Here you are guys, Episode 6. Sorry this one took a lot longer to post than the others. I'll try and be more consistent in the future.
As always, props to my Beta for editing my work :)
-Nf991
Episode 6 - The Rogue Ones
"Hey, Zander."
"Tanya? Something up? You're usually in work this time."
"Yeah, about that…" Tanya carefully rubbed the side of her neck with her free hand. "I'm gonna need to have some time off. Pulled a muscle over the weekend, and I don't want to test it."
"Sure. You've had plenty of leave time saved up. How does a week sound? Should give you plenty of time to heal properly."
"You're amazing Z," Tanya said with a smirk.
"Hey, I'm just grateful that the Jujitsu Centre is still intact. What with those damn Rangers destroying the buildings."
"Uh, yeah…" Tanya agreed half-heartedly, clearing her throat softly. "Anyway, I need to get resting. Hope classes go well."
"Alright. Hope you get well soon."
"Same. See ya," Tanya said, pulling her phone away from her ear and hanging up the call. Thank God she had leave time saved up; she normally would rather quit than not arrive at work, so Zander must have assumed it was serious.
Setting the phone down on the bed-side desk, Tanya slowly eased back against the pillows she had placed against the wall. She internally winced as the muscles of her stomach rocked with pain, her skin tugging in two different directions where the scar remained.
"Damn Fear…" She grunted under her breath, gritting her teeth as she leaned against the pillows, trying to block out the pain.
Seven days had passed since Fear had totaled the Megazord, and from what she had heard, MUTT had been working tirelessly on repairing the damage done by the Warlord.
The Megazord wasn't the only one suffering from the attack. Tanya, and she assumed the others, had been rocked with pain constantly when MUTT had tried to repair the damage. The wounds inflicted on them seemed to throb with pain, personally keeping Tanya up at night with pain.
She reached blindly on the bed-side desk, finding a small container for painkillers, only to find the box was empty with a faint shake.
"Crap," She uttered, throwing the box to the other side of the room, slumping back into her pillows, trying to ignore the pain. Her hand was pressed against her stomach, pretty sure the white vest she was wearing was going to need washing.
After a few minutes of silence within her bedroom, Tanya exhaled slowly as she pulled one hand free and reached for the remote control. Thankfully, it was right where she left it, under the pile of pillows she was resting on.
"Day time TV, don't fail me now," She muttered, as she switched the wall mounted TV across the room from her.
Once it the TV had powered on, she flicked through the channels. Whenever she came across a news channel, she quickly jabbed the channel up button. She didn't even want to hear what the news was saying about them as of last week. Because of Fear, they fucked up parts of the city pretty badly.
Finding nothing of actual interest, she eventually settled on leaving the TV on a rerun of her favorite show, Friends.
"Seen it…" Tanya said to herself, but released the controller and sunk into the pillows and blanket. However, just as the opening credits were about to end, her phone buzzed.
Rolling her eyes audibly, Tanya slowly eased herself up and reached for her phone. It took her a few attempts, but she finally grabbed a hold of the iPhone and pulled it in front of her.
Isaac – U holding up OK?
"Shouldn't we be asking you that question?" Tanya asked herself, her thumb unlocking the phone by nature and opening the text screen.
For a few days after their thorough beating, Isaac had been rather quiet and isolated from everyone else. Thankfully, no Demon had attacked. But they wanted to know what was up with Isaac - he wasn't speaking.
So.. they kinda went behind his back. Using MUTT, they had hacked into Isaac's phone, without his knowledge, and figured out that Isaac's mother had, tragically, died during Fear's attack on the hospital. While no body was found, Isaac stumbled across something just outside the shattered doors.
His mother's phone. Covered in blood. They only figured that out when MUTT put together the pages Isaac had looked at since the attack.
Finally coming back to reality, she came to realize that she had opened the text but hadn't responded yet. Her fingers quickly glided over the screen tapping out her message.
Doing OK. Hurting like a Bitch. U?
She sent the text and waited a few minutes for a reply to come through. It took a bit, but Isaac's reply came through.
Been better.
She shook her head slightly, but noticed that Isaac sent another message shortly after the latest one.
Nat and Matt aren't doing well; both got day off school. Kyle's off work 2.
"Damn," Tanya muttered to herself. She had been in contact with the others briefly too, but only got snippets of any pain they felt. Figuring that Isaac must have had the day off as well, Tanya began tapping out a message to send to him.
Wanna go hang out? There's a burger place I think you'd li…
Tanya paused, her fingers hovering over the buttons to finish the sentence. She read the message over again. She didn't want the message to come across as flirting or anything. It wasn't, was it? Either way, she quickly deleted the message and typed it out again.
There's a burger place you need to try. Wanna go?
After a few seconds of hesitation, she quickly pressed the send button and the message was gone. Setting her phone down, she rested her head back against the pillow. "The hell is wrong with me?" She asked herself, blinking her eyes rapidly. Why the hell was she nervous?
Her phone buzz, dragging her away from her thoughts, as she dragged it back in front of her. It was Isaac's response.
Fuck it. Why not?
Tanya chuckled gently, shaking her head. Isaac had grown a bit blunt, but in a good way.
Finally having a reason to get out of bed, Tanya slowly eased herself into a sitting position. Holding her torso gently, she got to her feet and opened her wardrobe. Several clothes hung up, but she quickly grabbed the first ones she saw.
Tossing her white top off, she briefly glanced over her bra and at her relatively flat torso. The scar stood out as an angry red, with the black stitching keeping the two parts of flesh together. Luckily, it seemed to be holding well.
Now that was sorted, she grabbed a grey vest and slipped it on. A pair of jeans soon followed, and with a dark brown jacket to finish the look, she double checked herself. Not sure why, since she was just meeting a friend.
Checking her hair, figuring it looked alright, since she had it cut so short she didn't have to worry as much as others, Tanya slowly opened her bedroom door and walked through the walkway, heading past the kitchen and to the front door.
"Alice, I'm going out!" She called out, her hand resting on the door handle. After a few seconds delay, the bathroom door opened and a female voice shouted back.
"Where you going?" The voice shouted back.
"To see a friend!" Tanya shouted back.
"You have friends?" Responded her sister.
"Screw you!" Tanya shouted, opening the door and slamming it behind her.
In a small clearing, far away from Pax Valley's borders, heavy mist covered the ground. It was almost so thick you couldn't even see the grass that covered the ground beneath. The only place the mist broke was when a tree broke its paths, before the mist returned to its dense form.
Beneath the ominous fog, the earth cracked slightly with a low rumble, breaking along a cracked line, only stopping when a tree got in its way.
From the small cracked that formed in the earth, a clawed hand burst from the soil. The grey fur was clogged with dirt, and some patches of fur was missing, revealing the grey skin that lay beneath. But the longer the hand was above ground, the patches of fur seemed to move and spread. Fusing together, removing the gaps.
Grabbing onto one of the tree roots, the arm began pulling the rest of the body up, revealing more of the muscled, grey-furred arm that still lay beneath the earth. The further along the arm, the more patches of fur were missing, fusing together again, but doing nothing to cover the hideous scars that were left over when the fusion stopped.
"Finally…" Came a low growl, as a pair of dark yellow orbs started glowing within the darkness of the earth below, as the body was pulled up from the depths. The end of a muzzle broke through the surface, the same grey fur as the arm. A large scar took a chunk of flesh from the side, resulting in a portion of teeth that was constantly exposed.
"You cannot keep us dead for long, Zeta…"
A sudden shiver ran down the length of Savage's spine, finishing at the tip of his tail with what some would consider a faint wag. He glanced away from the monitor he was facing, looking over both shoulders briefly. But all he saw over both shoulders was MUTT in the corner of both eyes, his back to him, working away on another computer.
He quickly shook his head, turning his gaze back to the monitor, and tapped a few commands into the keyboard.
"Something wrong?" MUTT asked.
Savage paused for a few mere seconds, before his clawed fingers returned to the keyboard. "Nothing.. I just thought I felt something. Must have just been a breeze." Savage had hoped that had been enough, but he clearly misunderstood MUTT.
"Right... Nothing. Which is a perfectly reasonable excuse for your heartbeat to be raised from 130 to 148 beats per minute," MUTT said, his back still to Savage.
"What have I told you about scanning me?" Savage growled, his hands screwing up into fists, side glancing over to the robot on the opposite side of the room.
"Since the humans were selected as the Warriors, my medical scanners have been more active. Call it a mistake," MUTT replied simply.
"I thought you didn't make mistakes," Savage commented.
"Normally, I don't. For instant, I know that you've stopped scanning the White Omega for repairs, and have focused your efforts on searching an area of land roughly 170 miles to the north of Pax Valley's borders."
"MUTT!" Snapped Savage, turning around fully to glare into the back of MUTT's robotic head.
"That wasn't me," MUTT raised a hand in defense, the other still tapping over the keyboard, his back still to Savage. "Your computer alerted me that you had changed programs."
"When did you do that?" Savage asked with a low growl.
"When the five teens went off for their first battle," MUTT responded, finally removing his digits from the keyboard and turning around to look at Savage. Due to the nature of his head, it was impossible to express emotion.
"Now, Savage. Something has disturbed you, don't deny it. Explain."
Savage glared at the robot companion, before he exhaled slowly through his nose and stepped aside from blocking the screen. "I felt something.. odd. Something I hadn't felt for a long time."
"Something from your clan?"
"Not just from my clan," Savage replied, hands slipping into his trench coat pockets and looking off to the side. "There is an area, far from the borders of my clan, and any surrounding ones, that we called the Death Valley."
MUTT looked at Savage for a few seconds, before he spoke again, "I don't have any records of any location within a thousand miles of Pax Valley known as Death Valley."
"Not surprising, considering I never told you about it before," Savage responded.
"It was a place where all traitors and rogues' bodies were buried after execution. The Five Warriors themselves were tasked by other clans in the surrounding area to hunt down their rogues. It was also one of the few areas the clans agreed to be non-hostile to other clan members, so long as they're not traitors."
"Mercenaries," MUTT stated.
"It's a great dishonor to betray your clan. The Warriors were doing a service to all clans, but their clan came first and foremost," Savage firmly stated.
"So, this Death Valley you speak of. This was the location all these rogues were buried?" MUTT questioned, storing this latest data given to him in his memory banks. "This area must be a highly spiritual place."
"It is definitely a spiritual place," Savage confirmed, before briskly adding, "Dark spirits."
"And you believe them to have returned?"
"Possibly. The presence of Horror's essence may have reanimated the traitors. I may have to send the Warriors to that location to investigate," Savage said, walking around the computer he was working on and moving to one of the computers on the other side.
"In the meantime, we need to focus on repairing the Zords. Horror hasn't released a Demon for the past week, and that makes me think he's planning something big."
"I will contact Isaac," MUTT said, minimizing the program he was working on, and activating the comms, connecting the Den to the Howlers.
"Trust me, you're gonna love this," Tanya assured, as she and Isaac took their seats at the two-person table at the restaurant.
Thankfully, the fast-paced fast-food place had been undamaged during any of their fights with Horror's Demons, and the restaurant was packed with people. Being a work day, though, not as many teens were in the building. Meaning not as many people to recognize Isaac and Tanya.
"'The Howler Grill'?" Isaac asked once they sat down with their orders, removing the straw from its packet.
"What? It's catchy," Tanya defended, grabbing a couple of fries and throwing them in her mouth, chewing idly.
"Kinda weird a lot of the places here have wolf-themed names," Isaac commented, taking a few sips of his soda.
"It's taken you, what, two weeks for you to realize that?" Tanya asked with a raised eyebrow, smirking as she nudged Isaac's side with her elbow.
Isaac rolled his eyes faintly, and grabbed his burger. Tanya noticed how careful Isaac was being when trying to pick up his burger, trying to keep the overstuffed toppings from falling out.
"You really need to stop being so British," She commented idly, a smirk crossing her face when Isaac turned to look at her.
"What do you mean?" Isaac asked, setting his burger down again.
"You're so clean," Tanya said, gesturing to the lack of topping that covered his tray. "You need to have the toppings pretty much covering the tray and yourself. Take note," Tanya added, grabbing her burger. As she went to lift it up, she vaguely attempted to keep her toppings in, but a few bits of onion and sauce kept falling out, onto the tray below her.
As Isaac watched, Tanya reached in and bite into the burger, more sauce getting squeezed onto the tray, looking as though all the toppings were threatening to fall out of the bun.
"God, I've missed this," Tanya muttered, her mouth half full of food as she chewed the flavor out of the beef.
Isaac looked back to his burger, and was about to take a bite out it when a low growl sounded around the two. "Please say it isn't..." He muttered, lowering his burger slightly.
"It is," Tanya confirmed, a sour look to her face as she looked over at Isaac.
The red crystal at the center of Isaac's Howler was glowing faintly, and a low growl was emitting from the device.
"Come on," Isaac groaned, putting his burger down. "Savage owes me another burger."
"That makes two of us," Tanya grunted, as the two of them got to their feet and headed out of the Howler Grill, leaving their burgers where they were. Heading out of the front doors, Isaac and Tanya quickly looked around and found an alley they could go down without attracting too much attention.
"What is it Savage?" Isaac asked into the Howler, leaning against the side of the Howler Grill.
"Something's come up. The five of you are needed here, right now."
"That's going to be a problem, since Matthew, Kyle and Natalie are out of action still," Isaac replied."
A heavy sigh came from the Howler, causing Tanya to raise an eyebrow when Isaac lifted his head up. "Fine, you and Tanya get here."
"Yeah," Isaac grunted, and cut the comms short. "Something's come up, apparently," He said, looking over to Tanya.
She rolled her shoulders slowly, before she responded, "Let's just get this shit over with."
"Agreed," Isaac said, before the two of them stood there. Seconds later, a column of red and yellow light enveloped the teens, teleporting them away from their current location.
"This had better be good, Savage. Your call cost me a good meal," Tanya warned as she and Isaac arrived in the Den, walking forward a few steps forward so they were in the center of the Den's command center.
"This is very important - far more important than any food," Savage said, turning to look at the two over his shoulder, turning away from the computer.
"I know a few people that would argue with that," Isaac muttered, but kept it to himself.
"I have a mission for the two of you," Savage started, folding his arms behind his back as he looked to the two. "There is an area, over a hundred miles north of Pax Valley's borders, that I need you two to investigate. Here," He added, gesturing to one of the monitors. The two looked, and found that there was a small blip where Savage was gesturing to. They saw where the Pax Valley's northernmost border as well; it was a sizable gap.
"What's there?" Isaac asked, arms folded over his chest.
"A graveyard."
Tanya blinked, and side glanced at Isaac. "A graveyard? You're sending us.. to a graveyard?"
Savage looked to Tanya, and said, "This isn't anything like your human graveyards. This is a graveyard of traitors from many different clans. My clan included."
"And you think that something's happened there?" Isaac guessed.
"Correct."
"And if a Demon shows up?" Tanya pressed.
"I've got that covered," Savage said, adding, "I've got something for to help with the other Warriors." The two teens nodded, though seemed a bit apprehensive. They knew the others weren't in any condition to fight, but Savage knew what he was doing.
"Location has been locked. Prepared to teleport," MUTT said, looking away from his monitor.
"Time for you two to go," Savage said, stepping back. "Report back for any findings."
Isaac and Tanya nodded slightly, before stepping back to prepare for teleportation.
MUTT typed in the command, and the two were enveloped in their respective colored lights. Moments later, the two were once again being teleported and vanished from the Den.
Once the two were gone, MUTT looked over at Savage and said, "Are you planning to give the other three what I believe you are going to give?"
"I know what I'm doing," Savage assured.
"I thought Instinct was toxic to humans."
"It'll be diluted - an impure form should be safe for humans."
"That'll be assuring to them," MUTT replied. If it wasn't for him being a robot, the tone would have passed for sarcasm.
"Shit!" Isaac exclaimed when he and Tanya arrived at the location, his foot slipping off of a wet rock and nearly falling back. But he was quickly caught by Tanya, who quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him back up to both feet.
"You good?" She asked. Once he nodded, she released the hold and stepped back to look around at their surroundings. "Now where the hell are we?" Tanya asked, her hands drawing to her hips as she looked around at the tall trees surrounding the two of them.
"Didn't Savage say we were going to find this place in a clearing?" Isaac asked, he too looking up at the trees. From the look of the tree density, they were far from any sort of clearing.
"Savage? We've got a problem," Tanya said into her Howler, looking around slowly.
"What did you find?" Savage's voice respond.
"He doesn't even know," Isaac grunted, as he walked around a few steps.
"Well, we've found something. We've found.. that we aren't anywhere near a clearing," Tanya said, looking around again. Double-confirming that they were in the middle of a thick forest.
A bit of shuffling came from the other side of the comms, before a voice replied - MUTT's. "It appears I was a bit off for the teleportation."
"'A bit?'" Tanya asked, glancing at Isaac with a bit of corner, and mild annoyance. "Care to explain how off you were?"
"The settings were off only the slightest bit, and you're only a mile or two short of the clearing. Due north."
"A couple of miles?" Tanya all but shouted into the Howler.
"I've made the adjustments for the teleporter to stay within the perimeters of the Pax Valley. Frankly, you should consider yourselves lucky it was only a few miles."
"I swear, I...!" Tanya began, before Isaac covered her Howler. When she glared up at him, he shook his head slightly.
"It's alright, MUTT. We'll walk the rest of the way," He said into Tanya's Howler, quickly breaking the comms after speaking.
"Why'd you do that?" Tanya demanded as Isaac walked away.
"It's better to just this over and done with," Isaac replied, shaking his head slightly as he began walking off.
"Alright, Mr. Quick. But just to let you know, North is that way," Tanya said, gesturing behind her. In the opposite direction to the way Isaac was walking. The teen stopped momentarily, before quickly turning on the ball of his feet and began walking the other way.
"I knew that," He said as he passed her. Tanya rolled her eyes slightly, smirking smugly as she followed after Isaac. The two of them trudging through the mud and leafs that surrounded the trees.
"Did you find anything strange happening recently?"
Tanya raised her eyebrow slightly when Isaac finally spoke up for the first time in fifteen minutes. They had spent the majority of their time walking in silence; walking roughly side by side for portions of their walk. The question kind of caught her off guard.
"Uh.. how do you mean, strange?"
Isaac shrugged slightly, hands freeing themselves from his pockets as they continued walking.
"Since I had this thing," He gestured to the Howler, pulling up his sleeve slightly, "I've noticed weird things. Like, my hearing - when we in the hospital, before it all went to shit, I could hear the two receptionists talking over all of the other people. And it was, like, the entirely opposite side of the room."
"And another thing," Isaac added, stopping this time, causing Tanya to stop two steps later. "I've been smelling things that I hadn't before."
"Are you sure you're not taking drugs?" Tanya asked.
"I'm serious," Isaac said firmly.
"So am I."
Isaac rolled his eyes slightly, before he collected himself. "There's stuff Savage needs to tell us about these things," He tapped his Howler, "And I'm going to let him know what's happened."
"Yeah, yeah," Tanya said, rolling her eyes slightly as she returned to walking, her arms folded in front of her chest. Isaac's shoulders sagged slightly, shaking his head a little as he walked after Tanya, speeding up slightly to keep pace with her. After about a minute of silently walking, Tanya sighed a little and said, "Look. Sorry. I've noticed something like what you said. I couldn't hear the TV in the living room like I did before we got our Howlers, and it stings more when I burn food and the smell blows up in my face."
"What about the others?" Isaac asked.
"Haven't heard Matt or Nat saying they were suffering from anything like that, but Kyle said he was getting headaches frequently. Wondering if that was a side effect?"
"Maybe..." Isaac said, hands slipping back into his pockets as they lapped into silence, continuing their walk.
"I know who it is.. Process of elimination..." Fear muttered under his breath, his eyes closed as he sat in a meditative stance. Kneeling down, hands resting on his knees as he had his head bowed slightly. A small, green fire was lit in front of him, seemingly lit from nothing at all. Just floating a few inches off the ground.
"Come on," Fear muttered to himself, gripping his knee armor a bit tighter the more aggravated he became. "Who could teach them? Has to be one of the Wolves, extended lifespan.. but that doesn't narrow it down. One of the Five perhaps, but they were all killed. Someone close perhaps..."
He hated not knowing knowledge was power, as a saying went, and Fear needed to know. It would become a thorn in his side if he couldn't figure it out. Either that, or locate where the command center of the Warriors and find out directly.
As Fear contemplated over who the mentor of the Warriors could be, Batibat was looking intently through a viewing portal, observing what it showed.
"What would the humans be going there for?" She muttered to herself, as she saw two humans, one male, one female, walking through a forest with a sense of knowing. They seemed to know they were going somewhere, and that somewhere was a place of highly spiritual presence.
"The Valley of the Dead," Batibat said to herself, remembering the place she had observed many of the Wolf creatures of the past slaughter their own kind. There had been a great spiritual presence there during the reign of her Master, and recently, that same presence started to form. Subtle at first, but it became a nagging feeling. Like a thousand voices at once were screaming, shouting - very quiet at first, but steadily growing louder in her head.
Briskly turning, Batibat walked back to the caverns, situated in the back of the realm. Walking through a thin space between the main cavern and one of the smaller ones, she found Fear in his meditating stance, muttering to himself.
Rolling her eyes slightly, she said, "I'm going to the Human Realm to investigate something." Possibly louder than she should have done, but she couldn't care less.
At the loud, obnoxious tone ringing in his ears, Fear inhaled sharply and opened his eyes, glaring up at the she-Demon that stood opposite him, the only thing separating them being the small fire that sat before him.
"And, pray tell, what are you investigating?" Fear asked, pushing himself to his feet and returning to standing higher than Batibat.
"That Valley of the Dead those Wolves buried their kind," Batibat replied shortly.
Fear looked a bit skeptical, before pressing, "And what is happening there that has you so interested?"
Batibat glared at the Demon as he pressed for details, but responded, "I have my reasons, Fear. Just as you have yours." Fear glared back at Batibat, before he took a step forward...
Batibat subtly reached behind her, gripping on the handle of a small dagger she kept strapped to her back. But she lessened her grip ever so slightly when Fear stepped onto the small green fire, twisting the fire out. Diminishing what little extra light the green fire cast.
"Very well," Fear said, slowly walking past Batibat, glaring over his shoulder at her briefly before walking out of the small cavern completely.
Batibat glared back at her fellow Warlord, before shaking her head. Fear was not of her concern right now. Right now, she had to have her efforts focused elsewhere.
She turned as well, waiting long enough for Fear to walk off before she walked after, snapping her fingers once in the larger cavern. Immediately, a black-and-green portal opened up and, without much hesitation, she walks through the portal, entering the human realm.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the cavern, Fear was looking through a viewing portal, stroking his chin gently. His eyes were focused on the strange human building he had attacked a few moons ago. Humans were pacing around the building, wearing their strange black clothes to assert authority.
"Hmm... Perhaps I should check on the spores," Fear muttered to himself, stroking his chin gently as he spoke. Confirming himself with his own suggestion, Fear snapped his fingers and another portal appeared before him.
"Let Batibat continue with her attempts to please the Master..." He said to himself, a malice edge to his tone as he stepped through the portal, he too entering the human realm.
"How is this possible? We were dead, and now, we're alive again?"
"We should be thankful that we have been blessed with given a second chance."
"Will you two be quiet?"
The two anthropomorphic wolves looked away from each other to look at the third one. The three of them all had similar shades of fur color - varying shades of dark grey. All had similar parts of armor across their bodies also. The two arguing, the pair of females, had additional armor across their chests to keep themselves modest.
It was clear that there was some fabric addition to the original clothing, as there was a large gap between the waist and leg armor and the chest armor worn by the females. Exposing their lean, fur-covered torsos.
The one that was separate from the females, the only male, had situated himself on a rock and was looking at what seemed like nothing, deep in thought. His dark red eyes were unfocused, staring into nothing, until the voices of the females distracted him.
He glared over his shoulder at them when their voices grew too loud, they quickly lapped into silence when they were scolded by the male. The scars over both his eyes, giving them their signature red color, giving him the look of intimidation during his past.
One of the females, the one with the fur as a slightly darker shade of grey and a pair of dark blue eyes, folded her armored forearms over her chest, raising an eyebrow.
"Kuli, you seem tense," She said, slowly approaching the male from behind and gently slipped her dull clawed hands under the gaps in his armor. Her fingers gently messaging the fur and muscle that lay beneath. "Perhaps I could help…" She purred gently, resting her thin muzzle against the male's ear.
The other female stayed where she had been, and rolled her eyes at Reliee's advances - even after coming back from the dead, she was trying to entice Kuli.
The male shook his head slightly, gently pushing the female back as he got to his feet, looking around the small clearing they were in, among the thick forest that surrounded them, as he began sniffing the air.
"The air smells different," Kuli growled lowly, his sensitive nose twitching slightly as he took in the various scents. He detected various new scents, and struggled to find the usually deep smell of earth among the stronger, sharper scents of metal.
And humans.
"I smell it too," Reliee confirmed, her nose twitching slightly as she too sniffed the air.
Licos raised an eyebrow slightly, before she too took a deep inhale. Instantly, the metallic smell stung her nostrils and she had to fight coughing to clear her throat. The strength of the stench was overwhelming.
"The human scent is nearby," Reliee added, taking a few steps forward to get a better sniff of the air. The other two wolves sniffed the air again, and they confirmed what their comrade said.
Two distinct human scents were more pronounced than the others they smelt. But something seemed.. off about them.
"Do either of you smell that? The humans, they smell.. off," Licos said quietly, focusing on trying to identify what the smell mixed into the humans'.
"Us…"
"What?" Kuli growled, turning sharply to look at Reliee. Licos turned to look at the other female as well, surprised at what she had said.
"They smell like us. Tell me you don't smell it," Reliee pressed, gesturing to the direction the scents were coming from.
Still struggling to even comprehend that Reliee would even suggest that, Kuli took another inhale, focusing on the two nearby human scents. Despite his disbelief trying to say otherwise, there was an unmistakable scent sticking to the humans.
The smell of their kind.
"That's not possible…" Kuli growled lowly, his posture straightening slightly as he homed in on the scents. "It's just not."
"Apparently, it is," Licos replied dryly, causing both Reliee and Kuli to glare back at her comment. She quickly fell quiet, turning her muzzle down slightly in submission.
"Reliee, investigate," Kuli growled, looking to the other female and gesturing to the direction the scents were located.
The blue eyed she-wolf nodded once, before she quickly headed off from the clearing, pushing herself into the thick trees. Upon breaking through the tree line, she jumped up and grabbed onto a thick, low-hanging branch. Flipping herself up using her momentum, she quickly landed on another tree's extended branch, her sudden weight causing the wood to bend ever so slightly.
Not noticing, Reliee quickly began jumping from tree to tree, eventually climbing so she was at least twenty feet above the ground, using the trees to get her around undetected.
"Jesus.. they really did a number on this place..."
Officer Rogers glanced across at the other officer, as they walked down one of the many corridors of the now closed hospital. While the corridor wasn't as bad as the main reception, the corridor was still pretty messed up. Large dents were along the length of the corridor, cracks forming to the ceiling, chunks falling and resting on the floor.
Doors were barely hanging out their hinges, and some had come off entirely, falling onto the ground of their rooms.
"Yeah, they fucked this place up..." Rogers added, looking down one room that the door had been knocked down, before continuing onward.
"The other groups should be meeting at the reception soon," The other officer, Frank, said, gesturing down the corridor they were facing.
Rogers glanced back at Frank, the younger of the two of them, before he pulled his body back from the door frame and continued walking with the other officer.
"Any idea where those freaky guys went?" Frank asked as they resumed walking.
"If I had an idea, I'd probably tell me," Rogers replied dryly.
The two walked in silence for a few minutes, before they came to the end of the corridor and they were split down two different paths.
"I take the right corridor, you take the left," Rogers ordered, gesturing to the right corridor, then to the left.
Frank nodded slightly, before the two parted ways and headed down different ways of the corridor.
For the first twenty or so steps from either of them, but that was when Frank heard the sound of glass shattering from behind him. He turned around quickly, his eyes snapping across the width of the corridor for Rogers.
But the second officer was absent; no sign of the dark blue uniform that all officers wore. Slightly put off that Rogers didn't come rushing into sight at the sound, Frank slowly turned around fully and walked back the way he came.
"Rogers?" He asked slowly, looking around the empty corridors. His footsteps echoing slightly among the white, and slightly scarred, corridor.
But no response came. Just silence.
"Rogers..." Frank called again, continuing taking steps back, reaching the point where they had split, and was now walking in Rogers's area.
He passed a couple of doors, that miraculously, had managed to keep on their hinges, before reaching one that looked as though it had been opened by hand. Just barely cracked open, but noticeable against the other doors.
"Rogers, you in there?" Frank said in a lowered voice, approaching the door and carefully resting his hand against the wooden door. Barely touching the wooden surface, before making firm contact and pushing the door a few inches.
"Rogers..." He whispered again, slightly louder than his previous tone, as he pushed the door open further. Revealing the darkness enveloping the room entirely.
Suddenly, the door was wrenched open entirely, causing Frank to stumble forward ever so slightly, before righting himself. He quickly pulled his hands back to reach for his gun, before he saw a face through the darkness.
Rogers'.
"Calm down kid," Rogers said, his voice quiet. "I've found something in here. Just keep your voice down."
"What have you found?" Frank asked, trying to look into the darkened room Rogers had come out of. But the room was impossible to see into, the darkness preventing any shapes to be made out.
"Trust me, it'll be easier to show rather than explain it," Rogers said lowly, looking up and down the corridor before gesturing for the other officer to follow him.
Frank glanced up and down the corridor, seeing they were the only two in the white-walled strength of hallway. He slowly walked forward, entering the room.
"Alright, so where is this thing you w..." Frank started, but stopped with a small, sharp pain pricking at the side of his neck. He grunted quietly, his hand flying to the side of his neck. His fingers found the point where the pain stemmed from, moving over what felt like a toothpick jammed into the side of his neck.
"What the..?" He asked slowly, before he found himself growing dizzy and nauseous. The lack of light made it hard to focus on anything, as he felt himself fall to one knee.
"W.. What's happen.. ing..." He asked slowly, his words slurring as unconsciousness started to set in. He felt himself fall onto his side, his vision hazy as they started to lose focus.
His eyes closed fully, changing from one darkness to another.
Reliee paused in the trees, inhaling deeply, fresh air entering her lungs for the first time in thousands of years. But it felt far longer to her.
Leaning back against the main trunk of the tree, she scanned the area below and around her. Her eyes on the lookout for any slight movement, while her nose inhaled slowly, taking in all of the scents she could.
There was one scent that dominated her nose.
"Damn humans and their scents," The she-wolf muttered, the metallic nature of their scents burning her sensitive nose. She almost had to make sure she wasn't going to damage it permanently because of the smell.
Resting more against the thick tree, Reliee slowly slid down and sat down on the branch she had landed on, taking a short break to allow her body to relax.
One leg dangling over the edge of the split of the tree, Reliee leaned against the main tree. The scent was so strong nearby, she figured out the mixed scented humans must have been nearby.
Content with waiting for what may take a while, the she-wolf decided to let herself relax slightly. Reaching her hands up to the sides of the slim mask she wore, and slowly undid the clasps.
Mindful of her muzzle, she slowly slid the mask off her face. Once off, she sighed lowly and ran one hand through the fur across her cheek. A feeling she hadn't felt for quite some time; the soft fur under her lightly dulled claws. She traced one of the scars hidden away under her grey fur.
Leaning back against the tree again, Reliee's eyes returned to instinctively scanning across the ground beneath her, looking for any human movements.
It was around twenty minutes later that the sound of ruffling bushes caused Reliee's ears to perk up ever so slightly, since they were nearly at their straightest point already, and her eyes began scanning over one area of the forest beneath her. Her ears managed to isolate the area she could find the humans.
Picking herself up from leaning against the tree, Reliee reached for the side of her waist, before finding something missing.
Her mask!
Hand flying to her face, she confirmed, in horror, she had misplaced her mask. Looking around frantically, her eyes finally caught sight of her mask.
Right at the base of the tree.
"Damn Zeta..." She uttered under her breath, a low snarl escaping through her curled lip, before more bushes ruffling caught her attention again. The humans were drawing closer.
Her eyes darted from the place her mask rested to the ground, to where the scents was coming from rapidly.
Her ears perked up again, after flicking down in agitation, when she heard voices, supposedly the humans.
"How far can this fucking clearing be? We've been hacking through these bushes for, what, like an hour?" One voice said, the deeper tone suggesting male.
"Look on the brighter side, you would have burnt off the calories of that burger if you had any bites." There was the other voice; the lighter tone suggested this was a female.
"Mates, perhaps?" Reliee asked herself quietly, closing her eyes slowly as she tried focusing on the scents. The metallic tinted human scent was even more overwhelming than before, but the wolf-part of their scents were more present, more.. distinctive.
"Can't be..." Reliee uttered to herself, her eyes opening again as two shapes moved through the bushes, kicking a path through the overgrown greenery.
Slowly rising to her feet, Reliee finally spotted the approaching humans, getting a good look at the two for the first time.
Just as her suspicions confirmed, one was male, one was female. They wore strange, black articles of cloth, looking far more advanced than the clothing she remembered seeing the humans in. They also walked with confidence, a sight she normally saw of her own kind, not of the humans.
Moving slowly, she reached to her belt once again and into one of the small pouches against her waist, her fingers grasping the small rock inside.
Firmly holding it on her hand, she looked across from the tree and, with a bit of force, threw the rock through the air. It went sailing across the area, finally landing in the middle of large patch of leaves and bushes, creating a large ruckus.
Like she planned, the humans' attention was drawn to the rock's area of landing, their movements freezing and staring at the bushes.
A faint, light chuckle escaped Reliee's throat, as she whispered, "Typical humans," As she stood up fully, her tail flicking behind her properly once again. Crouching slightly, Reliee's muscles tensed and she jumped off the branch, falling through the air and towards the ground.
"How far can this fucking clearing be?" Isaac asked as they made their way through a particularly overgrown area. Trying to maintain a path as the crow flies had its downsides. "We've been hacking through these bushes for, what, like an hour?"
"Look on the bright side," Tanya said, stepping through the broken path Isaac made for them. "You would have burnt off the calories of that burger if you had any bites."
"Fuck off," Isaac muttered, half glancing over his shoulder to glare at Tanya, though there was an obvious sarcastic look to his glare.
Tanya rolled her eyes in response, a smirk curling on her lips, before something caught both their attention.
The bushes to their side suddenly shook, the leaves rustling loudly. Their eyes were fixed momentarily on the bushes as Isaac quietly asked, "Do you reckon that was one of them?"
But Tanya didn't respond; her face screwed up slightly, a look of confusion ghosting over her face, before she rubbed one side of her head.
A distant sounding, quiet creak echoed through her ear, causing a small spike of pain to come over one of her temples.
As she raised her hand to rub her aching temple, the sound of the creaking echoed again, and she heard the sound of rushing wind. Like something was pushing through the air.
She looked over her shoulder, and saw a large shape rushing through the air, heading straight towards them.
"Watch out!" she shouted, suddenly taking a step back and ran forward, tackling Isaac out of the way, the two rolling across the ground as the strange shape landed where they had been standing seconds earlier.
"Wha-oh…" Isaac said, his voice raised slightly, before falling quiet again when he saw the tall figure standing before them.
Momentarily, Isaac thought he was looking up at Savage. But several things gave away that this wasn't the case. The figure was slimmer, the ears were a fraction smaller and narrower, and they were absent of the trench coat Savage wore. Instead, they wore some sort of old-looking armor, acting to cover the chest, waist and legs of the wolf.
"Yep, Savage was right," Isaac muttered, as he and Tanya quickly pushed themselves to their feet, moving into defensive stances.
Reliee's ears perked up slightly at the muttering, her eyes unfocused on the humans momentarily as she thought.
"Savage?" She asked herself, before she quickly refocused her efforts and returned her gaze on the two humans. "You humans do not smell of normal humans," Reliee commented, slowly pacing around the humans, circling them slowly. Like prey.
"Not the worst thing she could have said," Tanya commented dryly, getting a light elbow to her ribs for her words.
"I say we morph and kick her ass," Isaac whispered lowly, noting how the she-wolf's ears twitched slightly, swiveling subtly. But noticeable, strangely, to Isaac's eyes, drawn to movement by instinct.
Some of the words said by the humans seemed strange to her. Morph? What could they possibly mean by that? she thought to herself, pausing in her circling, so she was exactly opposite the circle she had made.
Before she could respond to the humans, they both drew one arm across their chests and pressed into a device on their wrist. Her eyes caught a brief glimmer of red and yellow glowing, and in that instant, her eyes widened.
"United, we Howl!"
"Not possible…" Reliee whispered, as the two humans were enveloped in columns of light, the male with red, and the female was yellow.
Seconds passed, and the light disappeared with a bright flash, forcing Reliee to squint against the sudden light. When it passed, and she opened them once again, she was staring at figures she thought she would never,ever see again.
"You…" She said slowly, a growl ripping from the base of her throat, as her eyes narrowed in anger, glaring holes into the Red and Yellow Warriors.
"She talking to us?" Tanya asked, glancing briefly at Isaac, trying to maintain her eyes on the she-wolf, who seemed to have been growing angrier.
"She's talking to the suits," Isaac responded, his eyes focused solely on the she-wolf.
"So, the descendants of Yei and Sage come to fight a battle that has nothing to do with them," Reliee said, extending one hand to her side and snapping her fingers.
Instantly, black smoke came flowing off of her arm, focusing around her hand before extending forward. The smoke took the form of a large, curved blade as the smoke became solid, revealing a solid black blade, her hand wrapped around a hold within the back of the blade itself.
"I will take pleasure in doing this," Reliee said, slowly drawing the large blade up her body, letting the sharpened edge to rest against her shoulder armor.
Isaac and Tanya both drew their respective weapons, and the two of the individuals rushed at each other, while Tanya hung back to make the best use of her bow.
Isaac and Reliee collided, their weapons striking one another as they looked for an opening to strike. They drew their blades back, and began striking again and again.
Tanya drew a yellow bolt back, aiming down at the two fighters before her, but she couldn't get a clear shot. Whenever she thought she had a clear shot on the she-wolf warrior, the two would shift and Isaac would be sitting in the middle of her sights.
"Need to get a damn sword," Tanya muttered to herself, eventually dropping the bolt and rushing forward.
Reliee's ears perked slightly at the Warrior running towards her, and quickly kicked the Red Warrior back. As Isaac was kicked to the ground, coming to a stop against a tree, she faced the rushing Yellow Warrior. She growled lowly, dodging the punches Tanya threw at her, her head moving from side to side to avoid punches. Her body moved with her head, avoiding any lower punches and kicks the Warrior tried throwing at her.
Grabbing the latest fist that was thrown, Reliee glared at Tanya through the Warrior's visor, before her grip tightened and threw the Yellow Warrior to one side.
Tanya yelped in pain as she collided with the tree, sure she heard something make a loud crack. Hopefully it was the tree, and not her back. Judging that she could still feel how much pain her back was in, it was from within the tree.
She raised her head to find Isaac was juggling between throwing punches and striking his sword against the she-wolf. Said wolf was able to block the sword strikes with her own, while her other forearm managed to block the punches.
Pushing the Red Warrior away, Reliee took her own step back, swiping the curved blade through the air in front of her as she caught her breath.
"You have Sage's fire," Reliee commented, a small smirk twitching at the corners of her muzzle, before she quickly righted herself and brought her curved blade up to rest on her armored shoulder.
Isaac adjusted his fingers around his sword, and the two began circling one another again. Tanya watched on as the two circled the small area of grass, never taking their eyes off the other.
Reliee growled lowly, her upper lip curling up slightly, flashing her teeth in a threatening display. Isaac had no such display of affection, simply staying silent, glaring intently at the she-wolf from behind his partially cracked visor.
However, rather different to what they were expected, Reliee started to walk back, before turning around and breaking into a run, vanishing into the trees in a blur of grey and black.
"Uh.. what just happened?" Tanya asked as she slowly pushed herself onto her knees, rubbing the side of the helmet, shaking her head slowly.
A silver-gloved hand was offered to her, and she saw glanced up to see Isaac standing in front of her, one hand outstretched.
Taking Isaac's forearm, who grabbed Tanya's in return, Tanya was pulled up to her feet and she quickly released Isaac. "Thanks," she said, while Isaac simply nodded in response.
"We need to find out where she went," Isaac responded, looking around, roughly in the direction the wolf had ran off to.
Tanya nodded in response, and the two took off running; turning into streaks of red and yellow as they ran through the trees, dodging trunks and jumping over rocks, leaving behind the area where they had fought.
"What took you so long?" Kuli questioned, hearing the light footed landing behind him, yet he didn't turn around yet.
Licos turned around to look at, who she assumed was Reliee, only to freeze, and begin to growl lowly. Kuli's ear perked up at this growling, and got up from his sitting position and turned around. His eyes resting on the creature before him, a low growl emitted from his throat, his upper lip curling to reveal his sharpened fangs.
"Well, I was going to wait a little longer, but if I knew you were this impatient…" Batibat said, a small smirk across her pale face, as she stood in the clearing. Her arms folded across her chest, the shadow-like smoke clinging to her clothing like fog.
"Witch!" Kuli growled, snapping his fingers sharply and black smoke began to form around his hand. Taking the shape of a curved blade, the excess smoke vanished, revealing the sharpened edge, curved sword blade. Licos snapped her own fingers, and her own sword formed from the smoke.
Batibat rolled her eyes slowly, raising one hand as she said, "I am not here to start conflict. If I wanted that, I would have dealt with you before you knew I was here."
"You are a Demon. My kind fought against you, before they turned on us. I have anger towards them, but you…" Kuli gestured to the she-Demon with his large blade."Even I despise you."
"You deserve nothing but death," Licos snapped, the usually calmer, relatively speaking, she-wolf lashing her tail in irritation, holding her sword defensively in front of her.
"Big words towards the Demon that helped resurrect you," Batibat responded smoothly. This caught both of the wolf creatures off guard, and they both glanced at each other.
"Why would you resurrect us?" Kuli questioned, still holding his sword across his body, glaring intently at the she-Demon. Licos shared the same glare at Batibat, slowly lowering her blade against the ground.
"I require information," Batibat said, before she unfolded her arms and stared at the male wolf. "You were part of the, so-called, Western Lunar Clan?" The mentioning of the Clan's name caused Kuli to visibly tense up, causing Licos to glance from the she-Demon to the male.
"Why do you want to know that?" The male questioned in a low growl.
"Your Clan was home to the Wolf Warriors."
"Zeta's Guardians... Yes, they were."
"Well, they have returned," Batibat continued. "But, they are Humans."
This elected a faint smirk to cross Licos' muzzle, as she commented, "That is impossible. Zeta would never allow that."
"If I were lying, you wouldn't be alive," Batibat replied dryly.
"Say that you're right," Kuli said, slowly taking steps towards the she-Demon, making the height difference between the two of them even more prominent. "Why would you want us back to life?"
"I want to know who would be most likely to training them - the most capable of the pack to do so," Batibat asked, pacing a few paces across the clearing, stopping momentarily to glance to the two wolves.
Kuli glanced at Licos, who was propping herself up on her curved blade and shrugged at the look, before looking back at the she-Demon. He opened his muzzle to respond, but was cut off by the sound of bushes ruffling.
"I found the hu…" Reliee said, but stopped, both in speaking terms and running terms, as she came to a sliding stop over the grass upon seeing the she-Demon.
The four beings froze in the clearing, but were quickly interrupted when two streaks, one red and one yellow, collided with Reliee and tackled her to the ground. Coming to the sudden stop, the streaks of color revealing the Red and Yellow Wolf Warriors, trying to hold down the struggling she-wolf.
"Talk!" Shouted a male voice, the Red Warrior, as he drew his sword. The Yellow Warrior glanced up once and looked back at the she-wolf they had pinned. But she did a double take, and froze.
"Uh… Alpha?" Said a quiet female voice.
"What?" Replied the male, as the Yellow Warrior tapped his shoulder. The Red Warrior looked up, and he too froze.
"Oh shit."
With a low grunt, Reliee managed to push her hands underneath her and pushed herself up, forcing the two Warriors off of her back, climbing to her feet quickly. The two Warriors quickly recovered, stepping back and holding themselves defensively.
Batibat quickly moved away from the other two wolves, glancing between the two different groups before her. Reliee quickly rushed over to join Kuli and Licos, the three Wolves holding their blades, the three sets of eyes switching between the she-Demon and the two newest Wolf Warriors.
"The Witch is mine," Kuli growled lowly, glaring at the she-Demon, as her gaze shifted from the three Wolves to the two other Warriors.
"I got Red," Reliee muttered, glaring at the Red-clad Warrior, flexing her fingers around the gaps in the blade. Her lip curled up to reveal her fangs, as a low growl vibrated through her throat.
Tanya turned her head slightly, hearing the slightly muffled voices of the Wolves standing across the clearing to them.
"That Wolf we tackled is after you," She whispered, turning her head slightly to speak to Isaac.
Isaac slowly nodded, shifting his gaze to the other figure that was in the clearing, clad in black clothes, and a pale complexion.
"You OK taking the Goth?" He asked quietly.
"Yep," Tanya confirmed, muttering under her breath, "Really wish I had a decent weapon."
"Beggars can't be choosers," Isaac remarked, before turning back to look at the anthropomorphic wolves.
Silence filled the clearing for a few seconds, before a low snarl ripped from Ruli and the wolves charged forward, the one male splitting off from the two females and charging at Batibat.
Isaac and Tanya ran in different directions, the Red Warrior rushing at the two female wolves, while Tanya ran at the she-Demon.
Kuli snarled as he struck his blade at Batibat, who managed to block the attacks by her small black bladed daggers, deflecting the attack and sending the male wolf stumbling aside.
Batibat turned sharply and threw one of her daggers into the air, freeing her hand to grasp onto the incoming fist thrown at her. Tanya grunted loudly as she tried to wrench her fist free of Batibat's grasp, but it wasn't budging.
"Even I know a human doesn't deserve these powers," Batibat said, glaring at the Yellow Warrior's visor, almost seeing the intense look the human was returning behind it. "Who gave them to you?"
"Like I'd tell you, bitch," Tanya spat, suddenly kicking her leg up and driving it into Batibat's gut. But there was no reaction from the she-Demon - instead of keeling over, allowing Tanya to pull her hand free, it was like kicking into a solid, brick wall.
A smirk crossed Batibat's slim lips, as she questioned, "Not the reaction you were expecting?"
But before anymore could be said, a loud snarl broke the two up and made Batibat push Tanya away. This gave space for Kuli to go charging through, intending on striking at least one of them. But he just ran through the gap, coming to a rough stop.
He turned around sharply and swung his blade wildly, not caring for who he was hitting. The Witch, the Warrior…either was fair game to him.
Tanya ducked and stepped back to avoid the blade strikes towards her, while Batibat blocked the attacks with her daggers, sending sparks flying from where the weapons connected.
Meanwhile, Isaac stumbled back against a tree, shaking his head slightly to clear the stars from his vision. He quickly shifted to the side, avoiding the swinging blade that sunk into the bark.
He turned to look at the she-wolf, while looking to the other who was advancing on him. He rolled his shoulders slightly, gripping his sword tighter.
"I've got two girls to myself… somehow, I thought I'd be saying that about humans," Isaac muttered under his breath, his eyes shifting from one wolf to the other, as the one wolf pulled their sword out from the tree. All that was left was a large gash through the bark.
"I'm going to enjoy this," Reliee sneered, bringing the blade from resting on her shoulder to slipping her other clawed hand into the other grip, holding the blade tightly. Licos brushed off the remaining chunks of bark from her curved blade, as the two females stood facing the Red-clad Warrior.
"Come get it, puppy," Isaac breathed, flicking his sword before rushing forward, kicking up loose bit of soil as he melded into a red blur. The female wolves snarled and rushed forward, fading into blurs of different shades of grey.
The three streaks collided, the two grey streaks striking the red streak multiple times, sparks flying multiple times.
It wasn't long before Isaac was thrown from his streak, sending him flying into a tree. A deep crack echoed through the tree, resulting in a large crack to run up the length of the tree. Isaac ended up lying, slumped, at the base of the tree, his head hanging limply.
Groaning softly, Isaac tried to lift his head and push himself to his feet. But immediately, he felt pain fire up his leg, and he collapsed again, groaning again as fresh pain rocked his system.
"I had hoped for better," Reliee commented, coming to a stop along with the Licos, standing before the collapsed Red Warrior.
He was soon joined by the flying body of the Yellow Warrior, as she was thrown across the clearing and landed just in front of Isaac. Her suit had several new cuts across the design, removing more of the yellow color from the design, and her visor was slightly cracked.
"The Witch vanished," Kuli growled as he approached, resting the blade across his shoulder, coming to a stop besides the two females."But never mind for now, let's finish these 'Warriors'."
"They don't deserve that title," Reliee sneered, as the three wolves closed in on the downed humans. As they drew nearer, Isaac tried to get up, but pain continued to rock through his leg, forcing him to stay sat down.
"Shit," Was all he said under his breath.
Elsewhere in the forest, Reliee's mask remained where it fell, resting against the base of the tree. The sunlight was suddenly cut from reaching the mask when a figure passed by.
The shadow passed the mask, but came to a stop and took a few paces back. The shadow cast itself back over the mask, before the figure creating the shadow approached the discarding item.
A faint 'hmm' of curiosity escaped the figure, as it crouched down in front of the mask and reached a gloved hand for the black mask. Lifting the mask off of the ground, the figure turned it in their hand, tracing their fingers over the muzzle cover.
The figure stood up, mask still in hand as they turned away, and quickly spirited off, seemingly with a purpose in their running.
Reliee, Kuli and Licos bared down on Isaac and Tanya, as the two humans tried to get up. Tanya managed to get to one knee, only to fall back and land back against the tree, beside Isaac. Said Red Warrior was trying to push himself up using the tree as support, but the pain kept him from standing properly.
Kuli raised his blade above him, a malicious gleam to his eye as he tensed up, aiming to bring the blade down on the fallen humans.
But he froze when he scented the air, looking around slowly. Seeing the male had frozen, Reliee looked over at him and quietly growled, "What is it?"
"Do you smell that?"
Her eyes firmly returned to the Warriors, Reliee sniffed the air quickly. "I can't smell any-" She started, but she cut herself off when the smell finally hit her. Her body tensed up and she turned around sharply, looking behind the three of them.
A streak of color ran at Reliee, tackling her full force and sending her flying into one of the surrounding trees. The blur vanished, revealing Reliee trying to get back to her feet.
Licos back up and looked around quickly, holding her blade firmly as her eyes shifted around the trees. The scent was evident in her nose, but she couldn't identify it. All she could tell was it was very potent, like it was sticking inside her nose and she couldn't get rid of it.
Kuli heard a whoosh of air as he saw Licos get caught up in the same blur, getting thrown against another tree and slumping onto the ground, her weapon lying just out of reach of her hand. Her body lay limp on the ground, unconscious.
The male wolf growled throatily as he turned around fully, his back now to the two humans, as he held his blade firmly, his eyes sharply taking in any detail.
"The Witch said the Warriors were dead…" Kuli said aloud, slowly walking sideways, forming a slight curve as he kept his eyes moving across the trees.
"She must have been lying, for you to be here…Sage."
"There's that…name again," Tanya groaned as she slowly looked across at Isaac, raising her head weakly. The cracks in her visor were even more evident now, but Isaac didn't notice. His eyes were cast downward, focusing on his right leg.
One hand slowly ran down his upper leg, and he got to the knee when the pain flared up again and he grunted in pain. He pressed down faintly, and new pain rocked his system, as he felt, what should have been solid bone, press down further than it should.
He raised his head slightly from his knee, tasting a bit of blood on his lip as he glared at the back of Kuli's head. He was soon staring at nothing when a blue blur passed in front of them, throwing Kuli across the clearing and sending him rolling across the ground.
"Matt?" Tanya asked, bewilderment in her gaze as the blur died down, revealing the blue-clad Warrior standing before them.
"Hey guys. Finished getting your asses kick?" Matthew responded, looking over his shoulder.
"Are the others…?" Tanya asked, before two blurs of black and white made themselves known, coming to a stop in front of the other Warriors. The blurs revealed Natalie and Kyle, both clad in their full Wolf Warrior armor.
"How are you guys…I thought you were still too injured," Tanya said, looking between Isaac and the others, seeing that Isaac wasn't going to ask these questions.
"Savage gave us something to numb the pain," Matthew responded, but before he could continue, Kuli snarled and ran at Matthew, simply relying on his claws instead of his blade.
Matthew turned and ran at Kuli, meeting the male wolf head on, but the momentum carried by Kuli sent the two flying to one side, as punches and kicks were thrown. Several were landed across Matthew's body, but his kicks and punches were not impended by the wolf's punches.
Natalie ran towards the fighting pair, and as she managed to tackle the male off her fellow Warrior, Kyle rushed over to Tanya and Isaac.
"Lucky we found you when we did," Kyle muttered as he crouched down, carefully placing his hands on Tanya's shoulders and moving her to sitting up properly. He reached one hand behind him, as Tanya slowly raised her head to look at Kyle.
"W…Which one of you…was that first blur?" Tanya asked softly.
Kyle looked back at Tanya, and tilted his head to one side slightly. "Uh…what blur? Must have hit your head or something."
"H…How are you guys here? I thought you were…were to hurt to fight?" Tanya asked, shaking her head wearily, glancing over at Isaac.
"Savage gave us something to numb the pain. Pretty sure Matt already said that," Kyle said, adding, "Also, sorry."
"What are you s-Ah!" Tanya asked, before shouting out as something stabbed into her arm. She looked over at her side, seeing a strange-looking syringe in Kyle's hand, as he injected a strange, light green liquid into her.
"This should numb the pain and give you energy to fight," Kyle explained, as he pulled the needle from her arm, pressing a hand against where the needle passed through the armor, in case any blood escaped.
Tanya glared at Kyle through their visors, but like Kyle had said, the aches and pains she felt across her body suddenly start to ease off, and vanish entirely. She looked at her arms, slowly moving them; they didn't feel like lead anymore. They felt normal.
"Come on. Get fighting - I'll have a look at Isaac," Kyle said, offering a hand for Tanya to take. She took the offer, getting to her feet, slightly surprised she didn't fall over.
Looking over at the fight going on, Tanya rushed over, moving with such speed she looked like a yellow blur as she drew closer to the fight.
Kuli managed to push himself back from the Blue and White Warriors, and took a few steps back, baring his fangs. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Reliee slowly pushing herself to her feet, shaking off the stars from her vision.
"Reliee, activate the Rogues!" he barked.
Reliee looked over at the corner male, before she nodded slightly. She then ran off, vanishing into the trees before the Warriors had a chance to look exactly where she was going.
When Matthew turned to look back at the named she-wolf, Kuli kicked the Blue Warrior back, before throwing a punch at Natalie. The two were sent flying back, allowing the male to run off, vanishing into the forest.
Quickly getting back to his feet, Matthew went to run after the male, but Natalie held a hand in front of him. "I'm guessing we'll have bigger problems to deal with," she said, as a low rumbling began to vibrate through the ground.
"I hate it when you're right," Matthew muttered as the two looked back, just as Tanya did the same. Kyle looked up from looking over Isaac, and the four sets of eyes widened at the sight.
From the trees, a large mass of metal began to rise up - the once clean metal was now caked with dirt across all areas, barely allowing any fine detail to be seen. But there were some vague shapes that could be seen.
Such as the dark red eyes in the head, slanted slightly to give off an ever present angered glare. And the faint colors that lay beneath the layers of dirt - the main body seemed to be a tattered crimson, as more and more chunks of dirt fell. The left arm was colored with black, scratched metal, while the right side had silver as the base color.
"I…Is that a…Megazord?" Tanya asked, looking back to the others.
"Seems like it," Matthew commented, before he raised his Howler to his helmet. "Savage, we need the Zords. Turns out, we're not the only ones with them."
"They're on their way," Savage responded before the comms were cut short.
"Guys, Isaac is in no condition to fight. Even with Instinct, he's not fit with his leg," Kyle called, trying to keep Isaac's head and back straight against the tree. "He's going to need to head back to the Den and have MUTT look him over."
"Pretty sure we can handle the Megazord with just us four," Matthew said, before he raised his Howler again. "MUTT, we need Isaac transported to the Den. We need him looked over."
"On it," MUTT's voice responded, before Kyle stepped back. Isaac lifted his head slightly when Kyle stepped back, before he was enveloped in a dark red light and vanished moments later.
Just as Isaac vanished, their Zords arrived, coming a stop across the forest from the other Megazord. Metallic snarls ripped from their throats, baring their silver fangs threateningly.
"Come on, guys," Matthew said, with him and Tanya the first to step up and jump up, landing in their respective Zords cockpit.
Kyle and Natalie quickly followed, the four situated in their respective Zords, while the Red Alpha Zord remained empty of his controller. Despite this, the four were able to combine the five Zords together, forming the Megazord. The four stood in the combined cockpit, glancing at the empty space where Isaac usually stood.
"Alright MUTT. See what you can tell us about this thing?" Kyle asked as the four pushed the Megazord forward, summoning the Wolf Tail Blade in the process.
In the other Megazord cockpit, Reliee stood in the black void, flexing her fingers slowly. "It's been a while since I've been here," she muttered under her breath, before lifting her eyes to look at the approaching Megazord.
She punched a screwed fist into her open palm, the Megazord copying her movements; dislodging more clumps of mud and dirt from the metal. As the hands slowly parted, a large black blade started to form between the hands, wrapping around the fingers and extending further. The end product resembled her personal blade, the Megazord copying her movements as she swung the blade around.
The two Megazords collided, their blades striking one another time and time again, the four Warriors blocking one strike with its other forearm when the sword missed the curved blade.
"I've found something in the database on these Zords," MUTT replied just as the Warriors landed a strike on the other Megazord.
"And?" Tanya asked, the four pulling their sword back as the other Megazord recovered.
"These Zords were the auxiliary Zords of the Red Warrior. But, a traitor turned them against the Warriors. They were dealt with accordingly," MUTT explained as the humans blocked another attack, pushing their Megazord back a few steps, adjusting the grip on the sword.
"They could prove useful, if they are able to be turned back," Savage's voice cut in.
"We'll do what we can. Don't hope for miracles," Natalie replied, before the comms were cut off and the Warriors focused their efforts on the other approaching Megazord.
"Come on guys. Let's show this bitch what we can do," Tanya responded, cracking her knuckles briefly before the four pushed the Megazord forward, sending a strike across the torso quickly.
The sword connected, sparks flying as the Rogues' Megazord stumbled back, its chest smoldering from the recent strike, and the wolf heads across its shoulders snarled lowly. Inside, Reliee was trying to recover the Megazord, but found she was having a much harder time than she had anticipated.
Seeing the temporarily disorientation plaguing the Megazord, Tanya said, "Quick! We need to attack now!"
The others nodded and, dropping the Wolf Tail Blade, rushed at the other Megazord. Grabbing it around the waist, like a tackle, and brought it to the ground roughly. Reliee snarled lowly as her Megazord was tackled to the ground, glaring up at the other Megazord through the visor. She saw one fist getting pulled back, closed into a fist. She tried to bring one of her Megazord's arm across the body, but was too slow.
The punch connected, striking the head, rocking it violently, sending Reliee staggering slightly. Another strike connected, followed by another. And another. The more punches that connected, the heavier the Megazord's body felt to Reliee.
She looked up again when the Megazord raised both hands, holding them together firmly, ready to bring another blow onto the already battered Megazord.
All of the Warriors shouted out, and brought their combined fists down, bringing their Megazords' fists down on the central head over the chest of the pinned Megazord. This created a large dent, and sparks to fly from the joints in the shoulders. Loud howls of pain escaped the Megazord, as the whole body began to shake.
The four quickly pulled their Megazord to its feet, taking a few steps back as the other Megazord exploded into a blighting sheen of light.
Reliee shouted out as sparks behind to fly down from all around her, as she tried to make her escape from the cockpit. But just as she made for the escape, large steel supports came crashing down, both in front of her and over her. She screamed, clawing at the steel, trying to get it off of her leg.
Sparks continued to rain down as the Megazord tore itself, but Reliee remained pinned. She stared at the visor of the Megazord with wide eyes, yet her teeth were bared as blood slowly trickled down her muzzle.
"May Zeta have mercy on your soul," She growled, as flames enveloped the cockpit entirely.
By the time the light vanished, three Zords lay scattered across the forest, lying limp. One small red one, one small silver, and a much larger black one.
"Where did that wolf go?" Kyle asked, looking across slowly as he tried to catch sight of the she-wolf pilot. But none of the Warriors noticed any grey flashes pass through the forest.
"Either way, we got what we came for," Matthew said, before he tapped his Howler, "MUTT, we've got the Zords. They're out. What do you want us to do with them?"
"Just leave us with them. We'll see what we can do to turn them back," MUTT replied.
Kuli rushed through the forest, jumping over fallen trees and dodging still standing ones, trying to put as much difference between himself and those damn Warriors. Cowardly, yes, but it would buy him more time.
He eventually came to a stop beside a set of trees, leaning back against them momentarily to catch his breath. His species had larger lungs than that of a humans, but since he had been kind of dead for the past couple of thousand years, he hadn't breathed this heavily in a while.
He leaned over slightly, creating small grooves in the wood with his sharpened claws, as a low growl slipped passed his fangs.
"How long were you following me?" He asked, seemingly to no-one, as he turned around.
Immediately, he was met with a sharpened blade piercing his chest, electing a low growl of pain to escape Kuli. The sharpened blade pierced right through the body of the wolf, embedding itself in the tree behind him. Blood began flowing from the large cut, as internal organs were shredded and sliced, like a waterfall of crimson.
"Long enough," Came a voice in return, as the blade holder twisted the blade slightly, cutting further into the body of Kuli.
Kuli gagged slightly, blood escaping out of the corner of his muzzle, trickling through his thick fur. Despite this, a smirk twitched at the corner of his muzzle, spreading more blood across his cheek.
"Back to the old ways, eh, Sage?" Kuli growled, one clawed hand unclasping from the tree bark and rested on the attackers' shoulder. But they quickly shifted their shoulder back, out of Kuli's reach.
His arm slowly fell limp, resting at his side as more blood escaped his body, coating both the blade and the ground beneath where the two of them stood.
A low, gargled chuckle escaped Kuli, before his face loosened, and his body fell limp against the tree. The attacker swiftly pulled the blade back, removing it from Kuli's body. The body slumped against the ground, eventually falling to the side, falling onto his back.
The attacker looked at Kuli's body for a few seconds, before they turned and walked away, cleaning the blood off their large curved blade.
"Where the hell are Frank and Rogers?" Sherriff Anderson asked, standing in the main foyer of the hospital, a few pairs of officers standing around. The rest of the pairs had returned from their patrols in and around the hospital, all except one pair.
"Sorry sir!"
Anderson turned to look at jogging pair of Rogers and Frank, quickly moving down the corridor towards the foyer.
"I told you to report in at thirteen hundred. Where the hell have you been?" Anderson quickly responded, stepping towards the more senior of the pair.
Rogers responded, "Sorry, sir. We lost track of time, we were investigating one of the rooms. Won't happen any sir."
Anderson glanced between the two, before he leaned back and relaxed slightly. "Very well. Besides, we've got to get going - the 13th Division is here."
The two new officers glanced aside, and saw a couple of people with their backs to them outside of the hospital. From what they could see, they wore dark grey bulletproof vests over black combat trousers and tops. They seemed to be carrying some sort of rifle, but from their angle, they couldn't make out the particular type.
The two nodded, and followed the other officers out of the hospital. Though Frank paused momentarily, rubbing one of his temples, shaking his head slightly, before he quickly caught up and left with the other officers.