Snippet #2389066

It was the night before they were to leave and go after the facility. Everyone was on edge, a small scouting group was sent out into the woods just like every night, but the air was thick with apprehension this time. April had insisted on going with, wanting to be of some help to the Therians. Touya had figured the reason why she really wanted to go was to prove herself useful, helpful in some way, and not anything less.

He'd heard the rumors, not all the Therian's were friendly with her. He hated it, but there was little he could do about it. April would prove herself, that much he was very much assured on.

"Ahotant!" The cry for help in Therian was slightly mispronounced, and the voice was feminine in nature. It came again right after, but cut off just before it could finish crying out, "Ahota-"

Touya whirled around, standing up from his spot next to the fire where he'd been sharpening his sword. Flicking his blade closed, Touya left the campfire and sprinted into the darkness of the woods. He could hear it then, the crushing of branches, the destruction of the forest around them. There was no mistaking it, hybrids were making their way through the trees with little to no care at all that they were being heard.

He flew through the underbrush, his body taking on a slight glow as he went. He had to move faster, it was April's voice he had heard and when it cut off... Touya shook his head. She was alright, he had to belive she was just fine. Anything less and he would... Stop! he chided himself. Keep running.

Jumping up onto a fallen log, he leapt off it and continued his headlong rush through the woods, right into the small hybrid woman. Touya let out a soft yelp of surprise, wrapped his arms around April's body and twisted around so that he fell onto the ground and she was on top of him.

"April!" He said, astonished to have run right into her. His arm felt wet then and he glanced down. Something dark covered his arm, it was warm as well. His heart clenched and eyes widened, "You're injured. What happened? Where are they? Are they close? Levi?" he bit his tongue, what a silly question. He could hear them, of course they were close. Fear was driving his words rather than logic.

April cursed as they collided into each other. She had been nursing the wound in her side with her free arm when the tall man appeared out of nowhere. "Touya! Get up!" she swore, taking a second to check her behind. No sooner had the words left her mouth when three more hybrids burst through the foliage, wailing silent cries of fury. She felt bile rise in the back off her throat at their horrific appearances. Each of them was of standard size, and similar to April, their weapons have been grafted into mechanical arms.

They kicked up a dirt cloud as they landed, blades drawn. Wasting no time, April clambered off Touya and raised her arms defensively. "There's more, at least a dozen. We're not sure if the main force is behind them, or if this is a scouting party," she blurted out, her breath hammering into her chest. "You need to alert the others!"

The hybrids rushed them, leaving no room for respite as they launched themselves forwards. April charged ahead, hoping to give Touya enough time to get up and move. Not ones to be picky, they all went for the closest target and attacked her with a whirlwind of deadly edges.

"Idiot!" Touya cried as she leapt off him and went straight into the foray. The Therian got to his feet quickly, pushing his body upwards and landing on his feet with a hard flip. Whilring around he lifted on hand and gathered all the energy he could muster. The glowing light expanded around his fingers and he let it explode outwards. It rushed past April and hit one of the hybrids that was attacking her straight in the chest.

Touya knew it wasn't enough to kill the damned thing, but it was enough to blow it backwards into the woods. He had reached back to draw both his blades the moment he'd released the power and was already moving just as that hybrid went flying through the air. Touya joined April in the fight, swinging his blades downwards and cutting into the flesh of one of the hybrids arms, just above the metal that was infused there.

The cut was deep, almost down to the bone with the force that Touya had put behind it. Even so, the hybrid still whirled around on him and slashed at him with it's other arm. Quick on the uptake, the Therian blocked the attack, sliding his blade around the wrist area and directing the oncoming wrist blades up and over his head even as he ducked out of the way.

"I'm not leaving you here, April. We both go back together," he told her, teeth grinding together as he blocked another attack, swiping it off to his left and shoving his right hand sword through the hybrids middle. The pair struggled for dominancy, Touya's body shuddering with the strain. He pulled the energy around him and his body glowed again. If he could throw the hybrids backwards, he could give himself and April a few seconds to turn and run. It was all he needed.

The power exploded from him and tossed the monster off his sword and backwards into the darkness. Touya knew doing it one at a time would be useless because already the first one he'd thrown was entering the battle once again. With a growl of irritation he began calling as much energy to his frame as he could possibly hold. Throw the three that were attacking them, push away the other hybrids and they would have a chance.

"Get behind me, April!"

April had been furiously crossing blades with the second hybrid, fighting to contain it's terrible onslaught of blows. Unlike a normal being who eventually grew weary, the hybrids never seemed to tire. Each blow was a strong and vicious as the last. Thankfully she had Touya's assistance and she heeded his command as he called out to her.

She let its blades fall and her reflexes saved her as she stepped away from its swords deftly. The thing persisted in following her until she delivered a powerful kick to its side, sending it sprawling into the dirt. After successfully disengaging, she sprinted behind Touya.

"Go for it!"

Pure energy rocked the earth, a violent tremble spread outwards from Touya as the centre. He managed to do what he wanted for the most part. Knocking back the three that were attacking them head on. They went tumbling into the bushes, but as for the oncoming wave, they were barely phased by the magic. Gritting his teeth, Touya turned on his heel and reached out for April.

"Hurry," he told her as he took her arm and began running through the trees back towards the camp. His voice called out a warning in Therian as they passed the invisible camp perimeter. He knew that there were people up in the trees watching the forest below. The Therian also figured that the group were well aware of what was happening as the sounds of the hybrids coming were not quiet.

"Touya!"

Turning to his name being called, he spotted Ahmeil as she came into the camp from the darkness. Behind her came Val, and the other twenty Therian's of his group. Touya narrowed his eyes at her, but didn't say anything. He slowed as they entered the clearing of the Therian campsite.

"They found us, hu," Val remarked, his gaze shifting to look into the dense trees near them.

"Feels a bit... too coincidental," one of Val's men muttered in Therian.

"Even so, we can't just stand around and let them run through this camp. They'll destory it within the hour," Ahmeil stated.

"What do you suggest?" Touya asked, his breath slightly short from expanding so much energy just a moment before.

"I felt your power, Touya," Val said, turning his head just enough to look at him sideways, "You're in no shape to keep fighting. Even if you try, you'll just be a hinderance. Getting yourself killed now would do no one any good. Your woman knows the way to the facility. If this is their leaders way of warning us, they're doing a damn good job of it. He probably wants to kill her because she knows.

"It'd be wise of you to protect her with all you have. Lead the camp out of the forest, go east as far as you can. I doubt they have the entire area surrounded. Creeid is very large. Besides, we've seen this before. Straight on attack through the entrance of the forest. Nothing more, nothing less. Though, it is destructive, and very effective. They'll set fire to this place soon enough."

"What about you?"

"Well, you need someone to stick around and distract them, don't you?"

Something entered the camp's premises then, vividly narrated by the destruction it wrought. Trees shattered like kindle as a giant abomination stormed through the forest into the clearing. The thing was an algamation of flesh and steel, but far greater than the usual hybrids. It almost seemed like the scientist was getting creative with his designs. Two hundred kilos of scarred meat and gristly appendages assaulted the therians with spinning saw blades and chained hooks. One unlucky therian was squashed upon its entrance and another instantly vanished in a puff of red.

April backed off, eyes wide in astonishment. "What in empire's teeth..."

Ahmeil gasped in shock, Touya's eyes widened and his heart seemingly stopped, Val took several steps backwards and gave a low hiss of anger. The group of Therian's that belonged to Val shifted as well, moving backwards with their leader. Touya didn't blame them, the creature before them was neither human nor Therian. It was something from the depths of hell if one could call it that.

"You want to stay here... and hold off that?" Touya commented.

Val gave a slight laugh, "Well, it was the thought that counted I suppose."

"I figured... how quickly can we get the camp moving?"

"Not fast enough," Ahmeil answered.

"It'll have to be!" Touya snapped, "Go, start getting them out of here, Ahmeil. We'll keep it's attention," Touya turned to April as the monstrosity began lumbering into the camp. Several more Therian's fell to it's destruction, "Go with her. Do not argue, do not look back. Get out of here as quickly as you all can. Take Sharye with you. He's very smart and can help you all through the woods. I'm sure he knows the quickest way out of Creeid and not get caught by those damned hybrids! I will catch up to you, I promise."

Her eyes narrowed as she looked between the abomination and Touya. "Oh, so you can't leave me but I have to leave you?" she hissed, "Fine, but you better come back alive."

She nodded to Ahmeil and hurried off with the black haired therian just as the monstrosity reach Touya and company. The thing moved with unnatural speed, far faster than anything its size had any right to move with. By now its skin was coated in embedded arrows and weapons, none of which seemed to even remotely faze it. A mass of distended jaws sat where its face was, munching on the last therian it had encountered.

Blood dripped from the thick bands of red that marked its jigsaw of flesh and burnt the soil beneath its feet. Drawn to their voices almost, the beast howled as it went for them. The hooked chains flew out first, raking the air with deadly spikes.

"Move!" Touya hissed and sidestepped quickly as the chains came crashing down at them. Val moved the other way and effectively their small group of twenty some were split up. Dirk kicked up as the chain smashed into the ground and picked back up again. The creature wasted no time in advancing on them as it's next meal. Touya unsheathed his weapons, along with many of the other Therian's around him.

The camp behind them was in an uproar, screams of terror filling the air as the massive village began to evacuate as quickly as possible. Touya could only hope that Ahmeil and April would gain some semblance of balance to help the evacuation go smoothly. The less casualties, the better.

Touya pulled his attention to the monster before him. There was no time to be worrying about April and everyone else. If he wanted to survive this encounter he would need to concentrate on everything he had to give to put up a good fight. Val had been right though, he'd wasted a lot of energy before hand and he was moving much slower than usual.

"Bring it down! Go for the eyes once we do, then chop it into peices," Val's voice called from the other side of the creature. Easier said then done, Touya thought to himself as he eyed the hybrid monstrosity. Several of the Therian warriors around him began to glow as they gathered their energy. They were in sync with each other, well trained and followed Val's order without question.

Touya was slightly impressed by the amount of allegiance he'd gained and how he seemed to have strength to his words and presence even in such a situation. It was admirable, even, though Touya was sure if he were facing off with Val right then he would probably be thinking how much of a nuiscance it was rather than a strength. All at once the group of Therian's unleashed their power upon the creature in an explosion of brilliant light.

Touya covered his eyes with one arm whilst backing away to keep a distance from the creature as it may thrash about from the power. When the light faded, the hybrid stood still, dazed but it hadn't fallen. Black blood trickled from it's many wounds, but it didn't seem bothered by it at all. A moment later and the creature went into action, lashing out at the nearest set of Therians. Blood coated the ground in their demise and Val shouted in anger.

"This isn't going to work," Touya muttered to himself and flipped each blade in hand. With a slight growl to himself he leaned forward and launched himself at the creature. All the while his mind was working to formulate some sort of plan.