AN: Sorry this took soooo long to write, I've been so extremely busy! It's quite a long story, but in the end I can tell you that I'm now married to my partner of two and a half years, I'm now living in England and planning to go to university. So I decided I wanted to finish this story, and hopefully work on a sequel. I'm sorry to anyone who was reading this, I didn't mean to leave you high and dry. Life got in the way for a little while, but now everything's great and I can continue writing! Enjoy!

Chapter 11: The Chaos Quickens

The light faded and the atmosphere around the ship was bleak. Skies were grey and brewing storms. The sun was setting beyond the horizon.

"Brace for impact," Chief called, "we're making a landing."

Through the windows, green blurs were whizzing by, until the ship reached a hard stop. Earth was thrown in every direction around the ship. The gang took a moment to recuperate, then relieved themselves of their safety restraints. They departed from the ship and stepped into a dark, lush land. A breeze was softly blowing and a full, yellow harvest moon hung in the grey sky.

"It's quiet." Raziel said quietly.

"A little too quiet." Chief continued.

Gex suddenly let out an excited squeak and cried, "I so knew you were going to say that! Man, I must be psychic like those-"

Gex was cut off by the loud hushes from the others.

"I heard something." Raziel crouched and sensed the air, trying to detect anything that could be lurking in the darkness ahead.

Master Chief readied his rifle. "I heard it too."

"There it is again!" Dan cried softly. "Wait, did it just say 'moo'?"

"Moo?" Gex said raising his eyebrows, (not that a gecko has eyebrows, just the area where there would be eyebrows) "As in a cow moo?"

That's when they heard the trees and brush begin to tremble. Hundreds of hooved feet were heading in their direction. Large white and black figures were emerging from the dark.

"What the hell!" Chief raised his voice with utter astonishment.

"Please tell me those are cows!" Gex said holding back laughter. "Cows with axes!"

"As stupid as it may sound, I actually think you're right, lizard." Raziel too didn't know whether to fight or laugh.

"Maybe we should wait until they're closer and tip them all over!" Gex laughed.

The large herd of cows, moving slowly towards them still mooed and waved their axes.

"They don't look that dangerous." Chief took a step forward to the lead cow. It stopped right in front of him, as did the herd. Their eyes glowing like fire.

"See?" Chief said, but no sooner then he spoke that word, an axe came down upon his shoulder with unexpected speed. CLANK!

The Spartan jumped back and cried, "That cow pierced my energy shield! Chipped my armor!" He glared from behind his helmet. "Last time I ever trust a cow!"

"Especially one with an axe!" Gex called after him. Chief unstrapped his shotgun from his back. His first shot was the peace-breaker. He blasted a hole in a cow's midsection and the cows charged. Raziel, Dan and Gex ran in after Chief. Raziel sliced and diced with his deadly talons and Dan put his sword swinging skills to good use. Gex, well, I'll just say that his weapon of choice had a little accident. Due to a mad cow's axe, he had lost his tail and without it he was useless. That's when he remembered the present from the Marines on his back! He whipped the gun around and fired like crazy, earning a shout from Raziel, "Watch where you're firing that thing!"

It was soon realized that they were all heavily outnumbered. No matter how many times they'd attack a cow, they'd just come back heavier and stronger. "How are we supposed to beat them!" Dan cried dodging a cow axe. Chief was at a loss. These cows were stronger than anything he had ever fought. Getting a chance, he looked around the terrain for something that could maybe help. Thats when he saw it. A blue oval opening in this game realm. It was a yards away. It was their only way out.

"There!" he called out and dove out of the range of a cow's axe. "A portal! Retreat!"

They gang made a break for it and ran as fast as their legs could carry them, with the cows not far behind, a lot faster than when they first saw them. Without his tail, Gex couldn't keep his balance, he tripped and Raziel lifted him onto his back.

"Oh no! It's closing!" Dan shouted over the stampeding hooves behind them. He was right, the portal was getting smaller and smaller.

They pushed themselves to pick up more speed. Chief dove in first, followed by Dan and Raziel. With a small 'pop' the portal closed right after Gex's body got through. "Glad I didn't have a tail, or it would've been gone anyway."

"Are you alright?" Chief asked.

"Of course, happens all the time!" He closed his eyes tight and balled his fists and strained as if he were trying to squeeze something unmentionable out, but instead a tail started growing in his old one's place.

"Nifty trick." Dan complimented.

"Come on guys, that fight with the cows slowed us down, we need to catch up." Chief said standing up straight and scanning their surroundings. There were in some kind of ruined building. Fire was everywhere and the smell of blood and death hung in the air. Chief noticed something crumpled on the ground. It was a man, injured badly. He ran to the man's aid, "Are you okay?" The man was clad in black armor.

"You look - different-" he strained to speak, blood was running out of his nose and mouth. "Like - the others."

"Others?" Raziel questioned when he approached.

"The ones - that - did this - to - me-"

"Who are you? What game is this?" Dan asked.

"I am a n-necromancer, this is Diablo II." He grunted in pain with his last sentence. "The others were talking about opening some super portal - to - a - 'real world'? That's when - they found me - attacked - and continued ahead into - the - Chaos Sanctuary - - -where Diablo resides."

"It's the portal that Raisin guy warned us about!" Gex cried. "It must be here!"

Suddenly, the necromancer went limp in Chief's arms. "He's dead."

"Leave him. In the game world, no one ever really dies." Raziel said.

They left the necromancer's body and went ahead. Surely enough, there was a huge, blue circular portal on the stone floor of the Chaos Sanctuary.

"Shall we jump in?" Dan looked at his friends.

"I think that would be a yes!" Gex yelled noticing the large red demon behind them.

"I'm guessing you must be Diablo." Dan said to the creature. Diablo merely replied with a roar that smelled of corpses. "Right then, we'll leave you alone-heh."

Then they all ran ahead to the portal and leapt into the blue, glowing vortex, not knowing of what kind of world lie before them.

Next Chapter: Chapter 12:Toto, we're not in Game World anymore...

AN: NO ONE CAN KILL THE COWS BWAHAHAHAH!