Planet Eden

[Kiryu]

In the far-flung future, the human race has advanced to the point where their reach now extends passed the point of the Milky Way galaxy. However, the New Frontier brought about new dangers that lurked within the endless vacuum of space.

High above a verdant green planet, trouble was brewing. But you wouldn't have known it if you were an inhabitant of this world, to those living on the planet, you would have only seen a gigantic ball of fire hurling down from the heavens. This fireball was in fact, a starship; a research vessel known as the Claymore which just moments ago had collided with a nearby asteroid field. The ship would come crashing onto the planet's surface, knocking down several trees in its wake, and finally landing on the ground with a violent and earth-shattering KABOOM! The sound of which sent nearby birds frantically flying away.

On board the ship, things weren't much better, as sparks began to fly from the nearby controls. One of its crewmen, a human male with black hair, and white skin was beginning to regain consciousness, his clothing though torn up was rather unassuming; it was a simple grey uniform with a golden insignia stitched on the right side. He was in an immense amount of pain, as he regained consciousness. "A-anyone left alive? Daniel! Kendel!" From his seat, it was difficult to see the extensiveness of the damage, but as he whirled around trying to look for his comrades, his heart sank as he saw two a body on the chair, lifeless. Meanwhile, the pilot seat was empty though the broken, bloody window was all he needed to know to clue him on what happened, and it shook him to his core.

The crewman's seatbelt was jammed, try as he might he couldn't tug it free. Fortunately, he was prepared for this sort of emergency, though his knife was a little out of reach. It took some effort, but he managed to reach for his knife, and with a bit of convincing the seatbelt was cut free. The crewman breathed a sigh of relief, it felt good to walk and stretch around though most of his body ached. His arm was a little sore, though thankfully he could move it around, though his movements felt slightly limited, his sides, on the other hand, burned. He was certain that he must have broken a few bones or ribs on he way down, though understood that he was lucky, and he groaned painfully as he moved out of his seat.

He turned his attention towards the airlock and grunted, walking his way toward the door. There was no power in the ship, though fortunately the doors were designed in a way to be opened manually, The crewman gripped the round wheel and began to turn. He grunted, and heaved, but try as he might the wheel would not budge. He sighed, finding a crowbar near by, he wedged the crowbar in between the loop of the wheel and pulled once again, the added leverage seemed to have done the trick as the door slid open with a screech of metal and a bright blinding light filled the room. "Well...I guess it's one small step for man..." The crewman said, carefully stepping out and into the massive jungle world ahead of him.

 

[Peregrine]

Fire streaked through the sky, and the world paused. Insects stilled, the singing of birds vanished, the dense jungle uncertain about this falling intruder. The dark-furred feline halted too; golden eyes fixed on the strange light just visible through leafy branches. New things meant caution. The unfamiliar was untrusted. It could mean it was time to fight, or it was time to run.

Danger came an instant later, a rumbling boom shaking in her chest. Her four ears folded tight against her head, sheltered in her feathery mane. Dropping to all fours, she pressed her belly low to the ground, teeth slightly bared, ignoring the soil scratching the fur on her belly. The rumble continued, before an impact caused the earth under her paws to shake.

She stayed still, muscles tense, sharp tail faintly flicking back and forth. Quickly, the rumbling earth faded back to stillness. Just as she began to relax, straightening from her crouch, the wind carried a sharp, unfamiliar scent of burning to her nose. Her upper lip curled, trying to block the sharp, slightly painful smell. She turned, wanting to put space between herself and the source of the uncomfortable smell.

But her plan changed quickly. A roar echoed, the bone-shaking rage of a dragon's bellow racing through the forest. It was followed by the crackle of a series of high-pitched snaps. The trees cried as they were ripped from their roots.

She hissed unconsciously, the sharp feathers along her neck and back bristling, displaying her fierceness. Yet, at a second roar, she turned swiftly, racing into the forest. Her black and grey fur mixed with the patches of sunlight, causing her to disappear.

The dragon's furious roar echoed in her mind. She would run, flee, for none could stand before the ruler of these trees. A strange smell was nothing compared to its claws and teeth. Only death awaited if she was found.

 

[Kiryu]

The once technological marvel that was The Claymore was now nothing more than a heap of scrap metal on the jungle floor. Taro immediately got to work, fortunately being the ship's engineer he was more than well-versed in the inner workings of the ship, to the point where he was able to find a way to boot up the ship's main computers. The computers came alive with the faint hum of electricity, and Taro just wrapped up reassembling the last of the panels, holding a small screwdriver in between his mouth 'Alright, let's see where we are.' He said sliding out from underneath a small, cramped, control panel.

Taro would watch as the ship would launch a probe high into the sky, it held there for a few moments before emitting a yellow beam, and as the probe began scanning he retreated back inside the ship. Inside, the computer monitors would flicker to life all the while the computer would say "Processing...processing....processing...ERROR, unable to process data, anaylis incomplete" Taro lets out a groan, placing a hand on his temple "The systems must be more damaged than I thought. Don't think this bird is gonna be flying any time soon... well, what can you tell me about this mud ball?" Taro asked crossing his arms. "Planet Rich in vegetation and minerals, no detection of sentient life, though the planet is home to indigenous wildlife. Danger, systems critical...commence emergency shut down" The monitor would begin to fade to black, and all the while Taro frantically began to push on the keyboard "No, no, no no, don't you die on me you stupid machine! Damnit!" He shouts slamming his balled-up fists on the keyboard, and sighed.

In extreme situations such as this, Claymore's internal systems would begin repairing the ship, however, the extensive damage done to the ship would mean that the repairs would take days, maybe even weeks, and he was certain that the fuel reserves would run out by then. "The scan did say the planet is rich in minerals...maybe I can find ores to repair the ship quicker, or minerals to help power it..it's worth a shot..." Taro muttered to himself, but he knew his odds of survival were low; they were a research vessel, not a war fleet, they had standard side arms and vehicles for exploration, but with the ship in its current condition...getting to them would be impossible, assuming that is they survived the crash. Taro let out a sigh "Waiting for rescue in a dead ship doesn't seem like much of a plan...guess I better go out there and explore..but first thing's first..." Taro said, turning to his dead companions, he would make sure that they would receive a proper burial, and Taro would do so by dragging their bodies, he would begin to dig graves for them, all t he while a set of yellow, reptilian eyes would watch Taro from the shadows of the brushes.

 

[Peregrine]

She'd run long enough that breath huffed from her mouth, hot for an instant and then left behind in her wake. The sound of the dragon's footsteps had faded behind her, but it didn't mean she was safe. The movement of the dragon didn't just mean death to its claws and fangs, it also meant the awakening of its brood.

At that moment, something lunged out of the undergrowth at her. A small lizard-creature, covered in plated brownish green scales. Eight legs, dark spikes on its back, a club at the end of its tail. Fangs bared, she batted out with one curled paw, sending it flying away with that single swat. But it slowed her, and that allowed its fellows to catch up.

In an instant, she was surrounded, little creatures that couldn't reach the bottom of her belly surrounding her, hissing, spitting, letting out small roars. Her feathers stood on end, bladed tail swishing back and forth behind her. For an instant, they were all still. Then, with a small, hoarse shout, the largest of the creatures surrounding her jumped forward. She sliced it in half with her tail, but a second one lunged for her leg, trying to bite into her ankle.

They were foolish. Even if there was one on each leg and more on her back, they weren't strong enough to take her down. But if more and more piled onto her... the bigger ones would find her.

She had to shake them off. Leave blood in her wake until they found easier prey.

And then there was no time to think, only react. Claw, bite, slash, slice. When the trees started to open around her, she didn't think about it. More room to swing her tail, her paws, bat the creatures off. Until the sharp, painful smell finally broke through the rush of her fight. Something hard, but different from rock, was under her paws. There were only a couple small dragons left chasing her, the rest either dead or left. But even they seemed hesitant. She bristled confidently, snarling and hissing, forcing the creatures to back off. They were not so brave when their numbers were small.

One last one lunged, biting aggressively towards her lowered chest. She twisted her neck, teeth snapping out, crushing the dragonling's spine between her teeth. Letting it drop, blood flowing from between her teeth.

The others finally retreated. She growled, feathers spreading wide, one paw up. But they would come with more. With larger. She needed to keep moving.

Turning, she froze abruptly, feathers raising slightly again, realizing there was a strange rock at the center of the open destruction around her. New. Dangerous? She crouched slightly, watching it with sharp eyes, tail flicking back and forth, making a quiet, uncomfortable growl.

 

[Kiryu]

Taro was someone that used his mind more than his body, he wasn't really built for psychical labor so digging the graves proved to be a bit of a challenge. The jungle humidity wasn't helping, so it didn't take long for Taro to break out into a full sweat, so much so that he ended up taking his shirt off just for a bit of relief, but the job was done, and by the end of it, his companions were simply buried in simple, unmarked graves. Taro stopped for a moment to wipe the sweat dripping off of his brow, fortunately, he had a water bottle nearby, but as he goes to take a swig of water but stops; off in the distance, Taro begins to hear noises, growls, snarls, hisses, and roars, they were coming at him from all directions and it was as if the entire jungle had suddenly come alive.

Taro heard movements in the brushes, whether or not there was something lurking in them or if it was the wind playing tricks on him, he couldn't say but he readied himself, gripping the shovel in both hands and holding it in both hands as though it were some sort of a sword. Taro gulped, trying to calm his nerves, his eyes would scan his surroundings until his eyes fell upon a large shadow with yellow glowing eyes peering at him in the darkness. The creature hissed at him, and stepped forward, revealing himself to be some sort of lizard-like creature, it was covered in dark spikes and had a club-like tail, its fork-like tongue flickered in the air as it eyed Taro in a manner that he found almost unsettling. Taro swallowed hard, and for a moment the two of them had a standoff before Taro shouted "Go! Get out of here! Get!" and began to throw rocks at it, the rocks hit their mark, but the creature didn't seem that disturbed by this action in fact it charged at him, to which Taro swung his shovel at him wildly.

The creature backed off, narrowly missing the strike but managing to grab hold of the shovel in its massive jaw and yanked it out of Taro's hand, nearly knocking him off of his feet as he did so, and with one single chomp, it broke the shovel in two halves. Upon seeing this, Taro's eyes went as wide as moons, his mouth hung open "Oooooh crap!" He said as he began to try and put as much distance between himself and the creature as possible.

 

[Peregrine]

It took several moments of her being tense and ready to fight to realize that the strange rock wasn't going to move. Or wasn't going to move right now. The dragonlings were the thing she needed to care about. She could hear them coming already, branches snapping, soil shifting under so many clawed feet. It hadn't taken the little ones that ran away long to find a new group.

She turned, ready to run once more, before a strange cry reached her ears. Almost immediately, it was accompanied by the hissing of a small dragonling. She turned, eyes narrow, crest raised. Surrounded?

No. It was only one creature, and it was chasing another small, partially furless being across the ruined clearing. She could ignore it.

But she'd delayed too long. With a rumbling thud, a large dragonling barreled out of the forest. It was only half as tall as her even when she was on all fours, but its plates and many legs made it heavy and solid. Her sharp tail swished through the air, loud growl warning the creature to back off.

It didn't. Instead, it shrieked, and all of the little dragonlings that followed it like ants darted at her. She batted some away, cut another with her tail, only to unexpectedly feel a sharp bite on one ankle. She shrieked in surprise, spinning on the spot and sending the creature flying.

It was the one from earlier, the one chasing the other creature. It had heeded the call of its bigger, and come to fight, abandoning the much smaller and easier prey. Now it was dead, but there was still a wound on her leg. It would slow her down. She still wanted to run. What if an even bigger one came? What if they slowed her long enough for the dragon ruler to catch her? Then she would become a tasty bite. She did not want that.

She had to run. Had to find something to distract these things. Had to...

The large dragonling roared, clearly unhappy about the damage to its littles. It charged forward, ready to join the fight.

Right now, she had to fight.