[b]Julia[/b]

Julia was stopped by Ruby and she gave a small smile as she spoke, she seemed really interested in these books. She was about to speak when suddenly she was picked up and shaken. Her eyes widened and quickly Julia teleported away. 

"NEVER pick me up again! Do you know how offensive that is? I will give you the books but later. We have more important things to deal with right now." 

Julia continued on walking quickly through the forest although she quickly realised something about the forest was different but she couldn't put her finger on it. She slowed down and looked around some more. Something was very off here in this forest. The once so peaceful forest made her feel on edge, like something was watching her. It was then that she stopped completely and held out her hand, creating a purple force field to stop the nine from going on any further.

"Change of plans. We're going to visit the Guardian of the Forest, Rethynth. Stay on guard, there's something about this forest I cannot put my finger on. We could be headed for a fight. If something happens and we end up fighting, protect the forest with you're lives! I will warn you now, the forest is connected to everything. If the Forest Guardian dies, the Tree of Life dies, if the Tree of life Dies, the Guardian of Life Dies, need I go on?"

Her voice spoke with concern and urgentcy and with that the purple barrier disappear. She wanted to make sure everyone understood clear as day, after all some of these people she didn't even know. She took a sharp left turn to go deeper into the forest. After a few minutes walk she came to a large tree that shot up for miles until it reached the clouds. This was the Tree of Life! Protecting it was a large green dragon.

[img]https://www.walldevil.com/wallpapers/a89/tree-woman-field.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nw5Jy-35rwM/maxresdefault.jpg[/img]

Julia signalled everyone to stay back, even putting up a purple barrier once more.

"He knows me. Our bond is far stronger than any Lalafell in the village. There is something wrong with him, something that is disturbing him. I can feel it, he's not himself. I will go first, be very careful."

Slowly she walked to the dragon and spoke to him.

"Rethynth I need to speak to you. Are you able to talk? Are you safe? Is the Forest of Life safe?"

The dragon's eyes shot open and at that moment Julia fell back in fear. It was clear as day now. The eyes of the dragon were filled with hate and bloodlust. Something was affecting the guardian. Suddenly he roared out loudly and his warriors rose to the ground. Quickly Julia stood up and ran to the barrier. She turned to face the dragon before undoing it.

"Remember! Do not kill the Rethynth, whatever you do! He is connected to the Tree of Life, if he dies, the entire forest dies and our mission fails! Only attack the forest maidens!"

Now she shouted, this was an urgent matter that could not be dealt with a heavy hand and intent to kill. This was a very serious and delicate situation.

[img]https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/b9/d4/b4/b9d4b43fa4270d610d45c223ef013d45.jpg[/img]

[b]Kuro[/b]

Kuro found it funny really as he watched Ruby. They were all obsessed with one thing or another. He looked at each person, naming those that he knew of before giving another soft laugh. He turned to Raven who had spoken to him and gave a soft nod. 

"It's funny really, everyone here has some sort of obsession. Yin with his obsession for fights, Yang with her obsession with adventure, Ruby with her obsession for weapons, then there is my obsession with magic, and perhaps you're right Raven but I got a feeling that this isn't the best time to talk."

Yoruichi nodded silently, clearly focused on something else. They kept walking in the forest though he felt on edge before Julia put up the barrier. Something just didn't feel right for some reason. He looked to Yoruichi who looked to him with concern in her eyes. She felt the same way, didn't she? When Julia rose the barrier to warn them and give them clear instructions Yoruichi and Kuro nodded. It was Yoruichi who spoke up first. 

"Yes, we feel it too. We weren't sure what it was but we knew something felt off."

Kuro and Yoruichi looked to each other and slowly followed. Julia until they came across the Guardian of the Forest, an ancient looking dragon who resembled the forest perfectly with it's coloration although even he was able to sense something was wrong when the dragon awoke. There was a sense of dread that filled him and even Julia felt it. This clearly wasn't normal behavior for him. When the barrier released Kuro quickly held his hands together and closed his eyes. His hands glowed brightly before quickly moving to each of the Forest Maidens. As soon as the light touched them the Maidens exploded. He then did a flip and jumped back, making sure he was behind everyone. He landed swiftly and shouted out loudly.

"Yoruichi, let's do the Duo Cat Combo!"

He pressed his hands on the floor and as he did, a rune appeared on each and every Maiden that was summoned, as soon as the rune appeared Yoruichi's eyes glowed purple while purple runes appeared all over her fur. She jumped up high in the sky and held out her paws.

"When demons rise and heaven cries, the fires of Heaven shall smite the unworthy, judged from a god's eye let thee begone!"

With that the sky turned red and flaming meteors shot down, smashing into the maidens. A few headed straight for the guardian but those that hit him, instead phased right through him. Yes, with this spell only the marked could be hurt by the fire. Yoruichi landed in front of Kuro and watched as fire rained down. Rethynth roared angrily and flew up into the sky. His wings opened out wide, blocking out the sun. With one roar the targets switched from the Maidens to all those from the outside world. Kuro eye's widened quickly, this was bad. He held out his hand which glowed golden as he channeled but nothing. This dragon had all the life of everything flowing into him, he couldn't win a direct magic battle. 

"It won't work! We won't win against the Guardian, he's too powerful, we need a way to stop his rampage!"

Yoruichi jumped in the air and landed on Kuro's head. She closed her eyes and a purple rune appeared on her forehead. With that a huge golden barrier surrounded everyone, protecting them from Kuro's own attack. She spoke through everyone's mind.

"I can use our magic to protect us, but it seems any spell cast by the Guardian of Life we cannot counter."

She kept her eyes closed but had a perfect vision of the battlefield, she was conencted to Kuro, she could see everything he could see now.

[b]Prince Ali Sekhemi[/b]

Sekhemi listened to Julia, not really caring much about the forest honestly. He was more interested in the potential fight. He found Ruby utterly pathetic, but said nothing for now. When they finally met the Guardian he watched closely and just as he hoped the Guardian started a fight. He smiled, seeing Kuro's attack, he could top that before things quickly turned sour as the Guardian quickly turned Kuro's attack against him. No magic huh? He had a way around that. He heard Yoruichi's voice in his head before laughing softly. They underestimated him, he was PRINCE ALI SEKHEMI! He grabbed his golden knuckle dusters and placed them on. Then a black fire covered his hands quickly. As he walked out of the barrier, the black fire spread to his entire body. As soon as a meteor approached him Sekhemi punched it as hard as he could, making it explode. He then began to sing with a grin on his face.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxT8OxqLdKg[/youtube]

Sekhemi punched, kicked and even shot out dark fire explosive bombs at the Maidens, burning them alive, however this also set the forest on fire all around the Tree of Life. It seemed Sekhemi didn't care what was set on fire and what wasn't. He was laughing as he fought, the meteors not affecting him at all as the black fire surrounding his body weaponised and defended him.

[b]Yang[/b]

Yang also felt the uneasiness of the forest. She laughed a little at Ruby though, finding her begging for the books pretty funny. Kuro was right actually, they each had they own obsessions. Still there was no time for that right now. She listened to Julia and gave a quick nod. When they finally met the Guardian she watched it warily. It wasn't long before the battle began and things were already going to shit. She was about to shout at Kuro for using a fire attack IN A FUCKING FOREST but she didn't need to however as it became obvious that the fire had no affect on the Guardian or the forest itself, just the Maidens. Then the marked turned on her and her companions and she instantly knew what that meant. She looked up but before the meteors could hit a golden barrier rose up. She listened to Kuro and Yoruichi and gave a soft nod. It made sense. Then things went worse, some stupid fucking asshole, Sekhemi apparently was setting the entire forest on fire! She closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them they were red. 

"What the HELL are you doing? You're going to kill us all!"

She looked around at the burning forest and then looked to the Guardian who screamed in pain, this was bad, no this was worse than bad. The forest was on fire and if it wasn't stopped they were all dead!

"Somebody has to put out that fire otherwise we're all dead!"

She couldn't believe Sekhemi was being such a asshole. Yang jumped out of the portal and went to punch Sekhemi straight in the head when the black fire around him quickly took shape of a shield and blocked her attack, then it took shape of a fist just as Yang hit the shield and punched her in the gut, sending her flying back and burning her stomach. She coughed a little before getting back up slowly. Her eyes were pure red, she was really getting pissed. She quickly rolled out of the way of a meteor and then got herself back up. Sekhemi was going to kill them all!