[IC] The Midnight Train to Nowhere

[AkiBlue]

Good thing they had flashlights, or they would have been walking blind. Speaking of being blind, there was a certain glasses wearing boy was just emanating with frustration and grumpiness. "Inadi, seriously. You're bumming me out. As bad as whatever it is, lighten up." She playfully punched his arm. "You're gonna get your girlfriend all worked up. You're suppose to be protecting the little people." She grinned and then laughed. "You can't keep everyone from worrying if you're upset. Duh." They all started slowing to a stop, although they were already going pretty slow. The suckish map had them confused but hopefully not lost.

Her attention was on Harper when he spoke and with her usual smile, she spoke as if it were nothing. "Uh huh. A few actually." It was as simple as that, as if knowing murderers was a normal thing. Nevertheless, it was the life she grew up in, so it was normal to her. "Of course I'm right. We need to stop being so droopy. It's killing the mood here more than the dark. You guys, being terrified won't solve anything. It'll just-" She paused when it of the blue, some self proclaimed witch appeared.

In the matter of moments, Japhet was as red as a rose and the little witch was claiming hostages. She melt yelling about turtle dragons and of course Ace thought it sounded like the most amazing thing in the world. "Summon it then! I want to see!" She challenged the girl, who continued yelling about the creature. There was a moment when Nympha let go of her so called hostages, so Ace reached over and grabbed the terrified Leila. "Relax Leila! We'll get through here get the stuff and go-" A low growl emerged from the earth itself so it seemed. It was enough to have everyone yelling and running in the direction they were supposed to be going in. Ace paused, gently pushing Leila off with the others, if she hadn't already took off.

"Wait, we're not going to figure out what it is? What if it's friendly- or harmless! What happened to don't judge a book by its cover?" She was still in place until a soldier shoved her forward to get her moving. "Fine, fine." She hurried off with the others, glancing back to see if she could spot the beast in the dark. "Wait... How come he gets to take the lead?" Ace nearly forgot about the beast, just for that moment, but decided that she wouldn't worry too much about it... Her sense of direction was good for wandering. Following maps was kind of out of her league, especially hand drawn ones with no street signs. In fact, she even ran with the back of the group, curious to see what a mixture of a turtle dragon would look like...

"When she did see it, she was in for quite a...pleasant surprise. The beady red eyes, the glowing spiky turtle shell, and the very, very sharp teeth. "Let's see... Most dragons are carnivores. Turtles normally eat plants... With those teeth, I'm thinking that's more of a dragon aspect. It's got a shell... Slow, but a little faster than a regular turtle-"

"Let's go!" One of the soldiers that tagged along practically dragged Ace along with him. "Are you insane!?"

"No, not that I know of... Would you let go off me!" Ace heard the sound of a tree crash to the ground. "We should tame it and take it to the tea party. That should shake them up." Ace didn't know if they were even listening, but she thought it was a brilliant idea. "Well, if we keep this up, it'll at least follow us to the tea party. They'll think that the turtle dragon is on our side- Hey kid witch! If you're a witch can't you make it stop? Or tame it? What are you useful for if you're just going to run with us?"

[Crescendo]

"For Celery's sake! They destroyed the fruitcaking engine! This is state of the art tech and they just destroyed it! The motherboard is soaked in flipping HONEY."

Breeze was fuming just as much as Japhet and Est was, if not more. Did people not understand how intricate and fragile the machinery can be? And then they go and soak it in honey! She didn't even want to imagine how much work it would be to take apart every little clog, clean it then reassemble the whole thing. At least everyone was out safe, filing out of the aircraft with sour faces and hunched postures. Medical gear was evenly distributed among the soldiers as they readied for the trip on foot.

"...breeze."

Eh? Did someone call her? The merchant blinked, looking back to the redheaded girl.

"This should be a breeze guys.

Oh, nevermind. She shook her head, before smiling slightly and approaching the humans. "I've got some flashlights, if you want them. I'd usually charge, but in this case I think I'll make an exception. Just try not to die, alright?" She reached into her bag, tossing a few heavy copper tubes to the group. There was a small gear that acted as a switch, and the more it was twisted the brighter the light became. "They're quite sturdy, so if you need to hit something with them, feel free."

Leaving the humans to their chattering, Breeze joined Japhet and Est in trying to figure out the map. The crayon certainly didn't help the scribbly nature of the note, and even the nicely written directions were rather weird. Turn 197 degrees at the big tree," it said. She peered up at all the tall trees surrounding them dubiously. This was going to be a fun trip.

Squealing from behind made her start, but startled Japhet even further. She snickered at the poor man who had leapt into Est's arms, and she was half afraid that he was going to suffocate the poor soldier with his squeezing.

It was only a girl, however. The Nobody was certainly strange, claiming to be a witch. It was highly unlikely, but it was unusual for people to be wandering such an unsafe part of Nowhere.

The pink haired girl threatened to summon a turtle dragon, making many of them regard her strangely. Now those were rare beasts that one didn't see every day, even in the dark side of Nowhere. It would actually be rather interesting if she could summon one. Of course, the merchant immediately regretted these thoughts when the ground started rumbling, the sounds of breaking and crashing trees getting closer and closer.

"Awww, sugar pixies on a stick! C'mon, humans, run!" Breeze swore loudly when Nympha ran into her, trying to flee. Escaping would be a great idea right now- they were equipped to deal with those 'hooded figures', not giant honkin' shelled legendary beasts. She grabbed the self proclaimed witch by the wrist, tugging her along and moving to the right side of the fleeing group with the humans at the center.

"Hey kid witch! If you're a witch can't you make it stop? Or tame it? What are you useful for if you're just going to run with us?"

"That was less of a summoning, more of a talking bunch of sandwiches giving away their location to a hungry Gubble!" She gave a glare at the girl she was dragging along. The heavy underbrush and thorny bushes greatly impeded their movement, and they could hear the monster catching up slowly. Luckily Turtle Dragons were much slower than their winged cousins, or they'd be chow by now. "Hey, since you're so familiar with the place you don't suppose you know where 'the big tree' is, do you?" Her eyes turned threatening. "And if you don't answer truthfully, we're leaving you behind to deal with the thing yourself!"

[Ryver et Rhine]

Nympha felt herself dragged along by a cross-sounding female Nobody. The little apprentice followed along somewhat reluctantly. She couldn’t leave those flowers behind. They were so vulnerable. Another earsplitting shriek from the beast made her squeaked as she screwed her eyes shut. The little witch stared in awe as she saw the turtle dragon looming up ahead. Bursts of gun fire came from the soldiers attempting to hold the creature at bay. Yet the sounds rapidly disappear as though it was swallowed by the monster. She swallowed hard. The animal was always drawn to magic. The beast was like a vortex; it drained everything around it till one day it turns to stone.

Ace said "Hey kid witch! If you're a witch can't you make it stop? Or tame it? What are you useful for if you're just going to run with us?"

Breeze said "Hey, since you're so familiar with the place you don't suppose you know where 'the big tree' is, do you? And if you don't answer truthfully, we're leaving you behind to deal with the thing yourself!"

“Uh… err…”

The pink haired girl’s eyes widened as she saw the creature hovering over the tree tops. She mentally shut out her two companions. The edges of the surrounding sky turned grey before fading into white. The skeletal trees crumbled away. Even the Nobodies closest to it were starting to pale. Nympha saw the little flowers turn into wisps of smoke. Tiny indistinct trails were left behind as they drifted towards the monster. Her ears heated up. Why? Why do the flowers have to die? The angry thumping of her heart drowned out all other sound as she balled up her fists.

“You… you… sandwich gingersnapping lemonade!”

The enraged Nobody waved her right hand about in the air. A glint flashed here and there. Then a few shimmering threads appeared. One by one the threads connected till they formed a mesh. With the next wave of her hand, the spell weaver formed translucent panels, that appeared in-between the gaps. The pattern continued till a huge barricade was formed. The wall was barely noticeable save for the occasional sparkle coming from the many threads running through it. Right in the center was a padlock without a key.



“Now stay there! … And… err… we better RUN!”

Her bravado melted again the second the turtle dragon let out another howl. Fissures appeared at the sides of her protective shield. There was no telling how long the barrier will hold. This time she wrapped her hands round Ace’s and Breeze’s wrists and dragged them along. Which way? Oh, of course! She needed to get to the big tree. The dragon was close to exhausting itself out. A little more and it will go to sleep, and it shall hibernate for another hundred years or so.



“Ace! Breeze! Miss Witch!”

Ran yelled desperately as he tried to run after the group. They couldn’t hear him. He took a huge gulp of air, and charged forward. Two steps were all he managed to take before he smashed into the Nympha’s spell. He staggered backwards. Niran instinctively threw his legs back. He half ran, half staggered till he found his balance again.

Fading Soldier said “Run! The tur….tle issssssss cooooom ing.”

The crackling, distorted voice sounded like the soldier was talking to them through a broken down television set. Ran turned back. Many multi-colored dots appeared before his vision. A chill ran down his spine. What was this? Was he fading away? Somehow he refused to believe it. This had to be an illusion. People, Nobodies, anything breathing… nothing disappears like that. Nothing. They weren’t characters in cyberspace. They can’t be deleted. He felt an renewed sense of urgency coursing through him.

“Harper! Lelia! We’ve gotta go.” He bellowed.

He ran forward a little before turning to look behind. Somehow he wondered if the kids could keep up, especially the girl. Harper seemed to be doing fine. “Get on my back, Lelia! We need to hurry.”

He pulled her up into a piggyback. Then the stubborn adult roared as he barreled to the right. They needed to get away fast. Fear was his main source of motivation. Pain and exhaustion were nothing compared to it. He didn’t care about the branches whipping his face neither did he care about the thorny bushes snagging his clothes and tearing bits from it. They needed to run. They had to survive. He continued running till he tripped over a tree branch and skidded into a huge bush. Hundreds of tiny bats flew into the air. They rose in a thick cloud.

Niran batted at the swarm as he tried to shield his eyes. The sound, smell and flurry were overwhelming. Finally when the last bat flew off, he found himself sitting in a naked bush. He pulled himself up till he was sitting on his haunches. The poor man panted.

“Lelia? Harper? Are you here?”

[Kimchi]

The airship ride was quite somber in atmosphere except for the occasional murmur here and there whenever the the silence became too much to bear. After an early landing, it was announced that the engine had been drenched in honey. At that very moment it was clear who the culprits were. Discussion about the intents of the hooded figures erupted immediately and she started to get a little queasy. Walking the rest of the way wasn't a huge surprise and the quests had taken a positive toll on her body by increasing her physical tolerance and she even started to become slightly built. Ace was determined to take back all their items and Jasper all in on it. Only problem, they didn't have much of a plan. The comment about poisonous tea was rather unnerving, but it was pretty logical. She'd seen it play out in at least a dozen movies so it wouldn't surprise her if the tea being offered at this so called "tea party" would cause them to drop dead.

Hearing Inadi's frustration as he went off beside her, she couldn't blame him. This mission was supposedly one of the easier ones, but so far, thanks to those crooks, it was turning to be a difficult one. Reaching over to rub Inadi's back in an attempt to sooth him, his annoyance was causing her to worry even more and she really wasn't ready for any kind of ambush. Besides not being able to see ten feet in front of her, she wasn't equipped either. Hobbling over to Japhet and Est she took a glance at the map drawing for the first time.

Jasper

Almost laughing, she snorted at the childlike scribbles. 'Holy, I bet a fish could do better...'

Upon coming to a tree, Est suggested they take a turn, but Leila uttered a meek protest which she quickly apologized for. Meanwhile, Ran had bent down to eat something and she wasn't exactly sure that was safe. As she was about to walk over to him and swipe the thing from his grasp and girlish voice spoke out in a bratty tone. Next thing you know, she was holding two of them hostage; Toby and Leila. Japhet cast her off with a flashlight and Jasper was going to call her back for directions, but she resumed to call out her threat about a creature called a turtle dragon. As the floor began to vibrate, she broke out into a hesitant run with Inadi in tow. She could see Ran with Leila on board and Harper trailing close behind just ahead of them. "Wait up!" she called as she looked back and saw a haze coming closer. A peculiar barrier seemed to shielding them yet it still wasn't to consider the area safe. It must've been that little girl. She did say she was a witch.

As she turned her head forward, she almost bumped into Est, but side stepped quick enough just to get on his left side. "How long is that thing going to follow us?!" Screeches filled the air and a cloud of bats flew up from an indented section of the forest floor. Swiping at the bats, she accidentally gave Est a thwap across the face and she nor he realized it until the flying critters cleared out and she spotted the red hand mark across his lower cheek. "Oh my, I'm so sorry!" She bowed apologetically multiple times before hearing Ran call out from nearby by. "Ran. Leila. Harper. Are you guys there?" Jasper beckoned Est and Inadi to follow as she crouched down and inched herself over the edge to where they the voice was yelling from.

[MUG]

Hearing Ace complain about his complaining, Inadi shrugged it off and just continued his pout. “Well if you can find a way to get us out of this dreadful place I'll gladly staple my mouth shut. I was expecting a simple pick up and walk out,” Inadi said as he pointed in the direction of where the airship was. At least where he thought the airship was. Truth be told, he had completely lost track of which direction they had gone through and felt even more lost just thinking about it, which only made him more angry. “But now we suddenly got to head into this place. Talk about disappointment.” He groaned out as a quick and sudden arrival put him on edge.

A new Nobody suddenly appeared and graced them all with her presence. Inadi silently let out a sigh of relief as he saw it was just a small child. No doubt lost in this place like they were. Just as he was about to rest his spear to the side, the girl started spouting off something about being an evil witch or something like that. Inadi quickly rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Oh terrific. Another witch. At least this one has some color on her unlike the last one we ran into. That's an improvement.” Inadi complained to himself as he began walking away from the whole scene.

Japhet continued his little speech about arresting the girl and the screaming went back and forth between different members of the group. Then the girl, Nympha as it were, said something about summoning a turtle dragon. Turning his head slowly at the thought of a turtle dragon he began returning to the rest of the group. Trying to get Japhet to quit speaking, he waved his hand at the guide and tried leaning towards the small witch. Just as he got close enough that was when the ground started shaking underneath them. Inadi quickly spun in his place and looked at the great beast.

A towering monster, Inadi quickly felt his spit become caught in his throat. This thing was big. Really, really big. Thinking back on the old dragons from Sol, the turtle dragon was probably around their size. Remembering how bad those things whooped them until the last second Inadi knew the best plan was to just start running right away. As he was about to bolt, Japhet began screaming out orders for him to take the thing on. Going wide-eyed, Inadi leaned in on the guide and poked a finger in his chest. “What happened to the powers of technology huh? I got an old invention that will work just fine for this kind of situation,” Inadi said as he looked back at the dragon, who let out a large roar. “They are called legs. AND I USE THEM TO RUN!”

Inadi quickly flew past Japhet and began running and listened to Ace rambling behind him. “I don't know if they'll buy the idea that we have a dragon on our side since we seem to be running from it after all!” He yelled out as he began trying to navigate the best he could through the darkness. Jasper was with him the entire time and he use her as a second pair of eyes, seeing where she was running and figuring it to be the right way. “Somebody better get that little witch to do something about the dragon! This is her fault anyway! I don't know how, but I got a feeling it is!” Inadi yelled as he turned his head to see some kind of shield holding the dragon back. While it bought them time, it was clear that with the way the big nasty thing was fighting against it, that wall wasn't going to hold it long.

Jasper nearly crashed into Est, which made Inadi throw the brakes on his run. Good timing on his part too as bats suddenly flew right past him as he landed on the ground. Looking up, it seemed like a huge collection of what seemed like fifty bats flew right by him. Jasper and Est weren't as lucky as him though as they seemed to be giving the little guys a little bit of a fight. Inadi slowly picked himself up off the ground and missed Jasper slapping Est in the face while he did so. Hearing Ran in the distance, he began trying to figure out just how far away they were from the others. This was a bad time to be separated, but another strange occurrence suddenly caught his attention. He looked down at his feet and saw the forest floor that the bats had flown out of. For whatever reason it almost felt....warmer than the rest of the place. A strange feeling to be sure, but it had a strange calmness like a campfire attached to it as well. “Hey Est, any reason why this little indention would be generating heat like this?” He asked as he put his hand closer to the hole. The closer he got, the hotter it became. Inadi hated not knowing why things were the way they were, as they just made him uncomfortable. Deciding it was best not to get too close he continued following Jasper to where they thought Ran and the others were at.

[Thundercat]

The trip to the dark side wasn't as exciting as the one to Cogs and Gears. Toby spent a majority of his time on the airship sitting beside a window, daydreaming about the tea party. Everyone seemed to be having a good time until they read that letter sent by some people wearing hoods. He didn't know who they were but already disliked them and wished they didn't exist. Even some of the soldiers seemed a little worried, however that could've been due to Lt. Falkner's screaming and stuff. Whatever the case may be, their day had been kinda ruined, and the boy didn't like that.

Japhet said "For Celery's sake! They destroyed the fruitcaking engine! This is state of the art tech and they just destroyed it! The motherboard is soaked in flipping HONEY."

Toby's eyes beamed towards Japhet and the engine. He couldn't help but grin at the mechanic's frustration. He had never seen honey make somebody so upset before. The thought of honey slightly made his mouth water. It had been a long time since he had eaten and he was starting to get a little hungry. However as people started to exit the now grounded airship, the feeling of hunger was drowned out by the excitement of finally going outside.

"Thank you for the flashlight!" He exclaimed to Breeze with a smile of gratitude as he caught the light stick. It was dark enough when the airship was grounded, even more so as they began to walk through the forest. As far as he knew this was his first time in the dark side, probably Niran's too. He wanted to admire it's scenery and explore but it was far too dark to see much and there were a bunch of soldiers watching over them. Still, it was nice to be out of the kingdom and around new faces.

Remaining in his own thoughts for a majority of the walk, the boy was starting to become irritatingly bored. Even though it was nice to be out, there was so much forest to see yet the soldiers kept the group heading towards one specific direction which ruined any sense of adventure. His hunger had returned as well. Toby dismissed Ace's poison theory in his mind, either because he had unnecessary faith in the tea party being a success or because he was simply too hungry to care. If he was going to die, it wasn't going to be on an empty stomach. He remained quiet and observant most of the walk, daydreaming of a fun and enchanting tea party with cookies and hot food ending with them retrieving the USB and going back home to pick on the bunny guards.

Inadi said “I honestly have no idea what in the world we should be looking for on this stupid hike.”

Toby glared at Inadi with confusion. He had made it obvious how upset he was and it was only adding to the rather dampened mood looming around them. The whole situation was just uncomfortable. Toby gazed around the area trying to think of something fun to do while they walked, when he noticed an anxious Harper glance towards him. It was the first time he had seen him with such an expression on his face. He wanted to approach him and ask how the paintball competition went, as to distract both of their thoughts, when suddenly feminine shrieking could be heard from Japhet. He turned around to observe the commotion, but instead was gripped in a headlock along with Leila.

Nympha said "Stand back! These are my hostages! Hostages!"

Toby was taken delightfully by surprise and couldn't help but snicker as Nympha's arm tickled his neck. "Oh geez, I mean I guess i'm your hostage." He chuckled, "Hey! You have really pretty hair, it looks like bubblegum. You should meet a friend of- ack! What the hell!" Toby shielded his eyes as Japhet's flashlight shone in his face, "Watch where you point that thing dude!" Nympha started to blabber about a turtle dragon, which seemed to peak Ace's interest as well as Toby's.

Ace said "Summon it then! I want to see!"

"That sounds like fun!" Nympha continued to scream turtle dragon, and Toby couldn't help but join in.

"turtle dragon!"

"turtle dragon!"

"TURTLE DRAGON!"

"TURTLE DRAGON!"

"TURTLE DRAGON!"

"TURTLE DRA-oh whoa,"

The ground began to shake and the boy jumped. He looked towards the inner forest first with a look of disbelief. Processing what was happening, he was overcome with excitement. "No way, no way! Turtle dragon! I want to meet it!" The fun was cut short as soldiers began to usher everyone away from the noise except for Inadi and a few nobodies. Toby tried to protest but was eventually dragged away by a soldier.

"Alright, alright! I can run by myself!" He shouted as he shoved the soldier off of him and continued to run, shining his flashlight behind him hoping to catch a glimpse of the creature. Staring back while running he managed to catch his leg on a fallen branch and fall face-first to the ground, his flashlight bouncing a few feet from his grasp. The fall hurt but the boy laughed the pain away as he curled up on the floor.

"I fell," He remarked to himself, slightly giggling. This was much more fun than walking in silence. As he sat up another growl could be heard, this time much closer than the one from before. His eyes shot towards a barrier that had suddenly appeared and glowed in the forests darkness. Toby began to wipe the dirt and leaves away from his clothing and crawled with haste towards the flashlight. Grabbing the light stick he shone it in the direction of the barrier, his eyes widening with excitement as he could barely make out the creature in the distance.

"TURTLE DRAGON!" He shouted with joy. Quickly the boy stood up and sprinted towards a nearby tree. Crouching behind it he watched in awe as it began to pound on the magical barrier. It was definitely one of the biggest living things he had seen since arriving to Nowhere. He was reminded of Citrus and Cobalt, and wondered if maybe this turtle dragon could be their cousin. A much bigger and scarier looking cousin. "If only Ise was here," he said to himself in admiration of the beast.

In no way did the thing look friendly and the barrier didn't look like it could hold out for long, but he wanted to at least see it up close before bolting off. He doubted he could befriend the creature but seeing it was good enough for him. Toby stood up from behind the tree and turned around, for some reason the forest suddenly felt darker. He shone his flashlight left and right in search of his friends.

"Ran?!" the boy began to quickly walk forward, looking left and right. "Ace? Riley?!" His sense of direction would have been thrown off if not for the giant barrier, which everyone was running away from. Toby broke out into a jog, shining his flashlight in all directions in search of his friends as he continued to shout their names.

[Orpheus]

Eh, it was just a tree. It looked absobloomilutely like all the trees in the forest. Oi, but maybe Leila was scared of trees? Poor girl. This entire trip must be one roller coaster ride of bad foliage after the other.

"Est, that has got to be the ugliest tree I've ever see—HOLD ME AND NEVER LET ME GO!"

“Wah!” Est dropped his rifle on his foot when Japhet suddenly shrieked and jumped into his arms. The soldier dropped his comrade almost immediately, though the mechanic didn’t seem to mind falling on the cold rocky ground- at least, not when Breeze and the others were chortling at his reaction.

“Oi! Leggo of the hostages! Blech.” Est managed a halfhearted warning in support of Japhet who seemed to enjoy threatening Nympha with his nonexistent military might. That was about it, really. If he didn’t know any better, he kinda shipped Japhet and Nympha.

But yeah, things escalated quickly. The witch girl said she would curse them and then this unholy noise came from within the forest as the earth trembled beneath her feet. Est was more exasperated than panicked.

“We could’ve not summoned the turtle dragon if y’all just kept your bloody traps shut!” He howled over the commotion as their group struggled to reposition and advance at the same time. “Left flank! Got it! Anyhoo, it’s a turtle! A flipping turtle! Why are y’all twisting your bloomers at it!? The thing’s a slowpoke if I ever seen one!” The nobody continued yelling at whoever wanted to listen out of pure disbelief at the chaos that was happening. Goshdarn that Nympha. This was all her fault, wasn’t it!?
Oh you know what, there were so many things happening that nothing made any sense. Seriously.

There were even bats! The accursed things rose from the ground like a fog of death and high-pitched noises, and Est, acting out of reflex, whipped out his pistol and began shooting at them. One by one, the members of the horde assaulting him and Jasper dropped to the ground, but his ammo wasn’t infinite and some were actually flying close enough to slap him in the face.

Whap!

“Ow! Oi! I’m on your side!” Jasper’s slap was strong enough to dislodge the bullets Est had gathered in his palm, and the spare ammunition fell to the ground and rolled away into the dead grass. Great. Just sodding great. He returned the gun to its holster and handled his rifle instead. If the turtle dragon broke through that shimmering barrier, then he’d stay back and fire at the chinks in its shell. They didn’t call him a sniper for nuffin.

“Hey Est, any reason why this little indention would be generating heat like this?”

“Naw, and I don’t want to find out. Who knows if it’s a portal to the bat underworld?” The soldier quipped as they finally reached the three, Harper and Leila sprawled on the ground thanks to a domino effect which the girl might be able to explain in more detail seeing that it was she who was on Ran’s back. “Well, no dilly-dallying! Let’s go!” He pulled Harper and Leila up and covered the rear of the group as they ran- or hobbled- towards the others.

“Hey! Is that the big tree we were supposed to go to!?” The silhouette of a tall, very wide tree ate whatever little light they had, though Est wouldn’t have noticed it if he didn’t peer at the skyline to see if the turtle dragon was breaking through the shield. It was nigh impossible by then to notice the tree that was towering above all the others, though it was some distance yet.

[John]

Leila was caught entirely in confusion as a very large number of sudden events were crammed into a very short interval. She couldn’t follow everything, but the last thing she clearly remembered was a loud pink-haired lady who appeared out of the woods had her pulled along with Toby under her arms - supposedly as ‘hostages’ - and screaming the words ‘turtle dragon’ repeatedly.

Also, Leila was almost completely certain that, when she looked at the flowers Ran plucked that were the start of all that fuss - she saw lines of white, pointy teeth lined between its petals.

Then her sight was blinded by Japhet’s flashlight, and Leila stumbled a few steps blindly forwards as Nympha let go of her alleged hostages.

Regaining her foothold, she turned to see Nympha, who had both hands thrusted forwards, and was still yelling:

”TURTLE DRAGON!”

“...what exactly...is a turtle dragon?” Leila asked. The rest of the lot of humans and the Nobodies that accompanied them in their trek into the woods also appeared equally confuzzled.

That is, with the sole exception of Toby, who joined in Nympha in her endless obnoxious chantings of ‘turtle dragon’.

And then the ground started trembling.

* * * * *

”RUN! RUN!”

But her feet stood still. Ace was equally hesitant. Leila looked around in a panic, stumbling in a struggle to not to be shook to the ground by the increasingly intense tremors while searching in vain for an identifiable source of those tremors.

The magnitude of the vibrations increased, and soon it felt like the entire forest was rumbling in accordance.

“Wh-what is happening?”

The deep, angry roar of the turtle dragon boomed through the air.

"ready to tame another dragon, Leila?"

Riley looked at her and smiled but Leila could see under the grin the thick cloak of worry.

“Wait - was that implying that -” that she had tamed at least one dragon prior to this? When - where - did that happen? She didn’t remember ‘taming’ any dragons. But her voice broke before she could finish the sentence and everyone started scurrying in all directions.

Run, away. Away from wherever the turtle dragon was - but she couldn’t tell, because the howls were echoing throughout the entire forest.

Then before she could react to anything, Ran jolted forward and swept her off the ground and kept running with her carried.

“Ey wait-”

Without much time to make sense of all that and suddenly feeling the thorns scrape across her skin as they drove straight into a thicker part of the forst, Leila struggled in protest and that was immediately followed by all of them falling over.

“Lelia? Harper? Are you here?”

Groaning as she struggled to free herself from the vines and branches that were caught on her clothes and hair, Leila yelled back from under the bush that she was stuck in:

“I’m here, I’m alrigh -”

And that was when she saw it: The enormous figure of the creature against the sky, shell covered in earth and vegetation the side of a small island, and deafening roars emitted from its beak-like maw as it slammed its head against a layer of translucent pink in mid-air - and tearing through it, the translucent barrier cracking and then shattering into thousands of pieces.

The titanic creature’s every step shook the ground, and in its path - was it her imagination or was it really happening? No, her imagination wasn’t that good, not will she imagine something as infinitely dreadful. In the path of the turtle dragon, things disintegrated - torn into chunks, shards, flickering like incorrectly loaded graphic files. Then, eventually, reduced to nothing but a cloud of fine dust, lifted upwards into the air - disappearing.

Leila’s eyes widened, she felt her heart sink.

“Run! The tur….tle issssssss cooooom ing.”

The voice stretched, fluctuated in pitch and eventually became completely distorted as Leila watched in horror the running soldier being…sucked away by the dragon.

If you die in Nowhere, you disappear. Forever.

“No, don’t!”

She cried as she lept forwards from the bush, the vines and twigs torn apart as she did so. She tackled the fading figure of the soldier as if by doing so she was keeping him from being struck by some sort of projectile that they could just narrowly dodge. She didn’t know whether it would work - but that was the first thing she thought of and was what she tried because if there was a chance if would save him it would have to be attempted.

For moments she almost imagined that she was back at the Stone of Sacrifice, and the witch was there, and...

The two of them tumbled sideways, down a steep slope in the terrain covered in dead leaves and plants.

When it ended, Leila pushed herself back up, and the first thing she did was to check on the soldier:

“-are you alright? Are you - ”

She thought of shaking him, like trying to wake someone up, but did not. It felt almost unreal as what’s left of the upper body and the half of the face frozen in the terrified expression flickered and broke to pieces, leaking away through the spaces between her fingers and into the air.

Leila snapped back to what was going on. Where was she? She couldn’t see over the slope to anyone who was nearby. She was temporarily out of the area of the dragon’s vortex, but by the winds and trembling trees, not by much. She tried standing up, but couldn’t. She couldn’t tell where the turtle dragon was.

“Harper? Ran? Toby?”

She yelled the names without thinking, the names that she immediately remembered, hoping they were close enough to hear her:

“-Haku?”

She called out before she realized, and choked. But really her mind was too blurry by this point to speak of really realizing anything anyway.

She still found herself unable to move.

[Fox of Spades]

Est, Breeze, Nympha, Ace, Japhet

"Celery," Japhet was standing beside Est, the butt of his rifle resting on his shoulder. The mechanic wasn't as good a shot as Est or Breeze, but he could handle his own. He shot at a chink in the barrier and watched as electric blue sparks lit up the sky. "The lieutenant better promote us after this—HOLY HELL!" The tree in front of him evaporated into a spray of pixels and he ran after Est, covering for the humans that were rushing ahead. "I reckon if we shoot at the same weak spot, it'll shatter..." he narrowed his eyes and dug into the pouch of bullets that was clipped onto his belt.

The sniper had dropped a few of his bullets when he had crashed into the bat bush so Japhet called out to him. "Explosive bullets," he looked the private in the eyes and nodded, "you're a better shot, so make them count." He handed the majority to his friend then placed three inside his own rifle. "Get out of the barrier!" He ordered, but he wondered if the humans could even hear him. Everyone seemed to be running in a different direction.

Another tree to their left exploded in a spray of colorful pixels and Japhet aimed his gun at the shattering barrier. "Fire," he and Est fired and a loud bang echoed through the night. They fired again and the barrier flickered, blue sparks appearing here and there. The soldiers shot at the barrier once more and it finally gave way, "it's about damned time!" The humans Est had covered for where no longer in sight, and he felt a sickening sense of dread in the pit of his stomach.



"That's the tree!" Nympha did not like the way Breeze and Ace were treating her, so she stopped running, puffed up her cheeks and began pointing at the same tree Est had mentioned not too long ago.

"Breeze," Japhet let out a relieved sigh, but as soon as his eyes had landed on Nympha, he charged towards them and grabbed the witch by the collar of her shirt. "You little carrot muncher! I oughtta feed you to that thing! What the hell is wrong with you?" His eyes landed on Ace, and while he was relieved to see she was okay, he was worried for all the humans who were not with them.

"TURTLE DRAGON!" Nympha yanked herself free and began shoving Ace along.

"I'm not done with you..." A dark shadow fell over the soldiers and as soon as Japhet turned around, Nympha and Ace were gone. Maybe the humans disappearing ahead was for the best. Now, they could focus on simply fighting and watching each other's backs. "None of you better die, alright? I'm quite fond of you both." He frowned, took aim, and fired. The turtle dragon let out a groan and Japhet fired again.

---

Toby, Lesley, Riley

At one moment, Leila had been by her side, but at the next, her friend was gone and she was being ushered forward by a pale soldier. A tree had fallen between them, and the next thing Riley knew, she was running alone. "Leila?" The girl yelled out, but there was no answer. The only answer to her call were the sparks that danced in the sky. "Anyone?" She heard someone screaming and her heart thumped hard against her chest.

The girl ran deeper into the woods, batting blindly at skeleton-like branches. It couldn't end this way, right?

She bumped into something tall and bony, a hiss leaving her lips as she staggered back.



"Riley!" She let out a relieved sigh when she realized it was Lesley. The tall man looked as if he were on the verge of tears and he picked the girl off her feet and pulled her into a hug. "I got separated from the others," he released her, "this forest is so spooky! We should leave now."

Running into Lesley helped chase away the fear and soon Riley had a smile on her face. She hooked her arm with the pink-haired man's own, "we'll be okay, Les! We've lived through worse, now c'mon, we need to find the others...shit!" Riley ducked beneath a low hanging branch, and Lesley, who was much taller, got a mouthful of leaves. The poor guy looked worse for wear, but he kept going all the same.

"—an?! Ace? Riley?!"

"Did you hear that?" Lesley stopped in his tracks and looked right and left.

Riley did the same before a grin crept up her face. "It's Toby! Come on Lesley!" She leaped over a bush and dashed past a few trees. Sure enough, there was Toby, standing by himself and calling out to the others. "Tobs!" Riley didn't even stop. She leaped over a bush, grabbed him by the arm and rushed forward to look right and left. "Are you alright?" She moved a little further into the forest, "are the others here?" She looked right and left, they weren't there. "I lost sight of them—"

Voices drifted into their side of the forest, and Lesley had joined them, hair tangled and mouth pulled into a frown. The pink-haired man chewed on his lower lip then narrowed his eyes at the forest. "It's coming from there."

The voices continued, but with each passing moment, they grew fainter.

"Let's go," Riley glanced at both boys, checking to see if they were okay, "Lesley, you're the tallest one, lead on!



Jasper, Inadi, Ran, Leila, Harper

In movies, moments of intense action usually took place in slow motion. Harper could say first hand, that none of that was true. Everything that was happening was a blur, a voice here, a sharp sting there. He was acting before he could even think and yelling words he hadn't even thought of yet, "EST!" The Nobody's name tore through his mouth moments after they had been pushed ahead, but what was happening didn't sink in until the soldier and the mechanic were out of sight.

It was happening again, Nobodies were putting their lives on the line, and for humans they barely knew.

He ran around blindly, following what he thought was the sound of Ran's voice. Moments earlier, he thought he had heard Jasper and Inadi join the soldiers, but he didn't dare look back. His head was throbbing, and when Harper brought a hand to his forehead, he felt something warm and sticky. He wiped the blood on his shirt and pushed himself onward when he heard a scream.

The sound of gunshots was constant in the background and he crashed into a few branches, pushing past them...

"Ran! Leila! Ace!" He called them one by one, but it was another name he heard in response.

Haku.

He froze in place, suppressing memories of stone and flesh and blood. And perhaps, he would have lingered longer if the voice that had said the name weren't so familiar. "Leila?" He scrambled through the forest in a frenzy and eventually he found her, sitting on the ground. Harper crouched down so he was looking at her. "Are you...hurt?" He looked over his shoulder, half expecting the turtle dragon to come crashing through the trees. He didn't know where anyone else was, or if the soldiers were even alive, and it left a bad taste in his mouth. "I don't know where they are," he held onto her hands and helped Leila to her feet, "we have to keep moving," he didn't know what to say or do. If only Ace had been with them, she gave the best pep talks and always knew just what to do. "We'll be alright," he muttered as he pulled her along.

They walked quietly and then they ran into Inadi and Jasper and he had to wait a few seconds before he believed it was true. "We're here!" He shot up a hand and waved at his friends. They were a few trees away. "You guys okay?" He wanted to stop and fuss over the three of them for a bit, but they had to keep moving. They didn't know how much time the soldiers would be able to buy, or how the others were doing."Did you see any of the others?"

And just on cue, Nympha's loud screeching echoed through the forest.

None of them could see, but Nympha and Ace had run into Ran. Actually, the humans weren't too far from one another, and while they could not see each other, they could hear each other if someone shouted loud enough.

[AkiBlue]

Man, a hell of a lot was going on. Everyone was scattering like ants. Turtle Dragon was messing stuff up. The little wicked pink witch created a barrier that slowed it down for some seconds.

When she was with the soldiers, she was eager to be given a gun and fight alongside them, but she ended up getting dragged off by none other than Nympha herself. Was this what others felt like when she dragged them around? A realization occurred when she was being dragged off by Nympha- apparently in the right direction too- she had been surrounded by Nobodies... Where the ha'pennies was her group! What idiot decided to scatter and not stay together?!

"Gyah you dummies. No one splits up in scary forests!" Ace realized she was still being dragged through the forest so she dug her foot into the ground and yanked Nympha backwards. "Stop! We have to go back! I'm not leaving them in the forest. What if they're going the wrong way..." Before Nympha could protest or leave, Ace grabbed the girl by the wrist and began dragging her back. Obviously the tables had turned. "You're going to help me find them, or I'll feed you to that turtle dragon. Heh, got it?" She still had that happy grin that she normally wore even though she threatened the witch. "And you're my map. If we get lost, you'll know the way."

She nodded and used her free hand to cup around her mouth. "MAAARRCOOO?" She expected a 'polo' from somewhere, by someone. And she'd keep calling until she wandered long enough to get an answer. "Come on people, we don't have all day." The sounds of the turtle dragon echoed from the distance, but it didn't phase her one bit. Instead, she kept walking in order to round up her band of merry humans.

[Thundercat]

Riley said "Let's go, Lesley, you're the tallest one, lead on!"

With that, the three of them sprinted through the forest. The boy dodged branches and hopped over logs. He could've outran Riley and Lesley if he wasn't too busy jumping with excitement at the turtle dragons roars echoing throughout the forest. It was like he had signed up for some kind of Jurassic Park reenactment the way he ignorantly enjoyed the dragons presence. Not the best mindset to have but it was inevitable considering how things usually turned out for the best whenever him and Niran would find themselves in some kind of predicament.

A sudden shriek could be heard to their right, Lesley grabbed Riley and Toby's wrists and turned his head in the direction of what may be the others. "Was that Jasper? Or Leila?" He asked. Without hesitation Toby called out their names.

"JASPER! LEILA!" He shouted and immediately took off. "Toby!" Lesley shouted and pulled Riley along with him as he chased the boy down. Toby was fully sprinting through the forest with a lighthearted smile on his face as he was determined to find his friends. "Jasper! Leila!" He continued to shout, "Ran-ran! Harper! Come out come out, wherever you are!" He had sprinted for a good twenty to thirty seconds, leaving Lesley and Riley in the dust. The increasing sound of gunfire and shouting was enough for the boy to realize he had most likely lost his sense of direction, another stomp could be felt throughout the ground as Toby fumbled about trying to keep his balance.

"FIRE!"

Two soldiers kneeled beside eachother, one of them balancing what appeared to be a bazooka on his shoulder and the other with his hand on a string attached to the weapon. With the pull of the string the bazooka's barrel exploding into a cloud of steam as a rocket shot through the sky towards the turtle dragon.

From where he was standing, Toby could barley make out Japhet and Est firing their weapons at the dragon which had to have been at least a hundred yards from his position. He ducked and moved as close as possible towards the action, eventually crouching beside a tree. His eyes moved back and forth between the soldiers and the turtle dragon in astonishment. The forest was a warzone but to the boy it looked like just another fun game. He suddenly felt envious for not attending the paintball group, it was like something out of a movie.

The rocket exploded into the turtle's shell and looked like nothing more than a firework compared to it's massive size, however it was enough to tick the beast off. Toby watched in amazement as the turtle dragon's front legs began rising high into the air and were slammed back into the earth. It roared with absolute ferocity, the hollering echoed throughout the entire forest as the ground shook as violent as ever. Toby was thrown to the side, the darkness not granting him a chance to keep his head from slamming into a rock. He gripped his head and cursed to himself.

The two soldiers began to reload their bazooka as the turtle dragon bellowed once more. Toby lifted his head up in the direction of the soldiers, his face scrunched up in pain and disorientation.

"C'mon, c'mon! Hurry up and reload!" One soldier shouted to the other over the sounds of gunfire and hollering. As they prepared their bazooka the turtle dragon wrapped it's tail around a tree, gripping it tightly before pulling it from the earth. The boy watched as the dragon used it's tail to launch the tree towards the two soldiers, both of them too slow to avoid being crushed by it.

"....Huh?"

Dirt and mud were hurled through the air as the tree slammed onto the soldiers and splattered onto the boy. Toby's expression turned from pain to confusion at the unsettling scene he had witnessed. He tried to pull himself up however he was still disoriented and somewhat disturbed. The moment he was on his feet an attempt was made to run towards the soldiers aid.

In two steps he tripped over himself and was on the ground once more. His head throbbed, the sound of gunfire suddenly felt deafening and unpleasant. He tried to wrap his mind around what had just occurred before him, but it was hard for the boy to comprehend. It almost felt like he was in a dream. Every second the battle before him seemed less and less like a game. The tree was huge compared to the soldiers size, they couldn't have survived. Toby managed to pull himself onto all fours and began crawling towards the tree.



"Toby!"

Lesley and Riley had finally caught up. "Are you okay?!" Maneuvering through trees and rocks, Lesley dropped to his knees beside the boy and placed his hands on his shoulder, helping him up to his knees as well. "Can you move?!"

"Yeah yeah i'm okay, I just hit my head is all,"

"DO NOT run off like that again! You hear me?" Lesley stood up, pulling Toby up along with him and placing his hands on both his cheeks. "You're all dirty, and you're bleeding, dumb boy." Another roar from the turtle dragon caused them both to jump. "Let's get out of here, we have to find the others,"

Toby attempted to push Lesley off in protest, "No, hold on, there's two soldiers over there I have to make sure they're okay," The boy's words were somewhat slurred due to his head wound and his attempt to push Lesley away was in vain. Turning back he could see an arm sticking out from underneath the tree. "Toby! We have to go!" Too weak to reply he gave in and was pulled away from the warzone and back towards the inner forest.

The trio ran through the trees with haste, trying to distance themselves as much as possible from the turtle dragon. Lesley made sure to keep his hand on a dizzy Toby's wrist as to keep him from running off again.

Ace said "MAAARRCOOO?"

Toby's head shot to the right at the sound of a familiar voice, "Hey! I think I heard somebody!" He pulled hard on Lesley's arm and the three of them came to a stop, "I can hear someone! It's this way!"

"Where is it coming fr-ah! Toby!" He had managed to slip from Lesley's grasp and began running towards Ace's position, following the sounds of her shouting which became louder by the second. Dodging and swatting branches out of his way he had forgotten the necessity of yelling 'polo' in reply. Toby shot out from behind a tree at full speed to see Ace walking through the forest not more than ten feet away from him.

"POLOOOOO!" He shouted hoping she would move out of the way, but it was far too late and he was running far too fast. Toby collided into the red-head, tumbled through the dirt and came to a stop by slamming into a tree. The impact caused some leaves to slowly descend from branches and onto his face. Even after witnessing what was most likely the death of two soldiers earlier, the boy couldn't help but start laughing as he lay on the ground, covered in leaves.

"I found Marco!"

[Kimchi]

In no time, Jasper was able to hear Harper's voice in the the distance calling them. Sliding down the slope at a quicker pace, the temperature suddenly got warmer which she would've thought was rather odd if she hadn't been so focused on finding the others. eventually, she could make out two figures in the distance. It was Leila and Harper. Rushing to their side, she inspected them also and decided everyone wasn't in too bad a shape. Hearing gun fire and screams from farther back in the forest, she did not want to imagine what was going on back at the barrier the little witch had created. All she could do was pray that the guides and the other humans were safe.

Experiencing another loss was one of her worst nightmares and she wouldn't be prepared for anymore death at this point. Trudging along with Harper, Leila, and Inadi. They bumped into Ran who was only a couple feet away. Moving along as a small bunch, they needed to regroup and luckily, the forest echoed noises well. After a few minutes of wandering, they could here Toby calling out their names. "We're here!" she called right back, frantically trying to face the direction of the calling but not quite getting the exact location. "I think they're over here!" Maneuvering through the trunks and bushes, the more she searched, the farther they seemed to get. "Where are you guys?!" She kept the people she was already with close.

At some period in time, the responses completely halted and Jasper was devastated. "Toby! Say something! Where are you?!" One could say she was on the verge of a panic attack. Flashes of Haku and Leon were flashing through her mind and she shook her head vigorously to expel the worrisome images. "Please! say something..." As she was about to break down and cry, she heard another faint voice. It was Ace! It was followed quickly with Toby's response of "Polo" and she couldn't help but grin, even in this situation. Hooking arms with Inadi and Leila with Harper holding onto Leila and Ran following close behind. They very eagerly approached the voices and eventually met up with Lesley and Riley. "I'm so glad we found each other" She breathed in relief before scanning the area for Toby or Ace. Although they stumbled upon more people, the two voices she'd actually heard weren't even present.

"I found Marco!"

Jogging towards the two on the ground by the base of a tree, she laughed a little and helped them up. "You sure did" She grinned at Toby as she helped dust them both off. After acknowledging that they were all present, the shots and chaos of fighting rang back into her head. "Oh, I do hope they're alright. Should we go back?" After having Avian die for them in the past, another Nobody dying for them would not be acceptable, not one bit.

[MUG]

Inadi continued following Jasper through the woods, taking in the warmth that the hot spot had given him considering that the dark forest surrounding them all was not that pleasant in regards to the temperature. Thinking on it he was very interested in knowing how that hot spot was made in the first place. Was it always like that in the forest? Or did the walking of the Turtle Dragon open up some kind of fissure in the ground? It was hard to say and even more difficult to focus on when he was having trouble just following Jasper through the many trees in front of him.

Eventually Jasper was able to figure out where Harper and Leila was. He smiled at the two of them as Inadi noticed a little bit of blood on Harper's head. Quickly inspecting his head and seeing a bit of a gash there made him shake his head. “Well hopefully it isn't too bad in the long run. Can't really take care of it while that dragon thing is chasing us down.” Inadi told him with a quick pat on the shoulder. They were already going to have to deal with those stupid hooded figures, the likelihood being that there would be some kind of scrum going into that meeting. Being injured before they even opened the door was not really wanted by Inadi and he was sure by the rest of the group. He then began following the rest of the group as Ran later ended up running into them as well.

Inadi covered the back as the others began tracking down the echoes that went through the forest to find the rest of the group. Yet for some reason it seemed that there was another noise as well surrounding them. Branches breaking in the distance as they continued walking. They were quiet and soft, easily missed if you weren't looking out for it. Since Inadi was already on red alert with the dragon he heard a small crack in the direction away from the dragon and then another one a little later on. Jasper continued with the others to try and find Toby with all his Marco Polo calls deeper in the woods.

Inadi held up a hand and tried to get Leila's attention. Eventually tapping her arm, he pointed towards where he heard the sound. “Leila, tell me I'm not the only one hearing that little branch cracking out there,” He pleaded with her as he gripped Kain a little tighter as he tried to keep his ear open to the sound again. With another quick crack Inadi felt his spine shift behind him and he shook his head. “Something's out there and I don't think its any of us. Do you think it could be a hooded figure?” He asked her while trying to keep up with the others.

Eventually the others caught back up with Toby and the rest of their crew. It was good to see them all again but the nerves still hadn't settled in Inadi's hands as they now began noticing the shots and screams back towards the dragon. While Jasper wanted to go back and help out the Nobodies Inadi couldn't help but feel like that was a bad idea. “Jasper at this point we can't afford to go back. We take up too much time fighting that dragon and we weaken ourselves for the hooded figures. And I know you don't think they are just going to give us back what they took from us without a fight.” Inadi said with a very focused, albeit harsh tone. Plus, how were they supposed to fight a thing of that size. It was a miracle they were able to talk to the other dragon's before. He doubted this one was as open minded as those in Sol.

Stepping forward towards Harper, he pointed out towards where he heard the cracking sounds. “Harper, I don't know if it was just an animal or something but I know for a fact I heard something out in that direction. My guess is that it is somebody either following us, or worse yet trying to lead us somewhere,” He told him as he grabbed the spear in his hands and leaned on it for a little support. He had been running for so long now it had been some time since he last had a decent breather in the end. “I say we follow it, track it down and see exactly what it is rather than risking ourselves taking out that dragon. Leave it to the soldiers and experts there with Japhet. I'm sure he'll give that thing more than he bargained for when he started running after us.” He said as he looked over to Jasper and the others with a somber look on his face. Yes, he was basically leaving the Nobodies there to die at the hands of an enemy that even he knew they stood no chance against. Then again....it wasn't like it was the first time Inadi had done that as he thought back to Avian. Guilt began building in his chest as he started leaning in harder on Kain. Sighing, he waited for the others to figure out their plan of attack. Inadi just prayed that they took his suggestion into consideration. He hated speaking and having no one hear him out at least.

[Fox of Spades]

He caught Inadi staring at his head and mustered up a smile. "Don't worry," Harper tried to make things a little less tense. "I mean, I was stabbed by a witch, so this is nothing." The boy tapped his friend on the shoulder, but before he could say anything else, Jasper began yelling. Marco Polo? He had heard it too. He couldn't tell who the voices belonged too, but one of them sounded like Ace and he was guessing the other one was Toby?

"It's them?" Jasper didn't even wait for him to finish, and soon enough the girl was sprinting off.

Inadi was with Leila so Harper ran after Jasper, yelling for her to slow down a little. This forest was a frightening place, and he was worried they'd bump into something even worse than the turtle dragon. "Leila, Inadi, we're just up ahead!" He yelled before a low branch slapped him in the face. It slowed him down a little, but he eventually reached Jasper. He let out a relieved sigh while Jasper helped Ace and Toby to their feet.

The boy's eyes flitted to Ace then Toby. "Are you two okay?" He looked around almost frantically, "did the turtle dragon do this?"



"Don't worry," Riley appeared a few moments later. She was out of breath but grinning. "Oh, you found them! Good job, Tobs!"

Lesley was pale and he hunched forward, his hands resting on his knees. "But next time, please wait for us."

"Yeah, we almost lost you." Riley shot Toby a playful glare. "But since you found them all, is forgiven." Inadi and Leila soon caught up and Nympha was standing by a bush helping a struggling Ran to his feet. It looked like the gang was all here. "Looks like we're all here," she mustered a smile, "that's such a relief."

Harper nodded and he would have asked them about their next plan of action, but Jasper mentioned the soldiers and he stopped.

"I don't think we can do much against a dragon," Riley stared at Jasper thoughtfully, "but helping out is better than just running, right? I mean we can't just run whenever crap happens." She scrunched up her nose in distaste. The sound of gunfire was ever present in the background and if one listened hard enough, they could hear screams. She didn't want abandoning the soldiers to be on her conscience, even if Japhet was kind of mean.

Lesley looked absolutely guilt-ridden. "We can't let what happened to Avian happen to them."

But we can't do anything... Harper was just about to speak when Inadi mentioned the rustling in the bushes. Everyone fell silent and the sound was clear. As soon as it had happened it had stopped and it grew fainter, as if whatever was following them had heard and had decided to quiet down. "I heard it," his eyebrows furrowed in worry and he looked at Jasper, Lesley, and Riley almost pleadingly.

"Inadi is right," suggesting they leave the nobodies behind left a bad taste in his mouth, but if they stayed they would be more of a burden than a help. "We can't fight that thing, if we stay, we'll only be making it harder for the soldiers..." the bushes rustled again, but this time it sounded farther away. "This could be our only lead."





While the humans spoke among themselves, Nympha peered curiously at a rustling bush. She picked up a fist sized rock and chucked it at the bush and when she did there was a loud yelp followed by a series of loud squeaks.

A tiny dragon thing leaped out of the bushes. It was crying rainbow tears.

Harper gaped before he realized who the tiny creature belonged to. "Inadi..." his expression went steely, "we've seen this little fellow before, haven't we?"

Nympha grinned, "I knew it was you! Rainbowzilla!" The tiny reptile stared at them all with wide eyes before it dove headfirst behind a tree. It began running away, but Nympha gave chase, she was grinning like an absolute madwoman. "Their base isn't very far! Their tea is really GOOD" She had made the decision for them. If they wanted to find the hooded figures, the humans would need to hurry.

Harper broke into a sprint, shooting a glance at Ace as he did so. "Do you think we can surround it?"

"Faster humans!" Nympha screamed, "run faster!" She slapped Ran behind the head and lead them onward. Eventually the forest came to an end and they found themselves by a hillside. If one looked close enough, they would be able to notice a house within the hill.

Not too far from the hobbit hole was a person resting on a hammock. He had a green cloak, resting over him like a blanket.



Rainbowzilla charged towards the person and leaped onto his chest. The little creature was sobbing. Luke let out a surprised yelp and fell off his hammock, eyes the size of saucers. Eventually he noticed Nympha and gave her a grin. The young man stroked Rainbowzilla's head affectionately and it was only after a few moments that he noticed the humans coming out of the forest.

"Oh it's you!" He waved cheerfully. "You're the neighbors, right?" He got to his feet, the small reptile still cradled in his arms. The boy narrowed his eyes at the humans, but the smile on his face didn't go away. "Oh wait, you're the people C invited to the tea party." He laughed heartily, "I was worried you wouldn't find the place, Gargar's map kind of sucks!" He placed Rainbowzilla on the ground then turned to face the hobbit hole. "Gargar! Sacha! C!" He yelled loudly, "the guest are here!"

[Kimchi]

Inadi said “Jasper at this point we can't afford to go back. We take up too much time fighting that dragon and we weaken ourselves for the hooded figures. And I know you don't think they are just going to give us back what they took from us without a fight.”

He was making a good point, yet something about it still felt truly wrong. Luckily, Riley and Lesley chimed in on her side and she could tell they were not feeling too good about abandoning the guides either. But alas, despite her worries about the Nobodies the majority still seemed to be leaning to following what ever was behind those bushes. In fact, the soldiers and guides could already smoked by now and by them returning to possibly get killed would only make their sacrifices worthless.

Watching Nympha chuck a rock at the wriggling bush, a whimper yelped out and Rainbowzilla emerged as the poor creature scurried away in a mad dash. The pink haired witch seemed to know what to do and soon enough, they all broke into a sprint right after the hooded figure's companion. The run didn't last very long and the little reptile attached itself to a male dozing on a hammock near a hill in which a home was embedded? Jasper recognized the man right away and frowned as he called for the others in his misfit crew.

Shuffling next to Inadi, she wrapped her hands around his arm with insecurity. "We need to be prepared for anything.." She whispered quietly as she gave his wrist a squeeze. At this point, some sort of weapon would've been handy. Maybe a magical power potion? She felt utterly exposed and vulnerable. At least Inadi had a spear, but she wasn't sure if that would be enough to protect everyone. She wondered what the hidden thought process was behind sabotaging the ship and stealing all their items. To get back to Earth? That made a ton of sense. But they appeared to be dealing fine here in Nowhere. Keeping her lips shut in a tight line, she forced herself to keep from making any threat like questions or accusations. They were standing on the enemies home turf.

[AkiBlue]

They wandered for a bit, and then ended up staying in place to call to the others. She heard yelling so she called louder for them. "I could've sworn I heard-" The sudden response of 'polo' made her whirl around, only to get the wind knocked out of her by none other than the hyperactive Tobi. Ace wheezed for a moment before shoving him off her. "Yeah, you found me...Ow." Ace noticed Lesley and then Jasper come to view. "Oh look you brought friends." She patted the dirt off her back and hair before taking a deep breath. "Sheesh, good thing you didn't break anything Tobi." She rolled her eyes playfully. "I don't see how they think I need to be watched."

Luckily, in that time span everyone slowly gathered back into the group. And as soon as they gathered, Inadi caused some debate. "Yeesh Mr. Grumps. No need to bring everyone to your sour mood." She teased and looked around at the group. They either had to save themselves or save the nobodies. It seemed that they were debating going back to help the soldiers or leaving them. "Well I agree with Jasper. We should go back. However! We should go back and then get them so we can go. No use trying to fight that thing. We could easily lose it in the forest."

But one thing led to the other and Nympha became in charge of the group- sort of. She found that rainbow lizard from somewhere Ace was sure... "That little lizard looks pretty familiar..." the redhead decided not to berate over it and gave up, following the others to their destination. She counted to make sure everyone was there and even stayed in the back of the group to push the slower ones on. Though, her position in the front of the group returned when they reached the clearing, and was greeted by the broken human.

"Riiight. That's where that little lizard was from. It was with the hooded dudes." Luke started talking and Ace crossed her arms. "Alright! Let's get this tea party thing over with!" She glanced over at Harper and spoke low. "Keep your bag close and closed. Expect the unexpected- they might try to attack." She looked at the others. "We could always just ruin the tea party you know...but we have to find where they put our other stuff. Then. Then we can raid and ruin everything." She planned, although her plan was more of what she was planning to do.

"I hope you guys didn't try poisoning the tea or the food." Ace said rather bluntly. There was no use trying to beat around the bush with the crazy people.

[Crescendo]

Sacha had been bustling about the kitchen, making sure that everything was fresh and warm and ready to be brought into the garden where the tea table had been set up. He had tried to fit everything into the tea room, but the number of people who were going to be at the party made that impossible. Instead an array of chairs had been lugged out around the biggest table he could find, and streamers and flowers were draped fetchingly over everything. It was a lot of work and while the other hooded figures tried to help with Gary knotting the streamers and Luke setting the tables and C arranging the curtains, Gary ended up tying herself in a knot, the silverware ended up in the strangest arrangements including five spoons per person, and he had to banish C from the kitchen due to all the dust flying around. Luckily, he had others with him.

Mr. Cuddles was also here with him, icing the cupcakes fresh from the oven as Sacha placed another cookie on the platter he was arranging. The bear had been a very big help, as well as some others who were here. Luke's voice calling for him outside had him look to the bear, who gave him a reassuring nod as to say that he would be fine- they were almost done after all, and the man left the kitchen with the platter of cookies.

The moment he stepped out the door, little Rainbowzilla scrambled off of Luke and towards Sacha instead, climbing up his clothing and plopping himself on his head. His rather intimidating height was offset by the frilly pink apron and oven mitt on his right hand as he blinked at the newcomers. It was impressive that they had managed to find their way here with Gary's map (though he guessed his notes on the side would have helped) and he nodded only to frown at the redheaded girl.

"I hope you guys didn't try poisoning the tea or the food."

After spending so much effort on everything? Whatever would give her that notion? He handed a cookie up to the rainbow lizard who had been patting his face with its tail, smiling when he heard happy mewls amidst the crunching. He cringed when he spotted Jasper, that one time with the Green Gloop coming into mind again. He moved closer to Luke just in case she decided to attack again- a platter of cookies being rather poor defense.

"Just in time," He nodded, voice quiet but audible. "Mr. Cuddles is finishing the last of the cupcakes." He gave them another wary glance, before extending the plate of cookies as a gesture of peace. "They're safe," He told them, taking one for himself in an attempt to prove his words.

[Orpheus]

"Gargar! Sacha! C! The guests are here!"

“Stop screaming, you big diaper!” An ironically loud yell came from behind the thick circular door before it was kicked open. Lo and behold exited the smallest member of the Hooded Figures, the pole-wielding terror with the bright pink hair and hyperactive tendencies. Gary, of course, had her weapon with her, and she planted it on the ground as she stood beside Sacha and Luke. All of the humans were stared down one by one as she stole a cookie from Rainbowzilla and nibbled on it. The poor dinosaur squeaked in protest but a quick glare from Gargar silenced it.

“You! Whatcha doing here!? After you messed up my plants!” Gary suddenly screeched and jabbed her pole towards Nympha, then pointing towards a pathetic looking plot of land full of withered flowers. “You’re not allowed inside, you evil criminal-ish hag!” She added and then slammed her staff on the ground again, leaving indents on the soil. When Sacha offered the plate of cookies to the humans, Gary nabbed the entire thing and stepped back. “There’s lots of food inside. It’s not like they’re going to die of hunger if they don’t eat these cookies,” She said and ate one. Then another.

The door swung open and a tall figure walked out. Like everybody else this time around, Numair had his hood down and his hands tucked into his pockets. A small piglet with wings trailed behind him. Porkchop, was it? “I heard the noise,” He shrugged and turned to the door, “if you’re all done bickering, let’s get inside. Oh and, wipe your shoes on the rug. C’s going to strangle people if you leave mud prints on the floor.” It was pretty clear he was addressing both his comrades and the humans.

[Thundercat]

Jasper said "You sure did"

Toby was helped onto his feet by a grinning Jasper. He was glad to see the girl with a happy expression on her face, especially considering the situation. Chuckling slightly, he observed the area as his friends began to pour in from behind tree's and bushes. Inadi had arrived along with Jasper, as well as Harper, Leila and Niran.

Ace said "Yeah, you found me...Ow. Oh look you brought friends. Sheesh, good thing you didn't break anything Tobi. I don't see how they think I need to be watched."

Toby gave a mischievous grin, approaching Ace he dusted some leaves and dirt off of her arm. "I'm totally responsible. Can't you tell by the way I tackled you?" He declared with obvious sarcasm. Harper approached them with somewhat of a worrisome expression. "Did the turtle dragon do this?!" the boy repeated Harper's question and almost scoffed. "No, i'm afraid it was me. I don't think I could ever be as fierce as a turtle dragon." He spoke in a lighthearted tone but that quickly faded as he recalled just a few moments ago, when he saw the turtle dragon crush two soldiers under a tree. Thankfully Riley and Lesley caught up to them, distracting him from his thoughts.

Riley said "Don't worry, Oh, you found them! Good job, Tobs!"

Toby smiled big, proud of his minor accomplishment.

Lesley said "But next time, please wait for us."

The smile faded into a sheepish grin. "I had to find Marco! Those are the rules of the game, for I am polo." He declared. Toby's face slightly scrunched up into a puzzled expression as he felt something sliding down the side of his forehead. He rubbed his head with two fingers and examined his hand in the diminishing daylight of the forest. His head slammed into a rock earlier, and now the tips of his fingers were dabbed with blood from the boys forehead. The wound was minor but enough to bleed.

Riley said "Yeah, we almost lost you. But since you found them all, is forgiven."

Toby stuck his tongue out towards Riley in reply. As the rest of the group began debating on Jasper's proposal to assist the soldiers, the boy found the topic too... sour. Instead he observed as Nympha approached a rustling bush and slowly followed her, watching with curiosity and delight as she hurled a rock into the bush. Upon impact a sudden yelp could be heard along with squealing.

Nympa said "I knew it was you! Rainbowzilla!"

"DRAGON!" Toby shouted, and immediately dove forward hoping to catch it. Unfortunately Rainbowzilla had leaped behind a tree just in time. "TELL ME WHERE CITRUS IS!" He screamed whilst kicking his legs off the ground and chasing the creature along with Nympha. Eventually the forest ended as the chase came to its close and Toby scooted to a stop at the sight of a hobbit hole within a hill, along with a Nobody resting on a hammock nearby.

"Huh?"

Curiously he watched Rainbowzilla leap onto the Nobodies chest, causing him to fall to the side. Toby laughed slightly but was too overcome with a sense of wonder at what was before him. He hadn't payed much attention as the soldiers and humans and nobodies babbled on about a map and some hooded figures, mostly because he had no idea what they were talking about, nor had he formally been introduced to any of them.

Luke said ""Oh it's you! You're the neighbors, right? Oh wait, you're the people C invited to the tea party.I was worried you wouldn't find the place, Gargar's map kind of sucks! Gargar! Sacha! C! The guest are here!"

"Who's this dude," he said blankly, eagerly awaiting a chance to interrogate Rainbowzilla as to where Citrus was. They were both dragons, so the two could've been cousins or something. Just then another Nobody popped out from behind the door with a platter of cookies. Toby's eyes glistened at the hot plate of treats and his mouth began to water. Once again he was reminded of his hunger. Rainbowzilla climbed his way onto Sacha's head.

Ace said "Alright! Let's get this tea party thing over with! I hope you guys didn't try poisoning the tea or the food."

"Don't listen to her!" He shouted, "It's okay if there's poison. I-i'm really hungry anyways, i'll still eat it!" The hunger was natural but all of the running also left the boy parched. The idea of a tea party was grand to him at the moment. Sacha, hoping to prove the cookies legitimacy, took a bite out of one from the platter. It didn't really convince the boy, if they were trying to poison the humans they would probably have a few clean cookies to bite out of in an attempt to further ruse everyone. Regardless, Toby was eager to bite into a warm cookie.

Gary said "“Stop screaming, you big diaper!”

Another Nobody had arrived, kicking the door open before slamming her pole into the ground with poise. Toby watched in distaste as Gary stole Rainbowzilla's cookie. He was about to speak up when the nobody began to scold Nympha. Not only that, but she had the nerve to snatch their offering of cookies as well. The boy frowned in displeasure at Gary's unnecessary hostility.

"Hey! YOU!" he shouted towards Gary and began to approach her. "Why are you being so rude, huh? I was really looking forward to having one of those cookies." Toby stopped just a few feet from Gary "They look totally delicious and I get why you'd wanna eat em all like a big fatso, but you could share one can't ya?" He extended his arm outwards towards the Nobody and opened his palm with an irritated yet yearning expression for a cookie.

"Please?"

[MUG]

Seeing that Harper was agreeing with him made him feel a little better about his decision, albeit he still had some deeper pangs of guilt that he wouldn't show on his face except for a few moments where he heard the roar of the turtle dragon behind them and his face would show signs of discomfort. While his attention was turned to the group the little witch that had appeared before them had apparently decided it was a good idea to throw a rock at the bush behind them and a small dragon showed up from behind it. Inadi turned to see the commotion and he immediately wished that he hadn't.

It was the damn rainbow dragon that he remembered seeing with the hooded figures in the past. He automatically knew that the group was probably nearby and that this was probably just some kind of scheme to lure them into a trap. Turning to Harper with a disappointed look he nodded in response to the question. “Yep. He certainly brings back memories doesn't he?” He said in a very tired tone and the chase was suddenly on.

The stupid little witch was quite fast and it was clear that she had an idea as to who the hooded figures were when she mentioned their tea. That made this all the more interesting as to whether or not the little witch was under their employ. Was the dragon just a way of getting them to the cottage faster or was she literally just in the right place at the right time? Either way, Inadi felt his chest tighten on him on more than one occasion chasing down the witch and the Rainbowzilla as she called it through the woods until they eventually found themselves at what looked to be a door into a hidden little home inside a hill side. Seeing one of the hooded figures at the door welcome them did almost nothing to calm his nerves.

As they walked towards the house Jasper grabbed his arm in what he could only guess was fright. There was no telling what this crew was going to do and they needed to be on guard. Wanting to settle the girl next to him's nerves, he quickly brought her hand to up to his face and gave her hand a quick kiss of assurance. In the moment, Inadi hadn't even thought of it, but that was the first time that either of them had done anything related to kissing. Inadi the whole time back at the castle was very slow and nervous as all hell to make a move to quickly like that when they first started dating and it had carried over throughout the relationship to that point. Hell, even the idea of kissing Jasper on the cheek made Inadi nervous that he was going to screw up the relationship. Yet he goes and kisses her hand without even a word? He shook his head at himself, shocked and even embarrassed at his own insecurity.

“We'll be fine. Harper has the list and we are going to get back everything they stole from us,” He told Jasper with a determined look and a smile. “And maybe even a few answers to go along with them.” He told her as he continued walking hand in hand with her while the other hand gripped Kain tightly as they went further into the little home.

Ace in her usual bold way brought up the fear of poisoned food and it made Inadi feel a little more normal in the given situation. If Ace could still be herself, perhaps his nerves were a little unfounded. However the veins in his head began showing up when the one hooded figure who offered the cookies to them mentioned Mr. Cuddles. So the bear was here after all. And he was making treats for the little rendezvous. Slowly letting go of Jasper's hand, Inadi let his mind roam in thoughts of what would happen when he saw Mr. Cuddles. Toby continued his chatter about wanting a cookie, but it fell of deaf ears as Inadi reached into his pocket. He felt the newspaper clip still inside and let out a low growl of frustration and anticipation. "Well how soon can we go inside then if you don't mind me asking. We have things to discuss in the end don't we?" Inadi asked as calmly as he could. This whole time he was praying that the bear was only mistakenly assumed to be working with the hooded figures. Now it was clear that he was there and collaborating with them. The sooner he saw the bear, the better. Looking over at Toby who was still going on about the food made him roll his eyes and a quick whistle shot out past his lips. Waiting for Toby to turn back around, Inadi held out his hand as if to try and tell him to calm down. "I'm sure we will be getting all the food we could want once we sit down and start the talking. No need to act like a spoiled children in front of the hosts after all." He said looking back at the hooded figures who had arrived and the original one that greeted them at the door. Nothing about this smelled right. Everything felt like it was a trap. Now it was just a matter of whether they spring it and got caught or they got out of it before things went south.