RPG When Humans are the Enemy

[Raiha]

[COLOR=royalblue][i]Rena was cleaning up her quarters, adjusting the rocks to suit her habbits once more. Ferret and Bear had eaten and gone to sleep. While in the deep caves, they had slept some, but mostly kept the smaller children reassured and entertained.

Ben walked in quietly, to find Rena licking her chops and reclining gracefully.[/i]

Rena: ...may I help you?

Ben: How are the children?

Rena: They were fine, not to afraid. Ferret and Bear, the leaders, kept them occupied.

Ben: Good good. How are you?

Rena: Fine now. Ate, groomed, did a little housecleaning. I'll be fine for another week.

Ben: If only we had more like you...

[i]She grinned, showing sparkling white teeth and a blood red tongue.[/i][/COLOR]

[Solo Tremaine]

OOC: I've lost time >_<; It's tomorrow already...
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Alaris looked around nervously at the entrance to the Hospital Chambers of the Capital. A young male meerkat-clone sidled up to him, holding various documents.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes." Alaris took a deep breath. "I believe you have an armadillo-clone somewhere inside. I'd like to visit him."

The meerkat gave him a quizzical look. "Him?"

Alaris nodded.

"There's only a she-clone here. Are you sure you've come to the right place?"

Alaris looked unsure. He didn't have any female warriors in his vanguard. At least, not that he knew of. Who was she?

"I mean... yes, that's her."

* * *

Alaris waited outside the Intensive Care ward, surveying the poeple around him. Sick and injured clones were being taken carfully from one section into the other. Some of the equipment had been scavenged from nearby human facilities- they had one X-Ray machine and a few other vital bits of equipment, but most of the rest of the operations were carried out by witch doctors and healers,w ith psychic powers or herbs.

Not many survived after huge battles. Those that did were regarded as heroes by their clans, and often became senior members of comand. Of course, that depended on how active they were afterwards. Some of the more unfortunate ones ended up in a vegetative state and were left forgotten in a cave somewhere or euthanised. Survival depended on those who were strong. With a small clan, you didn't need any dead weight.

He contemplated the force he'd led into the Capital. Only one other survived. Could he have stopped them from being killed if he'd been better prepared? Was it even right for him to try and carry on the war? He'd had his successes, but did they matter on this big a scale. The humans owned most of the world anyway. The fight for acceptance had turned into a fight for dominance...

The wooden door swung open.

"She'll see you now."

[Ben]

Ben lay in his bed, brooding. Things had seemed to be coming to a head. Yet, here he was. Lying down. Inactive. Not moving. Not fighting. Just.....existing. It made him uncomfortable, hvaing spent the past few days in the midst of fierce battles. First it was the humans attacking the Bird Dwelling, then it was the cave scorpions, for what seemed like no reason at all.

"Ben, dinner's ready." called his female caretaker.

Ben was suddenly frustrated. He had been carefully centering his mind around his home, and yet had been unable to tell that his female caretaker had even been in there! It bothered him that his powers were limited. True, he was not the [I]best[/I] Senser there was; the Sense Leader far surpassed him in ability and focus. He merely had more power than the Senser Leader, a larger wellspring from which to draw. The Sense Leader's inability to figure things out bothered him more than his own limitations.

"Ben..." called his female caretaker again.

"Coming!" he called, hopping out of his bed.

Climbing down one of the many vines of the Chameleon Dwelling, Ben wondered what his friends were up to.

[Solo Tremaine]

OOC: Long character bit: you can skip to the end if you like, heh.
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Alaris walked slowly into the darkened room, his eyes transfixed by the figure lying underneath the light of the crystal veins.

"Hello?" came a soft voice.

He stepped closer, trying to recognise who it was.

"...Alaris?" the voice called again.

Alaris came up to the bedside and knelt next to it, his face entering the blue-white light of the veins. A weak but friendly smile greeted him.

"I knew you'd survive." the she-clone sighed.

Alaris froze momentarily, then jerked himself back to attention. He could hardly believe that she was here, much less that she was able to pretend to be one of his vanguard.

"Rayea? How di-"

She silenced him with a finger. Her golden scales shone in the light, and her deep brown eyes glimmered with life. "My brother let me go in his place- 'Necky. He leant me his armour and we padded it out with whatever we could find. That..." she moved some of the bedclothes aside and gestured to a large gash in her side, slowly healing with the same substance Alaris had seen Ben use earlier, although the area around it was still heavily bruised. "... was part of the reason I survived. I'm so happy to see you again."

Alaris was happy too, but he still didn't understand. He laid a claw gently onto her hand. "How are you feeling?"

"I'll survive. I was only caught by a claw arm, not the sting. Most of the others were killed almost straight away, I was lucky enough to dive into a split in the wall. I wasn't found until after the cave-in, by some scouts."

Alaris smiled. "You always did get yourself into some tricky situations. I remember the time you got yourself stuck on top of the pillar in the Youngers' chamber," he said, laughing.

She laughed back weakly, stifling a cough. "Oh, you remember that? You were the one who rescued me."

Alaris nodded, his cheeks turning red where the scales failed to cover them. He scratched the back of his head nervously, then looked back to her.

"Rayea... why did you come? You could have been killed."

She gazed deeply into his eyes. "I wanted to show you... I wanted you to see what I could do, to be with you when you led us against the humans."

"But-"

She placed her finger on his mouth again. "It was worth it. I'd follow you anywhere, Alaris."

He swallowed hard. He'd known Rayea for at least seven years now. All that time, he never knew how she felt. Or even how he felt, for that matter.

He'd always been popular amongst the females in the clan; he always thought it was to do with him looking like a deluxe version of most of the other male clones: taller, slimmer, heavier armour. 'Adequate inadequacy' was how he saw it.

"Rayea..."

She said nothing, but simply drew him closer...

[terra]

Crystal wished to pace, but somehow that didn't seem appropriate with the venerable Owl-Elder so nearby. Since she'd had nowhere else to go when the group disbanded, he had invited her to the area where she stayed, giving her free reign in what could roughly be termed as his own living room.

The rooms were amazing, particularly for the underground; there was an abundance of the glass elements reflecting natural light down into the rooms, so that it nearly felt like the outside. But still, it definitely was not. The Owl-Elder had told her she was free to return to the Bird Dwelling, but Crystal, of course, had flatly refused. Now that she was down here amongst the action at last, there was no way in hell she was leaving.

Of course, at the moment she had pretty much nothing to do. It was frustrating, to say the least. Usually, she'd be out at the practice ranges, or sparring with Sharpie, or [i]something[/i] ... But here all she felt she could do was sit in the middle of the floor and stare at the reflecting glass structure, wishing it were real sunlight, wondering if the Owl-Elder wished the same thing as well.

The Owl-Elder entered the room and took in her position, just watching her for a few moments.

"Patience, Crystal," he said.

"What are you talking about?" she said. "I'm just sitting here. Patient as can be."

He chuckled a little, in that oh-so-wise way. "Your body is in place, but your mind is racing," he said.

Crystal didn't respond that time. It was true. She was wondering desperately what was going on, what kind of help they might get from the key the Owl-Elder had showed her earlier, what was going to happen next. But there was nothing she could do.

"You've always been too rash, Crystal," the Owl-Elder said, settling down on a couch, his wings laid along the back of it. "You must understand, we all have need for rest sometimes. Even more so before a battle that promises to be as important as this."

" 'Always'?" Crystal repeated, turning to look at him.

"I've been tracking your progress, of course," the Owl-Elder said. "Based on reports alone, but I have to say that the reports sound true enough."

Of course. Everybody said she was too rash, too hasty. Too young for the responsibility of a full Sighter.

The Owl-Elder laughed at her mutinous expression. "But it doesn't mean you won't grow into a great asset to our kind, when the time comes," he said. "And it seems the time is drawing near, faster than we'd all wish for."

[Ben]

Ben paced his room. Something wasn't right, that much was obvious. He levitated a chair, just to be sure he could. It lifted easily under his influence. He set it back down. He formed a blade on his right hand. The bracelets still responded. Then he looked out the window, to a clone far below. He probed outward with his mind. Nothing.

"WHY WON'T IT WORK?!" he yelled, startling those beneath him.

He leapt out of the window, catching his tongue on a branch. He swung onto another branch, then leapt to another. Within a few minutes of swinging and jumping he was to the ground.

"It's something to do with the humans." he muttered aloud. [I]"But what?"[/I]

He probed above ground. He detected several birds and animals, but no humans. He probed further, to the nearest city. Nothing. Ben frowned. Why would a human city be emptied?

He traveled to a cave entrance near the city, or at least, near enough that he could see the people walking through the streets. So, he couldn't detect humans either.

[SIZE=3]He couldn't detect humans either![/SIZE]

Startled by the discovery, Ben quickly turned to re-enter the caves. CRACK!

The fox-clone wrung his hand as the lizard-clone collapsed at his feet. "Damn reptile nearly broke my hand." he said to several others, who were hiding nearby.

"Now what do we do with him?" asked another.

"Take him to the Fox-Elder."

[Solo Tremaine]

[COLOR=#503F86]Alaris walked quietly out of the hospital wing, deep in thought. At least he knew what he was fighting for. The 'why' was obvious, and now the 'how','when' and 'where' needed to be sorted out. Adjusting his chest harness, he increased his pace and moved swiftly towards the Elders' chamber.

* * *

He pounded on the door three times. He'd never say it out loud, but most of the Elders were past their prime, and needed something big to get their attention.

The door rumbled open and a Bobcat-guard greeted him.

"What do you want?" he hissed, looking less-than-friendly.

Alaris straightened himself to look as big as possible before answering. "I'm looking for Ben or Crystal." he said firmly. "Are they here?"

"No." The bobcat barked, slamming the door in his face.

Alaris pounded on the door again. It swung open.

"Can you tell me where they went?" he asked again, holding the door ajar with his claw.

The Bobcat stiffened its lips. "Ben disappeared to his living quarters, and the falcon-clone followed the Owl-Elder." He moved to shut the door again, but ALaris flung it fully open with his arm.

"Where is the Owl-Elder?" he boomed, getting frustrated. It was bad enough being stuck in the Capital, but being stuck without anyone he knew was even worse. Even Rena would be decent company at the moment.

The Bobcat's fist tightened around the handle of his staff. "Elders are located in the upped chambers of the Capital. Now go before I gouge your eyes out!"

The door shut with a thunderous boom, sending Alaris staggering backwards.

"The upper chambers, then..."[/COLOR]

[terra]

OOC: I'm an eagle. But it's all good :p.

The Owl-Elder sighed and stood, ruffling his feathers gently before refolding his wings. "Perhaps you should see how your friends are doing," he suggested, and gave her directions to Ben's quarters. "They might be willing to start moving, or at least planning, again."

"Thanks," Crystal said, and heading out the door she collided head-on with a scratchy, familiar figure.

"Alaris!" she said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," he responded, his voice impatient. Crystal knew the feeling. "Where's Ben?"

"I was just about to go see him," she said, and, her steps increased by his urgency, she hastily led the way to his quarters. On the way, he informed her of the bobcat-clones and their rather hostile reception of him.

"That's weird," she said. "But you know, they're probably in bad moods, considering they were completely tricked by the fox-clo-- Er ..." Unthinkingly, she slowed her pace as they neared Ben's chamber. There was an unmoving body lying on the floor just outside it ...

Alaris, on the other hand, surged ahead, and was kneeling on the floor next to the body in a moment. "Hey! Hey, are you okay?"

Crystal knelt down next to him, feeling his neck for a pulse. "He's still alive," she said after a couple seconds. "I don't know how we can get him to regain consciousness."

"Ugh," the lizard-clone said at that moment, and Crystal, caught off guard, let out a little shriek and fell over.

Alaris didn't make a comment on this less-than-graceful movement, instead asking the lizard-clone, "What happened?"

"Fox-clones," the lizard-clone spat, venom in his tone though he still looked like he might pass out at any second. "Several of them. They snuck up on me while I was on guard ..."

Crystal had already raced down the hall to the next closest chamber, pounding on its door. A sleepy-looking possum-clone peeked out, and Crystal said rapidly, "Someone down the hall is hurt. But I have to go -- can you go for help?"

The possum-clone's eyes woke up a little bit, brightening slightly, and nodded. He scampered off down the hall as Alaris came striding back towards her.

"He'll be okay as soon as he gets help," he said grimly. "I hope Ben's doing all right, too."

"We're gonna go find him, right," Crystal said. It wasn't exactly a question.

"The only problem is we have no idea where to look ..."

[Ben]

Ben opened his eyes. It was very dark. He held up his hand, but could not see it. He sniffed at the air. Nothing. He tried to touch something, anything, with his hands, but they were chained to something. He knew it was pointless, but he tried probing outward with his mind. Still nothing.

Suddenly, he felt a pair of hands encircle his head. Then there was light. Ben squinted as his eyes were suddenly bombarded with light. He looked around the room. He immediately saw that it was of human construction, as the clones did not possess many of the materials used. He looked behind him, but could not see who had removed the mask.

"Sit, Ben." said a quiet voice. The voice's owner sat deeply shrouded in shadow with its back to the fireplace. The fireplace provided the only light in the room. Ben looked outside, it was night.

Ben sat, quite unsure of what exactly was happening. The chair was comfortable, exceedingly so by clone standards. It had a low back, and cushioned arms. Artistic designs covered it completely.

(O.O.C. Ben doesn't know how he was knocked out, nor does he know who did it.)

"Who are you?" Ben asked.

"You know me, Ben, if only by sight." replied the speaker.

Ben struggled with it. The voice was quite familiar, and yet the impossibility of the speaker's identity stopped him from saying anything.

"Fox-Elder?" he said tentatively.

The figure steped out of the chair, and candles around the room flared to life. It was indeed the Fox-Elder. He was emaciated with age, his robes flowing quite loosely about him; and yet his eyes bespoke an undying youth. His lips were curled into a smirk and a few of his teeth showed. They were still remarkably sharp.

"Yes, Ben. It is me." he replied. "And before you start jabbering about how I'm dead and you saw my body, and all that other garbage, let me set things straight."

Ben nodded.

"I'm obviously not dead, and neither is this war. The humans are amassing near te Scorpion Caves. That's why there was that major flux of them recently. It was by my suggestion that they do so, as no sane clone will willingly go down there." he paused, grinning viciously.

"They took [B]heavy[/B] casualties obtaining a base down there, but firmly believed that it was worth the loss to gain such an unassailable position."

"But, then, how are they keeping the cave scorpions away?" asked Ben suddenly.

"Remember that report of the disfigured trees you heard about? And the missing sheep?"

"How did you-" Ben said, but was cut off.

"Never you mind that. There are more important maters to attend to. The humans are keeping the scorpions at bay with a peculiar mixture of those wastes you heard about, and the sheep. They're herding the cave scorpions between us and their base. They have some sort of carriers that they use to deploy their troops into the caves without coming in contact with the cave scorpions."

"So, wait, whose side are you on?" asked Ben.

"Yours, of course!" the Fox-Elder rolled his eyes. "Why do you think I'm telling you this?"

"But, all those Elders you killed!" said Ben.

"Euthenasia."

"This secrecy?" asked Ben.

The Fox-Elder shrugged. "It's the way we do things."

"What about the humans?" said Ben.

"A means to an end." replied the Fox-Elder.

"But [I]what[/I] end?" Ben asked.

"The end of this damned war." said the Fox-Elder. "And our new life above ground."

[Solo Tremaine]

[COLOR=#503F86]OOC: ...oh, never mind ^_^;
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As Alaris and Crystal started down the corridor, they heard a groan from behind them.

The lizard groggily reached out with his arm to pull himself to his feet, but collapsed to the floor.

The eagle-clone rushed over to help support him as he rose, Alaris following close behind seized his arm and moved him into a sitting position.

"Are you alright?" Crystal asked quietly.

The lizard swayed uneasily, blinking hard. "I... er..." his speech was slurred and incoherent.

"I am alright. Damn fox-clones..."

Alaris gave Crystal a strained look. "Do you remember what happened before or after that?"

The lizard rested a claw on his forhead to help himself remember. "I was just standing around, waiting for the young master to return and... the sneaky villains crept up behind me. The next thing I remember, I was waking up on the floor."

"To return? You mean he left before you were knocked out?"

The lizard nodded. "I heard him leap from the window some while beforehand. He sounded quite angry."

Crystal and Alaris were deep in thought. Whether he was in danger or not, they had to find him. If nothing else, Alaris thought, it would make him feel better.

A few seconds later another meerkat clone arrived, bringing with it several medicines and rudimentary bandages. The two of them let the lizard go and strode down into the square.

* * *

"Finally..." Alaris sighed under his breath, as the twentieth person they'd asked had actually seen in which direction Ben had headed. "So, he went towards the surface."

"It didn't help you harassing them." Crystal hissed.

The pangolin flexed his shoulders. "I want to find him, that's all. Can you blame me for being pushy?"

Crystal half-nodded. Where fox-clones were concerned, time was very much of the essence.

The two of them rounded a corner in one of the smaller tunnels leading to the surface. There were fewer crystal veins in this one, so the light was dimmer. She scanned the passage ahead of them as they went, checking for any potential clues.

Suddenly, she froze.

"Anything?"

"Shh!" she whispered. "There's a fox up ahead..."[/COLOR]

[Raiha]

[COLOR=royalblue][i]Rena was waking up from her daynap, and stretched accordingly. First she rose to her paws, then slid back on her hindquarters, stretching her shoulders and stomach. Then she pulled forward and arched her back completely, sinking until her smooth furred belly was touching the ground. Then she arched it the opposite direction, body curving to form a half circle between the ground and the ceiling. A half ecstatic look crossed her face as blood circulation moved completely around her deadened limbs. Then she rose to her feet and curved around several times, stretching out her smooth, slender sides. Before she could relax once more, she willed herself to go into a series of blurring cartwheels, tail flaring out for balance.

She landed perfectly and excercised her better energies, bounding down the hall towards the children's rooms. Ferret and Bear aere waiting for her as usual, and she greeted them with the usual enthusiasim. She knocked them both into the wall with bone crushing hugs, laughing and purring at the same time. The two reciprocated the warming hug, then inquired as to the day's schedule. She shrugged and waved them off to their classes.

With smooth motions, she padded down the hall, moving like a lynx. Ben. She wanted to find Ben. It had been awhile, she knew that if anyone deserved to spend time with her, it was him. Ego aside, she wanted to check up on his well being.

"Come out Ben. I need to see you."

"You won't find him, not here."

Her rage flared into a white heat, and she whirled around, facing down the black cat that was purring into her mind.[/i]

"I will find him! You will stand down and aside in my presence."

"While you flit around like a common tramp?"

[i]She flung herself at the black feline, then pulled short just before she swipped his life away. It was an illusion. A really good one.[/i][/COLOR]

[terra]

Crystal strained her eyes as she and Alaris stood, stock-still. Damn this dark corridor ... she was an eagle, not an owl ... who built these passages anyway? ... she'd always semi-wondered about the intelligence of clones who'd live underground ...

The fox ahead had paused, and was squinting towards them. Luckily, they were both in the shadows, and Crystal sincerely doubted that his eyesight was good enough to see them, when her own keen eyes were still just barely able to make him out. He waited, still looking around with a measure of uncertainty, then seemingly pulled aside part of the wall and disappeared behind it.

"He's gone," Crystal said in an undertone to Alaris. "It looks like they've got a hidden passageway up ahead."

Alaris nodded. It wasn't a surprising turn of events.

"Now what?" Crystal said. Sure, she'd wanted to find Ben, but now that there chance was near, she was suddenly aware of her lack of military ... common sense.

"We do a reconnaissance of the area," Alaris replied. "See what's there, and if it's something we can handle."

Crystal resisted the urge to do a nervous gulp. "Something we can handle" sounded suspiciously like "something we can kill," and while Crystal wouldn't flinch at killing carnivorous cave-scorpions or those detestable humans, ... these were other clones they were disucssing. But Alaris was already moving ahead, hugging one wall, and she followed.

They reached the end of the passage. It was nearly pitch-black, and Crystal wondered at how she had possibly seen that fox. Could it have been an illusion of her mind ...?

Alaris was running his hand gently along the wall. "A covering," he said, his voice so low that even Crystal, a foot away, could barely hear him. "Not much more than a simple cloth covering made to blend well into the wall ... I suppose sometimes the simplest solutions are the best. Could you take a look inside and see what we're dealing with? If it's as dark as this in there, my eyes will be useless compared to yours."

Crystal nodded, realized that he probably couldn't even have seen the tiny movement, and said, "Yes."

Hand trembling, she gently brushed aside the tapestry covering the entrance, opening it just an inch to allow one eye to gaze in. It led to a staircase leading downward, then the corridor opened into a small clearing, dimly lit by only candles. Crystal's eye darted over the figures; six fox-clones, armed with machine guns. Human machine guns. The kind that had been so effective at their first creation, that they'd only needed minor upgrades over the past several centuries ... She resisted the urge to hiss, and drew back to inform Alaris of what she'd seen in a whisper.

He didn't look happy. "Machine guns?" he repeated. "And six of them ... And there's only the two of us ..."

"I have my crossbow, I might be able to take out one or two from here," Crystal murmured. "But Rena could be of good help in this situation. We should've gone and gotten her before going off on our search ..."

"We could always turn back for her, if need be," Alaris mused.

[Ben]

[SIZE=1]I'm not going to let this story die.[/SIZE]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suddenly, Alaris and Crystal froze. Alaris tried to move, but found that his body wouldn't respond. Crystal couldn't twitch so much as a feather. Silently they struggled to move as one of the fox-clones began to march towards them.

Crystals mind exploded with panic. The fox-clone was walking right towards them and she couldn't move! Alaris was similarly troubled. Then the fox-clone approaching them wavered, and his weapon disappeared. It was Ben. As soon as they saw who he was, Ben released his hold on them.

"Sorry I did that, I didn't want you guys to do anything rash." said Ben.

"Like what?" demanded Crystal. Her crossbow flitted from her hands over to Ben's. He fingered the taut string on the weapon.

"Put one of these into me, maybe." he replied, floating the device back to her with his mind.

"Why are you suddenly using all these mind tricks?" asked Alaris.

Ben shrugged. "To keep in practice, I guess. I hadn't used them before just because I had exhausted them in the battle. He hovered a few inches above the ground. "I'm feeling much better now though."

"What about those other fox-clones?" asked Crystal, eyeing then nervously.

They wavered and disappeared. "What fox-clones?" asked Ben innocently.

"Don't make me hit you again." she threatened.

"Go ahead and try." he challenged, leaning forward slightly.

Crystal futiley tried to punch Ben, but found that every time her arm passed some invisible line, it went limp. Puzzled, Alaris stuck his arm through. It fell to his side. He stuck it through again. It again fell to his side.

"That's a neat trick." he said.

Suddenly, a dark figure leapt at Ben from behind. Ben stepped aside and spun, whipping the figure across the head with his tongue. The would-be assailant fell to the ground, landing easily upon her hands and cartwheeling into a standing position.

"Where have you been?" asked Rena.

"Here and there." replied Ben, and he told them all what had happened.

[Solo Tremaine]

[COLOR=#503F86]Alaris sighed with relief, shaking his head at what had turned out to be a wild goose chase. Or chameleon chase, as the situation was.

"Well, I'm glad you're safe." he mused as they walked out of the tunnels and back into the main chambers of the Capital. "But I don't like this plan of the fox-clones. Whatever they're trying to do, the humans are less than a mile from the city's inner walls. There's no way we'd be able to amass an army in time if they atacked. Even lining the walls with Uksos and completely destroying the Capital with them in it won't be enough to stop more waves of tem coming from other countries."

Ben sighed. "You're being too analytical about it. The humans aren't going to do anything until the fox-clones say it's 'safe' for them to."

Alaris' mind began to wander. He might be an efficient commander and warrior, but he could still never handle strategies very well. Certainly not as well as the foxes at any rate; their minds were a lot sharper than his. "Are you sure they're doing this for all races and not just their own? They're not exactly the most honourable of clones."

Ben shrugged. "They'll have a lot to deal with if they [i]are[/i] planning to use the Capital as a shield," he said while skipping a stone along the ground with his mental abilities.

"So what, we just have to sit and wait until something happens?" Crystal huffed in irritation. "I'd much rather be doing something more productive."

"We could always formulate a back-up plan in case things go wrong." Alaris suggested. "As clever as foxes are, we have to remember that humans were the ones who created us all in the first place. They'll always have an edge over us in technology. And if they want to end this war as badly as we do, they won't be afraid to use it."[/COLOR]

[Raiha]

[COLOR=royalblue][i]Rena bared her fangs and massaged the corners of her eyes....tired, but not really. Just the stress of the past weeks flicking into her eyes. Her brow furrowed and she sighed quietly.[/i]

Rena: We need to get the children out.

Ben: And put them where?

Rena: They can't stay in the caves....I've seen some of them start to degenerate. Ferret and Bear are fine...but they're older. The cheetah clones and the greyhounds need to stretch. We can't do that in the tunnels and caves....not the way they need to.

Ben: So of course, we're bound to do as we must.

Crystal: Our fledglings are afraid of being shot down.

Rena: AGH!

[i]In frustration, she pounded both her fists against the wall, and watched a slight crumbling begin. Her eyes widened, and she took a step back.[/i]

Alaris: ...what did you just....?

Rena: ...um.[/COLOR]

[Ben]

Ben stared at the crumbled walled puzzledly. Then he saw several humans that had been hiding behind the wall, listening to their every word. They turned and fled, dropping a small device in their haste. The four clones raced after them. Ben grabbed the fallen device with his tail, not fully realizing what it [I]actually[/I] was. He flipped the device into his hands, and his eyes widened.

The bomb exploded, blinding Ben and severely burning his hands. It had not just been dropped in haste, it had been tossed to ensure escape. Ben was thrown to the ground, burned and bleeding. Rena swiftly chased the group of perhaps five humans, while Crystal and Alaris hesitated betwen helping Ben and chasing after the humans as well.

"Go." Ben croaked. "The caves branch apart up ahead; Rena will never be able to catch them all." Still they continued towards him. "Don't worry about me, I'll be alright!" Ben coughed, blood dripping from his lips. "If the humans find out about what's really going on, the fox-clones will be slaughtered."

Alaris paused, as did Crystal.

[I]"Go!"[/I] Ben commanded, overlaying his command with psychic power. The two immediately turned and ran after the humans, drawing weapons as they went.

Ben then turned his attention to his wounds, which had already stopped bleeding.

A familiar shriek cut through the stale cave air, along with a clacking of pincers.

"Oh, crap..."

[Raiha]

[COLOR=royalblue][i]Rena caught the first two, tearing down their limbs and ripping apart their throats with the savage pride of her kynn. From a full out run, she leapt on top of them, claws snicking open and burying themselves deep in their backs. It forced them down onto their stomachs, and she rolled them over with her thick paws. They looked up in horror, the last thing they saw, her huge claws flashing out to score their jugular veins. The two humans clutched their torn necks desperately, mouths open wide, eyes squinching shut in pain. Then she turned and raced back where she came from, her ears rotating for any other sounds. As she ran, she threw back her head and screamed. Bear heard and carried out his role perfectly.

Their bodies were taken to the deep storage chambers for further inspection. In the meantime, she heard the full out scream of a human being slain, and then a dull thud. She smiled grimly and kept on running. Ben was staring into the tunnel, and she heard it.[/i]

Rena: Aw shit.

Ben: They just keep coming back....

Rena: .....damn damn damn.

Ben: The humans?

Rena: The situation is under control.

[i]She smiled once more and flashed feral teeth. The fighting had gotten her blood up and running. She was having fun. Rena realized that it had been awhile.......and she was enjoying herself. The scorpions advanced, she went into a full on crouch.[/i][/COLOR]

[Ben]

Ben propped himself up against a stone pillar and closed his eyes. He didn't know very much about how to treat burns, with or without his powers. He turned his power inward, focusing it on his body overall, rather than the burns themselves. Ben scarcely [I]knew[/I] anything about burns, but it wasn't his mind that was doing the work at the moment. Prodded by his powers, his body began to heal the burns unconsciously.

Small bits of metal and rock began to rise out of the wounds and rolled off of Ben's sides. Dead skin flaked off and disappeared. The wounds healed, leaving only scars behind. Then even the scars disappeared. Ben opened his eyes.

The mandibles of a scorpion greeted him.

Ben sat up in shock, only to find that it was merely a carcass that had fallen in front of him. Alaris and Crystal hefted it of of him.

"Sleeping on the job?" Crystal arched an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about? We're not getting paid for this." said Ben, grinning. Rena, meanwhile, was slashing at cave scorpions. "Did any of the humans escape?"

Alaris shook his head. "Not after that savage got ahold of them, they didn't. How did she get appointed to a position with [I]children?"[/I]

"I have no idea." said Ben, shaking his head.

Rena had ripped a scorpion in half from the inside. She emerged moments dripping with its blood and with entrails dangling about her shoulders. She seemed ecstatic at the carnage.

"Are there any more?" she called over to them.

They all shook their heads. Either out of disbelief or expressing an answer, Rena couldn't tell.

[Raiha]

[COLOR=royalblue][i]Rena licked her lips, savoring the taste of blood and bile. The others blinked and stared at her like she had grown another head. She shrugged and shook herself, splattering the ground with entrails and such.[/i]

Alaris: You're insane.

Rena: I resemble that. And although I can be savage, I'll thank you to remember that I defend my own.

Crystal: ...yeah, explains the childcare system.

Rena: It's simple. They infiltrate, that's a threat. You go after my children, I break your neck.

Ben: Strong protection instincts, it all evens out.

Rena: That, and I have bloodlust.

[i]Her smile was wicked and she cleaned her claws off and her thick coat by rolling several times. Then she stood, shook herself again and cleaned her paws.[/i][/COLOR]

[terra]

"And the humans?" Crystal said.

"Taken care of," Rena said again.

"So you mean killed."

"Of course," Rena shrugged.

Crystal cursed. "We should've kept at least one alive for questioning," she said, annoyance evident in her tone.

At that moment, she saw something that puzzled her greatly. A rock skittering across the ground for no apparent reason, about ten feet in front of her. No longer paying attention to the others, she trained her eyes on the place where the rock had come from, wishing she could see through collapsed stone walls.

Breaking out of their small group, Crystal ran forward and leapt above a pile of rubble, crossbow trained on whatever might be behind it. A human, a handgun aimed directly at her. He must've somehow not been able to run with the others, and they'd left him behind.

He fired, but he'd anticipated her falling back to the ground, which she had no intention of doing. Instead, she spread her wings and allowed herself to float back for one extra moment so that his bullet pinged off into the darkness, then collapsed them and hurtled straight downward into him.

One foot caught him hard in the stomach, the other kicked the handgun out of his hand. Crossbow now pointed at his head, Crystal smiled. "It's not every day my wishes come true," she said. "Now tell us just what's going on."

OOC: Er, Ben, now tell us just what's going on. :p

[Ben]

"I'm not going to tell you anything, freak." sneered the human. His eyes darted about as if he could actually somehow escape with his life. Ben, Rena, and Alaris walked over to where Crystal stood with her crossbow carefully trained on the human's head.

"Oh yes, you will." Rena declared ominously. She deliberately unsheathed a single claw and held it before the human's face. With a strike like lightning, she cut off one of the human's ears. The human tensed up, his face contorted in pain, but he refused to cry out. His body shuddered with the effort of maintaining discipline.

Ben meanwhile, had been searching the human's mind. His mind raced through the human's, seeing memories, feeling the human's emotions, his thoughts, and his dreams. One thing in particular caught Ben's attention. Long ago, one of Ben's friends had disappeared from the caves. Search parties were formed and sent out, the Discovery Groups even lent a hand. No trace could be found.

Delving into this human's mind, Ben saw his friend; Mutak by name, being kidnapped by the humans. Ben went further into the memory. After being cruelly experimented on, Mutak's fate had been left in the hands of this human. Seizing upon Mutak's inbred fear of fire (he was a horse-clone) he had burned him alive.

In the blink of an eye, Ben was out. He was quivering with rage and pain. He fixed the human with a look of disgust, then stiffly walked up to him.

"Mutak was my friend, you bastard." the human stared at Ben, not understanding what he meant.

Ben forced the image of Mutak into the human's immediate consciousness. The human lowered his head as if he had been struck, then raised it again defiantly.

"So what? He was a filthy, stinking clone, just like the rest of you. You ought to all be burned alive."

"What an interesting idea." murmured Ben.

It started slowly, like the swelling of a wave. The human began to sweat. His breathing quickened. Ben's eyes narrowed. The human cringed as blisters formed on his skin. Crystal and the others backed away from Ben and the quivering human. The human cried out as long, jagged lines of black raked his limbs. His flesh smoked and he fell writhing to the ground. He was no longer wet with sweat, but appeared dry and as if it was shriveling.

The human painfully crawled to Ben's feet. "Please! No more!" he shreiked. He fell to the ground, threshing around and screaming more. He was still smoking and he now appeared no larger than a teenage boy. Ben raised his left hand, palm up. The human was lifted up, still contorted in pain. Ben spread his fingers apart. The human painfully unwound and hung facing Ben.

With a motion faster than Rena's had been, Ben smoothly cleaved off the human's head. It fell to the ground along with the body.

"Let's go." said Ben shortly.

"Where?" asked Alaris cautiously.

"To the Elders. These skirmishes have lasted long enough. It is time to take some real action."

"Like what?" demanded Rena.

Ben turned around to face her, tight-lipped and grim. "I'm going to take out that underground base, with or without help."

With that, he levitated himself into the air, and sped off towards the Capital.

[Raiha]

[COLOR=royalblue][i]Rena rolled her eyes, then realized just what he had said. Witha wild roar that shook the cavern from center to circumfrence, she snatched up the headless human in her jaws, much like she carried cubs, and charged after him. When they reached the outskirts, they also reached the dump. She spat him out for the vulture clones to feast on and caught up with Ben in a series of cool lolloping bounds.

He slowed down somewhat when he felt Rena's smooth tread catch up with him. She gave him a dazzling smile, showing her recently sharpened canines and bowed low.[/i]

Rena: I wouldn't miss it for a full on Blood feast.

Ben: Are you sure? It could be..

Rena: DANGEROUS! YES! Exactly what I've been longing for.

[i]He blinked and she swirled her tail around before heading towards the Capital's Edefice with slow steady motions. Her hips and back muscles ripped and curved underneath her dark hide and Ben watched her depart. Silk on ice, brushing slowly against the ground. Paws that could crush concrete into dust, delicately sliding against the hard packed dirt and stone.[/i]

Rena: Come on.....it'll be fun.[/COLOR]

[Solo Tremaine]

[COLOR=#503F86]Alaris followed closely behind them, a little apprehensively. What Ben had done to the human shocked him to the core, but revenge could twist a soul so easily. He just hoped this wasn't too rash a plan of action.

He sighed. It was a just cause. Perhaps this was just the wrong way about it...

He felt something brush against the scales on his chest. He reached up with his hand and felt a small, jagged pendant dangling from a chain around his neck. Rayea had given it to him.

He gripped it firmly. Perhaps now was the time to finally take an initiative. If no-one did, it would only be a matter of time before one side cracked. He didn't want to feel the burning pain of loss again.

Alaris shouldered his sword and quickened his pace to walk alongside Ben. He gave him a sideways glance and a cheerful smile.

"You wouldn't think of starting a battle without me, would you?" he smirked.

Ben smiled slightly. It wasn't going to be easy by any means. But at least he wasn't going to be alone.[/COLOR]

[terra]

Spreading her wings, Crystal leapt into the air, taking flight after the group gracefully. Then she realized it had just been far too long since she'd really flown, and she should've stretched out her wings beforehand, as one of them was now cramping up. She attempted to flap and work out the kinks, but it wasn't to be ... Crystal had to settle for dropping to the ground and jogging like any common clone.

She reached the other three and grinned -- somehow it almost felt like they'd been waiting for her, like the four of them were a team.

"Took you long enough," was all Ben said before lifting himself from the ground once more to speed through the air with the power of his mind.

[i]Wishful thinking[/i], Crystal harrumphed to herself as she followed with Rena and Alaris. They reached the center of the Capital before long, and Ben was the first to stride confidently into the room of the Elders.

[Raiha]

[COLOR=royalblue][i]Before he adressed the group of revered souls, Alaris and Crystal entered behind him. They stood to attention, then looked behind them once more. The Elders waited patiently. Ben colored furiously, wishing that something would happen to relieve the extreme embrarassment that was slowly building on his face. And then it did happen.

Like a wraith, Rena padded into the room, balancing on the pads of her heavily taloned paws, tail plumed gracefully behind her, body extuding a sense of confidence, deadly strength, and quiet maturity. One of the Elders, her old cousin watched her carefully, as she walked across the room, then stopped at Ben's side and waited as well. She licked her chops swiftly, an aftereffect of being a clone-panther, then smiled.[/i]

Ben: ....Elders, I come with a petition."

High Elder: State your names.

Ben: ...Ben of the Sensers.

Alaris: Alaris of the Armadillo clones.

Crystal: ...Crystal from the city of the Birds.

Rena: ...K'Rena, daughter of the Patherborn.

[i]The Elders seemed satisfied with their responses, although a few looked at Rena with slight suspiscion. Very few people could claim a relationship to the very old, very bizare Pantherborn family. And when they did, questions were likely to arise.[/i][/COLOR]