Time to go home [open]

[Leonardo Khan]

Leo Khan had been practicing for quite some time. Life had been hard since the invasion, first Dr. Hypnos, than Frieza, it was a nightmare out there. Only two places seemed to be safe anymore; Satan City, and here at Mount Paozu. [shadow=green,left,300]A city named after a fake, and a sky full of space bullies. What have our lives turned into?[/shadow] Leo thought to himself as he was practicing his blocks and strikes on a wooden practice dummy. You know, the one with multiple arms that spins to simulate attack. The whole thing made Leo sick to his stomach. And mad. I mean mad. He always had a thing for putting bullies in their place, but Frieza's gang........well, they weren't your average bullies, you know. And it only made Leo even more mad.

He started getting faster and hitting harder as his blood began to boil. [shadow=green,left,300]Just who do they think they are? No one deserves the treatment they give us. No one deserves to have their homes destroyed, their planet invaded, their very lives subjugated![/shadow] Leo's dark thoughts were only working to make his attacks on the dummy faster and stronger. The wood was beginning to splinter. [shadow=green,left,300]This is not how it's supposed to be! We're MEN! We're supposed to be[/shadow] [glow=blue,2,300]"FREE!!"[/glow] Leo Khan actually shouted the last word of his thoughts as he delivered one final blow to the wooden dummy, his fist surrounded by a strong blue glow. The dummy was more than shattered upon impact; it was disintegrated.

[glow=blue,2,300]"Well, damn,"[/glow] Leo said as he tried to calm his aura down, so as not to be detected. It might have been too late, though. He had remarkable self-control, but certain things just flat out made him angry. [glow=blue,2,300]"That was dummy number one hundred, too. What a waste."[/glow]

Leo sat down on a nearby rock and picked up his water bottle. The clear, crisp mountain liquid felt good on his parched throat. He sat for a few minutes, thinking about Earth's plight and sipping his water. [shadow=green,left,300]Maybe it's time I went home,[/shadow] he thought. [shadow=green,left,300]I can't hide here forever. Someone has to protect Kairi.[/shadow] At the though of his girlfriend, Leo looked down at his silver ring, inscribed with two names; His own, Leonardo Khan, and Kairi Tsuna, his girlfriend. She gave him the ring for luck when he left to train. [glow=blue,2,300]"I'm coming home, Kairi,"[/glow] he said aloud, a lone tear streaming sown his dirt-stained cheek. [glow=blue,2,300]"Don't worry. Frieza won't get you or anyone else again."[/glow]

[Lucas D. Hargrave]

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[atrb=background,http://i41.tinypic.com/25qq3gn.jpg] Lucas ate. His meal was a humble protein bar, sleet gray and with the consistency of cardboard. It was about as tasty as it looked but to Lucas who had grown up on a diet of rats and tinned foodstuffs it wasn't terribly out of the ordinary. True, the jungles surrounding Mt. Paozu could offer more palatable forms of nutrition but they took time and effort that the Hargrave assassin was simply unwilling to expend without good reason. His current assignment, however, had different ideas. "MEROWR," the bushes hissed, trembling. Lucas tried not to sigh. A futile effort. "Eat?" Lucas coaxed, offering the chewed on bar. Well, perhaps 'coaxed' was too strong a word. Viciously swore might have been closer to the manner in which he articulated the phrase. Cats, among other things, were not his favorite creature. That sorry excuse for a flesh and blood thing hiding in the bushes? A gods-be-damned infant cheetah. One might ask what an assassin was doing with a baby cheetah in the first place and that was a long and hilarious tale that would hopefully include a paycheck at the end of it. Suffice it to say that Mr. Hargrave was not a member of the animal conservation movement and while 'assassin' was his job description, he was closer to a mercenary who wore a suit. A job that paid was a job worth doing. And in this case, getting the cheetah to its destination alive was a salient issue. "Eat," he ordered again, brandishing the protein bar. The baby cheetah was not particularly impressed by the idiot human and tried to claw his hand as he drifted near. Angry red welts showed where it had succeeded in previous attempts. Lucas wasn't particularly worried: it had done this a dozen or so times already. His intuition told him that the damn thing would soon submit. It was either unusually stubborn or slow on the uptake. That was about when someone's ki flared. Most animals had good instincts for strength. Although Lucas had masked his own energy signature so as not to send every creature in a mile radius fleeing for their warrens, the sudden burst of energy sent birds tumbling through the air, cawing their distress; larger animals crashing through both underbrush and the occasional tree in their haste to be away and, in a moment of unusual good luck, knocked the baby cheetah out entirely. Lucas blinked. He had heard rumors that powerful human warriors trained here in secret, organizing a rebellion but had discounted them as unlikely. If that were true, the logical response from the extraterrestrials would be to burn this place off the map. But maybe it wasn't so farfetched after all... Perhaps it might even warrant a look. Picking the creature up by the scruff of its neck he negligently hopped upwards, landing on the upper canopy of the massive trees and began jumping towards where he had last felt the ki presence.

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[Leonardo Khan]

Leo stood up after a few minutes. He was getting tired of feeling sorry for the planet. He felt it needed new protectors, but he also felt it needed STRONG protectors. He wasn't strong enough yet.

"Time to get back to work," he said to no one in particular as he began powering up.

This was a key to his strategies; Powering up while still masking his signature. This was difficult to manage, but he was attempting it anyway. He figured that if he could be in top fighting form and still trick his enemy into thinking he was weaker, he could get the drop on them. It wasn't perfect, but it might be a useful ace in the hole.

The power up was slow. It had to be, in order to hide it's true power levels. The blue aura started up around Leo very slowly, pulsing slightly at first, getting darker and more vibrant with each pulse, until he had a steady azure aura going. He was nearing full power, but he was trying to keep the appearance of it at half.

[Lucas D. Hargrave]

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[atrb=background,http://i41.tinypic.com/25qq3gn.jpg] Lucas stood on top of an unidentified tree. It had strange, thorny fruit and purple leaves and the branches were much too thin to fully support his weight for any length of time. On the flipside though it was tall. And that height was what he needed right now. Head cocked, eyes closed, eyebrows furrowed, Lucas reached out with his senses. Breathing shallowly, the assassin waited for the ki signature to reveal itself once more. In his hand the cheetah remained limp. If he had been at home, he'd have narrowed down the location of the signature within seconds. Mt. Paozu was alive in ways that Lucas was not entirely used to though and the haze of, well, life was surprisingly potent. He'd lost track of the ki signature after it had died off, leaving him with a vague idea as to direction and no way of narrowing it down much more than that. So he waited, reaching out with his mind's eye. Wait for it. Wait for it... His eyes snapped open as he felt something brush against his developed senses. Ah ha. Weaker this time but still unmistakably superior to just about everything in the environs. Smirking toothily, the human tipped his tophat up and made one final jump. Warriors of a certain strength could supposedly fly. Lucas hadn't quite mastered the skill though. So he made do with... other methods of getting around. Reaching the apex of his jump he tucked himself in a ball and hurtled downward. Before smashing through the treetops he opened up and lightly skipped across the wooden limbs, only lightly touching each, like a pebble skipped across water. By the end he had reached the ground and-

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[Leonardo Khan]

Leo felt something strange. Someone WAS coming after him. Interesting. But he couldn't quite pin down the signature.........There!, Leo thought as he spun around, coalescing his aura into a small sphere in the palm of his hand and leveling it at the newcomer, who..........Did he seriously just LEAP into a possible confrontation? Is he daft?

Leo eyed the strange figure. Was that a freaking baby cheetah in his hand?

The man was unknown to Leo, and though he always gave benefit of the doubt to strangers, he was a bit paranoid. Not to mention a bit irked.

"Identify yourself, stranger," he demanded of the........unique individual.

[Lucas D. Hargrave]

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[atrb=background,http://i41.tinypic.com/25qq3gn.jpg] For Lucas, the moment he spotted the ball of ki energy, his perceptions sped up. His brain exploded into crystal patterns and like billiards being slotted into place he felt his thoughts enter more useful configurations. Danger assessment, analysis, probable combat training - numbers raced through his head and his free hand twitched ever so slightly towards his gun. Even as the numbers scrolled in his head, Lucas frowned. Perhaps it was time he admitted to himself that he had become firmly addicted to a certain level of danger in his life. Not a bad thing, necessarily. "Lucas," the assassin replied somewhat negligently, an answer devoid of any useful content but perfectly correct. He studied the ball of ki more than the person molding it, blinking against the its harsh glow. It seemed to be of higher intensity and quality than a person of his level was capable of. No doubt the other warrior was masking his actual ability. The previous burst and the sudden disappearance of energy suddenly started to make sense. A lapse in control, perhaps? A training mishap? Or were there other human warriors? Admittedly though, this young man was certainly not one of the 'powerful human warriors' of rumor and myth. Lucas judged the stranger couldn't have been older than four or five when the end of the previous, human age had ended. Younger than even himself by a number of years. For some irrational reason he felt disappointed by that revelation. Some remnant of the old guard would have, if nothing else, greatly entertained the younger members of the family. Lucas looked around, senses still firmly fixed upon the potential threat, eyes drifting towards the small, open-air training ring. "I had heard there were martial artists, the last of the human warriors, hiding in the mountains. Are there others, besides yourself?"

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[Leonardo Khan]

Leo could feel the tension of the man, Lucas, but it didn't seem like paranoia, or even dedication to Leo. It was a focused intent on the ball of energy, almost as if its own energy was different from Leo's. He couldn't help but smile to himself; this was, after all, his goal. And Lucas didn't seem like he wanted Leo specifically. Maybe he had sensed Leo earlier, when he'd lost his control for a second, and simply got curious.

Leo kept his ki masked, but lowered his hand and dissipated the ball. Perhaps if he showed he was willing to talk, this wouldn't degenerate into a misunderstanding.

"I don't know. Maybe. I've only been out here for about a year. I'm not as strong as I want to be, not near the fighters of myth."

Leo kept his Fight/Flight response keyed up while masking, just to be on the safe side. He still had no idea if this Lucas character was friend or foe. He offered Lucas his hand, though, not just out of politeness, but also because it always seems easier to get a feel for someone if you shake their hand.

"I'm Leonardo Khan. Some call me Leo, others, Khan."

[Lucas D. Hargrave]

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[atrb=background,http://i41.tinypic.com/25qq3gn.jpg] Lucas watched the ball of ki disappear with something akin to regret. His perceptions began to slow as the greater part of his intellect gave up on the idea that a fight would begin due to hostilities from the other side and went into its usual state of torpor. Lucas supposed he could wake it but that would be undoing a great deal of mental conditioning for not much gain. And no other warriors either. Darn. "I'm Leonardo Khan," the young man said, offering his hand. Well callused it was almost certainly the hand of a martial artist. "Some call me Leo, others, Khan." An introduction. How perfectly human. Lucas decided on Khan. As a single syllable it promised to be the most easily memorized. The cheetah in his hand was starting to stir. Lucas let it as he accepted the hand with his own. He was uncertain why the young man was offering what usually amounted to the social ritual announcing the beginning (and end) of a contract and fee negotiation but didn't quibble over it. People could be so arbitrary sometimes, it was no use trying to predict them in non-combat related situations. At the last moment he remembered what was supposed to be said in such situations: "It is nice to meet you Mister Khan."

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[Leonardo Khan]

Leo dropped his hand after Lucas' introduction. Lucas felt a little strange to Leo. Almost as if Lucas.........WANTED to fight. But he seemed as willing to talk as Leo, just not as happy about it. Perhaps Leo would oblige the stranger Lucas; after he figured out if he was friend or foe.

"What brings you out here, Lucas? I don't think it's for mythical warriors," Leo said as he glanced at the cheetah. "I'd hazard a guess it has something to do with the cat."

Leo looked back up at Lucas with a small grin. "Just chasing your pet down, or what?"

[Lucas D. Hargrave]

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[atrb=background,http://i41.tinypic.com/25qq3gn.jpg] "A job is a job," Lucas replied, only letting go of the handshake when it was clear that Khan had also decided to let go. Perhaps he should have laughed or rolled his eyes to accompany the statement but body language was not a forte of Lucas when it came to out-of-combat scenarios and though he knew the theory... in practice his mannerisms often seemed to cause no small amount of distress. Cecilia had called his smiles 'creepy', if memory served. And she had not been the only one. Ah well. 'Stoicism' served well enough in the interim between each round of combat. He should probably say something... letting the conversation just die here would not let him gain any intelligence about the area and although the young man hadn't noticed any other warriors, he might have noticed other things or events that hadn't been assigned much importance but were, in the end. Lucas wasn't entirely sure how to extract such information though. "But on that note..." what note, precisely, Lucas had never learned but such transitions were apparently 'necessary' "...notice anyone odd pass by recently?" Lucas hazarded.

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[Leonardo Khan]

Leo shook his head slightly. Great. A stoic guy. Not a bad thing, but a bit unsettling.

"Nah, not until you showed up. But, if it helps, I'm pretty good at finding people if they're not hiding their energy."

Leo grinned a bit as he said this. He felt it was time to get off this mountain, anyway, so why not help someone out? Besides, this guy seemed like he needed a friend, someone to show him how to deal with people. Or, at the very least, just some company.

[Lucas D. Hargrave]

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[atrb=background,http://i41.tinypic.com/25qq3gn.jpg] Well, it had been a long shot. Those that did not want to be noticed in an area the size of Mt. Paozu... could very well just go unnoticed. No need to knock on every hermit's door. Something scratched him. Lucas looked down to find the baby cheetah biting his hand, a thin stream of blood flowing down from the wound. He let his ki energy surge for a moment and the darn thing promptly fell into another stupor. Perhaps this ki flaring was giving it some sort of nerve damage (repeated physical concussions were not good) but Lucas did not much care. "Ah. I see," he said. And didn't say anything else. He wasn't sure what he needed to say, in fact.

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[Leonardo Khan]

Leo rolled his eyes at the baby big cat in Lucas' hand. Little thing had lost it's mind trying to get free. But Leo had other, more pressing things to consider. So he shrugged as he looked back up at Lucas.

"Well, it was worth a shot. There's still cold water and some jerky and bread in the little hut if you're hungry or thirsty. I'm through with it anyway. Perhaps I'll see you again some day," Leo said as he held out his hand for a farewell handshake.

[Lucas D. Hargrave]

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[atrb=background,http://i41.tinypic.com/25qq3gn.jpg] Jerky? Lucas wondered if it was anything like a protein bar. Maybe, when he went to West City, he would look it up. As he watched Khan extend his hand, Lucas slowly felt his right eyebrow creep up. Another handshake? What for? Curious and curiouser. Accepting it, he waited for something unusual to occur to justify these frequent social exchanges.

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[Leonardo Khan]

"Well, see you around, Lucas," Leo said as he took off into the air, careful to mask his ki while he flew. It caused him to fly slower, but, hey, he just wanted out of there.

That guy is strange. But at least he didn't try anything foolish. His ki wasn't exactly masked, and it felt like we were pretty close in power. Leo thought to himself as he flew. He landed at the foot of Mount Paozu, and started walking, all the better to keep up his strength for when he really needed it.