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Master OCT side Tourney: Zolf vs. Blaze Part 2

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Side Arc 1-part 2: Mind over Madness

As Dark entered Zolf’s mind he took a good look around.  He saw images of the girl’s long past.  Friends, enemies, her creations, planets being destroyed, and what he could assume was her vision of the madness.  “Interesting…” Dark mused as he continued to venture towards the dark core of the girl’s mind, “seems she is older than we thought.”  He stared at the madness image, “But what really has my attention is you… madness, what are you?” He asked as he surveyed the area.  Her mind was very dark and secluded; it barely felt like the inside of a monster’s mind, but more of the mind of a scared and lonely child.

Meanwhile Blaze stood ready for another series of attacks, while the creature hadn’t moved an inch.  Blaze had begun to slowly move closer to see if it was changing back, but as he got near it reached out and grabbed Blaze and started slamming him into the ground repetitively.  Blaze reacted with a flame burst, but this time the beast held on, so Blaze took a drastic move and decided to just cut off it’s hand, “Sorry kid,” he said as he swung at the arm, “but I’ve gotta live.”  He dropped hard to the ground as he removed the arm, “Owwwwww….” He said as he rolled back and crouched down, “I hope Dark is making it better than I am.”

“Jackpot!” Dark had been moving through the girl’s mind as fast as he could, passing through Millennia of memories in moments.  He saw ahead a swirling cloud of sheer, well, madness, “Ugh!” Dark almost spat, “tastes of crazy mixed with violence and hunger.”  As he approached the cloud he realized something else was inside, and it felt sad, “So, this is where they both are…”  He summoned his dark claymore, “So, you like to mess with people’s minds,” he gave a cocky grin, “well… I don’t have room to talk, but I have to kick you out now, so,” he motioned with his sword towards the entrance, “Get out, or face a challenge.”

Blaze watched as Zolf‘s arm dissolved into blood and a new arm grow in its place, leaving a scar where it was cut.  Zolf was howling at him in, what could most likely be seen as rage, as it primed to strike.  When Zolf leapt at him, he jetted into the air, but felt something pulling at his leg, “What the?” he looked down to see Zolf holding onto his leg as he used his powers to rocket into the sky.  As Zolf held on she began to try and eat his foot, “Nuh uh, not happening.” He then decided to swerve around a bit as she tried to clamp down.  The swerving kept her from biting, but that would only be a temporary stop.  I can’t keep this up forever, He thought as he could feel the drain it put on his powers.  He looked at the forest below fearing the drop then smiled, “Idea time.”  He declared as he turned and jetted towards the ground, grabbing Zolf off of his leg in the process.

Dark saw the cloud shift, “I’m guessing you are either looking at me, or doing your best to moon me so-” Dark was cut off by a face appearing on the side, “Thank you crazy cloud of messed up thoughts and feelings for not mooning me.” He said with a grin and wave.  “Madness,” the cloud replied, “Excuse you?” Dark replied, “I am the Madness.” The cloud continued as it formed a body mirroring Dark, “And you are trespassing in my sanctum.”  Its words definite and defiant.  Dark just scoffed, “Hello pot calling the Kettle black, I am Dark,” Dark said as he pointed at it, “and by the sense of things, you don’t belong here as much as I do, so you can leave quietly with me,” he said, taking his stance, “or I can have some fun and force you out, your-” he then dodged a slam from the body form.

Blaze had boosted their speed on the descent, and started to scream like a little girl, as did the monster.  He then began to build up an explosive charge out of his body as he flew towards the ground, “GOODBYE WORLD!” he yelled as he slammed into the ground with Zolf taking the main blow.  He managed to not kill himself, but he was sore and greatly injured, “Never again…” he muttered weakly as he crawled away from the impact site, bruised, probably something broken, and a cut as well as the stab wound from Zolf, but otherwise ok.  He looked back at the body as he undeployed his armor.  He felt the air and managed a weak smile, “Space monsters, new story for the guys.” He tried to gain his bearing as he heard movement from the impact crater, “Huh?!” he looked and saw Zolf getting up, body repairing as it started moving towards him.  “Ok, this isn’t good.” He wanted to run, but he could barely stand.  He got out his gun and aimed, “I don’t wanna hurt you, just, stand down!” He said as he tried to talk down Zolf.  Luckily he didn’t have to, as Zolf collapsed and returned to her normal, smaller self.  “Whew...” Blaze sat down and waited for Dark, hoping his counterpart would be successful.

Dark easily dodged the attack, “Sloppy Madness, is that all you’ve got?” Dark grinned, anxious to let loose, “That was a warning,” the Madness replied, “Next time, I may not be as gentle.”  “Ooo,” Dark continued to goad it, “I’m so scared.” He deflected another attack and rolled to the side, running towards the core of the cloud of Madness.  As he approached the cloud hit him like a wall, “What!” Dark barked as he rolled to his feet and leapt into the air and swung at the wall, cutting an opening in it, “Afraid of the dark Madness?” he continued to egg it on, mind games were one of Dark’s best weapons in a fight, and he was doing his best to abuse them.

The madness just laughed at him though, catching Dark off guard, “What’s so funny?” He asked as he slowed his rush to the center of the cloud.  “You…apparition.” The Madness replied, “What?” Dark was confused by its statement, “What’s the matter Dark apparition, it is what you are isn’t it?” Dark had stopped moving to listen to it, “You are not a real being, merely a thought given life, a copy, a false being much like myself, given new life by the hosts we choose for ourselves.” While distracted the Madness began to slowly circle in on him, “You amuse me because of this, we are similar, yet you fight me for your master, why even bother, why not make him your own,” Dark listened, he had tried this before and failed, “you could overpower him while he is weakened and make him your own, like you used to.”  The Madness showed him an image of Blaze as he was, weakened and waiting back in the real world, “You could use your power to truly make that human a force to be reckoned with, and not just on your world,” Dark then remembered the various planets the girl Zolf had been on, “yes, show the universe your complete and absolute power.”

Dark responded by laughing, “What?  Why are you laughing?” The Madness demanded an answer from him as Dark looked up, “You think your mind games will work on me?”  Dark had seen through the tricks the madness had attempted to pull on him, he saw the swirling madness around him and released a pulse of Darkness in all directions around himself.  “What?” the Madness had not anticipated his powers, “That power.”  Dark just smiled, “You saw what he could do and yet you didn’t expect that much raw darkness from me?” Dark chuckled at the being’s naiveté.  “You wound me madness,” he drew back his sword as the madness rushed in, “let me punish you for your stupidity.”

Dark released a swing of his sword in all directions as the madness closed in, a second later, a rapid stream of explosions ruptured throughout the madness that had surrounded him.  He relished the feeling of battle as he leapt out of the way of a claw erupting from where he was standing, “Hold still and perish!” the Madness hissed these words to him while attempting to kill him.  “Now, why would I do that Madness, aren’t you enjoying the game?” Dark was enjoying the game, even if Madness wasn’t.  “You can’t win dark one, you know full well this is my domain.” Dark looked up to see that the madness was showing how vast he truly was, and almost balked for a second.  “Golly gee willikers Madness, you sure are vast and powerful.” He could feel the madness snarling at him, “Then again, so was your mom.” He then blasted away one of its tendrils with a swing of his claymore.

 “Insolent pest, do you not grasp the situation, you are inside my domain, I am everywhere, I AM this realm, yet you sill believe you can win.” Dark just smiled as he heard it rant, Good, it is getting more agitated, I must be getting close to its source of infestation.  Dark knew full well that whenever something tried to take over someone, it always had a source or centralized location of which to stop it at, typically where it started.  As he got close to the core he felt the sad presence again, The host, she must be near. He thought about it, then just smiled as he pushed forward, cutting off another tendril of Madness, Guess I gotta save her too, or else Blaze won’t let me hear the end of it.

Dark saw what he could assume was the core, and inside, was Zolf, in all of her tinyness.  “Well,” he said with a smile, “there you are, you sure are hard to track down.”  He saw her look up as he got knocked over, “YOU FOOL!” the Madness’ true form bellowed at him, a monstrous, morphing creature, similar to the Hunger, dwarfing Dark’s 6 foot bulky frame.  “Well,” Dark began as he stood up, “the philosophers were wrong.”  The creature cocked its head at him, “you can judge an ugly book by its cover.”  Dark smirked as he readied his stance for the throw down of the century, “Now, Come-on, let’s rumble.”

Dark clashed with it and traded blows evenly with the Madness in the center of the corruption, but the difference was, it could regenerate itself with the surrounding cloud, while Dark could not.  He leapt back for a breather; I gotta take it out, but how? He looked around then saw it, the girl in the core; he had to get her free.  He rushed towards her, but the madness just stood in his way, “Going somewhere apparition?” It said as Dark was smacked aside, “Yeah, as a matter of fact, I am.” Dark then summoned forth two wolf like creatures from his essence, “Ok guys, let’s clean house.” Dark sent them in and followed close behind, as the madness went to hit them, he jumped up and blocked, or would strike it away, “NO!” The Madness bellowed, “I won’t let you free her!”  Dark just cut through it, “Who said I asked for your permission old man!”  The wolves smacked into the casing and Dark finished with a heavy punch which broke the seal around Zolf, which let her out.

She looked around and went to run off, but Dark grabbed her, “Oh no, you aren’t leaving yet.” He said as he picked her up by her coat as she scowled at him, the fear of the Madness was obvious as it closed in on them.  “This is your mind isn’t it?  Your domain?” Dark asked as he gestured around.  Zolf nodded defiantly as Dark replied, “Then why not take charge, he doesn’t rule here, you do, Am I right?”  

She just looked up at him, almost smiling as he looked at her, “Fine I will, only if you’ll shut up about it.” She said defiantly at the Dark entity.  She looked at the Madness harshly, causing it to begin to flee, but it was too quickly captured into a core, much like the one she was in before, “You don’t rule me, got it.” She said as she sealed it.  Dark tapped on the casing like it was a fish bowl, “Ironic, I like it.” He said with a smile towards her, which she almost returned, “Seemed fitting.” She stated as she looked to him, “I’d like it if you left now, or I’ll put you in a bowl next.” She said as she motioned towards where he came from, “Yes, your majesty.” He replied in an exaggerated bow as he went to leave he swore he heard her mutter ‘thank you’.

Blaze had been sitting for a while, tending to his gear and wounds, luckily the gear just needed some patching with the extra resources he had back at the hotel.  His body, needed rest and some medical attention, which he needed a doctor for.  I’m back. Blaze nearly leapt out of his skin, “So,” he said as he collected himself, “how did it go?”  Dark smiled a bit, Well, let’s just hope my meddling will keep her from freaking out for a while, how about yours?  Dark could tell by first glances that he had fared much better.  “Well, I am almost done patching up my visor so I can call Tyson for a ride back to the hotel so I can rest, and I am about as badly injured as the time when I rescued the girls, so all in all…” Dark just shook his head at Blaze, “about average for me.”  See, this is why I don’t let you go off alone, Dark joked with Blaze, you end up in bad shape.  “Aww, see you do care,” Blaze said as his visor rebooted, “there all done.”  Dark rematerialized and picked up Zolf, “Ok make the call, I’ll carry the girl.” Blaze stood up shakily as he hobbled over to Dark, “Hey Tyson, I need a pickup if you would please, also needing medical staff on standby.” Blaze smiled as he saw the portal appear, “So Dark how was it?  You know, being back in the action?” Dark smiled, “Felt good to be home.” He said as they went through the gate.
So here is the stunning conclusion to my first actual tournament entry.  Thank you for all of the kind words on the last part so I hope you enjoy this part as well.  You can read itHERE.

I wanted this entry to allow a more expanded sense of the character's personalities and what they have been through.  I hope I dd Zolf and madness correctly for yah Soulkeeper and that you enjoy the story and the fight everyone.

Zolf and madness belong to SoulkeeperZolf

Blaze and Dark are mine

Tyson is GateMasterGreen's
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soulkeeperzolf's avatar
Zolf's mind is actually described as vast darkness with voices constantly whispering and muttering. Her memories are locked behind a single door that can only be opened by certain individuals. There is no core, just a scattered mess of blood and gore that covers the floor.
The Madness doesn't hide at all. She usually takes on her human form (the one that wears the top hat and gas mask) and would rather appear in person rather than shroud herself in darkness. Oh, and she usually sends The Hunger out to fight for her.
I apologize if this may be a little too much information.........