1c.) First Contact

At this point, the fifty fireflies seemed to reach a decision. They would get help. Approximately thirty fireflies flew off to find their master.

The remaining twenty ascended up, up above tree-top level, and began to fiercely emit light. It wasn't as bright as the sun, but still noticeable. To someone who knew what they were, it would be even more so.

Salem was quite irritated. "Honestly... every single Dacre thinks it can just get grabby with the Prince of Chaos."

Lallium steped forward, flicking hair out of his eyes. "But we've been thinking about this you see; you'd be surprised how often it's happened by now. And after a while we decided on something." Lallium reached into his backpack and pulled out a Dasani water bottle.

Salem finsihed the sentence. "That cats actually DO like water."

"Rapid Deluge."

Lallium tossed the water bottle casually towards the ghoul. In mair air it exploded into a mass of icey spires and went towards the ghoul. Barely a distraction though it would certainly be hurtful if the ghoul wasn't smart enough to block it.

Salem meanwhile began firing massive orbs of water into the ground with his free hand, propelling the hand away from the tendrils and splashing water everywhere as it went. Even as the water splashed up and continued to do so Salem froze it in quick bursts while heating the water around himself: as it came near the ghoul water would freeze to an razor-sharp icicle, hitting from all lower angles and as the attack progressed higher ones. When the spires began to drop towards Salem himself the heated water as well as his ability to simply melt it back would reduce them back to harmless droplets. And Salem could easily manipulate the water around is head so as not to drown.

the pressure of the water was easily enough that the ghoul couldn't simply press more wires into it and have any chance of reaching Salem; it would at a minimum have to resort to actual attacks, if it had any.

The only fault with the manuver Salem planned was that it required time... however, with the cat in point-blank range, there was no time to be fancy with a long-winded attack.

As the Dasani bottle was thrown, the DaCre thrusted one of his hands forward, the hand not bounding the torso, at Salem's head, aiming to grab the lower part of the face. It would be impossible for Salem to lean back or duck to block, as ducking was impossible while lying on the ground, and there was the floor behind Salem's head.

Once the palm would be in contact with Salem, a similar red line would form, wrapping around Salem's neck to make the collar that bound the other DaCre... which was much more serious of a manuver. After it would do this, it would attempt to force Salem to the top of the dog-pile, to block whatever falling droplets would be coming.

Dust.

The desert. Just sand and dust, the air itself seemed to shimmer and alter before Tesla's eyes, each disturbance in the air forming little illusions in her mind. Her legs dangled over the edge of the overlook as she rested there in her C-form.

"How long are you going to lie there?"

Tesla didn't turn around, instead talking into the vast expanse of desert. She could still feel a vague pounding in her head, pain which irritatingly stemmed from Erik.

Erik didn't reply. He lay there, staring at the sky without seeing it.

Erik made a few frenzied motions behind Tesla, unshouldering the pack he'd been on top of for the last few minutes. Tesla sniffed at the air when Erik unzipped the bag and the vague smell of food wafted out towards her.

"I have to eat and drink. From what I know of your powers, you need electricity around you to function properly in a fight, we're stranded on the edge of a desert in a different dimension, and we're alone." Erik said all this in a single breath, his tone growing quieter as he finished.

Tesla looked down at her feet.

"I know almost as little as you, trust me. My memory is starting to jog slightly, but I'm completely lost as well. I can't do much, but about the last thing you said..."

Tesla took a deep breath. The smell of food, the desert, the soil, the forest...

And other people.

"Let's go," Tesla said, waiting a moment for Erik before bounding off into the forest below.

Salem didn't allow the DaCre to make it's collar however, instead forming a collar out of ice around his own neck that, while freezing, was large enough to prevent anything wrapping around it and endurant enough that it wouldn't break under pressure. As the collar was forming he began to take the same approach with the rest of his body, forming a secondary "ice armor" that he could easily shed and restore to avoid being grabbed further.

He also continued his strategy of deluges and spikes, his hand still unhalted and growing more protected by and ice and water by the second. The ghoul didn't seem to have much strategy to it besides constraint and as long as Salem kept this up he could prevent it from seizing him further and with increasing speed tear it apart with the water.

The wolf remained on the ground on a somewhat more extended leash, huddling down to avoid unnecessary movement that may involve itself with the deluge of attacks going on close behind it. It was rather... unsettling...

Though Salem was armored, the wire that was already there remained, and the wire simply began to wrap around Salem. Tired of the onslaught, the creature left a second explosive, poisonous burst to dispel the ice, tightening the wire around the ankle, detaching the wires on Salem from his arms, and throwing them into the ground, which sunk deep in the now frozen dirt.

Losing interest in this target, the wolf being now unconscious from the close poison burst, the ghoul floated up, leaving Salem tied to and on the ground, as it moved to leave in the direction of the town, defending himself with burst attacks as necessary. The wolf remained under the ghoul's left arm, like a held football...

It would be doubtful if Salem could get out for several minutes...

"Gah! Every time this happens! I'm not sitting here while some crappy minion runs chuckling away!"

Salem was determined; this was one fight he would not let go. Taking the ice armor concept to a new stage, he instead made ice form on the inside of his bound limbs armor. The ice within expanded with a rapid force, pressing the link outwards and off of the arm. Then Salem broke the armored portion of the arm and foot off, sliding out while the wraps constricted only the empty armor. This would leave Salem quite vulnerable in those areas however.

"Okay rope-face now you've officially made me angry. Lallium, initiate strategy Sword of the Nereid."

Lallium looked surprised but nodded. "Okay, but we can't reach full potential in onyl C form... let's do our best. Deca Deluge."

Salem formed a ball of water in his hand and nine more beside it in quick succesion, forming a line. But instead of throwing the balls he instead manipulated them together, forming a giant pillar, easily ten feet long. The water formed to a point and began churning in a spiral with such intensity that it seemed the water was barely even a solid anymore.

"When water is put under enough pressure it becomes a sort of saw, capable of slicing through even the hardest diamonds with ease. I'm going to be honest with you pest; this tecnique takes a heck of alot of strength just to maintain, and I really can't even use it safely without B-form. But YOU my friend, have made the very unwise mistake of grabbing me. I have a terrible temper you see, but after fight after fight has been lost to the simplicity of getting grasped... it breeds some resentment." Salem took a thrusting pose. "And I'm willing to bet that I can break you before I lose focus. So draw your last breath... AND BOW BEFORE ME!"

Salem charged at the ghoul with full force, using his wigns to help propel himself and holding the "sword" before him like a spear; and true to his word if it hit it would shread its enemy to pieces...

For Yitur, information was just as important as new hostages. With that in mind, one of the techniques many of his minions had was simply a method of escape from overly dangerous situations.

Releasing the wolf, the ghoul floated backwards, gliding away from the water attack for a moment, as it drilled away at its robe, data beginning to stream from the wound. In a flash, the DaCre's entire body blasted outward in a white burst of the same vapor as before, with much more force than before. This time, however, the vapor didn't settle; it conversed high in the air, reforming into a skull with two white pincers, and a small, ghostly robe surrounding it: the ghoul's D-rank. Unbound to the ground, it moved away, leaving the wolf and the cat...

The wolf began to stir, shaking its head as the 'drug' on it began to wear off.

"Uhghh..." the wolf said, attempting to stand slowly. His legs shook, the wolf extending and streching his legs to try to regain his balance. With a slight stagger, he succeeded in this, listening to Salem's last question rather clearly.

"My name's Dorado," the wolf said, now realising that though the collar had been removed by a lucky shard, his ankle was still caught in a wire. Ignoring this for a moment, he looked down at the cat.

"Um... why would I know where Yitur is? I didn't escape..."

There were several data signatures around, but only a few were vaguely familiar to Tesla. She headed in a random direction where she could feel a slight disturbance in the environment's data. She and Erik came to a stop in the forest behind Salem and another DaCre.

Even from the back, Tesla noted that Salem seemed to be breathing harder than normal. Not only that, but something smelled odd about the area...

"It looks like we're not the only ones that've been developing new attacks," Erik muttered darkly, noting the holes in the ground and the slight wisps of gas in the air.

Tesla didn't respond. She seemed to be waiting for something.

"You didn't escape... So you were just dumb enough to stumble upon that ghoul and egg it into attacking you? Bad form new minion."

Lallium put his hand to his head and sighed. "But WE just... never mind. So, Dorado why exactly was that ghoul attacking you? Is this Yitur guy really that desperate for servants?" Then Lallium got an excited look. "Or aare you the NPC that leads us to the legendary swords!? Can i get a blue one? How far away are they?"

Now it was Salem's turn to sigh. "Seriously dude, Waaaaay too many video games."

"Um... human... this isn't a game, as 'Salem' so calls it..." Dorado said, looking over at the human for a moment, before looking over at the cat again. "Anyway... no, I didn't ask or egg to be attacked... rather, Yitur takes whoever opposes him as prisoners. In fact, he seems to have a vendetta against most of the wolf group, after our leader fought and lost to him..."

"Dorado!" Iko shouted, in the distance, breaking through the perimeter of the forest, seeing the wounded wolf quite a distance away. Moving into the plain, Luke following, they quickly moved closer, stopping at about the distance Salem was away from Dorado.

It figures, too... Iko was also a wolf-type in two states... more than a coincidence that they would know eachother.

"Iko?" Dorado asked, looking up at the biped, something similar to a smirk appearing on his face.

Shobatsu looked over as Iko called out to a wounded wolf in the distance. Apparently they knew each other from somewhere. Since he didn't have a tamer, it would probably be safe to assume that Iko had known him before crossing over. He also spotted Salem and, a little further away, Tesla, and their respective tamers.

As the pair neared the group, the fireflies surrounding Shobatsu flew up to join the larger group of fireflies up above, and the sphere got that much brighter. Some more fireflies flooded over from the forest to join the sphere, having been searching for other DaCre previously.

They'd seen that there were two groups of DaCre now, one of which was in combat, and which they avoided on the principal that they would live to find other DaCre if they weren't destroyed in combat.

Shobatsu nodded in the direction of the other three DaCre by way of greeting.

Salem seemed irritated that Dorado had stopped paying attention to him.

"So, Ic** you know this guy? And why the heck is everyone gathring around me; besides my stunning good looks and leadership skills that is?"

"Bah," Tesla snorted, noting the growing group of DaCre with some boredom. She twitched and tensed slightly at Salem's latest pretentious comment.

"Wait, stop." Erik laid a hand on Tesla's shoulder.

She tensed further, starting to get a bit irritated. Her tamer had somehow acquired the annoying habit of being able to predict what she was going to do next.

"Get off of me," Tesla hissed, shoving Erik's hand aside. She snapped her fingers, and a tiny distortion in the air could be felt, somewhere a few inches in front of her.

"Don't you think it safer in numbers, Salem?" Iko asked rhetorically, looking over at the cat.

"We came because we sensed an ally in battle," Luke added to that statement. "We've actually been waiting to back you up for a bit; if you stopped attacking, we would have tried to interfere with the ghoul's malice."

Iko was already out of that train of thought, again having his focus on Dorado.

"It's been too long..." Dorado said, wincing slightly from his leg.

Iko nodded. "So... I heard from the conversation... how many of the wolves are left?"

Dorado shook his head. "I have no idea... probably a few in hiding... I think most of us are either prisoner in the town or castle, or are under Yitur's direct control..."

Iko clenched his fist, looking off at the town. Sure, he knew how dangerous this was, and would have felt it necessary to stop him anyway... but now it was a matter of pride. "You've been around here long enough to see the path of those ghosts, right?" Iko asked, looking down at Dorado. "Lead on... as far as you can..."

Dorado looked up at Iko, seeing a slight malice in his eyes from this... still, he replied with: "Alright," before leading on.

"Yeah there's safety in numbers; I'm Number One and therefore better than the rest of you." He gestured to Dorado. "From what I've seen this guy has to be like a negative seven. But whatever, as long as he leads me to the Future Temporary Castle of the Prince of Chaos I'm willing to hang around with you a while longer."


Lallium tapped Luke on the shoulder. "Who exactly is Yitur again? I mean besides being in control of this area. I may have... dozed off for a bit of the chaos. Having your homework deposit box blown up can make you do that...."

"Yitur's an A-rank wizard type with the power to mess with the minds of other DaCre... I think he even has an attack that bends the will of other DaCre to serve him," Luke explained to Lallium, not completely sure of his information. "One thing I do know, though... whenever he takes damage, he teleports, and I mean immediately after. That water drill would do nothing by itself... unless he has another weakness..."

"Which way you count?" Iko barked at Salem.

"Careful, Iko..." Luke said, as Iko interrupted. "We don't want to turn this into a war between allies...

Iko looked over at Luke, then, without recognition, looked back at Dorado, who nodded as he continued to lead on. Luke seemed somewhat concerned at this, but hid this by fiddling with his watch.

Shobatsu glanced away as Iko and Dorado got reaquanted. He couldn't help wondering... did he have anyone here who he'd been friends with? Or family? If so, were they even still alive? Or had they been taken prisoner?

It was a troubling sequence of thoughts, but Shobatsu had to mentally rebuke them. It was... better that he didn't remember. He had nothing holding him back. If there was some sort of hostage situation with Yitur, there was nothing to...

But no. He couldn't let Yitur just kill someone because of his actions, friend or not. Which meant that he had no benefits from not having his memory, and no comfort or anything to look forward to besides finishing the job...

He put these thoughts aside. There was nothing to be gained from thinking like this.

Shobatsu blinked as Salem made his flipant comment. He made these all too frequently, and he had the feeling it would be a little annoying if it weren't all too amusing. Still, Iko's reaction seemed a little sharp, as though he were about to attack Salem.

Dorado must have been a very, very close friend.

Luke seemed to have said all that needed to be said. Anything further would either insult Salem, leading to a response and further animosity, patronize Iko, or belittle his protection of his friend, which wouldn't be good, given Iko's short fuse regarding the matter.

Carlos watched in silence, restraining himself from commenting as well. He'd picked up a lot from Shobatsu in their time together.

In a sort of forced silence, Iko (and presumably Salem) followed the general path to the town that Dorado directed; it wasn't necessary for one of the more weakened creatures to lead, so, instead, he gave occasional directions, slipping back to Shobatsu's position... it seemed rather intentional, but he didn't speak for several minutes.

"You know Iko?" Dorado asked Shobatsu, after an interlude, when Iko seemed to be preoccupied enough that he wouldn't notice such a conversation. "He's always been a loner, o'course, but not with this kinda attitude... when the wolf clan found him, he was weak... not dying, but unconscious. A bird DaCre led us to him, saying it was an emergency... Haiu, maybe? Well, anyway... though he knew little of himself, he was always willing to help out, defend the front... hard to get to know..."

"I say this because right now he... well, he doesn't seem like 'Iko'. Rather, he looks like someone looking for vengeance..."

Shobatsu focused for a brief moment, and the huge sphere of fireflies rose up slightly higher. Half of them broke off from the group, heading out toward the other large group of DaCre fighting in the forest. The others flew back to the group at hand, beginning to circle them, creating the same enchanting effect as had been focused to Carlos and Shobatsu earlier in the forest.

After Dorato voiced his concerns, Shobatsu seemed to think for a moment.

"I haven't seen any bird DaCre that Iko seemed familiar with in the time I've known him. Perhaps he was deleted, and Iko knows who did it?"

He said this in a casual undertone, hard to hear by anyone not directly next to Dorado and Shobatsu (people close enough to hear correctly being Carlos, who wasn't really paying attention to the words to to his casual tone of voice).

Dorado sighed. "Maybe... for his sake, though, I hope not... Haiu was that DaCre's oldest and closest friend..." he explained, looking forward at Iko. Was he projecting his feelings of losing Haiu, and expanding that to the wolves? Was that what gave him this malicious, thoughtless drive for vengeance? Dorado sighed.

"Keep an eye on him," the wolf suggested. "Unlike me, I don't think he's used to losing allies... he's either going to end up hurting himself or someone close to him..."