Volume 1 W.A.R

"it was exactly like this when you left, isn't it" a humorless chuckle followed after that empty statement as a shadowed figure with dyed mellow green strands which was chopped mercilessly and carelessly on top of the figure`s head identified as hair, donning a camo styled overcoat that hid his or her identity from prying eyes, worn and torn jeans that would defiantly put a fashionable ripped jeans to shame and military combat boots riddled with layer upon layer of mud from swamp area of the forest and dried blood with 'his' favorite camo styled beret to complete the look. 'His' precious pair of dog tags which was made from scrapped metal jingled upon 'his' every movement. The figure looked worn to a fizzle as fatigue beat down on him and dizziness threatens to overwhelm 'him' showed on 'his' every swaying steps. Nonetheless, 'his' uneven steps continued onward as the brief moment the moon light hit a critical angle, determination could be seen reflected like a blazing flame in 'his' molten russet brown glinting eyes, winning against the relentless pounding of fatigue, for now. 'His' feet moved on autopilot, to 'his' safe heaven every time this cycle repeat, every single time 'his' finely composed mask break, often than not was caused by regrets and guilt pilling on top of 'him', like a good little soldier marching onward regardless of 'his' problem with the weight of the world upon 'his' shoulder, with 'his' fleeting mind elsewhere, memories slowly clicked together like an unfinished jigsaw puzzle as a deeper part of 'his' mind curse 'his' 'gift', the inability to forget, in other word photographic memory. 'He' cursed yet again as the dam that kept the buried memories, those 'he' clearly wanted to vanish from 'his' mind, under locks was broken. Like a flood, the memories revealed 'his' agonizing past, replayed like a broken record.

A toddler about 4 years old waddled over to a preteen with obviously dyed forest green hair which was spiked out in all direction, exactly like it was a hair style straight out of bed, which in this case it was probably the reason. His face split into a toothless smile, the still growing teeth could be seen in those pink gums through the ear to ear grin as he took sight of the preteen that was wandering into the centre of dense forest to the ancient oak tree, or as he called it, their backyard. The forest was, to him, isolated from the town they resided in as not a single soul was sighted from the miles and miles of trees weaving together their yellow darkening to red canopy leaves to block the penetrating ray from the blazing sun and providing an artistic shade of green, yellow and tinted red over the forest. The toddler ran as fast as his short limbs could carry him toward his goal, his unyielding, undeniable, undeterred and a little on the short side from malnourished, older brother, was always his aim. For as long as he remembered, he was the reason he tried so hard, just so he could see the sight of his brother`s approval. However, he never once looked back to his brother`s futile attempt at calling out to him, to reach him, he never did and deep down inside his heart he knew he never will. He was deemed persistence for a toddle even with his fruitless persuade, even with the information regarding his brother`s distain toward her that he gathered in his early childhood, even with the fact that his brother never smiled at him, never looked at him unless forced to, but when did, a glare of pure disgust would shine brightly on his sickening brown amber gaze, a sense of animalistic would radiate off him as he hopes to burn a hole through him. Even so, he would just get back to his feet after getting knocked down, following him like a lost puppy. The chase between them was an endless cycle, wash, rinse and repeat of the future`s event.

"What do you want from me!" her brother half yelled with his scowl permanently paste on his face at the 4 year old who was covered with bruise and scratches from head to toes, the juggle had not been kind to him during his chase toward his brother as the dense overgrowth only allowed dimmed light condition for his, narrowing the usage of her sight, though the lack of vegetation did not restrained his movement and thus aided him but the amount of moss, fungus, decaying plants and upturned roots did their share of injuring him as he slipped, tripped and got scratched on numerous occasion. Even though his lithe and petite body was aching all over, he refused to end his persuade, opting to suffer a minor pain and shed blood just to temporarily reach his ever moving target at the ancient oak tree. "Don't go spacing out on me!" his marimo colored brother said annoyed as his scowl deepened and flicked lightly on the only unblemished place on him, his forehead. "Waa! Big brother" the toddler yelped and covered his head in shocked more than in pain. "Stupid moyashi, why do you keep following me, you know big brother hate bean sprouts like you, idiot" the 10 year old dumb down his speech at the end to let the toddler know, to get the message and leave him alone. "But, big brother is my big brother" was the unintelligent replay from the toddler whose vocabulary only consist of the word big brother as he started to sway from side to side, a yawn escaped him as exhaustion finally caught up with the overly energetic 4 year old. He lost the one sided battled to his tiredness as his body responded by strategically shutting down. His heavy eye lids slide close, blocking the pair of mesmerizing eyes that were the black-flecked deep brown of pecan shell with a hint of red around the iris from view. His half conscious mind was expecting a thud from landing in the hard fungus covered forest ground but all he felt was a pair of warm, strong arms, protecting him from his hard impact. His dizzy state of mind only saw a small up tugged of lips and a matching pair of rich and beautiful amber eyes, his hero blend harmoniously with the lush forest which brought out his boyish rugged looks while the canopy leaves seemed to make his amber eyes glowed. "Big bro…" he mumbled out sleepily, earning himself an embarrassing yelp from his usually stoic brother. His eyelids blocked his dancing eyes that were twinkling with amusement but it did nothing to hide the playful smile on his face which contracted greatly with his bruised and battered body.

I am but a shadow,

The 4 year old grew up quiet well, excluding the fact that his brother still actively unsung him and his ignorant classmates who mocked and bullied him with harsh words that only someone living in a bed of roses, sheltered from the cruelty of reality of the world could ever said . 'Ignorance is bliss'. The currently 8 year old thought as he twirled with his shoulder length platinum blond hair, which was outgrown with bangs almost covering his eyes, out of boredom. He was walking down to the school`s garden toward his self-proclaimed garden of Eden, alone. Being antisocial, he clearly did not have much friend with his class filled with snobby, rude or yellow bellied kids. He could have stuck with his half brother like a leech but his brother had already participated in the W.A.R as he joined in the ranks of a soldier. 'To get further away from me I bet' the young lad thought as he grumbled to himself, but could not really bring himself to drag his brother down for another year seeing that only after the most basic education could someone participate in the W.A.R ,he had been meaning to join since he was thirteen. In the school`s garden was a porch under a young oak tree, a sapling compared to his ancient oak tree at his 'backyard', judging by its size. He loved sitting under the shady tree as it blocked out the unwanted ultraviolet rays, let the cool afternoon breeze blown by and brought happy memories of his brother. Under the tree, he took out her lunch box, since it was recess, to eat the home cook meal he made, being an early bird as his brother wasn't exactly the morning person without his mug of bitter coffee, containing a high dosage of caffeine while the thought of his 'father', he unfortunately had to call, of cooking breakfast at the crack of dawn or even being remotely nice to him was crossed out right away. After all, his 'father' hated him with the burning passion of a thousand sun, his glare was without a doubt more venomous than the toxic feathers of a Zhenniao, he would purposely hurt him ,regardless if he was drunk or sober, by burning him with the burnt end of his scorching cigarette, practiced throwing with his empty beer bottle toward him, kicked him when he made a mistake, and always cursing him with vulgarities, mostly about how he was the product of a whore with another man, he totally understand and sympathized his mother and her decision to break up with that drunkard bastard who had the nerve to blame his mother for his misfortune and took it all out on him, who had the appearance of his late parents.

His russet eyes glittered as his growing killing intent grew correspondingly. His murderous train of thoughts was interrupted by the startling sound of cracking from above him. Snapping his head upward to search high and low for the threat on instinct from the hellish training his brother put him through, he regretted his choice as all he saw was a plane of denim blue cotton wool before everything swirled and the greedy hands of the sandman took claimed upon him.

He was awoken by the sound of someone mumbling and the aching of his forehead that felt like a sledge hammer constantly slamming down on him. Cracking open an eye to test the water before blinking rapidly to reduce the black spots dancing before him and the sharp glare of the fluorescent light hanging above him. Having registered that thought, he bolted up in a perfect 90 degree instantly as awareness kicked in; the fact that he was in an unknown location along with the sound of a high pitched screeching from his immediate surrounding unsettled his nerve and made his body went rigid. Turning to the source of the girly shout, imagine his surprise to find an unknown young boy about the age of his brother and like his brother he had dyed his hair, just in a different shade.

He had dyed aquamarine blue hair and a matching pair of electric blue eyes which symbolized freedom, the only odd sight about him other than his fashion sense which consisted of the familiar denim blue jumpsuit and maroon red glove, was a same colored maroon red domino mask hiding the little feature of his face tied to the base of his skull. With his face morphed into one of a panicked expression. "Oh my good lord, you almost gave me a heart seizure for popping straight up suddenly, count my lucky stars that I am still young and kicking" the boy said with his gloved hand on his heaving chest to calm down his thumping heart and adrenaline high. "so…sorry, wait, who are you! And what were you doing on that tree!" the boy began his sentence softly ended it with an accusing finger pointed at the male, the other was curled into a fist, knuckles turning white from the pressure, to determine his threat level. "ok, ok calm down would you, I mean you no harm, except when I fell down from that tree and you unluckily had been my cushion" he said the last part out quickly as he raised his arm in surrender, the universal peace sign and gave a pointed look at his knuckle, receiving only a questioning glare from him. "You`re in the infirmary" he was quiet an observant person as he answered the questions swirling in the boy`s mind and calmed down his frying nerves slightly. "Well, the name`s Splendid, I'm 13, for starter I am sorry for scaring you like that, it just happens that I usually hang out on that tree during recess to read my comic books in peace, ya know away from the annoying crowd and their suffocating presence, not that I mean your presence is intolerable, in fact it is quiet nice being able to talk without your conversation being interrupted by a squeal, again and it`s nice being away from the noise, but it`s not like I won`t help anyone when they`re in need, that`s what a superhero is suppose to do and I`m rambling now aren't I" the male now known as Splendid had a bright red blush upon his face that could rivaled a tomato as he rubbed the nape of his neck unconsciously in embarrassment. "no, it`s alright, you have a nice voice. Anyway name`s Flippy, nice meeting you Splendid" Flippy giggled grew in volume at the sight of his reddening face at his small complement.

"Erm, you look familiar, like a déjà, did we meet before? Ah I remember now" he said with his hand in his palm with eureka written all over his face like he had solved the world`s mystery. "You look exactly like my long time rival, Fliqpy, except you're much cuter than that big meanie, even your clothes look like his, well other than that they`re a size too big for you. So you must be the mysterious lil sister of his, he talked about when I annoyed him enough, geez you`re nothing like him, thank god, cause you look too cute and I don't think anyone could deal with two Fliqpy. By the way, mind telling me where the hell did that guy ran off to, out of the blue he just decided to drop dead from the surface of the world without telling his rival" he ended his rant with a huffed in mild irritation. He could only chuckled nervously at the chatter mouth`s questions as he did not bothered to correct him, in fact the clothes on his back were his brother`s after he outgrew them as his 'father' only bothered to deal with their needs minimally, not their wants and clothing in placed under that jurisdiction, the only question he could answer was the whereabouts of his wayward older brother.

After that incident, Splendid became a shelter to Flippy as he protect him from the harsh reality even though it was only but a brief moment. However all good things must come to an end, Splendid after that year went to join the ranks of the army, just like his brother, after that single year, Splendid had caught up with his brother and continuous of their rivalry, leaving him in the dust. Though he did find time in his busy schedule to visit once in a while, however something occurred that changed their established 2 years relationship, now every time Flippy tried chewing fat with him ended up with him sputtering and tripping over his own word, avoided having eye contact with him or having an excuse to dismiss him. In a nutshell, Flippy stopped trying to confront him, he was once again alone and desolated.

A lonely night fellow

The 13 year old thought as he once again twirled with his hair, 'old habit die hard', his short vibrant mellow green hair, which was one in a million story during his schooling time done by his 'dear' classmate as a prank, he 'styled' himself. Over the course of year, the youngling grew up quiet well, given that he was now almost as tall as her 19 year old brother who had the difficulty to attain a perfect 169cm considering he was vertically challenged. He could pass off as his brother`s twin since he had hit puberty though he never had much facial hair on him, he had dyed his hair in the same shade as him due to a stupid prank, wore the same outfit the military provided, including the dog tag and even his fighting ability mimicked his brother considering his brother taught him everything he knew, the only difference between them was the slight difference in their facial structure, his brother owned a much more rugged look while he still retained his baby fat even after the training region he had been through, making him looked younger compared to his brother. On the other hand, his brother once he reached the legal age of 18 moved out of the house with him as their 'father' was sentenced in custody for child abused, it was the last they had heard or even bothered with the old fart. Even now he followed his brother footsteps and participated in W.A.R, with his own group, a rag tag of team they were, but to him, his team was like the family he never had.

'listen here and listen good you maggots, you dogs can either use your real names or fake names here, as long as you stuck to it, individuals in the W.A.R must fulfill the minimal requirement which is the completion of basic education, while the requirement to form team was a long range specialist, whether the weapon was a semi automatic assault rifle, information hunter which will be the brain of the team and last but not least, the close combat specialist be it bare handed or armed with the standard weapon, a bowie knife and no don't complain to me about who being the leader of your little squad, I don't care. The number of team mates could range from 3 to the maximum amount of 6, each team might cross patch in the same mission and objective but other than that, different teams would not be forced to interact other than in mission if any of you displayed hostile intent with one another in front of me, expect to be punish, do you hear me! You are dismissed' were the exact word by word said by their general on his first day. Joining the military was the best decision in his life as his brother had saved him from his personal hell on earth, but he could only joined in with the teams that needed extra manpower as his squad only consisted of one person, a French man in his late 20s with a thin handlebar styled mustache the same color as his dirty blond slightly curled hair, who liked adding 'le' in his sentence and could not go anywhere without his red goggles, he was the long-ranged specialist of his two man team. As he never said his real name, Flippy just nicknamed him Mouse Ka-Boom; though he was embarrassed he relented after a cute pout from Flippy. 'These happy time are like le calm before le storm cause shits are gonna hit le fan'

"Alright you panty wearing sissies, since you had been enjoying this W.A.R way too much, our enemy decided lay a sneak attack on our campus, we will retaliate with full force! Each team above the rank of a private work in pair, the one who could even remotely injure my… I mean our enemy the hổ general will be rewarded greatly, this operation start whenever you`re prepare to die" howled their commanding general as his lieutenant handed out the standard and requested weapons to respective groups. Flippy`s group which now consisted of three, with the third person being a young adult in his early 20, he was an American, had a mop of chestnut brown hair that was slicked backed, who constantly had a PNV-57E Tanker goggles on him, cunning, sneaky and with a hint of coward but not without a strong backbone to keep him in line. He was the newest addition of their merry little group as he had only joined in for a year, thus he tended to look up to Flippy, but Mouse on the other hand, not so much as both of them were total opposite of each other, the only common ground they trended on were their loyalty toward their friends, even if they tended to argue, that and their small structure. They had teamed up with his brother`s group naturally, Fliqpy position in his group was a leader and a melee expert especially with his bowie knife, the apple don't fall far from the tree as he got all his skill from him, and Splendid who became skill in unworldly techniques with fighting bare handed he developed in his years of joining this W.A.R as he rather disarmed his enemy then disassemble them, the title of information hunter and long ranged specialist of the group was held by the twin brothers, Shifty and Lifty respectively.

Fliqpy, the highest ranking soldier of the two teams, sergeant first class, was swiftly made into the leader, his decision of dispatching the pair of information hunter and long ranged expert into two group, Splendid, the melee expert was on back up duty for the pair while Flippy and his brother were on front line, causing a distraction for the information hunters to destroy the base while the general was out. The plan sounded easy enough and foolproof due to the minor changed in location to the swampy areas in the forest done by the brains of the team, this way, the gun used by the enemy, M16, will most likely jammed, reducing the chance of injury of the two front liners. The teammates headed out into their respective place after the planning to survey the surrounding, only Splendid and Fliqpy were left there alone after Fliqpy requested him to stay. "I know you have the hot for my lil bro even after you found out she was a he, or before that, so I`ll give it to you straight, harm even a hair on him, I will come and hound you even if I have to drag you to hell with me, you got that punk! I am, against my better judgment, entrusting my moyashi to you if anything happens to me, and no you could not guarantee my safety, let`s just say it is my gut feeling but you must guarantee his, so I`m giving you this, bear in mind to only read this in case of an emergency, don't even think of peaking into it" Fliqpy gruff voice resonated in Splendid`s mind as his word held the meaning of the world to Splendid, it was liked getting an approval from an overprotective mother bear to see her young cub. He numbly took the journal off Fliqpy`s hand, held closed to it and walked out mechanically after Fliqpy dismissed him with a fierce blush slowly creeping toward his face, leaving him a blushing mess.

"ahhhh…." Echoed the sounds of pure torture from the enemy team as he cradled his broken limbs, given up on fighting the two, in his swollen and bleary eyes, monster as they cleared out the enemy teams like a bulldozer, most died with silted throat, their blood guzzled out when they tried to breathe, painting and tainting the whole area a delicious shade of crimson, indicated by the crazed grin on the elder`s face as he chopped down the enemy teams into bite size bits with only his bowie knife and tasted their blood like testing fine wine, the younger of the two fared well in their killing spree as he was green about the gill but his knife cut through the enemy like a knife through hot butter, undeterred by the bones in those mangled flesh. The downfall off his troupe was due to the jamming flaw in their guns, M16, leaving them as sitting duck as they were a troupe only specialized in weapons and long-range as they only managed to nick the duo a handful of time, prepared to be butchered off one by one. Hope started to blossomed in the survivor`s single desperate eye as the other was swollen painfully, replacing the despair of watching his comrades meeting their maker and fear of him being next in their line of fire as he quickly got on all four and crawled with his tail between his legs toward a single carbine the middle of all the bloodshed, flinching every time he heard and felt the crunching of bones and the texture of squashed organs and limbs against his slashed and cut skin. Finally gotten through the mentally torturous process, he got his weapon ready in a matter of second, took aimed at the weaker of the two 'monsters' and fired the same moment he snapped toward the loud banging of the carbine instinctively, but he reacted too late with the oncoming bullets as he only managed a silent scream before he too was painted with the same dark crimson liquid life essence called blood

Undeserving of survival

"bang" Fliqpy heard the loud sound emitted from a gun almost instantly as he glanced at the slippery soldier who managed to get away from their killing spree fired a round of bullets toward his precious baby brother, pushing his leg to their limits toward his brother at what he felt like the speed of sound, he got there just in time to shielded his brother from the on slaughtered of bullets and threw his knife in the direction of the enemy, the sound of gasping and chocking indicated that he hit the target right on the mark satisfied him and the relieved he felt as his brother`s safety was assured for now pulled him out of his adrenaline induced state as he bowed over coughing blood on his already blood stained hands. 'one or two punctured lungs, pierced liver, I think and a bullet lodged in my legs' Fliqpy mentally checked over his injury in his mind as he breathed heavily to bring in more oxygen into his busted lung without filling and suffocating them with more blood, that would also be quite the opposite with him losing blood every ticking second. He knew he wouldn`t live long but he would rather live as long as he could in his last minutes with his little brother who looked so small, defendless and unnatural under all the blood and dirt with his big innocent glistening eyes, trying so hard to hold in his tears. He gently rubbed the blood, his dirty blood that smeared his cherubic face with his shaking finger, signaling that he could weep his little heart out in front of him, that everything is going to be alright for him but he merely shook his head softly, his dyed mellow hair with specks of dried blood move along with that motion, indicating nothing will ever be the same for him if his dear big brother, his only living relative was to disappear on him as he mouthed the words he spoke to him all those years ago 'a soldier never shows his weakness in front of other' he chuckled softly and out of breathe from the small action as he bore in mind and craved in heart of the memories of his little brother before death claims him. His breathing turned ragged as he knew his time was up, he gave his brother one and his first hug as he mumbled out his question before he drift to slumber, never to be reawaken

"Was I a good brother?"

Staring at his brother lifeless carcass, his will finally broke as he gave in the temptation of his raging emotions, he cried her eyes out, the blood smeared on his face tainted his tears, making the illusion of crying blood over his camo jacket where the insignia that showed he was a private 2 was stained a lovely red as he held onto one of his brother`s dog tag like it was his lifeline while he took one of his off into his brother`s palm 'a pair of dog tags have basic information of its owner like name, blood type and personal number, once a soldier dies one of the tags were taken while the other was left for identity conformation'. The emotionally deprived lad was the only survival in the mass of bloodshed, limbs, organs and carcasses, inside the massive lovely crimson, his body strategically shut down, but this time there won`t be a pair of warm limbs breaking his fall, no more of that addicting warmth his brother offered and certainly the kind amber eyes he showed secretly does not exist anymore, they all only left a broken person, his little brother who he died protecting was broken the moment he passed away like humpty dumpty, they could never fixed it ever again, no matter how much glue, a broken vase will not hold water. Sneaky and Mouse Ka-Boom went to Flippy`s designated location to search for him after they had successfully hacked the main base and made it into a ticking time bomb thanks to the front liners distraction. They waited for hours end for the return of their friends to deem this mission a success but to no avail so Sneaky suggested that they search for their comrades but was opposed by Fliqpy`s teammates, not even bulging after Sneaky stated about the possibility that their leader might be heavily injured or dead. Although Splendid was fidgeting, Lifty and Shifty stayed on their location to ensure their victory, while Flippy`s team parted way. They ended their argument with both stubborn parties refusing to relent. "Either they had ultimate trust toward that man or they just don't care about his safety at all and just wanted the reward." Sneaky grumbled to the French man

"You know that blue head looked liked he wanted to follow but you stormed off before he had the chance to" Mouse replied with his own snarky comment

The American grumbled as he tried to kick the pebble on the road to vent his frustration at the current predicament but instate accidently kicked one of Mouse Ka-Boom`s bombs he hang at his belt. Both panicked as they ran a while like headless chicken, waiting for the tell tale sign of explosion of the grenade. Shutting their eyes and stuffing their hands toward their ear to dampen the noise, their alertness increased as the dynamite exploded, leaving a crater and clearing in the dense forest that surrounded the enemy camp, in which they do not know was only the beginning of the domino effect. Somewhere far off, a lad with a promise to his future brother-in-law ran toward the sound of destruction, worried etched on his handsome feature, as he tried to navigate through the thick forest with his sense of direction, or lack of it. Hurried toward the direction they had last seen their friend, in fear that the enemy reinforcement may arrived earlier than expected Flippy`s team were shocked to the core at the brutality that their little brother figure and his brother displayed as they could only stare with their mouth agape liked fish out of water and rooted on the spot. Sneaky had it worse as he vomited his guts out at the bloody sight while the older male easily shook out of it due to fact that his duty mainly deal with explosion.

Sneaky stopped puking as he dry heaved for a few more minute, with the aid of his friend managed to recomposed himself. However those few minutes almost cost him as gun fire rang throughout their surrounding, signaling the arrival of their enemy and them as cornered prey. Mouse Ka-Boom immediately started their escape route by lighting up smoke bombs while Sneaky tried shaking their bloody comrade up from his self induced sleep. Unfortunately, Flippy in his half conscious state only registered two black spot too near him for his liking thus he threw his trusty bowie knife forward, mimicked his brother in his most recent memories, Sneaky saw the knife coming and dodged with ease, he warned his pal just in the nick of time to dodge the upcoming projectile with lightning fast reflex, he was saved from being skewered by the bowie knife, that in a chain of event hit the bomb in his hands and knocked it into his bag, full of dynamites

Lady luck must have loved toying with their lives as she saved them from being skewered alive just to have the knife flying with the bomb into Mouse Ka-Boom`s bag, while she messed with the enemy soldiers` timing to surround them just in time as the bombs and dynamites went off. The loud bang that even the deaf Beethoven could hear shook the forest with longitudinal waves as acrid white fumes rose up from the burning heap of corpses that fueled the flame, Flippy slowly got up to survey his perimeter a sea of charred lumps and messaged his head to rid of the constant ringing that fortunately snapped him out of his trance like state, wincing at his second degree burn eating away his epidermis, he tried to move only to feel a strong embrace. Looking up to the person who sheltered him through most of the damage, russet met hyacinth as realization came crashing down on him. 'what have I done' He was tempted to just end his misery with his family, by blood or by bond, but a small gesture from Sneaky halted all movement from him as he laid there, listening to his soothing heartbeats that was getting softer and softer. "hey Flip, please get me Mouse`s smoke, it's in my pocket, just wanna have a smoke with Mouse, ya know man to man" Sneaky said softly as his words were carried in the wind when he spoke of Mouse, chuckling at his word at the disbelieved of them getting along. He lit the blood dyed cigarette and gave it to Sneaky`s shaking hand as he took a drag of the nicotine, a ring of smoke escaped his parted lips as he ruffled Flippy`s hair and wiped away the crimson that stained his appearance in a brotherly manner. "ya know it's funny that even though me and Mouse never got along, we both have the urges, ya know, to protect their little bro, though I never had one, we both don't wanna see ya sad, you shouldn't even be here, but that's fine cause you made my decision to join satisfying, so, it had been a pleasure serving you privet and I'm sorry I had to take my leave early…" Sneaky`s softly spoken rambling was coming to an end as the shaken lad just buried inside his fleeting warmth, cherished his last moment

Not one bit essential

"Crack…" the sound of branches breaking signalized living being and shook Flippy out of his funk as he hasty searched for the source, mind reliving how he found Splendid and hoping it was him. His hope was indirectly proportional to his rage as he saw general Hổ rose from the bloody mess unharmed, he shielded himself at the eleventh hour from the blast with his soldiers` bodies, leaving him in the pink of health as he carelessly threw away his now dead soldiers and adjusting his red monochrome like nothing just occurred. He treated his soldier like broken tools as he step on them in a leisure pace toward the shell shocked teen. "Why it seem you`re the only one left, I like a soldier like you, persistent and hell to kill liked a roach, too bad you joined the wrong side of the camp so I`m giving you a chance, want to come joined my side?" Flippy was disgusted as he hissed and backed away from the evil man, without his bowie knife, he had less than a chance to win against him and he knew it as he ignored his blunt refusal and advanced toward him, cornered him like a trap animal.

"Thud" his back hit a dead end, but silver of hope shone to him, like a spider tread weaved with the finest silk, made from melted gold, it illuminated in his hour of darkness liked a beacon, his brother`s bowie knife that impaled the escapee. His moment of cloud nine was broken by the sound of bone crunching under a high pressure and weight, until a revolting snapped was heard. Hổ general frowned as he eyed his spoiled boots coated in blood before his eyes travel toward the dead body underneath, eyes widen an inch, his grin returned as he took in the sight before him before he looked up to his cornered prey. 'Bingo' he thought as he deliberately crushed, in his conclusion, his older brother`s bone, to let him know that he could slowly eliminate all his loved one and he could do absolutely nothing about it. With a mighty kick, he laid waste to the corpse, which ended with the angle of the similar looking head in an unnatural direction when the carcass hit a tree.

Flippy was driven up and over the wall that kept him sane as he could only stared in utter horror. His brother might not been the best but he was the only one he had, the only one that kept him grounded when he was to drift toward insanity and vice versa for his brother, the only one that looked after him. 'He might not be the best, but who needs it when I have a brother like mine?' was his last thought before his sanity was ebbed away by righteous furry and immense fear as his last nerve snapped and 'it' emerged. The most noticeable changed to his flipped out state was his eyes were no longer innocent russet as they turned to a deadly color of toxic chartreuse with a hint of madness, his fear and rage turned into a menacing grin, his body posture emitted insanity and his pearly white teeth had an edge to it, making them looked canine and jagged.

A feral grin in place, he tackled the unsuspecting general with a bowie knife at hand, the only warning the general had before he was nicked on his left eye was the sound of his monochrome cracking, leaving a bleeding gash on the gapping socket. With his eye sliced and cut out, the general instantly tried to sooth the pain and stop the blood loss with loud hissing toward his enemy. 'It' was not done yet, far from it as he attacked the general while he was down 'strike while the iron`s hot' a distant memory resound in him as he prepared to go into the kill. However this time the general was ready as he took out his coal black M1911 pistol and fired shots after shots at the crazed teen, 'It' either took no notice or did not give a damn about the pain that wrecked his body as he proceeded with his plan without hesitation. The general was impressed at the sudden changed in the teen, the drive that kept him going, to do whatever it takes to achieve his goal 'by hook or by crook, what a nice specimen, with a little training in obedience, she could be the top dog in my units' the general humored himself at his joke as he languidly dodged the attacked with almost lazy movement, he slipped out his own combat knife and retaliated. The two combatant fought in sync, body moving gracefully to the rhythm only heard by them as their movement matched the other`s, neither relenting in their effort, they seemed to be equally matched to the naked eye, but the actual state of affair was as bright as daylight, with the teen`s movement slowing down from blood loss from earlier and slashed that nicked his whole body while the generals` was still as fit as a fiddle, well other then the loss of his left eye.

In their fight, 'It' attempted to win in their one-sided battle, purposely lead their battle to the marsh land, 'last one standing wins. Literally!' .In the marshland where the ground was more slippery than an eel coated in oil, their battle pattern turned wild both without a weapon at hand fought with fists and kicks, a single thought in mind, a careless mistake will be their last. Double vision and black spots dancing in front of him was not a good sign, even for 'It' as he was the first to fall from a sweep kick, into the lake that was contaminated with blood from the battle. The general gave him no chanced to recover as he advanced forward to end the long winded dance as their performance came to an end. Without his weapon, he proceeded to strangle and drown his enemy as he dunked him in the germ infested lake continuously. 'It' fought for dominance as he had withstood his action as hard as he could with the constant feeling of his lungs burning. A miracle occurred again, a second one as she saw in the murky water an American alligator, identified through its broader snout, overlapping jaws and darker coloration, swam by, attracted liked a moth to flame, toward the blood. Waiting as patient as Job, 'It' only had a chance for this to work. 'if I'm going down, he`s coming with me' Just as the alligator opened its snout to reveal rows upon rows of daggers as teeth, a nightmare came true, it was liked knocking on death`s door. With a mighty heave, 'It' managed to flipped their position just as the gator chomped down, onto the general`s wrist, where her head was moments ago. Splendid arrived at the scene by following the bloody trail left though he still managed to get lost with his terrible sense of direction ' better late than never', just as 'It' walked away from the bloody mess, only to feel a tugged on his ankle before he was too dragged into the lake, desperately clawing at the soil for frictional force as Splendid was too far away to aid, he only managed to get a hold of some blunt rocks, smoothed by the river, before they were gone from sight, the blood that colored the lake blocked their struggle from prying eyes that was filled with regret. Only a few bubble flowed to the top due to density before the lake was calm once more.

All was quiet, only the sound of cooing and chirping of birds from a faraway place could be heard as the blue head male that was scratched from head to toes in cuts, was ready at the moment`s notice to jump into the lake to search for his comrade. Out of the blue, a hand emerged out of the bushes surrounding him, disturbing the tranquility of the marsh and its habitant, the blue glove of the hand indentify as the enemy troupe`s general, general Hổ. Splendid halted his action as he prepared his stance to fight the enemy as rage started to overwhelmed his guilt, just as he tackled the enemy, he heard an all too familiar grunt from the enemy. Locking his eyes with enraged jade green, he immediately let go as his companion coughed and hacked to get the precious air into his oxygen deprived lungs from having his breath knocked out of him, dusted himself from the ground, flapping him the bird before letting loose a series of vulgarities.

"Yeah yeah, got it the first time, might wanna wash your mouth with soap before meeting up with the team" Splendid chuckled humorlessly of the curses that spilled out of his mouth, some he did not even know existed before snapping to the situation at hand.

Taking off his clothes, pants included, he was partially naked in recorded time. 'Maybe I could join in the Guinness world record after this' the comedian in the deep recess of his mind piped up. He was second away from tugging down his pant after pulling off the belt before a noise interrupted him "Whoa whoa, slow down cowboy, we may be a team for years doesn't mean that I want to have an intercourse with you right here and now man, Jesus, we haven't even been through the first name basis, least I want a date first" whined his companion that had caught up with him somewhere in his pursuit. "What…" Splendid`s mind short-circuit at the comment before regaining the ability to think without a sudden breakdown but with the price of a blush that had settled upon his face. "The hell do I want to do it with you, are you nuts! Beside I`d already have my eye set on a certain someone, if you know what I mean" Splendid`s composure was fixed in a blink of a proverbial eye as he winked at his companion. That thought hit home as he thought of his friend in the lake, struggling to get up while he was having a friendly batter here, not bothering to listen to his companion replay to avoid getting distracted…again, he jumped, just missed his companion`s wicked grin as he was out of view in the murky depth of the lake. Just as Splendid`s figure was completely submerged in water he mumbled to himself "Heh, you`ll never see him again, I`ll never let you go… not after how he left me…" the clearly unstable male chuckled maniacally as he walked toward the lake, to be done with his business here. 'After all I didn't follow Splendid all the way through the dense flora just to have a peak at his tone and muscular abs, though that was a bonus' he chuckled at his private joke as he dived into the inky lake, gone from sight within second.

With his figure covered by the murky water, the once quiet forest roared to life, as if sensing the stalking predator was finally gone and peace resumed in the forest… for now.