Ch. 16 Rescue in the Ruins

[Vile]

SUCH INSOLENCE! To be forced away, to show dishonor in the realm of combat! Eplizo WOULD be the one member to have such the nerve to take away the prime in Rai's life. That sword wielding rust and ruin filled woman would soon meet a, less the healthy, demise from this brawler.

Soon enough the group had taken foot inside a humid forest. Definitely not good for the hair. Due the lack of consideration from the commander, Rai was still currently in his black getup, worn solely as a disguise from the Arcadian Army for their own tournament. However it wasn't nearly as stealthy as one might think. The forest was machincal, and black on silver isn't a covert combo. Such rubbish.

Rioku and Victor hastily took to the front lines, an opening line of long range offence, and defense. More then well enough, Rai was rather beaten from the tournament rounds and was in tremendous need of repairs, which were so tantalizingly close.

The group had moved slowly, and Rai could hardly keep up. The swordsman Zanji was keeping to the rear, which made a perfect ally for Rai in the time of need. One iron vine however was slightly uprooted from the diamond plated ground, and this disoriented lighting rod didn't take notice of it. His toes brushed against the edge of it, causing him to loose balance and instinctively grasp for a nearby tree. To the touch he accidentally let out a surge of electricity, similar to his spread technique. The jolt was in no way enough to folly harm to anyone, other than perhaps some of the trees possessors. It was as if Rai could feel everything the current touched. A RADAR!

However this discovery was short lived, a pantheon lunged at from what appeared to be no where. Rai gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. Those..... It was a green Pantheon, armed with claws. Its red eye gleamed with what Rai took as excitement. It was a funny thought, as Rai had no idea if Pantheons were sentient, or just a hive controlled by some mother unit. Research for later. However this dunderhead was of the same model that oh so gracefully, and by gracefully we mean viciously, scared his face. Through that .12 millisecond of sight Rai had felt like the twos eyes met with a mental exchange of disgust for one another.

That exchange however was soon lost as Victor the victory gunman shot down the vile bot. Victory Gunman, that's a keep for nickname Rai thought. About this time Rai spoke up.

"I can tap into the machinical life here, and get a slight reading of whats to come ahead without disturbing the Arcadian sensors. The range is small, but it'll if nothing else grant us the elegance of surprise." Stealth tactics were quite crafty and required finesse. "I would only wager that I can feel about 15 feet. It isn't much, like Zanji's haircut, but it'll keep us from being harmed from grounded forces." Rai said with a grin as he shot Zanji a playful look.

The team moved on, Rai forming a current with each footstep keeping the 'radar' going. Nothing was picking up, which was good, but also discerning. A fallen Pantheon was off to the teams right. At the vary least Eplizo's alpha team did something of use. No Resistance remains yet, positive outlook ensured. Well no wonder! Arial units buzzed in. For a woodland machinloid who's purpose wasn't really clear to Rai(after all bees make noise and these units were extremely frail, as they also relied on close quarters) they made such noise! Raven swiftly displayed his precise aim, as well as his overall agility. Showoff, such dramatics were extremely unnecessary.

The mission here was to rescue the other members, and none had been found. Perhaps a heightened look would do the trick.

"Hold up, give me like, 2 minuets..." Rai announced. Normally he'd command the team, a position that held some weight, weight that the battered body wouldn't hold forever. Taking aim above at a limb roughly 15 feet up, Rai shot of his chain rod. A cling sounded fallowed by a wiz as the rod retracted, pulling Rai with it. Atop the limb Rai activated his magnetic outlets and began to climb. A metal forest would be heaven for combat he though. If only that fashionably late woman had challenged him here. If only.

Thankfully the tree was rather tall. A few leaves floated down, but mostly the climb left the oak-wanna-be unchanged. From above he surveyed the area. A pillar was head, northeast. From there, if they continued that direction there was a blotch without trees, it looked to be a small rock formation. Perhaps there was where the recruits went to attempt to get out of some signal jamming from the trees. Worth a shot if nothing else. Rai rested his thumbs on his waist armor right next to his love-handles, or would they would be if he wasn't so fit HA!, and calmly walked down the tree.
"There's an outlook a little northeast of us currently, and if we continue in that direction there's some rock formation. Judging by all the landscape here, I would argue it isn't a natural formation. Whatever the case, I'd assume our ally's took refuge there."