Book Two, Chapter Six: Traitor's Remorse

[albatross]

Ionic grins at Dante as his head is lopped from his body. Before it even hits the ground it reattaches itself and Ionic triggers an electrical field which does 1D6 damage to everyone within four foot radius four times per melee.

Hundreds of shadow beasts swarm them all, a giant ant is attacking Jeckle, though some might dimly remember that they already killed the ant. A Rhino is smashing the TK field around Strongbow and a giant Crane is attacking Kris, along with more than two dozen shadow beasts.

Suddenly, Kris feels a sense of loss. Without a doubt he knows that Khamai has been defeated and it feels like losing a friend. Kris doesn't have long to ponder the wretched feeling before the Crane knocks him down.

For some reason, as the shadow beasts close over all of them in piles of claws, it seems like they can hear crying in the darkness.

**************************************

Kris wakes up, and he is in the jungle. Jeckle, Dante, Strongbow and Steelfist are nearby. So is the Chinese soldier they captured. And Khamai is looking over him to see if he is alright.

Strongbow stirs, Kris can tell by the state of their armor that their defeat was not a dream - its obvious they were in an awful fight. But none of them seems to be wounded or hurt at all, and the forest is quiet in the night.

[dakota]

Kris rubbed Khamai's chin as he sat up. " Everyone okay? Better question, whot the bloody hell just happened?"

[Dome]

Dante struggles to consciousness, finally coming awake he jumps to his feet and holds his sword at the ready. He looks around to see everyone there, alive and well. He drops his sword hand and looks at Kris.

"Dude what a trip. Man I don't know, but I hope it doesn't happen again."

He sheaths his sword and goes over to Jeckle, kneeling down he looks into her face to see if she to is ok. "Hey there Jeckle, how are you? Its all over, We're alive."

[shiivster]

*Jeckle gasps once as the eyes snap open and she sits up looking about. she then checks the location of her coat and the gear in it before responding.

'i'm sposed to be dead. took a blast pointblank to the chest. really hurt too '

*her mind looks about the immediate area and tries to place where everyone was BEFORE she blacked out. then she takes the time to look at Ionic and then the eyes narrow.

'hope you got paid big bucks to betray us ... cause i won't forget what you did ... '

[dakota]

Khris got to his feet and went to check on Strongbow as he listened to the others, who had taken more of a beating than anyone from what he'd seen. " You still with us?" He asked as he dropped to one knee beside her.

[albatross]

Strongbow sits up, looks around, and then looks at her hand and notices her ring... She looks away for a moment and rubs her eyes, not speaking she nods at Kris' question and waves her hand as if to indicate she is alright. And in fact, her tears are tears of joy, overcome with emotion.

The Chinese soldier starts babbling excitedly. Steelfist starts to translate, but Kris doesn't need it. Two presences approach. One is Pantera, and the other is Tiger.

Moving quickly, they arrive at the camp. Tiger surveys the team. "Where is Ionic?" She asks quickly as she dismounts the Tiger.

Strongbow turns back to face the team, "He betrayed us and killed Pacifica and..."

[shiivster]

*Jeckle listens .. then looks at Tiger and her ring beast then looks about once again and ponders something

'everyone .. call your beasts ... i have a wonder here. i remember getting shot in the chest and then the electricity hit then it was all black. i recall that Ionic did it, but he isn't here. can anyone see if the other soldiers are here? .. if not .. we might be 'dead' to that world and in a place the beasts live. and most likely a step closer to where we really have to go ... all in all, it's better than burning alive and being aware of it'

[albatross]

"He brought us back to life." Tiger said slowly, finishing Strongbow's thought and responding to Jeckle.

"Many of the soldiers are dead, but I saw some wounded ones in the distance."

"We're alive, I'll prove it...." She dismounts and walks up to the Chinese soldier. He starts mumbling in Chinese. Holds out her hand, her palm extended. He hands over his ring. Tiger punches him in the gut and he falls to his knees, clutching his stomach and wheezing. "If he wasn't alive, doubt that would hurt."

Then tiger pulls a Chinese AK-47 off her shoulder and hands it to him. In Chinese she says, [If you try to call this thing ever again, I will know it. And I'll hunt you down. Understood?]

The soldier gets unsteadily to his feet and salutes.

"Now," Tiger continues in English. "The plane is clear, but the way to the beach is blocked by shadow beasts and tank wreckage. Which is fine with me, because I don't want to escape and have Ionic and his phoenix hunt me down for the rest of my life."

"Here is the plan: We get as many of our creatures as possible in range of Ionic. If he can bring us back to life, then both he and the Phoenix likely have the power to resurrect each other. These creatures seem to share power with us. In order to counter that, they will both need to be killed at the same time."

"The phoenix' flames are visible on the far side of the hill. There is a perimeter of shadow beasts standing guard. Kris will provide cover fire, and I'll punch through the line and make a hole for everyone else. Khamai and Pantera will scale the hill with Dante, his horse, Jeckle, and her unicorn. Steelfist will fly low on Glaurung, with Strongbow and the dove and Steelfist all on the dragon's back." Tiger looks to the Chinese soldier, who nods, "He'll go with you too."

"Once you get over the hill, you must all attack the Phoenix and Ionic at the same time. Dante, you must use your powers to try to change their minds. If they brought us back to life, then they must be somewhat conflicted about the betrayal. Work on it. Try to get them to surrender. But don't hold back in attacking, if you hold back against those two they'll kill us all."

"Any questions?"

[shiivster]

'i've only got a few c4 beads left .. uhh .. Tiger? how did you get back? where did you go? someone was panicked cause you vanished. i was asleep so i had no clue you vanished. still can't figure it out'

*Jeckle simple goes through her joints from top to bottom, checking herself over for damaged body parts. then summons her flying horse

'can you carry me? can you carry 2?' *her mind is thinking IF Kirin can carry 2, then they can carry Dante and he can summon his companion closer to the ambus site and lessen the noise of hoofbeats on the ground

[albatross]

Tiger thinks about her return for a moment. "I don't think I'll ever know the answer to that. If I had to guess, I'd say I was brought back by the resurrection of the Squirrel. I don't think the Squirrel could exist if wasn't alive - and I don't think I can exist if the Squirrel is dead."

[dakota]

Khris did his best to hide his elation at Tiger's return, but couldn't help but blush at Jeckle's comments. " find myself a good spot. Khamai, you stick with Pantera, okay?" he said to the chameleon. He did manage a "welcome back" with a grin as his rifle appeared in his hands when an idea struck him and he spoke to the chinese soldier, pointing at the AK-47," Do you use tracers?"

[albatross]

Tiger translates for the soldier, "There's none in the AK, but he'll use them if you have a gun." Tiger's keeps eye contact with Kris just a bit longer than necessary, "Why?"

[shiivster]

'shadow beasties need to be hit hard and fast. the tracers hit with a harder punch than most of hte other ammo. dangit .. he took my coat with him .. wonder if he dropped in or kept it?'

*Jeckle goes quiet now and busies herself with the unicorn with wings. content just to run her hands over the hide then grips the mane with a hand and hops with hand on the shoulders and with a few kicks and wiggles is now draped over the shoulder and looks at the head turned toward her 'what? .. i see this all the time but i'm unsure what to do now .. its gonna hurt riding you ... isn't it? well they said the scars will stretch before tearing ,, now don't move .. '

*that being said, with a few more movements and a near tumble headfirst, she finally gets on and sits up and for once is facing the right way. 'jeez that's harder than physio ever was .... '

[albatross]

Tiger nods, "Yes, I remember now. Shadow beasts' weaknesses are fire and light. Tracers do both basically. Great idea."

She steps aside slightly to stand closer to Kris for a moment, "We've got to get Khamai and Pantera through the shadow beasts. Both of them are great fighters and they'll be needed. Once the rest get through, we'll distract the shadow beasts and give them time to fight the phoenix one pair against many."

"I'll ride Pantera til I get into revolver range. Cover Khamai and Pantera's advance - shoot the shadow beasts that are closest to stopping them. Don't cover me until they are both clear - even if it comes down to hand to hand I'll be able to fight my way out. Pantera's power guides my attacks - I took down the Squirrel in one shot and it was as big as a buffalo. Just be sure to start covering me once they are clear because I might need to be in the thick of things to punch them through."

Once Dante has mounted behind Jeckle and the Chinese soldier and Strongbow have climbed up on the dragon, Tiger guides everyone to a break in the trees.

A dull glow can be seen beyond the ridge. With infrared vision aides, they can see that the shadow beasts have formed a wall along the lower part of the hill, all the way across the island. Some of them are carrying guns.

"Khamai goes first, try to sneak across." Tiger says. Khamai moves quickly, and stealthily and easily avoids the shadow beasts. In fact, everyone on the team loses track of where Khamai is except for Kris, who can feel when he's crossed the line of shadow guards.

Tiger leaps up onto Pantera, who is around twelve feet tall, a monsterous tiger at the moment. "Wait til I start shooting, then try to fly over." Tiger says, and with a glance back towards the tree line where she knows Kris must be hiding somewhere she and Pantera streak out of the woods and up the hill.

The shadow beasts notice her right away, and converge from all sides towards her. Some of them start shooting, but she ignores the crossfire, guiding the tiger towards where the defenses are weakest.

[shiivster]

*Jeckle looks at Khris 'happy hunting .. ' *then turns her attention to Tiger and waits for the shooting from her to start.

'wings ready Kirin? i hope i can stay on, but i'll trust you' *she holds on with fingers about the mane and pats the shoulder and neck of her mount while waiting. the action is more from nerves showing the 'jitters' than anything else. 'get ready and hold on there Dante'