[ShadowStitches]

(sorry, bad and  rushed post coming :
its 7.10 am here, I'm awake for barely 40 minutes,but I dont know if I find any other time to post here today...)

Niner Kept close to the group, once it got moving. He was a little concerned about the whole clue thing. it was a general direction, yes, but that did not nescessarily mean that the 'monster' would be still there when they made their way towards it. maybe it could...well...most likely it could use magic on itself? if it could do it with others, maybe it could teleport. which ment it could be very far away by now or...much closer then they thought.

these where not exactly relaxing thoughts. he looked at Mariko and Akio, listening to what they said.
carefully, hoping to not be impolite, he said. "well...the 'monsters' and 'demons' I hunted since I got to these lands here so far where all little more then big agrressive animals. I really do hope that this wont be overly different" tho he already assumed that it would be...

Sierra looked around curiously, obviously finding her cool back,
and now was eager to help. Niner could feel her claws tensing and relaxing in his shoulder, but he was not
confortable to let her fly just now. Only when she began to peck at the side of his mask gently, he sighed.
"fine. but only 5 minutes. keep in a radius of 200 meters, and not stunts. you hear me?" Sierra chirped happily, taking of and flying completely soundless into the fog. She finally felt usefull,
and kept her sharp eyes peeled for any sort of clue, while staying close to the group, circling above them.

[Kylo]

Rod continued on his way as he listened to the ninja siblings and Niner talk about demons. He had encountered very few on this planet and so far none had posed much of a threat to him, though it could just be because they had no interest in him. "I don't think what we're hunting is a demon honestly. All of the demons I've encountered so far on Evelon had human forms and often held no interest in terrorizing towns or destroying crops." He continued to head west as he thought over what the child they had met earlier said. "Also remember that child said the beast sounded like it had metal on it, what kind of creature sounds metallic in these lands besides Xai're's clockwork creatures? There aren't many that I know of."

"I have to agree with Rod on this one, I doubt very much that what we hunt is a demon. Also the child described the creature as looking like several more common animals meaning it is likely something that someone has encountered before. For example the cow makes me think it might be a leumoo, or as for a wolf it could be one of Einsor's creations. And for the cat it could be a khimera." Sam looked around as they went searching for any tracks of creatures that did not normally belong in the woods.

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[SpringsSong]

"That may be true," Mariko admitted.  "When the child mentioned a wolf, the Kirund was the first thing that popped into my mind--and for the other two, I also was reminded of a Khimera and a Leumoo.  I've never seen such beasts, though, so I would not know what they look like, exactly."

"Yes.  None of us have ever seen these animals of which you speak of," Kouki said.  "In the area in which we reside, there are merely stories of these creatures--not actual physical evidence of them."

"Then how would you know of them, Mariko?  You were the one who paid the least amount of attention when Syarri-sensei was teaching us!" Akio snapped.

"I have my ways of knowing," Mariko said, smiling behind her mask.

[ShadowStitches]

Niner nodded too "sounds reasonable. I cant really think of an other animal either, only that the first thing that came to my mind when Einsor was mentioned was a clockwork or Cyber fellox" he shrugged slightly.
"well, all we can be relatively sure of is that its not too overly big, given the lack of big tracks, and that the Hole in the fence did not look overly huge. and that it seems to be a type of mammal"

while they wandered deeper into the woods, it also got a little darker. Niner switched on the night vision of his gas mask, tinting his surroundings in the familliar neon green hue for him he got so used too. however, the
fog was distorting his vision, wavering brightly through the dark. only a little time would tell if it was a good idea to get it on tonight or not.

while he was not an overly...talk active or inquisite person, the lack of knowledge how some of the common fauna lookedby the silblings, and the way rod referred to Evelon, he had to admit that he was getting a bit curious. After a short time of silence, he asked carefully into the round "so...I get you are not from arround here. may i ask where you are from?" He was multitasker enough to be able to listen to both the answers of the others, and take in his surroundings and eventual suspicious anomalies

[Kylo]

"I'm from the planet Gaia. Most of the people are sentient humans though I have seen a few other sentient life forms there, but not many. We can't shape shift there like people can here. It took some time to get used to being able to shift forms. Also magic was reserved usually for the lucky few who managed to get their hands on materia a man-made sphere that gave the user the ability to summon monsters and sometimes even lesser gods to attack their enemies or heal their wounds. Also generally Gaia is more technologically advanced in some areas than Evelon. Just speaking from what I've seen here anyway." Rod stared straight ahead as the area began to grow darker and squinted his eyes until they adjusted. While Turks were not nearly as mako enhanced as their SOLDIER counterparts they were given some mako injections which generally helped to improve their speed, eye sight, and strength to be slightly above average. In no time he could see as clearly as he could if the sun was shining brightly.

Sam kept silent as they continued onwards focusing his energies solely on searching out tracks and listening to the sounds of the forest. Several times he paused for a few seconds longer to look at a track only to dismiss it as something normal.

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[SpringsSong]

"We're from a more secluded village in Evelon that focuses on training the ninja arts," Mariko said.  "While I'd love to tell you about the village's whereabouts so that we could have some visitors--"

"...doing so is strictly against the rules that the Kage gave us when we left for this assignment.  If people need our help, then they seek us out--but we never volunteer the location to those who are not ninja as well," Akio said sternly, causing his sister to glare at him from underneath her mask.

"And there are barriers there that keep mosters--both animal and demon--outside of the village.  So, many of the animals of which you have spoken cannot find our little village, hence why we have never seen them before," Kouki said as he, too, studied the tracks carefully.

[ShadowStitches]

He listened to the stories of both parties. It was very interisting, he had to say. Quite curious
in what situation one could meet what kind of people. The fog proved to be not as much of a hinderence to the night vision as he thought first, letting him relax a little bit. He could see Sierra weaving through the
trees at some point, searching on her own for any evidence. Actually, the seeming lack of more
clues or trails to where the monster might be made Niner more nervous then calm.

Of course, he was curious on why exactly Rod and Sam came from their planet to this one. Surely it was not
just to hunt mosters. He knew better then to ask any further tho. Rod already told them a lot about their home planet, and quite some fascinating things too. he was not well versed in the field of magic, but the technology
mentioned made him even curioser.
"I've heard of people who came from other planets, or people of evelon who say that they where at other planets. I've never before met anyone who actually did come from...that far away however"  

Turning his attention towards the ninjas, he nodded "I understand that you can not give away the location of your home." he seemed to think about something "I myself lived at a location for quite a long time that was hidden and had strict rules to keep it that way. However..." he added hesitantly "the reasons and intentions of the people who lived there where much less noble, I'm afraid"

[Kylo]

((Sorry it took so long college got in the way.))

Rod nodded at Niner and kept moving as it slowly began to grow darker and darker. He knew it would only be a matter of time before nightfall came and they would have to head back for safety's safe. "I ended up here because of materia actually. It was an accident."

Sam listened to the ninjas and supposed that was a good reason for them not seeing many of the creatures that inhabited Evelon. Sam looked up and sniffed the air smelling something off from what he was used to. "Everyone be alert I think I smell something a bit strange."

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[SpringsSong]

As soon as Sam said that he smelled something a bit strange.  Instantly, Kouki was focused, keeping his eyes out for anything that looked out of the ordinary, while Mariko and Akio were also suddenly in their own zone, surveying the area carefully.  While they were fairly new at this game, they weren't too concerned about what it was that could be waiting out there.  After all, it was just a beast; their only real fear were other ninja that were sent to eliminate them or someone from their village.

"Stay close," Mariko said in a low voice.  "I think we'll fare better right now if we stick together as a group rather than let this thing pick us off one by one."

[ShadowStitches]

Niner looked around calmly, all senses focusing on his surroundings. He was not nervous, not yet, but his body was snapping into alarm mode, ready to pull his weapons should something happen. He did not even flinch when Sierra flew close to him an landed on his shoulder, her eyes glowing dimly in the dark. She decidet that it was a good idea to return to the group, once they showed a a little more alarmed behavior then before. Niner had the same thought about staying together. it would be
a big mistake right now to give the beast a chance to attack them seperatly. he tried to grasp what the smell reminded him of, but failed to do so. tho the mask was muffeling most smells, he still could smell them how they where, once they reached him.

[ToxicShadow]

There was no sound of warning for what was to come, at least not from the creature itself. There was rustling of leaves from the wind and creaking of branches, but it was not their doing. The thing that came charging at the group, fangs barred, had seemingly morphed out of one of the nearby trees. It was Learf, undoubtedly, but much larger than any of its kind should have been. It wasn't natural, either, not with the strange glow around it's form, nor its large spiral horns, long claws or saber-length teeth. Something was very wrong.

[Kylo]

Within a second Rod had his EMR turned on and pointed at the learf who came charging head first at them. Charging up the rod and channeling his life energy into the materia latched onto the handle end of the EMR he prepared to attack and defend against the beast. "Everyone heads up we're under attack!"

Sam's eyes glowed orange and he gathered energy from the plants around him causing a ring of thorn bushes to grow around the group to help protect them from the learf's attack and eventually tangle around the learf. Hopefully they would make it through this attack unscathed.

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[SpringsSong]

Within an instant, Mariko, Akio, and Kouki had various weapons out: Mariko had kunai knives, which were attached to her fingers by very thin strings; Akio had a few small shuriken out and poised to throw, while Kouki had pulled out a far larger shuriken (that was pretty much as tall as he was when he unfolded the blades).  As the bushes surrounded them, Mariko closed her eyes, as though she was centering her mind.

"Something is... not right about this creature," she said quietly, and Akio scoffed.

"Tell us something that we do not know, Mariko," he said with a sigh.  "Normal Learfs don't have fangs like that..."

"Nor do they have an aura," Kouki said quietly.  "I think that this creature may have been enchanted to some degree?  Can anyone tell if that is the case?"

[ShadowStitches]

Niner reacted quickly when the Learf charged at them by getting his hunting rifle, which he carried on his back, ready in blind routine, and aiming it at the creature. Not fiering tho. Sierra was about to fly of and try to attack the beast, but He just calmly said "not yet." He was not going to let her attack something when he was not entirely sure what they where dealing with. She learned to trust him on this, and thus only puffed herself up and hissed loudly at their attacker.

"it seems enchanted." he confirmed "Maybe the aura is even protecting it." he was taking a wild guess here.
Hopefully, the protective thorn wall would keep it at bay, even just for a short moment. The way he saw it,
the longer they could observe its behavior, the better their chances that they got out of this unharmed and eventually victorious.

[Kylo]

Rod watched the beast cautiously as it circled the ring of thorns looking for a way in. He kept his EMR at the ready and kept his eyes fiercely tuned to the beast. He was ready to fend off any attack or so he told himself. He watched as the beast tried to push through the thorns only to back up in pain from the sharp barbs and snarl lowly at them.

Sam sent even more thorn bushes sprouting up from the ground and sent roots up as well to try and tangle the beast in them. It seemed that so far it wasn't going to get past the thorns.

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