Welcome to Gaia! ::

::Tagard bowed to her request, turning back towards the direction he initially came in. Keeping his pace slowly and steady, he waited for her to gain up to him before moving into a more relaxed stride.

"As fate would have it, I myself am a new member of this community of people, and the Stadium and all therein related. It is true that I have had my many shares of fights, battles, and even wars, but Tournaments altogether are rather new to me."

He turned his gaze to her, smiling genuinely with a warmth that seemed to come naturally to his gestures. Looking up from her, Tagard found the moon blazing full in its glory of luminesence over the earth. The stars the many candles that held their sway ever constant in the night sky.

"As seasoned as I am in the art of battle, it's a new concept for me to fight under the conditions of an arena, at least one of fair standard. There were times I was forced to fight for the bland amuzement of other races, and I found no honor in having to fight or slay warriors placed under the same damnation. Here it's different from that, and were I welcome it warmly, it is altogether a new sense. Do you understand?"

He paused in his walk to look at her full on, his deep hazel green eyes flaring with an old passion, one found in the most seasoned of warriors, where the spirit within is the full sight of any to see. Tagard was ready to battle; for honor, for sake of life and spirit.::

Exalia Evontide had been wandering about for days in the forest, trying to find the Leviathan Stadium. She had heard rumors that great fighters could be found there and had decided that maybe one of them could teach her how to defend herself. If she could learn to defend herself, then maybe she wouldn't get into so much trouble and she could finally sleep with out waking several times a night in terror.

But at the moment, she didn't see how that could be possible. The forest seemed to go on forever, never ending, and it all looked the same to her. Sighing softly, she stopped walking to lean against a large oak, a tree she could swear she had seen before. "This is hopeless... I'm completely lost..." she whined as she slid to the ground. The poor girl wanted to cry.

It was getting dark and she was going in circles, she was half-starved, dehydrated, and tired. Exalia wasn't going to last much longer in this condition. "Things can't possibly get any worse..." she mused aloud to no one in particular. But oh how wrong she was. Her ever present bad luck chose to rear it's ugly head once again.

The growling came first from the bushes in front of her, then from off to her right and her left. Pretty soon, it was apparent that she was surrounded. Her eyes widened in horror as she watched a dozen large canines come stalking out of the brush. Wolves, an entire pack of them, and they were eyeing her as they would a lame deer. The hair on the back of their necks stood on end as they bared their fangs at the girl, snarling and snapping at her.

"Good doggies... nice doggies..." Exalia slowly turned to the tree behind her, glancing over her shoulder to watch the vicious beasts. As she started to climb, the animals converged on her. She slipped several times trying to get up and started to panic as the animals drew closer. "Oh gods... no!" She scrambled, fumbling, grasping at whatever she could and finally she found her grip. She pulled herself up and just as the first wolf who reached her lunged at her, she pulled her foot out of his reach, just barely missing his canines.

Exalia settled herself onto what seemed like a sturdy branch, panting heavily in exhaustion. She watched as the dogs circled the oak. They could wait. She knew they could wait longer than she could. She knew that she needed help.

"Help! Someone please! Help me!" She screamed, wondering who would possibly hear her in this god forsaken place.

"You ready, guys?"

It was Unsane who had spoken. He wasn't alone, though. In a clearing of the Leviathan forest, around/on/under/in the carcass of an apache longbow helicopter that was left there after Sakagami Co had attacked the stadium, so long ago. It was now covered in moss, plants and black and yellow uniforms.

The Durem Corp.

To answer Unsane moved forward Bob, Dreads and Sakami. Spade would've come along too, but he was taking care of the troops. Bob spoke first.

"We are. Everything's packed. There's no trace left of our coming here." Said Bob, who spoke first.

"It's as if the ritual had never happened. We even filled in the Understation." Continued Frederic. "Leona was hard to convince, but it's good now that she's got a friend."

Indeed. Fred cast a loving look toward the newborn blood creature. Now that she was more than a key to some disastrous spell, she could finally enjoy life, and life she did enjoy while she was petting her flaming wolf-guardian. Her laughters and smiles weren't only true, they were also the cutest in the world.

"Kids ..." sighed Sakami. "Yeah, we're all set, Un-kun. S'not like we were doing anything down there anyway. What a waste ... Y'want those to follow too, don't you?"

This time, it's Patrick who'd answer. He had taken off his Durem Corp uniform, replacing it with a deep green, longsleeved shirt and matching pants. Sitting on a stump beside Unsane, he had kept silent up to now. It was obvious to tell he was troubled. Leaving the place was no easy task for him. After all, ever since he's been on Gaia, that was the first place he came to call home.

"Yeah, they'll have to go with you. It's not like they really have another place."

"They" were Danielle, Panda and Terri. Panda was tracing little lines in the forest dirt, then adding simbols and other lines, sometimes removing some. He was practicing his Maths, something he's never been good at. Meanwhile, Danielle was amusing Terri with little balls of lights that the imp would go around chasing.

- But ... guys ... what about you?

It was Myst. She had decided to stay in the forest. There, she'd be able to hide, but still check on the place once in a while. Still, she was worried as to why Unsane and Trick wouldn't follow the gang.

"We're gonna look for Gabriel. I'll join up with him again, and we'll start all over. With Patrick to help me, he'll understand." Was the answer that came from Unsane. His choice was made. Even then, he couldn't help but give a second thought to Ariah. Damn, how much he'd miss the girl ...

- Okay ...

The chatting was done. Everyone was ready. Without another word, only a nod and a loving look as goodbye, they all left. Durem Corp, Pandamonium, Terri and Daniel on a side, Patrick and unsane on the other, with Mono Myst staying behind.

And they were all gone from Leviathan Stadium.

*Gouken smiled at the young woman, accepting her praise. He wasn't really conceited, but receiving thanks from people every once in a while was something he enjoyed.*

"It's no trouble. I'll make short work of these beasts and then you can be back on your way, Miss."

*His brilliant green eyes stared intensely at the canine just in front of him, staring it down easily. It made an advance, but backed away slowly at his glare, almost turning to go when another of the pack leaped at Gouken, it's teeth moving to clamp across his throat. As it's feet left the ground, so did the feet of two others, one going for his abdomen and the other attempting to hamstring him. In a flash of steel, his Katana, Blackrain, moved through the first, second and third creatures. It was one fluent movement and the cold stare that he gave the rest of the pack that made them turn and scamper off back into the wilderness. He wiped his Katana on the fur of the nearest dead animal and replaced it in his sheath, turning to the woman still pinned up against the tree.*

"My name is Gouken Furoshima. And you are?"

*Gouken's sensitive ears heard the cracking noise all too late, and as he dove out of the way the branch holding the girl clipped his shoulder, sending a shockwwave of tingling pain down his body. He landed harshly on the forest floor, rubbing his shoulder and groaning even more. Then he smelt something peculiar... something wuite rank. He rolled to the right and observed where he had fell, spotting the large pile of dung quite easily. It had been mashed all over the front of his clothing. He sighed loudly and got to his feet, still rubbing his injured shoulder.*

"Well Exaaaaaah, you seem to getting me in quite a bit of trouble already!" sweatdrop

*Gouken smiled slightly as she giggled. The whole situation was quite humourous, even if the fun had been at his expense. He grabbed a few leaves to try and wipe the poo off himself, but that only smeared even worse. He sighed and stopped all attempts to clean himself, removing his shirt instead and tossing it to the forest floor.*

"Now, what are you doing wandering around the forest? It can become quite a dangerous place."

*Gouken thought to himself. There weren't many mentionable "places" around here, at least not many that anyone was looking for. THe only two he could think of were Barton Town and Leviathan Stadium. He considered this for a moment, and concluded that she was looking for either of the two.*

"Is it Leviathan Stadium you are looking for, or is it Barton Town?"