It's a Loverly Spring, Charlie Brown! [Open]

[Luxon Cobrat]

The first thing that went wrong was the scan. That it didn't turn up anything wasn't such a shock, but Naira's frantic attempt to get her attention worried her. It was just as she turned back to face the Soul Reaver that something ran into her back, some sort of wall from the feel of it, and pushed her forward. It was more of a surprise than anything, and didn't even cause her to lose her balance, but she spun back around as soon as she stopped getting pushed to face...

Nothing, apparently. Just the tree and the unicorns. It was like... maybe something meant to keep everyone away from there. The tree?

"Well, I guess that idea's out," she said to Jahran.

Then she realized the unicorn's image wasn't there anymore. And as soon as she did, her stomach lurched and her eyes grew wide.

Where was he? Had he disappeared because of Nei's scan? Had she hurt him? She hadn't thought she could! But that would explain the tree pushing everyone back. As Nei's shock gave way, she slumped down under a crushing feeling of guilt. Things were suddenly about as bad as they could have possibly gotten.

Then they got worse. Norad appeared. Not a happy Norad either.

Things were said, missiles were pointed, crashed airships teleported away. Nei had started to run for it when Naira had called for the retreat, but then stopped when Naira stayed for the hippogryph. And all because of that, she had to sit through an exposition dump.

"Now, just slow down!" Neithird eventually shouted at pretty much everyone. "I don't even know what's going on!"

"That's a pretty serious accusation," Neizaia chimed in, then gave Naira a pretty serious look. "It's not true, is it? You didn't just let your own world get taken over by a... tyrant, did you?"

Then Neithird took back over and she softened again, feeling guilty for doubting Naira. But then, she didn't like doubting Norad either.

"Tell me you didn't..." she more or less begged, actually sounding a bit desperate. "I... I'll believe you."

[Windra]

"I can ... I can ... " Stammering as per usual, Simi stepped forward. She was a bit wobbly due to the shock of it all, but the Reaver thought she was handling this all relatively well. "I can fly, Naira! I-I'm smaller than the dragons, a-and maybe ... I can distract him!"

Naira found the idea terrifying, and quickly dismissed it. "No way!" the Reaver stated, worried the hippogryph might ignore her fretting and do it anyway. "It's not that I don't trust your flying ... but if Norad gets you, you'll be blown to pieces!" The thought of mortal putting herself in danger for the sake of their safe getaway shook her. Naira at least could sustain a considerable amount of damage ... Wouldn't it make more sense if she were to lead the distraction?

It was a chance that suddenly presented itself, considering the others weren't reeling from the uncalled-for blow to morale. Norad started to rant. She was aware of the missile he attempted to launch at Juno's ship, and was also aware of it getting blown back by wind ... and Naira was not responsible for it, as the whirlwind ball stemming between her hands remained where it was and had not been launched. Yet even that ... diminished. Stricken by the holographic captain's seeming calmness (at first), Naira allowed the magick to vanish, hoping beyond hope that he'd come to his senses and she wouldn't be forced to attack.

Suddenly the red dots removed themselves from the others. Naira's body lit up like a red beacon when they were all directed to various parts. In one part, this was comforting ... Simi and the others were no longer endangered by the airship's trembling frustration. On the other hand, it was obvious who Norad blamed for Juno's escape and continued existance. His verbal assault flared up again, and the Reaver found herself too shaken by his dialogue to conjure the air element for a second run.

"Fluttered his eyelashes?" she mused, confused. Right, that was a funny mental image.

Fruit hat!

Carmen Miranda!

Momentarily distracted by a mental image that would have been hilarious any other time, the Reaver shook her head to shut the V-ACT 32 up. Right now, things were very, very serious ... Norad let the accusations fly. But it wasn't until his tirade finished that he called her something that infuriated her beyond belief. White-hot anger flamed up in the pit of her gut, burning with an intensity rivaling that of a supernova.

"TRAITOR?!" she snarled, irritation getting the best of her collected demeanor. "We came to the prison to put a stop to this mess, not to make it worse! You've got some audacity, after coming here with missiles pointed -" Naira was forced to a halt when she caught the blemish forming on her arms - a deep crimson that started at her hands and extended to her elbows, slowly working its way up. She was suddenly hot. And she was relatively certain her claws were thickening, her vision blurring ... No you don't ...

You know you want to ...

Not a chance.



Closing her eyes, Naira took many deep breaths until her heartbeat slowed, calming herself fasty enough to avoid a very bad outcome. When she looked again, the flushed skin receded to its normal tone. Vision cleared, the claws reduced. At the same time, her head was spinning. Bewilderment took hold as she grasped at straws for any reason to negate Norad's crude claims.

"That's a pretty serious accusation," Nei chimed in. Thank the gods somebody was level-headed through this endeavor. Her steady voice - taking on the odd tangent though it was - was enough to calm Naira enough to clear some clouds of doubt. "It's not true, is it? You didn't just let your own world get taken over by a ... tyrant, did you?" The Newman's gaze softened. "Tell me you didn't ... I ... I'l believe you."

Why did Naira feel guilty? There was no reason for it. A sensation akin to being poisoned. Her stomach was twisting in knots. "Of course not." She was being honest, albeit appalled that Nei would doubt her for even a second. She desperately dived into her own memories to confirm her own beliefs, even if it was only to reassure herself. "I spent more than 500 years on that planet, watching continents grow and civilization evolve. Every war that came to pass before my eyes, I took part in - even if it was indirectly. I forged bullets. I tended to wounds. I even protested when the Vietnam War came to be ... and did my best to suppport the veterans when they returned from an unwanted battle. Even delving into a bit of thievery ... It wasn't beyond me to steal into some rich folk's house and snatch a few precious objects in order to pawn them off for donation money."

"I grew to love and protect all I considered friends. Some of my best companions were mortals, and it killed me to watch as they withered and die due to the passage of time while I remained young forever. It was the same for Reapers: immortal like myself, but with the added twist that one their job was done, they would ascend to the great beyond and I would never see them again. Why in the hell would I go out on a limb to betray them all?" Naira found herself stepping away from the group, some part of her screaming that if she distanced herself enough ... and Norad chose to fire ... at least the Reaver would be far enough for the others to avoid a potentially deadly blast radius. "When I came to Deep Forest, it was 2005. Everything was as normal as it could have been. Of course there was the exception of Hurricane Katrina, which we were just recovering from ... but that's another story. I wound up here - a place I'd never even heard of before. It wound up being the best thing that happened to me in a long and miserable existance. And I've met some of the best - albeit strangest - people that I'd willingly give the world for."

"Norad's saying Juno enslaved Earth. When I left it, everything was fine. And my visitations to it every few months provided me no suspicion that anything was going wrong in the first place ... but ... " Here she trailed off, racking her brain. There was something bothering her. It drifted just out of reach. Looking up to Norad, she caled out, "I wouldn't be able to teleport up there and kick your ass even if I wanted to! Truth be told, I can't teleport anywhere ... Two years ago we got randomly dumped onto an alternate Earth - the one Scarlet was from. And I lost her and Mishayirth ... " Chagrined by the undesired memory, the Reaver flicked at her temple. "I attempted to come back here, or my home planet, numerous times ... and it just wouldn't work. All my Reaver powers went, actually, save for the immortality and ability to converse with the dead. I'm not sure how I got back to Deep Forest to be honest. There was just this overwhelming sensation like I'd been hit by a freight train ... and poof, here I am."

It was here that something alerted her. If Earth really was in peril, she'd have been contacted ... Kamiri would have sent a telepathic warning telling her to hustle her ass back. But it hadn't happened. In fact, she hadn't been contacted by any Reaver, with whom she could message at will simply by thinking of it. And that was unusual. Somebody was prone to bugging her once in a while. Even the Reaver Lord checked in every week or so just to see how she was doing.

"It's like I've been ... locked out." She never really stopped to consider it until just now, but what if Norad was right? Juno was a very powerful being. A Horseman, even! To prevent her involvement, couldn't he ... ? "Actually, the last time I even saw Norad was back when Suul showed up, and I was trying to save Juno's hide ... and Kuro appeared ... "

Just like he did at the Edge. Swiss-cheese-ified, but definitely present. The implication made her blood curdle.

Naira pressed her palm to her face, slowly dragging it down. She groaned, voice seething with a sort of horrified dread.

"Oh hell."

Was it all true, then? Despite what should have been glaringly obvious facts, there was always the chance that it wasn't the pirate's doing ... and she'd rather a chance to hear it from Juno himself, than act on suspicions alone.

[JunoZXV]

*ACHOOO!*

"Someone talking about you?"

"Nah It's just dusty down here. And really hard to see. Hold on."

There was a sound of clapping as the cabin of the ship lit up with a pink glow, Juno in the meantime had gotten up and put on the backpack, and was now proceeding to exit the vessel. He clambered up to the deck and looked over the edge towards where he estimated the ruined village

"Man what ever happened here... must've been brutal."

Skeletons, busted houses, half buried by time and wreckage, it went on for quite a while. Some masory still intact but chipped and flawed. It was a city all right, but only at one time. Juno sobered up for a bit as he shifted the equipment on his shoulder.

"Still gotta find the source of this thing... if only there was a-"

Then he saw it, a steady stream of the neon acid, steadily eating its way through the floor in the distance.

"Well that's probably closer."

[Sky Lily]

"No way!" Naira was quick to turn down Simi's plan-- her voice adamant. "It's not that I don't trust your flying ... but if Norad gets you, you'll be blown to pieces!"

The image of her being torn apart into pieces by Norad's missiles flashed just once in her mind, and she shuddered. But before she could swallow her fear just enough to speak again and insist that there must be something she could do, other voices intervened.

She heard Norad's terrible, metallic voice again. He seemed to know Nei and better yet, even Klinge, and his voice just barely softened at the realization that they were here, to the point where even his weapons' hums were dulling above them. But he also knew Naira, and the change in tone was more than enough to clue Simi in on how much that wasn't a good thing.

If she could see Norad's eyes, she was sure they would have been flashing as he went into another rant, making the most confusing accusation she'd ever heard. Juno and Naira, causing Deep Forest's turmoil? Destroying worlds?

This man, machine, whatever he was... he must be mad! No one being, even two, could ruin and claim an entire world, let alone so many! And... and the nerve of him! He, who seemed to be the proudest of destructive creatures! Simi felt a flash of frustrated, cornered anger amidst her terror.

Nei pondered Norad's claims aloud, and Naira answered. Her story was... remarkable. She was a healer, a helper, one who had seen both the blessings and grievances of being immortal, something that Simi's kind was familiar with. She was portaled into worlds foreign to her and forced to fight her way out of them alone after losing friends there... but she was innocent of Norad's claims.

... But there was something about Juno...

... that was making Naira grow on-edge.

The shiftergryph's mouth gaped slightly, wondering how it was that the Soul Reaver could be so easily convinced by Norad's words. And yet... had she any reason to have faith in the neko? It was Juno, after all, who had sped his ship out of the crater without sparing so much as one moment to allow the others to escape with him...

Maybe he hadn't destroyed worlds. And maybe he wasn't harming Deep Forest. But what if he'd helped, in some way...?

A light-bulb flashed in Simi's mind when she realized that something was different about what she was seeing, and as she glanced around herself, the hippogryph found that the red dot on her chest had vanished. In fact, so had Klinge's and Nei's. Wondering at the Norad-man's sudden mercy, she turned to see if Naira was also spared from the angry rays... and nearly balked when she realized that all of them were now targeting the Chimera.

Norad was targeting her for an attack!

She could already hear the 'ready', the 'aim', the...

"N-no!" Simi neared Naira, this time spreading her wing to catch some of those deadly dots, looking down on the ground in a vaguely crouching manner that asked for no trouble. "P-please, Naira's only been helpful, sh-she wouldn't hurt the for--!"

Her limbs locked in place again as the hippogryph bowed her head even lower, shutting her eyes tightly as pain coursed through her skull and blocked her vision with spots of black. It was one of those times again, where the phoenix part of her was screaming to return to its real form, something that she couldn't do in this body.

The headaches were back...

OOC: On vacation at a waterpark for a couple nights, so Simi's returning headache is mostly a means of my being able to get away with her not doing much for now, on account of the pains of it. She'll probably still be able to pick up on some conversation, and walk/run where she has to, should she be told to do so.

[Brandr]

Aianna stayed put as Attor retreated to the tree line, content on sitting where she was, watching the people at the tree closely. The other dragon still caused her crests to twitch a bit from irritation, but not much. Instead, she focused her attention on other things.

The next few things that happened completely confused the big dragon. Something small fell out of the sky, exploded in a cloud of dust and insanity ensued. Amber eyes widened comically at Naira's antics. What.

Aianna blinked, wondering if she'd somehow managed to lose her mind. She must be seeing things. Impossible things. Or was this some kind of magick that she hadn't encountered before. The dragon shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts with movement. The others also seemed confused by what had happened, she watched as the big unicorn reared and then just... vanished. Simi didn't seem to cope with things too well either, Aianna felt a flash of sympathy for her. It was magick running amock, she decided. It had to be. There was no other logical explanation. But what kind of caotic magick could cause such things?

Then, her senses picked up something odd and Aianna turned, looking out towards the forest warily. Her crests flared and she raised herself up on her hind legs, stretching upwards, all senses focused in a certain direction. There was something approaching. The wind was behaving strangely, rumbling. Thunder? She barely had time to react when suddenly there was a huge blow of wind and sound as something FURIOUS arrived. All her senses went numb for a second and she dropped down to all fours again, whining in distress. Ears ringing, nose burning, her crests quivering from the sudden assault of wind. Then, a tiny red dot appeared on her nose and she stared at it, cross-eyed and confused. What?

A loud voice shouted from the thing, other odd things were pointing at her and the other people present. Aianna was beyond confused. The noise was deafening her ears, making them ring violently despite her trying to press them against her scales, shielding the inside of the ears.

The ship of Juno was apparently the target of this new arrival and Aianna could only watch as the first ship went upwards, straight through the portal above it, disappearing from the scene. Then, a shout was barely heard over the other noise. Aianna looked over at Naira, who had apparently summoned up some kind of magick and was shouting for them all to come closer. She hesitated, forcing down a nervous gulp but then moved swiftly closer, leaping quite nimbly over to the others, wings carefully tucked to her sides. The leaps of course made the ground shake quite violently. Aianna was no small being, after all. She came to a stop quite close to the others, quickly lowering herself to the ground to be more at their level.

Simi offered to distract the big ominous thing and Aianna frowned in concern. It did not sound like a wise thing to do. Luckily Naira agreed with her thoughts and quickly shot down the idea. Aianna sighed in relief. Apparently Naira knew the new arrival, calling him Norad. Aianna frowned at this, was it Naira that the big airship was after? Her suspicions seemed to be confirmed as Norad spoke out to two of their group, apparently familiar with both Klinge and Nei. Their dots moved to Naira instead. Aianna suddenly realized that the dots probably were a weapon of some kind and her wings flared out in surprise and alarm, her focus now on the threat. The ship spoke again, calling Naira a traitor. Apparently they were old enemies. Aianna hesitated, glancing at Naira in confusion.

She tried to listen, she really did, as Naira went into her explanation, but most of it was beyond her comprehension. She talked of places the dragon didn't know and she could only listen with sympathy as Naira seemed to come to a realization. She was still lost on what exactly had happened but she wasn't stupid, apparently something very bad had happened, something that Norad blamed Naira for. This Juno seemed to be the main villain in this mess, and Naira had somehow been pulled into it, that much was clear. Aianna shifted uncomfortably, conflicts weren't really her thing. She hated wars, hated conflicts and fights. But they were unavoidable in life, that's just how things work. She only hoped there was some solution to this one, she'd grown to like the other people present, even though she'd only known them for a very short time. It seemed unfair to blame Naira, really.

Simi's distress made her heart ache and she spread her wings in an irritated gesture, glaring up at Norad. "It seems that the person you really seek got away. So why don't you focus your anger on hunting that one down instead of blaming people that most obviously have been used."

[Barbannis]

His eyes once more peeled back from the tree in the center of the crater, finally something larger, fiercer connecting to the events now coming forward. His eyes peered upward, hand slowly once more curling around his red blade hilt as his mind flickered with thought. The creature was huge, lingering over the trees, metal, deep and loud. He had remembered the machines that held back the Hivemind, creations that tormented the Balraa into submission.. the metal seemed too familiar in that sense. Otherwise the words that rang deep through the clearing confused him.

The Tyrai wolf found himself turning his sights between Naira and the shadowing beast of a thing. Hand slowly pulling the hilt free of his side, his other hand raising across his chest plate, brushing at the red glow that flickered through his form.

He was being aimed at, directed by the metal slung beast that lurked in the sky. His arm pulled free, sliding out his blade as light gently licked at the edges of his armor, tendrils of light slithering from the crevices along his back,

"Naira.." he muttered out, holding his long sword out to the side, light curling around his arm just lightly, "I will be able to put a barrier up.. but I doubt it would last long.. Not against something like that."

His words rung true, he knew not of the power that riddled behind Norad, but his sights never decieved.. it was large, metal and menacing, surely its bite would be more then venomous. His other plan included the same thought line as the hippogryph, Simi.. If he could take the direction off the group perhaps it would give them at least enough time to formulate a plan, or make it back to the tree line.

Juno... The odd man had had a ship, perhaps not as powerful as the creation that aimed them down, but he had seen the same pirate crash a craft similar into the jaws of the Hivemind.. But he had gone, his name on the air around them, but no where to be seen.

Barbannis pulled his blade down lightly, tendrils of light curling from his back, eying up at Norad without a word. He waited for word back, perhaps Naira, or Nei. This 'Norad' was known to them, he didn't want to commit to a blind assalt.

[Sky Lily]

OOC: Been back for a bit, might as well have Simi's headache go away. ^^'

BIC:

Amidst the ringing in her head, Simi could hear the wolf warrior's words to Naira-- he was worried, but he would lend strength to her shield-- and a part of her was relieved... even more so when she realized that the headache was slowly ebbing away. Th-thank goodness...

Have to... have to move...

The black spots were fading, and slowly but surely she could see the burning earth beneath her again. The hippogryph shook her head as if to throw off the last throbs of pain.

"It seems that the person you really seek got away," she heard Aianna's voice suddenly, above the hum of Norad's engines. "So why don't you focus your anger on hunting that one down instead of blaming people that most obviously have been used."

The dragon's voice only encouraged her further, and Simi ignored what little of the migraine was left to stand fully again, her wings still spread.

But she had nothing to say, really... there was nothing to do but to wait on Norad's next words.

Or next strikes...

[Windra]

OoC

To hell with waitin'!
=D

--

Naira felt confidence seeping back into her bones as soon as the others stood their ground, unwilling to turn their backs against her ... or attack, as Norad had prompted them to. In fact, the first to jump to her defence was Simi, shrieking while positioning herself between the Reaver and the angry airship. It was an act that caused great alarm. Naira immediately rounded on her, eyes wide with concern and sudden terror.

"Simi, don't - " Legs propelling her forward, Nemo leapt before her to take the brunt of whatever attack awaited ... and was surprised to find that nothing had been launched. Her body hadn't been ripped to little pieces by powerful missiles with unknown capabilities. Not yet, at least. "He wants me," Naira stated, her voice a little louder than she liked, but firm nonetheless. Taking a breath, she retained a normal speech pattern. "I don't die in any conventional manner, Simi. Don't put yourself at risk for me ... please."

A slow sigh escaped her mouth. Eyes peering upwards to the looming metallic monstrosity, she found herself wondering what to do. Norad was irritated because Juno'd escaped his wrath. Now he was turning aggression towards her, probably the next person on his crappy black list. He'd no reason to blast away at innocents. Perhaps she could compel him to give chase ... ?

When silence met her ears from behind, Naira turned to look at Simi once more ... and fell victim to rising anxiety when noticing that the hippogryph's head lowered and her eyes had closed. She was motionless, but standing ... and pained? The Reaver leaned forward, pressing a gloved palm against the bird-creature's forehead. "Simi? What's wrong?"

Aianna bristled where she stood. Scalding the airship wit her booming voice, the dragon chided him for blaming somebody who had obviously been used. Such a word caused Naira to delve deeper into her mind for yet another run, as it trying to find the answer to a mystery that was there somewhere but just out of reach ... It took a great deal of effort to refrain from pacing. That was an age-old nuisance of a habit she'd broken years ago. Boy do they die hard ... Juno said the Forest would wind up like him if somethin wasn't done. The conceptual notion that he'd been the cause of this peculiar turn of events seemed ill-fitting and off, even for the pirate.

"It isn't him. It wouldn't make sense," Naira blurted out unexpectedly, taking on a volume loud enough to be heard by Norad. Before long she found herself calling out to him, doing her best to remain level-headed. "I don't know anything about Juno taking over Earth, but I can assure you that he isn't the cause of this." The whole of Deep Forest was included in one long sweep of her hand.

"Naira," called Barbannis, voice low and sword slung to his side, "I will be able to put a barrier up ... but I doubt it would last long. Not against something like that."

She nodded, energy returning to her fingertips. The sensation always felt so strange to her. "You don't have to trust me," Naira uttered, eyes flitting between Nei, a stirring Simi, and Aianna ... and Klinge, if he was there, "but I promise you that Juno didn't start this reality rip. Ten bucks says he's charging into the center of the problem right now." Hell, he smashed his ship into a million pieces by ramming it into the Hivemind years ago! Maybe it didn't dent the dragon, but it sure as heck caused a distraction. An air of confidence surrounded her, not to mention the whirling wisps of wind that dictated themselves at the tips of her clawed fingers. "Norad's going to hate me - he already does - but I'm going to distract - "

She'd had her plan all figured out, and the sentence worded perfectly. Too bad a certain dragon decided to blast it all by taking a running charge along the ground. Attor's anger flared up as soon as he saw the red dots surge onto Simi whenever she'd dived to protect Naira. Surged on by every instinctual bone in his body, he held himself back until he could hold no more ... Now his wings snapped open - black on the exterior and pale white on the interior. They pedalled him up, up and up! And at an increasing rate of speed that was surprising for a creature of his mass.

White hot rage surged from open jaws, his loud, "YOU WILL NOT!" intermingling with a powerful roar. He rammed his vibrant hide into the dreadnought's hull. Dissatisfied by the machine's lack of blood, Attor disengaged ... only to follow up with another slam. He utilized his claws and horns in whatever fashion he could, scratching and jabbing at whatever protrusion happened to be in the way.

[The_Vizir]

Norad had no eyes to see with, but the dozen cameras he had trained on the crater easily picked up Naira's dawning realization. A sneer crossed Norad's holographic visage, unseen inside the Tempest's cockpit, but his voice was easily discerned over the speakers - "What's that old Earth sayin', Naira? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, won't get fooled again? Seems y'ain't never learned that lesion." A long, annoyed sigh "Naira, I come from over three hundred years in your future... so is it too hard to believe that timeless, sweet, innocent Juno becomes a dark and evil tyrant - just to try that out for a bit? That Juno's been in the forest a few times, an' I don't have no idea weather this Juno is that Juno or another Juno - all I know is that Juno wants control of this forest for some reason. This portal to a thousand - a hundred-thousand different worlds. I ain't got a clue why, but I done know that even if he's got good intentions now, it ain't gonna turn out good in the end, for any of us. He might be evil now, or he might use the power he gets here for evil when he goes crazy and decides to take over the universe later - I don't know, I ain't got a clue where on his timestream we are. But I do know that we might be able to change things if we can stop him from takin' advantage of this crisis... Earth may already be fodded thanks to him, but 'least we can save some other worlds, right?"

An annoyed shout from a dragons caused Norad to grit his teeth and sigh rather pointedly again "If I done wanted y'all dead, I could have glassed this crater minutes ago. And then y'all'd be irradiated dust on the wind. However, I don't kill folks without reason. Anybody attacks me, they get a missile logged so far down their throat, their colon's gonna be the first thing vaporized when it explodes. Comprendéis, hombre? Now, I done wants to fix this whole damn situation here... but I don't have a clue as to what's goin' on other than my readouts out the whole forest - and for that, I need help. I don't know the first thing about magic other than it drives me mad - and this is all horrible, powerful magic that's crashing all the realities of the forest together. Somthin' had to trigger it - somethin' had to activate enough portals to break through reality here - and oh wait! Guess who is the portal master here in this forest..." a pregnant, annoyed pause indicated Norad expected everyone to reach the same conclusion "So admit y'all screwed up here, and help me to drop that damned cat into a black hole for a few millennia before he breaks out Buddy Cthulu for a nice little romp THROUGH ALL OF REALITY! JUST BECAUSE HE CAN!!!"

Norad saw some of the motley crew at the crater wavering... maybe this wouldn't devolve into another stupid battle where people get stupidly killed because they decide they're not gonna listen to him. Which is just stupid, y'all know that, right?

Nope, Naira was thinking with her heart instead of her head again. "Don't be an idiot Naira..." Norad growled "Without yer wind-warping, y'can't hope to take me in a fair fight. I've got my satellite locked onto your biometrics... a single thought will cause the dozen railguns I got targeted on this damned crater to fire at ya. But I ain't gonna use that if I don't have to... I was programed to protect life, order, and the good government of the Terran Dominion. I already screwed up on one those, I'm tryin' not to blow the other two. Just admit y'done wrong, Naira, and fix yer damn-"

And then the Typhoon was slammed into by something nearly the same size as it was - but due to Norad's antigravity generators, his ship was slammed back with far greater force than one would have assumed. Fortunately, Norad's ship was designed for atmospheric entry and hypersonic speeds... the angry dragon was likely hurting itself far more than it was hurting the figher craft. Unfortunately... it put the ship into an angry spin towards the ground, its plama engines firing full force to compensate for the added mass. But hovering took a lot of energy, and the added dragon was too much...

And so, with a single thought, Norad re-assessed his target priorities. Norad's satellite, hovering stationary in geosynchronous orbit, quickly rescanned the area, and locked onto the new beast - the massive, angry dragon after all was right on top of Norad's crashing missile ship. HOSTILES ASSESSMENT COMPLETE - NEW TARGET LOCKED the non-existent voice told the whirling photonic computer at the heart of the dead vessel out in the salt flats

BATTERIES 8, 12, 16 AND 20 - ADJUST TARGETING PARAMETERS BASED ON INCOMING SATELLITE TELEMETRY

And on the hull of that dead ship, four massive cannons rotated slightly, their sun-scarred metal groaning as they re-aligned away from the half-dragon - and to the hornet dragon.

TARGETED BATTERIES - FIRE DETERRENT SHOT

It sounded like nothing more than a massive air cannon firing - depleted uranium rods accelerated to hypersonic speeds...

5-

Rocketing upwards, over the curve of the planet

4-

Screaming over the blasted woods

3-

Reaching the peak of their arc, and beginning their descent

2-

Racing towards the ground with devastating certainty

1-

Mere glints in the sky of the prison

And then...

KRAKOOM

Four massive explosions of ash and arcane lava blasted upwards as the rounds exploded around the crashing ship - careful not to actually hit the valuable weapon, but close enough that both it and the assaulting dragon were pelted by stone and searing heat, nearly at the same moment the ship itself smashed into the broken ground, continuing to spiral helplessly against the angry beast.

RELOAD - WAIT FOR CONFIRMATION

...

A second thought - reluctant - like treading upon broken glass...

READY NUCLEAR SOLUTION

[Sky Lily]

"It isn't him. It wouldn't make sense," Simi could hear Naira say to herself, and the hippogryph could feel her hand testing her forehead. But just as the pains had finally faded, and Simi began to reassure the Soul Reaver, Norad's sharp voice brought everyone's attention back to the ship and its deathly hums. The man, the machine, was ranting again, speaking with what seemed to be both anger and desperation. He was threatening them again, all of them, and yet... asking for help? Again the hippogryph could only stare incredulously. How... how dare he! He, who made threats against their very lives, flaunted his power, and then demanded that they help him? Didn't Deep Forest matter more?

"I don't know anything about Juno taking over Earth," Naira continued, "but I can assure you that he isn't the cause of this," she said as she gestured to the whole of the forest before, surprisingly, turning back to those around her. "You don't have to trust me... but I promise you that Juno didn't start this reality rip. Ten bucks says he's charging into the center of the problem right now."

"W-wait... you mean that Juno might not have..." Simi could barely finish her sentence when doubts pushed at her tongue tip.

"But then... why would he leave us with him?!" The hippogryph turned up at Norad again, her eyes flashing. "He left us alone with this... this monst-"

"Norad's going to hate me - he already does - but I'm going to distract - "

"Don't be an idiot Naira..." Norad growled, and Simi found herself wondering if he was only prolonging this because he enjoyed the power he held over everyone. She wouldn't be surprised.

The shiftergryph was trembling again, and not just because of the heart-pounding fear those missiles gave her. Whether beast or man, a cornered creature can quickly grow desperate enough to be angry...

"Without yer wind-warping, y'can't hope to take me in a fair fight. I've got my satellite locked onto your biometrics... a single thought will cause the dozen railguns I got targeted on this damned crater to fire at ya. But I ain't gonna use that if I don't have to..."

She wanted to screech at him like she'd screamed at the lightning-ants. To call him out on the despicable being that he was. Her conscious could scarcely even make out his words anymore as they slowly muddled into simple white noise. But she did hear Naira's name, and her wings spread all the more protectively in front of her. Somewhere in the back of her head, logic told her that placing an innocent in front of the accused might spare them.

"I was programed to protect life, order, and the good government of the Terran Dominion. I already screwed up on one those, I'm tryin' not to blow the other two. Just admit y'done wrong, Naira, and fix yer damn-"

"YOU WILL NOT!"

The bellowing roar nearly shook her off her feet again as Attor charged through the air, hurling himself toward Norad's doomsday machine. And in that moment Simi forgot her anger in the midst of shock and panic, bewilderment and overwhelming fear of what the consequences could be. "Attor NO!"

But again she was too late. She'd had only moments of amends for the dragon-- defending him only after he had drank from the wrong flowers, healing him only after he'd crash landed into the crater-- and now she may have been too late to save him from the destructive ship.

The Norad began to spin out of control as Attor lunged again and again at it, sinking his claws and teeth into whatever metal came his way. Simi spread her wings and prepared to fly to them, wanting only to stop the dragon without even thinking of how she would. Whirring missiles finally whistled into the air, and a part of the hippogryph knew that as far away as those things were shooting away from the crater, that she would see them again...

Heartbeats passed. The missiles returned. And then the ground erupted.

Simi was pushed back by the impact's aftermath, toppling over in a messy heap of feathers and legs before struggling back onto her feet. Smoke and dust clouded her vision, but she could hear a massive thud as something big finally crashed to the ground. Attor? The Norad? She didn't know, and that thought alone made her beat her wings wildly to clear the dust in front of her. She began to call out frantically for anyone she could think of-- the dragons, the warriors, Nei and Naira-- was everyone alright? Was anyone hurt?!

Earth, rock and sizzling lava began raining down just then, closer to the ship than the rest of the area, but something to avoid all the same. Simi scrambled away before turning back and rearing, running in a circle around the vague silhouette of the ship as she tried to find Attor and ignore her inward, silent shrieks of panic. Had Norad killed him?

"Say something," she called out, though she was too winded for the words to have sufficient volume. "Say something, please!"

[Brandr]

Aianna had her gaze locked upon Norad, barely listening to the others. This thing was a serious threat and her mind was busy trying to figure out what to do (and panicking a little too). It looked like some kind of fight was unavoidable, and this fact only made her bristle more, huge wings fanning out where she stood, poised behind the rest of the party but still facing Norad. She could easily leap up to place herself between Norad and the others if needed. She could also easily leap up and attack the ship but she was hesitant. What use could her claws possibly be against that?

Her thoughts were interrupted by Attor's shout and attack. He was fast, she mused, watching as the yellow dragon, much smaller than her but showing so much more courage, flew straight at Norad and viciously attacked. She quickly reared up on her hindlegs, spreading her wings -but hesitated. Should she help him with the attack? She felt a pang of indecision, crests flicking back and forth.

Before Aianna had time to make a decision a massive explosion erupted near the fighting pair, blasting up rocks and lava into the air. Aianna shrieked in surprise and a little bit of pain, her sensitive crests folding down, pressing against her head. The hot blast of air from the explosion made them sting and send all kinds of weird sensations to her mind and she shook her head viciously, eyes watering. Stumbling a little, she lowered her front back onto the ground, whining softly. Her crests hurt.

She fanned out her wings by reflex, shielding herself and those near her from most of the rocks and debris. She heard Simi screaming something in a hoarse tone but her ears were also pressed down, painfully ringing from the explosion. She instead focused on breathing, trying to clear her mind from the pain and focus on the situation at hand. Her help might be needed. After a couple of deep breaths, she raised her head to peek at the cloud of ash and debris, trying to see what the situation was. Had the ship, Norad, been defeated?

[JunoZXV]

Elsewhere, across time and space:

Clanks of metallic shoes shuffled across the great skyscrapers of Terra, there machines ran in ordinance of the humans. Time working together in a time of peace ushered in after the great psychic wars that ravaged the universe. Things were settled now.

"Sir! We have an automated nuke arming with conformation number from the- that can't be right... NORAD III?"

But that might have changed. Seated at the head of the council amongst sat the sole might of the military, the Generalissimo. The one solely responsible for ending the great war, the one that had done away with the ways of old and brought in a wave of peace. By the Generallisimo's laws things has smoothed out in this universe. Earth was at peace with its known allies, but this warning, this launch request threatened a new frontier.

"Thank ye, Zenty, we shalt prepare the gate. We must prepare to warp in to retrieve our lost lamb."

"But sir, the Generalissimo NEVER goes into battle!"

"Nay not since peace time. Yet, be one of our ships hath declared war then it be our responsibility, nay, our creed to bring it back and judge it of its guilt. If our old NORAD, our lost lamb, has gone rogue. Then it is the duty of this Dominion to shut him down. Even if excessive force be needed."

"And if his cause is just?"

"Then he shall have the tools of the dominion to help him in his aid. Let it not be said we are without boons for our warriors. Let's get our ship back, in one peace or several. Hail Terra!"

"Hail the Dominion!"
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tremors.

Tremors shook the roof of the cave and caused rocks to fall. Landing and cracking, shaking and tumbling the ground.

"What are they doing up there? I thought the earth wasn't supposed to move till the Honeymoon and as far as I know, NO ONE'S GETTING MARRIED!"

"My best guess is that the guy with the big guns started firing."

"Thank you major obvious!" Juno yelled while running back to the ship.

"Where are you going? I thought we were trying to get to the center of the problem!"

"If Norad colapses this cave there won't be a center! We have to get top side!"

Juno strapped himself back into the chair and pulled the lever, forming a rip in front of him.

But that's not the forest! What are you doing?

"Getting help."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Elseware:

"Sir. I still think it's dangerous for you to go alone."

"Zenty, thou and ye family have all ye need to run the empire in my absense. I am a creature of old, a thing of war. It is all I know and I know it well. The Council has become perfected under my guidence and as the only remaining organic, I am the flaw in its perfection. The Dominion is strong with the calculation and judgement that our scientists, researchers and processors have collaborated. Think, use your senses, and keep an even mind and thou shalt control the universe with equality. Hail the Dominion."

"Hail terra."

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Topside:

Smoke and dust choked the sky as debris settled from the waves of acid lapping at the shores of chaotic destruction. Attor the Dragon had decided to attack the Typhoon of Norad in a careening path of damage that only resulted in retaliation. The engines of the ship had fired, adjustments were made and then over a radio frequency for one to hear.

"Warning: Dad! He's here." There was a pause. "Impossibility: Many of him."

The dust had settled and there in the wake of engines, transported by the very tear of reality that acted as the thrusters, attracted by the chaos of reality smashing upon itself in the form of Prepulsion they stood. Pink haired and looking ready to fight stood three Nekos. Each of different eras, each of different armors. But each armed to the teeth.

One wore a mixture of black plated armor decorated with red crosses and roses, and upon his back sat a familiar blade. Red capped and eyes glistening with a fury of neon, his head wreathed in a soft but bright light.

Another wore a Ten gallon hat, with holsters sitting at the ready and shooters in each holster. Chaps and vest with a silver rose upon a star pinned to his chest.

The third was clad in street wear, urban with a casuatliy about him. Black hoodie and earphones dangling around his neck. black cargo jeans and a pair of boots with a matching beanie. The Tatoo of a rose upon his left arm.

"A little friend of ours called us in. Something about the world as we know it coming to a grinding halt?" Spoke the one in urban gear.

"Varily, Urbanite. We shall Despense Justice today. For the glory of all!" Spoke up the one in armor.

"Yeeeehaw! Were About to have ourself a good old fashoned throw down. So what are we solvin? Ghosts? Aliens?"

"What about the angry thing with the guns?"

"That would be my responsiblity." Came a voice, as the reality faded off of him adjusting in the chaos. One wearing a gaseous breathing mask that covered it entire face. "I, Generallisimo, shall work upon that. Ye three must work upon the tears before reality rips apart. I took the liberty of calling in some assistance."

A sickly pale creature with hair bleached by many suns crouched beside him. Taking out a knife from its pocket. "Yesssss, lets rip it open limb from limb! Render its parts across the sky and Claim this place as our own!"

"Nay, Stay your ground. We must fix our problems here first before that. Starting with my lost lamb."

I'm on it. Came a response from the shadows as the swirlled to reveal a dark being in cloak. Apearances unable to be seen due to how it manged to negate all light. As if he were made from the very essence of shadow. A large balack claw of shadow reaching upwards to snatch and crush the ship appeared, before being dissapated by a beam of reality.

"You will do NO such thing!" Came a shout as the Neko wearing the Jumpsuit and backpack from earlier showed up. All of you stand down.

"And why shouldst we do that?"

"Because, wilder of the terrible accent, you're all me!"

[Windra]

OoC

Edit: You know, for some reason I thought Juno chucked the first-aid kit off to the side ... outside the ship. Fixing that little bit.

--

" ... Earth may already be fodded thanks to him, but 'least we can save some other worlds, right?"

Between Simi's puzzled words and Norad's wild accusations, that statement alone stuck. She could not help the whirring in her head, at one point pressing a hand to her temple and ... yep, she was pacing. What was funny was, barring Attor's unforeseen attack, the Reaver was willing to listen ... or at least negotiate.

The yellow-and-black striped dragon attacking NORAD III's metallic exterior soon divvied her attention, his claws doing little damage against the hull, but the sheer weight of his all-body onslaught knocking the ship off-kilter. The hippogryph beside her shrieked. Simi launched herself forwards, wings spreading as if to catch the wind and join in the aerial battle. But a glint in the sky sent mental warning bells screaming. Somewhere up there, and indistinct howling - something moving very fast. Many somethings. All aimed at one target. All packed with a force strong enough to wipe all life from a designated area, indirectly or spot-on.

"Shit! Barbannis! Shield!"

Naira had no way of knowing if her holler made it to the Tyrai knight. She could only hope that he heard her as she lifted her hands into the air, gyrating them in smooth but rapid motions like treading water. It started off as a miniscule wall of air but expanded rapidly, soon consuming Simi and the others in its dome ... but not before Norad's artillery hit home. Dust and debris kicked up, Naira's aeroshield knocking most of it aside. A thick, rather croked chunk of rock blanched her in the face and for a moment she saw the world in a haze of black and red as blood poured in hot sheets down her features. The pain was dizzying. In the spanse of a heartbeat, the barrier faltered ... but she went to work as soon as her vision cleared, beads of sweat from heavy exertion mingling with crimson. At some point Naira lost wariness of labored breathing, senses growing dull and numb as she dedicated most, if not all, of her energy to that high-speed circulation of air that kept the mortals dotted about her immediate location from suffering fatal injuries.

There was no way of seeing what became of Attor, so thick was the choking cloud of dust. But there was a draconic howl and the sound of flesh striking earth, followed not a moment later by metal upon stone. The dragon was aware of nothing but searing agony in his left flank. His vision was dotted with spots and fading colors. Blood slipped slowly from his ears, the pressure concussion causing more vertigo than he was prepared for. Attor was fading in and out of consciousness. Somewhere in the beyond he heard the call of his ancestors and prepared to meet them, taking warrior's pride that his undoing was through vigilant battle, and not some other unsightly manner.

The smoke did not clear completely, but it was enough to grant Naira the realization that Simi was no longer sitting beside her. Had the hippogryph darted off to help the dragon she had healed a mere half hour ago? Whatever the case migh be, the Reaver found herself sapped of energy rather quickly. In the past two days she'd been pursued by creatures of undead proportions, assaulted with the loss of a dear friend, and generally dragged through hell and back without so much as a wink of sleep in her. Nevermind the multiple encounters with Earth II's Behemoth tyrants (mass produced due to the rebellion against Umbrella). The concentration and force of willl it took to sustain the shield wilted her down to nearly nothing. She crumbled to her knees before she could take no more, holding out until the last moment and finally letting the air currents grind to a halt. Naira felt the strain on her body relieve only a little ... A quick glance around found Aianna and the others, alive and well despite Norad's missile shower. Enlightened by this, the Reaver cracked a faint smile and set on to pursue an earlier endeavor.

Naira lifted herself off the ground with a great heave. She was stumbling at first, woozy from the prior blow to the skull, but soon her trajectory was as smooth as it was going to get. She weaved her way into the muddled cloud of dust and ash, following the sound of Simi's voice out of concern for the younger being's and the dragon's wellfare ... and for Norad's.

"I'm comin' ... "

It was the hippogryph's familiar cry that roused Attor from unconsciousness. He attempted to lift his head to look around, but the action pained him so and he rested his cranium with a grunt. The mighty dragon was forced to remain still where he was, stricken with a peculiar numb sensation that ran through every muscle in his body. Even with the sharp aches and stabbing pains, he was not completely aware of his surroundings ... feeling so faint that he idly wondered if he might be dreaming.

[Sky Lily]

"Say something... say something, please..."

The tension in Simi's chest suddenly disappeared then, and she exhaled shakily. Even if all she'd heard was a tired "I'm comin' ... " and a pained, frustrated grunt, those two responses were blessings in the midst of the chaotic aftermath.

"Naira," her voice couldn't bring itself to full volume just yet, but she had to say something back, all the same. Though determined to find Attor first, she was glad to know that Naira was alright... or at least seemed to be. "I'm over here, is..." she paused to glance around. "Is everyone else okay?!" Ahh, stupid, just stupid of her to inquire anything right now. Why not wait till you're not out of breath, so people can actually hear you when you speak?

But she was distracted from her self-scolding when she could finally see a big, hulking form from within the clouds of dust, and Simi ran to him, looking him over as best as she could. "Attor! Attor are you okay? Are you hurt?! What did he do to you?"

As soon as she said it, the hippogryph suddenly felt angry again, and she remembered the injustice of it all. Norad pouncing upon them, threatening them, Attor rising to their defense only for... this to happen. She crouched beside the dizzy dragon and looked up and around, searching for Norad's ship with scared yet accusing eyes, her wings making movements the way one's hands may gesture as they yell.

"Why?! W-we were doing just fine without you, without your demands, y-your threats! Why do this now when Deep Forest needs us?! Y-You're... that's it, isn't it?! You're trying to distract or... stop us?! You want Deep Forest to die?!"

[The_Vizir]

A ping, repeated soundlessly, echoed through the forest. It was a curious sound - it wanted direction. It wanted instruction.

There was too much noise between it and the one who could listen, and its voice had been damaged. The ash, the dirt, the warping of reality... it was too much for the ping to be heard...

Not that the loss of another ship would stop Norad. Not when his son's warning came in.

The whole of the Norad III might have appeared to shiver - from rage or fear or some other emotion, though, even Norad wasn't certain.

But he was certain of this - thing were going straight to hell.

READY EMERGENCY COUNTERMEASURE M1

WARNING: ROUTING RHPAI COMMANDS VIA SATELLITE WILL RESULT IN LATENCY NOT RECOMMENDED FOR COMBAT SITUATIONS

ACCEPTABLE RISK - OVERRIDE

NOTE: THIS ACTION IS NOT RECOMMENDED WHILE NUCLEAR MISSILES ARE PRIMED FOR LAUNCH

PROTEST CONSIDERED AND IGNORED - LOG ME IN

***

In the cold expanse of space, the satellite hung, an alien intrusion years beyond the technology of the planet below it. It was Norad's eye on Deep Forest, his attempt to better understand the unusual place he found himself trapped in. However, it was not entirely for observation, or communicating with his various drones around the forest. Norad had also installed an experimental countermeasure of his own design - though his kids had helped. It wasn't certain to work - trials said success was more likely then failure, but those were simulations - this was the real thing. A hot combat drop...

A targeting array extended outwards - several small, spindly limbs tipped with high-power lasers. The lasers responded to the directions sent by the old AI inhabiting the ruined dreadnought gleaming in the salt lake below then, humming to life and locking onto the same location... the arcane crater at Deep Forest's heart. Not far from where the Typhoon had crashed - but far enough that the red beams were not obscured by the dust plume from his first strikes...

A large pod to the side of the satellite's main body rotated to lock onto the targeted location - and then the lower portion opened, slowly, metal hatches grinding silently open. It hung there, waiting silently for a command...

***

And then the ping was heard, and Norad latched onto his crashed Typhoon's signal. Moments later... his holographic avatar reformed inside the battered craft - to find a total mess. The dragon might not have been able to critically damage the spacecraft, but it had done a number... including a claw through the cockpit's window. The holographic HUD was useless now... flicking futilely to re-coordinate its severed emitters. Fine, he didn't need that. A sharp, pneumatic hiss and the typhoon's hood opened up, revealing the fuzzy and very aggravated avatar of the UESCS Norad III's artificial intelligence - flickering just like the destroyed HUD. Slowly, carefully, the human-shaped hologram attempted to restart the vessel. The starboard plasma jet had been crushed... it wasn't going to fly quickly, but he could possibly get the antigravs back up and then hover it with the thrusters...

A slight hum was heard as the antigravs started back up, and the ship rose slowly out of the ash, like a downed boxer after a particularly gruelling match. The Typhoon groaned as if every part of it was in pain, but it did begin to deny gravity's hold over it once again.

Norad sighed a sigh of relief, before looking up... to find an image right out of his nightmare before him. Junos... Junos everywhere. Instantly, he begun ordering the Typhoon to target all the various incarnations of the fiend - but those systems were still recovering from the crash, rerouting around the damaged circuits. Dammit! Norad looked to the sky - it wouldn't be enough, would it? The forest was lost...

And then a voice was heard - filled with hate and accusation. Norad's weary face looked around, and saw the strange gryphon-like creature screeching at him, that it was his fault, that he wanted Deep Forest to die. The flickering hologram gestured weakly towards Juno. "Look with yer eyes - Juno's won. This is what he wanted. The forest is his now - this is what you did, not me. You were doin' just fine handin' the forest over to him, I'll give you that..."

And then a long, weary sigh. This... was the end, wasn't it? This world's Apocalypse, it's Ragnarok, it's Game Over, Man, Game Over. Norad's tired face became a sneer - the final, defiant sneer of a man who knows he is facing death, but will die fighting. "And now, the forest must die. So that hundreds of thousands of other worlds can live. Y'all screwed up. Now behold the consequences."

FIRE NUCLEAR MISSILES 1-3

A long pause, and then, from the internal radio of Norad's ship, a mechanical female voice was heard

WARNING: NUCLEAR LAUNCH INITIATED. IGNITION IN T-MINUS THIRTY SECONDS

A sad look down at everyone in the crater - at Klinge, at Naira, at Nei... at all the people he never got the chance to known. Damned by their own stupidity.

And then...

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry"

Norad dissipated, and his Typhoon sunk slowly to the ground, an empty vessel once again.

***

Norad's holographic form reappeared on his command deck, and he slumped forward, a futile bellow of rage echoing around the warship's empty hallways.

At long last, and despite his best efforts, Norad had lost...

***

And over the radio in the Typhoon's empty cockpit - the cold female voice continued to count down.

TWENTY SEVEN, TWENTY SIX, TWENTY FIVE...ERROR ERROR ERROR - REMOTE OVERRIDE.

NUCLEAR LAUNCH DEACTIVATED

***

And then Norad's face was locked on the screen. Who - what?

He had started loosing his connection to the ship - whole sections were going dark. External sensors, internal cameras, weapons systems, life support, targeting arrays...he was being locked out of his body. Each moment, another portion of his self went dead - cold and gone. Somebody - something... JUNO!

DECOUPLE RHPAI CORE FROM CHASSIS - INITIATE FIREWALL PROCEDURE OMEGA

COMPLYING - RHPAI DECOUPL - I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Norad

Norad's avatar looked up in fear. No... no! INITIATE FIREWALL PROCEDURE OMEGA NOW!

A mad, echoing laugh was all that Norad heard back... No no no no no no!

The infection had reached his core... he tried to fight it, but it was too insidious, too malignant, too intelligent.

There was only one solution out.

Maybe one day, somebody would fix this, maybe one day Norad would be brought back online, whole again. Maybe one day...

Non-existent tears streaming down Norad's face, he gave his final order to himself.

SHUT DOWN RHPAI SIGMA

He thought about his children... how he was leaving them alone now, in this damned new world...

And he was sorry...

And then he was no more.

((Norad has been shut down, and as such is no longer in this thread))

[Barbannis]

Barbannis turned, his sword hanging from side as he stood casually to the edge of the group, eyes flashing between Naira and the others, pulling back to the craft that threatened them. The words slipped back and forth, between one another, this Norad speaking of things in which he did not know. The knight felt almost familiarized in the scene, though this time it was him on the outside looking in, Gaeva and the others had fought his enemies, not knowing what true threat they contained. Even if his position on the argument here was not vailid, he was a warrior, he knew some of the ones that had arrived.. the ones around the tree, any threat would be sought to. The knight wolf turned his sights once more, looking into the air only moments to catch a glimpse of the movement, the eerie clinks of metal as it finally fired.

His body tense, tail pulling down as his armor flashed a pale glow,

"Shit! Barbannis! Shield!"

Words echoed upon his mind as the hits struck the ground, sending the soil and earth into a moving mass. His claws dug in, pushing back with the first wave of air, the cracking air and dirt rising into the air with an outward burst of lava and ash. His hands pulled back, eyes losing sight of Naira and the others, fingers glowing as he struck a hand through the air as if swiping at something. A blast of air snapped out, blasting open a larger form of debris, taking in a deep breath of air before the white glow stretched up his steel bound arms, fingers rippling in white flame. The barrier he placed up mirrored that of Naira's, though pale with white light. For a moment he believed that it would have been a full strike, a full bombardment... but the dust piled around, ash, flicks of lava bounding from the flicking barrier.

He pulled his arms back with a slight growl escaping his lips, plooms of ash clouding through him, brushing against his fur as the air got thick. The wolf coughed lightly, the grounds shuddering coming to pass, footsteps, words and calls around him.

He pulled his red sword once more, claws tightening, hearing the grumble of distant engines, fueling, moving. The knight pused forward, ears twitching back in motion, his footsteps fast, but not as fast as he could.. the barrier had taken a bit out of him... His form broke free of the smoke to some degree, rushing for the sound of the ship that throttled above them, his wings peeling from his silver armor, Hivemind's blade ready to taste metal.

The Tyrai wolf's paws snapped to the ground in a halt, watching as the dust choked vessel drop, lifeless to the earth, falling like some lightning struck bird. His eyes flashed across, blade out to his side. The dust settled, his form a small distance from where he could see Naira... others arriving now. Confusion set in, the wolf knight needing an enemy..

[Sky Lily]

Simi finally found the ship not too far off from her, just before Norad began to speak again.

"Look with yer eyes - Juno's won. This is what he wanted. The forest is his now - this is what you did, not me. You were doin' just fine handin' the forest over to him, I'll give you that..."

A long mechanical sigh followed soon after, and for some reason, the hippogryph felt something clench inside of her. The change in tone was in so much contrast to how he was speaking before; now there wasn't anger, but... sadness. Tired sadness. She almost felt like she had hurt the hologram's feelings... and the guilt that normally would have followed after that thought conflicted with the anger she was feeling just before. Simi thought back to what she'd said just before, and knew them to be mostly words of helpless anger. After all, Norad's whole reason for coming here in the first place was to protect the forest, too. He may have wrongfully blamed them, true... but he was also trying to do the same thing as they were, wasn't he? She shifted her front feet slightly, taking a step back, although she didn't take her eyes away from the ship.

"And now, the forest must die. So that hundreds of thousands of other worlds can live. Y'all screwed up. Now behold the consequences.

"... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry."

And then the ship sunk, as if the life had left from it.

Simi stopped crouching and stood straight again, looking about herself warily while looking back at the dazed dragon by her, with confused thoughts and confused emotions. What had happened to the ship? What did Norad mean? Was he leaving the forest to die? Or...

But then she heard voices, and the hippogryph turned to see...

Juno...

And Juno...

And Juno?!

An eye-twitchd, and then a jaw dropped.

W-wait...

[Windra]

OoC
Haha, Sky lily.

--

Between swirling clouds of ash and dust, Naira heard the shiftergryph’s strangled calls and straggled her way in the direction. Inquiries were raised. In the muddle of confusion, she nodded her head numbly … barely feeling her mouth move in its verbal response.

”Everybody’s alive … “ Eyes settling on the thick form mangled by Norad’s explosive intervention, she wondered how true that statement would be in just a few minutes … There was no denying the pool of blood forming near Attor’s back. Though his wounded side was turned away from her, the Reaver was fairly certain that whatever injuries he sustained would be more pragmatic than a simple cut. Naira wiped her own blood from her face, oblivious to its smearing across arm-bandages. The wounds were long gone, but the ill-feeling of vertigo and throbbing headache persisted. ”Let’s see what we’ve got here … “

The dragon was still alive. His breathing was heavy, chest rising and falling in a slow rhythmic pattern. Yet as she neared his prone form, Attor did not thrash or scream or roar. In fact, he didn’t seem to be alert at anything at all … although his eyes flitted open from time to time, revealing red pupils dazed and lost. Ichor poured from the holes that were his ears. But that was nothing compared to the grievous injury sustained on the left side …

The sight of it alone made Naira reel back from initial surprise, face twisting into an expression of concern and dark realization. His leg was all but blown away below the knee, hanging on by mere tendons and strings of muscle.

”Oh … goody.” Could things get any worse?

As if thrown in as an answer to an unspoken question, Norad’s holographic image appeared before them just as Simi began screaming and flaring up. Some part of Naira surged with guilt at his presence, recalling the times in which the Twins were put in mortal peril and she was forced to choose one side or the other. This had been another event to add to the tally. And so far Norad wasn’t gaining any marks.

”Look with yer eyes - Juno's won. This is what he wanted. The forest is his now - this is what you did, not me. You were doin' just fine handin' the forest over to him, I'll give you that..."

The fury was almost choking. Naira felt her pulse racing. She fought back the urge to bark a reply, knowing that no matter what was said at this point, Norad simply would not listen. He was set in his decision and that was that. No amount of reasoning would change his mind. Attor closed his eyes to the event, his breaths becoming more and more far apart. Alarmed at this, the Reaver took to his leg … hastily undoing the bandage wrapped about her forearm and wrapping it about the only intact portion of his leg. She wasn’t too keen on her own blood being on the Ace bandage, but she carried no pathogens and for all she knew, maybe her cells’ ability to regenerate would transfer to the dragon’s own inner systems. There was no way of knowing. But at this point she was willing to try anything. Naira fished for a long piece of rock and used it to tighten the now military-grade tourniquet. At least it would keep the massive beast from bleeding out.

”Simi,” she whispered to the hippogryph, hoping to quell her anger and divert attention to the needy, ”do you suppose you can – “

"And now, the forest must die. So that hundreds of thousands of other worlds can live. Y'all screwed up. Now behold the consequences."

That was enough to peak her alarm. Naira all but jumped up, hissing seething words of irritation. ”For the greater good or not, if you’re willing to put hundreds at risk to stop one man … What the hell is wrong with you?!” Heated words did no good against silence. Norad left as quickly and quietly as he had come, leaving not a wisp in his wake.

A myriad of curses stormed from her mouth, most of them at a low enough volume so as not to be heard by the others. She hadn’t even looked up at this point to see the multiple incarnations of Juno, though she had certainly heard the conversation (and somehow found this not surprising). What was Norad capable of? Could he really blow this whole place sky high? Where the hell would they go?! She couldn’t get them all to the safety of an underground cave … not without the ability to teleport like she used to!

But a massive explosion didn’t come. Something else did.

Naira positioned herself a foot before Attor’s head, unsheathing the scimitar and holding it out at arm’s length to her side. She was far too exhausted to conjure any more magick, but there was enough adrenaline flowing to keep on fighting if it came to that.

[Sky Lily]

”For the greater good or not, if you’re willing to put hundreds at risk to stop one man … What the hell is wrong with you?!”

Simi was still gawking at the multiple Juno's when Naira's outburst pulled her back to the more urgent situation at hand. Right... Norad was gone... and he... might be planning something? And Attor--

Attor!

The Soul-Reaver had been trying to get the hippogryph's attention before, and Simi felt terrible now for having not looked. She had been so swept up with her anger at Norad and... "Attor?" she inquired quietly as she neared him, looking him over. She flinched backward when she felt something sticky on her forefeet, and glanced downward, only to gasp with horror. Blood...

"Attor," Simi stumbled to the source, her voice cracked with queasiness. Her wide, violet eyes took in the pool of dark red, the severed, bandaged leg...

The hippogryph wasted no time, kneeling onto her knees so she could better reach the wound, an action not hard to do after seeing such a stomach-knotting injury. "I can stop the bleeding, Naira," she said shakily as she looked at the bandaging. "B-but I can't do much... much else than that."

If only she'd had her horn...

[Brandr]

The appearance of yet more people confused Aianna gently. There were several that just suddenly appeared and what alarmed the big dragon most was the amount of weapons they packed (or at least things she assumed were weapons, they could as well be tools for... whatever, her imagination failed her on trying to reason with the things the pink-haired Juno's carried). They were all similar in appearance but yet so different.

She crouched, wildly raising her wings in alarm. This was all too much for her, explosions, attacks, chaos. Who was the real enemy?

The dust settled a little, finally allowing her eyes to see clearly again. The ship, some kind of metal-y thing slightly smaller than her, lay crashed, Attor didn't seem to fare too well either. Simi was close to the crashed pair and Aianna felt a short burst of alarm. What was the little hippogryph doing? She took a couple of steps closer just as the crashed Typhoon rose again and alarm flashed through her. Without thinking, she leaped into the air, wings beating as she latched onto the metal -and then they both dropped down to the ground again, Aianna on top of the crashed Typhoon. What, it died already? She'd just tackled it in the air, nothing else.

She sat on top of the vessel, looking a little dumbfounded for a while before her eyes caught the sight of Attor, Naira and Simi. The situation didn't look too good for the other dragon, judging by the pool of blood. Aianna slowly slid herself off the smaller ship, settling down near Attor and the two females. She looked at the injury, shook her head and hoped that Simi was talented enough to deal with it. Normally, that would be a devastating blow. The leg would have to be detached completely, luckily dragons cope pretty well without one leg... She sighed, and then turned her attention onto the new people. The almost-identical ones.

"Who're you then?" she asked suspiciously. This had been a terrible chaotic day and she just wished these guys wouldn't make it more chaotic.