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General Arsenopyrite
HP: 90/100

Youma Ödön
HP: 100/100

They were finally on the move again and the rest of the Youma were unable to go any further except for the other winged one. The horned one appeared to be losing it's fight against it's wounds and for a moment Arseno thought that it might be best to put it out of it's misery. If they regenerated down here, then it would be better for it to do that than to be there in pain.

They continued forward however and Ödön along with it's feathered friend went to scout. Ödön came back first, carrying something, and brought it to Arseno, first trumpeting in his face about it, then trumpeting again when Arseno was finally able to get... what appeared to be a new-ish skull. "Good job Ödön." He said, praising the Youma. If the Youma had a face, it appeared as though it was proud of the praise it had received.

Arseno turned the skull over. Empty on the inside. Fresh enough to have the skin on it still, but not with what the skull was meant to protect. He rubbed a glove along the inside and when he took it out, it appeared that it might be a bit wet.

Fresh then. They were close.

Ödön took it's perch back on his shoulder and they continued along until they found a giant impact crater with... well it appeared to have something in it. And if video games had taught him anything... "It's either below or above us." He said to no one in particular. If it was above, then the tracking team would have an easier time finding it. He took a look up. They weren't going to be able to fight it from where he could see. If it was up there, they could try to lower it back down, but then they would have to avoid the inside of the crater.

It was risky. Too risky. And if this was a Youma that could change it's shape, who knew what exactly it could turn into. And if this one could permanently kill Youma, he would have to send Ödön back. he wasn't willing to risk losing it.

General Lopezite
HP: 100

Kamacite’s observation was agreeable, and Lopezite quickly found himself thinking the same. He waited until the Eternal Senshi had finished speaking into the communicator and then said, “You’re right. Let me have a moment with it, I’ll be back.”

He didn’t want Kamacite to stay near the front alone, especially with whatever injury he was hiding beneath his robes. He’d already started to assume that the Eternal was the sort to try and keep quiet, which meant navigating the difficult line of ‘insisting otherwise’ and ‘trusting him’.

Fussing over the injury would only draw more attention to it, and if Kamacite said he was going to be okay for now, Lopezite wasn’t going to give him a hard time.

Especially not when he was touching base with the other teams and figuring out their next plan.

If circumstances were different, maybe Xero wouldn’t have charged at them. Maybe it was a victim of circumstance more than any of the youma who might have attacked for sport or pleasure, or even those just defending its territory. He couldn't get into the mind of a creature who was no longer human. Dogs, he could predict--because, dogs were predictable, and he had plenty of them to know that.

Youma were not humans, and they were not dogs, but he couldn't see them as just tools or weapons, either.

Once, they had been human. Once, they had been someone, and whether they knew it or not, he did, and he had always treated them with the same respect he would have given anyone.

Kamacite’s injury, and the well-being of the group he’d arrived with, were his first priorities. But, when Xero slowed, so did Lopezite. Only for a moment, because if there was going to be any attack, he thought himself particularly durable and of more use to the front of the group than the back.

The light only went so far in the darkness, and Lopezite held his lantern close to examine the youma. He’d have been lying if he claimed he wasn’t just slightly distressed by the dusting, if only because a death--even a temporary one--would always be jarring. Especially when it sounded apologetic.

He had known it to be badly injured from his brief time trying to command it, but he had not made much effort to determine how badly until it seemed as though it couldn’t go on. That Ödön carried with it something that seemed to distress Xero did nothing to ease Lopezite’s quickly growing guilt, and if the intention wasn’t to avoid attacking youma, he might have considered dusting it out of mercy.

If all went well, it would be back in a few days. Maybe with better luck next time.

So, as he looked over the creature’s injuries, he made a decision on it. He still commanded the creature, though he doubted that would last for much longer, and with it exhausted already he didn’t think it would even be able to join them further ahead.

“If you have the strength and will to go elsewhere, you may, but harm no one on your way. If you can find comfort, take it, and rest easy. You did your best, thank you.”

He didn’t know if the creature had done its best, but at least it had stopped attacking when he’d told it to, and he preferred to think that it attacked out of fear rather than hostility.

But then, it wouldn't really have changed anything in the end.

He was upset at the lack his command had on the various youma but tried not to take it to heart. What was most important was that the youma were listening and hadn't gone all crazy it seemed. After commands all around, every youma came to their sense and assumed a place among their ranks as of the haze of their wild frenzy was broken and they recognize the agents at last. It was relief that came to the half-youma to know they wouldn't have to destroy any of them.

Typical he was more aware of noises but between the sounds or marching youma, hissing, shrieking, and crunching stone for everyone walking, sound bounced all about the Crag around him. He hadn't even heard the Cheep coming up from behind until he felt something behind him. Before he could even turn, a painful beak bit down hard on his ears, causing his tail to spike out in all directions and a startled help to sound before he was swiping at his head to free himself.

It didn't take any time for a Captain to call out a order and for the long-necked bird to let go to give a happy Cheep before bounding over to them.

Shaken, the captain held his ears, rubbing them and looking both violated and pained. His eyes were the more sensitive parts of his body and the only people who got to nibble them was Laven.

Tail still puffed, he nodded when the Captain asked if he was okay. "I'm okay. Thank you." Though he was reconsidering his idea of not wanting to kill any youma.

The trip further was spent with the captain holding his ears and looking upset.


As they continued, something started to smell, and he couldn't quiet day what it was. It certainly wasn't anything he smelled before and it made him even more on edge. It was also too quiet, even with his bitten ears, and soon the crag opened to a cavern where a crater showed a place of impact.

Could stars even fall here? Weren't they underground?

"I'll come with you. Miyamoto, it will be dangerous so follow us only of you feel like you want to risk some bad side effects. I don't even know what this and could do to us."

With that he followed Benitoite to the crater, concern over his own youna-half considering what they saw of the rhino.

Corrupt Eternal Kamacite
HP: 80/100

Kamacite nodded understandingly to Lopezite, not blaming the youma for attacking him at all. They were in the youma’s domain. He knew this when he agreed to help Faustite with the mission. But it was very clear that there were so many others who either didn’t understand or didn’t respect the danger enough, yet still insisted on joining them.

He jumped a little when a bag was placed near him, one that was different from the bags that had been given out by Faustite at the beginning of the mission. Hopefully General Benitoite knew enough about the Rift that the information Faustite provided everyone would have just been a refresher. And yet, Kamacite felt as though a refresher was mandatory for every venture into the Rift.

“Thank you,” he said graciously to General Benitoite as he passed, but made no move to pick up the bag or look in it for supplies. Depleting others’ first aid supplies seemed like it was in poor taste, since they had all been given their own kits. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate the offer, but he didn’t want to take anything from his team if he could help it.

The voice came through his communicator with a bitter laugh.



Kamacite frowned and looked in the direction of where Lopezite took Xero. “If it is the one with us, that youma’s already gone. It’s dust now,” he shared, but he wasn’t trying to hide what he was saying from his team. If anyone overheard him and wanted to offer their input, he wasn’t going to stop them.

He felt himself breathe a sigh of relief when he heard Faustite, although he could tell he didn't sound well.



“There was also a feather found… in bright sunset colors,” he said to Aquamarine, Faustite, and Jet as he remembered what Cleeia showed him, feeling a little weird that it was the same as his own colors, but the more he could share, the better.

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Captain Bloodstone
HP: 75/75

Bloodstone inspected the crater from further away. He could see just fine from the edge that there were imprints and pieces of exoskeleton that were dusting as quickly as the youma with General Softheart (Lopezite). He spared a glance to Carnallite and shook his head, wondering how they ended up on a team that didn’t really need them to begin with. It was just a long walk for nothing it seemed. They found some stuff, but not a lot.

He could hear the annoying voice of the annoying blond General (Aquamarine) that their Lead Bait (Kamacite) was talking to, and he had pulled out his own communicator to speak into it to the Generals in charge. He didn’t have the patience to ask their soft spoken Eternal Senshi to repeat everything he said.

“How big is that bat youma?” Bloodstone asked with a frown. “Big enough to carry or maim a small elephant?”

General Benitoite


Looking back to Wolframite, who was joining him, he nodded his head. "Best you come anyway Captain, you might spot something I don't." The others sight was better than his own was after all. "Let me know if you spot anything." Knowing Wolframite would do just that, he sort of hoped the other might spot something.

Instead he soon saw something, a very interesting something. "Looks like somethings impacted the area, hard. Like pock marks on the moon or something." Speaking up for anyone around to hear him, whilst looking around at those who might be near enough to hear him. "Also something left part of itself behind." As he spotted what looked like some sort of shell...or shed skin of some sort. Bending down close to inspect what was on the ground.

"I wonder how strong it is..." Poking at it before he picked up some of the remains and held them up to inspect better. A glance towards Wolframite showed that the corrupt senshi was making his way towards them both. Good, he wasn't too scared of this place. He might not be wanted here by the youma but he was still an officer - he still served chaos.

What he also noticed was Kamacite had not touched his pack, it still lay on the ground. Raising his voice he called out to the eternal. "You can use whatever you want in there. I might have some things you'd prefer. It's not a bother, I brought more than enough." He hadn't just packed for himself, he wasn't the sort to do so. He was a General - he thought of a team and it's potential needs. It was why he had over the counter pain medications, things he'd never take himself.

General Lopezite
HP: 100

Lopezite’s lips pressed together tightly when the youma faded to dust, because it was the logical outcome for it given the damage it carried. Maybe, a youma was worth mourning. He didn’t know its name or its history or its motivations, but he waited until the dust had fallen and the creature was inarguably gone before he exhaled. He held the lantern for a few seconds longer and traced the outline of the youma with his eyes before he forced himself to draw away.

He could make out some of what was being said but didn’t want to let the distance distort anything. He couldn’t easily identify any of the voices over the communicator, and he didn’t want to be off to the side if something decided to go wrong.

He moved back to Kamacite’s side, avoiding Benitoite’s bag as if it were any other obstacle to step over. It was reassuring to hear voices from the other teams and know they were out there, even if it felt impossibly alone under the expansive darkness of the Rift.

He didn’t think he had anything worth sharing on the communicator; Kamacite had already reported that the youma was dusted. When there was a pause between speakers, he spoke to the Eternal and reported, “Something tore its back up pretty bad. Whatever cut into it was deep. That shell on it was smashed, and it had horns all broken off on its side.”

Not too loud; he wasn't keeping his comments a secret, but he had no intention of yelling it out just so everyone could hear. Kamacite seemed like he had enough to juggle with different speakers on the communicator, and Lopezite hadn't forgotten how he'd jumped at Albite's earlier shouting.

He was relatively unaware of any of the plating that had dissolved in the crater; he’d been busy looking over Xero at the time. Looking back at the crater now, all he could do was observe that it looked a little emptier now than when he’d last checked, but he was willing to accept that his mind might have just been playing tricks on him.

His eyes again drifted to Kamacite’s shoulder and he wondered how much damage those big sleeves were hiding.

But, he didn’t ask. At least, not out loud. His expression was easy enough to read, even if he didn’t plan on saying anything else right now.

The piece of chitin in Benitoite's hand was a mottled grey, and quite resilient. Surely enough to withstand the force of a General trying to bend it. However, it withered to ash not long after he started to inspect it, and ash was what now dusted the bottom of the crater.

Miyamoto may find that, apart from the youma dust and their own footprints, the crater had another set of tracks that pathed outward the way they came. Cloven, thick, deep-set. The imprints were deeper than those of the Combat team.

sleet tempest snape

General Lopezite
HP: 100

Lopezite wondered if Kamacite knew how easy he was to read, or if it was just performative. He couldn’t imagine that Kamacite wanted them to think he was easily flustered and uncomfortable; there wasn’t any benefit of pretending--at least, none that he could think of.

Lopezite had already been watching him, so Kamacite’s efforts to conceal his injury did little to reassure the general. Maybe he’d hidden it from view, but that didn’t mean it was worth forgetting.

But, it wasn’t Lopezite’s injury, and if he’d been in Kamacite’s injury, he probably would have done the same. He doubted any sort of internal rebellion, or for someone to challenge Kamcite’s position, but this wasn’t the place to show weakness.

“I don’t doubt that,” he assured, and adjusted his gaze to the crater, not because he was more interested in it but because he didn’t want to add pressure to Kamacite in an already stressful situation. He didn’t want Kamacite to fall under the impression that Lopezite thought him incapable of the daunting task of leading them down here, and if that meant he pretended like he didn’t know he was injured…

Well, he’d try.

He’d always considered expediency an important factor in treating any injuries, and he’d never come out better for waiting to treat something, but as long as Kamacite wasn’t swaying on his feet or losing function, he wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it. He knew basic first aid, but his specialty was in blunt force and burns, courtesy of hubris in the forge back home, and he’d never hurt himself so badly that he couldn’t manage it.

Whatever was hiding beneath Kamacite’s robes was probably best left to someone with a bit more skill; he just hoped he’d get it taken care of before something else tried to attack again.

He stayed close, just in case.