The Sydrill War

[SlvrWulf]

Kai: I agree, this terrain is horrible for fighting, but we don't have a lot of choice. The only thing to do is get rid of it before it can call for help.

He drew a throwing knife and put in his left hand, his sword in his right. Letting out a growl, he focused his energy into his legs. He crouched then took off, sprinting as fast as he could, his motions blurred by his speed. Before the spider could react, he jumped up its leg and pushed the knife in near its kneecap, pushing down on it to give himself leverage. The extra thrust carried him level with the spiders head and he quickly cut at it twice with his blade. The X in its face was quickly deepened by the cutting wind that followed. As he fell, he backflipped & pulled his knife out. The spider bellowed in pain and was clearly having trouble standing. It was now blind, with a foot deep X cut into its face, unable to use a leg and was losing massive amounts of blood from its side where Zaix had attacked it. It was clearly dying as it had stopped screeching and was now going still. Kai looked at it & thought to himself

Kai: That's an impressive wound! I hadn't realized it was that deep. It would have died from just that if we'd given it time!

Then he said to Zaix

Kai: Nice shot Zaix! That did some pretty serious damage! *Sees him holding his side* How's your side? You gonna be alright?  

[zaixaezerwolf]

Zaix: I-I'm fine. just got caught off guard. heheh sorry about that. Thanks sweatdrop

Zaix rubbed his side a bit more before standing up straight to try and regain his posture. It tingled a bit but otherwise he was alright.

Zaix: It's good that we took care of it so fast... perhaps we should press on and make camp soon. I'm suprised we haven't encountered less threatening mosters guarding the area... something must be controlling them... or maybe they're getting more effective in their hunts...  

[SlvrWulf]

Kai: Agreed. We should make camp. If they are being controlled, we need a better plan then "walk until we get attacked then fight" haha. But then that leaves the question, Who could be controlling them and why make them attack the town? I just don't know. Lets set camp up here. No fire though, they'll see us. we'll have to make do without.

He began to pitch a tent and get out some cold rations out and sighed.

Kai: One of us will have to keep watch while the other sleeps, to avoid getting ambushed. I'll take first watch while I get the food ready and set up a few traps for anyone trying to sneak up on us. Go grab some sleep.

Kai headed out, placing several bear traps, a few trip wires that triggered some swinging logs, and stringing hidden bells across openings so it would make noise if anyone came. After about an hour, he surveyed his work. Satisfied, he headed back and resumed his watch. After his watch was up, he woke Zaix and went to bed himself.

Kai: Hey Zaix, wake me an hour after dawn, then we'll head out ok.  

[SlvrWulf]

Kai woke up to Zaix gently tapping him on his shoulder.

Zaix: It's time bud. Lets head out.

Kai: * Rubbing his eyes and mumbling* Ok, lets head out.

They gathered their supplies and began heading to the east. Kai whistled while he walked.  

[Vyseroy]

To the East was a bloodbath in wait, a platoon of monsters having been sent to the area after learning of the deaths of their comrades. They were a good distance away from the two leaving their camp, but the monsters knew their direction of travel, and were ready to rip them apart. Claws, fangs, crude blades, whatever the beats could get their filthy hands on.

Among them, organizing this force, was Major Bocash. Having held the rank of Sergeant Major when he was in the W.O.L.F. ranks, he was offered a commission and a monetary sum to lead the monsters. Why someone like Vyse would accept this kind of offer was beyond even him, yet there we was. Cloaked, even, in the treeline to witness the action to come.

his cloaking device was an odd, silver box upon his chest, as well as a sort of metallic face-mask connected to this box with tubes. It camouflaged him completely when standing still, though if he moved, he would appear extremely dimly, like the image of a ghost. If he attacked, the cloak would wear off completely.  

[SlvrWulf]

A short time later, Kai and Zaix arrived at the cave. To Kai's sensitive nose, the smell of the blood and death was almost overpowering. Lowering his shoulders, he signaled to Zaix to stay quiet and follow behind him. He slunk into the cave and kept his sword drawn. He carefully checked each corner and alleyway, sketching a rough map of the cave on some paper he had with him so he could find an escape if he had to. He could tell that the monsters had come from the cave as much of the blood was still fresh. The deeper he travelled, the darker the red of the stone got. Finally, he reached the final chamber, also empty. But that wasn't what surprised him, it was the room itself. The room was square with a poured concrete floor and walls and there was a table in the center with a very detailed map on it.

Kai: Oh my god. This is bad.

Zaix: Why? What's wrong?

Kai: Those monsters couldn't have used this map or made these plans. Someone is leading them! And look, the town is circled! They're going to attack it! We've got to get back there right now!

He took out his phone and took a picture, quickly sending it to the mayor.

Kai:We won't get back in time but maybe he can do something til we get back? Come on Zaix! We've got to hurry!

Suddenly he heard a hissing sound behind them and he spun drawing his sword to find the tunnel now had several monsters in it. "Oh, that's just great" he thought to himself. "Now what do I do?"  

[Vyseroy]

The very room of that cave was filled with still assassins, watching them. They were virtually invisible, so long as they were still. Even though they were still and quiet, their radios were not. These men were the Poltergeists, Vyse's personal squad of stealth fighters. The static-filled chatter of their radios echoed in the cave's war room. There were three assassins in the room. One already began creeping toward Kai, a dagger in his hand. Kai would most likely see the very dim image of the assassin, like he was indeed a ghost. A white wolf in combat fatigues.

The monsters at the gate just stay there, probably having been ordered to. Vyse stood in the middle of them, still cloaked. Kai and his friend had slain several monsters already... he wanted to see what kind of enemy his own men would be up against.  

[SlvrWulf]

Kai was sure he had just heard what sounded like a bit of static, the kind that came from radios. But when he turned around, nobody was there. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't alone. His instincts were usually right and he thought he saw movement, but again, nothing was there. Then he caught the smell and realized he wasn't alone, he just couldn't see them. He thought back to his training and relaxed. Instead of instinctively focusing on a single point, he widened his view and looked at everything at once. Although it kept him from seeing clearly, he was able to detect movements, but not what caused them. It was only because of this that he saw a flicker of movement to his right and instinctively brought his blade up to guard position. Suddenly, a wolf in some sort of strange suit appeared, his knife resting against Kai's blade.

Kai: The hell!!?

He saw his opponent was as surprised as he was that he had been noticed and he stopped. Kai recovered and thought to himself, "He's open!" and cut at him. However, the wolf was obviously well trained and moved back. Kai only manage to cut his arm, instead of his chest. Then the wind blade cut where the wolf had been. Kai saw him shimmer and fade, another look of surprise on the other wolfs face.  

[Vyseroy]

The ghost wolf backed away, growling. The blurry image of the soldier took three steps back, holding that wounded arm. Although he wolf was cloaked, the blood showed as clear as day. The wolf attempted to completely hide himself again, standing perfectly still. Soon he was invisible again, and would stay that way until he moved. However, his arm and pressuring paw was clearly visible. Why? The blood, of course!

The other two soon came, one with a katana, a tabby cat, the other with a scythe, a black rat. Both were cloaked, though dimly visible as they ran to stand infront of the wolf, weapons at the ready. The radio chatter continued, probably orders being relayed, or a casualty report. But they spoke in an odd language...  

[SlvrWulf]

Kai took a tentative step backwards, his mind racing. He could still see the one enemy, albeit only his arm. "Why is that?" He wondered. "Of course! They aren't invisible, they are in some kind of stealth gear! The blood lets me see through it. I don't think he's alone though. Otherwise, why stand there clearly visible without attacking? The only reason I can think of is that he thinks something else is going to kill me. So then, there's more than one. I'll fix that. Just pick up some dirt, chuck it at them and attack where it sticks. Yeah! That's a great...(Looks at the concrete)...oh. Nevermind. Something flashed and he jumped back, barely seeing his enemy before he faded back out.

Kai biggrin amn it! I've got nothing I can use...unless I...that would work but do I really want to...

He shook his head, then pulled out his throwing knife and slashed it across his left palm. Fighting back the tears, he paused as the blood welled up, then flung it toward the area he'd been attacked from. He was rewarded with two separate shapes in the light. Ignoring the searng throb echoing through his hand, he attacked with an overhead slice, his blade whistling through the air. The fighter hadn't been ready for it but still managed to block it with his knife. Kai quickly quicked straight out and kicked his opponent in the chest, sending him stagering backward. Then he heard the same static as before and realized it was a radion they were all wearing. Although his ears were good and he heard bits of it, he couldn't recognize anything that was said between them. He thought to himself, these are no weak opponents. They're obviously well equipped and well trained to counter my attack so quickly...I'll have to be careful if I want to make it out of here. He backed up a single step and held his sword in the guard position and waited. He tore off a sleeve of his shirt and quickly dressed his cut. He knew the field bandage wouldn't hold but it was better than nothing. Steadying himself, his eyes darted everywhere, trying to see everything at once.  

[Vyseroy]

The Poltergeists all turned off their cloaks once they were exposed. Floating blood doesn't help too much in hiding you, now does it? The soldiers backed away again, one of them picking up his radio and transmitting something to the group... or was it the group?

Instead, Major Bocash listened, nodding in his invisible state. So, he sent the monsters. All seven of them. They were only armed with claws and heir own fangs, though they could still do some damage. Vyseroy wanted to watch this man fight while outnumbered. How would he split the group? Would he try to escape? Would he continue attacking the Poltergeist soldiers?  

[SlvrWulf]

Kai looked up as the warriors suddenly decloaked and was shocked to see a small force of mosnters moving up behind them.

Kai: s**t! Now what!?

Thinking to himself, he realized that he couldn't beat them all. "I need to get out of here. Zaix headed off to help the town when we read the map so no helps coming from him. So I'm on my own. But how? I need to calm down and think this out."

He closed his eyes and concentrated. Suddenly his eyes flickered open and he ran forward. He swung his sword at the cat with a katana. When he blocked, like he knew he would, he flipped his grip on his sword and pulled down, temporarily sticking both blades in the ground. At the same time he drew his knife and cut one of the straps holding the cloaking device. The cut also hit the cat and caused minor damage. Kai quickly threw himself to the floor and the cat advanced on him. Then the wind blade cut from the first cut through the air and hit him in the chest. Blood gushed out of the cut and the cat looked down in surprise. Kai quickly hacked at the other side before he could recover. The pack fell and Kai grabbed it, throwing it on his back. Before the rest could react, he quickly cut in a flurry of attacks, a chain of thirty plus strikes, then backed away from the monsters. They, not posessing the same intelligence as the cloaked fighters charged, only to be cut savagely by the wind blade tornado that followed. Several lost limbs, or took severe damage and two lay still on the floor, surrounded by blood. As the monsters thrashed and wailed, Kai took off as fast as he could go toward the exit. As he ran, he brushed something that was not there, and realized that there had been another shape he had been unaware of. He thought to himself "This guy just watched the fight, he must be in charge. I don't know who you are, but we'll meet again soon. You can count on that."

He turned and kept running, not looking back, the death cries and shrieks echoing throughout the cave  

[zaixaezerwolf]

"Trust me... I know what I'm doing.... Dad..."

Zaix uttered as he looked up at a tall strong lightly armored lion. H held a pure white bow white a faint white aura...

The lions full mane swayed back and forth over his deep yellow eyes and he flexed in a stretch, showing his impressive muscular figure.

He shook his mane from his eyes, letting the golden brown hair fall mostly behind his broad powerful shoulders.

"Mmmh... I don't knw about this Zaix... you were supposed to be on a vacation and now you've gotten mixed up in another liberation group... *sigh* You're going to run yourself ragged... "

Zaix shook his head and leaned intently towards the lion

"Aero!!! We have to help Kai... a-and the city is in danger! Please... at least come with me. You can freely wield Mercury... And you would be a great close range fighter with Mars... Please Dad..."

"Gah... Teleport me there with you... " Aero sighed... "I want to see this... Kai"

Zaix suddenly pounced onto Aero and a rapture of light exploded... leaving a huge crater where they were... within seconds Appeared in front of a running Kai... Zaix held out his paws to cushion the impact that would soon occur

"...!!!!"  

[SlvrWulf]

Kai was starting to go numb in his arms from the blood loss but he kept on running. He had found out afterward that one of the monsters had hit him in the back and he was sure a rib was broken. He was barely conscious as he ran when suddenly BAM!!!, an explosion rocked the ground in front of him and he was suddenly very awake. He saw Zaix and a huge lion warrior appear and tried to stop, but it was too late. He tripped and went straight into Zaix.

Kai: Oof!

He slammed into the ground and winced in pain as his injured hand, outstretched to break his fall, hit the ground.

Kai: Damn it! That hurts! Zaix! What are you doing here man? I lost track of you once you left, and who's this guy? He's huge! Wait, what am I saying!? Talk while we move. The towns in danger!

He starts to walk off, stumbling a bit from blood loss, then missteps and collapses. He stands up again and begins to walk off toward the town.  

[zaixaezerwolf]

"W-wait! Kai! Let me heal you... "

Zaix ran for Kai... Aero followed