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Jasmine:
The way does appear to be safe. As you advance, you are presented with two alternatives: go left, which leads to a hallway you've never been through before, or go right, which will lead back to the fenced-in courtyard.

Shi'ita:
"Come on, Bat-boy," Desta says.
She gently takes your hand in hers and follows after Jasmine.

(I'm Back!)

As I quickly follow Jasmine to hopefully exit this place with Shi'ita following me, I glance between him and the group, seeing he's already somewhat tired. As I continue to move, I drop down to all fours and speak to Shi'ita while keeping my gaze forward. "Why don't you hop on my back, Batboy? Then you can rest a bit while we get out of here!" I glance over to him for a moment with a smile before continuing to concentrate on Jasmine.

I continue to dash forward quickly, and I hold tight onto Laci's legs as I have her heaved on my shoulders much like I had Shi'ita. I smile up at her briefly, then rub her foot with my face assuringly and go behind Shi'ita for a brief moment as I say, "Come on, Shi'ita. I worked hard for people like you to stay alive, and I don't want you getting left behind. I like having you around, batty...and if I could carry you too, I would, but..." I look up to Laci and smile, then back at Shi'ita with a caring nod, "...but we'll put you on the faster cat for now,"
With a smile, I use my extra strength in my arms and try to put Shi'ita on Desta's back before dashing off again, holding firmly onto Laci's legs and leaning forward slightly so as to not have her head hit things and so I can go faster.

"Fight! I love a good fight! But we need to get out of here, plus I'll have plenty of other fights to do! I'm going to need to carry you across the fence a different way," I say, and procede to a differetnt part of the fence.

"Awww, that's so cute! Selphie, the men outside are fighting for our love! Let's take advantage to escape in the crossfire, see if you can make hole in the fence!" I say as I run out to the fenced area. I was pretty sure I could climb the fence fairly easily, but it would be muchslower then if Selphie just battered down the barrier, and Laci was in no condition to climb.

Everyone:
We're going to assume that Desta allowed Nero to put Shi'ita on her back, just to allow the story to progress. I understand that Desta (and others) may not have been able to post due to it being Christmas Eve, but consider this push in the storyline my Christmas gift to you all!

Everyone:
When you enter the fenced-off area, you find that there is, in fact, a sword fight going on: a group of men in blue uniforms are fighting the green-uniformed men of the Eleixandre. You all know that blue is the color of Haseem, the Central Nation. This suggests that you are somewhere near the Hyssmaye/Haseem border (Selphie knows this to be true, having looked at the map before folding it up). There is already a hole in the fence that would allow a single normal-sized human to slip through quietly, but would be very snug. As you sneak passed on your way to the hole, the Eleixandrian soldiers do not notice you. However, a couple of the Haseemian soldiers do.
"Hey!" one of them calls. "What's with the freak show?"
Suddenly, all swords stop moving as all of the combatants look at you.
"What the hell...?" a Haseemian soldier says.
"Get them!" an Eleixandrian cries.
"Hey, get back here!" a second Haseemian says.
Before you know it, the Eleixandrians are after you, with the Haseemians in hot pursuit of them. You all instinctively run as fast as you can.

Selphie:
You manage to make the hole bigger as you simply run at it and smash through it.

Everyone:
The fence is open, but now you know that you have to find a way out of the facility before the Eleixandrians capture you. And even if they're defeated by the Haseemians, what will they do to you if they capture you? As you run, you see a large hole in the stone wall. You figure that the Haseemian soldiers made it on their way in, like the hole in the fence.
"Stop!" an Eleixandrian yells. "We can't do anything now! Fight the Blues!"
You hear the fight resume near the hole in the wall. You all run as fast as you can.



Everyone:
After a couple minutes of running, you all run out of adrenaline and finally stop to catch your breath. You've run about a quarter-mile from the facility's outer walls. You've been through flatland so far. However, you can see some rough terrain in the distance. As you rest, you notice that your lungs are starting to sting from the cold air (except for Shi'ita and Laci, seeing as they were just hitching rides the whole way). Thankfully, there is no snow on the ground. For those of you with good sense of direction, you went east after escaping the facility. Also, Selphie's map will now come in handy: you may use it any time in order to estimate where you are.
Once everyone has posted at least once (which I don't expect to see happen until a few days after Christmas Day, depending on everyone's traditions), I shall resume my normal posting method of only posting after two or more players have posted actions.

As I come to a stop, trying to take deep breaths to calm myself down and catch my breath once more, I hear Shi'ita speak, asking a question. I lean my head more toward him and speak between breaths. "Batboy... We're not quite out of the woods yet... but we're on our way..." I smile a bit, knowing I'm pretty much free.