RPG When Humans are the Enemy

[Ben]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by terra [/i]
[B][i]And this scorpion thing is getting kind of old, too,[/i] she added to herself.[/B][/QUOTE]

Hmm...got a point there...:p

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ben went over to the wounded reptile. The onrush of cave scorpions had stopped, so he would not be distracted from his work. He set his hand near the wound and closed his eyes. Then he swore. The poison had been in too long. he couldn't just pull it out the same way he had done with Alaris.

"What are you waiting for, get the stuff out of me." the clone said gruffly.

"It's too far in, I can't pull it out." said Ben.

"Then he's going to die?" asked Crystal.

"No, but it'll be harder to get the stuff out of him." he said. "And very painful."

"I can take it." said the crocodile-clone.

"Alright, here goes nothing." he said, drawing in his power.

Crystal was watching as he stood there, apparently preparing for what he was about to do. She was reloading her crossbow, then stopped. Ben's eyes were glowing blue...?

"Hey, are they supposed to do that?" she asked.

[I]"It's a side effect."[/I] Ben replied shortly. Then he raised his hands above his head, gathering an unseen force to them. Then he brought them sharply down, to rest upon Karokku's leg.

Karokku bellowed and writhed in pain , but kept his leg in place. Ben knelt, staring at something that Crystal obviously couldn't. Slowly, Karokku stopped moving and Ben's eyes dimmed. Ben stood up and released Karokku's leg. There were glowing blue handprints on Karokku's leg.

"So, what now?" asked Karraku, acting as if nothing had happened.

A high-pitched shriek answered his question. [I]More[/I] cave scorpions. Their were more this time, infinitely more than the three of them could handle alone.

"Running would be a good idea right about now..." said Ben.

Crystal smiled sweetly at him. "Flying's even better." Then she flapped her wings and took off. Karokku was looking morose.

"I really hate to run away from a fight." he said.

"Good, because we're not." said a familiar voice.

It was Xythe, and with him were several hundred bat-clones, armed to (and with) their teeth. Blades mounted their wings and they were armed with bows and flaming arrows. Scimitars were beletd at their sides. Crystal was looking at them fearfully.

"Those things won't penetrate." Ben said, pointing at the arrows.

Xythe smirked. "We know. They aren't supposed to." he pointed.

Below the advancing cave scorpions, Ben could see subtle disruptions in the ground. He probed down with his mind. Uksos. Ben grinned.

"Good plan."

"We thought so." Xythe grinned also, then made a signal with one hand. The bat-clones took to the air. Ben levitated himself and Karokku high above the cave scorpions. Crystal flew up and joined them.

"What's going on?" she asked in a puzzled voice.

"It gets cold in the caves, and we cave-dwellers love a good fire." said Ben. Seeing the confused look on her face, he continued. "Mole-clones are in the ground beneath the cave scorpions. They're pushing uksos up through the ground beneath the cave scorpions. Ukso are extremely flammable and blow up when lit."

"How are they going to light them?" she asked.

That's when Xythe ordered his bat-clones to fire.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Heh, no pun intended on that last line)

[Raiha]

[color=royalblue]Alaris: That's it.

Rena: Sickness....

[i]A hive mind, controlled by what looked like a queen scorpion. Rena prowled in silently, Alaris edging along the wall. Then she leapt out, kicking her legs forwards. She knocked the queen into the wall and in a trice had her head in her mouth, savaging it wildly, destroying her vision and her pincers. The tail lashed out and Alaris caught it between his hands and twisted violently. It came lose in his hands and he dropped it, trampling the tail swiftly. The queen thrashed wildly, then was crushed with a full on body slam. Rena picked herself up, and spat out blood from her bleeding tongue.[/i]

Rena: ....

Alaris: Amazing really. If I'm not mistaken, the others should become rather mindless now...[/color]

[Losing Faith]

His enormous form slammed past one of the bleeding; broken bodies. He growled lightly, as well as his strange voice would allow him to, and bashed one of his cousins into the air; watching it's exoskeleton fall apart. His shimmering eyes bounced light off the wet, glistening cave walls. Blood pooled around the bodies and he sighed; his rumbling, thunder voice shaking the air around him.

"It'd be easier if you people just let them eat."

[Solo Tremaine]

[SIZE=1]OOC: Hehe, thank you Raiha ^_^

I'm going to be away this weekend, so I won't be able to post >_< Feel free to take Alaris along wherever, and I'll pick him up when I get back.
--------------------------------------[/SIZE]

Alaris surveyed his kill. It was quick and efficient, just as it should be. Partly driven by Tarrik's death, partly freeing himself form the nerves of a first operation. Whatever happened now, he had to keep cool and stay strong. If the inhabitants of the Capital had fled, they could all be in danger. The Capital was their safe haven- if they're not underground, they could well be at the mercy of the human armies.

A series of loud booms and rumbles reverberated around the chamber. Rena and Alaris looked at each other urgently before heading back towards the others.

[Raiha]

[color=royalblue]Sad thing is, I'll be in the UK. Maybe we'll see eachother, speaking of which, HELP ME!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[i]Rena retracted her claws and poked her head up around the surface. She instantly retracted it.[/i]

Alaris: What?

Rena: ...bombs. Uksos. Millions of them.

Alaris: ....now what?

Rena: Mena ahiki noulouaw.

[i]He blinked, and she translated it back into the common tongue.[/i]

Rena: Front door closed, go through the back.[/color]

[Ben]

Ben watched as the uksos took to flame and exploded. A massive chain reaction of explosions decimated the cave scorpions, hurling fragments of their bodies everywhere. When it was over, nothing moved except the clones' wings. They all slowly descended to the ground, kicking aside random body parts.

"I don't think we'll have much more trouble with them." said Ben. Then he looked at the bat-clones. "Where'd you find them?"

"We found them at the Capital, Benny." answered Xythe.

"But, I checked earlier, there's no one in the Capital." said Ben, frowning.

"They're there all right, sir." said another bat-clone. "No one has left since we heard about the humans coming."

"But I [I]checked[/I] it." said Ben, frustrated. He probed to the Capital again and still found nothing. "Are you sure they're there?"

Xythe screeched once, then cocked his ears to listen. Several moments later he replied. "Yes, there are still many clones there."

"This doesn't make any sense." Ben muttered. "We've got to go to the Capital and find out what's going on."

[Solo Tremaine]

Smoke and dust filled the corridors, concealing the battered bodies of cave scorpions and bat-clones caught in the blasts. Even Rena's highly tuned vision was having problems seeing through the waves of dirty mist. It clogged her nostrils, too, which made trying to smell their way out even more difficult.

"How far out are we?" Alaris called, clambering over a scorpion's tail while careful not to sting himself on it.

"I can't tell. Some of the passageways ahead may have caved in- I'm not sensing any breeze from there," she called back, trying to clear the air immediately in front of her with a wave of her hand.

Above, they could just make out the paths of the light crystal veins, although most were obscured by soot or shattered by the explosions.

"There's no point following those now," Alaris noted as he slid from a rock slab next to Rena. "Perhaps-"

[i]"Alaris, can you hear me?"[/i] The pangolin shuddered and felt a cold wave travelling down his spine. He scanned the area around him, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Ben? Where are you?"

[i]"I'm on the other side of the cave-in."[/i]

"Bu-"

[i]"And before you ask, I'm telepathic."[/i]

"Oh."

"We took care of the Queen," Rena spoke directly to Alaris, although he could tell she was addressing Ben. "They shouldn't cause any more trouble for a long time."

[i]"That's good to hear."[/i] Ben's voice was beginning to sound a little weak. Alaris guessed it was the effort of keeping a psychic link open on top of fatigue from the battle. [i]"Xythe's taking us towards the Capital. I want to know what's happened. See if you two can get round."[/i]

His voice disappeared, and Alaris felt normal again. It was a relieving feeling.

Rena stared at the cave walls blankly. "You first."

Alaris wrenched his massive sword from the scabbard on his back and plunged it into the wall of the cave. A fissure tore from the blade to the floor and ceiling of the tunnel. He ripped the blade out and hurled it into the side again, while Rena dismembered a cave scorpion and began hacking at the stone with its armoured pincer.

[terra]

"We're just going to leave them?" Crystal said, fluttering down to hover above Ben and Karokku. She decided not to land, due to the hundreds of bat-clones on the ground around them. Although flying wasn't exactly as wonderful as it usually was; she was used to acres of sky above her, not stone and cold cave.

"I'm sure they can handle themselves," Ben said. He raised his voice. "Come on, Xythe, let's go to the capital."

Xythe let out a piercing noise, and as one, the mass of bat-clones spread their wings and took off from the ground. They formed a black cloud as they soared through the caves, their rustle of wings fading off quickly into the distance.

"Hm," Crystal said, left a little speechless from the sight. "Ergh, I think a few of them touched me."

Ben set off in the same direction, Karokku and Crystal close behind. "How far is it to the Capital, anyway?" she asked.

"Quit whining," Ben said, not looking back.

Crystal sputtered. "It was just a question!!"

She chose not to speak any longer as they trudged through the caves. As the cave ceiling sloped downward and Crystal had less room to maneuver in, she dropped to the ground and walked with the other two. The walls pulled inward, the cave becoming so narrow for a short while that they had to walk single-file.

Then, their path widened dramatically, and the small cave gave way to the massive opening to the Capital.

[Ben]

Ben was nonplussed. He could see clones everywhere, but when he tried to detect them with his mind, he couldn't. What was going on here?

"Alaris, take them to the Chamber." said Ben, I've got to go see someone." [O.O.C. The Chamber is where the Elders meet.]

Alaris nodded, although he didn't understand why Ben would be going off on his own. Crystal unobtrusively slipped away from the group to follow Ben. Hopefully he wouldn't be able to sense her since his powers seemed not to be working.

Ben walked to the far side of the Capital, with Crystal flying some distance above him. He walked through a doorway and left her sight. She cursed. Wait, was that him coming out again? No, it must have been her imagination. But, she was so [I]sure[/I] that it was him. Again her mind brushed it aside, it was nothing. Annoyed at herself, Crystal magnified her incredible eyesight to its fullest extent. And there he was! Somehow she could seem him, yet there was still that little twinge in her mind telling her that he wasn't there.

"Stupid Sensers." she muttered, then she flew lower, lest she lose sight of him again.

Ben entered a smaller cave connected to the Capital one. The room was dark, illuminated only by a single shaft of crystal light. Even with that light, though, not all of the room could be seen. Crystal entered quietly and uneasily. The floor was sand, so there was little chance of her making any noise, and her feet were small enough to fit into Ben's footprints, so as not to leave any other marks.

"Sense Leader." said Ben.

"Yes, Ben?" came a quiet voice, out of the darkness.

"I must speak with you. Something's wrong."

"I know. We'll discuss it in a moment."

"Very well." Ben replied.

Just then Crystal felt a large pair of arms grab her. She struggled, then turned to see her adversary. She screamed. What she saw was rows upon rows of teeth and two dead, black eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For those of you who have forgotten, the Sense Leader gets his DNA from a Great White Shark.

[Solo Tremaine]

It was a long time since Alaris was last in the Capital. He remembered it being a very busy place when he was younger, full of life and activity. Now, it seemed dead, save for the clones wandering around and going about their business. Perhaps it was just him becoming used to it all, but a gut instinct told him it was something deeper than that.

After all, Ben must have his reasons to worry.

A high-ceilinged, well-lit corridor led them to the Chamber. Rows of dog-clone guards flanked the walls, standing firmly to attention as if on constant display. Ahead of them were two stone doors with intricate carvings of clones embedded in them. They told the story of the creation of the clones, the first war with the humans and the building of the Capital. The clones were not particularly proud of their origins, but thrived on stories of success and of usurping the humans' rule.

The group stood by the door and waited. Several of the dog-clones eyed them suspiciously, watching their every move.

"I get the feeling we're not welcome here." Rena hissed, feeling her hackles rising.

Alaris felt less than comfortable as well. He turned back to the Chamber doors and gave them a hefty knock with his claw.

[terra]

"What's this," the teeth half-said, half-hissed.

Crystal kept screaming for a few moments until Ben's voice echoed sarcastically in her head, [i]Didn't know you were such a damn girl.[/i]

She shut her mouth immediately and glared at him. He smiled back angelically. [i]Knew that would get you to shut up.[/i]

She rolled her eyes and addressed the problem more directly at hand, saying the first thing that came to mind -- "I'm Crystal." Aware this was probably not quite enough identification for the Sense Leader she'd heard so much about, she hastened to add on to it: "An eagle clone. I was, er, sent from the Bird Dwelling to see if I could help out down here."

The beady black eyes studied her and she felt something she'd never quite experienced before -- as if he was opening her mind, pulling apart the wrinkles of her brain to freely examine what was inside. Even when Ben had read her mind, it had not felt as intrusive as this. [i]Guess he's the sense leader for a reason,[/i] she thought to herself, trying to keep from concentrating on the eeriest feeling she'd ever had.

"Capitalize my title when you think of me," the shark-clone said, releasing her. Crystal fell to the ground from the abrupt change of momentum, a small puff of sand rising around her. "Of course, you are lying. You left the Bird Dwelling of your own accord. But that is no matter to me, though the Sight Leader may have something else to say about it." Crystal flinched. "Regardless, you may stay. I see you have been with Ben, and that you are trustworthy, and that is all that matters."

The shark-clone approached Ben, apparently no longer concerned with Crystal. "It's quite strange," he murmured, eyes pointing thoughtfully around the cavern. Crystal was sure he was pointing his sensers outward, towards the clones, trying to figure out whatever problem it was they seemed to be having. "I could sense her easily --"

"I could as well, sir," Ben said, and Crystal resisted the urge to comment sarcastically.

"But all this activity," the Sense Leader continued, "and nothing. Do you know what's going on?"

For some reason, both the shark-clone and Ben turned to look at Crystal, who had moved to hug her legs on the floor for a more comfortable sitting position.

Crystal shrugged. "I'm just a semi-renegade eagle-clone," she excused herself. "Not much experience with Sensers."

They kept staring at her. Moved by the eeriness, Crystal blurted out the only theory she could think of, "Maybe they're not real clones. Robots or something? I have no idea ..."

[Ben]

"You're right, you don't." growled the Sense Leader.

"[I]We can tell the difference between robots and, you know, [B]actual minds[/B].[/I] said Ben, within Crystal's mind.

She gave him a dirty look but said nothing. The Sense Leader was pacing the room, and Crystal could feel when he momentarily leafed through her thoughts. There was a kind of intrusive nature he had that easily identified his presence. Ben seemed to be more subtle, gentler, even.

"[I]Indeed he is.[/I]" said the Sense Leader silently.

"Based on what you've told me, I think we'd best prepare." said the Sense Leader finally.

"We didn't really tell you anything..." said Crystal. Ben tapped his forehead. "Well, never mind that. What are we going to prepare for?"

"War."


Alaris stood, patiently awaiting the doors to open. He heard a rattling sound as a massive chain was undone. Slowly, the doors creaked inwards. Alaris walked in, eyeing the inhabitants of the room. They were quite old, some more than others, and all robed in different colors. They were silent, perhaps even apprehensive.

"What's going on here?" he demanded.

"Move another step, freak, and she dies." said a deep voice from behind him.

Alaris spun around quickly to see Rena, unconscious in the arms of a large human in deep brown camouflage. He was holding a gun to her limply held head. Alaris turned around again and saw that from behind each Elder stood another human, fully armed and quite dangerous in a situation like this.

Karokku impassively looked around, then swore. Xythe merely laughed.

"We'll have a good old time getting out of this."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do me a favor and don't just somehow overpower all the humans pointing weapons at the Elders and Rena. :p

[Raiha]

[COLOR=royalblue][i]Rena came to life slowly, aware of the pain in her neck from being darted. And also the agony of being held firmly with a gun to her head. Instinct cried out for her to maul his face, but better judgement forced her to remain very still, with her eyes rolled up in the back of her head. She could move.....but it would spell a very ominous five letter word for all of them.

Instead, she was dropped unceremoniously to the ground and knelt next to. She knew her time had come. And opened her eyes. The gun was pressed to her temple. She let her eyes half slit and released the intoxicating sense of pheremones....ones she knew he could pick up. Along with the shark, Ben, and Xythe.

Her breath came faster and her cheeks flushed, and she seemed to be apprehensive.[/i][/COLOR]

[Solo Tremaine]

OOC: ^_^; I hope this is right. It's taken me quite a while to work out how to do it, heh.
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Alaris's claws quaked as he scanned the Chamber. The humans were everywhere. If his sword weren't on his back he might be able to do something...

They held their guns tightly to the backs of the Elders they were holding captive, each with a vice-like grip on the triggers, ready to fire at the blink of an eye.

He watched Rena forced to her knees and gritted his teeth.

"Drop your weapons and step into the centre!" the human yelled.

Just as he, Karokku and Xythe were about to grudgingly comply, Rena's expression changed. Alaris wondered for a shocking moment whether the trigger had already been pulled. Her eyes half-closed and she looked unsteady on her knees.

The human had noticed it too. He gave a quizzical look, before suddenly looking distinctly groggy. The gun next to her temple wavered and slipped to point at the floor.

"What's happening?" one of the assailants called out. Several nearest the centre of the room were starting to swagger as well, along with some of the Elders.

The humans along the outer edge were starting to panic. Shakily, one of them took aim at Rena, shaking gently in the middle of the room.

Xythe leapt into the air and dived onto the nearest human, sinking his teeth into the thick camouflage gear. he fell backwards and fired a laser shot into another human, who topped forwards over the edge of the seat, bringing down an Elder with him.

At the same time, Karokku and Alaris lunged into the middle, drawing their weapons and madsly slashing at the nearest enemies they could find.

Laser shots shrieked around the room, bursting through Elders' bodies and throwing them lifelessly to the ground. Those free from their captors dived for cover underneath anything they could, quivering in fright.

"Get the out of here!"

[Ben]

Suddenly, bursting through hidden entrances all throughout the room and even from the sand pit in the middle of the floor, came clones. They were all armed and rushed to the aid of the Elders they so loyally served. Humans, still adjusting to the surprise, fell quickly to the weapons of the newly arrived clones.

The clones' faces were made indiscernible by the masks they wore. Rena, realizing that she was the reason for those encumbering affectations, stopped releasing her mind-numbing pheremones. Alaris was staggering to and fro because of them, Xythe appeared to be in ecstasy, and Karokku appeared to be holding up against her biological charm.

When the humans had all been killed, the clones removed their masks. They were, for the majority, mouse-clones. One was a wolf-clone, however, with a grizzled face and white eyes. He sniffed at the air and made a face.

"Clean this place up." he commanded the other clones. They immediately began to remove the human corpses and reverently carry those of fallen Elders.

"Who are you?" asked Alaris, slightly light-headed.

"I am Doseta." said the clone simply.

"That doesn't explain much." growled Karokku.

"[I]His rank is somewhat indescriminate. He's in charge of the Elders' messengers.[/I]" Ben's voice sounded in all their minds. "[I]Just go along with whataver he tells you. Crystal and I are on our way.[/I]"

"What happened here?" asked Alaris. "How did the humans get past you guys? And the bobcat-clones?"

"We were locked in our headquarters and just recently were able to break out. The bobcat-clones were detained." he said the last word with a tone colder than ice.

"Who could hold them?" asked Rena, perplexed. "Aren't they supposed to be, like, unstoppable?"

"They were captured by fox-clones." Doseta answered. "The shrewdest of us all."

[Raiha]

[COLOR=royalblue][i]Rena's eyes dialated and her teeth bared uncontrollably. She dug her claws into the stone floor, gouging several cracks deeper.[/i]

Rena: Bastards.

Doseta: It appears we underestimated them.

Alaris: They sold us out then.

Rena: They have a great deal to gain.

Doseta: Indeed. Although we were hardly unkind to them.

Rena: Apparently, we have something lacking that the humans posess.

Ben: What would that be?

[i]She looked towards the entrance and waited patiently.[/i][/COLOR]

[Ben]

"There doesn't have to be a reason for the fox-clones." said Doseta. "Possibly they got bored." he said icily.

"They sold us out." growled Karroku.

"They did as they were brought up to do." creaked an older voice.

The Owl-Elder walked over to where Ben and his little group were gathered with Doseta. He was very lined, and his wrinkles showed beneath his feathers. He walked with the aid of a gnarled oak cane and had a golden medallion on a necklace round his neck.

"We had long ago releasssed them from any conssstraintsss." said the Snake-Elder, walking up close behind the Owl-Elder. "In furtheranccce of their clevernesssss. With no real inhibitionsss, they are able to more freely devissse meansss to aid usss."

"They killed half of the Elders!" protested Alaris.

The Owl-Elder shrugged. "There were too many of us anyways."

They all stared at him in stupefied amazement.

"How could this have helped our cause?" asked Ben.

"I don't know." said the Owl-Elder. "Only the Fox-Elder would, and he's far gone by now, I'm afraid." he looked sadly to the ground, where the Fox-Elder's corpse lay.

[Raiha]

[COLOR=royalblue][i]Rena growled softly and sniffed the ground where he was once lying. It smelled of sadness and some sort of underlying fear. More she couldn't determine. Her tail whisked with annoyance. She hated being helpless. Rena turned and joined the main circle once more. It was pathetic, that's what it was.[/i]

Rena: So we've lost everything.

Ben: Not everything.

Karokku: But just enough to cripple us.

Rena: We still have our children. The children!

[i]A look of great contrition and anxiety crossed her face, and she turned and leapt out of the room, making a beeline for the deep caves. If they had been hurt in any way....she would never forgive herself.[/i][/COLOR]

[terra]

Crystal watched as Rena loped out of the room, presumably to check on whatever children she was referring to. She turned back to the group and spoke her thoughts aloud, not bothering to think of consequences.

"You think the Fox-Elder planned this to help us?" she said derisively. "That he sold us out to the humans, killed off his own friends, and it's supposed to be some [i]benefit[/i] to us?"

The Owl-Elder's golden eyes swiveled over to her, taking in her wings. "Not many bird-clones have the authorization to leave the island," he said. "Who might you be?"

Crystal blushed slightly but held her ground, tossing her hair. "My name is Crystal," she said, her avoidance of the question answer enough.

The Owl-Elder half-sighed, half-smiled. "Well, Crystal, I cannot say whom the Fox-Elder was thinking of when he came up with this plot," he said honestly. "Perhaps he was, indeed, just thinking of the fox-clones and hoping to gain power for his own race. But you should not rule out the possibility that his plot did have some deeper purpose, some benefit for us all."

Crystal took this in, and said, "Well, what's our next move?"

"What would you like to do?" the Owl-Elder said, his keen eyes on hers.

Crystal was slightly taken aback, not expecting the question to be turned back towards her. "Er ... I want to figure out more," she said eventually. "Are their any remaining fox-clones alive? Questioning them might give us an insight as to why all this is happening. And I want to hear more about the human side of this as well, and how they got involved, perhaps we could do some sort of reconaissance."

"Spy on the humans?" Ben said. "Don't you think they'd kind of notice, well, your wings?"

She glared at him. "I don't know, I'm just throwing out suggestions here," she said. "Do you have any ideas?"

[Ben]

"Several, but I just like seeing you flounder around incoherantly." Ben said. Then he grinned.

Crystal bit back a retort. He was so infuriating! She attempted to calm herself. "What do you think we should do?" she said between clenched teeth.

"I think the first thing we should do is get Karokku taken care of. I think he'll want to come along and he's not much good to us in this condition."

"I'm fine." growled Karokku.

[I]"Sit down."[/I] said Ben aloud, a choral tone overlaying his normal voice. Karokku sat, his eyes blank. "Doseta, are their any Senser Med Kits around?"

"See to it." said Doseta to a nearby mouse-clone.

They waited for the clone to return. When he came back he held a leatherbound case. Ben took it and opened it. Inside were several jars and vials, along with syringes. Ben took a needle, stuck it in one of the jars, pulled some of the liquid out, then squirted a bit out the end.

"Inject him with this please." said Ben.

The Snake-Elder took the needle and injected into one of Karokku's veins. He did not flinch, or make any sign of...anything. He just sat on a pew, staring into space.

"I'd better do it, Ben." said the Snake-Elder. "You're not too good at thisss sssort of thing."

Ben nodded, then put the needle back into the case and closed it. The Snake-Elder walked quietly over to the motionless Karokku. He knelt, wincing as he did so. Then he held his hands over the wound in Karokku's leg. Alaris and Crystal looked on with moderate curiousity. The wound began to fill with flesh and muscle, regrowing what had been destroyed. Blood could be seen replicating and pulsing through it. Then the skin closed over the wound, and it was no more.

"Wow." said Alaris. "That was pretty neat. What was the injection for?"

"When the body healsss itssself, it requires cccertain sssubstancccesss. The injection providesss thossse sssubstancccesss. Without it, hisss body would have been drained of them and he may have died." answered the Snake-Elder.

"Okay." said Crystal. "Still nobody has gotten and idea of what we do next. Can't somebody think of [I]something?"[/I]

[Raiha]

[COLOR=royalblue][i]To her great releif, the children were unharmed, if a little shaken and afraid. She cuddled the smaller kittens to her chest, and nuzzled them sweetly. Ferret and Bear rubbed against her, looking for support. She relayed the information to them, trusting them to not start a mass panic.

The children were led back to the perspective rooms, and fed accordingly. She set up the younger ones with the old mothers and provided for them. Ferret and Bear followed her to the main hall, until she turned and shook her head.[/i]

Ferret: Why not?

Rena: It's not really....all that safe. And if you two go, my main leaders are gone.

Bear: Well, we're tough.

Rena: You'll be dead.

[i]The harsh reality of this statement stopped them in their tracks, and she shook her head sadly.[/i][/COLOR]

[Solo Tremaine]

Alaris shook his head. he was glad to finally be in what he interpreted as friendly company. At least for the moment, anyway. He held onto his sword vigilantly anyway, just in case. He still didn't understand why Ben couldn't sense the others clones, and that worried him.

He'd only known Ben for a short while, but he'd already shown to be fully capable and responsible. Perhaps it was just blind and oblique judgement, but there was still something about the situation he didn't like. The Armadillo-Youngers hadn't told him of anything like this, and hadn't even hinted that the Capital was planning anything either.

He stood up and looked around at the others. "If it's alright with you'd I'd like to check back on my home."

"Home? I thought yours was destroyed." The Owl-Elder mused.

"My old one, yes. I'd like to think my dwelling within the armadillo-clones is still intact." he replied, his fist clenching around the sword's hilt.

The owl-clone shrugged. "If it is, it won't be of any consequence. It's too out of the way for the humans to bother with now. Some of your troops are already within the Capital. Not all were killed by the scorpions."

Alaris' expression lifted. "How many are left?"

"One. In the medical chambers."

The pangolin bowed his head and strode out of the room. He hoped this war would be over soon, with as little bloodshed as possible. If the Fox-Elder was indeed planning something, they had to find out what as soon as possible.

He was close to quitting.

[Ben]

[I]"Karokku, wake up."[/I] said Ben, his voice once again chorally overlaid with the power of his mind.

Karokku's eyes immediately snapped open. He looked around at everyone around him, then down at his leg. His face twitched, but he gave no other outward sign of surprise.

"Why doesn't anyone listen to me?" asked Crystal, exasperated. "We need to know what we're doing next."

"Just a second." said Ben offhandedly.

Crystal stomped over to where Ben was standing, observing the Snake-Elder removing the shreds of Karokku's bandages. She spun him [Ben] around and kicked him in the stomach. He fell to the ground, gasping for air.

"No, not just a second." she said. "I want an answer."

"Alright." he croaked. "We're going to send Karokku and Xythe to the Bird Dwelling with an engineer. Hopefully he'll be able to fix whatever it is that hides it."

"I suppose that's okay, but what are we going to do about the humans? They're everywhere now. And the fox-clones are helping them, too." Crystal asked.

"I don't know." said Ben.

"He doesn't know." she said, sinking to the ground. "Great."

"But [B]I[/B] do." said the Owl-Elder.

They turned to look at him. In his hands he held a large silver-ish key. It looked strangely like the material Ben's bracelets were made out of.

"You're going to get some help."

[terra]

Crystal stretched her arms, resisting the urge to spread her wings at the sight of beautiful daylight again. [i]Don't attract any attention[/i], Ben hissed in her mind. [i]The humans are still around, you know.[/i]

Crystal rolled her eyes. "Geez, that's why I didn't spread my wings," she said aloud, much to the surprise of the rest of the party.

They were huddled at one of the entrances to the clone caves, one of the most discreet ones. Reports said no humans had been seen in the area, at least so far, so the small crew had chosen this point to see off Karokku and Xythe. Crystal was semi-amused by the supposed subtlety of five strong bird-clones bearing the mass of the approximately four hundred-pound Karokku through the air towards the Bird Dwelling. She supposed they could use some form of machinery to convey him there, but what was the fun in that?

Crystal was mostly not paying attention, though, instead playing with the key that the Owl-Elder had allowed her to hold upon request. It felt strangely like liquid in her hand, and was not keeping in firm key shape as an solid object should.

"It works off mental energies," the Owl-Elder told her quietly, noticing her movements. Crystal didn't even bother to start back guiltily, as the Owl-Elder looked as uninterested in the process as she did.

[i]And you obviously don't have any[/i], Ben's voice said to her mind. He did not seem to be paying attention either.

Crystal narrowed her eyes in his direction as the Owl-Elder continued. "It's a safety measure," he explained. "This way, nobody without the mental capacity and the correct knowledge would be able to keep the key solid for long enough to open the door."

"There's some secret knowledge associated with it?" she asked.

"Yes, but you may be able to keep the key solid for moments at a time without it," the Owl-Elder replied.

Crystal thought about this for a moment, and focused on the liquid material in her hand. She shut out thoughts of Ben, thoughts of Karokku and Xythe, thoughts of the Owl-Elder, and focused on the key and only the key ...

It solidified for half a second before returning to its state of half-liquidity.

Crystal shrugged and looked up, noticing Xythe was whispering something fervently to Ben -- "Bye Benny, we'll miss you Benny, Benny Benny" -- something along those lines. "So just what does this key open?" she said, turning to the Owl-Elder.

"It's time to find out," he said, and the group turned back towards the recesses of the clone caves.

[Ben]

Ben remained outside after the Owl-Elder and Crystal had re-entered the caves. The sun was setting, and it took his breath away. Ben stood, transfixed, as the sky shifted through vibrant colors of red, purple, gold, and colors for which there are no names.

Why had he sent Karokku and Xythe to the Bird Dwelling? From what he had seen, the Bird-Clones used primarily ranged weaponry. Xythe would be better suited to help them prepare for another assault on their Dwelling. Karokku seemed to Ben to be too careless with his life. He took risks that Ben felt were quite extreme. It seemed that he feared nothing, not even death. His presence would cause quite a stir. He had sent Karokku there to take a break, basically. Perhaps that's all he needed.


Finished with his musing, Ben looked once again at the sunset. Perhaps, one day soon, his family, his friends, his entire race; perhaps they would see this as well.

Smiling sadly, Ben turned and was enveloped once again by the oppressive darkness of the caves.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, reports were received that the Bird Dwelling was once again shielded from view and that the Bird-Clones themselves were under extensive training at the hands of Xythe and Karokku.

The Elders, Ben, and Crystal were in the Chamber. Doseta's task force had been extremely thorough and effient in the cleaning of the room.

"What news of the fox-clones?" asked the Owl-Elder.

"A few Scenters reported in late last night. They had been on a fox-clone trail for days." the messenger paused, shaking his head. "They found a pile of Klutha dung with a rather insulting letter."

"Have there been any signs of them above?" asked Ben suddenly.

"No." replied the messenger. "Although our surface Sighters think that the humans are disposing of some kind of unknown mutagent."

"What makes them think that?" asked Crystal.

"Well, some oddly shaped trees have been sighted growing near the forest fringes. But it's right by a human production site, so they're pretty sure it's just an effect of some waste."

"That reminds me, there's a major decrease in the humans' chicken farms several quadrants over." the clone said.

"I'd say we found the fox-clones." said the Rhino-Elder.

"Old habits die hard, I suppose." said the Chameleon-Elder.

"What are they talking about?" Crystal whispered to Ben.

"Fox-clones have an insatiable appetite for chicken." he replied. "It's from generations of real foxes snatching them from farmers of Earth."