RPG When Humans are the Enemy

[Ben]

You can salvage that post by putting Ben's dialogue in italics, like he was speaking with his mind.
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The humans drew into a formation, shorter ranged weapons to the front, the more powerful weaponry in back. Their blue uniforms and golden weapons looked very nice, but Ben knew that aesthetics alone wouldn't protect them. He was still watching the humans from aboard the hijacked ship.

The humans then began the bombardment. Laser fire peppered the clones' ranks, only to be repelled by Kintar-coated shields. The larger blasts as well were nullified by Klutha shells dipped in Kintar, which a large group of Sensers coordinated.

The clones responded with their own bombardment. Arrows and crossbow bolts raked the human forces, sowing death and injury. Ben could hear the cries of pain even at his altitude. Then, the clones unleashed a string of catapults that had been hidden behind their tightly ranked forces. Rocks, burning gobs of pitch, and clusters of uksos were tossed over their heads and onto the demoralized humans.

Ben was watching with disbelief. How could the humans be so stupid? This particular strategy of theirs hadn't worked since the clones discovered Kintar, so why were they futiley clinging to it? The clones were enjoying themselves however; they hadn't had any skirmishes for months.

Ben walked over to the bird-clone who was flying the ship. "Do me a favor." he said.

"Alright." said the bird-clone. "What do you want."

"Get in touch with your superiors, have them strike the humans from behind so the infantry can move in." he said. "They get sulky when they can't participate."

"Yes Sir." the bird-clone grinned. "I suppose it wasn't very nice of us to keep them to ourselves. Not that the humans are accomplishing anything; all they're doing is keeping us busy."

Something clicked in Ben's head. The tactical nature of the attack suddenly became clear.

[I]"Rena!"[/I] he called out. [I]"The humans are in the caves!"[/I]

[Solo Tremaine]

OOC: >_< I'll check no-one else is replying first before typing mine next time, hehe
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Alaris poked his head over thr top of the rocky ridge and jerked his head forwards. Six armadillo-warriors lay themselves flat against the rock next to him, watching the humans advance.

"What should we do, sir?" one asked quietly.

"Uh... I don't... we don't know what they're doing yet. Once they start fighting we should be able to round off behind them, pincer-style."

The others looked to one another nervously. It didn't sound much like a plan.

Suddenly, they heard laser fire coming from the gorge below them. The humans let off a volley of shots towards an advancing group of clone-warriors, only for their shots to be reflected by the metal shields.

"Should we attack yet, sir?"

Alaris looked to the warriors standing behind him. Four were suited up in mobile artillery gear- a piece of bow wood strapped to their back like a walking ballista.

"Load 'em up." He waved a hand over a group of four scouts. "I want as constant a barrage as possible, so reload as quickly as you can."

He quickly pointed to another one. "Call for the rest of the troops from our caves. We'll need them to surround the rest of the humans."

"The rest of you will follow me," he ordered, every one of the warriors obeying his word.

"Are you ready?"

Before he could give the order, the human group looked to be dissipating. Perhaps they weren't needed after all. But even a kamikaze mission from the humans would usually put up a better fight than that.

Watching the humans clamber hurriedly over the rocks as enraged clones chased after them, Alaris ordered everyone over to the entrances to the West.

"It must have been a diversion."

"How can you tell, sir?" one of the young scouts asked, clutching a small sword and shield.

"An assault like that's far too small for a siege, and too militant for a scout party. I don't know for sure, but if we don't find out we could all be in big trouble."

[terra]

Crystal opened her eyes, then got up, a little slow. Her headset was useless, broken from the fall, so she threw it into the dirt. [i]Hm, left wrist. Broken? Probably not. Sprained, perhaps.[/i] She picked up her crossbow from where she'd dropped it from the force of the explosion and took flight through the forest towards their emergency evacuation exit.

Soon, she reached a clearing in the center of the dwelling. There, a hole had been dug straight through the floating island as an escape route if the island, by some off chance, was ever surrounded. The dome that usually covered it had been retracted. The perimeter was being held by a few guards, but the place wasn't buzzing with quite the chaotic desperation Crystal had expected.

Crystal spotted Sharpie just next to the exit and landed next to him. "What's going on?" she said.

"Where the hell were you?" he barked. "If you'd gotten here earlier you would've been able to help out. Why didn't you leave right when you got the order?"

Crystal tried to look innocent. "Help out with what?" she asked.

"There were some arguments," Sharpie said. "Seems some of the Leaders wanted to leave, some wanted to defend the island. Where's your damn headset? What the hell happened to your wrist?"

"Easy on the cursing, Sharpie, it's not good for the kids," Crystal said, though she could've answered all his questions with one response. "So what's happened?"

"Some of the guards attacked in squadrons, with ukso," Sharpie said. "Others of us stayed here as a last line of defense, and prepared for evacuation. The attack seems to have panned out pretty well, though. We've commandeered most or all of the human ships now. You'd know this stuff if you had your freaking headset on, Crystal."

"Anything else I should know?"

"Yeah, we've just been informed by some Senser from the ground that humans are approaching the caves as well, but there's really nothing we can do about that at the moment, is there?" Sharpie snorted.

Crystal raised her eyebrows. "Well, you said things are looking fine here ..."

"Crystal, no," Sharpie said immediately. "You can't go down there unless you have orders!"

Crystal sighed, cast her eyes to the heavens, and debated for a few moments. "Sorry, Sharpie," she said. "Lost my headset. I don't have orders at the moment." One step right took her into the evacuation exit, where she spread her wings. She glided downward quickly, the exit being designed for easy but fast aerodynamics, and headed for the clone caves.

[Ben]

Come on! None of you guys had any ideas for [I]four[/I] days? Sheesh, a guy can't even go on vacation around here anymore...

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Having realized what the humans were most likely doing, Ben leapt out of the ship, inconveniantly forgetting that he lacked the strength to psychically aid his descent. He dropped like a stone.

He tried to muster what power he could, but he knew it would not be nearly enough. Then, he saw a bird-clone emerge from the underside of the Bird-Dwelling, heading right for the caves. Using the finite power he was able to gather, he redirected his fall to be beneath her. When she spread her wings and caught the wind, he lashed out with his tongue and grabbed her by the foot.

The two of them, with her wings acting like a parachute, slowed in their descent. The bird-clone was kicking her feet wildly, trying to kick Ben off. Ben could tell that even with the slowing of the bird-clone's wings, their impact would be extremely painful.

Not knowing what to do, Ben glanced around frantically. A catapult beneath them fired, it's arm remaining upward. Ben shifted his weight until they were above the catapult. Then he swung the bird-clone up into his arms and launched his tongue at the catapult's arm. He caught it and swung around, landing heavily on the ground, bruised but not badly hurt.

He stood up and helped the bird-clone to her feet.

"So, what's your name?" Ben asked her.

"Crystal." she answered, then punched him in the face.

[Solo Tremaine]

OOC: Sorry Ben >_<
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Alaris marched the troops over the rocky terrain, hurrying as fast as they could to the main gates of the caves. Although well-armoured, the armadillo-clones were fairly sluggish. As was he, laden with his heavy battle-uniform.

They arrived at a steep slope, at the bottom of which was a gulley, well-trodden by clones. They were very near the main entrance.

Eerily, he couldn't hear any noise. Only the sound of the wind and the quiet shuffling of the troops met his ears. He hoped they'd beaten the main forces to it. Or even better, had been wrong about the entire false front.

They slid clumsily onto the narrow pathway and trudged on ahead. Lining the rocks next to them were the remnants of the crystals which the clones used to line their dark corridors. He ran his claws along them apprehensively as they carried on down the path.

Something snapped under his foot. He looked down. A splinter of oak. But that meant-

[i]"Fizz!"[/i]

A red bolt of light shrieked past his head. He dived for cover behind the corner, narrowly avoiding getting hit by two more shots. The two human sentries had seen them. One was probably going back inside for reinforcement.

"Ready your shields!" he yelled back at the others. The armadillo-clones unhooked their defensive covers from their backs and readied them for a charge.

"Go!"

[Neoclone-7]

Karokku was just outside the outskirts of the capital when he heard sharp, quick footsteps. He stopped moving and lay perfectly still, barely above the surface of the water, listening and watching. A minute slid by and the source of the footsteps appeared. A squadron of thirty heavily armed human troops was filing towards the capital.

Humans! Down... here? Could they be attacking?

Without so much as a ripple he floated over to the shore and clambered up behind them.

Letting out a bellow he charged forward, jaws gaping. The troops turned around. Karokku crashed into them like a tidal wave. Bodies flew as he caught several in his massive jaws. He crushed their bodies like paper, blood spraying about. They pulled out their guns and started firinng. He lashed about with his tail, crushing their torsos. Laser fire sprayed into his sides, searing his scaled flesh. Whipping around he swung his massive maw forward to crush another mouthful of human troops. Only ten troops remained and they fought madly. He took several shots to the face before crushing three in his jaws. He broke four more in half with a swing from his tail. The last three he killed with a toss directly into the cave walls.

Karokku looked slowly over the carnage, before turning towards the opening to the capital. Blood seeped from the many gashes inflicted by the lasers. He then trundled towards the city, to tell the elders of the invasion of the caves.

[terra]

"Un[i]believable[/i]," Crystal fumed, as the chameleon-clone reeled back slightly. "Now I see why we get our [i]own[/i] dwelling. They're savages, no wonder they have to live in [i]caves[/i]!" Crystal paused to check her left wrist. It was no better from their dramatic fall, but really no worse, either.

"Ben, pleased to meet you," the other muttered, gingerly touching his eye. "I suppose I partially deserved that."

"[i]Partially[/i]!?!" Crystal exploded.

He rolled his eyes. "I believe we have more important things to worry about than our own little spat," he told her coolly, in a mockingly polite tone. "I apologize most [i]sincerely[/i] for using you to break my fall, but my powers were a little weak from all the help I gave you guys in protecting your 'own dwelling.' "

Crystal set her jaw. "I'm supposed to believe you were helping us?"

"Yes," he said. "Think of the ride down as a return favor. What are you doing down here, anyway?"

"Er ... I was sent to help out in the caves," Crystal said quickly.

"Just one of you?" Ben said.

Crystal shrugged. "Guess they have great faith in me," she said, lying through her teeth.

"All right," he shrugged. "Guess we should get to it then. There are humans in the cave right now."

"In -- [i]in[/i] the caves?" Crystal said.

"Wow, you're quick," Ben smirked. "Let's hope you're just as helpful in battle."

With that jibe, he turned and started darting nimbly across the terrain, completely unfamiliar to Crystal. She gave a sigh of irritation and followed.

[Ben]

Terra, I [I]love[/I] your portrayal of my character. :D
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Ben led Crystal to a small cave entrance hidden beneath a dried up bush. He just barely was able to squeeze in. Crystal slid in quite easily, she being of a slighter frame. Ben cursed softly as noticed he had cut his arm coming in.

"Have some trouble?" asked Crystal sweetly. "I fit in quite easily."

"Yeah, you really ought to eat more." said Ben.

"Why you impuden-" she began, but Ben covered her mouth. She struggled for minute but stopped, seeing what had made him silence her. It was a human, a scout, judging by his light armament. Even as she watched, Crystal quietly removed Ben's hand and drew her crossbow. Taking careful aim, she set the crossbow to her shoulder and fired.

The shot didn't kill the human, as her intent had been, but it hit him in the shoulder and knocked him to the ground. He stood up and looked around, frightened and confused. He began walking backwards, closer to the clone dwellings. He winced once, and in that instant, Ben leapt. He tackled the human and they both landed on the floor, grappling. The human managed to somehow get on top of Ben and drew a knife in his good hand. Ben grabbed that hand with his own then launched his tongue into the human's face. The human was knocked off of Ben by the force of the blow and crawled towards the knife. But Crystal was there and she kicked the human in the face. The human flew back and landed, unconscious.

Just then a group of armadillo-clones charged in, chasing another human. Ben fired a metal disk from his bracelet that caught the human in the leg, driving him to the ground.

[Yoda]

NOTE: With Ben's permission I have changed my character. Please visit the sign up's to get the information on my new character.
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Xouzin felt terribly conflicted. He had been given so many responsibilities lately, ones that now, he realised, he could not handle. Cursed with a deadly disease, cursed with an unusual lust for a feline, cursed with the natural gift of leadership that made him the Alpha male of the wolves. He realised now, his loyalty must not be to the clones, but to the wolves. They were a pack animal, they would survive alone. Wolves must not die to save the lives of insects or cattle... that was not the law of nature. That was not survival of the fittest.

He realised now that he had to survive, no matter what the outcome of this battle was. A wolf was smart enough to know when to flee, and he did so now. He dived into the caves, running furiously into the depth's. He would go deeper than any human would dare... he would take the bodies of cattle clones for food. He would not die today, it was not his time.

[I]His mind was being ravaged by the rabies with which he suffered, but to him what he was doing was perfectly logical. Perhaps one day... he would be cured of the growing insanity.[/I]

Xythe watched the human scout from his position on the ceiling. With every breath he took, the smell of human sweat infested his pores and excited him. It was the smell of fear. The human had a torch, and he used it to look in every direction... except upwards. That would be his last mistake.

Xythe let out a sonar pulse into the caves, and waited the split second it took for the messages to reach him again. He saw the scout as clearly as if it were broad daylight... and he was an eagle. He released his grip on the rocks above, and began to drop head first to the floor. He whipped his arms outward, spreading his wings, altering his trajectory to bring him straight down on top of the scout. Only meters above the scout, he torked his legs forward, flipping his body around silently. With the slightest of thuds, he landed inches behind the scout, white fangs gleaming in the darkness.

The scout, who was moving backwards, took another step, and his shoulders bumped Xythe's massive chest. The scout, in complete shock, began to whip his body around, but Xythe's left arm whipped around, his left hand gripping the base of the scout's chin. With a quick outward motion of his hand, there was a loud snap, and then silence.

Xythe's ears twitched suddenly. Footsteps, charging footsteps. The sound was deafening to his sensitive hearing. Then he heard a sharp whizzing, and a crunch. He had heard that sound many times before.

[B]Xythe:[/B] So... Benny's here. We'll have to go see him.

The disturbance was not far away, it was, as far as Xythe could tell, in a connecting cave roughly 400 metres north. Xythe spread his wings, and darted through the tight chasms effortlessely, heading towards Ben.

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Another note... Xythe is somewhat psychotic. He laughs at random things, calls himself "we" half the time, that sort of thing.

[Solo Tremaine]

Alaris plunged his sword into the fallen human's chest. It let out a low moan of agony, shortly before falling back onto the ground, limp and lifeless. His eyes darted around the room, making sure there were no other armed humans around.

He gestured to four of the clone soldiers and pointed down a tunnel. "Secure the area and kill any humans you find in the tunnels."

In the corner, he noticed something moving. Readying his sword, he took up a battle stance.

"Hey, careful with that sword. We're friends," a chameleon-clone said quickly, emerging from the shadows.

"Oh, right," Alaris sighed, lowering his sword. "Are you alright?"

"We're fine," the chamelon answered back, gesturing to Crystal. Alaris rolled his eyes. So far, the defense of the Capital was close to laughable. A small chameleon and a bird-clone were the only ones he'd come across, save for a mongoose hiding underneath a chair.

"Wha- is this all of you?"

[terra]

OOC: Thanks, Ben. I aim to please.

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Crystal shrugged. "Better than nothing, right?" she said. "I'm sure we can do some damage. I mean, at least as much as your four little soldiers."

The other clone raised an eyebrow. Crystal wasn't sure quite [i]what[/i] he was ... porcupine? " 'Little'? " he said pointedly.

They were interrupted from a full-scale argument by the swooping in of something dark and cackling, fluttering quickly through the air and heading straight for Ben. Automatically, Crystal aimed for it with her crossbow, though she realized a split second later that there was no way it was human.

"Don't," Ben said, sounding almost bored as the creature flew directly at him, laughing hysterically and banking right just in time to avoid a collision. The thing landed -- on the ceiling, hanging upside down.

"Benny," it said, a harsh whisper that reverberated oddly among the cave walls.

Crystal pretended this was a normal occurrence. Perhaps it was, after all she wouldn't know, having never been in the clone caves before. At the moment, she was wondering just why she'd broken the rules to come down here anyway ...

A recognizable voice spoke in her mind. [i]Broke the rules, huh? I thought so.[/i]

She glanced over at Ben, who was smiling. "Oh, shut up," she said aloud, ignoring the puzzled look of the, er, beaver-clone. "I'm Crystal," she introduced herself to the others briefly. "Now what the hell are we going to do to help out with this little problem of the invasion?"

[Raiha]

[color=royalblue][i]The blood rose in her eyes, and she could feel her other senses retracting to make room. Taste and touch resigned their grip, letting smell, sight, and hearing take over. The first humans entered her field of vision. With two swift leaps, she overtook their downward flight and opened their throats. Two slashes, and it was over. She turned in a tight circle, tail whirling around to balance her out. Her claws dug into the stone and she growled to herself.

Another one was coming, his fear was a deadly marker in her thoughts. She prowled down the hall, turned up into the next cavern and found him leaning over. She jumped, only to feel his gun bat her in the mouth. She spat the blood into his face, then gave him a new mouth across his throat.

His blood was delicious, but definetly not necessary. A bloodhigh was the last thing she needed....her better judgement served her that purpose only.

"....come out come out...."[/i][/color]

[Ben]

"We're going to stop it, obviously." said Ben, answering Crystal's question.

"Just us?" said Crystal skeptically.

"Benny here thinks we can." said the bat-clone with a cackle. "We are inclined to be believe Benny."

"I'm not." said Crystal flatly.

"You'll have to forgive Xythe here." said Ben. "He refers to himself as 'we' most of the time."

"We do not!" protested Xythe.

"Uh, is he all right?" asked Alaris hesitantly.

"He's fine, just a little crazy." replied Ben. Instantly, he detected the words [I]"A little?"[/I] from the minds of everyone in the vicinity.

"It's okay Benny." said Xythe. "We admit that we have our faults."

"Regardless," said Alaris, cutting through the talking. "What happened to everyone else?! Why are we the only ones here? The Militia should be here fighting already. Instead it's just us and a handful of my forces."

"That's a very good question." admitted Ben. "Let me see what I can find."

Ben closed his eyes. He felt his mind become seperate from his body, flying through the caves, searching for any hint of the other clones. There was not a trace. He looked deeper...and deeper...until finally he found them. They had fled the Capital and the dwellings. But why? What could drive them out?

"Uh, Benny." said Xythe urgently.

"What Xythe?" asked Ben, still concentrating on his search.

"We are detecting a large number of cave scorpions in the Capital. And a couple of them nearby."

They heard a gurgling scream. From around the corner an armadillo-clone flew through the air and smashed into the wall, painting the wall with its blood.

[Solo Tremaine]

Alaris ran over to the fallen soldier and knelt down beside him. He felt the warm blood trickling over his claws as he held the armadillo-clone's hread up slightly.

"Tarrik, where ae the others?" he whispered.

"I... I'm sorry, Ax... the-" he writhed upwards in a horrific arc and vomited a fountain of blood onto the floor. A few seconds later, after three tired and ragged breaths, he slumped over, his eyes staring soullessly into his commander's. They had to leave.

An ominous clicking echoed through the dimly-lit tunnels, above the distant sounds of gunfire, screams and the wind whistling down the rocky passageways. The cave scorpions were getting nearer.

He edgeded back towards the others, trying to tear his gaze away from the now lifeless eyes of his former friend, the blood on his claws glistening sickeningly in the light of the crystals.

"I think..." but he couldn't think straight any more. Tarrik's body lay motionless at the other side of the room, and he couldn't do anything to save him.

"Where can we run?"

[Losing Faith]

Eclestios strolled forward, as quietly as his massive form allowed. Two of his comrades lumbered along behind him; tails and pedipalps clicking in anticipation. All of them had human blood staining their dark carapaces. Eclestios in particular. He had three humans hanging from his tail as he crunched towards the smell of other clones.

All of them were still alive. Moaning. He had had four of them, earlier, but, had need to use one of their bodies. They had come across a small contingent of humans a few moments ago. The burning arcs of flamethrowers had singed his thick exoskeleton; just before he'd hurled the fourth body at them and put them to the ground.

After that, he'd simply stomped on them; mushing their bones to powder, their organs to jelly. He slammed his pincers around a corner and lifed a writhing female human into the air; slinging her against a wall with enough force to split her body down the middle.

He twisted along; like an insect; and rumbled closer to the scent of fear and desperation. Something clicked and one of his comrades dropped to the ground. The remaining two lifted him as a shield and continued on.

[Ben]

"Who says that we're to run?" says Ben.

"Someone who wants to live...?" suggested Crystal.

"Fine, you two can leave. Xythe and I can take care of them." said Ben. Then he turned to Xythe. "How many are there?"

Xythe screeched. Then he cocked his ears, listening. "Three, and two more further behind...feeding."

"If you two plan on leaving, now would be the time." said Ben. The bracelets on his wrists pulsed blue.

"What are these cave scorpions? I've heard stories about them, but they sounded greatly exaggerated." said Crystal.

"They're bigger than a horse and have very thick armor." said Alaris quietly. "Nearly impenetrable at its thickest parts."

"They've also got large pincers and a venomous sting." said Xythe. "Though if you were struck by the tail, chances are the venom won't have time to take effect."

"You've got to be kidding me." said Crystal skeptically.

Then she screamed, clutching her head. Ben ahd projected the image of a cave scoprion into her mind. Unfortunately, the only memory Ben had of cave scorpions was of them massacring a camp of boar-clones.

"Why did you show me that?" she asked, trembling.

"Because you needed to know what we're up against. Humans are babies compared to these things." Ben answered quietly.

"I think I'd rather get out of here before they arrive." she said.

Xythe cackled. "Too late."

Three cave scorpions had just rounded the corner, converging on Tarrik's body.

"Go for the mouths and undersides if you can." said Ben, then he rushed forward to meet the huge beasts.

[Yoda]

Xythe crouched, then leapt upwards, whipping out his wings as he did so. He went into an arking swoop, bringing himself head on towards one of the scorpions. The scorpion spotted his silhouette instantly, and braced itself into an attack position, claws beared before itself, tail high in the air. Xythe's swoop took him into contact with the floor only inches before he would hit the scorpion. The momentum of the impact put him into a roll that took him underneath the scorpion, as a giant tail whipped forward like a lightning bolt, striking the floor inches behind Xythe, sending a small tremor out into the cave.

Xythe stopped on his back underneath the scorpion. Scorpion's kept their undersides dangerously close to the floor when moving, only when fighting did they rear up enough for a figure like Xythe to fit under. Xythe reared his arms back, claws beared, and he dug them into the scorpions underside. He heard a small yelp of pain, but heardly noticed it, the incision had given him the scent of blood... and being a vampire bat, he acted upon it. He lunged forward, biting deep into the creatures belly, eyes watering with delight. Even through a mouth of scorpion flesh you could hear him chuckling, as he sucked quenching blood from the scorpion.

He gained control momentarily, knowing he had to move. He loosened his grip with his mouth, and rolled out to the side, dragging his claws along through the weakly armoured belly as he did so, opening several major wounds. He kicked up to his feet and jumped into the air without thinking, moments before another tail swoop struck the floor where he was...

[B]Xythe:[/B] Gyahahahaha... fun time!

[B]Crystal:[/B] Fun!? You call this fun!?

[terra]

Crystal watched as Ben rushed towards the foremost scorpion, shooting something small and wickedly fast from a bracelet as he did so. The scorpion tossed its head at the last possible second, and the disk caught him in the side of the mouth instead of right in the center, where Ben had been aiming.

The scorpion reared up, letting out a piercing sound that Crystal easily recognized as a mix between pain and anger, even though she'd never seen a beast like this before. Ben dropped to the floor, sliding towards the scorpion feet-first and pointing his bracelets towards the softer underside of the scorpion.

Crystal glanced over to one of the other scorpions, where Xythe appeared to be ... sucking its blood. The scene was unpleasant, to say the least, and she felt paralyzed by an unfamiliar sensation ... fear ...

[i]Crystal![/i] echoed briefly in her mind, and she looked back to Ben's fight. He was trapped underneath the scorpion, who seemed to have anticipated his attack and had clambered over him, bending its head down so that Ben was caught underneath it in a cage of legs. The scorpion's tail was darting in between its own legs, aiming at Ben each time, who was rolling half-blindly to avoid the attacks. Blood from the scorpion's underside was dripping down onto him, Crystal assumed he was getting some good hits in even though he seemed to be at a slight disadvantage, to say the least ...

She shook herself from her sarcastic thoughts and pulled out her twin daggers, twirling them out of habit before she rushed forward towards Ben's battle. [i]Aim for the mouth[/i], Ben's instructions replayed in her mind, and she bent down low to slam her right hand, blade first, into the scorpion's head. The scorpion reared back in pain, letting out that horrible sound again as Ben scrambled out from under it.

"Gyahahahaha ... fun time!" Crystal recognized Xythe's psychotic laughter even as she rushed forward to stab the scorpion's exposed belly, adding her own to the gaping wounds that Ben had already inflicted.

"Fun?!" Crystal said before she could stop herself. "You call this fun!?"

She couldn't help the thought that came an instant later -- [i]Yeah, it's not half bad.[/i]

[Ben]

Being now at close range, Ben changed his bracelets. They were blades now, short swords on the end of his arms. He parried away the scorpions pincers as they lashed out to crush him and slashed the beast across the face. It shrieked in pain and lashed out again, this time with its stinger. Ben again knocked it away, then leapt onto the creature's back. He drove his blade through the scorpion's head. The armor, though thick, could not protect well against a thrust. The creature shuddered, then collapsed.

Ben turned to see Xythe, in a blood frenzy, tearing apart the body of the scorpion he was fighting. His first attack had apparently severed several vital organs, as the scoprion was already dead. They wouldn't get any further help from him for a while, Ben surmised.

"Ben!' called Crystal.

Ben turned. Unnoticed, Alaris had engaged the third scorpion unaided. Unable to bear watching his fallen comrade be torn apart, he had placed himself between the scorpion and the corpse. Getting between a cave scorpion and food was [I]not[/I] a good idea. Ben watched helplessly as the scorpion's tail arched over head and lashed forward. Alaris, occupied as he was with the deadly pincers, did not see the tail coming and was struck in his left shoulder. He crumpled to the ground. Ben ran to help.

Before he had covered half the distance, however, another figure darted out of the shadows. It was Rena. She dove beneath the cave scorpion and clawed at the base of its tail. It severed, and the scorpion was left with little to defend itself from the attack from below. It back up, in an attempt to get and Rena with its pincers. Thsi maneuver was anything but helpful, as Rena merely tore up every inch of thick skin that passed her. The cave scorpion shuddered and fell, just as Rena darted out from beneath it. There was blood on her lips.

"[B]Does everyone here have to drink blood?![/B]" exclaimed Crystal.

"Quiet!" barked Ben. "I'm trying to concentrate."

Ben was kneeling over Alaris, pulling the venom out of the wound. It was not an easy task. The poison had traveled some distance into the bloodstream and therefore was difficult to remove. He strained. He identified the cells of the poison and gently pulled at them with his mind. The poison emerged from the pores of Alaris' unconscious body, glowing a bright blue. Then Ben set his mind to restoring the wound in Alaris' shoulder.

[Raiha]

[color=royalblue][i]She howled and sank her claws into the corpse, ripping anything she could feel, then recovered her mind and slunk over to Ben. He had removed the poison, cleaned the wound and was patching him up. Rena curled around them, scanning in every direction. Yet another scorpion came into view and she arched her back, spitting venemously.

It charged and she leapt. She avoided both the pincers and tail with a spring, then landed on its back, paw pinning the tail to the ground. It struggled and tried to squirm, only to have it's neck severed with a hefty bak kick from her paws. Rena howled and savaged the tail and pincers to the ground. Ben blinked to clear his vision of screaming wildcat and pouring scorpion blood.[/i]

Rena: ...idiots.

Alaris: You're insane!

Rena: ...that's what they tell me.

[i]She laughed and lightfooted over the corpse, turning to scan once more.[/i][/color]

[Neoclone-7]

Karokku stomped along listening for human, when he heard something much worse from behind.

Following the trail of blood he was leaving on the cave floor, were a group of six cave scorpions. He could take out one or two, maybe three, but six was well beyond him in this condition. He turned and ran. The scorpions looked up as he fled, and chased after pursuit.

He was well in front of them when he ran, but they slowly gained on him. One managed to get in range of his tail, and he whipped to the side knocking one of it's pincers off. It screamed in pain and rage, but was soon overtaken by the other scorpions which tore it apart. Still running, karokku quickly glanced back at the carnage.

He charged ahead, when above his heavy breath he heard the scorpions finish with their meal and take pursuit again. He whomped around a corner and bashed full force into a panther clone. He stopped immediately, sliding on the dirt floor a few inches before coming to a complete halt.

"What the hell!?" She shouted at him, scrambling back up, "Watch it!"

"Uh, sorry," he apologized ineptly, " But there's some--"

The cave scorpions charged into veiw interupting him. The panther leapt onto the first one's back before it could bring it's sting down. She bit into the flesh at the base of it's tail and raked it's mouth with her hind claws.
The other clones there attacked the rest of the bunch of scorpions. One of them, a lizard clone shot a disk of, something, into a scorpion's mouth slicing it's thick carapace open. Karokku stood at a loss for half a second before joining the battle.

Karokku bit into a torso, only leaving a web of cracks in it's shell. The scorpion, annoyed, whipped it's sting forward, hitting just above his leg, leaving a huge gouge in his flesh. Bellowing, he used his jaws to push the scorpion up enough to bite into it's soft underbelly and tear out it's organs, before falling to the ground.

[Solo Tremaine]

Alaris felt sick. The poison must still be having a slight afetr-effect. Not to mention the wildcat savaging the scorpions made his stomach turn.

He stood up groggily, giving Ben a look of thanks and apology. he wished he hadn't been so reckless, but... he'd lost Tarrik. It was a careless mistake, and the Youngers back at his home would surely derogate him for it.

[i]SLAM![/i] Another cave scorpion emerged from the tunnel, to be met by a head-on collision with the black cat's foot. It staggered backwards and collapsed, hissing as it tried to right itself.

Alaris reached for his sword. There would be time for self-pity later. Holding it in his good hand, he swung it through the air and brought it down hard on the scorpion's back. The serrated edge sent a crack across it's hard exo-skeleton and knocked it into an awkward position, but it was only a superficial wound, and a minor delay for the monster.

Watching the panther with caution and a slight look of repulsion, he addressed Ben, the only one out of those nearby he was sure to be able to trust.

"We can't stay here any more." he hissed, grimacing slightly as a twinge of pain shot through his shoulder. "The humans won't have survived past those cave scorpions- the Capital's a lost cause unless we can get rid of them, and that won't happen now."

[Ben]

"There's nobody in the Capital." said Ben. "They've all retreated somewhere."

"Where?" Alaris asked with a puzzled frown.

"That's just it, I don't [I]know[/I] where." said Ben.

"How can you not find them? You're supposed to be the pre-eminent Senser of the Dwellings." said Alaris.

"Please don't talk about things you don't understand." replied Ben with a pained look. "It's not that simple."

"Should we help her?" asked Alaris, pointing at Rena.

"She'll be fine." said Ben.

"She's trapped, you know." pointed out Alaris.

"She'll manage." said Ben confidently.

"It's about to sting!" said Alaris urgently.

"If it'll make you feel better, go and help her." he looked around. "I'm going to help that crocodile-clone."

Alaris was already running towards the cave scoprion, his sword in his good hand. Rena was encased in the cave scorpion's legs, just as Ben had been earlier. But rather than calling out for help as Ben did, she put her legs to its stomach and kicked. Alaris blinked. She had just tossed the cave scorpion into the air with her legs. To do that a clone would have to have legs like an ox.

In his dumbfounded pause, Alaris failed to notice that he was directly in the path of the cave scorpion. Crystal did, however and shoved him out of the way. He landed painfully on his shoulder. The cave scorpion, slightly dazed, advanced on Crystal, who was on the ground in front of it. Crystal aimed her crossbow, fired and then rolled out of the cave scorpion's path. The bolt went ight into the scorpion's mouth, tearing through its gullet and several other organs. It collapsed.

[Raiha]

[COLOR=royalblue][i]Rena was on a battle high, and probably wouldn't of noticed a direct punch to the face. Instead, she was busy decapitating yet another of the cave scorpions. They seemed to be coming from ...somewhere? She nudged Alaris and he got the picture. The two slunk off over the rock wall and found a crevice.

Rena narrowed her eyes. Crawling from some..where.....here... She was about to charge when Alaris grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back. The scorpions were thick, massing and then spiraling outwards. He slipped through unnoticed and she followed, feeling the sting of a thousand scorpions scuttle over her body. She shivered and crept after him, pads spreading outwards to muffle the sounds.

They turned inwards, looking for the hive.[/i][/COLOR]

[terra]

"Where the hell do they think [i]they're[/i] going?!" Crystal said, mostly to herself, as she noticed the panther-clone and the other weird thing slither into a hole in the wall. Out of which, she also noticed, hundreds of tiny scorpions appeared to be pouring.

"They're heading for the source," Ben yelled back at her, slashing forward into a cave scorpion with his bracelets as he did so. "And geez, he's a [i]pangolin[/i]."

"You know, I'm getting really sick of this know-it-all thing of yours," Crystal muttered, watching only semi-interestedly as Ben feinted left to dodge the snap of pincers. [i]And this scorpion thing is getting kind of old, too,[/i] she added to herself.

Even so, she dashed forward with a dagger raised high. A scorpion's tail was darting towards the crocodile-clone, and he was too massive to dodge out of the way quickly enough. Crystal slashed with all her might, cutting half of the tail off cleanly. It howled its pain and turned to face her, and Crystal was left without a plan in her head.

"Thanks," the crocodile-clone said gruffly, and slammed into the scorpion with all of his twelve-foot frame. Crystal raised her eyebrows as even the hard-as-nails scorpion was crushed against the wall, falling back onto the ground on its side. A leg still kicked feebly, and Crystal raised her dagger, plunging it down to rip a long gash down its stomach.

"Karokku," the crocodile-clone grunted.

"Crystal," she introduced herself briefly. "Ben, you done yet?"

"Yeah, I'm done," he said, getting up from the ground where he'd just finished tearing through the other scorpion's mouth and underbelly. "Seems to be a brief lull."

Just then, the enormous Karokku toppled to the ground, Crystal jumping to the side to avoid being crushed. She spotted something she'd failed to notice earlier, a gaping wound in his knee.

"The poison from the scorpions," Ben said grimly. "He's lucky to still be alive."

"Well, hurry up and do your thing so we can get out of here," Crystal said, pulling out her crossbow in case any more scorpions came by. She tried not to think too much about the much smaller scorpions that were slowly scuttling across the cave floor towards them.

Ben gave her a withering look, which Crystal chose to ignore, and bent over the crocodile-clone.