Tower of Reen

(( Isle de Gambino))

"Ey, hold this for me," said Sakura, throwing her jacket over the snout of the dragon that had just carried her and her companions to the outskirts of the town. Ryu visibly rolled his eyes before nudging the jacket up into the air and allowing it to fall lightly on his back. Meanwhile, Sakura was adjusting her floral shirt, seeming to be a little too long, as it nearly covered her white shorts and gave one a bad impression of just exactly what it was she was (or wasn't) wearing.

She settled for just letting it hang. Maybe she could buy something better in town, if they had the time....

"So... are we waiting for everyone else, or are we just going to storm the castle?"

The town seems relatively straight forwards.

From where the dragon landed, the entrance is large, open, and friendly looking, if a little short of people. It's a lazy day kind of haze over it, or was that just dust? It was of course late afternoon. Katie and Sakura's group could have easily been considered stragglers at the end of the day.

In fact, someone was exiting the town gates and heading towards the dragon, open and friendly, dressed in the local colours. He seemed official without being overly memorable. Tipping his hat he greeted the newcomers accordingly.

"Greetings travellers! And welcome to Reen! Where you needing accommodation for your transports?"

Well, that was to the point. In any other place then Gaia, Sakura would be throwing this guy the keys to her car.

"Gates close soon you see, we tend to keep the larger creatures in a suitable habitat, for their own safety. Can't be too careful in these times, y'know."

There was nothing suspicious in his manner, as if people landing dragons in the front yard was a daily occurrence. Perhaps it was. Great gouges in the earth, and the large circle was almost landing pad-ish.

Madison at that moment slid off the dragon and began to look around the town, it was a lovely little town. She was curious about the entire town, she always was when she came to a new town. However, she had business to take care of.

Serious business.

Her attention was soon turned the others, what was the plan. What did they need to do. But before she could ask questions, a man seemed to greet them. Strange, very strange indeed. At that moment she tugged on Katie's arm in order to pull her closer to her, ask a question maybe.

Madison didn't quite trust the others as of yet. Bad experiences caused the trust issue to play a rather huge card in ones life when it came to working with others.

"Pst....Katie...Katie!" She was trying very hard to be quiet as she continued to exam the town at the same time.

Talk about feeling overwhelmed.

Katie approached the gate, listening to what the man had to offer. She wasn't the owner of a dragon, so that was for them to decide. Shrugging her shoulders at him, she glanced towards Sakura and Asherah.

"I guess we're getting locked in for the night."

It wasn't what she had wanted to happen, but what other choice did they have now? Sure, they could ride back to the Firebrand, but it would defeat the purpose of them coming back with news.

She would have probed further, but her arm was being tugged gently. Her eyes moved to Madison's face. The woman was saying her name, and she had barely heard her.

Stepping aside, she got out of earshot of the man to speak with Madison.

"Is something wrong?"

Katie heard Madison's stomach rumbling. The bunny was not the only one that was hungry. Katie knew how much an empty stomach could play against thinking clearly.

"That sounds like a good idea. After we find a place to stay I think we should get some food."

She moved back to the gate.

"You two decide what you want to do with the dragons. Madison and I are going to go search for a place to stay while you take care of that. If we're not back within an hour...send out a search party."

The first part was directed at Sakura and Asherah.

She glanced back to Madison, assuming she'd followed her back to the gate.

"Let's go."

And she strolled through the gate, not expecting any problems with her plan to find a place while they took care of the dragons.

Ichigo had just said what she was about to say to Sakura and Asherah. She nodded to his question before turning to voice it to Sakura and Asherah.

"We'll meet back at this gate in one hour. I think that should be enough time to get the dragons in safe hiding."

Looking back at Ichigo and Madison she put her finger up.

"Give me a moment. I need to make a call."

This is when she would pull the communication device from her hip. She had tied it in with her whip to keep it securely held during the ride.

She pressed her finger over the push-to-talk button that went out to Quinn, and she held the speaker near her mouth as she spoke into it.

"Old ma-uh...Quinn, we just landed in a town called Reen. I wanted to keep tabs with you, and I wanted to know if you can you pass a message to Stephen or let him speak to me a moment?"

As Ichigo ran towards than, Madison could only raise her eyebrow as she pieced together the current situation. He was apparently coming with them, that was odd. She could deal with that. Smiling she gave him a nod to welcome him to the group, now it was time to get busy.

The rabbit looked around for a moment deciding on a way to go, the town seemed so big, so new…so exciting. She loved going to new places considering that she was used to being within the Eastern regions of the Gaia world. She never expected to see such a lovely little town.

Little town it's a quiet village.

Everyday like the one before.

Little town full of little people

“Which way do we go? Which way do we go? OH! I want to go over there!” She acted as though she were a child in a toy store, ogling over new toys that she wasn’t allowed to play with yet. Madison turned back and looked at Katie and Ichigo grinning.

“Can we go this way?” The rabbit continued to point down one of the many roads. It looked rather pleasant to wander down, a definite tourist site.

She seemed to fit the role of tourist rather well. Maybe someone should have provided her with a Hawaiian shirt and a camera.

With the call ended now Katie put the communicator back. She followed the direction in which Madison pointed. With a shrug of her shoulders she started forward.

"Let's go then."

She didn't care which way they went. All that mattered was finding a place to crash for the night because once those gates locked them in they probably wouldn't be able to get out. Well, not really true, Katie would get out one way or another, if need be.

As they walked forward she found herself looking from one stall to the next, finding each was decorated differently, some were bright with colors while others were just really strange.

It was the first bar that they came to that grabbed her attention. She slowed down when she heard the drunk yelling out about a something swallowing a man and leaving nothing but red.

After hearing most of the conversation she glanced over to Madison and Ichigo. Madison was a bunny. She had to have heard that. There was a questioning look in her eyes. Should they ask the drunk about it? Maybe they could offer to look into it.

The communicator was going off. She hadn't expected it so soon. Everyone around them was suddenly looking their way. She reached quickly for it, pulling it free from its knot. The device nearly flew from her fingers as she tried to move quickly.

"Slippery things."

About that time Quinn's voice shot out for everyone to hear. She brought the communicator up and pushed the talk button.

"Yeah, Quinn, I'm here. Is something wrong?"

The call was so soon after just hanging up she was afraid it was bad news.

"Right."

Katie was talking to herself as she turned the knob on the back of the device. Pushing the button, she talked once again.

"The volume's down. What's the request?"

She eyed Madison and Ichigo as she spoke before turning around. It wasn't that she didn't want them to hear what was being said, but she couldn't exactly figure out why Quinn would tell her to turn down the volume.

This was quite unusual for Katie. She didn't expect Quinn to tell her about things that seemed so personal. Not that she would shun him away for wanting to share. She knew how a man or a woman felt when they were faced with the idea that they might not walk away from something alive. She had been through similar circumstances, except Katie was not the type to openly exploit her feelings.

In ways she felt honored that Quinn shared this with her and asked her to do this.

"I-"

She stopped speaking when she realized he wasn't completely finished. It was his final statement that let her know she could speak.

"I'll make sure to tell the people you've requested if something was to happen to you, along with taking your dog tags to your brother."

"No problem."

Katie would say before putting the communicator away. It was the truth. It was another added weight to her chest, but she had so many, so what was one more?

It was then she'd turn back to her group to see what they thought about the drunken man they had heard speaking. She didn't think they heard Quinn, but they probably could get the gist of it just by what she'd spoken to him. It was hard to hide something out in the open.

Quinn and Stephen got within a short walking distance to the Old Gate, slowing the bike down to a halt. Hopefully it hadn't closed yet, but he decided perhaps it was best to walk up to it instead of riding on through.

"Alright, we're going to walk it from here. Let me just hide the bike."

You son of a b***h. ![smilies/icon_xd.gif ]

Quinn now regretted not hovering the bike. ********. His fascination with using the wheels on the HOVERBIKE had taken a turn for the worse.

Launching now from the bike, he thanked God for having made two. Hopefully the bike was strong enough not to get too banged up, and a few simple repairs would be sufficient. However, items of his were on the bike. Another thing to worry about as he flew through the air.

After about 5 seconds of flying through the air, he found himself nearing the ground. Doing his best to tuck and roll, his shoulder folded back uncomfortably. His head launched forward to tuck his chin, which resulted in it also slamming back. Rolling to a sprawled position on the ground, he felt the side of his armor jabbing into his rib cage. Reaching up with his unhurt arm, he unclasped it between gasps of air.

Armor off, he looked towards about where the bike had run over something (then proceeded to flip forward and around, which was no doubt what gave him such a powerful flight away) just to see what it was. Dragging himself up, he let the breastplate fall to the ground and pulled out his gun just in case it was something more than mundane.

[God, I hope that wasn't a reference to me running over some kids' skateboard the other day. If so, I hate you. XD]

What? WHAT?!

Quinn growled under his breath. He was PISSED now. "SON OF A b***h."

Stepping forward, he sighed and shook his head, but then ducked as he heard the crunching of machinery as the bike fell from a tree. Stephen was no doubt flung somewhere in some direction behind Quinn, perhaps still on the bike. Hell, who knows where he went. He could be perfectly fine and at the gate right now.

Taking a moment, he abandoned investigating the toys in the middle of the road for a moment and walked to his bike to retrieve his falchion, some ammo, and the smaller rifle (Schwarzenminor). He could build another bike, although the larger weapon (Schwarzenmajor) was bent at the barrel and appeared to be some kind of twisted- too bad it cost so much to build, worth more than the bike anyway.

[Inventory:

Belt of MicroJavs,

Jericho 947 pistol

4 9mm clips

rifle (ammo at 36/36, 1 extra clip)

falchion

knife

helmet

shield

extra prosthetic hand]

Now he would look for Stephen.

"STEPHEN!" he shouted, glancing around. "WHERE ARE YOU?"

"Aye, seems like a good idea."

Only then comprehending the full pain in his left shoulder, he kneeled down and reached back with his right hand.

"********! You mean other than my beautiful, beautiful invention and pride?" he quipped quickly, trying his best to grin. "No, shoulders busted. I think it's just out of joint, not broken. I could be completely wrong, which would mean putting it back would be...horrible. You have any medical knowledge, mate?"

His Scotch accent was pulling through his forced British by now, which was an indicator of his frustration.

"I mean, I can put it back in place by myself, I just need to know first."

Aw, Christ.

Thinking for a moment, he exhaled slowly, reaching up and taking off his helmet with his right hand. Quinn had a feeling the day wouldn't get much better. Luckily, it was dislocated. It would hurt for a long time, but he could at least use it from now on. He also had his trusty rifle, which would help him keep distance from an enemy to a maximum as much of the time as was possible. It wasn't all bad, it could have broken.

Looking down, he juggled the thought of who should do it. Either way, it would be uncomfortable.

"Why don't you do it? I've got an ACE bandage in the back of the motorcycle I'll wrap it up with, keep it stiff and all. God, I'm not looking forward to this."

He did bite down on it. And then much harder.

Terribly hard. Almost like his teeth would pop out the top of his skull, he bit so hard. He half screamed, half growled, his right arm struggling to keep his weight supported as his arm was put back into plate.

Noticing finally that his eyes were closed tight, he opened them. Looking around, his eyes stung, his shoulder was on fire, and the small cuts around his body weren't helping especially.

Taking a moment to collect himself, he stood up again and slunk to the bike. Leaning against the wreck, he slowly opened the back panel and took out a kit, got a bandage, some pills, and a syringe.

"You need some...ibuprofen, or something?" he asked, tossing him a bottle of pills. He would slowly start to take his underlay off of one side in order to bandage his shoulder.

he finished wrapping his shoulder. Taking a few pills himself, he tossed the items back in the compartment, then pressed a switch on the bottom above the back tire that would signal an e-vac for the bike. As he walked to get his helmet, he grabbed the armor, too, tossing it near the bike.

Snorting, he shook his head.

"I hope you're joking. No, I'm old enough that the least of my worries is some damage in my left shoulder. Besides, I'm an inventor. If I can replace an entire hand..." he started, holding up the left hand and pulling off the guard, showing the mechanical hand for what it was. "Then I can probably find some way to heal up some damage from a dislocation. No, I need to talk to Katie anyway."

His last action before being ready to move on would be to put his helmet back on.

"Shall we?"

Chuckling, he shook his head. He almost shrugged his shoulders, too, but felt like that might not be the greatest of ideas for a few...days.

"Me? I only know that," he pointed in the direction they had previously been driving along the road, "is where we need to be. I've never actually been here. I mean, we probably passed it on our way to that tavern place, but we were in a chopper."

Quinn started walking, fixing his left guard to cover the prosthetic again. It was times like these that he missed his younger brother Bog. The half-giant had long, swift legs that would cover the distance in half the time it would take these men to walk. Besides, he was a good conversation piece, being 7 foot 5 and all.

"We can hail Katie when we get to the town. We'll probably get there after they close up the doors, but we'll see."

[unless Sun decides he wants to toy with us some more, we might be able to skip ahead to the gate. Just function on the assumption that we keep walking til told otherwise]

There was a beep in Quinns' ear. He had heard it vaguely before as he had crashed but thought it was just part of the whole...nearly dying, invention mangling accident.

"Hold on a second."

Quinn pressed a button on the side of the helmet, which replayed Johns' message. The time stamp was from quite awhile ago, meaing that it had just taken a long time to recieve (or Quinns' author was silly and forgot about it, but who knew, really?).

"Return. John, this is Quinn. Uh, buddy, best I can tell you is to hold tight and trust that the woman will get you through this. I'm going to be sparse in conversation, if you couldn't tell. I owe you a lot for doing this mission for me. Quinn, over and out."

Pressing another button, he turned to Stephen.

"I'm about as knowledgable as you are. But yeah, she's tough. Reminds me of my oldest daughter."

Wasn't that the truth.

Quinn wasn't about to dwell on that thought though. He knew where he had to go for now, and his decision for leaving wasn't anything complicated like a precision strike with a smaller team or anything, it was tactical support. These creatures were out of his league, but he figured the front lines could use even one or two extra hands. He just had to either get to Katie, or get Stephen to Katie. There was the possibility that Quinn would investigate the city on his own instead of going to the large, amazonian woman first.

After all, that was his youth. Infiltration, it was his specialty and his training. Or was it? Who knew, really...he felt like he had spent a thousand lives in one body. Sometimes bits and pieces of something so similar to his life would pop into his head at the worst times. His second wife, Tru, a castle, the children playing in a corridor...had he been blind once?

His memories he felt were true were the ones of his military experience. Somehow they felt...false. As if they had happened just barely like he remembered, and someone had modified his memories.

There was no time for endeavors like this. He knew who he was (not the dude, playin' a dude, disguised as another dude) and that was all he needed right now.

"I know where we're going. As I said, straight up this road will get us there within five minutes. I know we were relatively close. Math holding up, even if this is not the way to go, I know approximately how far we were. Kind of."

Pocket Gal Wrote:

With the call ended now Katie put the communicator back. She followed the direction in which Madison pointed. With a shrug of her shoulders she started forward.

"Let's go then."

She didn't care which way they went. All that mattered was finding a place to crash for the night because once those gates locked them in they probably wouldn't be able to get out. Well, not really true, Katie would get out one way or another, if need be.

As they walked forward she found herself looking from one stall to the next, finding each was decorated differently, some were bright with colors while others were just really strange.

It was the first bar that they came to that grabbed her attention. She slowed down when she heard the drunk yelling out about a something swallowing a man and leaving nothing but red.

After hearing most of the conversation she glanced over to Madison and Ichigo. Madison was a bunny. She had to have heard that. There was a questioning look in her eyes. Should they ask the drunk about it? Maybe they could offer to look into it.

The three of them began to wonder down the streets. It was rather strange to see some of the sights that had been around this city, what was more strange was the fact that there wasn't very many people around. Madison pushed her glasses up and than looked at Katie once again, as though she were turning to her for all the answers like a small child when they become dependant on their parents.

"Where do you think everyone went?" She scratched her head as they continued on their way to find a hotel. After all, they needed to get that organized before they could really be wondering off and causing trouble.

Madison kept both of her ears open, she was trying to make sure she would hear something. Anything. There were a few things, but she wasn't entirely sure if that was their business. Goodness gracious, this was an interesting town indeed.

"Well it gives me the creeps." She was blunt about it as they continued to walk. It wasn't normal, not at all. Most of the towns that she had visited normally had life. It was odd to see it being as slow as it was.

"Maybe nobody is home." Madison folded her arms over her bust as they continued to walk. Yeah, it was a little scary, but what did you expect? This lovely town wasn't as lovely as they thought.

The snow white ears twitched nervously, this was definitely not a place where she would like to spend a holiday at.

The door almost instantly swept open at the knock.

"Kids, Officer Haven?! What the hell have you been doing?! Do you know what time it i-Oh."

An older man, about Quinn's age had opened the door. In what was left of the daylight, he seemed hard put upon, a veteran of sorts, though still in his prime. Some would say surviving enough battles would make anyone at that age in their prime.

"Sorry mister, wasn't expecting two strangers." His eyes took in the equipment Quinn was packing, and he got a steely glance. "You a fighter? You gotta leave your armoury at the door, soldier. We're a peaceful town. Folk get antsy if anyone but the law protectors walk around armed to the teeth. Specially if it be after hours."

His eyes had already taken in Stephen to the side, but it was obvious who was following who. These two could have almost been one of the normal greenhorn patrols that they sometimes scheduled.

~~~

In another portion of town, it was obvious the adventurer's would need a base camp. Slowly, a building grew into sight, across the odd mismatched wall that split the city. Signs pointed the way to it that had a symbol of a bed and a wine cup. Obviously they were headed towards an Inn, and a big one at that.

Stephen walked up to the man amiably. "No problem mate, just show us where to drop em." He said, removing the twin swords on his back. He was about to hand them over when he paused.

"Hey, mister, hold still for a sec." He moved in with his right hand next to the mans neck in a very non threatening way. "Somethin's on ya. Lemmie take care of it for you. Just hold still -"

THWACK!

And with that Stephen knife handed the man in the carotid artery full force. The effect: instant KO. Should the trick work, of course. If it did, then the guard would indeed be out cold. He'd be just fine in a few moments, but he'd have one hell of a headache.

"God, I love that move."

Re-equipping the weapons on his back, he glanced at Quinn. "We've only got a few moments, so let's move quick." He checked their surroundings to make sure no one was watching, and noted an empty wine bottle sitting next to a building. Stephen carefully slipped it into the incapacitated gate guards hand (to make him think he was drunk, of course) and headed cautiously down the street, making as much use of the shadows as he could for cover.

Thing's would get messy if all the town's guards came down on them.

Before issues were raised.

It should be noted.

That two, yes two, very definite, yet separate clicks were heard from somewhere above all three men. The old man wasn't alone, nor was he completely lame, even for an NPC.

Now. Both gentlemen surely had far more curiosity over what they'd tripped over, as well as what the guard had meant by missing children, rather then worry overly much about actually entering into this town. Obviously that was far more lucrative then taking on a veteran post at the entrance of a place that had it's fair share of experienced fighters.

Fighters that could hold off full grown orks.

It was, after all, fairly quiet, laid back, with nothing but a bit of trade going on deeper in the city.

He didn't appreciate the kick in the shin, but supposed he meant well. Glancing up at the sound of the guns cocking, he ran his right hand through his hair.

"Now, there's no need for that. He's right, we're perfectly willing to cooperate. Why don't you just show us to the armory..." he said, last syllable dragging on as an implied question as to the guards' name.

"And maybe on the way, like my friend here said, we can talk about these missing people."

On the way to the armory could be an opportunity to jump the man, but that required at some point getting him alone. He would have to use Stephen as a distraction. His attempt at disabling the guard before was a signal he might be up to doing something, or allowing this guard to die.

He would decide on the spot if he would follow the rules and give up his weapons or find a way to keep them, hwoever.

Stephen smiled pleasantly, but inside he was slightly disappointed. They'd come all this way for a bleedin' sidequest? What did he look like, a Level 12 Paladin? That aside, people were in danger, and it went against his good nature to stand around and ignore that. Besides, if it was an excuse to get into the city - weapons in tact - they'd have to do it.

<Damn being Neutral Good. Damn it all!>

His inner geek was also in full swing, apparently.

"Okay. We can find them for you in exchange for entrance into the city via this gate." he said. "We'd be more than happy to help you out."

Not exactly the phrasing I'd use, but it would do in the realm of diplomacy.

Madison was such a shy little bunny. Katie glanced her way, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course we should go in."

She didn't go searching just to find a place. They were going to need to put some rooms on hold for the night.

Shoving the door open, the seven foot woman would stroll in, heading straight for the counter. Once she reached it she would glance towards Madison, again.

"How many rooms do we need?"

Her hand came up. For each name she said she lifted one finger.

"We need five, right? Unless we get one for guys and one for the girls."

And she would include Sakura with the girls room, since she'd no clue that Rage actually turned into Sakura. If she did know she would probably be asking Madison what she thought about that.

Hot damn. He turned from the man for a moment.

"You're serious? Seriously?"

He mulled it over to himself for a moment, then turned back. "Their last known location, where they entered the forest. Now."

Quinn was getting frustrated. This b*****d now deserved anything Quinn would give him. For now, it would have to do that he did what this guy told him to.

"And tell me what they all look like."

(("Oh, uh, that's MiniMoose, my, eh, other sidekick, eh, yeah, mmm. Yup, been with me the whole time!" In other words, sorry for my absence. Just pretend Sakura's been stealthily tagging along.))

"If it means anything, I'm pretty used to not sleeping."

Sakura, staying unusually quiet until now, decided now was a great time to chime in. "I wouldn't mind keeping watch, at least for a shift or--"

"Speak for yourself, dumbass! You may be a glutton for punishment, but I actually wanna get some shut eye!"

Stranger things she had seen, but the annoyingly loud stuffed animal was something of a sight to behold. She was sure she had seen it at the Firebrand, but simply had been too out of it to realize just what the thing was....

"It's not easy for a stuffed--MPPH!"

You could almost see the sweatdrop rolling down the side of her head.

It didn't help that they were wanting to split the rooms between the guys and gals... she'd feel better if she just stood watch.

"Anyways, I'll keep watch, if the rest of you want to get some sleep."

“Judging by this town, I don’t think anyone really has to worry Mr. Carrot. And besides, if there is an issue, we can take care of ourselves. Right, Katie?” Madison looked up at the Amazon for reassurance, she was pretty sure that they could all manage to take care of themselves.

Madison stopped and looked at the two of them, their hour must have almost been up and she finally decided to suggest an idea.

“Well, considering that our hour is almost up, I could run back and go grab them. It won’t take long.” She was a rather fast rabbit anyways, so the suggestion seemed like a good one, considering that she would only be gone for a few minutes.

“And than you guys can gather our rooms! Than we can get some rest and in the morning we can see what is really going on in this town.” Brilliant! Simply brilliant! Or at least she thought. Madison seemed to already be warming up to Katie rather nicely, which allowed her to be chattier than she had been. Now she just needed to know if they thought it was a good idea.

After all, this did appear to be a nice town.

Stephen sighed shaking his head slightly and followed Quinn. He got the feeling that he was not exactly the hero type, or at least in the sense of going out and rescuing innocents, especially when there were greater dangers he could be facing. But hey, to each their own. Some people preferred that risk of life and limb to just friendly sparring and helping out others and stuff like that.

Stephen stretched his arms and casually put them behind his head as they walked.

"Soooo... Military man then?"

Idle conversation. He wanted to try and get to know the man better and maybe read him a little bit. Heck of a lot more entertaining than walking though a creepy forest at night. Not that he didn't like nature, but he'd rather be roaming through the woods on his own terms, as well as not... you know. Having the risk of something jumping out and eating you.

Just as long as there weren't Man Eating Trees.

He hated those SOB's...

Stephen blinked for a moment. Something was odd about that pause, but he didn't go prying - now wasn't the best time to go into full on life stories anyway.

"Eh. It's rather complicated. I just went through my life doing things and they threw themselves together into what I am now. Born and raised in Latent, though we lived on the outskirts so it wasn't so crowded. Did a lot of adventuring as a kid and accumulated a small fortune, so I can just do stuff as I like without having to worry about money. I don't like to brag though, it's just a fact of life more than anything. I'm content with training and what not, helping people out, being a generally nice guy. Never went into any branch of the military. Honestly, I like doing things myself. I always thought it'd be cool to get into the Latian Spear, but that group's practically non-existent because of their level of secrecy... so that'd take quite some doing. Not even 100% sure they do exist, it could just be an urban legend passed down over the years. I sometimes get my information from some odd places, heh..."

He paused for a moment. He was rambling again.

"Ah. Sorry about that. I kinda just start going and then I keep going until I realize I've been talking your ear off, hehe.

Somhairle Wrote:

"So, are you a family man?"

Stephen smiled. "In a manner of speaking. I've got a daughter, if that's what you're asking. Seven years old. She's adopted. Met her on the streets and she just kinda tagged along, then one thing lead to another and now we're family. Living in an apartment not too far from Latent... Starry Hills, I think it's called. Quaint little place, not too expensive. All in all just a good set up." he said with a smile, thinking of Karin somewhere safe right now.

He looked back over at Quinn. "Though you probably know how that goes, you said you were something of a family man yourself."

More idle conversation. It passed the time if nothing else.

Ichigo paused for a moment.

Did she just call me...Mr. Carrot???

Katie and Sakura definately weren't misters, so odds were it was directed at Ichigo. He could have been heavily mistaken, though. Even so, it was an unusual enough name that even if she was referring to someone else, it was enough to turn Ichigo's features into a sketchy, cartoonish parody. He scratched the back of his head as he thought of it.

Looks like we have someone who gives out funny nicknames, he thought. Guess our party is complete.

After that was out of the way, he saw that Sakura was also opting to stay outside and watch. That'd probably save a lot more on rooms, but he wouldn't be able to sleep with all of this going on.

"Then I'll keep watch with you," he said. "Two people standing guard is a lot better than one."

Not only that, but it'd be a good chance for Ichigo to get to know one of his new incidental allies.

Since the author was an idiot and did not notice that Sakura had tagged along on their adventure. Madison nodded in agreement with Pocket, it sounded like a good idea. If they followed with the plan, than they would be able to learn more about the town that they were investigating.

There had to be more going on in this town. It was way too quiet…even for a town, it was sickening.

Looking towards Stephen, he stepped over a log. "Well, I'm pretty sure this is the direction. The path is on here, and I'm usually pretty good at finding my way.

"Usually."

Chuckling to himself, he shrugged his shoulder. "Honestly, I don't know what they look like, obviously, but the guard, as much as I hate him and would rather slit his throat, said we would know. I'm certain we aren't lost, though."

Really, he wasn't certain, but he also knew that he could find his way out if he absolutely needed to. There was a little day light left, which meant he could always climb a tree and have a look.

"Why so surprising?" he asked, intrigued by the statement. Quinn glanced down at the map as he awaited a reply. He had a feeling this might become an awkward conversation, but it was too late to retract. Question was asked.

Random?

"Random? You were ready to knock him unconscious. I would simply have taken the next step after incapacitation. Such sacrifices are necessary when the cost of this fight is so-" stopping himself, he shook his head. It wasn't worth it.

Perhaps he was being a bit confrontational. But this was what he was willing to do to get a job done, get this over with, and go back home to Bog. There was no way some snobby guard would get in the way of that. Especially since if they lost this, there was no one, nothing left from what he understood. Maybe when this sidequest was done, they would either talk about this more or go their separate ways if they couldn't learn to agree to disagree.

"Perhaps now is not the time for this conversation then," he said, running his fingers through his hair. Quinn trodded along- he was a man of history, having taught for the last few years in just that area. He was from the school of thought that in battle, nothing was sacred, and in war, no one was safe if it meant the achievement of a greater goal. If men were to be weak in war, or falter and second guess themselves, or deal with the stubbornness of opposition, then that achievement would be slower, and sometimes unattainable.

Quinn was once an idealist, however. He wasn't always of this thought. But after so much death around him, this peaceful, non-violence idea was sucked from him.

"I just hope we find them soon."

[hint hint, sun.]

The bushes twitched, then rustled in the growing dark. Something, it looked like a deer, stumbled out into the path, and then leaped away, white tail like a flag.

Everything went quiet and then the deer came back, courtesy of two tree trunks which exploded with the force the creature went through them. A third tree, right in front of Quin and Stephen got was was left.

The leg still twitched every now and again as it slumped down onto the ground.

The forest was silent again.

Stephen whipped towards the same direction, flipping back his jacket to draw his revolver with his and aiming off in the general direction of the noise. He wished for a moment that he had not brought such a high quality firearm so he could have modified it so he could hold the cleverly hidden combat/survival knife on his upper torso comfortably in the other hand for close quarters combat. A moment later he realised how ludicrous it would have been to do that with a .44 Magnum anyway, not to mention against the kind of force they were facing, and moved on.

Besides, he brought the gun to avoid close quarters combat in the first place.

"Wonderful. Giving away our position to whatever the hell just turned that deer into a lethal projectile. Might wanna work on that itchy trigger finger, mate." he said to Quinn, turning 180 so he could cover their flank. Something was nearby, and it was ******** with his empathy big time. Even if it wasn't one of the enemy, something that could so brutally take a living creature and rocket it through two trees had some serious issues.

"So, what's your money on... Orc, Shade, or Other? Double or nothing it's got friends." he said, finger ready to fire and instinct's on high alert. He was talking, being sarcastic on the bet, and hoping that it was solo. But he had to do his best not to freak out by making light of a possibly deathly serious event.

This could get ugly fast.

"Well, if we're going to go exploring, let's hurry up. As much as I like seeing the sights, we do have other important things to take care of." Looking impatient, she grabbed Ichigo's arm and started pulling him with her, leaning forward slightly as she walked. "C'mon, Strawberry, we're leaving. And keep that talking... lion... thing... from talking."

Without much fanfare, she headed out of the Inn and out towards the street, Ichigo in tow. It was well established that there was something not quite right about this town, and it was about time to figure out what it was.

The Amazon was right behind the rabbit when she called out all child-like. It made Katie raise an eyebrow.

"I'm standing right behind you."

She could see that Madison was not the very patient type. Well, Katie was calm, take things cool type. She wanted to make sure they didn't go running right into a disaster, which meant taking their time and investigating thoroughly.

Without another word Katie started off, getting in front of Madison.

"Well, come on then."

She started towards the opposite way that Sakura and Ichigo headed. It was good to break the search up.

It was about that time she got a beep from the two-way. She grabbed the communication device, pressing the talk button.

"I hope things are fine."

She didn't put the communication device away yet, just in case Quinn responded.

"Hey....Hey, over here!"

As the girls walked in, sans Sakura and Ichigo, they'd find a slightly suspicious looking person beckoning them over to one of the corners of the inn, almost instantly, almost...as if he'd been expecting them.

Swathed in darkness he sat in one of the big cushy reception chairs quite comfortably. In fact, he was rather sprawled over the chair itself, one leg crossed over the other.

~~~

Sakura and Ichigo would find themselves immersed in the crowds that were generally heading home for bed, leaving darkness closing in for another day. A few unlikely attendants were trying to haggle and make trade, and after a few unfriendly answers to quite friendly questions, the two would probably feel as though they were put through a waste of their time...

"Hey! Hiya..." A tall figure stood up against one of the walls, tossing something up in the air, then catching it again. He looked vaugly suspicious, quite similar to the person that had been chased by police for murder earlier. But it was up to the two to decide what they'd do with him.

~~~

There was a cry from the other side of the bushes, loud enough to set both men's hearts going. It sounded like a child, lost, scared, lonely....Quin and Stephen may have stumbled on the first of the children.

It's a safe assumption that the girls didn't get away from the Inn like they had intended.

A deep voice called out to them. Katie turned around to see a figure lounging around in the reception chairs. He sat in a dark corner, well hidden, which would explain why she hadn't noticed him until this point.

Any person that sat in the shadows always raised a concern or awareness with Katie.

She'd stroll towards him, but she kept a certain distance between them.

"Can we help you?"

Even with a distance still between them she was now close enough to make out certain things of the man. She was inspecting the dark corner, scrutinizing the man before them.

Pippe looked up from his small feast and sneezed at the man. Little crumbs stuck to his fur.

"Pfft!"

"Did you wanna talk to us or sumthin'?"

Asherah shifted the bag to her other shoulder as she cocked her hip. Her eyebrows were furrowed, her lips slightly curled in a disturbed manner.

"Well?"

"Rrrr..."

"Hurrk---H-HEY!"

Ichigo was caught off guard by Sakura's sudden yanking. Moreover...where the hell did she get Stra---...oh wait. Nevermind. The mere thought of it had him thinking of another green-haired girl who also played upon the Japanese homonym that was his first name.

He soon wrestled his arm from her grip, adjusting himself and his jacket. "Ya don't have to drag me along like that," said Ichigo, "I know how to walk, damnit." It was a much calmer "damnit" than one would expect after being dragged like a child. It was most likely since he was used to that sort of treatment from Rukia.

As they headed in the direction Sakura had dragged him towards, he looked at the passersby on their way to their rooms. Seemed as if there were quite a few people staying at this place. Not that it was very hard to believe. There seemed to be enough hubub amongst the attendants (unless they're referring to us ><) that there wouldn't be much of a problem getting by. It at least made them blend--

Sunstrike Wrote:

"Hey! Hiya..."

Well, scratch that thought.

Is that guy talking to us?

Ichigo wasn't quite sure, but the tall figure wasn't giving him any good feelings. On the other hand, he wasn't getting a heavy negative vibe off of him either. But what did he want?

Stephen/Quinn:

Both Stephen and Quinn would find themselves breaking into a clearing. But instead of an enormous, and probably rather bullet riddled monster over the child, they'd find just an ordinary guardsman, whole and unharmed, trying to stop a small girl from screaming.

He didn't seem too calm himself, in fact, the man was shaking and white as a ghost, but still he seemed intent on getting the small child to be quiet. Finally, he brought out a packet of sweets, just in time to meet Quinn's eyes with his own fearful ones.

"Y-you're human! But you aren't the normal patrol! Why are you out here?"

Stephen, who was still back in the clearing with his revolver aimed over towards the bushes where Quinn had foolishly charged, listened as much as he could to pick up what scraps of conversation were going on.

"What is it, Quinn? You find the missing people?" he shouted over, presuming that if something was indeed in the area that they already knew they were there because of Quinn's previous actions.

From the fact that he didn't hear any ripping flesh or other monstrous noises, he presumed as much. Either way, he held his position.

Things just seemed a little too fishy for his taste.

"What?"

Straightforward and to the point. After largely blocking out the sound of Ichigo's complaining, Sakura turned towards the man who had been calling for their attention. A short fuse matched her attention span, and she didn't much care for shooting the breeze with strangers. Even so, what was the harm? If the guy tried anything he'd be living off of a steady diet of his own teeth.

"Make it quick, bucko. We ain't got all day."

Her arms folded across her chest as she tapped her foot impatiently.

Asherah gave the man a once over and faintly snarled. Present?

"You're not Santa Claus, unless he is a meth addict and a heavy weight pill abuser." None the less, Asherah reached out and shook his hand firmly. "So you were expecting us then?" She took her hand away. "What's your name exactly."

Taking it easy. That was her plan.

Katie/Mads/Ash:

Asherah would find her hand shaken by a warm, and completely human grip.

"Ah, I have to apologise for the cloak, I forget how off putting it is sometimes."

With that, he pulled off the hood, and the material became dark, but not nearly as mind numbing.

The man had black hair, and deep blue eyes that were filled with amusement.

"My name, is Henry Mere. And it is a pleasure to meet such a varied array of femininity as yourselves."

He looked at Madi and he tilted his head.

"I just wish it were under better circumstances...you see, it's already opened. The others might be a little late in following you here. And as for the present. It is just a trinket, something that may be valuable within the fight for our tall Amazon friend here."

With that, he looked up at Katie.

"They will need you, in OldTown. Very soon, and they will also need this..."

Henry detatched a strap, and something fell with a mettalic thud at the back of his feet.

"Best worn at the back, you won't have to rely on doing anything but attacking clear ahead of yourself."

It was a shield, fairly unassuming, which should have said everything about it really. Henry explained.

"This is -

Quote:** Wrote:

Doomgiver

Doomgiver is also called the Shield of Justice. It has a hollow circle engraved in white upon its surface.

Doomgiver is one of the least understood of all the Artifacts.

Doomgiver is poorly understood because of the ambiguity of its use. It was observed to turn any attack directed toward it back to the source. If an arrow is fired at the wielder of the Shield of Justice, the arrow would turn around in mid-flight and fatally strike the archer. It also in general redirects maliciousness directed toward the one who holds it.

This artifact is currently owned by Henry Mere.

And now I'm giving it to you."

He beamed at all three, as if he'd never just suggested there was going to be a fight at all.

What the hell is this guy? Whatever he is, he's freakin' tall...

Ichigo took note of the man's odd features as he revealed himself and stepped closer to him and Sakura. Ichigo had seen a lot of weird-looking people in the past, so it struck him as odd that his reaction to this newcomer wasn't as nonchalant as it should be. His eyes didn't widen or anything of suprise or fear, but no matter how much he saw it, weird stuff would always be just that.

Sunstrike Wrote:

"You have to follow me, otherwise you won't get there in time. Either you jump in, or you sort it out yourself."

'The hell's he talking about?

"Follow you? What---Hey!"

Before he could even get his question out, the man was already heading into the alleyway. He had absolutely no clue what this guy was referring to, and Ichigo hated when people spoke so cryptically. Nevertheless, he was more intent to find out than to be wary of a possible trap, and it was hard to say if Sakura was any more suspicious. Odds were they'd just end up following the guy.

"What the hell do you mean? Jump into what?"

"Bloody hell, who turned on the creepy?"

Sakura flipped her hand in much the same way one might handle a wall switch, illustrating her point quite nicely and looking from the man, to Ichigo, back to the man. Truth be told, her initial reaction was that of surprise, at least going by her face. From a furrowed brow to almost wide eyes, then back to normal, there was something odd about the way she reacted.

It wasn't who she thought; still, bad memories always surfaced when she had to deal with people in hoods. She hadn't even realized that she had lightly gripped the katana at her right hip - there wasn't enough distance to cut, but enough to give that extra "oomph" if she needed to catch the guy in the gut with a quick hammer strike.

But, as quickly as he and Ichigo had finished their exchange, Cloakie had already turned and gone. A light chuckle erupted from Sakura's nose; she looked like fire might come out next.

"Well, Strawberry? We're late for an important date."

She decided to follow the man; after all, what else was there to do in this otherwise dull town?

Bending down at his knee, he glanced around. "Alright, take the boy and bring some back up just in case. I suppose me and my friend here will be going west."

He hesitated.

"...do you have a weapon?" he asked, not really able to see too many details on this guy.

Rage/Ichigo:

The man would lead them through a few of the darker side streets:

((White lines, pretend there are a lot more smaller buildings that hug up against the larger mapped out ones.))

He weaved his way through people with a direct location in mind. At the moment, everyone was located in New Town. The place the green haired man was bringing the other group to was the ancient WALL that divided the whole of the town in two.

It was beautiful really, you could see why people came from all around to enjoy, as well as study it. Whoever had built the stone foundations must have had some artistic quirk, because there were engravings that made the whole structure flow, even when pieces of it were obviously falling hard due to time.

Signs and a barrier were up to keep people from going too close, just in case an accidental rock decided to upend itself on someone's head, but the man didn't seem bothered by this, simply treading over the top and moving to a particular niche.

"Wait a secon--"

Rumble rumble rumble.

"What the hell i-"

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE.

"ARE YOU DONE YET?!"

.....rumble....

"...Thank you. Now, Mr. Mere. I'm guessing that you know a lot more than what you are telling us."

Asherah silenced herself for a moment to let the Mr. Mere speak.

"Pipee, get in your brush."

"Pfft!" Sweeping off the crumbs from Ash's head with his tail, he slithered into her bag and quickly hid in his calligraphy brush.

The rabbit could feel the ground rumble beneath her; what on Gaia was that? She looked around at the two other women to see that they were all ready had their game faces back on. Something big was happening, something that they should have saw coming. Her ears twitched, as she began to notice that some of the townsfolk were getting nervous. Maybe there was a reason for panic.

Pocket Gal Wrote:

"We should split up."

“I dunno if that’s such a good idea, Katie.” Madison looked up at her now with her ruby red eyes, which were framed by her black-rimmed glasses. For some reason, the idea of breaking out just seemed like a bad idea, considering that Katie had the shield and they didn’t.

“I mean, you have the shield not us. What happens if it’s something big! So big…that we need the shield, or even you!” Madison flailed her arms as she jumped around in order to express the size of whatever they may have to face. Of course, the time for arguing didn’t seem to be a very good option that they had right now. They need to come up with a plan quickly before the older side of town became nothing more than ruins.

Katie listened to what Madison had to say. She glanced from her to Asherah then back to Madison, making sure they were both listening.

"You're right. We have to hurry though, and we don't have time to make a plan. Let's just all keep up with one another and move as quickly as we can to get the people on the far east moved beyond the wall as Mr. Mere suggested. Whatever happens, if we lose one another just meet at the gate in the new town, okay?

And Asherah, I'm not sure sounding an alarm would be good. That might cause some horrible chaos. We don't need everyone running around like chickens with their heads cut off. It's bad enough that they are all frightened over the noise we all just heard. Let's just do what we can."

Without another moment Katie headed out the door. She was still open to suggestions from Madison and Asherah, but they couldn't waste valuable time. They would have to tell her their suggestions as they started towards the east.

As she headed out the door she grabbed the two-way communicator that Quinn had given her. She pressed the button.

Static.

She was continuing towards the eastern direction, wishing the static would ease up as she did. She hoped they heard her, but she didn't have time to wait and see.

"Quinn! It's Katie. I'm not sure where you two are, but don't come inside the city. You copy that?"

She wished she could forewarn Ichigo and Sakura. Even if she knew help would be good, she was always thinking of ways to keep other's from getting in harms way.

[Edit]

"Hey! Wait! Where're you goin'?"

Ichigo continued to follow the green-haired man, weaving through the crowds as he did his best to keep the stranger in his sights. He had no idea what the guy was up to, but it looked like he was heading towards that large wall in the middle of the city.

Seeing the wall gave Ichigo an idea about just how old this city was. Not that he was able to recognize and date the wall by its art style...he could just tell it was pretty damn old. But that wasn't even a concern to him now that he was following this stranger.

Ichigo was hardly paused by the signs and barriers, since it would only deter him from following the man who seemed to have no qualms about trespessing.

That was when the quake hit.

"Gyaahh!"

Although he didn't let the barrier stop him, the quake had sure slowed him down. He nearly stumbled, but quickly regained his balance.

"What the hell was that?" he said aloud, most notably to Sakura as she would probably be following him. But now wasn't the time to worry about that. If anything, strange occurences were linked to strange people.

"Just hold up a second!" shouted Ichigo to the green-haired man, as he followed him to that niche.

Stephen cautiously moved over towards Quinn's location. The fact he hadn't been eaten alive or maimed or something was a fairly good sign. Still, he had his revolver trained over in that general direction in the case something big should come around.

"So... if there's nothing over there besides one of the missing people we were looking for... what threw that deer?"

He didn't say this expressly loud, but Quinn would no doubt hear his pondering.

Quin/Stephen:

The rumble would also be felt by the two men, and the quickly retreating guard with the child. The trees rustled ominously, not answering the silent question of the deer for either man, and night closed in around them.

The forest would settle, but no crickets chirped, no birds muttered sleepily. The place was as still as death. Then something, big, black, and dark landed between both men. There was a wail from it's back as the impact kicked up the ground in a circle of dust and grit.

Many things would probably go through the men's heads at once, but these key elements should be noted.

One: This was obviously the first view either would have of a shade, a pawn, as it were, about man height, six foot, and fairly plain looking, having only a simple covering of dark matter over it's body.

Two: There was a child strapped to it's back, still very much alive if a bit broken, and scared out of it's mind, that was what made all the sudden noise.

Third: It just stared at them, before making a break for the treeline, human cargo in tow.

Girls+Obliv:

Henry didn't get far, in fact, he barely made it out of the door before something large, black and imposing tackled him into a darker alley, where they both disappeared in a tumble of cloak and darkness.

As if that weren't bad enough, they would have no real time to register that their pseudo guide had been taken, before three more apparitions came belting down the street and turned a corner, headed deeper into New Town territory.

All of them had a choice here, and the screams of the people that encountered the squad carried up into the night. And these weren't the only voices raised in terror, all over the town groups of three or even four black, hulking shades ploughed through the streets, searching.

A window to the left of the girls smashed inwards with a mighty crash, and in rolled one. Nothing but blank determination on it's dark matter face as it straightened up and looked around, oblivious to the glass shards it stepped in.

"Yeah, yeah, Madison, what do you think we are doing?"

Somhairle Wrote:

"Roger, Katie," he replied less than enthusiastically. "Any...PARTICULAR reason why?"

Katie then pressed the button to communicate back to Quinn. That's when she started to notice the dark figures, people screaming, and a smash that came from her left. Sure, Quinn would probably pick that all up, but Katie kept the talk simple with him.

"JUST DO AS I SAY!"

The communicator was shoved back into its spot. She'd glance behind her to see that their escort was gone.

"Madison! Asherah! Where'd he go?!"

********. They were going to have to follow through with the plan without him.

"Let's go this way and start pushing people towards the wall."

She'd point to her right. Hell, she wasn't sure, but she was guessing that was the old town and the part they had come through was the new town.

"If you can grab someone's attention that doesn't look too panicked, maybe we can ask them to make sure it's the old town."

Hearing Madison brought Katie's attention back. She was so focused on trying to help these people that she didn't notice what had caused that crashing noise to her left. She would turn to look at the dark, looming figure that was there.

She'd quickly reach for her sword. As she pulled it free part of the shield rubbed against it, causing a metal on metal sound to fill the air around them.

"I don't know what it is. All I know is there is more than one.."

With a determined look she would move towards where the creature was walking.

"Let's get this thing."

The screams of terror ripping through the air bothered Katie. She wished she could save everyone, but they'd have to do this one step at a time.

"What the hell is gHRRRRG--"

It was the kind of blow one would expect if they had just been hit by a semi truck. Being driven by the Incredible Hulk. She went skidding along the ground in an almost comical fashion, coming to a stop some yards away and laying in a crumpled heap, light scratches up and down her now dirty and slightly torn clothes.

"Okay... I'm not a happy camper...."

Sakura wouldn't get a lot of sympathy from the stoic shade, which dove after her, sprang into the air, and came down elbow first, looking to strike a fatal blow to her head, or a crippling one to her spine. There was no pause from one action to the next, and pretty soon it was certain, more would follow.

Steven and Quinn would easily be able to follow the shade, branches neither dissuaded nor impeded the armoured black being from it's course, which, if either two man started to notice, began to curve, and then spiral in on itself. The boy attached to it's back was doing them no favours, however, being the only thing in plain sight in the darkness, it was hard to tell where human ended and shade began.

Katie was about to find out that the obvious shade wasn't her problem. Her issue began with the one that exploded from the chimney.

Yes, the chimney, like a black, stoic, heavily built Santa of BLACK DOOM. It sprang at her back, and then found itself embedded into the stone wall of the inn.

The shield seemed to class emotionless intent to kill just as much as it did anything else.

Madi herself would find the pawn that had crashed through the window slowly making it's way towards her, the bunny having been the first creature it set it's eyes on, as well as seeming to be the weakest and smallest of the bunch.

Katie hadn't even noticed the shade that jumped from the chimney, until she was hitting the ground, face first. The force of the shield sending the shade in the opposite direction had taken her by surprise and sent Katie sprawling the opposite way, but things were suddenly very clear with her face planted on the floor.

Just to prove her sudden clarity, she would clamber to her feet, coughing dust she had accidentally inhaled, and wiping away a small amount of blood from her chin where she'd hit. She would wipe the blood away while she looked to where the shade had been tossed. The shield had tossed the shade, and now it was embedded into the wall of the inn.

That was when she saw the shade that was moving towards Madison. By the time she'd noticed it moving towards the bunny it was almost on her. She'd reach for the shield to pull it forward and charge at the dark figure.

"The shield, Madison, we had the solution the whole time!"

She'd say as she charged passed her.

It would be a lot of work on Madison and Katie's part to drive the shades away, but they possessed the key. Katie had no doubt that the two women could handle this alone.

Catching the weapon handily, he noted the other mans' speed. Watching the shade for a second, he baseball slid, bringing the weapon to bear. Stopping, he aimed towards the shades' legs, lined it up, and fired. He had a feeling this creature wouldn't be affected by a bullet just like that, however.

However, Quinns' author was in a hurry and that's all the description the other role-players recieved. Clove cigarette time.

A black tide swept towards Reen.

Okay, maybe a little dramatic, but that's what it seemed to the guards that were stationed on the outer wall. But these men were trained to handle orks, and in truth, these silent killers were all but the same size, so everything at their disposal handled the tough outer shell of a shade with just a bit more effort then usual.

Lighting the torches highlighted the edges of the armour the pawns wore, and but for one or two Rooks, the guard itself was holding up to the press against the walls. Careful defences did a lot to stop most of the regiments, although individual groups were fanning out into the city itself, causing panic and, in Knights case, very real danger.

A giant, shadowed hand reached around his middle, just as Sakura gave her attacker a face full of foot. The pawn staggered backwards, and the girl would find something flash as Knight's threw what he'd taken from the wall. Would her reactions prove as on the ball as the tall man hoped?

Whatever was flying would be hand sized, and with her senses on edge, clear as day. The rook, finding that the person he held had no further use, chucked Knights into the darkness without anything more then a blink. He was focused on someone else now, with bright green hair. As soon as Sakura caught the stone fragment, a large shadow would loom over her. The pawn that attempted to get some balance back would find itself smashed into the concrete as the massive shade decided it's hand currently needed to occupy the spot that it was in.

Ichigo was indeed right about the snappy follow up, a red eye narrowed, and a hand lined up the man in it's vision, before the shade moved again. It was fast, maybe not as fast as Ichigo, which would account for the early attempt at taking the orange haired man down quickly. But this boy was obviously made of stronger stuff.

The shade would come in for a low blow against the sternum when there was a crunch behind them both, the Rook moving and flattening the other shade seemed to startle it into looking at Sakura's position at the last moment. Or maybe it was what had been thrown towards the girl that held it's attention.

Two more squads of three branched out, having gotten past the outer defences. By now the walls were ablaze with gunfire, as well as torches and lights to try and focus on the attackers beyond the gate. Katie would find the Shade in the bar to be well taken care of by the time her focus shifted, Madi looking quite proud of herself as she stood on the table.

Again there was a rumble from the outside, shaking the foundations of the building they were in. People were pouring downstairs, men, women and children, looking frightened and horrified at the shades that littered the front room.

Finally, after a startled silence, an officer burst into the room. He was the same one that had taken the drunk man to the jail. Blood from a shoulder wound decorated his arm, and he looked tired, but other then that his authority rang clear.

"We have to get these people to the safe houses on the border of new town, they're the only things that'll hold up."

He of course, was speaking to the women in the room, Katie being an obvious warrior, and Madi...holding what was left of a chair.

"Once there we can see about fighting them off from that position."

Without more information he stood to the side, waiting for people to shuffle out. There were no more guards on the street, but there was a huge group of civilians. It was obvious that this man was the only one that had been gathering people, at least for this quarter. To say that the protectors of the city were stretched would be underestimating the matter.

Outside the walls, Quinn and Stephen would find themselves quite successful in taking down the single shade. The boy became all but dislodged and went rolling in the opposite direction as the shade, a mess of rope and fear. The boy's quiet snuffles were easy to track.

The shade itself was altogether helpless, and it lay still, having embedded itself against a tree branch upon it's landing. Black darkness oozed from it's impaled eye.

The pawn was coming in fast, and Ichigo knew that attempting to fight something of its nature in his current state wasn't the best idea. He wasn't here to fool around and test his mettle against these things. Everyone in the group made the decision to go against these creatures and stop their master from achieving his goals.

So Ichigo reached into his jacket...

"Hey, what's all the---GYAAAAAHH!" cried the startled Kon as he saw the shade heading for Ichigo. Why on earth would he pull him out of the safety of his jacket just to be face-to-face with the enemies he had seen before?

Nevertheless, Ichigo knew there wouldn't be enough time to do what he had to do before the shade came in for the attack, so he would have to make some distance with another maneuver. As the pawn came in with the low blow to the sternum, Ichigo quickly stepped to his right, turning his body in order to get outside of the shade's line of attack.

But it seemed as if that wasn't going to be their only problem.

The loud crunch sounded as the Rook's massive hand crushed the pawn Sakura had been dealing with. Ichigo noticed the glint of the object Knights threw to Sakura (considering Sakura catches it or gets hit in the face with it or whatever Rage wishes to do) and how his attacker's attention was now being directed towards her. Whatever she was holding was obviously attracting the shades, which definately wasn't good now that they had to face a Rook.

However, a distracted shade was pretty good news for Ichigo...

With the opening given, Ichigo quickly stuffed his hand down the stuffed animal's throat, pulling out the small, round piece of green candy that contianed Kon's soul. It took only a split second to swallow it, forcing Ichigo's soul out of his body with his arm grasping the hilt of something large over his shoulder that he brought down on top of the preoccupied shade...

-SHHNKK!!-

"HYEEEIIIAAAHHT!!"

And Zangetsu came crashing down.

Ichigo hoped the surprise attack from his shinigami form leaving his body would catch the shade off guard. If it made contact, the spiritual heft of Zangetsu's blade would cleave the pawn in two right down the middle. Ichigo hoped taking advantage of his enemy's diverted attention would work, as it would take both him and Sakura's full attention to handle the gigantic Rook.

Then again, Ichigo wasn't even sure if Sakura would be able to see him as a shinigami. If Sakura could see ghosts, then she'd be able to see him with little trouble. If not, exposure to Ichigo's spiritual pressure would no doubt make him visible in short time.

“THAT’S WHAT YOU GET!” Madison screamed at what appeared to be an exiting Shade. Her attention soon became refocused as she noticed that Katie was already on the move. She wasn’t even done being victorious yet!

Pocket Gal Wrote:

"Madison, you ready to get these people to safety? It's just us, so we're going to have to watch one another's back."

“Oh. Right!” Dropping the leg, Madison fallowed Katie outside. The thing about this girl was she always seemed to need to refocus, or something. But she was out there right behind the true warrior woman. After all, she was just a rabbit.

She quickly blinked to notice that there were actually quiet a crowd waiting to go to the safe house. It was strange to have so many people dependant on one person; especially when that person was Madison.

“There’s too many of them to take in one big group. Maybe it’s best to split up into parties.” She looked up at Katie. If they remained in their large party as it was a hazard. It would draw attention, and it would also be a huge problem when it came to one of the “warriors” were meant to protect them. After all, Katie may able to pull some fancy moves to protect a large group. But Madison would be another story, if Katie was busy with one creature. Half of the group would be instantly knocked out.

“I’ll take one half, you take the other. And we’ll meet at the safe house in ten minutes.” She didn’t take her eyes off of Katie. This was then plan, and they needed to get moving if they intended to survive. Sure, she was scared; but members of GUARDIAN don’t get scared. Or at least that’s what she believed.

His approach was slow, calculating. Every few steps, he swung back to make sure he wasn't being followed. Everywhere was a possibility- in the tree tops, the forest floor, north, south, east and west. Quinn held out the rifle, his eye on the sights. His finger rested against the side of the weapon instead of on the trigger just in case he got a little trigger happy or jumpy and shot Stephen or the kid.

He slowed even further as he approached the downed shade. The bullet did damage, which he didn't expect. He swung around to see the front of the beast.

"What the Hell is this thing? Jesus.."

s**t.

st st.

Turning on heel, Quinn approached Stephen and the child, kneel down next to Stephen, and clasp a hand on his shoulder. As he did so he would raise his left hand up and make a "shushing" motion to the both of them. He would then signal for a retreat back the way they came, opposite of the encampment. Tactical withdrawal could only serve their purposes for now. The people inside of the encampment would weigh heavy on his mind, but he decided that was something him and his friend could discuss in safer circumstances.

Katie and Madi had a lot on their respective plates.

The guard himself nodded at their willingness to help. They looked different from your run of the mill tourist, and if he had more time he'd have asked them a few serious questions about whether or not they had anything to do with the mess Reen was currently in. Or if they knew...

But now wasn't the time.

"I'll take the third group. Split that way, it should give us a good run. Thankfully it's not as far as you'd think. Head for the west gate and just look for the sign of swords crossed, it's blue, reflective in the dark. Those are reinforced holdings."

The divisions where fairly straightforward.

Madi got a pair of families, and some residents. Katie got three more plus residents, and the guard took the rest, who were all tourists. No one protested, they were matched to how much the leader knew of the area, which is to say, none for either Katie or Madi. So they'd have some help heading in the right direction.

"Right, bunny girl left, big girl down the center, and I'll move to the right. Smoke em if you've got them, we're off."

And he quickly filtered his side off to the right, leaving the two girls and their own groups.

“Left it is!” Madison grinned and looked at her “troops”. It was a sad excuse for troops, but it was going to have to do. However, she thought for a moment about getting chairs or something to protect themselves from the shades. But there was no time for that. Only time to move and get them to safety.

“Let’s go!” The rabbit began to start walking to the left area. She didn’t think running would be their best option considering Madison could run to their desired location in about ten seconds, easy. She was required to be a little more responsible than that.

“Um…if…we uh…go the wrong way. Let me know?” Madison was much more shy than Katie’s assertive behavior; it was part of her nature. But she could sense that the families were not exactly feeling entirely safe. Afterall, the other groups had both an Amazon woman, and the head of the guard as protection. Instead they had a rabbit.

Nothing was said though.

And Madison could only hope it would stay that way.

Stephen, in the meantime, wasn't paying much attention, as he was currently removing his swords and removing his jacket and folding it up in as small a space as possible, revealing himself to be wearing all black underneath. He shoved it into a small pouch that he had strapped to his belt. The jacket somehow managed to fit inside, and the bag barely clasped shut, but the signature red was now well out of sight.

The purpose was made clear though - his visibility was now significantly dropped without that red thing waving behind him. He still had to deal with the blond hair in the dark, but that was less important than a long jacket in a color that naturally attracted the eye.

Returning his melee weapons to their normal places, he glanced over to Quinn, flashing a quick hand signal.

One.

He hissed a quick "Get on" to the kid, whom either out of fear or lack of anything better to do did so, getting onto the man's back and holding on tightly. He then looked over at Quinn and flashed a thumbs up stating that he was ready for the hasty retreat. He wanted to make sure Katie and crew were safe, not to mention Quinn as well.

They had no idea what they were up against, so strength in numbers was the best option for the moment.

(incomplete)

<Sakura>

If a red eye could narrow, it would have done, quite effectively. Sakura would soon notice that she was actually running, yet, not getting anywhere. A strange earthquake vibration forming in the ground under her feet.

Asphalt creaked and moaned, buckling as the creature dug in with giant fingers, and RIPPED the road up from the actual dirt like a rug. Debris rained down from between the two hands, before slamming it down again.

Thus forcing Sakura to not only run from the giant, but also a rapidly growing buldge of road, bearing down on her like a concrete wave. With it carried large amounts of wood, glass, concrete, and twisted metal of various forms from the pipes and byways that had been hidden and then harshly exposed to the air.

<Ichigo>

As the massive hands hit the ground again, dust, and then water erupted up in a circle from around the huge form. One of the major pipes had burst from the force, and continued to wreak bloody havoc all around, forcing smaller pipes to do the same in the backlash.

And through all this came Ichigo like some robed invisible shadow, exactly as a shinigami with a ******** off huge sword should.

Zangetsu opened a hefty rent within the back of the Rook, forcing an alien roar of rage to break all the glass of the windows. Glass raining down to either side, the creature reared up and around at the new threat, arms sweeping a large swath of air in the direction of the irritating orange haired man.

Black blood splashed onto the ground, flowing like a river around the feet, sinking into the cracks of the dirt.

<Katie>

It was dark now, and that was a problem. Luckily, or prehaps tragicly, fire's had started in some of the buildings along her path to the safehouse. And hers were not the only wide eyes searching the flickering shadows as the group huddled and stumbled after the warrior woman.

At some times having a pack of people was distracting. A muttered gasp, or a squeak as something that moved, turned out to be some animal or a trick of the light, even Katie might find herself jumping, startled, by the darker places along her route.

Then the roar from the injured rook floated over the crowd, and everyone in her party froze. Which was just as well....

<Madison>

The bunny girl might have had an easier time of it, though her way was darker and slightly more obscure then the direct route, it was also the shortest. Fairly rapidly they made their way to the southern bunker.

Suddenly, the street would open up into a small circular courtyard, in the center of which was a very small ferris wheel, everything was of course turned off and powered down. But that did nothing to settle the whole spookiness of the situation....

(to be continu'd)

The shadows slowly danced around her as the rabbit continued to walk down the road less travelled. It was at this point where Madison wished she still had ownership over the chair that she used against the shades that she had fought earlier. But instead it was her and the group that had been following her. The sensation of fear filled the area as she wondered towards the center of the circular courtyard.

Madison seemed to now be relieved at the sight of what seemed to appear to be the southern bunker that they had been looking for. Smiling she let out a long breath of relief and continued to wonder forwards. Although it seemed to have an eerie sense to it, she knew that these people were safe and they had reached their destination.

This was easier than she had thought. Sure, there were a few monsters and some people that naturally freaked out. But overall, this was very simple.

Or at least, that was is what she liked telling herself.

At first Madison did not hear the voice of the small child as she was lost in her own little world. However, it wasn’t till she felt the sensation of the tugging that she practically jumped out of her skin. The rabbit quickly looked down to see a small girl standing beside her wearing a rather large fluffy white hoodie.

Although Madison could only see the young girl’s eyes, it was clear that she was everything but unafraid; a feeling that the two of them were currently sharing at the same time. Slowly the rabbit crouched down to the young girl’s level in order to speak to her more closely, after all this child seemed to have something important that she required to say to her.

Sunstrike Wrote:

"Ms. Bunny, this...this is something papa gave me, to be brave."

Delicate fingers pushed something into her hands, and Madi would feel the weight of something solid, a piece of stone? A charm? It was hard to tell in the darkness.

"He said to hide it...but," A lower lip wiggle. "Mommy said it would be better if we gave it to you." She looked back towards an older woman, toting another child along with her. The woman nodded encouragingly.

“I promise you that it will remain in safe hands, little one.” Madison smiled slightly at the child as the girl handed her the mysterious item to her. The rabbit could feel the small item between her fingers as she held onto it. However, no matter how many times she seemed to rub her hands over the item it was practically impossible to make it out. She seemed slightly focused on it as she tried to decipher it.

Sunstrike Wrote:

"Daddy found it in the ruins on the ex'pedtion." And with that little rush, she dove back to her mothers arms.

Before Madison was able to say anything the small child was gone. Slowly standing on her own two feet, the rabbit placed the mysterious heirloom inside her jacket pocket. After all, if it was that important it was best to keep it out of sight; at least until she had an opportunity to examine it closer.

Right now though, was definitely not the time.

Ichigo was still up against the broken crates and the shallow crater he left in the wall from the massive arm swing the Rook gave him. Normally, humans went squish when they hit walls like that. Thankfully, Ichigo's shinigami form was much sturdier due to his spirit, acting like a condensed outer layer to his skin to withstand the impact.

Of course, "withstand" probably isn't the word. "Not die" would be a better fit, as the orange-haired warrior was in a world of pain.

Ghuh...That was one hell of a swing...I wasn't...ready...

No time to think about that, though. Ichigo had to get back into the game as soon as-

!

Ahhhh, crap! Not again!

Ichigo watched as the Rook readied its fist, prepared to drive Ichigo through the building itself. Defending against it in this state would only wear Ichigo down even further. He had to go on the offensive, but he couldn't do that just standing around. He had to move quick!

Or did he?

With only a small amount of warning, a massive torrent of fire erupted from beneath the giant shade as if it was standing on top of a volcano. The Rook was engulfed in the fire so deeply that Ichigo couldn't tell what happened to it. Even so, odds were likely that it wasn't going to be punching things anymore. That was good for Ichigo.

For a moment Ichigo thought he had been saved by some friend or ally from his past that had followed him here like they always did. He had no idea what that last attack was, and for all he knew it could have been kido or something. But before he could settle on some dramatic appearance from someone he knew, a small girl landed in what he assumed was the inky black remains of the Rook.

"Huh? Who are you?"

It was the most simple of questions to ask someone who saved him. "Thanks" probably would have been better, but Ichigo wasn't thinking very straight at the moment, with the whole smashed-into-a-wall thing.

Holy shyte, you replied! Happiness is you. ![smilies/icon_smile.gif

7 months, woooow.]

"Sweet Jesus..." he muttered to himself, ambling over a long-fallen tree. He looked back every now and then, making sure of exactly his distance from trouble. His old joints ached, and instinct told him to reach for a stimulant or a pain killer, or both. Age was tearing him apart bit by bit, piece by piece, and he could just assuage it's vile hands for another battle if he just reached to his thigh...

"No!" shaking his head, Quinn couldn't do it. Not only was he deluding himself into thinking he could remain young and nimble, he was deluding himself that it was the right thing to try. He would need those later anyway, not so soon in the battle. The time wasn't right.

The old man took Stephen's frame into view, trying to gauge his own state of being.