The Forest

[Jim Hensley]

Sweat dripping from the tip of his nose Lee sighed and resigned himself for a break. The pack on his back was heavy as hell, the kind of stuff most sane travels used pack mules for, but not Lee. Oh no, not Lee! He was tough enough, it wasn't that far of a walk! Dropping the pack with more force than was really needed to get it off Lee followed up his aggression with a solid kick, knocking a metal kettle against a wooden bowl and some of his spice tins. Yawning and glancing up at the sky he tried to judge his time through the canopy of ever engulfing, ********, trees. "Man, what I wouldn't give for a god damn recon speeder." He growled as he went about the task of setting up camp for the night.

It wasn't that late, really, but he was tired and the more he was walking the more he suspected he'd missed the damn place. After all it wasn't like he was a frequent visitor to Rel's little abode, all he had to go on was a general direction and some vague memories of over head sat images. The Citadel, on the other hand, he knew exactly where that god damn place was. He'd spent enough time outside those shields hammering them into submission with so much firepower he was lucky he hadn't cracked the planet open. Napalmed the hell out of the outer fields so his tanks could get a clean, open, shot and his artillery would have an open field of vision for the spotters. True it had given Mastema a wide open view of what was arrayed against him, but he didn't have nearly enough to stand against KB and Tegral in a simultaneous assault.

Sighing once more Lee began digging a small pit he would use to house his fire. About a foot deep with an enlarged bottom and four inch opening, another foot away a second hole would be dug in at an angle to connect the bottom of the first, but that would come in a minute once he figured out the direction of the wind and could build an effective dakota hole. The whole thing only took a few minutes to make, he'd made similar things out working as a Marine before he joined the fleet...funny how all the technology they could produce, traveling faster than light and building cannons that could obliterate a whole planet, the 'low-tech' way of surviving was still the bread and butter for any force of Marine. Chuckling at the thought Lee used some flint from his pocket and the flat edge of his steel knife to catch some sparks on the tinder and let the blast furnace effect pull the air required to build the fire. Quick, easy, extremely effective, and when he was all done it would be as simple as burring everything and scattering some underbrush and it would be like he had never been there.

Setting up dinner took considerably longer, he'd snagged some squirrel by sling while traveling, knocked the bugger right outta a tree. Reflecting back on what information to 'download' into his new body was more or less the only kinds of memories that Lee technically had outside of the recently made ones. So he had to skin it, bleed it, and get it ready over the spit to cook, in the mean time he set some green sticks, from a tree he'd pulled them from some fifty or so meters away from his actual camp site in case someone was actively looking for him, over the hole and mounted his kettle over it. Something hot to drink would suit his aching muscles and rapidly cooling body just fine. Clothes soaked with sweat Lee shrugged out of his coat, tossing it atop his gortex poncho rolled up beside the rest of his gear, and went about skinning dinner.

He had some wild roots to go with it, maybe he'd make a stew. Letting his mind wander he went about his work quickly and efficiently, cutting along the under belly, along each joint of it's limbs, and around the throat so all he had to do was hook his two fingers under the fur on the upper neck and give a sharp pull. There, all ready almost done. Finishing up his task he used some dirt to quick clean his hands, checking on the simmering kettle. "Nah, no stew." Honestly he just wanted a quick meal and something hot to drink so he could decide if he wanted to keep looking for Rel's place or head on back home and debate if he wanted to keep trying on his own or just go as Nana for help.

Using his water skin to clean off the bloody mud from his hand Lee went about getting out of his sweat soaked clothes, changing into some clean underwear and pants yet deciding to remain shirtless in the temperate early evening. He'd put more on once it started to get cooler, in the mean time his water was boiling and he was ready to put this damn squirrel on the spit!  

[xXKronoXx]

The corner of Krono's outh curled up into a smirk. He had had enough of this inaction, the time for doing something was now, regardless of losing tactical advantage. Though Krono was smirking, his usually calm eyes were soldering with the unbridled hatred he felt towards his former kinsmen. They could be completely oblivious to the atrocities that were commited against himself, or Zero for that matter, and he would not care. He would still murder them. The forces of heaven must atone from the crimes of the past instead of trying to drown them in a cascading tide of blood.

"Well I'm going to exact a little revenge...maybe have a bit of fun while I'm at it. Feel free to join in at your leisure."

Without so much as a glance towards Zero, Krono ran out of the cover of the trees, ebony wings shooting forth from his shoulder blades, As he ran and picked up speed, he gradually relieved the weight from his feet and began gliding along the grass. He was shooting toward the angel at a breakneck pace.

Krono spotted two sentry's on the edge of the encampment. He unsheathed both Cain and Abel. In a smooth motion, he planted his feet on the ground briefly and thrusted upward. At the peak of his jump, he spread his wings to come to a complete stop. He then darted back down to earth, plumeting with the speed of a meteor.

It became evident that the sentry's were not in range for a double impalement, but he continued on his path. He touched down with such extreme force, that a small crater developed at the point of landing. Abel was buried to the hilt into the chest of the one angel sentry. It's eyes ere beginning to glaze over as Abel drank deep of his soul. Cain was buried to the hilt in a green portal that had pened up in the ground. The rest of the blade had gone through the side of the head of the other sentry, the body slack and lifeless, yet being suspended in the air by the sword.

The battle had begun.  

[Krono Zero]

Zero would wait a moment as Krono dashed off before following him. He wanted a minute to himself to let out the most horrifying laugh he could muster. Without wasting any more time, the angel enveloped his entire body with his black feathered wings and disappeared, only to reappear in the heart of the encampment. Zero gave a cocky grin as he allowed angels to come at him from all directions.

"Well then...this'll be fun."

He simply stood there as the various soldiers rushed him, allowing himself to be completely surrounded, but remaining eerily calm the entire time. Once he felt there were enough of them within range, he simply let out the words;

"Buh-bye..."

As he said this, he pressed his hands against his own chest and let out a blood curdling battlecry. He fired enormous energy waves at himself, causing both ki and, more importantly, blood to splatter all over the soldiers attacking him. Zero would be nothing more than a bloody stump....for a few seconds, until he was fully regenerated. Still, there remained an extremely bloody mist around him.

He once again let out a horrible laugh as he looked around at his foes all screaming in agony from his mixed blood getting into their systems either through contact or from them breathing it in. His mixed blood was deadly to most angels and demons, and he planned on using that to his advantage every chance he got.  

[Draeken Aakarshan]

A figure silhouetted black against the night sky was dropping rapidly towards the scene of battle. If one could call it a battle that is. At the moment, most of Zero's opponents seemed to be writhing around in pain. That wouldn't matter, however as this figure would resolve into Draeken as he dropped closer still picking up speed. Arching his form, legs and arms behind him as if holding a sword, Draeken sneered wickedly as his ancestors blade materialized in his hands, the six foot blade gleaming sinisterly in what little light there was in the night sky.

Bringing the sword in a downward slash now, Draeken impacted the ground hard cutting an Angel clean in half, though that Angel had already looked to be quite busy dying anyway. The shock of the attack blasted the two halves several feet apart and cracked the earth in a spiderweb around where the blade had dug into the ground. Draeken released the sword then, allowing it to seemingly vaporize and turned to grab the throat of the Angel nearest him, digging his rapidly elongating nails through flesh before tearing the Angels throat out without any difficulty. Dropping the handful of flesh he then jumped over what remained of the Angels that had already been caught in Zero's attack and into the fray of fresh opponents.  

[xXKronoXx]

Krono pulled Cain back through the portal, allowing the body to slump to the ground. He then proceded to pull Able out of the small crater in the earth, causing the body that was seperating Krono from the rest of his sword to arch upwards before sliding off.

Suddenly Krono felt Zero's presence, and watched as he worked his magic, the battle cry and eventual screams of agony sounding all too familiar. The sweet music of the battlefield making him feel at home once more.

Stopping to feel the situation, Krono allowed his arms to fall to a standby at his sides. The freshly spilled blood running down the edges of his twin swords and dropping to the grass below. That was when he felt a new presence, familiar, but strange. He smirked as D materialized and made short work of the angel before him. He wasn't to sure if D was going to join in, but it was good to have another comrade at arms, and a chance to finally see his handywork.

Krono smiled, determined not to be outdone. A portal opened up beneath him, and he fell through, instantly anoher portal opened up behind a group of four angels horizontally. Krono emerged from the portal, the dual swords held out at his sides. The heads of the decapitated angels wold fall to the ground, followed closely by the bodies to which they were fastened mere moments before. Another portal opened at the end of the streak and Krono dissapeared into it, only to reappear at a different part of the enemy camp. To the angel there it would seem like he dropped out of thin air.

Touching the ground in a crouch, Krono would still have a smie plastred on his face, only cemented in blood this time. An angel stood before him, stunned with what he saw. Krono stood calmly and threw Cain into the enemy's chest. He then proceded to walk calmly to the angel, and in a swift motion, he cut through his throat with Abel. The head stayed on the body, perplexing Krono. He tilted his ead to the side before gripping the hilt of Cain. He then planted a swift boot on the angels chest and kicked. The body fell back, releasing the sword and sending the head spiralling in the air. Krono let out an amused chuckle before spinning and slashing down, splitting the head in two as it fell to the ground.

Krono then noticed a petrified angel watching him. He stood hre looking into his eyes, daring the angel to make the first move. The angel took the bait and charged at him. Krono through his twin blades, each finding a home in one of the angels feet. This pinned him to the ground a step in front of Krono. The angels sword came down in a powerful blow, but Krono' hand shot up to grab it. He tightened his grip around the cold steel of the blade, blood beginning to flow freely from his hand. The blade would then snap from the pressure.

Smiling, Krono wrenched the blade from the horrified angel. He held his hand in front of the helpless angels face to make him watch as the blood began to twist and form circuar patterns. Quickly a scythe formed before the angels eyes. He took a step back and slashed through the pelvic region of the angel. Smoke billowed from the wound as the acidic blood melted fesh and armour alike.

Taking a deep breath, Krono then turned and hurled his scythe into a group of six angels. The whirling scythe sliced through the first three angels before Krono clenched his hand into a fist, causing the scythe to explode and send the acidic blood flying through the air and into the enemies bodies. He then turned back to the angel who was now dead and still pinned to the ground. He pushed the top half over and knelt to free the angels feet from his swords.  

[Krono Zero]

Zero grinned as he sensed Draeken enter the battle and begin fighting beside him.

"Guess there's no time for pleasantries, huh? Forgive me then."

It would be puzzling as to what Zero needed forgiveness for until he drew his glowing blue blade and began running at Draeken, full tilt. Even when he approached Draeken, he continued to run, using his shoulder as a springboard and launching himself high into the air. 20...30...40 feet. As he spiraled upwards, his blade transformed into pure blood, which was still sharp enough to cut through steel.

From his high-up perspective, he simply slashed the air with his sword, bits of razor sharp blood splashing everywhere and crashing down on the encampment, cutting into any angels who would be without cover, and poisoning their bloodstream with Zero's tainted blood. It would be all but over for those who it would affect.  

[Draeken Aakarshan]

Draeken saw Zero coming and didn't even flinch when the man used him as a stepping stone. Instead he rolled to the side, slammed his hands against the ground and shot into the air himself only to land upon the shoulders of a rather surprised Angel. Dropping to his knees almost as soon as his feet touched upon the celestial beings shoulders, he gripped it's head between his knees and twisted viciously until he heard a loud snap. Leaning forward he allowed his body weight to carry him downward and easily landed in a crouched position before engaging another group of Angels in hand to hand combat. Normally, for one as himself who was mostly Vampire this would have been a futile and suicidal venture, but Draeken made easy work of it, countering blows as if they were children swatting at him then counter attacking with precision strikes that broke bones, crushed windpipes, and in some cases actually separated limbs from bodies. Every so often his sword would materialize in his hands when he turned, cutting Angels heads from their bodies or separating legs from torsos with the powerful slashes that were already in full motion before the sword even appeared. Every time the blade would disappear soon afterward and he would lunge forward to snap more necks, rupture organs, and in general leave a trail of barely living Angels in his wake. Between his incredibly fast and precise hand to hand techniques and his disappearing sword technique he was a veritable whirlwind of pain and death.

He would continue on like this for what seemed an eternity, as fights tended to feel, before he found himself surrounded by at least a dozen angels all with swords drawn and poised to strike. With a quick grin he knelt and placed his palms against the ground. Within the blink of an eye the ground seemed to drop away from under the Angels leaving them to drop downwards in surprise. Raising his hands from the ground and closing his fists he laughed as there were twelve sickening crunches from all around him as the ground closed back in on the Angels and compressed with tens of thousands of pounds of pressure. Knowing the tenacity of these foes, however, Draeken made double sure that they were dead by then slamming his fist down into the earth in the middle of the circle of impromptu graves with enough force to create a crater thirty feet wide and fifteen feet deep. Not a trace of the Angels was found other than bloodstained dirt and rock.  

[xXKronoXx]

Krono was reaching a state that was close to what some people would call zen. It was at this point he began to feel a stinging sensation along his back. He stood up after retrieving Cain and Abel and sheathed them. He turned and shielded his face as he looked towards the sky. He saw Zero up there, and the pins that were falling.

Laughter escaped his throat in a hurried rush, as if running for its very life. Crazy fool was up t his old tricks, he was lucky that he was able to alter his genetic structure. It constantly stung, but he wasn't in much danger from short exposure to the venom that was Zero's blood. Still, he wanted to send a playful message to Zero.

Krono dropped through a portal into his dimension once again. THis time he stayed within and made his way to the workbench that was practically overflowing with tools, runes, and weapons. He picked up the ridiculously large beam rifle and pointed it forward. He smiled and opened a portal. It linked directly under many of the angels that were being poisoned, and as they began to fall, he pulled the trigger.

A large column of red light filled the portal and was sent hurtling upward, vaporizing all angels that came in contact with it.  

[Krono Zero]

Zero was quite comfortable with the way things were going. He even decided to simply rest for a moment and spread his wings... Which was a mistake.

As a derpedly gigantic beam of energy came crashing at Zero, his brain focused on one thing...

"Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshi-"

As the large beam of light enveloped almost all of his being, only one of his limbs fell toward the earth, and as it fell, it began to regenerate his entire body. Most people would be enraged by such a thing happening to them, but to him, it was a minor inconvenience.

"Krono, you old son of a b***h!"

Zero broke out laughing as he crashed down to earth, somehow landing without a sound.  

[Draeken Aakarshan]

Leaving the crater and walking towards a group of now very wary Angels with a dark look upon his face, Draeken began to charge only to notice a portal open in the ground near him. At first he was perplexed, but upon feeling the very air crackle the instant before the large beam erupted from the portal he turned and disappeared. Reappearing standing sideways on the trunk of a tree two hundred meters away he was frowning. His coat has been slightly singed, but no matter. The fun would continue. Jumping from the tree he disappeared again only to reappear behind a group of leftover Angels, this time with a scythe in hand. Truinthil's scythe to be precise. He swung it in a wide horizontal slash as he erupted into being from nothing behind the Angels, cutting several of them in half and grazing one that had been lucky enough to have lunged forward at that moment. Releasing the scythe so that is vaporized he clenched his fists at his hips, palms upward, as Truinthil's wrist blades appeared in his hands, chains and all. He let fly with those, the right one ahead of the left. The Angel turned in surprise after being wounded and deflected the first only to be caught in the throat by the second. The only sound that escaped the Angel's mouth, along with copious amounts of blood, was a gurgled "Derp".  

[xXKronoXx]

Krono was grinning, pleased with the destruction his weapon wrought. It was then that a rather painful shock was set coursing through his body as the gun overloaded. I always did, that is why it couldn't be fired constantly.

"That is the only blasted shortcoming of the D.E.R.P Canon. Oh well, exchange rapid fireing for some insane D.E.R.P damage." Krono then placed the gun back on the workbench and opened a portal back t the battlefield. He couldn't imagine that there were many angels left after the destruction the three of them had wrought, and he couldn't wait to see how his D.E.R.P Canon aquainted itself with Zero.  

[Krono Zero]

Zero let out a quick sigh. It was much more fun for him to be fighting others that were at a skill level closer to his own. But for now, this would have to suffice.

As he watched Krono re-appear on the battlefield, he bent down and picked up a rock. After juggling it a few times, he hurled it right in Krono's direction, laughing before running off and mowing down several more angels while on the move. It was damn near impossible to see him at the speed he was running. All that was visible was a blur here and there, and the trail of wreckage left behind it - enemies with torn out throats and organs. They seemed to have been ripped out with Zero's bare hands.  

[Draeken Aakarshan]

Swinging both the wrist blades back to himself, Draeken raised the bloodied one to his mouth and using slide his tongue along the flat of the blade indulging in the sweet taste of the red liquid. Allowing the wristblades to then vanish he began picking through the surviving Angels that lay broken all around. Most he killed right out, but a few he grabbed by their hair, jerking their heads back before sinking his fangs into their necks and taking not only their blood, but whatever strength they possessed as well as any abilities he may have a use for later. He did this for perhaps fifteen minutes before dropping the last one he had fed from, the Angel now dead, it's eyes blank. Looking skyward he let out a long sigh as blood dribbled off his chin, a broad smile on his lips. He allowed himself to flex his strength, now nearly redoubled. The air around him shimmered and seemed to increase in pressure for a split second before he tucked it all away within himself again, appearing once more as if he were just your run of the mill Vampire. "This was quite the eventful night if I do say so myself. You don't mean to tell me that this was it then, now do you?"  

[xXKronoXx]

Krono emerged from his dimension to angel encampment. It was essentially void of all life, save for a few poor angels. But then, they wouldn't be lasting much longer then their fallen friends. It was at this point where he was hit by what felt like a supersonic bullet to the side of the head. He began to massage the impact point when he noticed Zero quickly move off to clear the rest of the angels out. He couldn't help but smirk. Apparently Zero had the chance to exchange pleasantries with the D.E.R.P Canon.

D approached, covered in blood and relishing it from what it seemed. That was good. Everyone requires a treat every now and then. "Oh no, if the entirety of heaven were all made up of this drivel....my vengence would have been complete long ago, and it wouldn't be insane to take them on." He paused for a. moment and laughed before continuing "Or it really would be crazy to have such a vendetta and drie against such a weak foe. No, I'm afraid this is nothing in comparison to what I will have to face on this particular journey."  

[Truinthil]

Appearing from the shadows within the forest some ways from the BC Dojo, Truinthil looked around. He figured he was still a few miles from the battleground that Draeken was supposed to be fighting on. He could still feel the overflow of energy that had been expended recently. The battle seemed to be done for now, but the air still had a chaotic feel to it. He smiled to himself thinking that it wouldn't take long to track down his prey. Tonight was looking to be a good night. He set off to the west at a relatively slow pace. He was in no rush.