Chapter 21: A New Threat

Mi-24

^-That is the Gunship

Mi-8T

^- That is the troop transport

A.N.: You all need to look them up yourself, FF doesn't allow links...

(Eric's P.O.V)

If one helicopter wasn't bad enough, three additional ones roared past the gunship that had by now turned back towards me. I watched in horror as two of the three additional helicopters were Mi-8T troop transport helicopters, with the last being an additional gunship. They continued on without stopping, and I watched as they quickly disappeared over the treetops in the distance.

VERRRRR- THK-THK-THK-THK-THK!

Before I could comprehend the danger those additional rebel helicopters would provide for later, I had to jump to the side as the helicopter in front of me opened fire; peppering the ground with hundreds of rounds as it swooped on by.

Quickly getting to my feet, I aimed my rifle up at the gunship and unleashed full auto onto the underside of the beast, but all I did was scratch the paint as it began to make a banking turn. That's when I saw the crack in the glass of the cockpit, and I knew where I needed to aim. Letting the empty clip fall to the ground at my feet, I reached down and grabbed another mag and slid it into the bottom of the gun, and hit it to make sure it locked in with a loud and satisfying 'Click'. I reached down and grabbed the empty mag, and braced myself.

Throwing the empty mag into the air, I dove to the side as he made another straft run at my position, One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand, there! I stopped rolling, and I looked over, and saw the magazine bounce off the cockpit to the helicopter, and I knew now how I could disable, if not kill the helicopter pilot. I stood up, but I was almost immediately thrown to the ground as a gust of wind slammed into me, and I looked up in time to see the helicopter blow further out as it seemed to lose control for a second.

"Sakido…?" I said in a questioning tone as I looked over when I was touched, and I saw said demoness looking into my eyes with concern. When I realized I truly was looking at her, I felt fear run through my system as I stood up speedily, and I grabbed her around the back as best as I could, "Sakido, you need to get out of here, like now!" I was trying my best to force Sakido to move, but I was stopped when she grabbed both my arms and had me face her.

"Eric, we are soul-partners, we will fight that… thing, together." The determination in her eyes was very present, and I glanced towards where the helicopter had landed; I saw a few sparks flash from its top and near the back steering propeller blades that gave me an idea.

Looking back towards her, I nodded as I said, "Alright… I need you to go back to the hill," I looked back at the helicopter, and seeing that it was still grounded, I looked back at Sakido and finished, "When it swoops past me, I need you to shoot as much lightning at it… try to aim for the center of its side."

"Then you are coming with me."

"No, I need to disable it first; your lightning will make sure it goes down." I heard the helicopter growing louder, meaning that the pilot got the controls back, "Please Sakido, this is the only way that you will be safe!" I pleaded, and I looked up into her eyes, which were now full of uncertainty. I pulled away from her grip, and I wrapped my fingers to my open hand around a grenade and pulled the pin with my teeth. I felt Sakido pull me towards her, and she gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before she said, "Don't get hurt…"

I nodded before I watched her fly away, and I faced the helicopter, and as I shot the AK-74 with my left hand, I watched a few shots ricochet away from the helicopter, while a majority missed him. Now however, I saw a huge change, and I felt fear coil into my heart as I watched a flame ignite behind the wing to the helicopter. I arched my other hand back, and threw the grenade up as much as I could before I ran to the side.

VOOOSH!

It felt like time slew down as I continued to run, and I swore I heard Sakido yelling my name from a far distance, until I felt a heat envelope my backside. A bright flash occurred behind me, and as everything in front of me was bathed in my shadow, I knew I was about to learn to fly.

The shockwave lifted me into the air by a few meters, and sent my flying forward, so it was almost like I was gliding up the hill. When I landed, the only pain I felt was the force of the impact, but then I heard a second explosion, and the sound of metal ripping. Rolling over as I watched the helicopter spiraling higher into the sky with pitch black smoke pouring from somewhere in its side, I watched a black and white streak fly into the air. Sakido… please don't get hurt.

(Sakido's P.O.V.)

I just watched the metal flying contraption in front of me incinerate my beloved Eric in a fireball that somehow left me alive, without me receiving any form of pain. Anger clouded my mind, and as I got closer to the metal contraption, I felt my anger channel my lightning magic into my palms, before I shot them forward and watched the thing be enveloped in electrical energy. Explosions began to take place all over it, before the side of it became engulfed in fire. That is for Eric!

When the thing became enveloped in black smoke, I felt even more anger at it as it tried to hide itself, so I brought my arms together, and forced it and the smoke to separate with my wind magic. The thing now seemed to have had enough as it began to rapidly fall towards the ground, and I saw it try the same thing to me as it had done to Eric, and I flew to the side as a strange white and black cylinder like arrow shoot past me.

I watched the thing falling towards the ground, and I felt my anger slowly diminishing, and was soon replaced by a deep sense of concern. Maybe Eric didn't die, maybe he is hurt so bad I don't feel it…

(Eric's P.O.V.)

It was when the helicopter slammed into the ground as a flaming hulk of metal did I notice that Sakido was no longer hovering high in the air. When I did look for her however, I was surprised to see her practically on me as I was soon in her arms in a bone crushing hug that caused me more pain than the shockwave had. I smiled through the pain a I held my arms around her, and I did my best to ignore the pain as she continued to hold me, and I felt a few tears leak from my eyes as I couldn't fully ignore the pain I was now in.

After she released me, I chuckled as I sat down, and I rubbed my sides, and saw Rhea, Buwaro, and Kieri all coming over. Placing my gaze back on the one it mattered to, I asked, "Sakido, why didn't you stick to the plan?"

She looked away with a frown before she said, "When I saw the fire engulf you, I thought that you were somehow killed without it hurting me…"

"It will take a whole lot more than that to kill me… luckily for us that was an anti-vehicle missile instead of anti-personnel." I said as I slowly stood up. Moving over to Sakido's side, I watched as Buwaro stopped in front of us with the other two, and he asked, "What… what was that thing?"

Looking between all of their questioning gazes, I sighed before I simply said, "Those were helicopters… machines that people in my world made that enable us to fly in the sky… those kind you saw transport people, and the one Sakido and I just fought are basically attack helicopters… I won't bore you with details." Not to mention that it would most likely confuse you all too far for me to fix…

Turning my attention to the flaming hulk of metal, I could only hope it would die down before anything salvable was completely destroyed. I counted my blessings to live, and the best one that kept me alive was the poor training that the rebels seemed to acquire. "E-Eric… why did the helicopter attack you?"

Looking towards Kieri, I said, "My assassination mission was to kill their leader, which I'm sure I succeeded at doing, and they don't take to kindly to killing the person in charge of their entire struggle." Looking up at Sakido, before looking towards the others, I added, "I need to go talk with Cliff…"

…

Standing in front of a very apprehensive man, I couldn't help but feel a bit of nervousness myself, but not because of him. It had taken a lot to convince him he was no longer in imminent danger, but now that I had him outside of his camp area, I was waiting for him to ask that question he said he had.

He still didn't ask it, so I decided to start us off, "Cliff, I'm going to stay here with your family in this clearing for one more day, just in case the rebels try to come back. Now, I need you and your family to stay here tomorrow, because if they decide to attack, I can protect you here instead of in the forest."

"What do you mean, one more day?" He asked.

"Because after one more day, I'm going to leave your group and Sakido to go hunt them down, and kill them before they can cuase too much destruction. If they remain here in your world, they will cause mayhem, just like they are in my own; but the difference is, in my world we can fight them." I said, and I cast a glance towards the dwindling flaming helicopter, and planned on going to salvage anything I could before night fell. I looked over to see Sakido smiling as she talked with Buwaro and Rhea, but it seemed that Kieri remained silent while also smiling. I couldn't help but grin as I watched Sakido, and then it occurred to me that Rhea was smirking as well, but her eyes were facing me instead. It didn't take long for the rest of them to follow her now pointing finger, and I turned around and faced Cliff again to try and hide my red face from them, but that didn't mean Cliff didn't see it instead. "I can discuss more on the specifics later… I need to go inspect that crash site…"

Turning around, I tried to keep my gaze strictly on the ground, but I knew that the group… or more specifically Sakido, was watching me intensely. I felt my face heating up with every passing second, but I ignored that as I walked forward, one foot in front of the other, as I made my way towards the helicopter. When I made it closer to their group, as I needed to pass them to get to the crash, I felt something wrap around my ankle, and I looked down with a silent curse. That wasn't a hand, rather than a tail, and I knew who it belonged to as I looked towards the owner, and saw the devious looking smirk across her muzzle. I sighed as I walked closer to their group, before I was pulled to the ground by Sakido; at which point Rhea let go of my ankle.

I couldn't help but feel embarrassed as Sakido lowered her muzzle beside my ear and placed her hand over it as well, and I knew the others wouldn't hear what she had to say. "I know you love me Eric, but you don't have to look away next time. What were you about to go do by the way?"

The way she was talking to me sent shivers all around my body, and I felt my face heating up all the more. Her hands somehow found their ways into my own, and I felt my own fingers wrap tightly around her own as I said, "I was just going to go look through the helicopter." I pulled my head away from her muzzle, and I looked into her eyes, before I asked quietly, "Aren't we supposed to keep our relationship a secret…?"

Her smile widened, and she said, "They know you're my great friend Eric…" Oh, I see, so you made it seem like we are best friends rather than an actual couple… smart…

…

Sakido had kept me with her the remainder of the day, so by the time I was able to go check out the helicopter, it was too dark. I smiled as now Sakido and I were alone, and it was chilly, but not too cold out that we needed our jackets, yet we still found the want to cuddle with each other. I smiled as I turned my head away from the sparkling stars of the night sky, and gazed at Sakido with a loving gaze. It didn't take long for her to look away from the sky and into my eyes, and I chose that moment to plant a gentle kiss along the side of her muzzle, one that made it where she turned her head and kissed my lips instead.

It was a tender moment that I truly enjoyed, and when I chuckled, I felt her pull me closer to her as she took in a deep breath. "Eric, I love you with all my heart… so don't scare me how you did earlier…"

I felt an immense happiness, but also an unfound guilt enter my mind after she said that, and I swallowed thickly before I found the courage to speak. Before I did however, I felt like it was the wrong thing to say in the current situation we were in; a happy, relaxed situation. I shook my head lightly, before I brought my hand back behind her head and said instead, "I can't promise that, but I can try not to next time…"

A.N.: Alright, so this may have come out later than usual, but I hope I made it to where the wait was worth it, which I strongly believe I managed to do correctly. And just to let you all know, I will try not to let it get this far out of an update… I usually tried 1 week minimum, yet somehow I got so lazy that I only just started working on it today. Alright, time for the reviews…

Barber477: Expected, and then you get to read the unexpected. All well, I hope I still had that element this chapter as well. And I stir emotions in you that few other stories do…? Well, alright, I'm alright with that… lol; good to know that… HAHA. Thanks for the review though.

Oh, and by the way Barber, those emotions are probably because I try to put the reader and myself in the characters shoes the best I can.

Maturedeath: lol, just like that 3 cliffhangers in 1 chapter? I'm sure you hated that as well, instead of just one amazing cliffy. Anyways, I keep a count of how many bullets, the state of his weapons, and all that good stuff… so I know exactly how many bullets and grenades he has left for all his guns. And it's not because I didn't like the rant (I'm kinda neutral), it's just I didn't have anything to say to it, about it, or in response to it. However, for your reviewer block, why not just let me add my twists to this story so you can continue reviewing… by the way, I still have 1 or two more for this story before I end it and let the sequel take place later.