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"Zis is not vay ve came from!" Dmitri complained.
"If you want to take the long way, you're perfectly welcome to, Rosuke no kusotare." Daija countered. The three were walking through an overgrown animal trail that led to the caves.
"Dmitri, it's fine. He can sense the other's ki."
"It's more than that.. Your kyuuketsuki friends don't have a trace of you ki like kyonshi do. Theirs is all in." At that last word the men came to a clearing and stopped. The caves were not far beyond it.
"Vhat's wrong?"
"There are planes in the distance."
"We've got to hurry!" Alfons urged as he bolted towards the other side, with the other two following suit.
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Ciro enjoyed Scarlet's nuzzling. He stood there with her, just soaking in his surroundings, living in the moment. "I'm such a lucky guy," he thought, closing his eyes. "It's amazing how one botched hit led to so much opportunity."
He could hear a slight buzz in the distance. "The pirati are back." he calmly stated, sad that the period of peace would soon be over.

((Some translation notes: Kyuuketsuki [吸血鬼], vampire, blood-sucker. Kyonshi [僵屍], vampire that absorbs ki instead of sucking blood. You [陽], yang, positive. In [陰], yin, negative. Rosuke no kusotare [露助の糞垂れ], Russki shithead. Can you tell that Daija doesn't like Russians? xp ))

Val gripped mouse tighter, trying not to show how worried he was. his senstive ears could hear the planes clearly, and could almost make out relative distance. his teeth were grinding and his muscles tensed.

please, let Goldschmitt and his priest arrive before those pirates do... he thought to himself.

"I always like it when perdition comes in manageable parcels," Scarlet commented with a small twist of one corner of her mouth. She flexed her fingers and then curled them into fists at her side. She wanted to rush out of the cave and take stock--being trapped like this didn't suit her.

A thought perked in her mind--how far back did these caves go? Maybe it would be worth while to check out. On the other hand, what if Alfons needed backup?

"He's rather impatient, no?" Ciro noted as he felt Val dash past him.
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"Uh... Hi." Dmitri responded, flabbergasted. Alfons fired of a few shots toward a plane and stopped to turn towards Val.
"Grand entrance my friend!" Alfons shouted and turned to resume firing. Daija stood not too far away, electricity now sparking in the air around him. His eyes had gone completely dark. A plane opened fire towards him, and he held out a palm. Using ki, he deflected every bullet.
"Waga ki, genkai o shitteinai. Kisama no akugyou no tameni kuiaratame!" Daija rasped. He leapt into the air, and released a barrage of lightning-charged hadouken towards the oncoming planes. "Tenma Gou Zankuu!!" He cried out. The blasts took out six planes. Alfons managed to shoot one down--it landed relatively intact, not too far away--allowing Dmitri to run up and shoot one of the pilots and knock out the other.
"Oh look, I have prisoner." He mused. Daija landed with an earth-cracking boom. His aura of ki flickered between black and dark blue.
"That trick I picked up by observing a man known as the Master of the Fist." Daija commented as he slowly calmed back down. There were 7 planes left, but one attempted to flee. Another broke off to destroy it. Alfons reloaded and waited for a plane to come into range.
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The amount of ki released by Daija's attack made Ciro's hair stand on end. It was "electrifying," if you will.

((Translations: 我が気、限界を知っていない。 Waga ki, genkai o shitteinai. My power, knows no limits. ; きさまの悪行のために悔い改め！ Kisama no akugyou no tameni kuiaratame! Repent for your misdeeds! ; 天魔豪斬空！！ Tenma Gou Zankuu!! Heavenly Devil's Great Air Slash! [I borrowed this from Akuma.] ))

"That elf is going to get himself fried, one of these days," Scarlet muttered. She looked over her shoulder into the depths of the cave. She mused out-loud, "Those pirates are coming for us--or more specifically me--so perhaps we should make ourselves scarce. I daresay that we could stage a decent ambush back there..."

She marched deeper into the caverns. She grabbed Mouse's arm and hauled her along roughly. She heard Ciro following close behind. She snapped her fingers in front of her, and using her heightened sense of hearing was able to "sound out" the layout of the cave much like the bats her race was so often paired with. It was a simple enough fissure. With this primitive echolocation, she found a ledge and bodily pushed Mouse up and onto it.

"Now stay still and be quiet precious. We don't want the bad men finding you," she whispered.

She took Ciro's arm and they stood together behind a pillar. Using her sense of touch, her fingers crept up to his face and then pulled his head down to her level so she could give him a deep kiss.

"Tradition, love," she whispered when they broke apart. "Know that you'll always get this girl."

Then she closed her eyes (not that it made much difference in the darkness around her) and concentrated. She focused on her hearing and could make out the sounds of a fight. With her sense of smell she caught the occasional whiff of smoke and blood, which made her salivate. Her fingertips on the pillar picked up the vibrations in the ground as planes crashed.

She felt a bit of a coward for retreating so far, but if these pirates really were after her, she was going to make it as difficult as possible to find her. And when they did find her...well, they would wish they hadn't.

Scarlet's fangs lengthened and her nails grew into wicked talons. The soft pad of gnarled rubber tread was not like Val or Alfons, and the smell was all wrong.

"I hear them. I smell them," she whispered. "They're using night-vision goggles, hoping to take us by surprise. I think we should give them a surprise. I count four...seems a bit unfair to them...I'll take the two on the left."

Ten enemies had entered the cave. Two were left at the entrance. The remaining eight had split at a fork in the cave--one group of four towards Ciro and Scarlet, and the other group toward Alfons and the others.
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Dmitri crouched behind a rock, waiting for Daija's signal. Alfons stood in a small alcove, doing the same. "They are getting close," Daija murmured. He paused, then belted out, "NOW!!!" Dmitri opened fire, sending several 7.62mm NATO rounds into one of the enemy troops. The muzzle flash from the M60 allowed Alfons to see enough to shoot another man in the face. Startled by their comrade's deaths, the remaining pirates panicked. One retreated back the way he came, and the other began firing blindly and screaming. Daija dropped down from his hiding place, behind the poor man. "Say goodnight." Daija told him as he snapped his neck. A pistol shot sounded. "Sounds like the guy who fled was punished."
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Ciro's fangs also extended. "Sounds good to me." He whispered back. His pupils dilated, his senses sharpened. He could now clearly see the four men approaching; they were 30 yards away and closing.
Ciro waited for them to get within 5 yards. At the moment one did, he used his incredible speed to dash up, clawing one's throat out. The other managed to get two shots off, hitting nothing but cave wall as Ciro's fangs suddenly clenched on his jugular. The schmuck passed out a few moments later, as Ciro released and threw him away. "You have the taste of rotting garbage." He snarled as he spat out some of the man's blood.