi. She blamed him. The archer had just shot her, but it was the Titan's fault that it actually hurt. Her next words were quiet and shaky. "We shall meet again. And when we do...I will kill you. I'll kill..." Jemmy's body collapsed, finally resting from it's shaking. The girl, the Lord of Chaos, was dead.

The wizard applauded Metamorphi as he approached. "We are in your debt, young Titan. The other attacks have been repelled, by the skin of our teeth. But no front was quite so dangerous as this. You have killed the Lord of Chaos, an impressive task. I hope, for your sake, that she will not hold a grudge against you for that."

Metamorphi's foot slipped onto the ground, he almost stumbled forwards because of the sudden absence of space, but he caught himself. He looked to the source of Jemmy's voice as she talked, he was just figuring out how he could distract her long enough to get over there without her teleporting away when an arrow pierced her body, Metamorphi shifted to steel just in case it was an enemy archer, but when there was no follow up attack, it meant either the archer was an ally, or he was covered from the archer's sight by the building.

The girl looked at him in the eye, a shiver went down his spine, as powerful as she was, she didn't usually look it, but even from this distance, he could see the malevolence and the hate in her eyes and there was something more... something that Meta didn't understand. She spoke words that he couldn't hear, but he was certain she was cursing him, that look of hatred was unmistakeable. Then, without another word, she died.

Metamorphi balled his fists in anger, they had hidden behind Meta and had taken Jemmy out from far away, but they were willing to let Meta take the fall with no reinforcements. Meta heard applause coming closer, he turned to see the Wizard approaching him, he congratulated Meta, but what really caught Meta's attention was what was said last Hold a grudge against me? But, she's dead, you cowards killed... how much do you know about her? some nasty theories formed in his head... how could this Jemmy girl come after him if she had died, unless... she doesn't stay dead.

"Oh don't get me wrong, we could not have asked for a better outcome. But you cannot kill a Lord of Chaos any more than you can kill the wind. You can block it out, but it will always return. What you fought was little more than a puppet, controlled by the Shivering Jemmy, she having no true form to call her own. She has existed long before my time, and will exist long after yours."

The wizard laughed. "Were you not intending to kill her yourself? Had that arrow not silenced the Lord of Chaos, wouldn't you have? If you're worried about her seeking revenge, I wouldn't be too concerned. You yourself said that you had met Shivering Jemmy in combat within your own time. I can only guess since you are still alive that she did not remember you. Death would certainly not be a desired memory. Besides, she was fighting in this conflict for the same reason as you. She was summoned and compelled to fight for a cause she knew nothing about. She will forget the pain and move on. It would be best if you didn't concern yourself with her well-being."

The wizard put a hand on Meta's shoulder. "Amberglass thanks you for your service, but the power of the spell fades. You will soon be returned to your own time. I have little to offer you as a reward, except for the answer to a single question."

So she couldn't be killed, so it was most likely that this girl was in fact the girl from his own time, rather than the ancestor of that girl, she must be pretty forgetful considering that she had met Meta in his own time, but not only didn't kill him, but treated him like someone she didn't know. But that didn't matter, what mattered was the conversation at hand I would not have killed her, while it does relieve me to know I don't have to hold back against her next time, I do not take a life under any circumstances. And I mean, any.

The Wizard then offered to answer a single question before Meta returned to his own time, but what question could he possibly ask that the Wizard would know? Meta sighed and looked the Wizard seriously in the eyes I do not need a reward. You should be careful though, just because I beat her, does not mean she won't come back for revenge, be careful

The boy did not request an answered question. The wizard raised his eyebrows. He knew things forbidden to mortals, but perhaps it was for the best that Meta not ask. He might be better off that way.

Quite somberly, Meta advised the wizard to proceed with caution. If Jemmy could not die, then it was natural to assume that she would return for vengeance, upon Amberglass if not on Meta. The wizard nodded. "I suspected as much as soon as I learned that she was here. We will be careful, as you suggest, but Jemmy is not our only concern. The army outside our walls is formidable. So formidable that I am certain the city of Amberglass does not exist in your own time. Am I right?"

It was a morbid question, but the wizard expected that he already knew the answer.

"And perhaps you should be careful as well. Refusing to kill is an admirable trait, but only the living can exact revenge. And those who have faced pain and cruelty will wish to show you the same."

The world around Meta became grey and turned to mist that swirled around him. When the mist faded, he was once again in his bathroom, in the present.

OOC: Great thread!