The Redd Snake

Dr.Hebi merely turned his head around, smiling at his charge. He shrugged, just for a moment. "My apologies... I did try to warn you, at least. Although, I can't make you listen to what I say." He said, before hearing what Redd had to say. "Actually... My apologies, good lad; I wasn't being entirely correct when I told you what I was looking for before..." He trailed off, taking a few steps forwards.

As he did so, it became obvious that he was standing... on the edge of a rim. Below the good Doctor, there was a large crater. No, scratch that. This is a HUGE crater. Determined the Doctor, Hebi behind him wriggling in anticipation. "You see, Redd; this is a very special place." He explained, after cracking his neck and stepping out over the edge of the rim. "Come along then." He told Redd, as he shot straight downwards.

Dr. Hebi called upon the power of Mu, as he literally slid in a mudslide of gravel, Mu's Earth Release in full effect as it carried the good Doctor downwards towards the ground. He stopped, landing at the bottom of the crater; behind him, Earth Release had left a staircase for Redd. As the boy came down the stairs, Dr. Hebi simply said to him...

"This is the burial grounds... for prophets of the time of Judah's split from Israel..."

Dr. Hebi had patiently waited to take his descent down the stairs; glancing around himself as he waited. There were several wooden… rods, roughly two feet tall, sticking out all over the place near the good Doctor. Most peculiar… but I can take a guess… He thought to himself, smiling wistfully. He turned Hebi back around to face the front, as Redd reahed down the bottom of the stairs.

"You see, my good lad, the Prophets were "People" it is believed to receive word of things happening in the future, special powers to perform "Miracles", they were given assistance by "Angels" that oculd turn entire cities to dust; they were "Wiser" than any other people at those times. So, if we used them for a very.. "Special" experiment of mine, we could harness their own special abilities for our very own."

Dr. Hebi finished explaining, believing that Redd had been able to understand his explanation. "Well… that's the funny part. The demons, naturally, weren't going to leave men with extraordinary abilities granted by "God" alone once they died. However, they also feared them. So, they chose to put them all where no one would ever find them…" He paused, walking over to one of the rods right next to him.

"But for myself." He said as he held a hand over the ground, widening his eyes to their full width, feeling Mu's power flowing through him as his Earth Release activated. It pushed away the ground in front of the pole, pushing it to its sides as slowly, a pillar in the shape of the rectangle he had just separated pushed up.

And on top of it… was a corpse holding a star of David to its breast.

[color=darkred]"I would like you to meet, according to the inscription on this rod, one Jeremiah… the weeping prophet, servant to the shame of Israel and the Jewish people..

"That... my dear Redd... is quite a complicated business."

Dr. Hebi said as he reached down a hand, grabbing a single piece of the corpse's hair. He also reached down again, grabbing onto the yoke that the man wore around his neck. This yoke, normally put on cattle, was all the verification that Dr. Hebi needed to prove this man's identification.

"Just watch, good lad." He said as Hebi, his snake, reached its head over, making gagging noises as suddenly an opened scroll appeared in its widened mouth. Out of the scroll came a puff of smoke... and a dead body fell on the floor. He smiled as he reached his hands down onto the corpse, the hair in his hand. The hair vanished, obscured by a dark-red energy as it completely covered his hands. He laid down his hands on the body, and it began to change...

Suddenly... the energy completely covered the body. Dr. Hebi stood back up as slowly, very slowly, the energy vanished. On the ground was the image of a young man; he looked to be just about late-teens or early twenties. Around his neck was the same yoke as before, and he was wearing a red cloak that covered his body up to the shoulder. In Dr. Hebi's hand was a scroll. He lowered down, putting the scroll into the corpse. And as he did so, the eyes opened. They were yellow in color, with black scelera. And then... the corpse sat up, perfectly.

"Meet my new ... "Servant Path." He will be able to fight for the akatsuki, as well as assist me... This is our plan, Redd. We are looking for quite famous Prophets. Prominent upon them are Tobit, Ezekiel, and Barachus. If you can find me those... I'll be more than grateful." The snake-man said... his tail wriggling.

As Dr. Hebi watched, the body's movements slowly became more fluid; they became even more smooth as it stood up, the yoke on its neck swaying back and forth as it turned its head, blinking at its surroundings. And then, the figure spoke.

"What in the of the Lord am I-"

Dr. Hebi merely sighed as he snapped his fingers, and the man stopped speaking immediately, straightening up in its red cloak and looking straight ahead. Joy… looks like he's going to be difficult… Dr. Hebi reflected to himself, his tail wriggling behind him. However, he heard Redd's comment about himself quite clearly.

"While it's very nice of you to say that, I'm in reality nothing special, my good lad. There are many, many better than I at what I do. I believe you're just feeling a bit of confusion from the Christian myth that all snakes are evil. Which… in this case at least, is not completely correct. That is, assuming you understand the basic history of Christianity, which it doesn't loo like you do by this point."

He replied, waving his own arm in the air as if he dismissed the "compliment" as something insubstantial. His eyes went back to the Jeremiah standing before himself. "Yes, Redd. I'm coming right along. Just, there's one last thing I need to do, and it probably be best if you WEREN'T watching while I'm doing it…" He warned, giving Redd plenty of time as Hebi began to length itself, coiling all around the revived corpse.

IT ran up around it, completely coiling it around as it pulled the prophet off his feet, roughly 20 feet in length by this point. Hebi opened its mouth, wider, and wider, and wider, as soon its mouth became large enough to swallow the man whole. However, there was just one problem; only the mouth increased in size. However, that would prove to be little problem for Hebi as the snake dropped Jeremiah, the body falling into its mouth.

The snake kept swallowing, as more and more of the man went down into its gullet. Finally, it reached the sandaled feet, and with one last swallow completely consumed the body. "Thank you for the meal, my good corpse." Dr. Hebi said out loud, rubbing his belly again as Hebi re-situated itself behind the good doctor. Unlike the demon, he had wanted to be quite gentle with the corpse; after all, it would be quite… valuable later, as well as allow Dr. Hebi to know when that beast in his stomach began acting up.

Now complete with his gruesome task, Dr. Hebi looked back up at Redd, blinking slowly. [color=darkred]"Yes…. But do you see all these rods about me, good lad?"[color=darkred]d the boy, holding out his arms and gesturing all around himself, the sleeves of his cloak falling back. "These are the ones we-" He suddenly cut off as he blinked, looking over at a rod next to the base of the steps. Hebi pointed its head right at it as Dr. Hebi spoke. "Well I'll be… me. " Dr. Hebi said out loud, making a pun without even realizing it. "That's… that's Elijah's! The prophet who single handedly led the charge that killed four hundred Baal's, religious zealots that were destroying Israel! The lore is that there was a sacrifice, and the four-hundred Baal's all failed together where Elijah succeeded all alone. Not to mention the many miracles that he performed in his time; In fact… It's said that he never died. Although I suppose you could say that this is his body, and it was merely his soul that was taken up in that flaming chariot. In any case; quickly lad, you've seen how it's done."

Dr. Hebi said, turning his head as he initiated Earth Release, the ground around the grave moving away as it pushed up, just like before. "Just get a piece of genetic material off of his body and bring it to me." Dr. Hebi stated as he looked around, before blinking and stepping towards what he had sensed. Well, well; Baruchs. The one who was never ascertained if he was truly a prophet; the only thing he EVER wrote about was prayers. Perfect. He thought to himself, Hebi wriggling slightly in the air behind him as he threw down his hands.

The grave shot up, revealing the short-haired body underneath. Dr. Hebi's hand reached out, as he gripped the hair of the skeletal corpse. As he did so, he saw a necklace around the man's neck. This necklace had beads with small words inscribed on them, a Star of David, and… a cross. Huh. Weird. Dr. Hebi blinked, knowing that the time periods for this didn't match up. Nor the religion … He thought as he inspected the beads closer. Much peculiar… He completed his examination, ripping out the clump of hair.

His hands started glowing as another scroll appeared in Hebi's mouth; this time, two corpses popped out. Dr. Hebi walked up to one, laying his hands on it. As he did so, that dark-red energy completely surrounded it, and this time, Dr. Hebi merely stood there, waiting for Redd to arrive…

Dr. Hebi blinked as he watched the boy walk up to him. So he's got something else messing with him, then...? The good doctor wondered; he himself hadn't been assuming anything. He had merely been pointing out where all these legends, at least, had come from, and how they had gotten to where they were today.

The doctor, on the other hand, merely cupped his right hand under Redd's, surprisingly gentle as he took the materials. "It may seem repulsive to you, but it's really a natural process; merely on a larger scale, my good lad." He said clearly, before... he heard something, freezing as Hebi visibly shot up in the air behind him, looking this way and that all around itself.

Uhoh. The good doctor turned himself around, standing in front of the dead bodies as he crossed his arms in front of his chest; the attack had been completely unexpected as his sleeves went twirling. Out of the ground, another demon had appeared, a spiky ball the flew right past Dr. Hebi, slashing up both arms. However, the doctor's hands remained tightly shut over the genetic material, refusing to let it go as he was knocked back, the demon straightening itself to about human size as it pushed off the doctor from hitting him. This enabled it to stand back a bit as it stared at the pair, the doctor pushed to the ground in front of the two dead bodies, Redd at his side.

"You must... stop him... while I perform the operation...!" The doctor managed to spit out, before gradually standing up, turning around to face the bodies. Just then, the humanoid rolled up on itself again, the spikes that lined its back scratching gouges into the ground as it shot towards the doctor once more...