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They all followed the compass's directions for a while, Tendou directing them as they went, even though she didn't walk in front. She would just occasionally adjust their course slightly, as they got a little too far away from the needle's direction.

Finally, they came to a clearing and all saw it, a little blue creature running across their path.

Tendou looked at the needle, which had previously been pointing slightly to the left as they were walking. Now it was pointing clear to the right. "It must be that thing!" she cried aloud.

But before they anyone could fire at it, it was gone.

D was the furthest from the group, and off to the of them. He was moving in an angle, and had sensed the creature before he saw it. It's small and blue, but it did not seem aggressive. It's speed was incredible, but not uncommon since it was a lizard.

By now the group should have noticed it as well, but they all stopped moving. It seemed that they could not track it's movements, but despite this D heard the sounds of the one called Grave being prepared for battle. He moved away from the group, and slightly further into the field.

" What will you do?" Asked D's left hand. " I'll let him take care of it " he answered referring to Grave. " YOU COULD END THIS, and then we could get some answers from that wench." D said nothing to this he only continued to watch the blue creature run around.

Grave was wanting to wait for the creature to make the first move but Tenma was already on the move, following the target. It only took a few paces for the giant to overtake the girl and use the lower portion of the handle on his pistol to snag her shoulder and pull her back in an attempt to toss her to the ground. As Grave pulled back with his right arm he snapped off a quick shot with his left hand in the general direction of the lizardman.

Grave only hesitated long enough to give the area a quick once over. "Wait..." Was all the giant said before he quickly stepped up his pace to a full run and followed the path the lizard man had just taken.

Grave stopped when the lizard man turned to face him...

It was indeed a pathetic sight, but they always were. Every time the giant had chased down a target it always turned for one last act of defiance... and he always crushed them. It was his job. He killed people like they were worthless bits of paper before a raging fire, and the result was this...

Grave raised his guns, pointing them at the target...

It was like heaven was laughing at the abomination that was once known as Brandon Heat. He spent his life killing people he didn't know and had no personal grudge against... and now in his third life he was still repeating the same steps... Get the name, follow leads, find the target, chase the target, and finally... Kill the target.

He continued to stare at the creature over the sights of his weapons... He always watched his opponent closely. Staring deep into their eyes, it was like he was trying to gauge the worth of their soul, but he could not read the eyes of this target. Slowly Grave pulled the trigger...

The little creature shrieked as the bullet tore through his torso, blowing him completely to pieces.

"Aww, damn." Tenma mumbled in disgust. "Is it over already?"

Tendou caught up a moment later, and immediately covered her mouth and nose. A horrible stench suddenly struck Tenma's senses as well. "Oh my GOD!" Tenma cried in disgust. "What IS that smell?" Tendou gagged a little, but regained her composure momentarily.

There was little left of the lizard man himself, just his spear and lots of blood and guts splattered against nearby trees.

In a tree nearby, there was a small chattering sound. It was soon joined by another on the other side, and another. Soon the group was surrounded by the noise.

Tendou and Tenma both whirled back and forth for any sign of what was causing the noise.

A single blue lizard man, almost identical to the one before, stepped out into the clearing, ignoring the people standing there, and went straight for the remains of his fallen comrade.

Tendou put her hand back to her mouth when she realized what he was doing. The little creature was fishing through the remains of intestine splattered about.

Suddenly it let out a squeak. It had found something, and held it up in the air, triumphant. The chattering became louder and more violent.

Tendou looked closely at the object, but didn't get a good look, because immediately the little creature brought it to his mouth and swallowed it.

The blue lizard-man turned and flashed a crooked toothy grin and pointed toward the group. Immediately from the trees, the creatures jumped, attacking them.

One flew straight at Tenma, but she managed to block it with her arm. It scratched at it, trying to get at her face, and she threw it against a tree. Blood was now dripping from the wound it had created. She growled at the next that appeared in front of her, but it didn't seem to phase it. It didn't matter. She drew her weapon and fired. This one didn't explode as the first had. It merely reeled at the impact and fell over. Not quite dead. She fired two more times into it's head and then had to fend off one that had scratched at her back. She kicked it hard in the gut and sent it flying. Soon she was assaulted by more, and continued to defend herself with foot and fist.

Tendou was having her own troubles. While none of the creatures had landed on her, she was surrounded by three of them and a tree at her back. She fired at the little creatures as they advanced, but only hit them once or twice and soon all she heard was a clicking sound from the gun. She looked at it and then back at the creatures, took a deep breath, and immediately ran up the tree. At least her training in the woods was good for something. Tenma would scold her later.

That didn't stop the lizards. They had come from the trees to begin with, it would make sense they could climb them. Their little claws dug into the bark quite nicely. But as they got close, Tendou gave them a swift kick and they fell to the ground. Two couldn't recover in time to land properly, and died on impact. The third got up and started back up the tree, but not before being joined by two more of his comrades.

The creatures that were dying now did not give off the putrid smell like the one before.

((At this point, Grave should be busy with about six or seven of his own... you can take control of their deaths. They don't explode, unless I say so. Fisk would probably encounter two or three on the fringe as he gets there.))

"What the hell?" Vena said when she heard Tendou's multiple gunshots in the distance. She looked at the old man who looked back at her questioningly. He'll work. She stood up and offered her hand. "I'm going to help out," she said. "I don't want to leave you."

"Oh," the old man said, pleased by her kindness. "I understand." He took her hand and got up and walked.

The two hurried over to where the shots came from.

Grave hesitated as a what seemed to be a half dozen to a dozen of the small lizards began to move in on his position, but he would not allow them to kill him while he still had allies to protect. One of the creatures was only four feet away when the giant finally began to move again.

A swift kick sent the first small animal flying straight up. While it was in the air Grave began to drop into his normal "Gun Dance" He crossed his arms in front of himself and took out his first two targets with a standard double snap apiece. In his mind he kept count of his kills and ammo, "Beat 3, Left 11, right 11..." He spun and twisted his left arm around his torso and took out another target behind with three rounds, at the same time he fired at a lizard man in a tree above him with his right arm "Beat 5, Left 8, Right 9..."

Suddenly a spear sunk into the gunman's shoulder... He had not killed his first target with that kick and it had recovered. It dropped down from a limb in an effort retrieve it's weapon and drive it deeper only to sent back into the air by a volley of lead. "Beat 6... 3, and 3..." The wound was nothing compared to many of the wounds Grave's corpse had endured... but he was slowing down. He would also run out of ammo soon. Another spear found a place in Grave's side. The attacker and it's friends quickly met their end to well place shots to the head. "Beat 10, Empty, and 2."

Grave spun adn fired his last two rounds at a target only to find a tree... He was getting jumpy. Humans and Orgmen were far different from his current opponents. They became disheartened and afraid after seeing many of their comrades fall but these creatures cared little for the lives of their comrades from the look of things...

The last two lizard men came from each side and in a flash they were upon Grave. He raised his pistols in defense but the plastic and composite frames of the pistols gave to the cutting edge of the spears. The giant roared as two more spears joined their kin in his ribs, but they did not reach his vitals before his snapped the shafts clean with a quick swipe with his fore arm. He then began to pull the remaining weapons from his ribs and shoulder. He destroyed two of them with his hands before tossing the last at one of the now fleeing creatures. The spear passed through it's ribs and sunk into the ground impaling the squirming creature. In Grave's eyes a crimson cross was covering the last target. His shades began to glow a deep crimson and he took up the chase. He was moving even faster than normal as he moved to catch it.

The creature ignored the party as it ran through their midst followed quickly by Grave. The giant roared as he reached out to grab the lizard, tossing it into the air. The creature screeched as it began to descend. Somewhere along the way grave had grabbed another spear and now stood poised below... Just as the creature fell within arms reach the gunman began jabbing the spear into his target's torso; each hit sent the lizard man back into the air. After a few hits Grave kicked his target onto a nearby tree and tossed the spear through it's ribs.

The creature had lost it's life long before the final gruesome blow but now that Grave was calming down he felt a bit of guilt. With a slow creaking turn the giant looked around for the other members of his party.