Mountain Range, Per-Perel border

[Ringlets]

~ Per-Perel is the second continent of Second Earth, however it contains no major cities or civilian populus. The majorityof the landscape is dominated by jungle and mountains. The mountains conceal the peninsula from outside eyes, and a government barrier prevents anyone from entering further south. The public belief is that there is a large volcanoe dominating the centre, which the Gureino have found great interest in.


Tigersura

As the many stars surrounding the planet offered little light to see, the young man viewed his surroundings from his mountainous viewpoint. To his right, the high peaks of the border spread for miles, offering little vision of what lay in that direction. To his left, he could see the dark blue rhythmic swaying of a large bay that spread out into the Izquierda Gulf. Along the shore, what looked from this vantage point only to be small houses, were infact huge ports which sanctioned the delivery of arms and forces into this area. As to why they were being delivered was why this man was here. He began his journey in Viridia, at the secret headquarters of the Freedom Power Rebels. Althought its position remained a secret in paper, it was not the most difficult hideout to discover if you spent more than two minutes looking. This trust in the lack of patience of those in the Gureino Government assigned to look for the FPR was what kept it hidden.

From this hideout, the young man had moved discretely across the extremely tight protected borders of The Gureino Government and had smuggled himself aboard a military transport vessel. This process, as he discovered, was not going to be as easy as his bosses had informed him. Instead of simply sneaking past guards with erotica magazines covering their snoozing faces, he had to follow a young recruit into a toilet, dispose of him, take his uniform and join the ranks. This, however, also proved not to be as easy, as the man had chosen a day where a high ranking Gureino official had come to see the troops off. Performing a vaguely remembered Salute routine from his days as a Gureino soldier among a platoon of monochrome recruits, he borded the military vessel.

This 2 day journey brought back awquard memories of his days in the service. From the outside, in public performances or recruitment adverts placed through Sabelle, the Gureino services seemed extremely enlightening. Lifting homeless children from flood planes of Vermilla into medi-evac helicopters, playing sports with children in insurgency villages and having an overall good time with your fellow men was far from the truth. Everyone in the forces was either there through force, either by families or state regulations, or there because they wanted to be the best. Both of these scenarios made each and every recruit smug, agressive and eager to, if not kill, then harm considerably. Despite this making it slightly easier for the young man to fit in, the living conditions were still poor. The clichés of luncheon lines being served a greenish grey paste and the sleeping quarters consisting of poor quality hammocks only half a metre distance from the recruit above or below you were both lived on this vessel. By the time the agent had left the vessel, he almost forgot that he was no longer part of the service...

Having then escaped the ghosts of his past, he moved swiftly through the jungle region of Per-Perel. Despite having visited all the states of Sabelle, the new environment troubled the young man. The eerie noises of undiscovered animals and the thick shrubery rustling in the dark kept the agent at full awareness and pace. As he headed north-west from the ports, the scenery changed from jungle, to open flatland, and finally to the mountain range. A 3 day hike up a sometimes vertical mountain face proved no challenge to the agent. He enjoyed the mixture of adrenaline and fear, one forcing him not to look down, but the other edging him to jump into the abyss. Although he had spent his hike having no visibility of what was around him beyond a few meters, when he reached his vantage point only 200 metres from the peak, he was surprised to have a clear view. His superiors told him that the suspected volcanoe in the centre of this region created spontaneous plumes of hot air, that gave someone high enough a view of the entire region.


A sudden pocket of hot air against his chilled face brought Tigersura back to the present. Moving his vision from the left to the centre, he faced his next obstacle. Although thousands of meters up, the blue ambience of the mile high plasma gate was easy to see. This oddly beautiful structure stood between two unpassable lines of mountains, meaning the gate was blocking the only passage to the other side. Although plasma in its regular state was viscous, the voltage regulators around the frame of the gate created a lethal power. It was easy to pass through the gate, just staying alive was difficult. Removing his binoculars from his pack, he looked at the frame. Althought from afar it looked simply like a box, on closer inspection, smaller lines crossed horizontally across the box. Taking his mind quickly to the 5 explosive charges in his pack, he quickly decided against demolition. Any act of terrorism in any square inch of the planet was quickly reported to the high office in Neguro, and every platoon within 100 miles was airlifted to the region. Tigersura then thought a more job-descriptive approach was nessecary. Rolling out his bedpack, he led down, closed his eyes, and waited for morning.



Sorry if its long, but all my games are broken, so my time is not the best spent thing ever.

[Ringlets]

Sleep offered few dreams for Tigersura. "Once you've seen most of the world," he thought to himself after waking up after hours of darkness "you have nothing to dream about". This night was no exception. He had often been encouraged by friends in the Freedom Power Rebels to go and see a psychiatrist, but he waved them aside. He would joke about finding the stereotypical long shrink-sofas uncomfortable, but this was simply a mask covering one simple truth. He was afraid of the past and the truths it would reveal about him and his lifestyle. It was as he thought this when the first speck of sun light appeared over the hills and stirred his mind from restless nothing. It was time to go.

Having impatiently scoffed a handfull of rations, he began to roll up his bedpack. It was now when his SD4 portable phone began ringing its annoying interpretation of Beethovens 5th. Tigersura immeadiatly recognized the caller by the ringtone, and made no rush in rummaging through his pack to find the device. Finally finding the small, silver-chrome flip-phone, he flipped the top and pressed the cell to his face.

"I'm busy," he said bluntly.

"Sleeping, eating rations and packing up your bed?" Replied the Mission Director of the FPR Michelle Littlewood.

Tigersura despised the woman, not simply because she despised him, but because she didnt trust him. In her own words, she "didn't trust him as far as she could throw him". Tigersura couldn't help but laugh at the irony when he was told this. Michelle Littlewood was easily stronger than the average FPR recruit, and her combat speciality was hand to hand. He pondered for a split second as to how she knew he was doing little, until he caught a reflection of the sun from the corner of his eye. He spun round to see a floating sphere of metal, only 20 centimetres in diameter with a camera lens protruding from the front, facing him.

"Smile, Tigersura. You look so sad on your own."

"I wouldn't be so goddamn annoyed if you hadn't insisted i went alone. Now is there a reason for you using an unsecure line to contact your currently most secretive operative?" As he said this, the phone clicked off.

Tigersura closed the lid, placed the phone back in his pack, and turned back to face the X-22 Surveilance Camera floating at head height. The sphere was currently making a series of beeps and clicks, meaning someone was engaging its telecommunication systems. The X-22 was the FPRs most widely used form of surveilance. Its hydrogen propulsion engine meant it could sustain power at full speed for over 48 hours (its full speed being a staggering 40mph). Its platinum shell meant it could withstand any acidity and pressure, and could withstand tempuratures all the way to 500 degrees. It had been the X-22 that had been spying on secret meetings in the Daon Tower and had discovered the Gureino Government had operations based in the supposedly empty Per-Perel region. It was this machine that Tigersura had to thank for being where he was now. As he thought this, the machine emmitted a quick burst of highpitched feedback, as if someone was holding a microphone to its speaker. Tigersura clapped his hands to his ears in pain and glared at the sphere in anger.

"Oh, whoops!" The Director's voice emmitted from the X-22, clearly enjoying his pain.

"Stupid bitch! You know the Gurei bastards have alti-phones embedded all over these hills, are you trying to get me killed?! Now is there a reason i'm being bothered by you?"

"Calm down, alright. What i'm about to tell you might help you," Tigersura couldn't help but laugh at this. The best help he would expect Michelle Littlewood to offer him would be a cyanide pill. "We managed to get this X-22 over the plasma gate last night and found these switches in the guard house," as she said this, a flap opened on the side of the sphere and projected a small holographic image of what appeared to be 3 red levers embedded into a wall protected by two guards armed with highly powered ion-guns.

"By the security we can only guess that these switches control either the security cameras in the area, or hopefully, the plasma gate itself. Whichever scenario, it means that we can get more agents over to aid you in your surveilance of the area. Turn these levers off, your reward is increased by half. Can you get that around your tiny brain?" Up until then, Tigersura thought she might go one breifing without insulting him.

"I turn off these switches, you send over inexperienced fodder from your platoon to do my job and i go home to more dough? Sounds good. Whats the kill limit here?"

"You have clearance 5. Be glad the higher ups have faith in you. If it were up to me, i would've sent you over naked with no more then a tatoo on your forehead saying "whiney bitch" ,"

"Listen you fu-" Tigersura geared up his insult wheel, but he was interrupted before he could go any further.

"No more talking. I'm bored with this breifing. Do your duty, then fall off the mountain or something, i don't care. Have fun"

Before he could reply, the X-22 accelerated behind him. Calmly, retaining his anger, Tigersura reached to his waist, pulled out his pistol, inserted a magazine, cocked the gun, took aim, and fired. The X-22 exploded in a small puff of smoke, sending tiny components down the mountain face. Slinging his pack over his back and placing his pistol back in its holster, he jumped off the mountain ledge, landed in a ditch of deep snow, and continued towards the plasma gate. As he sprinted down the face with extreme agility, he remembered what he had been told.

You have clearance 5. Clearance 5. Kill that which needs be. Althought nothing ever needed be killed in these situations, Tigersura's anger would get the better of him in the upcoming combat.

[Ringlets]

Thud

“Dead,”

Thud

“Yup, dead, all dead.”
Although not as exciting as combat, checking if a foe is dead by kicking their helmet off was a lot easier than fighting them, especially in the conditions Tigersura had left himself with. For starters, he was angry. Because he was angry, he rushed into combat. And because he rushed into combat, he didn’t take the time to engage celerity or to scan his opponents. His foolishness had now cost his a small portion of his thigh from a hidden sniper. Although usually agile regardless of condition, managing to still dispose of the sniper with one shot to the head from 100 metres, without celerity, he couldn’t avoid the ion-charged sniper bullet now lodged into his calf. Looking at the small gouge in his flesh, he unsheathed his sabre from his back. About to manoeuvre the blade into his flesh to remove the bullet, he noticed the dark shimmering substance.

“Friggin’ Gurei blood.” He murmured impatiently. He remembered how he had begun the skirmish forgetting the limit of his abilities. Attempting to dispatch two guards by throwing his sword in such a way so that it dispatched his foes and then boomeranged back to his hand proved useless without celerity. Instead, the blade met his first target, and embedded into his chest, rather cutting it and moving around to the next target. As the combat continued, he guessed that as his blade was left unhandled, the guard’s blood simply seeped onto the blade, leaving Tigersura with what was now drying quickly in the midday sun of the guard outpost.

Wiping the substance of on the khaki armour of the nearest guard, he could truly admire the sabre in its glory. Crafted by the smiths in Kowbault as a leaving present from his father, the sabre stood at 4 foot, with a gentle curve before reaching the tip, and unlike most sabres used by the sub-elite guards of the Gureino’s nobility, the sabre had a much wider blade. The hand guard was hemi-spherical, crafted with a mixture of gold and platinum, given it all the beauty of jewellery, but the defence of ten inch thick tank armour. Moving up from the hand guard, the bottom of the blade had three ribbons of varying colour wrapped around it. The one closest to the guard was light blue, symbolising the tranquillity required to engage celerity, the next one up was gold, symbolising the concentration celerity needed to be engaged, and the top ribbon was a dark red, symbolising the blood celerity would shed if engaged correctly. Tigersura grimaced at each of these ribbons, annoyed as to how sloppy the previous combat had been. He began to remove the bullet.

Clearing his mind of mistakes, he turned around. There, right in front of him, was the plasma gate. Stretching his neck as far backwards as he could wouldn’t allow him to see the brink of this mammoth. From this close, he could see that the ten horizontal lines he had seen before were support structures. In-between each of these were ten more, smaller support structures. He remembered from his school days that plasma could be wrung together into a fabric-like substance a few metres in length. The support structures, he thought, mush be a) holding the plasma together and b) keeping the voltage in them. Even though the danger still posed, Tigersura couldn’t help but laugh at the poor security.

“The best kept secret on the planet,” he said to himself “and the best security they can come up with is a mile high wall with a virtual ladder placed next to it”

Placing himself almost next to the wall, he glanced up, spotted the first support beam, crouched, and leaped. Barely reaching halfway, he landed back in an angry thud.

“Fucking celerity…”

Standing back up, relaxing his shoulders and closing his eyes, Tigersura began to breathe deeply and calmly. The dirt around his body started to brush around in a small cyclone, the centre of which was him. Soon the dust was spinning around so fast that his body was almost invisible behind the wall of brown. Suddenly, all the dust blew away, leaving a faint gust emanating out from his feet. His black hair shaking lightly in the wind, he opened his eyes. They had become a lot more alert now, and so had his mind.

“God damn waste of time if you ask me.”

Walking back up to the wall, he crouched, and sprung up, this time nearly beating his past height ten-fold. Passing the third support beam, he reached out his right hand, grabbed the beam, and dangled underneath it. Bringing his legs up, he jumped again for the next beam. His climb had begun.



In a dimly lit room, somewhere in Per-Perel, filled with thousands of buttons each lit different colours, on a rectangular screen in front of a small man in a lab coat, the sixth light from the bottom began flashing wildly. The man, knowing instantly what this meant, reached for the phone next to him, dialled five numbers, and waited. As the phone rang, the light moved from the sixth to the ninth, then the twelfth.

Someone is climbing the gate.

The phone clicked to life. Before the receiver had a chance to respond, the small man spoke in a frightened, nasaly voice.

“So-someone is t-trying to climb the g-gate”

In Neguro, the special forces had mobilized before the phone was hung-up.

[Ringlets]

"Argh! God damn plasma!" yelled Tigersura, having been shocked for the fifteenth time during his ascent. He was glad that his black climbing gloves had leather fingertips. Having been climbing for well over an hour now, his muscles were beginning to ache and his ascent decelerating. Thankfully, though, he could see the end of the plasma gate. Now he began to think about what he would expect to find during his reconnaissance. He had been told to investigate the sudden increase in Gurei activity in the centre of Per-Perel. He could remember the breifing with Littlewood.

"We sent an X-22 to the volcanoe to find out whats going on. Turns out theres something catching the attention of the Gureino's researchers. We want you go there and discover the truth. Whether its new technology or if they just found a new type of rock, we need to know."

"Why not send the goddamn X-22 to find out?" he questioned.

"Uh, hello dumbass? The security around the complex inside the volcanoe is better than Daon Towers. The only way in is down the volcanoe. X-22s cant stand that massive heat" she backlashed.

"Oh, fantastic. Send one of your best operatives to a friggin' volcanoe. Why not just throw all of Waan's donations in there as well?!"

Just as his anger began to well up, his hand fell through thin air. He thought he was falling off the gate, but realised he had reached the top.

"About goddamn time." He brought his leg up and over the lip, so that he was stradling the gate. He found this humorous.

"So, uh, how long you in town. Ha! Haha! Ha...ah... God dammit make the jokes when other people are around."

Tigersura began cheering at his own accomplishment, however this joy was short lived. Looking right towards the northern mountains, he saw a small black speck. The speck became a blob, and then it became something Tigersura couldn't help but wimper at. Coming closer and closer to him was a Falcon, Gurei's most prized military secret. The jet black military transport chopper, from the front, looked
like something out of a nightmare. The two pulse engines on either side resembled those used in the old Harrier jump-jets, that were used even until the destruction of the first Earth. The rings of light blue could been seen pulsing from the jets from a mile away. The dark green visor concealed the pilot, however as the visor was also a HUD, so the eerie shots of white could be seen as the height, speed and target displays were updated. The Falcon came to a stop, hovering only a few metres from Tigersura. As he stared at the pinnacle of military transport, it began to rotate, slowly showing him more and more of the machine. As it faced him side on, a large square portion of the side began to slide downwards and place itself underneath the Falcon, leaving an open view of its contents. Inside, Tigersura was faced with a worse sight than the Falcon itself.

Inside were half a dozen men armoured in black Special Forces terrorist warfare outfits. The thick Kevlar peices placed over the chest, neck, shoulders, upper arms, thighs and waist protected the unit from both gunfire and stab/slash wounds. Half of the men were equipped with shortswords of no distinguishing nature, whilst the other men were equipped with high-tech firearms. The soldier closest to the exit hatch moved forward and looked at his opponent. Tigersura instantly recognized his face. The man was Lawrence Terna, the most distinguished SF soldier on the planet. He had recently been praised for his 500th Freedom Power Rebel kill, and as a result was the most hated man among the FPR. Terna had obviously recognized Tigersura's black uniform and the insignia on his right shoulder, and spoke something to his men. Half drew their guns, whilst half drew their swords and positioned themselves on the edge of the exit hatch.

They're going to jump.

Tigersura had seconds to act. Drawing one of his pistols with his right hand and a magazine with the other, he loaded the gun within half a second. Some of the SF men looked taken back, obviously unfamiliar with someone unafraid of their unit. As quickly as he had prepared one gun, Tigersura unholstered his second and armed it. Aiming both at the SF unit, he began to fire. What happened next almost tore out Tigersuras heart. No sooner had the high calibre platinum armour peircing bullets left his pistols than had they barely but scratched the bullet proof invisible plasma sheild protecting the transport compartment. He kept firing, hoping that he might at least shatter the sheilds power units, allowing him to jump aboard and destory the unit with his sabre, however no such luck or firepower existed.

Firing his last two shots, Tigersura ejected the magazines, letting them fall them mile to the floor. Reholstering the pistols, his fear of loss turning into a brilliant idea, he stood up on the gate. Trying to balance himself in the cold mountain wind, he reached around into his pack and removed two plastic squares. Watching as the SF unit poised themselves ready for attack, he stood in a crucifix style with one square in each hand. As the plasma sheild powered down, flashing light blue, he began to fall backwards, over the wall. Terna stared in mixed confusion and wonder, which soon changed to downright fear as he saw what was in his targets hands. As Tigersura began to fall he threw the plastic squares towards the Falcon. As the SF squad opened fire, everything slowed down. Tigersura saw the Time-based Detonation Explosives flying towards the hull of the Falcon, the bullets flying past his body, Terna's face of fear and the SF squads faces of blissfull unawareness. Just as the lip of the plasma gate filled Tigersuras vision, he could see Terna preparing to jump from the Falcon as his squad continued to attack.

Tigersura smiled.

"Those bastards never thought i could do it."

It was then when he noticed the wind rushing from behind him. Tilting his head over his shoulders, he just realised what he now faced.

"Shit shit shit. Come on celerity."

Finding it near impossible to concentrate while falling to his death, he tried to think of ways to live. Still facing the top of the gate, he had no idea how close to the ground he was getting. Trying to engage celerity again proved impossible, hearing the huge explosion of the TDXs mixed with the pulse-engines over the deafening roar of the wind.

"Once more. After that, well times up."

Taking his mind away from everything, even his death, Tigersura nearly fell asleep. He was taught to think of something wonderful when trying to engage celerity. Bringing his mind back to the current events, he thought of the perfect joy for him.

The look on Michelle Littlewoods face when she hears i climbed the plasma gate, blew up a Falcon and most of a Special Forces squad, then fell off the gate and lived.

Feeling the surge of power through his muscles, Tigersura brought his feet around into a standing position and braced himself for impact seconds before the floor met him. He landed with surprising ease, having just fell through one mile in mere seconds. Scanning around, he could see the guard house with his target levers inside on one side, a valley leading up to the rumoured volcanoe, and on the left-

"Jesus!" he yelled, as he jumped back.

The X-22 stared back at him. Tigersura could see the red light above the lens, indicating telecommunications was engaged.

"I hope you saw that!"

He could hear an obvious sigh from the Director.

"Looks like you focused just in time. Shame,"

Bitch

"Just turn the levers off." The X-22 disapeared.

Despite that conversation, Tigersura was still overjoyed, and began to walk towards the guardhouse.


Thats it i wont write anymore. I promise. For now...

[Ringlets]

OOC: Carries on from http://forums.finalfantasy-xiii.net/showthread.php?t=2052

~IC:


What the hell was that thing, Tigersura thought as he sat in the darkness of the freezing cold mountains. Even as he had climbed through the ventilation shaft, dragging the researcher's body behind him, he could not erase the image of what he had seen. It was a rock, obviously, but inside was a girl. A human girl, no more than 15, with what appeared to be wings attached to her sides, encased in this rock covered in diamonds. As he thought about the circumstances, his eyes drifted to the still unconscious scientist laying in a fetal shape in the snow, the one who had so desperately tried to keep her work a secret. Checking the film he had processed from his nano-camera, from the 20 photos he had taken, the researcher had managed to shield 12 of them with her face and hand. Still, the remaining 8 had perfect sight of the rock, and his pay had been earned.

Glancing into the sky, as he was at a lower altitude than before, all he saw was clouds. Glancing to either side, he saw the slowly flashing green lights of the many aircraft and sea vessels that protected the two seas bordering Per-Perel. This was normal for nighttime. Suddenly, a blue light appeared amongst the sea of green. As it got closer and closer to the shore, Tigersura could see that it was being circled by quickly moving blue blurs, and that small puffs of red smoke were being propelled towards the airship. Within a minute, the dog fight was almost directly overhead, and he could see now that the airship was being attacked by Gurei assault gunships. The airship was making sharp jolts in the sky, professionally avoiding the missiles. Tilting his neck back just as the monolith plane flew over him, he could see that one missile would hit its target. Jumping on top of the scientist to shield her and himself from the shrapnel that would soon be heading his way, a tremendous explosion emanated from above. Staying low for a minute longer, he gradually raised himself from the floor.

Looking around, he could see large clumps of burning reckage scattered around the mountains for miles. The Gunships, assuming there would be no survivors, had left. The bright red of the flames created a reflection of something above him. Glancing up, he saw two white circles slowly getting larger and larger.
Jesus, someone managed to survive that? Running in the directions of the quickly descending passengers, he could see he would land before he could reach them. Carefully but quickly grabbing a flaming peice of wood, he waved it above his head.

"Oi! Oi, you...you fucking nutters! Over here!" He shouted towards the two men. As they limped up the hill, the flames slowly revealed their faces. One man had a rough looking exterior, and had a rifle slung over his shoulder. The other looked much more inviting, with white hair and a slightly lop-sided large hat. He could see that the rough looking man recognized Tigersura's uniform immediately. As the man armed his rifle and muttered to his friend something about "terrorists" and "striking first", Tigersura knew to act. Silently and inconspicuously arming his pistols, he waited. As the larger man raised his rifle, aiming towards him, he took aim and fired without thought. Watching the man collapse and slowly roll back down the hill he had climbed, he took aim at the un-armed man.

[Rophage]

OOC: Carries on from http://forums.finalfantasy-xiii.net/showthread.php?t=2193

~IC


'Oh bugger...'
Sethys watched his gunner rolling down the hill.
'I shouldn't have payed him in advance...'
Sethys re-slanted his hat and brushed off his shirt. He slipped out of his parachute and cocked his head to look at the man aiming the gun. The man was clearly a soldier but at closer inspection he didn't appear to be Gureino.
'FPR?' Sethys asked, realising that if he was wrong, he would probably die. Then again, if he was right he could very well die all the same. He fingered his ring absently as he awaited an answer.
The soldier nodded slowly, secure in his position of power as the one holding the gun.
'You?' The soldier said, approaching Sethys.
'The name's Sethys, I'm not Gureino, if that matters,' Sethys put his hands above his head. The soldier seemed unsure but slowly lowered his gun all the same.
'Tigersura,'
'And the girl?'
'Not sure, I picked her up a little way from here. She's some Gureino scientist. They've been working on some really weird stuff down there,' Tigersura stopped, realising he was saying too much to a stranger, he could be putting his payment in jeopardy.
'Don't worry about it,' Sethys said, sensing his unease, 'Hey, you got any food? My things are a bit..er..burnt,'
The girl groaned and the two men turned, almost having forgotten her presence.
'I will have to get her back to base soon, if you need to get out of here, you can come with me, but only as far as the border, beyond there you are on your own,'
Tigersura lifted the scientist up and began walking. Sethys was about to follow him when he noticed something lying in the dirt. It was dirty and singed but in reasonably good shape despite the explosion. Sethys picked up the Aurelian book and tucked it into his satchel. He then ran off to catch up with the Freedom soldier.

[Ringlets]

Lawrence Terna

A mile away, shrouded in darkness, Lawrence Terna led in the frozen ice, and inspected the current events. First, he had watched as his new arch-enemy had carried a scientist all the way up a mountain slope, then he gazed in awe as his "brothers in cause" perfectly executed the destruction of the airship. Now he watched through his telescopic rifle lens, as the two men, one a survivor from the crash and the other man the one who had destroyed an entire special forces platoon, conversed. He could see, with help from the flames of the wreckage, that the Scientist still lay unconscious as the men spoke.

Thinking off why he was here only urged him more to shoot his original target. The way he had so obviously but brilliantly flawed the platoons tactics maddened him beyond normal. He had just managed in time to jump from the Falcon as it exploded, and landed just after his parachute had slowed him, still however spraining his ankles. He watched through the plasma gates transparent liquid as the agent walked into the guard house, turned off the plasma shield, and walked south down the long valley.

He realized now that if the scientist awoke and screamed at what surrounded or faced her, she would activate the alti-phones warning system, sending more gunships and troops to their exact position.

I can't let some amateur prig take my kill.

Just as he armed his rifle and slowly took aim over the scientists huddled body, a black loping mass appeared out from the darkness. Before he could move out of the way, Terna found himself half buried under the frozen, bleeding corpse of the airship crews companion. He could see in the distance that the two men were now walking away from the site, one with the scientist cradled in their arms. Half in snow, half in corpse, Terna groaned and attempted to squiggle out, knowing that he would lie here helplessly until the morning.

[Yurian]

"Stop..." Candice murmered. She suddenly awoke to find herself floating horizontally above the ground. No. She was being carried. "Stop! Get away!" She pushed herself off the man, fallling flat onto the cold snow. Where was she?

"Get away from me!" She got on her knees and scrambled up to point at the two men. What was happening? Her hair was awry; even her sunglasses fell off, revealing her permantly enlarged pupils. The laboratory coat was partially frayed near the edges. "Who the hell are you?!" What happened to the research center? Her wrist flicked, a a pen - no a knife - emerged in her hand. She could only wait for the emergency system to respond to the node embedded near her hip.

[Yurian]

"Fight for flight," Candice whispered to herself. A strange nostalgic memory of sitting in biology class returned to her, but she refocused on the two figures in front of her. One was from the Rebels - the other? What did they want?

[Rophage]

'Oh crap...' Sethys said aloud,'All you Gureino High-up types have trackers...you took it out didn't you?' He turned to the soldier desperately but was greeted with a blank look, 'Oh crap, oh crap,'
The treasure hunter looked around, the only near by cover was an old hollow tree and some large rocks. They would have to do, if only he had some time.

But he didn't, even as he ended his sentence he could here the choppers approaching. He would just have to hope that Tigersura could handle himself, but the girl? She looked like she would need some help. The Gureinos wouldn't distinguish between targets and enemies if a fight broke out, which it would enevitably do.

Well, he just had one option...
...he closed his eyes...
...and vanished.

Or at least he appeared to. He merely just used his abilities, he had long since realised his best defence was to not be there when a fight broke out, or where a weapon would land so he practiced his celerity until it was almost flawless. His speed practically unmatched.

[Ringlets]

Tigersura~

As the deafening roar of the helicopter engines became louder, Tigersura turned to look to the man from the wreckage. No one. Only him and the Scientist were visible.

"Damn douche ran off..."

Gazing into the night sky, he could see 3 fast approaching Bastion class troop transports. He drew his sword, knowing that the Gurei would conserve their troops when firearms were not involved, and forged a battle plan. Picking up a large wooden plank, blazing with a fuel flame from the airship, he ran towards the oncoming threat, hoping to distract them from the scientist...

[Yurian]

Candice watched confusedly as one of the men suddenly disappeared, and the other ran off to grab a burning plank.

"Damn you!" Candice yelled, running after her abductor. She sprinted forward, knife in hand, attempting to impale him.

[Rophage]

There was a blur in the air as the treasure hunter picked up a piece of sharp metal from the wreckage.
Sethys sped up a nearby burning jut of metal from the airship's hull and leapt with the full force of his celerity. He bulleted through the air and into the open side of the first chopper, blade in hand.
There were four men in the first section, one went down as Sethys cannoned into him, the second received a piece of metal to the neck. The third was quicker and brought his gun round, but not as quick Sethys, who snatched it through the air and used it to knock its previous owner to the floor.
The man who had been stabbed had staggered back and was spurting blood over the cabin. He finally collapsed out of the open side and fell into the hollow tree with a satisfying crack. The fourth man managed to get to the pilot's door and pull it open before Sethys finally came to a stop on his back. The pilots turned round to be greeted with a grisly sight. Sethys, splattered with blood unsheathed his sword.


Four seconds later he leapt from the chopper that began its spiralling descent towards the rocky ground...

[Ringlets]

The next few moments contained new feelings to Tigersura. Just as he stood up, make-shift torch in hand, he felt something brush against his back. Thinking perhaps a stray bullet from a grounded soldier had shot through his armour and grazed his skin, he turned in the most likely direction.

What the-?

He now stood looking upon nothing. Pure darkness.

Impossible he thought. The flames from the wreckage would light the area for miles around. And the silence was also strange. Never, in his entire life of murder and industrial surveillance had he experienced silence so pure. Yet here he stood, in what many had called the void. He could not move, yet trying to would've been pointless, as he didnt even have control of his thoughts.

Time seemed to stop in the void. Tigersura felt as though he wasnt even touching ground, or touching any thing. The torch had seemed to have disapeared, and everything else he had was lost in the void. He felt weightless, empty, almost as though he and the void were one.

Suddenly, a small white blip appeared directly in the centre of his vision. Although in truth the white was a dull one, in the void, the blip had become a flood of light. Slowly, the blip became larger, and took the form of a bottle shaped mass. The bottle then formed legs and arms, and a head. The head gained features, ears, nose, mouth, and eyes. The eyes looked straight into his, then down to his chest. Tigersura felt the weight return to his limbs, and tilted his neck to follow the direction of the Scientists eyes.

The tip of the dagger could just be seen protruding from his torso, meaning that her blow had pierced through his entire chest. As an eerie high pitched whine began to form in his ears, he collapsed back into the void...

[Yurian]

Candice stared down at the still body. The form of the grey uniform was slowly being intruded upon by the fluttering white snow. Her eyes were wide, gasping for tears amongst the harsh winds. For a moment, she thought about what she had just done, before stepping back in shock.

"Shit." She frowned, then reassured herself that is was a necessary act. There should be no regret; it was kill or be killed. As if she was still being pursued, the scientist looked back again at the carnage, before stumbling towards the forest.

[Rophage]

The treasure hunter landed in the stabbed man. He scraped parts of the body off his shoe and walked towards where he had last seen the soldier. He could not see him until he trod on him.
'Oh fuck...'
He bent down to the soldier's body and checked his pulse. It was weak but he was still there. Sethys looked up to the sky, the other choppers were still heading towards them but had appeared to veer towards the forest...the scientist! They would be tracking her...
'Aw nuts...' the treasure hunter lifted the soldiers unconscious body onto his shoulders and lurched towards the forest, 'You'd better be paying me for this...' he muttered.

[Ringlets]

Im dead, thought Tigersura

Im dead or im blind. The darkness had returned, however it was not as lifeless. Odd flashes of light often passed through his vision, creating an orange ambience through his eyelids. Between the rustling of the trees, he could hear the faint noise of the helicopters, that every once in a while turned to a deafening roar as they flew over him, search lights dancing over the area.

He opened his eyes to survey the area. The surrounding tress were littered with snow, and above them the night sky had been reddened by the soon to rise sun. He tried to sit up, but a blinding pain in his chest quickly forced him back down.

Oh yea, that bitch stabbed me.

Rolling over onto his chest and using his hands to stand up proved easier, however a sudden roar of an engine threw him back into his original position.

I lost my sabre back at the wreckage, and my guns are no where to be found...

He couldnt be spotted. Waiting for the lights to dim again, he quickly sprang up and sprinted into further tree cover. Skulking around the forest led him to a thick trail of footsteps, some bearing the Gureino symbol embedded into soldiers shoes.

I think...on a limb, that they went this way...

[Yurian]

OOC: Ringlets - your post isn't coinciding with the details provided by Rophage. :P

It was getting nauseating. Candice rubbed her hand on her temples as she staggered through the dense forest. Every step she took set a throbbing pulse through her brain, and the cold weather was no help either. Indeed, the uneven terrain, litered with hidden concavities and tripping tree roots, further induced her head into a throbbing blood machine. Her eyes felt as if they were going to implode and dribble out of empty eye sockets. She rubbed her temples again, squinting her eyes to regain at least a semblance of focus. Only that dreadful dead body of the soldier returned into her mind though, and she wondered why she concerned over leaving the knife plugged into the corpse.

The noise from the helicopters were gone. Indeed, any stimuli from the wreckage - save for her own ripped clothes and disheveled hair - had dissappeared into the cold quiet forest. She wasn't sure where she was or from whom she was now running from. It was just too cold and uncomfortable.

[Rophage]

It had been a little while since Sethys had left the soldier's body hidden in the forest. He had done his best to stop the bleeding and keep him warm but his mind had wondered to the scientist. The treasure hunter thought about his original mission. He slipped the Aurelian book from his pack as he sat in a tree.

"She's some Gureino scientist. They've been working on some really weird stuff down there,"

He hadn't reached his destination but the chance meeting was perhaps a blessing. He tossed the soldier's camera in his hand. Everything was connected...but how? His best bet was the scientist, she knew what was happening with that girl.

That girl encased in rock, with wings sprouting from her back...

It was a disturbing image and the treasure hunter lost concentration as the sight emerged in his mind. He dropped the camera to the floor.
'Crap,' he muttered and swung round the branch he was, placing the book in his satchel so that he was hanging from the tree, his legs wrapped round the branch. He used his sword to get the camera's strap hooked and pull it up when he stopped. Something was in the snow...

...footprints.

[Yurian]

"Ugh..." Candice stopped, heaving in fatigue. She slapped her hand on a tree trunk, before collapsing against it. Why was she running anyway? The Rebel was dead. What about the other guy? It was too cold. She didn't care. She didn't want to run anymore. Even the ocassional searchlights and speakers shouting her name from the helicopters floating above the trees didn't induce her to stop. She didn't want them either.

Eventually, she forced herself off the trunk, fingering the cold rough bark. Her fingers were red and stiff from the cold. It was uncomfortable; indeed, the wet sweat underneath her shirt further intensified the temperatures. She didn't feel any distinct emotions. Her warm lab room seemed far away.

[Ringlets]

Lawrence Terna ~

"Come back you bastard!" Terna shouted into the now sun lit forest. The FPR assailant had crossed paths with him as he pursued the scientist. Quickly choosing revenge over little needed props from completing another mission, a small tussle began between the two men. He managed the pin the man to the icy snow, creating a small gash in his head as he was thrown to the ground. As the agent lay disorientated on the floor, Terna pulled his small knife and positioned its acute blade over the mans neck. Just as he was about to strike, his eyes filled with a blinding light.

As he recoiled to the floor, shielding his face with his sleeve, he realized that the sun had risen over the mountains, which in itself would've been painful, but with the pristine snow lying in the lights path, it reflected the light with the same effect as a huge mirror. As he lay squirming on the floor, he heard the slow but distinct trundling of snow as his enemy rose to his feet, and ran off.

Now he was running after the man. Following the obvious tracks left in the snow, he had traced him into a small alcove of impassable trees. An unseen wound in his chest had ruptured and begun causing extra pain along with the gash, meaning he was running just as fast as Terna in his 50kg equipment body armor. The two men now stood face to face, one powered with pure hate and disdain, the other slowly weakening into an inevatible submission...

[Rophage]

Sethys crept silently through the trees. There she was, a shivering wreck. It was freezing it she was hardly appropriately dressed, after all, she spent almost all of her time in a laboratory by a volcano. She was leaving tracks everywhere and it wouldn't be long before she was found by, god forbid, the Gureinos. He decided to make his move.

Now in the tree just ahead of the scientist he dropped down with his legs slung over the thick branch. Hanging up side down with his satchel hanging off his shoulder and hat floating to the ground he proffered his thick coat to the scientist.

'Peace offering, little lady?'

[Yurian]

"ARGH!" Candice yelled in surprise; her voice cracked, a result of severe dehydration. She haphazardly continued her stumbles in a vain attempt to escape him, whoever he was.

[Rophage]

Sethys sighed to himself...this wasn't how it was supposed to go. Why did they always have to do this? He slipped off the branch and picked up his feathered hat. Placing it on his head he stumbled after the scientist.

'Wait up! Hey! Lady! Quiet!' He stumbled through the thick snow after the scientist, 'There are Guries all over the place looking for you!'

He caught up with her and showed her the soldier, Tigersura's camera, 'I need your help, if you don't come with me you'll either freeze out here or those Guries will find you, and do you really think they'll be happy knowing that these pictures are out in the world? I need your help, and trust me, you need mine,'

[Ringlets]

OOC: Sorry if in this post its a bit hard to follow the characters. Just try and think of where each one is and link their actions to it.

Tigersura ~

"Argghh! ... Frick! Dude i'm freezing my ass off out here, why'd you have to go and shoo-"

Another shot, this time landing a bullet in his leg. Tigersura fell onto his knee, involuntarily and painfully. Watching as the blood stained his black clothes to brown and the white snow to a deep, threatening red, he heard his attacker load another magazine into the firearm. This gun was Tigersura's, and it had been taken from him when Terna charged him with the entire crushing force of his body. Whilst being momentarily knocked down, Terna had calmly unsheathed his sword, throwing it away into the forest, and unholstered his two pistols, dropping one to the floor and kicking it, skidding off beyond the tree line, and walking a small distance away with the other.

As he had tried to stand up, Terna took a quick and precise shot to his shoulder, sending him back into the pain he had blocked out for fightings sake. After a few more shots, Tigersura could feel the integrity of his armour becoming useless as the mixture of cold with the Silicon-iron liquid inside the vest had ruptured the garments structure and usefullness. Now, as the darkness began to flood his vision, and the strength was drained from his legs and seeped to the snow as blood, he took a final look at Terna in his victorious prowl. He slowly walked towards what Tigersura could only imagine himself as a heaping mass of uselessness, and kicked him to the floor. As he rolled over to face the sky in an unknown bid for salvation, he saw Terna speak only muffled phrases, and Tigersura could only guess it was him declaring victory, and telling him to prepare for death.

As Tigersura finally gave up hope and let the pain take his body and the dark fill his eyes, he could see the blurred mass of Terna retreat from vision hastily. It was only now that Tigersura realised just how cold his hand was...

[Ringlets]

Lawrence Terna ~

"Die you slippery bastard!" Terna hissed as his foe's eye began to glaze over and his blood create a large puddle which never seemed to stop spreading. Sighing happily at his final victory, he looked up to the path which lead back in the forest. There stood three threatening shadows of recognizable dismay, all facing him. Backing away from the body, he called out to the FPR gang.

"Y-you're too late! He's dead!"

Even though he was afraid, he tried to keep some power in his voice as he retreated, just as he turned into a slow jog, the three figures began to dart around the clearing with cat like agility, slowly closing in on the only exit Terna had left. Quickly but shakily, he tapped a few buttons on his wrist guard. As the small boosters on his heels began to ignite and throw small gusts of snow around him, the three figures stopped and watched as Terna slowly began to rise and accelerate. As the small ailerons on his arms spread out, he hovered over the clearing and turned back to face his mutual enemies.

"Gureino technology, huh? Beats your rebel crap!" Holding his middle finger firmly to the group, he strafed gracefully across the tree tops, towards the ever flying search helicopters...

[Yurian]

Candice collapsed into the snow, straggling away from the person and the camera. She grunted, breathing heavily. With her hands buried inside the white coldness, her eyes clouded over.

[Rophage]

Aw damnit...

God, could I go day without having to carry someone...

She's heavier than she looks...

I hope she didn't hear that...

Sethys lifted the scientist over his shoulders and began to carry her, shoving the glove camera into his pack he lurched through the trees. The search parties had begun to get fewer and fewer but the danger was still high, the morning was fast approaching and surely the scientist's locater was still giving off a signal...

...There would be time to think about that later, he had to get her to safety. The forest bordered the edge of the continent, he was sure he was headed in the right direction, not far surely...

He soon found a suitably hidden place, the snow was thinning here and grass was showing underfoot. He placed the scientist down against a tree and placed his coat over her. He then collected some wood and lit a small fire near the sleeping woman. He hadn't heard or seen a search party for hours so gathered what remaining vegetables and water he had left and set up a makeshift bowl over the fire to boil some soup.

You'd better be worth this little lady...

[Ringlets]

Tigersura woke up for the second time feeling as though he was dead. The last thing he could remember was drifting into unconsciousness from the pain of the many wounds Terna had inflicted. He could only imagine that Terna had backed away from him because he couldn't waste any more time on a corpse. Shuffling his body about to get a grip for his surroundings, he could feel the sharp chunks of bark of the tree he had been led up against along his back. He had been placed in a snug sitting position, however, with the bullet wounds and frozen fingers, he couldn't have been more uncomfortable. He wondered whether Terna had carried him into a clearing to show off to his Gureino subordinates, telling them some made of story of how he bravely fought the "Rebel Bastard". However, as Tigersura opened his eyes, the real reason revealed itself.

Looking straight at him, squatting down in the melting snow only a few feet from him, was Michelle Littlewood. Even though her dark hair and arctic camouflage covered most of her face, Tigersura could still see the mischievous smile she now burned into him.

"Nice job," She said with obvious enjoyment "You managed to not only lose the only evidence we had of what was going on inside the lab, but you also managed to lose a fight with a well dressed ape. And now," her voice became piercing and angry "the last chance we have left of seeing what Per-Perel has to hold, is now running around this forest somewhere with some prick with a hat!"

Tigersura suddenly remembered about the man that had emerged from the wreckage. Perhaps he wanted the evidence for separate reasons.

"And to add the final insult to injury, the higher ups decide that your life is more important than my Sunday off, and send me along with two never-silent imbeciles to save your insignificant ass." Tigersura suddenly realized the two shadowed figures stood up against a tree just in the corner of his vision, murmuring to each other. Littlewood stood up and walked over to a package hung in a tree branch. She pulled it down and furiously dug inside, removing Tigersura's two pistols and a small device the size of a soda can. Grabbing him by the wrist and dragging him to his feet, causing a large amount of pain rooting from his chest, she jammed the items into his hands.

"Now get the fuck out of here, get that bitch, kill that hill-billy with the airship and get the goddamn evidence back!" She shoved him away into the forest, slapped the two men around the heads as a sign to move, and began to walk away.

"Wait a sec!" Tigersura cried out in a frail voice. "How do you know this is the right way?" Littlewood turned around, throwing a small watch at him with a swift sling of her hand. Picking it up in the snow with his frozen and trembling, ungloved hand, he could see that where the watch face would be was a dark blue screen with a small red dot blinking on the edge of it. "We're not the only ones who can track homing beacons." Littlewood replied through the trees.

As he began to walk off, her voice followed him. "And don't think that im not going to tell anyone about this! Imagine that, eh? The FPRs little prodigy got bitch slapped by Terna. How sad!" Trying to drown the words with his increasingly frequent footsteps, he followed the tracker through the late morning cold...

[Yurian]

At first, she could only see white, then darker forms, then finally a light pinkish sky. She felt warm, and then realized the heavy coat set upon her. It was a greyish-brown corduroy material, the edges and inside matted with a somewhat scratchy wool. In front of her was a fire; the only noise was it's quiet and comforting crackling.

She struggled to sit up straight, before a cramp suddenly welled up in her back. It was from this moment that she realized her hands were tightly bound in front of her.

[Rophage]

'Right, before I untie you, you have to promise you won't run okay?'

Sethys had been sitting under a tree opposite the scientist. He sat with his large hat covering most of his face, the rest in shadow, the open Aurelian text lying open in his lap. He had discovered a bauge map of the planet but it was different, some places on the map weren't here now and some were here but he could not locate them on the map. Despite this difficulty, he could still make out the fact that the map was the world he knew. There were several markers on the map, hidden treasures tucked away in the deep recesses of time, Sethys had crossed some of these off to update it after some of his expeditions.
The treasure hunter pulled out the glove camera that had once belonged to the soldier and tossed over to the scientist, it fell a little way before her feet so that she could see it.

'The soldier's camera, it is a gift...well, it could be,' Sethys closed the book and cautiously placed it back in his satchel with great reverence, 'I'm in need of a little assistance and it seems we could help each other, feel free to decline and I will escort you somewhere safe, but the camera would stay with me,' Sethys raised his head so that there eyes could meet, 'But first things first, this tracking device, where is it? If I know the Guries they'll start looking for you again soon, if not already, but they will take their time, it is the soldier, this Tigersura, I'm worried about. He will no doubt be headed here already, I would have no qualms about giving him back his camera so you have to decide,'

Sethys took a bowl from the snow and filled it with soup from the fire. He proffered it to the scientist. Placing it on the ground he put the camera back in his satchel and took out a knife.

'What is it to be?'

[Yurian]

Looking in retrospect, Candice was somewhat surprised at her actions: they seemed so irrational. But she was scared.

Shit.

The offer - the threat, even - ran through her mind, and she stared at the dead grass next to her. It was suddenly interesting, the interlocking blades, dusted with a thin settling of snow. Then she stared at the glove and the camera. The coat and the fire in front of her felt warm. She just wanted to stay like this.

He was still waiting.

"I'll take the camera," she asserted, looking up into the figure's eyes. For a moment, Candice was intrigued by the book he had put away. She chuckled inwardly; what a fool. What is he doing? She could escape again sooner or later.

[Rophage]

Sethys chuckled, 'Nuh uh, no camera for you yet,' the treasure hunter raised the knife and smiled to himself at the brief flinch the scientist gave before he sliced through her bonds. He then picked up the glove-camera and placed it in his bag.

'Now, the tracker?'

The treasure hunter saw the scientist's glance towards his satchel and closed it, placing it behind him and shook his head, 'Later. Now, the tracker?'

[Ringlets]

"Starting the party without me, eh?" murmured Tigersura as he stared at the couple conversing through his binoculars.

As he was running towards where the tracker had told him to, he had caught the glint of the fire in his gaze, and had stopped to survey what was going on. It seemed from this distance that the scientist and Sethys had formed some kind of agreement, centering around his glove and the strange book that the man was carrying.

He was still not sure whether he should join them and persuade them to give his glove back, or whether he should simply fulfill his given orders, killing the man and knocking the woman out. Making a quick weighing of pros and cons of each scenario, he lowered his binoculars, placed them into his pack, turned off the ever-bleeping tracker, and stood ready.

As he walked towards the camp, he silently but steadily began to load a single round into his pistol.

"Its all i'll need" he said as veered from his course into the shadows of the tree canopy...

[Yurian]

Candice squinted her eyes at him.

"What's your name?" she inquired, attempting to waste time. If the search party would just find her already, he'd be on the defensive. He was the one searching for something anyway.

As the topic focused on the tracker, she could just barely feel the small metal sphere - less than a centimeter in diameter - right next to her Achilles Tendon.

[Rophage]

'Sethys, please, I don't think you understand the danger we are in, the tracker will not just lead you "friends" here but the FPR too and...' The treasure hunter stopped and straightened up in one quick movement. He readied his knife and turned his head round the clearing, listening intently. He stopped and peered through the trees, he raised the knife and threw it.

*THUNK*

'Damn, I was sure!' The treasure hunter had thrown it precisely, but only to be reqarded with the hollow crack of the knife hitting a tree trunk rather than a body.

Oh well, I'll just have to do it the old way...

He unsheathed his golden sword and stood ready in the centre of the clearing.

[Ringlets]

“And now he knows I’m here,” he silently hissed to the small mouse next to him that had rustled a branch as it scuttled by, alerting Sethys to his presence. “Thanks a lot, you rodent turd” he continued as the mouse hopped over the knife that had bounced from the tree and lodged itself into the snow.

Leaning his body around the tree that now concealed him; he could see that Sethys now stood armed in the centre of the clearing, whilst the scientist frantically searched back and forth for what had alerted him. Taking a deep breath, he twisted around the tree and took a clear aim for Sethys’ torso.

Sethys had obviously been expertly trained in combat. As Tigersura sprinted around the perimeter of the clearing, firing shots towards Sethys, he had to quickly twist and turn to avoid the bullets that Sethys expertly returned with his angled blade. Holstering his pistol and drawing his sword, he jumped high into the clearing, lunging his blade fiercely towards Sethys. As the two blades met, the sharp clang of scraping metal filled the clearing and bright yellow sparks surrounded the men before fizzling into the snow. Shadowing his face with the lip of his hat, Sethys smirked with obvious enjoyment.

“Having fun?” Tigersura scowled as he pulled back his blade for another strike…

[Yurian]

Candice rolled onto her stomach as the two collided. But she was too stiff, unable to continue and collapsing under her own fatigue.

[Rophage]

"Aren't you?"

As the blades separated the soldier quickly returned with another lunge. The golden sword spun around Sethys' head and collided with Tigersura's. The golden blade whirled up again as the treasure hunter leapt back through the clearing, satchel over his shoulder. The soldier charged after him, sword raised, and swung it down, narrowly missing Sethys' arm, the treasure hunter spun on his foot and the blades met again, gold against silver.
The swords disconnected and Sethys' jumped back, a knife appeared in the soldier's hand and just as quick it was embedded handle deep into the tree where the treasure hunter was standing only seconds previously. Another knife, another miss. The treasure hunter was extremely quick, suddenly Sethys was next to him and the swords met once more.
Tigersura's eyes were suddenly drawn to the satchel hung around the treasure hunter's arm, his blade flashed in the rising sun, giving it a look similar to that of Sethys' golden sword. The blade made contact with the strap and sliced it. At this moment the treasure hunter chose to leap back again.

"What do we have here?" The soldier picked up the satchel.
"Drop it!" The treasure hunter was across the clearing looking down, his hat almost completely covering his face.
The soldier grinned and smacked his blade against the ground, it lit up with a icy blue fire. "Just try me,"
He tried again, his voice seemed different...deeper.
"Drop it."

The Sethys that looked up was different to the one that had been their previously, no elegance, no rapport, just anger. Suddenly the treasure hunter was in front of Tigersura and he raised his sword, but the swing that the soldier had prepared for did not come, instead it felt like being hit by a mountain, the man flew across the clearing, into a tree, the satchel flying the opposite way. Sethys exhaled deeply and fell back, crawling to his satchel that now rested against the tree. The treasure hunter was back to normal but looked exhausted, he rested his back against the tree.

The soldier picked up his blade and slowly made his way across the clearing, sweating and exhausted. He raised his blade and held it to the treasure hunter's neck.

"Game over,"
"You think?"

The treasure hunter smiled and when the soldier looked down he saw the golden blade resting against his crotch.