Temptation has destroyed

[dun_moch]

WHO: Count Dooku and Kagami, aka Riku Replica
WHERE: The abandoned 'Heave n' Leave' gymnasium in Maurtia Falls
WHEN: Nighttime, backdated to late September, after the Superior Iron Man is defeated
WHAT: Dooku moves his training of Kagami to the next level, with a little help from one of Raina's projects
WARNINGS: Violence

"I have a new test for you today," Count Dooku boomed as he walked with his apprentice to the decrepit building he had come to favour for his more clandestine affairs. "It will be a new exercise for your strength, and a chance to show me what you can really do. But you must promise to keep it a secret for the sake of the friend you are about to meet." He regarded Kagami from the corner of his eye as he walked, sizing up his reaction. "Can I trust that you will be discreet?"

He is fairly certain that he can. Kagami has come a long way since Dooku first met him. His desire to become stronger is so fierce that he has accepted the Count as his teacher and even calls him 'sir.' Their lessons lately have been fairly basic: defensive exercises where Kagami must deflect projectiles Dooku casts, or meditations upon the power of anger. Now that their connection is stronger, the Count feels ready to reveal one of his more secret assets to the boy, something rare that Raina entrusted to him to seal their alliance. If all goes well, tonight's training will serve a twofold purpose, testing both Kagami and the power of the 'Centipede project' against imPorts.

Comments

[darkimitation]

Kagami followed his new mentor to the training spot he had chosen for him and even listened as he spoke to him, only replying once the older man was finished. "Yes sir, I understand. No one will ever find out, you have my word and promise on that."

In truth, he didn't want anyone else finding out his secret training with Dooku between his schooling. He'd tell the others he was heading out to the library to study or made up some other excuse, just so they'd never be aware of what he's truly doing. After all his other lessons, meditations, and tests, he felt ready for this new test. So whatever his mentor threw at him, he had the utmost confidence he would overcome it.

[dun_moch]

"Very good. I will hold you to your oath."

With that, Dooku stepped through the doorway to the old gymnasium, expecting Kagami to follow. His brown boots clicked as he crossed the bare, dusty concrete floor. There was a man waiting for them, wearing a dark suit and a unflinchingly neutral expression. He greeted the two imPorts with a wordless nod.

"Kagami, this is my new friend Roland," Dooku announced with a gesture. "He gained special abilities during the recent unpleasantness, and now works as one of my bodyguards. He wishes for his power to remain hidden from the world until he has adapted to this great change. I have been teaching him. You will be the first imPort he faces."

In fact Roland had been in contact with the Count for far longer than that, a courtesy from Raina as part of her top-secret super-soldier work. But Dooku was telling the truth about one thing: he had been teaching Roland, and this was the first time he would practice against an imPort in combat. Roland stepped forward, cracking his neck. Dooku moved to the side, ready to observe.

"Are you prepared to spar with Roland unarmed? I wish to see how you fare without your blade."

[darkimitation]

"I want to know what this guy's abilities are before we fight." Kagami looks over Roland himself, trying to determine what exactly this guy had up his sleeves. "I'm not against hand to hand, but I'm not stupid either." Once he knows, he'll feel more ready to face Roland and possibly absorb his powers during their fight to see if these abilities of his are worth having.

[dun_moch]

Dooku's lips tug downwards, almost frowning but not quite. "Is that so? Knowing your opponent's capabilities in advance is not a luxury you will have in a real fight, Kagami." Standing across from the Replica, Roland waits silently, cracking his knuckles. Dooku looks from him to Kagami and back again, considering.

"I will tell you his powers in advance- if you are willing to reveal your own to him." A sly smile creeps across the Count's face. This is a chance to test which advantage Kagami values more in battle: knowledge, or surprise. "That is fair, don't you agree? The choice is yours, my apprentice."

[darkimitation]

Narrowing his eyes for a brief moment, Kagami knows the Count is right. He doesn't have the luxury of learning his opponent's abilities in a real fight, that much he's learned from his time in Castle Oblivion and in this world. So he makes the decision to scoff and get into a fighting position with a smug grin. "I'll take my chances then." He turns back to Roland, that smug grin still on his expression as he does so. "Come on, hit me with all you've got."

[dun_moch]

So the boy is cunning enough to know the value of concealment- that is good to know. I will make something of you yet, child, Dooku thinks. He raises a hand, and speaks as though addressing a crowd. "The only rule is that you are not permitted to kill one another. Begin!"

He lowers his hand. Roland moves forward to oblige Kagami's challenge, throwing a lightning-fast punch toward Kagami's chest. Two of his powers are immediately apparent: he is fast, and that punch is strong enough to break bones in an ordinary human body.

[darkimitation]

Kagami is taken back by the suddenly quickness and punch from Roland, thus he's knocked backwards quite a bit onto the ground. As he's getting up, his eyes are closing and he seems to be concentrating until suddenly there's two doubles that appear on each side of him. They both look at their original then charge at Roland trying to disable him while Kagami himself makes two blue fireballs appear in his hands as he fires them directly at Roland.

As he does this he's also thinking if his doubles can disable or distract Roland enough then perhaps he can absorb his powers when the other isn't looking. Hopefully his plans go as he wants them to, but he'll have to wait and see.

[dun_moch]

Now that is something the bodyguard is not expecting at all. He finally says a word as the sudden duplicates charge him:

"What?"

Roland isn't too surprised to react, though. He knocks both doubles aside with mighty backhanded blows, sending them flying. But while he's doing that, he isn't watching Kagami. He is caught flat-footed when the fireballs slam into his chest and knock him to the ground, his body skidding backwards a couple feet across the floor.

The Centipede trooper groans a moment before starting to get back up. If Kagami wants to snag his powers now, this is an ideal opening.

[darkimitation]

Being quick on his feet, Kagami lunges forward and grabs Roland by his collar before he's able to fully get back up. Even if the man tries to struggle and push him off, the young man keeps his tight grip on the older one as he lifts him up off the ground slightly. His expression shows a serious yet deadpan expression before giving the other a small smug smirk.

"I win." The only words spoken from his lips before a dark blue aura and what appears to be dark smoke appear around his body along with Roland's. Kagami continues to stare at Roland and the man will be drained of all his energy and powers before blacking out completely into unconsciousness and the aura along with the smoke both disappear. The replica himself is only slightly surprised when he sees this happen instead of the other disappearing out of existence. Nevertheless, he drops the older man's body onto the ground before staring at Dooku. "So did I pass, sir?"

[dun_moch]

"Passed? You have exceeded my expectations, my boy." Yet Dooku still frowns as he steps forward to nudge Roland's limp body with the tip of his boot. He will have to talk to Raina about her work. He had fully expected the super-soldier to put up a longer fight against the youth than this... but clearly the Count had not realized the full extent of Kagami's powers.

"What did you do to him? I do trust he will recover." Failure or not, Dooku still has use for the bodyguard, and Raina would most likely be cross if anything permanent happened to him.

[darkimitation]

"I absorbed his powers. But the last guy I did this to completely disappeared, so I was expecting the same with this guy." Kagami then leans down and checks out Roland's limp body to see what's going on with him. After a quick examination, he figures out what's wrong. "I thought he might be dead, but he's only unconscious. I don't know how long he'll be out for." The young replica soon stands back up again and begins to test out his new abilities from Roland as a way to train himself in how to use them. "So was this the whole test or are you going to throw more guys at me?"

[dun_moch]

Ordinarily Dooku would be very interested to learn more about the power transfer, to examine whether Kagami has gained the full measure of Roland's Centipede-granted speed, strength, and durability using his imPort powers. But there is something more important than that to address first. Shadows fall across the Count's face as his dark eyes bear down upon the Replica.

"Completely disappeared, you say," he rumbles. "Or perhaps 'destroyed' would be a better word? And this was the outcome you expected... that you desired." He steps closer, looming over his apprentice. "Kagami, kindly refresh an old man's mind, if you would. What was the one rule I imposed upon this test?"

[darkimitation]

Kagami remembers clearly what the Dooku said and repeats it to him, "You said the only rule is that you are not permitted to kill one another." He however shrugs his shoulders and keeps practicing with his new powers. "But, you should know by now I don't follow rules unless I want to and do anything to win."

He then gives the Count a smug smirk which will show the other that Kagami is more ruthless than he may have originally thought. "Or perhaps you don't like that, sir?" Not that he really cares per say what Dooku might say. Since as he told the older man, he'll only follows rules when it's ones he wants to or feels like it at that time.

[dun_moch]

"Perhaps I don't." Dooku frowns. The boy's pride in his growing powers has led to him forgetting his place. 'Sir' or not, he clearly still needs to learn respect.

"There is little point in teaching you if you do not follow instructions," he lectures, hands behind his back. "Power without proper discipline is nothing but weakness in disguise. And I have no interest in wasting my time with weakness."

He unclasps his hands and makes a small, subtle gesture with his right. There's a barely-audible thrum of power in the air, and then Roland's limp body levitates off the ground, dust falling away from where he was lying. Dooku gestures again, and Roland floats over to hover in front of Kagami, hanging there like a coat on a hook.

"Return what you took from him," the Count commands. "Reawaken him. You have failed this test, apprentice. You will have to take it again until your performance is satisfactory."

[darkimitation]

"I've been following your instructions this entire time. But now when I'm willing to bend the rules a little and do things my way, you get pissed off with me. It's not weakness, it's exploiting the enemy." Kagami did not fail in his eyes nor is he weak, he beat the guy. Though he does stare at Roland's limp body floating in the air in front of him, yet he shrugs. "I can't return what I took from him either, the damage is permanent. As for waking him up, I think he'll do that on his own."

He then finds a place to sit down and reaches into his pocket to pull out a small star charm which he stares down at. "Besides, this isn't just about me getting stronger for myself anymore. I'm growing stronger for someone very special to me. I want to protect her no matter what the cost."

[dun_moch]

"Permanent?" Dooku glares at Roland's unconscious body for a moment as though this was his fault, then lets him drop like a rag. A tool that loses its edge also loses its utility. Raina is not going to be happy about this if Roland is now truly depowered for good, and Dooku turns his full ire on his wayward apprentice.

"You have gone far beyond bending the rules a little. You may have cost me a bodyguard. You attempted to murder a training partner- just as you murdered your brother!" Yeah, he's going to bring that back up if Kagami is going to keep being insubordinate. And if Kagami's going to wave another of his personal weaknesses in the air in the form of that charm...

"I offered to teach you because I saw you could be better than this. Perhaps I was mistaken," Dooku booms, sweeping his hand outwards. "Without proper control, you cannot protect anyone. If you act like this, your special one is more likely to fear you than embrace your strength."

[darkimitation]

He listens to everything Dooku says, snarling as he stands up and puts the charm back into his pocket as well, and then finally gives the Count the most angry glare he can muster up as what appears to be dark energy starting to flow out from his body.

"Oh boo hoo. What's one useless non-imPort bodyguard? I have more value in my pinkie than he has in his whole body." The more angry he gets, the more his aura of darkness gets bigger and more violent in nature. "You're also crossing lines right now. You can bring up what I did to Riku over and over, but don't you dare assume anything about Naminé. So back down before I get really angry."

[dun_moch]

And then Count Dooku actually starts laughing at him, deep and booming. He isn't intimidated at all by the dark power building around Kagami- encouraging dark power is basically his thing.

"You unfortunate boy," he says, grinning. "So Namine is the one who is special in your heart! I might never have known, if you had not just announced her name. You see now, why you need my help?"

The Count begins to circle Kagami, pacing slowly as he speaks.

"You are lucky that I am your friend, Kagami," he continues, lowering his voice. "If I was your enemy, you would have just exposed one of your great vulnerabilities to me, and endangered Namine with your rashness." Because of course to the Sith, love is a vulnerability, and exposed connections are targets for enemies to strike. "Your passion will be your undoing if it is not controlled. Your lack of discipline is your weakness. I can help you master it- but only if you follow my instructions."

Dooku is reminded more and more of a previous failed apprentice of his- Savage Oppress, the brutish killing machine from Dathomir. Savage was easily three times Kagami's size and had none of his self-loathing, but he did always have problems controlling his rage and power. When he had turned against the Count, his sloppy, unrefined technique was his downfall. His raw strength had been no match for Dooku's skill and experience. Yet the Count still hopes this boy may be more salvageable than Savage proved to be.

[darkimitation]

Kagami couldn't deny Dooku was right, but of course he wouldn't admit that and thought for a moment before responding to the older man. "You still let me do things my way and I'll listen to your instructions, otherwise forget it. I'm not being used or made into a tool. The Organization tried that and failed miserably." The Replica's tone was dark and the darkness that surrounded him didn't leave. Even his eyes gave off a look that could probably kill if able to as they were very narrowed and cold looking. "I'm no one's lapdog, got it?"

His mind was set and had no plans to change. He refused to let anyone control him or what he did. Right now for him, the Count was only a means to get stronger than Riku and protect Naminé from anyone who would hurt her. Even if it meant killing, he would do it to protect her. That is how much he loved her.

[dun_moch]

Dooku didn't answer for a moment, meeting Kagami's eyes with his own, hard and searching. Then he took a step back, away from the Replica's space, and bowed slightly to the younger imPort with his arm across his waist, his voice courteous and warm once again.

"Of course," he said. "We understand one another. This is a bargain- each of us must gain something for it to be worthwhile. I will respect your boundaries. And this will be the last time I mention Namine."

The Count found it so very interesting that the simple touching of the topic of her provoked such a strong and instant reaction in Kagami, moreso than raising the murder of his own brother. Love truly was a bizarre sensation. Dooku was glad that his own heart was free of such weakness.

"But in return, you must respect my boundaries and instructions," he continued, glancing over to Roland's disappointingly insensate body. "You are not to damage your sparring partners more than is necessary. Despite his weak and pitiful performance tonight, that man is more important than you may know. Had he died, you might have cost me a valuable ally. Consider that a lesson, Kagami: when you destroy your enemy, be sure that you do not create a new problem in the process."

[darkimitation]

"Yeah yeah, I get it." Although he's still a bit annoyed, he'll agree with Dooku for now. "I won't do it again." He then sighs and looks at his phone before turning back to the Count. It was getting late, he suspects Riku might be wondering where he went to or the others might wonder the same. "I should be getting home, everyone is probably wondering where I went by now."

He changes back into his normal clothes and puts his phone away again before thinking about making a portal. "If you need me, you know where to find me." He then makes said portal and steps into it as he makes his way home.