Shintaion: Resistance

Rae continued up the levels as the area cleared. Noting that the others had handled the threat, she sighed with relief as she followed the others to safety as the cruiser crashed in the hangar. Rae looked around, noticing Shi and some people on the radio speak. Noting that they should probably go back to primary command, Rae obeyed, going back to Primary Command with the others. She stood there as General Svosk spoke to them, listening intently.

After the man's speech, she felt an inclination to salute back to the man as he left, and did so. Suddenly, her tense body loosened, allowing her to relax. That was a bit intense; at least we can rest for now, Rae thought as she turned to the others.

"Well, if I haven't introduced myself already, I'm Rae Farfor," she said to the people nearby. "It's been nice working with you all so far," she stated, trying to appear calm and collected despite the recent action and the close call earlier involving the dark beasts that had come behind her.
 
Monsoon and Ramia were both relieved for now. Although it bothered them knowing Jade had gotten away and was still on the loose. Having to go on another mission tomorrow also wasn't exactly good news but they could handle it.

Thinking intently Monsoon pondered,"Man...The general already left..Man if I only knew what Jade was up to. If I tried to talk about her to him now, I'd have nothing to say and it'd be a waste of his time.We don't know her plans or just how the hell she knows my father and knows about Ramia. I hate it. Maybe I should just use this time to train..."

Tapping Monsoon on the shoulder, Ramia said to him,"Well Monsoon. I know it's bothering you but we have to focus here and get some rest." Before walking off however, she noticed their comrades hadn't all left the room quite yet.

"Perhaps it'd be wise to resume the introductions. It pays to know the enemy but we must also know our comrades." Monsoon nodded,"That makes sense to me. We would have been able to learn everybody's their names and skills if those damn beasts hadn't attacked so soon!"

Before they could speak up and go talking to anyone, they heard the thunder beast Rae introducing herself. Ramia replied to Rae,"Yes it was nice, we certainly were able to hold our own with our combined strength. I'm Ramia Flint, nice to meet you Rae."

Monsoon added,"Yeah it all worked out, just barley but enough for us to survive and force em back. Oh my name's Monsoon, Monsoon Griffith. It's cool to meet ya, nice to see other forbidden beasts on our side.". Monsoon spoke in a more casual tone, he didn't want to try too hard to seem like a gentleman. After all, he didn't want to risk losing points with Ramia if he was too nice to Rae.
 
Rae heard Rami speaking. Wanting to be polite and be closer to the two speaking, she approached Ramia and Monsoon. She listened to the two, nodding slightly as they finished speaking. Her ears twitched slightly as her eyes narrowed for a slight second. Wait, what's goin' on here? Rae asked herself as she recalled that the two had been fighting together for most if not the whole time.

"Sorry if this is nosy, but are you two in a relationship?" Rae asked.
 
Ramia laughed a little as she explained,"Oh. Actually we're not in a relationship or anything like that. We're just business partners and friends, we have a mercenary company together. We just fight best as a team, it's just the way we've always handled battles since we met. It works out nicely, my physical strength is better than Monsoon's but his energy is far more effective, especially since these dark beasts are mostly resistant to my fire energy."

Monsoon looked both embarrassed and a tad disappointed that Ramia saw him only as a business partner and a friend. He added,"Yeah..That's right. I can understand how you got that impression though so it's understandable you asked."

He thought to himself,"I'll get outta this damn friend zone and business partner thing one of these days. Just gotta figure out how. Maybe I need to be stronger to impress her and get her to see me in different light."
 
[DASH="#009999"][BG="#0099CC"]
☆.*´Lorietta Pearl`*.☆


Lorietta fell to the floor dramatically with a swoop, lying flat like a starfish, her eyes sparkling. She was breathing hard, her chest rising and falling with each deep intake of breath as she tried to calm herself and her breathing. She listened to Rae talk to the other two DarkBeasts and grinned, sitting up immediately. "Just friends, Miss. Ramia, are you sure? I wouldn't be just friends with someone I could trust with my life," Lori giggled in her sing-song tone and fell back to the ground again, stretching her arms out. "Wahh~ I am pooped. So tired. I could eat a horse!" she exclaimed, running a hand through her long brown hair, which was now in a curly mess of a bun. She glanced in their direction.

"Oh! Before I forget, I'm Lorietta. Lorietta Pearl. It's nice to meet you! I was so excited about coming here that I wasn't sure what to expect! I'm glad that you all are great fighters though! It gives me something to be confident about!" She grinned happily. She had this childish aura when she laughed. It was ironic to think she was here, fighting for her city when she was such a happy-go-lucky person.

[align="right"]*♪ Lori ♪ *[/align]
[/BG][/DASH]
 
The situation had certainly become more awakened, instead of being dismissed like Ramia had hoped. Although she was tough, she was beginning to show more signs of embarrassment both in her speech and in her facial expressions. "Well....You could say it that way but think about it. We all have to fight alongside each other, that's what we have to do as a unit, to survive. I can't deny that what me and Monsoon do might seem like it's a relationship but it's not like that. We trust each other with our lives but that's what you have to do with comrades and allies. That's the best way I can answer that..."She said looking far more flustered than before but still retaining some composure. Ramia didn't quite answer Lorietta's question as to whether she was sure or not that she and Monsoon were just friends.

"Oh and it's good to meet you Lorietta." She added, she didn't have any ill-will, as after all it was petty to hold grudges aganist comrades over words, even if they did make the situation awkward.

"Dang..That's quite a curve ball. Heh, too bad it won't change Ramia's mind. I gotta figure out some kind of plan to impress her...Maybe I need to ask Jericho for advice on women or something...He's older, he should know-"Monsoon thought. He was quickly tapped on the shoulder by Ramia as he spaced out for a few seconds.

"Ahem, Monsoon. Talk to the nice girl, maybe it'll help change the focus of this discussion."She whispered to Monsoon. Monsoon nodded and said,"Yeah, hey Lorietta. Heh, that's quite a good question ya asked there too. Ramia handled it with what she said though. So I don't really have anything to add."He lied about Ramia handling it well but was otherwise sincere.

She sighed and thought to herself,"I hope that subject is over with. Even if I loved Monsoon, I doubt my family would approve of him...It'd be a struggle. They might be good people but...They'd look down on him. They never liked this whole mercenary company business."
 
[DASH="#009999"][BG="#0099CC"]
☆.*´Lorietta Pearl`*.☆


Lorietta grinned. "It's nice to meet you, too," she answered to Monsoon, pretending that she'd never heard Ramia's reply. She could see, from the woman's change of composture that there was something probably going on, but discreetly. She didn't like that Ramia was denying her own feelings, but Lori knew she shouldn't pry more than this. She looked over at Rae and pouted, "Aren't you tired? I'm exhausted!" she stretched again, sitting up this time and touching her toes. Stretching always made her feel more alive, more awake, less tired.

"I like asking good questions," Lorietta told Monsoon animatedly, "Daddy says that the best questions make the best discoveries, but I guess that's only in science..."


[align="right"]*♪ Lori ♪ *[/align]
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After all the fierce battles, Vanwa only wanted to hit the bed and get some rest. As she was finally united with her comrades, she silently observed the group: especially the couple and the particularly young looking girl. She was almost surprised to see such a young girl be part of the group; of course, everyone has their own reason to join the fight, including her own.

After grown tired of watching the gleeful Lorietta, her focus went back to the couple. The woman, Ramia, was ranting on and on basically saying how they weren't in a relationship. Yet, just by the look on Monsoon's face, Vanwa felt that there was a tension between the two. She was slightly jealous in a way, seeing a couple (that was blooming little by little) before her eyes. It triggered little memories of her fiancé that she kept dearly to herself.
 
Rae listened to the brunette make the situation for the two co-workers more awkward. She held back the urge to chuckle at Ramia's slightly noticeable loss of composure, her body finally not feeling tense like it was before. While there was some lingering pain from some bruises she sufffered, it wasn't anything too bad so she put a toothless smile on her face as she continued listening to the three talk. Eventually, Lorietta stretched out, taking a pause before talking once more.

"Daddy says that the best questions make the best discoveries, but I guess that's only in science..."

"I'm not so sure about just in science," Rae responded to Lorietta, making short but friendly eye contact with the younger girl's emerald eyes. "It does extend to other areas, too, right?" Rae asked rhetorically, her voice now a lot more mellowed out.

Rae was now in a bit of a dreamy state. Slightly tired and now relaxed from the lack of violence or action, she took a lackadaisical look around the room she was in, noting an elven woman in black and orange armor with red headgear covering both of her dark eyes. Rae, not knowing that the woman was there before, waved slowly and casually at the woman, her toothless smile from before still stuck on her face, albeit because of her relaxed state and not to hold back laughter.
 
"Um, excuse me," Allister said quickly and as politely as he could to the young woman in front of him. Another woman who he had noticed, but hadn't had the pleasure of meeting. Vanwa.

A lot had happened, and quickly, following the massive battle with the Dark Beasts. Allister paid little attention to it, truth be told. Gilgamesh was battle tested and battle ready, but things needed tweaking. The ammo-feed for the auto-cannons was off somehow, and he felt the maneuvering jets had minor performance issues. Small issues, but too many small issues would make Gilgamesh and unfit war-machine.

And we can't have that, he had said, patting the Custom Armor.

"I can't get to my bed with you there," he said matter-of-factly and, surprisingly, with a smile. It amused him, somewhat, that this girl would suddenly stand in the middle of a walk-way. He looked over her shoulder, curious.

"What are you looking at?"
 
With the greetings now taking over the conversation, Heather pulled Shi aside to talk to him briefly. “Shi, thank you so much out there, for fulfilling your promise.”
“I said I would didn’t I? Now time to meet and greet the others what do you say?” He said his own smile forming on his face. Heather nodded and only found one problem.
“Heh, but I think most of these people already know me. You go on ahead, I am going to start preparing for the walk ahead.” The President walked out of the room and continued toward her quarters.
“Higher levels of stress detected, contradictory to her words.” X38 said to his master.
“I know, she has so much to worry about and not such a nice past to support her.”
“Suggestion, talk to the others and leave her alone for awhile.”
“No duh, for a computer you really do state the obvious a lot.” Shi now turned his attention toward the group who have started their own conversations.
“Hello everyone, I am Shi and I come from a royal lineage of demons, but am still a heck of a shot with most guns.”
 
"Well that was a piece of cake!" Cyrus said as he put his arms behind his head "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!?! WE HARDLY DID ANYTHING!!!!" Estelle yelled at Cyrus hitting Cyrus in the back of the head. "Oww oww ok ok!!" "We only picked off a few dark beasts and let everyone else do the work!"
"Hey now kids no need to fight hahahaha!" Jericho said as he laughed heartily. "Shall we go and converse with everyone else back at Primary Command?"
Black Crow headed back to Primary Command and found that everyone was already on there way into conversations. "If you would have hurried up Cyrus we would have got here sooner!" Estelle yelled at him again. "Is there nothing that satisfies you Estelle? I mean seriously calm down. You need to learn to relax once in awhile!" "Lets go and talk to some people!"
 
Things were quite lively as more of the others in the unit began to grow more talkative. The focus seemed to drift off from Ramia and Monsoon, which was good news for them as it was beyond awkward.

Monsoon said simply,"Hey there Shi. I'm Monsoon and this lady here is Ramia." He spoke for her this time as she was trying to compose herself.

"Yes..I'm Ramia, good to see you Shi. You're related to demons huh? That's interesting..I wish I could say I knew my heritage."Ramia said looking rather somber. She didn't like this feeling of not knowing her actual family.

"Don't stress it Ramia. It's impossible even with those DNA test things to really trace your entire bloodline's origin. It just matters the skill and power you have personally. That's my take on things. That's why I don't like being compared to my father, I am a good enough fighter in my own right! Living in someone's shadow is just no way to live!"Monsoon stated earnestly. It managed to cheer Ramia up a bit.
 
*Unknown area, Shintaion*

The surrounding area appeared to be a desolate and empty city, ravaged and mostly destroyed by the dark beast assault and under their control. There seemed to be no signs of life. No people, No birds singing, no chirping, only the sound of the wind and a dust storm. No one was trying to fight the dark beasts here.

A large skyscraper however did harbor some life. Some who had taken it as their own base. Jade gave a signal and the door opened. The lightning was dim but the power was apparently still on inside the structure.

Several guards were patrolling the area but they stood still and entered a formation, they then knelled.

Appearing almost out of nowhere, a male dark beast figure wearing the same mask as Jade spoke softly and quietly, "Report, now." He looked to be rather thin. His eyes looked like those of one without emotion.
Jade began to speak."Well I am happy to report I've found them. However I don't think it'd be wise to leave them like this, they could be killed soon. They may be strong but their numbers cannot compete with even the normal forces. I suggest we capture them and-"

The door behind Jade was being pounded with knocks, furious ones. This distracted Jade and her superior.

"An unwelcome visitor. But to quell this noise we must let her in for now." The superior opened the door letting in an angry dark beast and her bodyguards, one of whom was a water beast.
The dark beast was dressed like royalty but was anything but formal or polite. She looked rather bloody thirsty and intense as well. She was eager to fight and very loud. She felt everyone had to obey her demands.

"I've had it! I can't be in the normal forces any longer! I demand to join Garm! I am worthy, I am strong and I am beautiful! Allow me to take the test so I may upgrade!" A loud dark beast yelled. Jade recognized her immediately. "Adriana. It has been a long time. I hate to say it but you've come at the wrong time. One cannot simply just join Garm, it requires a life long dedication. It requires more than you can handle with your simple mind!"Jade insulted her right to her face and grinned.

"Jade is correct. One cannot simply just join Garm. You must leave. Our leader would be displeased to know of your presence." The superior explained.

"Hmph that means nothing coming from you Jade. And you sir. Do you know just who I am? I know you Garm people are withholding information from the normal forces! If you don't want me to inform the royals of your treason then you will let me join! If I need to do something to prove my worth then I'll launch an attack and wipe out their little Resistance unit with just myself and my personal guards! This ends now! My legend will echo throughout the land starting tonight!" Adriana raved and ranted.

"You will not make threats to us. Do it and you will die! You are no legend! You will not dare to challenge Garm right in their own base!" The superior said without fear or restraint as the Garm guards braced themselves for a possible fight.

"Am I? Ohohohooh. I intend to marry into the family of the royals, you know. I am an elite dark beast. I have power, I have influence. I know people who could shut down your entire unit without even a thought!I am in control here!"

Both Jade and her superior looked irritated. "You leave me no choice then. Fine. If you want to prove yourself, go ahead. Find the resistance and destroy them. That will be your mission. Kill them fast and with stealth if possible.""Understood! Ohohohoh. Let's go, I can't wait to become a hero! We shall depart now. Oh and sorry for the noise. Oh and Jade, sorry for that village incident. I mean it wasn't my fault those light beasts just egged me on to kill them all! It's nothing personal my dear friend!". She departed, with her bodyguards and the rest of her entourage.

The water beast however glanced over at Jade and stared into her eyes for a brief second and left.
Before Jade could really react or respond, "You know who this wench is, Jade?" "Yes... Adriana, a wealthy dark beast. She tried to buy or bargain her way into the highest ranks of the normal forces and now not even Garm is save...If we kill her though, I don't think the rulers of the Underworld will mind. She's not currently involved with any of them, it's just an act, a bluff to get what she wants." She shook her head.

"Make no mistake. She might be able to kill them all even with so few beasts at her command. She lives for mindless destruction. I know it all too well. She'll ruin our plans if we let her. It will all be for nothing! So may I stop her,Lord Iredox?" "Yes..Feel free but you must kill her. You know what to do...Make it look accidental or perhaps allow or help our good friends to kill them. I do not care what you do, just keep this under wraps. The normal forces can't be allowed to kill the Resistance unit. Garm will bring total and utter victory to the Underworld! We simply require more time. The normal forces do not deserve such glory. She cannot join Garm. I shall inform our leaders of this matter." Iredox ordered.

"Thank you Lord Iredox! I will not fail. For I know our cause is greater! I have a score to settle with her and tonight will be the end of it.. I require no other Garm operatives to accompany me, this will be simple."Jade focused her energy and was surrounded with an aura of dark energy, she then disappeared.

*Outside Alameda*

It took several hours for Adriana and her forces to fly to the base using an airship stolen from the Shintaion forces.

Adriana and her forces consisted of sixty dark beasts and one water beast. These were mostly her body guards and some of the dark beasts under her command. They stood somewhat far away from the base but were gathered together so they could hear Adriana order them.

"Everyone...The plan is simple. We all charge up our energy and blow the base to pieces!!!! It's already quite banged up! If we do this, it should all crumble down and kill them all! We won't have to do anything! Ohohohoh! So on my mark and when I say fire, you will unleash it all on them!"The water beast tried to speak, "But Lady Adriana, how do we know where they are currently residing in the base? The whole structure might not come down if we-"

"Do you underestimate the strength of dark beasts???? It will work, now silence you bloody peon!! You member of an inferior beast race! Ohohoh, my legend begins tonight. A woman who wiped out the last hope of the surface world all by herself! Ohohohohoh..Now spread out in groups of five and begin! We'll hit the entire base this way! Do not let their machines see you so keep some distance! Now let's go!"

Before they could spread too far apart however, several beams of dark energy hit the base and set off the alarms. Jade had fired them from a sizable distance away. She grinned but remained hidden.

"NO! This cannot be! Who fired that shot? I order whoever fired it to come forth, you will be whipped to death! MY LEGEND!!!!It will not die, my dream, my hope! My everything! Ok, ok! We can still do this! Everyone, break into the base now! We'll kill them as they come out to deal with us! Demolish them and the base! Set it ablaze, I don't care how we do it, they must die! My legend must be born tonight!"

Jade held back her laughter at the disaster she had created. The dark beasts were no longer at an advantage. The sneak attack had been compromised.

Inside the base, the alarms awoke those who were trying to sleep and alerted everyone to the attack.
"Monsoon! Get up now! It's an emergency! We have to head to the Primary Command area in a situation like this..There's an attack on the base or something, I'm hearing energy blasts hitting the building!"Ramia shouted as she shook Monsoon. "Those bastards are back? Dammit! I just wanted to get some sleep for tomorrow's mission!Allright, I'm up! Let's bail!" With that, Monsoon and Ramia made their way to the Primary Command.
 
It has only seemed like a short time sine the last attack on the base and with the blaring sirens echoing through out the base it seemed most definite something was going on. Cyrus woke up groggily Huh? What is going on?" he spoke as he tried to wipe the sleep from his eyes.
BANG BANG BANG "Wake up you fu...we are under fu...don't you ever wake up?" Estelle screamed through the door from the hallway. "It's a good thing those sirens are going eh Jericho? Otherwise should wouldn't appear as lady like as she seems" Cyrus and Jericho both let out a chuckle.
"Coming Estelle!" Cyrus replied as she continued to yell as them from the hallway.
Not a split second later after Cyrus opened the door Estelle made a swing at him. "Can't you move any faster? I don't want to be stuck doing practically nothing again this battle!" "You see that's the thing Estelle the base can handle themselves! We don't have to worry about a thing!" Cyrus retorted.
Estelle was about to take another swing at Cyrus when Jericho stepped in between them and the confrontation died quickly as his body dominated the hallway. "Shall we go to primary command?" he said with a smile.
"Sure thing Jericho, I'll head topside to get an estimate on what we are up against." Cyrus said with a swift change on attitude. "Good thinking Cyrus, radio us on the comms with what you have" Jericho replied. I'll accompany hi-" Estelle had begun to state with vigor before Jericho grabbed her the the back neck of her suit. "No you're coming with me, no time for distractions now" and Jericho smiled as he dragged her down the always kicking and screaming.
 
Adriana watched the battle, running from side to side to see the progress. "This is too slow!!!!!I've got a better idea. Ohohoh, let's use the airship, maybe we can unload all of it's explosives on them! I command you, get the airship started, blue skin! For now the ground assault can continue so as to distract them and keep them away from it! Fire something out of there into the air when it's ready and we will retreat into the airship and blow them all up that way! Now what do you say to that, water beast?"She barked out orders and laughed. She did nothing to contribute to the assault except watching and commenting on it.

"Yes Heroic Adriana, it shall be done." The water beast said in monotone. He hated Adriana. She was fool and this doomed mission would result in causalities for the dark beasts over her ego. She lacked strategy, she lacked intelligence.

As the water beast ran to the airship, he noticed an masked person moving about near it. He shouted, "You! Garm member, what are you doing here? You...You fired that shot didn't you? And now you're tampering with the airship?"

"My my..You're sharp. You don't belong in such a shitty brigade! Being her lap-dogs and slaves.I pity you so I won't kill you, poor thing.". This only angered the water beast more, causing him to charge up his energy.

He ran at Jade and punched her mask, breaking it apart. "I just had this replaced. Oh now you've seen too much." She replaced it by using energy to create a temporary mask. The water beast looked to be stricken with awe.

"Expected me to be hideous, did you? Not at all. Maybe my missing eye is a tad unpleasant but that patch covers it nicely. Give me your name, water beast. I must keep my eyes on you. I hope you don't die in this senseless battle. I like you. You're a rare kind of beast to see in our ranks. You may call me Jade."

"Alton. Alton is my name."Alton took a more friendly stance as he stood down, no longer ready to fight her. Jade grinned, she then removed a device from the airship, tossed it into the air and destroyed it with a beam of her own energy.

"There. You will be safe. But your leader must die, let that be known.. I wanted to kill her myself but it could be traced back to me.. Tell no one of this, no one that you saw me. It's too late to change anything regardless even if they know I did it. You won't even miss that woman barking at you becomes a corpse, will you?"

Alton responded, "No.. I won't miss her. I never wanted to serve in this joke unit. We're more like her damn butlers than warriors!That is how we are treated! I was just thought of as a weaker being being a water beast...That's why I ended up in it, no matter how strong or smart I was, they had a bias towards dark beasts. They assume all dark beasts surpass me in combat.."

"Maybe I can help you..Just survive and keep my secret. Garm could always use someone like you. Farewell, Alton. Let's meet again, stay alive for me. Remember you must keep my secret or I'm afraid you will need to die if you tell anyone about what I did."She used her warping technique once more to disappear quickly.

Alton thought, "Survive she says as if it were that easy...She gets to leave while I have to stay here and be a part of this epic tragedy. I hope this thing is packed with ammo because we're going to need it to even stand chance of killing them. This whole thing never should have happened. A waste of life and resources!"Alton started up the airship's engines, preparing to get it flying. It would not take much longer for it to be ready.