Adversity - B-day fic for Planty! (Mild Shounen-ai)

[Sol]

"Okay..." Shademan breathed as he looked at his surroundings, "What is going on?"

The vampire navi had laid down on his bed to rest after a grueling day of several events, and had expected a peaceful slumber after being so thoroughly exhausted. So it came as no surprise when he woke up and saw something other than the ceiling of his room.

Looking around him, he was standing on some kind of floating rock, with the whole world around him a very dull purple color, the world occasionally rippling into waves. Growling, he steadied himself on the ground, moving his eyes about to see if there was anything of use near him.

"Ah, welcome!" a voice rang out, breaking the silence. Shademan frowned and narrowed his eyes, not even bothering to look around anymore.

"It's you again..." he growled out, "What have you brought me here for this time?" Shademan heard a voice laugh, a screeching sound that could pierce any ear drum.

"That's right...me," it said silkily, letting off another screeching laugh. "Are you ready to give in to me yet?"

Shademan smirked. "Oh? I beat you back the last time, so what makes you so sure that you will overcome my resistance this time?" he asked.

It was true; every time Shademan was forced to come in here, he was subjected to several memories of the past. The voice inside his head wanted him to give into his blood lust and just become another navi who has been under the influence of a dark chip; just a mindless beast. The past few times when it had done this weren't successful at all, but Shademan knew that whatever the voice inside him was planning, it wasn't good.

"Is that so? Then...I guess I will have to step up my efforts, it seems." it said. Shademan frowned. Whenever someone said that, is usually wasn't good.

The shrill laughter rang out again, making the vampire navi wince. With his sensitive ears, the sharp and haunting laugh kept ringing in his ears. At that moment, he felt a sudden pain in his head, as he groaned and clutched it.

Growling audibly, Shademan's nails dug into the side of his head. "Not again...!" he gasped out as he felt the familiar pains going through his head. Whenever that voice tried to overcome him in his dreams, it did the one thing that he absolutely hated.

It brought up painful memories that he would rather forget.

The vampire navi's eyes started to cloud over as he was dragged down into his memories, the shrill laughter still hanging in the air.

The air was deathly still as the Darkloid's fortress was silent for the first time in a while. Normally, it was bustling with some kind of activity, no matter how slight it was. However, today was different.

Shademan disliked days where something was out of the ordinary, because it meant something really bad was going to happen.

How he hated his instincts sometimes.

Walking around the unusually silent fortress, the vampire navi noted that the whole place seemed empty for some reason...something that shouldn't be possible at any given time. Narrowing his eyes and strengthening his senses, he stood still until he heard some movement coming from a room to the side of the corridor he was currently in.

Striding over the door, he opened it quickly and looked inside the room. Blinking, he saw his closest friend, Burnerman, standing in the middle of the room, looking oddly tense.

Stepping into the room quietly, the vampire navi spoke up. "Burnerman? What's going on?" he asked cautiously. Something was incredibly wrong, and his first instinct was to get himself ready to attack at any time, even though he was asking himself why.

When his friend didn't speak up, or make any sort of movement at all, Shademan grimaced. "Alright, something is wrong. Tell me, Burnerman...what is happening?"

"You did it after all." came the flame navi's voice, oddly devoid of any emotion.

Shademan steeled himself for what was to come. That simple statement alerted him to what was wrong. "Burnerman...I can explain. Just..."

Burnerman didn't give him time to answer as he immediately turned around and immediately fired off a Burner Blast, making Shademan immediately jump out of the way. "How could you?!" the flame navi hissed as he sent another barrage of flames at the vampire. Shademan grimaced and jumped near his friend, only to barely catch a punch flying in his direction.

"Calm down and let me explain for a second!" Shademan growled out. Burnerman snarled and struggled out of Shademan's grip, quickly stepping away from the purple navi.

"What is there to explain?" Burnerman asked furiously, rage etched over his face. "Why? How could you do such a thing? Especially when you said you weren't ever going to do what you did!" he hissed.

Shademan grimaced. "I did it because I had no other choice. Otherwise, I might not be standing here right now." he said calmly.

"Then why didn't you bring others?" came the retort.

The vampire navi shook his head. "You know very well that the less people that went, the better. That place was a deathtrap for even the most experienced of navis."

Burnerman shook in anger, staring at Shademan with uncontrolled fury. "You broke our promise..." he said in a low voice, although the force behind the words made it seem as if his voice reverberated throughout the room. "You used a Dark Chip."

Shademan sighed as he absently rubbed his side. "I did. I had no choice;" he said before looking away sadly. "I'm sorry."

That mission that the leader of the Darkloids had taken upon himself was very nearly a suicide mission. It was only due to his experience and will that Shademan managed to get through the darkness of the Undernet to gather some valuable resources and Dark Chips. However, the sheer power of the viruses that lurked there, and the incredibly powerful dark navis that lived in the Undernet made it a deathtrap for any ordinary navi, including one of Shademan's caliber. Thus, he had been forced to use the power of a Dark Chip to escape from the depths and fight off his attackers. However, he didn't know how Burnerman found out, but he figured that it must have been due to the extreme amount of injuries he sustained that day, along with talk of what the mission was after he returned.

Burnerman only stared at the vampire navi with a hard glare before he snarled again. "I hate you."

Although Shademan only stood there, gazing at his friend coolly, he felt something inside him shatter and felt his body go numb.

Shademan roared in pain as he punched the ground, a memory he had thought he had put to rest coming back in full force. He always hated that particular memory.

"I see you are suffering. Good, good! Your will is weakening..." the disembodied voice said excitedly. Shademan growled and struggled to his feet, an action that took more strength then he thought.

That memory that came up was one that he wanted to put behind him, but now it had come to this. "It's just warping my memories, because there is far more to this..." he muttered. "Alright, if you want to play this game, I'll show you why you can't beat me!" Shademan whispered before exerting his will over his own memories.

Shademan stood there for several minutes, his gaze locked onto Burnerman's, who was now taking deep breaths in anger. "You don't mean that." he said finally.

The flame navi shook, glaring at the Darkloid leader. "I do!" he exclaimed, although he couldn't look at his eyes when he said that. "...I do." he whispered, his voice breaking.

The vampire navi sighed, stepping closer. "Burnerman, look at me;" he said sternly as he approached, "Forgive me. Yes, I did break my promise to you that I would not use a Dark Chip. Nothing I say or do will take away that fact."

"Then why didn't you take me with you?!" Burnerman burst out, "If I had gone with you, you wouldn't have had to do that in the first place!"

"You know very well why I didn't take you," Shademan said sharply, cutting Burnerman off. "I didn't want to put you at risk needlessly."

Burnerman growled. "I'm not a little child, Shademan! You above all else should know this!" he exclaimed, "I thought you trusted me..."

"It isn't that..." Shademan said, stepping up to Burnerman and forcing his chin up to look at him in the face, "I didn't want you charging in there and getting hurt. I barely got out of there, even with the power of the Dark Chip."

The flame navi couldn't answer back, but cursed under his breath. "Dammit Shademan...what about the Dark Soul?" he asked quietly.

"I do not fear it. I won't let it consume me like it does for lower navis." came the smooth reply. Burnerman looked uncertain.

"I thought I was going to lose you." he whispered. Shademan chuckled, then leaned down to softly kiss the flame navi. He then pulled away to smile at him.

"You cannot lose me so easily. I simply won't allow it." he chuckled.

Burnerman smirked. "Fine...fine. Just..." he took a deep breath before continuing, "Just don't do something like this again. And please...don't lose yourself to the dark soul." he asked quietly.

"This time, I promise I will." Shademan affirmed. Burnerman stared at the vampire navi for a few moments before suddenly embracing him.

"If you ever scare me like that again..." Burnerman trailed off, leaving the sentence unfinished. Shademan nodded.

Breaking off the embrace and stepping back, the flame navi looked concerned. "The dark soul...it's no doubt within you now." he muttered.

"It is, but as I said, I will not let it get the better of me." Shademan replied as he absently rubbed his side. The pain from getting hit was still there, even when he was using the power of the Dark Chip.

Burnerman frowned. "How do you fight against something like that? I've seen what it has done to others, and they all turned into mindless beasts, a shell of their former selves. It's chilling..." he mumbled.

Shademan looked thoughtful for a minute before chuckling. "Well...if I have a strong enough memory to hold onto, then I can possibly keep myself from being taken."

"A strong enough memory, huh?" Burnerman asked before smiling slyly.

"Yes..." Shademan nodded, "And I believe that with you, I will not be giving in."

Burnerman laughed. "Oh yeah! Like I'd allow you to lose to something like that."

Shademan laughed as well. "Indeed. As long as I have my memories with you, I will keep it back."

"I know you will. I trust you."

Shademan smiled as he finally shook off whatever the voice was doing to him. It had vastly underestimated him; it tried using a painful memory to make him submit, but didn't count on the vampire navi to actually remember the rest of it. He smirked, that little mistake was going to cost the voice dearly.

"Impossible!" the voice shrieked, "This was not supposed to happen!"

Shademan chuckled. "I've already beaten you, because now I know what you are. And because of that, you cannot defeat me." With that said, the whole world around him just faded away until it was just nothing, everything covered in black.

The voice growled. "If I can't have my way...then DIE!" it screeched. Shademan quickly dodged as a clawed hand swiped at his neck, turning around to face the voice...or rather, himself.

It was him, but at the same time, it wasn't. It was just something that assumed his shape. It was standing there, the normal purple of Shademan's armor replaced with grey, and a crazed and maddened look on his face.

Shademan sneered. "You are not even my own inner darkness! You are only the dark soul given form from my memories!" he snarled. The dark soul screeched again and came in with a claw, but it was too late as Shademan spread his wings.

"And now, I bid you goodbye, since you no longer have any power." he said simply. "Crush Noise!"

The dark sould roared in pain as the attack overcame it, and then disintegrated before Shademan's eyes. As the last dust of the dark soul faded away, Shademan found himself being pulled at, and then fell unconscious.

---

The vampire navi awoke slowly to see the ceiling of his room greet him, and he smiled. He had beaten the dark soul within him.

"Ah...Shademan?" Burnerman asked groggily as he woke up next to him. The Darkloid leader had been tossing and turning in his sleep for a few hours now, mumbling in between. It was a wonder that Burnerman got any sleep at all. "You alright?"

"Yes...I am. I really am." the vampire navi breathed. Burnerman yawned and flopped back onto his pillow.

"That's good. Let's get back to sleep now, since it's only three in the morning." he said before falling asleep. Shademan chuckled and stroked the side of Burnerman's face, admiring the flame navi in his sleep.

"Looks like I was able to keep my promise this time. No more pain...at least, for now." he said before he fell asleep as well.

His actions would not haunt either of them anymore.

---

Happy birthday, Planty~! *glomptacklenibbles* <3
_________________


<3 Planty~
Art in icon done by Raburabbit.

[Sol]

"Okay..." Shademan breathed as he looked at his surroundings, "What is going on?"

The vampire navi had laid down on his bed to rest after a grueling day of several events, and had expected a peaceful slumber after being so thoroughly exhausted. So it came as no surprise when he woke up and saw something other than the ceiling of his room.

Looking around him, he was standing on some kind of floating rock, with the whole world around him a very dull purple color, the world occasionally rippling into waves. Growling, he steadied himself on the ground, moving his eyes about to see if there was anything of use near him.

"Ah, welcome!" a voice rang out, breaking the silence. Shademan frowned and narrowed his eyes, not even bothering to look around anymore.

"It's you again..." he growled out, "What have you brought me here for this time?" Shademan heard a voice laugh, a screeching sound that could pierce any ear drum.

"That's right...me," it said silkily, letting off another screeching laugh. "Are you ready to give in to me yet?"

Shademan smirked. "Oh? I beat you back the last time, so what makes you so sure that you will overcome my resistance this time?" he asked.

It was true; every time Shademan was forced to come in here, he was subjected to several memories of the past. The voice inside his head wanted him to give into his blood lust and just become another navi who has been under the influence of a dark chip; just a mindless beast. The past few times when it had done this weren't successful at all, but Shademan knew that whatever the voice inside him was planning, it wasn't good.

"Is that so? Then...I guess I will have to step up my efforts, it seems." it said. Shademan frowned. Whenever someone said that, is usually wasn't good.

The shrill laughter rang out again, making the vampire navi wince. With his sensitive ears, the sharp and haunting laugh kept ringing in his ears. At that moment, he felt a sudden pain in his head, as he groaned and clutched it.

Growling audibly, Shademan's nails dug into the side of his head. "Not again...!" he gasped out as he felt the familiar pains going through his head. Whenever that voice tried to overcome him in his dreams, it did the one thing that he absolutely hated.

It brought up painful memories that he would rather forget.

The vampire navi's eyes started to cloud over as he was dragged down into his memories, the shrill laughter still hanging in the air.

The air was deathly still as the Darkloid's fortress was silent for the first time in a while. Normally, it was bustling with some kind of activity, no matter how slight it was. However, today was different.

Shademan disliked days where something was out of the ordinary, because it meant something really bad was going to happen.

How he hated his instincts sometimes.

Walking around the unusually silent fortress, the vampire navi noted that the whole place seemed empty for some reason...something that shouldn't be possible at any given time. Narrowing his eyes and strengthening his senses, he stood still until he heard some movement coming from a room to the side of the corridor he was currently in.

Striding over the door, he opened it quickly and looked inside the room. Blinking, he saw his closest friend, Burnerman, standing in the middle of the room, looking oddly tense.

Stepping into the room quietly, the vampire navi spoke up. "Burnerman? What's going on?" he asked cautiously. Something was incredibly wrong, and his first instinct was to get himself ready to attack at any time, even though he was asking himself why.

When his friend didn't speak up, or make any sort of movement at all, Shademan grimaced. "Alright, something is wrong. Tell me, Burnerman...what is happening?"

"You did it after all." came the flame navi's voice, oddly devoid of any emotion.

Shademan steeled himself for what was to come. That simple statement alerted him to what was wrong. "Burnerman...I can explain. Just..."

Burnerman didn't give him time to answer as he immediately turned around and immediately fired off a Burner Blast, making Shademan immediately jump out of the way. "How could you?!" the flame navi hissed as he sent another barrage of flames at the vampire. Shademan grimaced and jumped near his friend, only to barely catch a punch flying in his direction.

"Calm down and let me explain for a second!" Shademan growled out. Burnerman snarled and struggled out of Shademan's grip, quickly stepping away from the purple navi.

"What is there to explain?" Burnerman asked furiously, rage etched over his face. "Why? How could you do such a thing? Especially when you said you weren't ever going to do what you did!" he hissed.

Shademan grimaced. "I did it because I had no other choice. Otherwise, I might not be standing here right now." he said calmly.

"Then why didn't you bring others?" came the retort.

The vampire navi shook his head. "You know very well that the less people that went, the better. That place was a deathtrap for even the most experienced of navis."

Burnerman shook in anger, staring at Shademan with uncontrolled fury. "You broke our promise..." he said in a low voice, although the force behind the words made it seem as if his voice reverberated throughout the room. "You used a Dark Chip."

Shademan sighed as he absently rubbed his side. "I did. I had no choice;" he said before looking away sadly. "I'm sorry."

That mission that the leader of the Darkloids had taken upon himself was very nearly a suicide mission. It was only due to his experience and will that Shademan managed to get through the darkness of the Undernet to gather some valuable resources and Dark Chips. However, the sheer power of the viruses that lurked there, and the incredibly powerful dark navis that lived in the Undernet made it a deathtrap for any ordinary navi, including one of Shademan's caliber. Thus, he had been forced to use the power of a Dark Chip to escape from the depths and fight off his attackers. However, he didn't know how Burnerman found out, but he figured that it must have been due to the extreme amount of injuries he sustained that day, along with talk of what the mission was after he returned.

Burnerman only stared at the vampire navi with a hard glare before he snarled again. "I hate you."

Although Shademan only stood there, gazing at his friend coolly, he felt something inside him shatter and felt his body go numb.

Shademan roared in pain as he punched the ground, a memory he had thought he had put to rest coming back in full force. He always hated that particular memory.

"I see you are suffering. Good, good! Your will is weakening..." the disembodied voice said excitedly. Shademan growled and struggled to his feet, an action that took more strength then he thought.

That memory that came up was one that he wanted to put behind him, but now it had come to this. "It's just warping my memories, because there is far more to this..." he muttered. "Alright, if you want to play this game, I'll show you why you can't beat me!" Shademan whispered before exerting his will over his own memories.

Shademan stood there for several minutes, his gaze locked onto Burnerman's, who was now taking deep breaths in anger. "You don't mean that." he said finally.

The flame navi shook, glaring at the Darkloid leader. "I do!" he exclaimed, although he couldn't look at his eyes when he said that. "...I do." he whispered, his voice breaking.

The vampire navi sighed, stepping closer. "Burnerman, look at me;" he said sternly as he approached, "Forgive me. Yes, I did break my promise to you that I would not use a Dark Chip. Nothing I say or do will take away that fact."

"Then why didn't you take me with you?!" Burnerman burst out, "If I had gone with you, you wouldn't have had to do that in the first place!"

"You know very well why I didn't take you," Shademan said sharply, cutting Burnerman off. "I didn't want to put you at risk needlessly."

Burnerman growled. "I'm not a little child, Shademan! You above all else should know this!" he exclaimed, "I thought you trusted me..."

"It isn't that..." Shademan said, stepping up to Burnerman and forcing his chin up to look at him in the face, "I didn't want you charging in there and getting hurt. I barely got out of there, even with the power of the Dark Chip."

The flame navi couldn't answer back, but cursed under his breath. "Dammit Shademan...what about the Dark Soul?" he asked quietly.

"I do not fear it. I won't let it consume me like it does for lower navis." came the smooth reply. Burnerman looked uncertain.

"I thought I was going to lose you." he whispered. Shademan chuckled, then leaned down to softly kiss the flame navi. He then pulled away to smile at him.

"You cannot lose me so easily. I simply won't allow it." he chuckled.

Burnerman smirked. "Fine...fine. Just..." he took a deep breath before continuing, "Just don't do something like this again. And please...don't lose yourself to the dark soul." he asked quietly.

"This time, I promise I will." Shademan affirmed. Burnerman stared at the vampire navi for a few moments before suddenly embracing him.

"If you ever scare me like that again..." Burnerman trailed off, leaving the sentence unfinished. Shademan nodded.

Breaking off the embrace and stepping back, the flame navi looked concerned. "The dark soul...it's no doubt within you now." he muttered.

"It is, but as I said, I will not let it get the better of me." Shademan replied as he absently rubbed his side. The pain from getting hit was still there, even when he was using the power of the Dark Chip.

Burnerman frowned. "How do you fight against something like that? I've seen what it has done to others, and they all turned into mindless beasts, a shell of their former selves. It's chilling..." he mumbled.

Shademan looked thoughtful for a minute before chuckling. "Well...if I have a strong enough memory to hold onto, then I can possibly keep myself from being taken."

"A strong enough memory, huh?" Burnerman asked before smiling slyly.

"Yes..." Shademan nodded, "And I believe that with you, I will not be giving in."

Burnerman laughed. "Oh yeah! Like I'd allow you to lose to something like that."

Shademan laughed as well. "Indeed. As long as I have my memories with you, I will keep it back."

"I know you will. I trust you."

Shademan smiled as he finally shook off whatever the voice was doing to him. It had vastly underestimated him; it tried using a painful memory to make him submit, but didn't count on the vampire navi to actually remember the rest of it. He smirked, that little mistake was going to cost the voice dearly.

"Impossible!" the voice shrieked, "This was not supposed to happen!"

Shademan chuckled. "I've already beaten you, because now I know what you are. And because of that, you cannot defeat me." With that said, the whole world around him just faded away until it was just nothing, everything covered in black.

The voice growled. "If I can't have my way...then DIE!" it screeched. Shademan quickly dodged as a clawed hand swiped at his neck, turning around to face the voice...or rather, himself.

It was him, but at the same time, it wasn't. It was just something that assumed his shape. It was standing there, the normal purple of Shademan's armor replaced with grey, and a crazed and maddened look on his face.

Shademan sneered. "You are not even my own inner darkness! You are only the dark soul given form from my memories!" he snarled. The dark soul screeched again and came in with a claw, but it was too late as Shademan spread his wings.

"And now, I bid you goodbye, since you no longer have any power." he said simply. "Crush Noise!"

The dark sould roared in pain as the attack overcame it, and then disintegrated before Shademan's eyes. As the last dust of the dark soul faded away, Shademan found himself being pulled at, and then fell unconscious.

---

The vampire navi awoke slowly to see the ceiling of his room greet him, and he smiled. He had beaten the dark soul within him.

"Ah...Shademan?" Burnerman asked groggily as he woke up next to him. The Darkloid leader had been tossing and turning in his sleep for a few hours now, mumbling in between. It was a wonder that Burnerman got any sleep at all. "You alright?"

"Yes...I am. I really am." the vampire navi breathed. Burnerman yawned and flopped back onto his pillow.

"That's good. Let's get back to sleep now, since it's only three in the morning." he said before falling asleep. Shademan chuckled and stroked the side of Burnerman's face, admiring the flame navi in his sleep.

"Looks like I was able to keep my promise this time. No more pain...at least, for now." he said before he fell asleep as well.

His actions would not haunt either of them anymore.

---

Happy birthday, Planty~! *glomptacklenibbles* <3
_________________


<3 Planty~
Art in icon done by Raburabbit.

[Plantman]

Aaaawww that's so awesome! thankies Sol ;O; <3
_________________
Hecha en MÉXICO - Avatar by Me.
"Logic is the Ultimate Weapon."

[Plantman]

Aaaawww that's so awesome! thankies Sol ;O; <3
_________________
Hecha en MÉXICO - Avatar by Me.
"Logic is the Ultimate Weapon."

[Midnight]

Very nice.

A focus on an internal struggle was done quite well. It was lengthy, which is good, but at times it felt like it dragged on a touch. I cite the flashback as my example. Even though I enjoyed the amount of detail that went into it, when compared to the scenario after the epiphany, with Shademan taking down his dark doppelganger, that scene seemed to be too short based on what came before.

Other than that, it was quite a good read.
_________________
Today, these three players are after Big Bucks! But they'll have to avoid the Whammy, as they play the most exciting game of their lives! From Television City in Hollywood! It's time to 'Press Your Luck!'--Rod Roddy

The Kingdom of Loathing: An Adventurer is You! // I ♣ Seals

Avatar by Spork. I very much appreciate it! <3

[Kitty-Chan]

This is great! Sol gives the best birthday presents, ne Planty?
_________________
Need more Zero/X, Netto/Rock, Rock/Netto, Forte/Netto, & Blues/Netto. PLEASE!
Ano sa...could someone please make me a Zero/X, Blues/Netto, or Forte/Netto avatar/banner? I would greatly appreciate it...
Thanks for the avatar, Mandi!
People! We need more Blues/Netto & Forte/Netto on the net. Come on; help me out here! *gives everyone her Super-Adorable Irrisistable Sad Kitty Eyes(TM)*