CHAPTER 5
Forest of No Return. One of many forests of the Czechun Republic, nicknamed with a legend entailed. Also known as "Nightmare Forest" by the residents, now an
alleged test site for the weapons depots of the DeDessian Army. Settled several miles away from several enemy controlled natural reserves and fortifications.
Plains Point, Green Greens, Czechun Republic. 1100 Hours.
The team had just entered the black unseen void of the great forest, blocking off the several resisting insurgent groups within the nation, full of wild beasts
and those with wicked spirits. An hour had passed with no sighting of the enemy. There was but only a pack of a dozen native Grizzo bears that were shot,
mangled, or mauled corpses strewn about the masses of crumbled bloodied leaves, all gathered under a cold misty front pervading through the trees like a fog.
The marines who had survived were filled with fear whilst the others surprisingly stayed calm in a dark forest. It seemed that the light was completely cast out
from penetrating the collective of perhaps an entire jungle of trees, watching them, with no discernible end. Perhaps the forest was but a trap for the noble
Destined Providence, to end up like the others who had came to be lost and driven to insanity.
Another hour had passed. The group had begun to tire. Suddenly, they had heard the sounds of another enemy battalion moving through the darkness. They
came across another great pile of dead Waddle Dee and Kirby soldiers, their bodies still fresh, corpses slowly rotting upon the ground, with their weapons intact
smeared by foul blood and composite armor shattered.
"What the hell happened?" questioned Pinkobashi.
"Nightmare happened." answered Meinoyonoken. "He is in the forest. He is watching us. He is the one who killed them. The trees have ears that hear all. The
roots are what feel all and consume all. He sees from within. There is no doubt about it. We are not safe here."
"Hey, guys, maybe there isn't a bio-weapon at all. It might be just a rumor." joked the heavy. They ignored them, but the weak had cried again, and the strong
had forced them to be left to face insanity and corruption from within them. They still stood united in the great darkness, using but a small flashlight, fearful of the
thought of being deserted as exiled dissidents forced to survive hell for their crimes to preserve the order. The sprays of dark green in the great forest of tall trees
and the revolting corpses bothered the lot.
"Help me, man. Please. Get me out of here. The trees, man." cowed the frightened marine.
"Stop it. Not another word now. Just be quiet." reprimanded the commander as the trooper gulped with fear, gripping his assault rifle. The other marine stared at
the marine's eyes silently.
"Come in. Come in. This is Seiginiroshippu of Destined Providence. We are lost in the forest. We see nothing. Requesting backup immediately." the commander said
through his cell phone he had already twice took out of his backpack, only hearing just static even for a third time. There was no answer.
"Damn, not again" he muttered to himself.
Then came a sound of a cocky enemy trooper leaping from the bushes, a few dozen following right in front of them. A Sir Kibble clad in pink armor rushed out to
throw his boomerang mounted on his head. The group quickly ducked from the projectile, and just as the blade went to come back three more Sir Kibbles came out
from the bushes behind them, and then another three went to back the first in front, throwing their blades in unison. Pinkobashi quickly shot the first Kibble right
through his helmet. The rest of the strike team took up their blades when they came back to them and charged. Hikariowataru and Meinyonoken revealed their
shotgun and katana and went to quickly dispatch them. Just as the last bloody corpse had went out to kill one of the marines, the close quarters expert lunged his
sword right through its easily exposed chest. As the body had fallen, the group found that it had dropped not only its head mounted blade but another shorter
combat knife that it did not use in combat, possibly used for them to kill themselves if they acted dishonorably in the heat of battle. Another set of blades were
tipped with explosives.
"Whew, that was close." sighed a marine. They continued to squander through the darkness.
"Close. Do you realize what this means. Now they know we've been here. Shit. Here's another lot of those bastards. Get down!" demanded the commander, even
when he tried to speak into his cell phone another time, telling that they had been compromised. They hid from behind the bushes, and they started smelling a fire
where there was a small enemy encampment located a few clicks north of their position. There was one painted Grizzo bear chewing a chunk of meat as two
Waddle Dees oversaw them. One Sir Kibble, possibly the last in his division, was of higher rank in different golden color, and branded combat knife and pistol gazing
into the fire with spiteful intentions. A Poppy Brothers Jr. looked away from the overseeing group with bomb armed, thankfully out of sight. A small armored truck
appearing in the likeness of a Sir Kibble had no man inside, parked alongside the encampment, with lights on.
"It's a whole camp of them. A strike team. We need to tell high command." asserted Muhanseinoshotto.
"Can't you see there's no communication. We're jammed." the commander whispered.
"Wait I hear something," said Pinkobashi.
"More of em'? As if we've got enough on our hands." worried Meinyonoken.
"No, much worse."
A powerful surge of wind blew through the forest, whipping through the trees, catching the entirety of the team and the enemy strike force off guard.
One Waddle Dee walked off to one of the trees to rest with his gun, but he tripped on one of the branches and disappeared from sight, screaming as he was being
dragged away by the foot. Gunfire was then heard by the group and the Poppy Brother and Waddle Dee chased after them. A loud moan could be heard from the
darkness, the screaming and fire quickly followed, and two bloody corpses flew out from the bushes, dismembered and torn limb from limb. The ground of
the forest then began to shake uncontrollably, the leaves swishing in many directions. The trees began to tremble very violently. A lone Grizzo was smacked into a
strong firm tree branch by a giant root, its head bashed against the tree, blood pouring down the seeping hole in its head. A great wisp of wind blew out the
campfire, unseen to the Sir Kibble, only withdrawing his blade. Then suddenly a dozen of apples came slipping down from the bushes, ticking, fizzling, hissing as
they slipped into the encampment and under the truck suspiciously and without knowing. Then, the apples all popped, detonating at once, leveling the
encampment from underneath and wrecking the truck as if they were multipurpose grenades with their remains scattered about the ground with the impact of
gunpowder on the ground. Two more roots came out from the darkness and surrounded the frightened Sir Kibble, who threw his blade as hard as he could
with both fear and anger for the enemy to show itself with the entire forest itself shaking as if it was alive. Twizzies fled in flocks and chirped as they flew in fear.
Then, a great brown bark came upon the warrior, with sprays of green and a face carved of the glowing red eyes and mouth exposing its rigid edged teeth marked
with blood. A great branch made up its nose that slurped the spurted blood of its two victims with no emotion, the great beast, the demon of the woods, upon
the trespassers. It was not a legend. It was not a bio-weapon. It was the Nightmare incarnate, staring spitefully at the bastard who had trifled him, throwing a
weapon straight above his eyelids. The great root shook from underneath the Sir Kibble's feet and impaled him through his armor. The monster howled and roared,
shaking off the blade, the fear distressing the entire group.
"HOLY FUCKING SHIT! AHHHHHHHH! GET ME OUTTA HERE!" screamed the marine running out to greet death as he is noticed by the thing a few meters away
from him by flashlight. The beast turned to gaze at him and used the same root to thrash him against another tree, killing him as it bellowed in anger upon smiting
another blasphemous soul to eternal damnation, bleeding uncontrollably as the battered corpse was dismembered, gazing at the beast even in death.
All of Destined Providence was mortified at the gruesome death, the lowly marine even more so, only thinking about escaping from the vegetative labyrinth.
"Everyone scatter! NOW!" demanded Seginorishippu. All the group split up away from the beast as it blew at the crowd, pushing them back from harming it.
Seginorishippu pinpointed his rifle and shot at the beast's eye, causing it to cry burning tears and get even angrier, roaring and swishing all of its four roots with
seething rage. Pinkobashi tossed a G-16 pineapple shaped grenade at the beast and narrowly jumped over its root flown at him before landing on the ground
safely, only to open fire with his assault rifle, spraying and praying executed only to no avail. Pinkobashi was already enraged at the onslaught of the behemoth.
Hikariowataru ran up to the monster and blasted her shotgun right into its face, disfiguring its face and blowing away at its aging bark, but it quickly reformed its
shattered face, growled with a spiteful grimace, and knocked her back into the ground with its roots scraping her leg. "Aaagh! You bastard!" she screamed at the
thing, blood on her right leg. She groped, urging to continue on, but she trembled, and Kanashimiohbingu was shouting at the marine to get her out of there.
"What the hell are you doing, marine?! Get our soldier over there and get her to cover, or else you're going to get it!" roared the heavy as the marine was agitated.
The traumatized soldier gripped his arms around her waist, dragging her by her legs, running away while screaming in fear, looking away from the beast.
"Hey! Watch it, would you!" reminded Hikariowataru to the frightened marine. The uncomfortable spy ignored the unwieldy marine and her wound, only gazing
toward the carnage with a sadistic complexion. Hikariowataru looked up to the monstrosity with a strange glower, trying to mentally force herself around the
attacks to find a way to effectively harm the monster. At the same time, she was attempting to infer the possible uses and capability of the monster, whether it
was truly created to be used as a weapon or not. More apple-like grenades were being launched at them in a storm of a swirling wind that was blown out by the
mouth of the beast, the gale creeping along them, sweeping right under their tensing muscles, with the unsettling presence of death as the team narrowly missing
the impact of the organically produced explosives. Muhanseinoshotto shot at the roots with his sniper rifle at close range, but even the force of the gun inflicted
harm, but never destroying them completely. Kanashimiohbingu fearlessly opened fire with his heavy machine gun, mocking the beast with his laughing and
swearing, but he was easily open to fire, and Pinkobashi ran out to the heavy and pushed him out of the way of an explosive apple. The heavy thanked him, only
seconds before it fired a wisp of wind that struck the heavy down into the dirt. Pinkobashi heaved him out of the way unbeknownst to the strike of the root from
behind that wounded a marine trying to give medical attention in front of the spy's eyes. He ran to the monster as fast as he could while firing his gun wildly at the
abomination. The warrior jumped at the thing and screamed "Eat this, you bastard!" while tossing his last two grenade down its throat, causing it to explode in an
unholy burning corpse from hell screaming out into the unholy of nights. Its body howled in agony, horrid face combusting and grotesque limbs disintegrating back
into a fiery tree, until it was nothing but ash. Destined Providence had overcome the great temptation of the evil one, the nightmare, the fear of the forest.
"This is Seginorishippu of Destined Providence. Please come in! We think we have destroyed the bio-weapon. We need back up. We just saw DeDeDe's men
slaughtered by it, a giant monster that made the forest alive. We need to get out now! We have two injured members." demanded the commander happy that the
communications had come back online again after speaking to the sergeant of the Plains Point outpost seeking aid to escape. The forces would await their rescue in
around an hour, where they would be briefed of their next objective. Even as they walked away in the opposite way the team had came, escaping hell itself,
Pinkobashi stares at the conquered beast burning, smoke dissipating, over his victory of the unthinkable. He suddenly hears the screams of his dying family in the
flames of despair and smoke of isolation.
A small sergeant led-group of three infantry fighting vehicles and lightly armed jeeps could be recognized by their lights, armed marines on mounted machine gun
turrets driving through the forest. Two marines carried Hikariowataru to lay by one of the marines who was driving. They all hopped onto the jeeps and drove off
away from the forest as they saw trees swaying past them as they drove off toward the base. The sergeant went to tell the group that the great forest was going
to be burned by bombing, but a weary Hikariowataru wanted the enemy base to be bombed instead, since they would harm the environment if they bombed
the forest. The sergeant spoke through his cell phone, relaying to the base that the enemy base about fifty miles away from their base should be annihilated
immediately before the enemy would bring reinforcements and quickly overrun the small base. They could hear the howls of enemy DU-95 bombers over the trees.
"This is Sergeant Meiyochosen to flight command...confirm seven targets...all heavily fortified holdings...attack with heavy ordinance and cover with stealth fighter
escort...we can't get through their defenses...over..." The troopers watched shadows of Bronto Burt-like aircraft in front of the bombers zooming over the forest.
"Unleashing hell...bombers and fighters are on the way...targets confirmed...leave no survivors...you can thank us later...over..."
"Yes...I thank you...yes...could you get the one closest to us...we're on front..." The elated sergeant chuckled as he stretched in the passenger seat. The rest of the
group looked up to notice that several recently deployed light fighter aircraft were being shot down. After about an hour, they reached the base, watching two B-61
heavy bombers escorted by five F-171 stealth fighters streak through the sky to carpet bomb the heavily fortified bases from fifty miles away. They were also
watching the explosions of the AAS-3 anti-air shotzo artillery cannons booming in the sky above them. The planes' explosives blew through the walls and towers
and fighters on the landing strip with dropping their payload of several Mk-84 bombs. Fires ravaged the interior of the bases, smoldering the airfields and hangars,
burning down the control towers, consuming the souls of every last oppressor. Enemy tanks and ground forces struggling to mobilize during the offensive were
quickly overwhelmed and utterly devastated. Smoke rose and the air raid sirens could still be heard faintly in the distance as explosions violently shined in the dark
night. More squadrons of bombers assaulted the supply depots with support from the rest of the Czechun Republic's weakened air force, brightening the dark skies
and exposing their planes' unnatural hellish shadows with every bomb dropped as they flew over the bases. Destined Providence then received a message from
Major Akiburedo through the commander's cellular phone. They were informed that they had to take part in another mission in an occupied country in the north.
"I see another successful mission went well, yes...commander..."
"Yes...all enemy forces have been eliminated...we cleared the way...at least we made progress..."
"Are you still alive there, Pinkobashi?..."
"Yes...sir..."
"Good...then...men...you have a new mission...You are to advance on to Float Islands...intelligence has gathered the area is lead by two DeDeDe-backed high
ranking officers on a giant fortress along a heavily guarded series of blockaded islands...it won't be easy...it's a massive coastal stronghold...you will still have cover
support by several battalions leading a large charge...they'll help you to your targets to neutralize...are you up for it..."
"Yes sir..." affirmed Seginorishippu.
"Good, I'll inform you when you've completed your task...Our forces are mobilizing...we're prepared for a big fight...no need for guerrilla backing now..."
"Oh, and also, word by intelligence says that the enemy is also using this area to construct a massive blimp that is bigger, stronger, and more durable than the
ones we've fought before. Hopefully, they haven't made it as combat effective as they have hoped yet. The others must pale in comparison to this one."
"And this blimp...have you gathered any plans on its offensive and defensive capabilities?..."
"It's probably a flying fortress...from the looks of it...the weapon is pretty big...it may take a little aerial effort to bring it down...no problem..."
"Really, are you sure...those things were absolutely brutal to anything that came across it...cannons and fighter escorts...its like a flying battleship..."
"Of course...a battleship is heavily armored and slow and powerful...then again...we can find a weakness and target to absolutely destroy it..."
"Yes...just like what I said...its no problem...hope we have the resources...though...all our men...many sacrifices...this is a huge responsibility..."
"We know...major...we've been through this before...not our new member yet...he will know..."
"Right...then...just get on your transports and head to Float Islands...its just along the northern border...a few hundred miles from our front line bases..."
"No problem, then..."
"Good...you know your expectations...now go...Akiburedo out..."
"All right...thanks...Seginorishippu out..."
They were to regroup and attack a front on the beachhead of Float Islands, a major coastal military area near another fortress located on another island. Two high
ranking enemy officers who were leading the charge against the attacking forces from the other fortress. The team was sent to neutralize the officers and take
down the enemies that ended up in their way. There was supposed to be much greater resistance by the DeDessian army, as it was an important strategic supply
line to control along the several islands. Rumor was told that the DeDeDe, along with its several naval bases and forts, was using another larger island to construct
a fleet of giant flying ships with strange unseen weaponry that could easily overwhelm even several unprepared fighter squadrons or naval fleets on the air or sea.
Destined Providence saluted the noble sergeant and his group and flew off to their next target another long ways away. At the base, they each shook the arms of
the sergeant, and were loaded onto their troop carriers to join with their fighter squadrons. They observed the chaos from the radar as they disappeared
into the darkness, until it was finally gone. Then, the group watches their bombers fly toward the enemy bases, bombing the hell out of them as an act of revenge.
A squadron of six Bronto Burt aircraft were quickly shot down by the fighters' additional heat seeking missiles.
"Are you sure this...this bombing...is a crime, commander? I mean...it's crazy..." questioned the young empowered soldier.
"No...Pinkobashi...it isn't...remember...they did this to us...we just need to return the favor...their pain will go unpunished!"
"Yes...sir..." the tired trooper replied as he lay his pistol down by him and firmly pushed against his seat and slept to await the continuing of his long journey.