Katheeri

[Kurt]

Dancing off to the side as he lunged he felt the tip of the weapon graze his cheek. Ignoring the pain he grabbed the hilt with both hands and brought it down with all his strength as it lunged, the blade made a new mark beneath the first as it was buried to the hilt.

[Zaphyr Stone]

The pain the second time was just as bad, and Sitka doubled over unable to react for a moment.

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

Pawel was exhausted by today's events, and had drifted into sleep, closing his eyes, despite the torrential rain beating down onto his face. His wing draped Zefran.

Bohdan, Elizabeth, Sandor, and Korben, however, had their arteries still pumping with adrenaline, and were nowhere near tired. The group eventually reached the Spaceport, and Sandor entered the hangar, landing his fighter within.

[Kurt]

Simo brought his knee to his face violently, three times, he felt bone crack, and pushed him to the ground. "Looks like I won." He said as he wiped all the blood off his face

[Renardfrost]

The Ring of metal  meeting stone would soon fill the wastes as well as small puffs of searing steam appearing when Trigger's electrified weapons met Renard's frozen ones.

The younger mage winced, it was getting much too hot. And Trigger's attacks were coming in too fast to find an opening. he had to-

Renard tasted the blood in his mouth before he even felt the impact. Renard felt himself get launched skyward.

" What's the matter, Renny? Spent so much time looking for 'answers' that your eyes don't work anymore?"

Trigger's eyes glowed as he clashed his weapons together and swung them down. "Spark Arcana: Jupiter Bolt!"

Ren couldn't help but cry out as the silvery bolt, which could probably be seen all the way from the town, hit him.

His personal shields held, but only barely. The heat was unbearable for that brief instant, his clothes reduced to near tatters as the resulting thunder threw him to the ground, where he currently lay in a heap, sword still in hand.

" See? That's what happens when I don't hold back. " Trigger said, shrugging as he approached his barely conscious brother.

Renard lay there in a daze, watching the resultant crater slowly filled with rainwater.

He had a plan, but he had to get up first.

 

[Sylono]

Meeting the Katheeri's gaze, Shepherd then ran the fingers of her free hand as she let out an audible sigh, or it would be if the patrol car's engine wasn't gunning it. She didn't know why, but she was having trouble outright telling him 'no', perhaps because she felt partially guilty that she had allowed herself to be distracted by Ilya (a person of which she would have words with, when she had the time) or, even with how necessary it was, the SOS call that had nearly resulted in killing him.

Whatever the reason for that pang of guilt, point she could come up with to try and dissuade the Katheeri died before she could formulate them into an argument.

With an earlier thought in mind, Shepherd grabbed the comms device she had used to make that SOS, and removed the power cells as best she could with one hand. She'd have to completely wipe the device later, if not completely replace any parts that would lead law enforcement to them... or worse.

Once she was able to get a stable, Shepherd dug her knife out of the roof, stood up stepped up so she was on level with the Katheeri. One glance at the dragon was enough to convince the vixen he wasn't probably awake enough to catch subtly (though she wasn't completely sure, given how he was standing on a moving car) she had a moment or two to say a few private words.

Placing a hand on Zefran's arm, she began with those private words with a quiet voice, or at least, as quiet as she could manage while still being heard.

"If you can promise me you won't go running off by yourself the moment everyone turns around," Shepherd trailed off, not too sure what she could say that convince him not to get any idea's of vain bravado in his head, "we'll..."

She averted her eyes from the young man's for a moment. No, that wasn't right, Shepherd sounded as if she was implying on getting everyone involved when it was obvious the team needed to get off world as soon as possible. This needed a personal touch, while remaining as vague as possible.

"I promise, we'll work something out." She stated while offering a sincere smile, having squeezed Zefran's arm at "we'll", hoping that he would understand.

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

The cruiser drove into the BHK Spaceport. However, once they reached the hangar containing the Szabla, with Sandor stepping out of his fighter wearing his respirator, Bohdan stopped the cruiser. He had not unlocked the doors, which Elizabeth noticed when she tried to exit the car. Elizabeth looked at Bohdan. Meanwhile, Pawel had awakened due to the cruiser's stopping.

"Wha-?" said Pawel groggingly.

"Boss, let's go," she said. Bohdan stared at the windshield, pouring over the details of the last few minutes in his head. He sighed, and closed his eyes.

"We are going back," said he, as he opened his eyes. Bohdan then shifted the gear into reverse, and turned the cruiser around.

"Woah woah woah, why?" asked Elizabeth.

"We must get Renard!" answered Bohdan. Pawel peeked down into the cab.

"Hey, are we going back for that Katheeri woman?" asked Pawel. Bohdan looked at his cousin.

"Yes!" replied Bohdan confidently, even though he does not remember seeing a female Katheeri. He drove the cruiser back to the action. Sandor was bemused.

[Renardfrost]

Trigger sighed. " Even if you did find father.... hell, even if you managed to beat him.. Something not Even our eldest sibling can manage, by the way. What would you do? what would you ask? Have you even thought about that?

Renard shook from his prone position.

" Do you really think that will change anything about Mother?"

There was a stirring of dust and a sharp "chk!' as Renard planted his blade in the ground, using it to slowly pull himself up, every bone and muscle aching and thrumming with the remnants of the bolt that had hit him.

"Shut up." Renard's reply was bitter and curt as he willed himself to merely keep standing until he could recover.

"Re-"

" Shut up! you don't know anything, Pauldron!"

The elder mage recoiled at the sheer look of hurt and malice in Renard's eyes.

[Zaphyr Stone]

Zefran watched Shepherd work in confusion. What was she doing? It wasn't until she spoke again that he realized what was happening. He looked down at her hand on his shoulder and back at her.

He smiled as well, grateful to have her with him on this. "Thank yo-"

He jerked forward as the cruiser suddenly whipped back around, looping an arm around her on reflex to keep her from falling.

"What's happening!?" He banged on the hood of the car to get someone's attention.

-----

"WHAT THE!? HEY!" Antoine howled from the back seat, "The ship's that way, brainless!"

[Tiger Carson]

"Looks like I don't have to make a choice." Jeena said, as she made sure her aim was true. "Here's hoping the splash from the stun blast gets the both of them..." The oriental dragon then fired her charged stun shot at Sitka and Simo, who were both locked in mortal combat from her perspective, and that wasn't far from the truth.  If the shot hit, it would certainly knock Simo out, and hopefully knock out Sitka, assuming his tech didn't stop the shot or it's effects, something Jeena was unaware of since she had not witnessed the battle Sitka was in before hand.  Of course, it looked like Sitka was out for the count anyways.  But it remained to be seen whether Simo would be hit or not if he had enough warning.

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

Bohdan did not heed Antoine's rantings, but merely stomped down on the accelerator pad of the cruiser. He sped out of the space port and headed straight back to the scene of the action, which was engulfed in fire.

"We are going into a hot zone!" said Bohdan. Elizabeth and Korben took out their sidearms and loaded them. Pawel took out his tertiary sidearm, a Buha M2300, a miniaturized, automatic version of the classic Buha M2290 Ruthenian sidearm, and placed it in Zefran's hands.

"Hey Kid," Pawel said to Zefran as he unveiled his sleeve shotguns. "Just point and squeeze the trigger. It's automatic, so keep it well under your control. Don't hit anyone you don't want to kill."

[Kurt]

Simo spit on the unconscious form before feeling an extreme pain shoot through his body. Shouting off a stream of curses he went down holding his hand where a blast smacked it.

[Sylono]

Instead of hopping off the patrol and making a beeline for her ship, the vixen found herself latching on to Zefran in order not to fall off. A flurry of emotions ran through her in that moment, the instant cold sweat of panic, a fluttery feeling of... well, she couldn't place what that one was but Shepherd was sure she wasn't so easily carsick. Last of all, fury was starting to fester inside the clone like nothing else.

"That idiot...!" She spat, they were going back without even having a plan, that was it, as far as Shepherd was concerned. They could ignore her suggestions all they liked, throw her onto the hood of a car to compensate for lack of seats was pushing it but she could understand the (rather extensive) mental gymnastics behind the action. That dragon and his motley crew were not going to rush back without at least someone coming up with a plan.

Shepherd tried her best to never point a weapon at an ally even in the bleakest situations, but the fire breathing reptile on the car with her as far she was concerned, was nothing of the sort.

"Ilya, Powel." She called the dragon's name with as much venom she could muster, before drawing her blaster and pushing against Powel's midriff uncomfortably. "I'm past caring what your name is, if you don't want me to put a bolt of plasma in your gut you'd better get Zefran off this clown car safely."

[Tiger Carson]

"That takes care of that." Jeena then put an open call to any of the police that would happen to be listening. "Attention, I need a medic over here right now.  I had to stun two nuts that were going at it in the middle of a napalm fire.  The one with antlers is in need of what looks like sutures, the other I have no idea what injuries he suffered.  Any units that can respond, do so now please." Jeena then gave the exact coordinates of the location of the two unconscious bodies.

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

Pawel turned his head to see a blaster pointed at his body. He followed the arm to Shepherd, although he did not know her name.

"Alright!" Pawel said. He then grabbed Zefran, and together, they jumped off the cruiser and, with Pawel using his wings, glided quickly onto their feet. "There, that wasn't so bad, Kid."

Meanwhile, the cruiser continued forward.

"We find Renard and that Katheeri woman. A classic grab and go. No stopping." Bohdan explained the thrown-together plot as quickly, clearly, and loudly as possible. "Understood?"

Elizabeth and Korben looked at each other, pondering the plan in their minds. They both turned to Bohdan to speak out their shared answer: "Yes, Boss."

[Zaphyr Stone]

"You heard that!" Laika called out as Jeena's call hit her radio. "I need a medic team stat!"

She, Max, and two other officers hurried up and retrieved Simo and Sitka, pulling them back to one of the cruisers to be taken to a hospital.

----

"Waitwaitwaitwait WAIT!" Antoine yelled as he saw Zefran suddenly hoisted of the truck and quickly disappearing as they drove off, "That psycho has Zef!"

----

"My name's Zefran." he shook his head clear. This had been a wild ride.

He sighed as he watched the car blaze off in the direction of the fire. "Antoine's going to kill us. If Shepherd doesn't first." he turned around, looking up towards the rise where he had briefly seen Sitka fly off to. "Aura must be up there. I need to get to her." he walked off in that direction, "You want your gun back? I'm clearly not going to be using it."

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

"Well," began Pawel, following Zefran and regaining possession of his gun. He put it back in its holster. "You don't want to use it, you won't use it. But..." Now, at this time, Pawel unsheathed his combat knife and gave it to Zefran.

"Rule No. 8: Never go anywhere without a knife." Pawel offered Zefran the knife, pointing the handle toward the Katheeri.

"My real name is Pawel," he said, pronouncing it PAH-vel. "Although, it's spelled with a 'w' in the middle, and in my people's language, the 'w' sounds like a 'v', and an 'l' sounds like 'w' only if there's a line going through the middle. We're a weird bunch."

[Tiger Carson]

Jeena saw the cops come, and render aid to Simo and Sitka.  She flagged a salute to the officers for their prompt response, and then closed the cockpit of her Walker.  When that was done, she resumed using the fire extinguishing setting of her Arwing's lasers to deal with the Napalm she had been dealing with before Sitka had blindly attacked her.

[Zaphyr Stone]

"Good to know." Zefran laughed as he took the knife and began his climb up the rise, "Listen, Pawel, I'm not going to have issues with you, am I?" he looked back at him, "I mean you were ready to blow everyone away just a little while ago."

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

"Well, honestly," started Pawel, the rain still pouring, "I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie. I live for thrills. People pointing guns at me gets my heart racing and---!" Pawel stopped himself, knowing he was starting to sound outrageous.

"I live for this, Zef. It's what I do. I shoot, get shot at, run around the 'verse, lookin' for treasure. And I think you can lead me to a prize bigger than the Black Mace: you're people's homeland, Aiolius. Now, I know you're tired of hearing this, but I gotta know: do you know where it is? I won't even have to drag you along if you do."

[Zaphyr Stone]

Zefran stretched his wings and fanned them over his head to block the rain as he climbed. He could only roll his eyes at the question.

"I didn't even know Aiolius was my home until a few days ago. I haven't a clue where it is. What makes you think there's any kind of treasure there anyways? And if there is, I seriously doubt the Katheeri would just let you have it."

[Renardfrost]

Renard's sword scraped the ground as he ran toward Trigger.  " I'll end this now!"

" I'd like to see you try!" Trigger spat back. " Magnus Bolt!"

That was trigger's finishing move, and he knew it would take time to charge, now was his chance. He began his incantation.

His words carried far. Elsewhere, Korben's Energy Detector and anyone with magical sense would get readings to a high degree as his incantation drifted through the open air, above even the rain.

 

"Ice Gods of the Frozen Land, Grant me power.
My Words are a pillar of ice, and sharpened to a blade
Oh Blade of Ice that rends the heavens!
Become an impervious wall, a Bulwark against all woe!"

 

He raised his sword skyward, a humongous obelisk of ice would shoot from the large puddle  between them, standing proud and clear amidst the rain a few moments before being shattered and vaporized by a gargantuan bolt of purple lightning, the resulting steam cloud thrown far and wide by the subesquent thunderclap.


Trigger was monetarily awestruck, as his brother closed his eyes to focus.

'He created an spire of ice using the mineral rich water to draw the Bolt away. and safely ground it. How long was he sitting on that trick?"

Renard Wasn't done yet.

plunging his sword into the ground,it crackled and fizzled, as Renard shifted the energy flowing through his weapons. Both it and the gauntlet taking a Purplish appearance and crackling with electricity. Though the sword seemed more akin to a Katana now.

Trigger scoffed, he forgot that Renard's tool was a weapon of many talents. multi form, and can switch magical properties on a dine depending on who wields it.

" You'd rather go down hard. Come at me then!"

 

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

Pawel gazed at the awesomely powerful spectacle of magical combat being performed just over the ridge, but regained his attention towards Zefran, who used his wings as umbrellas.

"Millennia of tales and stories surround Aiolius and the Katheeri, Zaf." Pawel had no covering for his head, but he did not mind the rain. He continued to speak. "Those stories talk about a technologically advanced and fabulously wealthy civilization that rapidly deteriorated. I think that those riches and techs are still there, just waiting to be rediscovered. And if there are Katheeri there, I'll.. just ask. And if they refuse..." Pawel paused his speaking, wondering if he should divulge certain information. He continued speaking, censoring himself. "Well, I can't tell you all of my plan."

~

As the cruiser got closer and closer to the action, Korben's sunglasses went into information overload as more and more substantial and erratic energy readings became apparent. He began to have a migraine from viewing all of the information and flashing warning lights simultaneously. Korben took off his sunglasses, shut his eyes, gripped his head, and groaned in pain.

[Tiger Carson]

"Well, this rain isn't good..." Tiger said, he also took note of the battle taking place nearby. "I wonder if that has anything to do with the rain?  Funny it came about when this rain did..." He then opened a comm to the other Arwings and the police. "Everyone, redouble your efforts to put that napalm out.  If this rain continues, it's going to spread the stuff even further and we'll lose the ground we've made.  Use your blasters on extinguisher mode, chemical extinguishers, and any Carbon Dioxide extinguishers you may have.  This is going to be messy, and especially watch where you breathe, that stuff is going to be producing a whole lot of toxic gasses like Carbon Monoxide.  Hurry everyone!" Tiger then redoubled his efforts.

-------

"Great, and I exposed myself to that air for a bit..." Jeena said to herself. "I'm going to kill that katheeri and doberman once I'm out of medical after this...  Also kill that son of a gun who dispensed this junk in the first place..." She said this more in frustration than anything else. "Hey Einstien, mind piping up about those important facts before we go putting napalm out?" Jeena said into the comm to Tiger with some understandable frustration.

-------

"Sorry, slipped my mind." Tiger said, "Next time, right now, let's get this taken care of."

[Sylono]

The moment Pawel leaped off the cruiser, Shepherd followed after the two, her landing was not quite as graceful as the dragons as she stumbled and tripped into a roll the moment her feet connected with the ground. Somehow she had managed to save face in the end by rolling upright into a crouched position, unfortunately, by the sudden pain in her ankle, she wasn't going to be running for a little bit.

With teeth clenched, the vixen stood up and made her way towards the two that she'd just forced to be left behind by the rest of the group. It dawned on her that she might find herself on the receiving end of Antoine's wrath, arguably he'd be in the right. Either way, she'd take responsibility and try to fix the mess she'd made, no matter how justified she felt it was.

As she did her best to catch up, Shepherd had enough time to think.

Perhaps dumb luck would find it's way to the others and they wouldn't end up caught, Shepherd figured they managed to do well so far so perhaps her actions were just muddling up the issue? Nonsense, her more rational approaches (well, so far she could only call them 'attempts') to problems were more than needed among that crew... maybe that last act of hers wasn't such a shining example of that.

"If you're trying inspire trust, Ilya, that isn't how it's done." Shepherd stated in an strained voice as she finally caught up with Pawel and Zefran, having caught the tail end of their conversation. The climb was wreaking hell on her ankle, though it it was starting to dull into throbbing.

"Although I will admit, your confidence in your ability to take on more than one Katheeri is inspiring, if a tad optimistic."