Prologue, Part 1: Encountering the Necromancer

Vitali was having one of those slow days. After he assisted Revya, Gig, and his other friends in destroying the World Eaters and saved the world, he had wanted nothing more than to retire from his work as a top-notch spy and have a quiet life as the head chef of a restaurant he could call his own. And he had gotten just what he wished for: after the initial boom in popularity a month ago, it seemed that the only customers he got nowadays were the occasional traveler, a few dedicated fans of his cooking from in-town, and the massively-in-debt Gig.

"Yo, hotpod boy! Quick; where the hell can I stash sixty bazillion buckaroos?"

Well, speak of the devil…literally, since that was what he once used to be. Perhaps this day would be a little more eventful than Vitali thought it would. Gig had come in carrying two sacks under his arms…but the cleric knew the man before him enough to identify an obvious ruse.

"Sixty bazillion, you say? Gig, you give yourself too much credit; you've probably eaten one bazillion at best," Vitali told him in a mocking tone. "Honestly, though, this is your worst gambit yet. The second I show you someplace secure, you'll just push me inside and make a mad dash to the storage room. Those bags are probably filled with rocks. Or, possibly, wax replicas of hot pods; your twisted humor would get a kick out of making me believe your thievery attempt failed, only to see the pained reactions of my customers the next day. Nice try."

"This is no joke, Nereid-brain; I've seriously hit the jackpot! Now hurry up and pull out a giant safe or something, or so help me Virtuous I'll staple your big mouth to your kneecap and-" Gig threatened, but he was cut short by the force of six thousand bolts hitting him in the back. Once the former Master of Death fell to the ground, Vitali could see that a tall man wearing a mostly green outfit had stabbed Gig with a lance that was still crackling with electricity.

"It's 'Gig', is it? Terribly sorry for that, but you just didn't seem like the type of character that would stay still and listen to orders without first being completely paralyzed," the stranger said to the now-unconscious body. "Now, on to the matter at hand. You are charged with stealing an absurd amount of money from what can only be described as a source that shouldn't be trifled with. Your sentence, fortunately, is one you will probably enjoy: banished to a distant island where an ultimate fighting competition is taking place. Two men enter, one man leaves, and all those other barbaric occurrences. We hope you enjoy your stay."

The bespectacled man then noticed that Vitali was now staring at him curiously. He uttered, "Oh, don't worry. I'm merely a man trying to restore a little order in this section of the world; nothing more, and nothing less."

"You don't act like somebody my former master Christophe would associate with. Who are you?" Vitali inquired. Christophe was a rich nobleman that Vitali had worked for before joining Revya's quest, and except for a few hidden secrets, the man's life had been dedicated to keeping peace in the area and trying to help others. While the man standing before Vitali certainly seemed to have similar beliefs, there was something about him that the cleric didn't like.

"My, you act as though you've just swallowed a bug. And here I was, thinking that I was graced with never seeing a face like that again," the stranger sighed, apparently thinking back on some previous memories. "My name isn't important right now; if you're really curious, you can try to weasel it out of one of the underlings while you're on an express trip with your friend here."

At this, Vitali's expression changed from curious to somewhat worried. "Sir, you must be terribly mistaken. While I can guess at what unlawful acts have caused Gig's most recent strife, there is no reason why I should be included in this matter. Now, if you would kindly take everyone's favorite deadbeat and leave…"

"Terribly sorry, but I'm afraid that there are no words to resolve this matter with," the man responded. "I've been asked by some very important people from an organization called BORED to rally up some criminals for a little tournament they're holding. And, wouldn't you know, fraternizing with a lawbreaker is just criminal enough to qualify in their books. But you can relax; according to what I have heard about your world, the worst that could happen is you're torn limb from limb, only to come back in a couple of centuries or so. It's a rather paltry sum, considering what the others are going to face."

Vitali paused for a few moments to think. While he had no reason to surrender to this stranger, if the man was capable of knocking out Gig with one strike, then there would be little hope for the cleric if things got messy. In addition, the mention of an organization that even he didn't know of, and the phrase 'your world', sparked Vitali's curiosity. "It looks like I have no choice but to resign myself to this fate. Accepting the truth is difficult…but it is also necessary."

"I'm impressed; that sounds just like something I would say. If it helps any, this is just a façade. On the inside, I am truly devastated to have to send a man like you to certain death. My shame in betraying a fellow scholar is almost unparalleled," said the man, his expression not changing in the slightest. This did absolutely nothing when it came to dealing with Vitali's concerns.

Prologue, Part 2: First Steps on Grand Cross Isle

The ride was more pleasant than Vitali would have thought. Of course, the knowledge that he would be forced to fight for his own survival the second he arrived did make the trip a tad uncomfortable, but at least he was able to view the pleasant scenery they flew over in a helicopter.

Once they had dropped him onto the island (thankfully, not literally dropped), he surveyed the immediate area. Thanks to the view from the flying machine, he knew that he was starting from the southernmost section. The sandy beach he was standing upon would turn into a thick jungle as one heads north, eventually reaching some large landmass in the center that Vitali could barely identify. However, the most worrying, the most troubling, the most terrifying fact about the area he was currently in was not a property of the island. It was the fact that Gig had been dropped (literally this time) a few feet away, and he looked p***ed.

"DAMMIT!" roared the white-haired jerk with a heart of gold. "First those laughable grunts have the nerve to knock me out, and then they send me to this pile o' s**t without even asking for my permission! When I find out who in their right mind thinks they can do this to me and get away with it, I'll grind 'em to dust with my bare hands, mortal body or not!"

After the former Master of Death started to calm down a little, Vitali decided to approach him. The cleric's footsteps, nor his breath, made a single sound. "There, there, Gig; everyone knows that you can't always get what you want."

"GAH! How the hell do you keep doing that?!" Gig yelled as he turned around to face one of his old travelling 'partners'. "No, seriously; even in this pathetic body, I should still at least sense that two-bit soul of yours."

"I doubt that this is the best time for a magician to reveal their tricks," Vitali replied. "So, what do you know about our current situation?"

"Just what I need to know: kill a bunch of pathetic morons, and get rich quick. Oh, and there's some kinda barrier around this island to prevent the prey…I mean, other contestants…from trying to escape their fate."

"Giving money to a man that tried to steal from them? Somehow, Gig, I feel that our fate is far worse then that," the cleric lamented, before starting to ponder about the situation. BORED was most certainly not a group created for the greater good, if they preferred having criminals kill each other rather than be put in jail. And if they weren't moral characters, it seemed likely that their ultimate fate would be to get shot in the face when it came time to collect…or, since he had heard that this island was supposedly uncharted, perhaps they'll just sink the whole place and leave all their self-incriminating evidence at the bottom of the sea.

Vitali strained his eyes in order to take a look at what lay in the distance. "It appears that there's a large mountain situated north of here…probably a volcano, but I can't be certain. They probably have set up their base somewhere near there, perhaps even inside, to take advantage of the thermal energy that would be required to hold the barrier up. Now, obviously, we wouldn't stand a chance if we headed in there right now; you're still a bit rusty, no matter how much you deny it, and my techniques focus more on stealth then on combat. But still, I think we would be much safer in the long run if we headed in that direction."

"…Meh, whatever. I was going to head there anyways; no better place to find some pathetic scum than in the center of the action!" Gig replied with enthusiasm. His stomach then growled, which led to him asking, "Hey, did ya remember to stuff a few hotpods in your pocket before they got us? I was planning to dine back at the hold-up, and I'm not exactly a 'twigs and berries' kind of eater."

"And I'm not exactly an 'up close and personal' kind of fighter. It doesn't look like either of us will have an easy time at this…but at least if we stick together, we might get out of this with our limbs intact. Now, we'd best hurry; I have no clue how long it is until sundown, but I'd prefer to find someplace safe to set up camp before that time comes," Vitali told him, before taking his first few steps into the island's jungles.

"…So, that's a 'no'? Dammit…" Gig muttered to himself, before realizing that Vitali was already departing. "Hey, where the hell do you think you're going without me?! You'd better wait up if you're planning on keeping both of those legs!"

And so began the journey of Vitali the Ethereal. Would he survive against the other fighters that he was bound to encounter? Would he be able to escape from the island before the corrupt corporate executives decided to turn a bad situation into a worse one? Would Gig just shut up about hotpods and help clear a dang path through the stupid jungle so they could find some shelter before sunset?! …Only time would tell.

Author's Note: There! About two months since Gig came into the picture, and I have now finally completed Vitali's entry. This entry is a bit different from the other one, for a couple reasons. Firstly, Gig's entry was mostly actions, and this was mostly conversation; I plan to balance between the two later. And secondly, this entry is about twice as long as Gig's; I decided to include what happens both before and after the arrival on the island so I could develop the characters a little better.

Vitali is...he's...well, in the game he came from, he only has two attacks: a team-up with the main character, and he can hit things with a book. So, this'll be a very tough character to write for in a survival setting. Wish me luck! ...Oh, and to Moonshine's Guide: I sincerely hope you don't mind that I borrowed your character for this. He just fit into the situation better than any random goon ever could.