Heh, forgot this part last chapter (don't mind me, just a little
absent-minded): Julie-su and the Dark Legion belong to Archie, but
everyone in the Gomans and Tarlens are MINE! WOOHOO, I got my own
chars in a fic!!


~Rebecky-mo~

Thicker Than Blood, Part two: Alliances


The Tarlen's and Goman's were heading straight for each others
necks, and I already knew what the outcome was going to be from where
I was standing; It was obvious the Tarlens had no clue how to use this
advanced blasters they weilded, but the Goman's had no chance against
them with their picks and farming tools.


Eboni was right; her people, save herself, definitely weren't
warriors; the only one with a decent weapon was Eboni herself, but
based on the character she was going after, she was gonna get herself
killed! She beelined for the tiger, Ralphus, who stood there and waited
for her to race through the other battling fighters, making a path.


Without thinking twice, I joined the battle myself, my main
objective to get the blaster's away from the Tarlen soldiers, so that
the fight was at least even. The opposing tribe was ruthless, not
giving in an inch, blasters or none, they weren't retreating this
time. The first move I made was to use one of the grenades I packed
to freak out the fighters when it exploded in the air above them,
and I did my best to take down as many as possible, using a
low-setting on my blaster, along with my natural weapons; my fists
and my will to survive.


My adrenaline was pumping after a few minutes, giving me
an extra burst of energy as I found Dackar amidst the group. He must
still have a grudge against me kicking his tail before, since he forgot
about the other two Goman's on either side, letting them fall to
the ground with one swipe of that huge paw of his.


Meanwhile, I take a quick glance over to Eboni, exhasted,
but still putting up a good fight against the siberian tiger. She
must of gotten one good shot at him, since Ralphus has three scratch
marks going across his face.


Dackar lunges at me with his claws, and I just barely dodge
him, one strap of my tank top slicing in half and falling limp. This
gave me the chance to slam him in the ribs, knocking the wind out of
him with an audible whoosh sound.


I'm about to knock his lights out, when the sound of a female
scream distracts me; I turn and see Eboni hitting the ground, clutching
her shoulder, the trickle of blood just visible in the night's light;
meanwhile, stripes is about to shish-kabob her with a sword that must
be at least half the length of her body...


I leave Dackar to the Goman's, slowly gaining the upper hand
now, and leapt into the air, flipping over the diminishing group and
shoot for Ralphus' sword; I catch him by surprise, and the sword goes
flying out of his grasp, landing 20 feet away stuck in the soft earth.
He turns just in time for his face to meet my karate kick; direct hit!!


Or maybe not. He grabs my leg and tosses me into a nearby tree
trunk, making me see more stars than the ones in the sky. He speaks
laughingly as he stalks me like his prey, Eboni completely forgotten
in his mind "You must be the one Dackar spoke of! You should never
have gotten involved, young rose!!"


Rose?!? I HATE that nickname!! The insult in my eyes gives
me the strength to roll away before Ralphus can sink his teeth into
me (literally! He's a predator, after all!!) and he smacks his face
into the apple tree. The sight would have made me laugh, if my head
wasn't spinning still from the impact against that same tree.


Tiger-boy seems stunned for a moment, but easily recovers
(geez, reminds me of Xenin, a head of titanium!!) and comes after me
again, only this time I can't dodge quick enough; within milliseconds
his paw has my neck in its grasp, squeezing the life out of me as
things begin to go even darker...


Then, a something flies by me with a FWING!, and I'm dropped
as I hear a scream that would make even Kragok cringe; Ralphus now has
an arrow buried deep in his upper arm, but who shot it? Deciding to
figure it out later, I stop Ralphus from reaching the sword he'd
dropped, then my darker side kicks in, and I...


The tigers screams tore me out of the stupor I was in; he falls
onto his back in front of me, not moving, not breathing, a deep wound
in his chest. I look at the sword I still weild in my grip; covered
front tip to hilt in blood.


I ran him through..*By the Fates; WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?!* I
practically throw the sword to the ground, my hands shaking. I killed
someone, someone injured; someone deafeated. And I felt nothing as I
did it. Nothing...


I stood there numb, not moving an inch, even as the Tarlens
retreated once again into the darkness. How could I do this? The
dark voice in me was convincing me that it had to be done.


{He was not going to spare your life! You defended yourself!!}


Much as I actually wanted to agree with the voice and rid me
of the guilt, I knew this wasn't right; he had to be stopped, but
killing was too far! I don't even know how I knew how to use the
blade; it was as if it became a part of me, as if I'd used one before..


A paw on my shoulder startled me, and I jumped, turning.
"It's over, my friend." Eboni looked at me, then to the body of Ralphus
sadly "He will never take another life..." Maybe so...


But how long will it be until I take another???


*********


It was midnight before the Gomans restored enough of their
home to sleep the night away, but I couldn't sleep; I didn't want
to risk the nightmares I knew the night's occurances would bring.
Eboni sat next to me by the campfire surrounded by the different
fruit trees her people grew, her shoulder cleaned and wrapped,
while Ying slept soundly on the ground.


The stars could be seen so visibly in the clear night sky,
all acting like candles flickering in the darkness; whoever had the
insight to name this place 'The Land of a Million Lights', must have
seen those stars long ago, thinking them beacons of hope and change.
I could only see the dark emptiness that surrounded them, keeping
them light years apart, despite how close they looked. It almost
reminded me of the Chaotix and myself; no matter how close we seemed,
there would always be space between us...



"It was not your fault, Julie-su." The panther tries to
comfort me "He was an evil man, he would not have given in."
She could see I was visibly upset from what had happened. I knew
she meant well, but she had probably killed before; this was so new
to me, despite the fact I also had been trained to kill.


Changing the subject, I turn to the Goman warrior "Why
was he so determined to destroy your people? He seemed like he was
hell bent on leaving victorius."


"He did not wish to destroy us." The new voice surprised me,
and I looked out into the darkness all around the fire, and saw an
elderly raccoon come forward. He was in his eighties, yet he used no
cane to walk with, and he seemed to be in incredible shape for his age.
Eboni seemed almost as surprised as I was, and jumped to her feet,
bowing from the hips, one hand crossed over her chest. "I did not
expect you to return so soon from your meditations, Mandarin."


The man smiled, the black mask around his eyes rising,
"When I hear my people screaming twice in one day, I know peace of
mind will have to wait. I returned to see the tribe being attacked
by the Tarlens yet again; they were looking for more of us,
weren't they?" He frowned and sighed as Eboni nodded her head, then
turned to me. "And you are?..."


I introduced myself to the elder, and learned that he was
the one in command of the Goman tribe, like thier chief. One thing
I noticed was that he had a bow and a small set of arrows in a pouch
on his back, much like the one that struck Ralphus. "Mandarin, sir,
it was you who saved me from Ralphus, wasn't it?"


"Yes, young echinda. I saw you stop the tiger from killing
Eboni, who has come to be like a daughter to me.." At this point,
the panther seemed to be embarassed, although there was no way for me
to see a blush. "And I wasn't sure what to expect, especially
considering your appearance. Still, I believed I could trust you."


*Well, the guy definitly has good timing* I thought, recalling
just how close I was to going down. Still, one of my questions hadn't
been answered..."So, if the Tarlens didn't want to destroy you, why
were they attacking? They must have some reason, or do they just love
to cause trouble?" Mandarin looked at me strangely, as if I should
know; then finally began to explain:


"Since before I could remember, the Tarlens have been fighting
with us to gain total control of this land; my people may not be
trained fighters, but every man is a warrior when defending his home,
so we have always managed to keep our part of the countryside, but
never been able to end the war between our two people; lately, however,
new threats have come to our land, tipping the balance."


The raccoon stared into the fire, as if recollecting his
thoughts; "A few weeks ago, newcomers to our land entered our
campgrounds, asking for our help in finding great power in these parts
of Mobius. I didn't trust them very much; they seemed to have a mist of
evil enshrouding them, but I had no clue why, until I saw what they
wanted help in."


"They wanted us to assist them in a mining exposition a few
miles away from here, right near one of our most sacred temples.
Needless, to say, we disagreed, and when they would not take 'no' as an
answer and pulled out blasters, we had to knock them out and drop them
off far away from the tribe; we thought that was the last we'd see of
them, but we were wrong."


"Mere days after the outsiders propositioned us, the Tarlens
attacked with renewed strength and purpose, as well as new advanced
technology, and many of us we injured. The surprising part of it was
that, rather than kill all who faced them, they instead captured
them, taking them from the camp for no reason we could see."


"It wasn't until the second attack four days later that we
found out the Tarlen tribe had allied themselves with the strangers,
and were recieving weapons in return for giving them our people as
slaves in thier work!!"


"We planned an attack on the strangers by the temple, only
to be completely overtaken by them, and more of my people were
enslaved. I reatreated to my meditation temple to seek answers on
how to stop them, when the Tarlens struck today, and you arrived."


Mandarin pointed to me, and spoke softly "In my meditations,
the oracle's told me help would arrive from one whose soul burns as
bright as the sun, yet remains hidden by doubt. I believe you were
sent here to save our way of life, and stop the outsiders from
destroying this land. Will you help us?"


I looked at him, dumbstruck. Me? The one meant to save these
people? No way, I had already lost a whole day of tracking Kommisar,
I had to find them now!.. Didn't I? I forced my mind to clear, these
people needed help desperatly, and if I didn't, they may lose thier
friends and loved ones forever, not to mention one of the great
landmarks of thier belief.


That was the turning point; I may not have been able to save
my mother from her fate, but I couldn't just leave these people to
watch as thier children, parents, and siblings be enslaved...or
worse. I took a deep breath, and looked over to Mandarin again, "Where
is this site? If I'm gonna help, I'll need to know the layout of this
place."


To be continued....