Zephyr

Phelan cursed the full hand shackles that had been placed around his wrists. If not for them he could kill that arrogant guard that had been keeping an eye on him, and the other prisoner he knew only as Matt, durning the trip to the Dark Lord's city. Nothing would please him more right now then to burn a hole through that cocky smile the guard had. It had been nearly two hours since Phelan and Matt were transported from the prison, by way of horse-drawn hay wagon, but the Dark Lord's castle was finally in sight. Phelan cared little about the approaching tournament at this moment. He was more irritated by the midday sun over head, which left the ride quite warm, though the jacket he wore did not help much. When the wagon at last reached the front of the castle the guard pushed Phelan and Matt out, and led them to the entrance. A small man stood by the front door to great the group. "Two more for the tournament?" The man asked. The guard nodded and provided the man with their names, then pushed them through the doors when the man confirmed their entry. Inside the room there were quite a number of other competitors. For a moment Phelan could swear he saw a look of surprise from Matt, which seemed to be shared by a redhead on the far side of the room, but a push from the guard moved the two out of his visual range. Phelan heard a click, and felt the restraints on his hands open. He turned around, and the guard threw a small, rolled up piece of fabric at him, it was the holder for his throwing knives. "Thanks," Phelan said before giving the guard a punch in the gut, and tossing him out the door. It was not as good as getting to kill him, but pleased him none the less. Phelan walked to the far side of the room, leaned against a wall and started to whistle while adjusting his sunglasses.

Favorite anime? Well, my banner says it all. At this time my favorite anime happens to Noir. I like Noir mainly because of the feel that it has. Just like the name hints to, it has a very [i]Film Noir[/i] feel to it, and I have been a minor fan of film noir in the past. Add into that the great action scenes, a surprising plot, and the music of Yuki Kajiura (whose music I really enjoy), and this anime proves to be simply amazing. Another great aspect of the show is the mixture of old and new in most of the anime. For instance, the city in which the characters live has an old-world look to it, but to contrast that they have a lot of modern venues that are visited. The same style is used for the weapons they chose.

Once more the window to the solitary confinment room opened and was filled by the face of the same guard from before. This time around the guard spoke while fumbling with his keys. "Get up. You're being moved to a room to train for a while." The lock clicked, and slowly the large, metal slab they called a door opened. In addition to the first guard, who was holding restraints that wound bind Phelan's hands, there were two more behind him holding stun sticks. Even if Phelan would decide to run, it would be very hard to get past the two that took up most of the small hallway. Phelan simply turned around and the guard locked his hands in place, then led him off to a small room. To anyone passing by the room would seem very strange. Despite having no visible lights, and very dark walls, people would still be able to see if they were inside. Even to Phelan the room looked rather strange, and the reason became clear when the guard shoved him in. The white shirt Phelan wore under his jacket shined an almost blinding light, and even the metallic silver of his eyes reflected brightly off of his glasses. The door slammed shut behind him. [i]Clever bastards. Using a black light to limit my powers was a good idea. Guess someone from outside the station told them to use it. I doubt they were smart enough to think of it.[/i] Due to the extreme range of ultraviolet light it was more difficult to control then the lower frequencies in the visible spectrum of light. Phelan used UV light to make his laser bursts more damaging, but even then it was only a small fraction of the energy. With this much of it around, and so little visible light, it any beams would be to weak to do much more then singe hairs. Deciding that was good enough to train with, Phelan chose to work on his aim. Previous experience had taught him about the station's field that reflected energy. Phelan bent his left knee, placed his right foot behind it, and took on a posistion that make it look as if he had been sitting on something. Pointing his right hand out he curled his fingers in and pointed his index and middle finger away. Collecting a small amount of UV rays he released them and left them bounce from wall to wall. Most of the bounced shots went flying past him, barely, and he felt them as they moved around. There was an occasional accident, like the one that hit his ear and burned him, but most whizzed by harmlessly. This continued till the guard returned and led him back to his "room." Past the barred room that Matt was in, and back to the lightless box that was the solitary lock-up.

I remember both answers very well indeed. My first game console was the original Nintendo, and the first game was (you can probably just guess) the old school Mario Brothers game. I do not think I ever managed to win that game, being as I was in third grade, at the most, but it was fun. Ahh, the nostalgia of the old 2-D, flat graphic game consoles. I want my Duck Hunt(er) game back. Just so I can plug in the second controller and move the ducks around so that others would miss them with the little gun. :devil:

A metallic ringing filled the corridors of the police lock-up as Phelan smashed his fists into the door of his cell. To the guards outside is must have sounded like he was trying to escape, even though that would obviously not work. In truth he was training his mind and body to ignore pain, and stregnthening his knuckles so they would do more damage to anyone he his. With his forced entry into the tournament it was a good idea to get in as much practice as possible. The training continued for some time before Phelan stopped, no need to break any bones before the fights. Phelan looked down at his knuckles and cursed. If he could see them he was sure they would be a very dark red, or even show early signs of bruising. Being locked in a solitary confinement cell made it impossible to see anything, since there were no lights anywhere nearby. It seemed that the police did not like the little light show he had put on during an earlier escape attempt. Before he could think about it any further the small window on the door opened and a fat face filled the area. "Heh heh heh. You tryin' to escape, or just break your hands in hopes of avoiding the tournament?" The guard smirked. Phelan looked up and the dim light from outside the cell reflected from the silver of his eyes, lending him an almost demonic look. "Just imagining your ugly face as my new punching bag. I've gotta have the right motivation to enjoy praticing." Phelan chuckled lightly and guard scowled and slammed the window shut. Pissing the guard off was not the brightest thing to do, but it was entertaining. There was also the added bonus that the guard could not do anything without taking the chance of messing with the tournament, a chance that could be painful, or even deadly to him. Phelan sat down on the cold, rock floor and stretched his legs, which touched the other side of the tiny room. Grabbing his sunglasses from his pocket he placed them on his head and began to whistle. Just one more week to go.

Name: Phelan Cross (first name pronounced like "Fay-len") Age: 20 Gender: Male What village you come from: Chanta Abilities/Special Powers: Phelan can control the movement of photons (i.e. light) to create flashes, laser like beams (from his fingers), and can bend light away from his body (for a chemeleon effect). As a last resort he can cloak a large area in darkness and his eyes will adjust quickly to the low light (lasts a very short time and drains his energy) Weapon: Five small throwing knives (like the ones Chloe uses in Noir) Appearance: [url]http://www.darkhorse.com/profile/profile.php?sku=11-853[/url] (click on pic to left to enlarge) Also wears a pair of sun glasses, which hide silver eyes. Bio: A street thug, through and through, Phelan has survived on on his own since his early teens. His parents were killed for been the high-ranking members of a resistance movement, and as a result Phelan was left without a home and a slim chance of survival. Since then he has barely managed to survive by stealing, bribes, and the occasional face pounding. Over time he has aquired a group of followers that hang on his every word, hoping to survive. Phelan actually detests the group for their behavior and tries to ditch them whenever he can. It was one such time that led him to be "recruited" into the tournament. Phelan intentionally started a fight with the Dark Lord's police and left the group to fend on their own in the fight. The downside was that he did not expect the police to catch him, and wound up with one choice, fight in the tournament, or be executed. Personality: Phelan is a difficult person to get along with, and never bothers to try to get along with most people. Most people that try to talk to him he ignores, or treats like they are not worth his time, the ones that continue to pester him usually get punched. When not actually fighting he tends to train. He is rarely seen without his sunglasses, because his eyes are sensitive to bright light. Hope that is good.

Okay, it works now. AzureWolf had the right idea. Since I forgot to delete the Temp. files it was defaulting to what it remembered. Many thanks, jblessing and AzureWolf for the help.

*Phelan focused his binoculars onto a single point of the Titan's Town, thought for a moment, then made a note one a sheet of paper next to him. Out of all the things he has had to do as a mercenary, recon was one of the least interesting. Sitting still and staring at something for hours on end was not nearly as exciting as actually sneaking into the area, though it is an important first step to safelu sneaking in. Another irritaing thing was the lack of cover on the building's roof, but this far into the city no one was likely to notice him. The tapping of boots behind him caught Phelan's attention and he rotated his head enough to see who was approaching him. He turned back to his binoculars and continued to look for any weak spots in the tower's design. This action did not seem to sit well with the person behind him. "Slade wants a report from you," Blackfire said, not bothing to hide her irritation at being ignored. "He is rather pissed that you did not return after the battle. He wants you to be reminded that [i]you[/i] work for [i]him[/i] and are not to leave him waiting." Phelan did not even bother to look away from his binoculars as he responded to her. "I am busy. That is my report. Tell Slade I am doing what I am payed to, finding a way to stop the Titans." Blackfire became slightly more irritated by this, but decided not to deal with it any longer. [i]If he wants to make Slade angry, then fine. Let him deal with it.[/i] Without another word she took to the air an disappeared. Phelan paused long enough to see her leave. He smiled, took a drink from a bottle of gin sitting next to him, and returned to looking for weak spots in the tower's structure.

MyOtaku seems to refuse to upload a new avatar pic onto the site. Every time I tell it to upload a pic it will say that it has been uploaded, but when I check, the old one is still there. The image is only 80x80 and 10k, so it easily falls into the requirements listed in the "Site Content" area.

Wow. Didn't even know there was a Boogiepop thread here. Personally, I enjoyed Boogiepop Phantom. Normally I am not a fan of the "dark and forboding" style of anime, but this one was very interesting. One of the best parts was the fact that small parts of one episode, that go unexplained, appear a few episodes later from the other perspective, clearing away some of the fog (so to speak). I do not like the idea of comparing it to Lain, mainly because I was disappointed by Lain. Now that I have been reminded of that series I will have to rent it again. It has been awhile, and I have forgotten a lot. :p

Phelan crawled out from beneath a section of the nightclub's collapsed wall. In the distance he could hear the approch of police and medical vehicles. Deciding it was best not to be caught he made his way down the back alley behind the club, and over to the part of the alley he had parked his motorcycle at before entering. A quick inspection of himself revealed a number of nasty injuries he had not even noticed. The worst on the list was his left arm, which hung limp at his side, andwas popped forward at the shoulder. Phelan knew there was only one way to fix a dislocated shoulder, and that is was not going to be fun. Removing his tattered cloak, Phelan placed his shoulder against a nearby building's corner and took a deep breath. With an audible pop, and a grunt of pain, Phelan pushed his body forward to reset the joint. Lifting the seat of his motorcycle, Phelan took out his helmet and grabbed the med-kit underneath it. From the kit he took a spray bottle full of a dark blue liquid and sprayed the open wounds on his face, arms, and legs. Each wound stung as the disinfectant cleaned them, then again as the liquid hardened into a temporary bandage. Phelan dropped the med-kit back in the compartment and tossed his cloak, or what remained of it, on top. Closing the seat, Phelan donned his helmet and started the motorcycle. As he sped away from the scene one thought passed through his mind, [i]I better get extra pay for this.[/i]

OOC: *looks around in surprise and confusion.* Huh? How did I go from fighting Robin to completely disappearing from the fight? :confused: I'm confused now. If anyone needs me I'll be over here. *Sits down in corner and sulks.* :p IC: Phelan took a seat on the nearby bar counter and watched the fighting. Since the barkeep had run away long ago, Phelan helped himself to a soda. Halfway through the bottle he was interrupted by a stray enegy blast that slammed into the nearby wall. Now slightly irritated Phelan tossed the half-empty bottle into the fray and struck Cyborg in the back. "Ah, it's on now, little man," Cyborg shouted while charging at Phelan. Phelan showed little interest in the metallic behemoth that was heading his way, and merely grabbed another bottle and took a swig. When Cyborg was nearly on top of him, Phelan lifted his lighter and blew across the open flame. A larger burst of flame lept forth from his mouth as the alcohol on his breath ignited. Cyborg, caught off guard by this, stumbled and struck the counter headfirst. "Ooh, bet that hurt," Phelan said with a mocking cringe and completely fake, but equally mocking, laugh. Cyborg's right hand swung around to grab Phelan, but missed as the white-cloaked mercenary leaned back and landed behind the counter. The same hand that tried to grab him earlier now swung down and through the soft wood of the bar, splintering a large section. Phelan took his chance and struck Cyborg's head with his foot. Cyborg, now greatly angered, struck back with a piece of the bar's wood, which slammed into Phelan's right arm. Phelan quickly hid the look of pain that flashed over his face for a moment, then drew his pistol with his left hand. "Alright. Let's see if you're bulletproof." The words were punctuated by two rounds fired from the 9mm handgun.

Robin, still angered by the "chat" with Slade, never saw the fist that slammed into his right temple. The blow caused him to fall backward, and his vision fogged over for a moment. When he regained his sight Robin found himself face to face with Phelan. "You do not fight very fair do you?" Robin said with a half cough. "Not unless I am paid to," Phelan replied. "Now defend yourself, or else I will gladly deliver you head to Slade. It should net me a nice bonus." Phelan's lips curled back in a feral grin. The reply to Phelan's challenge came in the form of a punch-cresent kick combo from Robin. Phelan dodged the punch, and chose to block the kick with his left forearm. Not wasting anytime, Robin drew his metal staff and charged Phelan. With a swift, practiced move, Phelan drew his katana and fought back. The sound to mteal clashing rang through the building as the two weapons traded attacks and blocks. Phelan was the first to take an injury from this battle. Robin's staff struck the skin on his left cheek, opening a moderate wound that slowly bled down the side of Phelan's face. "Heh. You are every bit as good as they say. I think this is the first battle I will have enjoyed in a long time." Phelan chuckled slightly as he brought his sword up, slicing through the spot that Robin had occupided only microseconds ago. With his blade facing down, Phelan used the pommel cap to block Robin's swing. Phelan followed up with the block by dropping to the ground and sweeping his left foot through Robin's ankles, knocking the younger fighter to the ground. Robin did not stay down long, as he jumped back up the moment his hands hit the ground. Phelan looked Robin staright in the eye, and Robin returned the gaze. Despite the fighting neither of the two was breathing hard, though both where showing signs of fatigue and injury. This stopped niether of them from charging back at each other once more.

OOC: I hat having writer's block. It ruins all the fun I should be having here. The police guard's whistling was cut off by a sharp blow to the back of the neck. Phelan appeared from behind the door that he was using for cover while sneaking into the prision. Breaking into high security areas was nothing new to Phelan, but breaking into a prision was just plain ironic to him. Phelan typed something into a nearby computer terminal and headed out of the room and into the lower levels of the building. [i]S-109, S-111, ah, S-115. Here is Slade's newest recruit. Hope she's willing to agree to work for him.[/i] Phelan pulled a small case from a pouch on his hip and opened it. Inside was a PDA sized computer and a series of cables. Phelan opened the electronic keypad next to the door, connected the cables to the wiring, and began to type on the computer. A quiet beeping and the hiss of the door's hydralics brought a rare smile to his face. [i]Twenty seconds. This is one cheesy computer system.[/i] "Who are you?" the room's occupant shouted, with more then a little malice in her voice. "Someone sent to free you. My employer would like to speak with you." Phelan said as he used his lighter to create a blowtorch that cut though the restraints binding the girl's hands. "And why should wish to speak with this person? What's to stop me from just running away, after killing you?" A twisted smile crossed her face. "Simple, my employer is offering you a chance to get revenge on Starfire, and the rest of the Titans." This caused the girl to pause for a moment, then nod in agreement. "Follow me if you wish to here him out. If not, you are on your own." Phelan walked out of the room and down the hall, followed closely by the young Blackfire. OOC: One more name to add to the party list, eh? :devil:

Thanks again, I really like the new look. :D

Thanks for creating these for me. Would you be able to make a few adjustments to the first banner shown? There are only two things that I think need to be altered slightly: 1) The pic of Kirika is hard to see, could you zoom in on it a bit and 2) The spot in the upper-middle seems a bit empty, could you include the name Noir in that area Thanks again, it is a really great banner.

Foam and plastic bits flew throught the air, accompanied by the short report of gunfire, as Phelan made his way around the firing range. Target dummies popped up at random to fire paint rounds, never knowing that they had done so many time before, and rarely succeded in hitting anything but a wall. Further down the range the targets started to pop up closer to Phelan. In responce he switched the gun to his left hand and drew the katana from his hip. This continued for nearly ten minutes as Phelan tried to treat this as a real fight, despite the feeling that it was child,s play. The test finally ended when his Walther P99 hit a well protected dummy in the red circle on its face. Phelan sighed and walked off the course, disappointed by how predictable it had become. A flashing message on his computer screen got him back into a good mood, rare as they were. Phelan opened the short e-mail and smiled, another job offer. "All right. Guess I'll have to see what this Slade is offering," he mumbled as he walked off. Half an hour later Phelan's motorcycle pulled up to the location listed in the e-mail. He was led into a garage by a short character in a black suit white faceplate. Phelan removed his helemt, stowed it under the motorcycle's seat, and put on his white cloak. From there he was lead to a dark room with TV screen's on one wall, and a tall figure with another faceplate and an "s" on his outfit. "Welcome, my younger mercenary. Glad you could join me," Slade said without hesitation. "It is odd for me to ever meet with any client. You must feel pretty secure to discuss anything face-to-face," Phelan replied. "I am. You are one of the best mercenaries around, but you would never attack anyone with a job offer. Which is exactly wheat I have for you." "I'm listening." "Tell me what you see on that screen over there," Slade pointed at the image. "Four fighters getting kicked around by the Titans. Two of them have more muscle then brains, one is too cocky, and the last has little control over what her powers do to things around her. Even if the Titans were at half their stregnth I doubt those four would win." Phelan spoke the words with little emotion, and even less interest. "Just the responce I would expect from an offspring of Project Dragon." Phelan looked at Slade, but hid his surprise. "Yes, I know more about you then you realize. It is always best to learn about one's potential enemies, or allies." The conversation between Phelan continued for sometime before Phelan agreed to work for Slade, though he did work out a higher paycheck then Slade orginally offered. Thus was the price of business with the Underground's hired guns.

I am looking for someone to make a banner based on the anime Noir for me. Here are the specifics that I am looking for: --A black background --A picture of Kirika on one side and another of Chloe on the opposite side (if possible have a pic of Kirika with a gun, and one of Chloe with her throwing knives) --The following phrases (in red letters) in order of top left corner, middle, and lower right corner (respectively): [i]Two Maidens One Future And A Lot Of Bodybags[/i] Credit for the banner will be given in my sig. Thanks in advance.

Hmm, this sounds like fun. Not to mention it is a good chance to use my online alter ego. :devil: Name: Phelan Cross Code-Name: Black Phoenix Age: 23 Side: Mercenary, hired by Slade Powers/ Abilities: Pyrokenesis, for those that do not know, that is the ability to control fire. Gadgets: Katana, Walther P99 (9mm hand gun), and a lighter (for use with his power) Description: About 6 feet tall, short brown hair, and eyes that are half-brown/half-green. He is thin, but still had a decent amount of muscle mass. His outfit is similar to Raven's, except that the cloak is white, the black jumpsuit reaches from neck to wrists to ankles, and he wears black boots and gloves. There is a small tattoo of a dragon biting its tail (to form a circle) at the base of his neck. Personality: Very cold, almost to the point of appearing anti-social to most. Durning fights he is completely focused, and will rarely help others, unless he is paid to. Spends most of his free time alone cleaning his weapons or practicing his fighting skills, though he will occasionally spend time around others. Never speaks about his past, and quickly tells others to never ask if they start asking. Weakness: Use of his pyrokenetic skills will quickly wear him out, which is why he uses them only when needed. Small Bio: Phelan Cross was the 256th child of a military project that never made it past the prototype stages. Project Dragon, as it was called, was intended to create a group of genetically altered humans that would have unique skills, and thus superiority over any battlefield. Most of the GenCons (Genetic Constructs) never survived, and the few that did were trained to fight and work in secrecy. When the project was cancelled all of the GenCons were to be terminated, but they fought back and a few escaped. Since that day Phelan has been fighting, since it is the only life he has really known. Does that sound like a good character? :devil:

[quote name='ScirosDarkblade']I'd also like to see a Kodiak bear take on a tiger. I really don't know how that would turn out. The bear is freaking huge, and with one swipe could take the tiger's face off. But the tiger might be able to get at the bear's throat somehow or something. I wonder.[/quote] The amusing thing there is that they actually did that a few nights ago with a Brown Bear and a Siberian Tiger. Too bad the bear won, but it was an unfair challenge from the start. The tiger would not be able to get a kill in its normal fashion since a bear would be too big to knock over and too tall to get by the throat. The tiger has sharper claws, but they are useless against a creature known to take a shotgun to the chest and not blink. Also bears swipe with their front feet (or hands, if they are standing), which would knock the smaller tiger back quite a bit.

[QUOTE=sublime2004][b][size=1][color=darkgreen]First off: the show Animal Face-Off is a complete joke. In every single episode I have seen, the information and integrity of the experiment was comprimised. And, how in the world is a metal skull attached to a vice-grip supposed to prove anything? [/b][/size][/color][/QUOTE] I think you fail to see the point of the show. The experiments are mostly just for show, to keep the veiwers interested (hense the crushing of coconuts and TV's in the mouths). By the time the challenge starts they already have all the info they need about what the animal can do. The metal skulls are only meant to give you an idea of what the animal can do to its prey. Now that I am done ranting. I persoanlly like the show just because I am interested in how animals (including humans) behave. For instance, I never knew before about a week ago that a cougar tries to grab the spine of its prey, whereas most other predators of the feline group go for the throat. As for who I would like to see face off: maybe pit the cougar against a fully grown, male lion. They would both be evenly matched in most cases, but the cougar would have a speed advantage and the lion would have a larger mass advantage.

Yet another amazing looking series that AS has managed to find for us. I was a bit worried at first when it mentioned that it was done by the same people that did Cowboy Bebop, which could have led to a serious let-down if it had not been so good. The animation was very well done, and was obviously thought out quite a bit. The occasional shifting between the human and wolf forms durning the fight scenes really added to the whole effect of the show. Also the realism behind the limping wolf scene and the muscle folds on the top of Kiba's snout when he attacked are very nice touches that would have been overlooked in other anime. So far the first episode has set some pretty high standards for the show. Hopefully the rest will not dissapoint us.

Definately [b]Magic: The Gathering[/b]. It is the most flexible card game that I have seen, so few CCG/TCG's have rules that can be bent just by adding or removing one word from a card. On top of that it has enough card style variations to provide a strategy for any player, including the ones that want an infinite mana/damage loop. As for the others listed; I never liked Pokemon (anime or TCG), Duel Masters looks like the redheaded stepchild of MTG and Yu-Gi-Oh, and the rules for Yu-Gi-Oh (from what I have seen) are too over simplified and very restrictive. Or course, there is nothing that can ever beat a game of Blackjack. :D

[quote name='Twilight][spoiler']Actually, Morganna essentially is the game coding. She is a program in the form of virus cores that is the base essence of 'The World'. Her sole purpose was to generate the Eight Phases, Skeith and so on, who were to gather data from characters playing in the game, and to relay that information to Morganna. From there, it would be filtered to Aura, who would then overturn the game system and replace Morganna.[/spoiler][/quote] [spoiler]Fisrt off, Morganna is not the entire game. She is just a sentient program created by Harold to awaken Aura, who Harold intented to be the unborn child of himself and Emma (creator of the Epitaph Of Twilight), after which Morganna would be deleted. Morganna, according to the games and the Liminality DVDs, did not like the idea of no longer existing and set out to hold off Aura's awakening for as long as possible. As for the virus cores, they were created as a result of the Phases moving throughout the game.[/spoiler] [quote][spoiler] Once Aura awakens, Morganna generates Skeith for the sole purpose of destroying Aura. This plan, as you can tell, fails, and Tsukasa awakens as well, and the show ends.[/spoiler][/QUOTE] [spoiler]What you said here, about Skeith, contradicts what you said before. The purpose of the Phases was to collect data on human emotions and transfere them to Aura, thus making her appear to have human thought and emotion. This collection of data by Aura and Morganna is what causes the server the problems in the real world, as the info grows too much for the CC Corp. computers and tries to expand into the entire network. Skeith was only sent to seperate Aura into fragments in order to limit her power in the system. That is why Kite collects the Data Fragments in the games.[/spoiler]

[quote name='magic_raditz']I dont know if this would be the right place to post this, but in cyborg 009 at the end of what CN showed it seemed like all of the events were all leading up to another season and then at the end, if I remember correctly, there is shown a big black ball of light and then CN didn't show any new episodes. Does anyone know if they are going to start airing new episodes, or if there are even any?[/quote] IIRC, animenewsnetwork.com said that a second season of Cyborg 009 was planned to air soon. It will either be the same day that Toonami moves to Saturdays, or some time in June/July. I cannot remember at this moment, so I will have to hunt down the article that spoke about it.