Feeling the Heat

"There he is! Get him!" shouted a soldier. A ranger joined the scene and drew back on their bow and loosed an arrow. As the screen would pan with the arrow for a moment, it would speed ahead to the subject of their violence. An incredibly bulky beast of war was running on all fours to escape, but he wasn't having much luck against a speeding arrow. He would quickly whip around so that he jumped, back parallel to the ground, and grabbed the arrow from the air. He would turn back around and run on his back two legs as he threw the arrow aside. He was a large werewolf with black fur and silver hair and tail.

He would run into the forest where monsters unknown ran rampant. "Damn it! He got away!" complained the Ranger. The soldier guy caught up and spoke, "He was too fast anyways... We weren't going to catch up." Off in the distance, a man with a staff and stereotypical green mage robes was trying to catch up, slowly but surely, "Guys! Wait for me!"

Into the forest: The Werewolf was running for his life. Yeah, that whole situation was really uncalled for. This beast of war who escaped from some local adventurers looking to kill him for some money, was myself. As I had walked into town, they immediately attacked without letting me get a word in edgewise. As I would slow down, knowing I was safe, I stood up straight and dusted myself off. "Adventurer's these days. I swear, they get more rude by the town," I complained, politely of course. My tone of voice was that of a polite butler, projected and articulate. It had almost no gravel to it since I was practically given youth from experiments. I didn't like it, but I was definitely better from it.

The three adventurers slowly gave up on the hunt for the wolf and decided to make camp. The soldier set up the tents while the ranger hunted some small game for their meal and the mage started the fire. The three settled down just as the sun kissed the horizon and ate their dinner in bitter silence. Non of them liked that they had lost their quarry and all of them wanted to point the finger at the other two. In reality it was all their faults since non of them were smart enough to out-thin the beast. Especially since the over-grown dog was dumb enough to waltz right into the middle of town. So they all brooded over having to go back to town empty handed and demonized the other two inside their minds.

Which was good for the fourth hunter.

If one were to stare at the hill over-looking the small vale the adventurers had made their camp in for an hour they still wouldn't see the man camouflaged in with the under-scrub, which was probably a good thing considering within his hand he cradled a weapon the likes of the people of V have never seen. Wrapped in green mosses and leaves from the very forest he occupied, the man carried a rifle five feet in length. The camouflaged barrel seemed to be from an old cowboy repeater while the receiver itself was what appeared to be an over-sized revolver. Resting on top of the rifle was a large telescope that looked like it was out of a science-fiction novel, with all sorts of nobs and dim lights on it.

The man had the rifle resting on a log and aimed down into the adventurer's camp. He watched them begin to resent each other through his high-powered scope. He already knew he was going to strike, what he didn't know was when. All he knew was that it was coming soon. Tensions were high between the three and soon they would either turn on each other or separate. It was much easier to kill silently when others didn't see the dead bodies.

And there it was. The man could see the bickering start. Through his scope he watched as the mage slammed his staff into the ground and the ranger screaming at him. The soldier sat off to the side as the other two argued and sharpened his sword. This was the opportunity he was waiting for. He placed the cross-hairs of his rifle slightly to the left of the soldier's head to account for the breeze that was rolling through the vale and began to slow his breathing. Then he slowly squeezed the trigger. There was a muffled pfft sound as his rifle fired silently and the soldier slumped forward, missing the top of his head.

The man zoomed out a little bit so that the mage and the ranger could bee seen again. Thank Hyne they were still arguing with each other and hadn't even noticed. He watched them continue their argument for a while longer and then both went to opposite tents. the man gave a slight frown and pressed a button on the scope. A small red light turned green and the vision inside the scope went dark. He could see the skeletons of the two inside their tents. He aimed for the mage first, he hated mages ever since that ambush in Zanarkand by that fire mage. He adjusted for wind and then slowly squeezed the trigger. the skull cracked and shattered in the scope and the skeleton fell prone. He adjusted again and aimed for the other skeleton. With a squeeze of the trigger and a pfft of his muzzle the last man fell dead.

The man shrugged off some of the camouflage and stood up. He was wearing a black bandanna over his face with the lower jaw of a skull where his mouth should have been. He wore sunglasses to hide the rest of his face and a headset with a microphone. On his head he wore a black baseball cap with the Balamb Garden symbol on it. He also wore a set of woodland camo fatigues with the sleeves rolled up because of the heat and a MOLE vest to carry the rest of his gear in. He began to walk down the hill to the vale and as he did so he pulled the skull bandanna down from his mouth and popped a cigar in. He bit the end off and then lit it up, puffing smoke into the misty air as he casually strolled into the silent camp.

The man checked to be sure that each of the men were dead before activating his microphone. "Kestrel, this is Raven. Three Sleepers, Clean. Tell Miss Kinneas that after I help this over-sized mutt for her, she owes me dinner. I'm thinking somewhere fancy for a change. I'm going to go dark. I'll radio you again when I've made contact with Cujo. Raven Out" The man looked out into the forest while still smoking his cigar. "Now... If I where a giant half-man, half-wolf where would I hide?

I stood there now looking around for which would be the safest route to take to make my grand escape from those people, who were already dead, but I didn't know. The smell of blood was so overwhelming in this forest, that the addition of anymore blood would be rather pointless. The stench of death also made it more difficult for me to gather which direction was safest. To tell the truth, the location seemed to have imminent death in all directions. I gathered that the northeastern road smelled the least of rotting.

I would start to traverse the dark forest, having my fists clenched slightly, prepared for a fight if there needed to be one. If there was one thing a gentleman would learn when a fugitive, it is that monsters do not negotiate. I transitioned my eyes back and forth, cautious of everything. I heard some rustling, and I turned a bit, baring my fangs. Suddenly a bunch of savage beasts emerged from the brush. I knew I wouldn't be as lucky as I thought I could.

A loud combat ensued, riling up any beast within earshot. While I smashed the enemies with my fists, they would make loud noises that were a bit disturbing, as dark energy exploded off of them from my wonderful ability as a fighter. Being able to fight unarmed, was like a curse with benefits. As things were easily destroyed by my fists, I was much less efficient with a weapon than I would be unarmed.

The man slowly crept through the wooded lands. The tall trees and sounds of night creatures gave him a comfort he hadn't had in a long time. They made him remember a time from his youth. He always loved the silent creaking of the jungles when he was stationed on Pulse. He seemed to be the only one in his unit who was accepting of his surroundings and actually thrived in the wild. The only thing that made him want to leave those green pastures was his family. While his family has changed much it was still the reason he was going to leave this forest once his job was finished.

He moved through the underbrush without making a sound. Years of practice had made him deft at moving unheard when he wanted to be. He slipped past many of the beasts of the night all while following the darkened trail his quarry had left behind. Luckily, because of the beast's haste the trail was quite large and the man could easily follow it in the pale full moon. Had it not been for the snapped arrow in the direction that he was going, the man may have never seen the trail tearing through the forest. But now he was on him again, and gaining on the wolf, too.

He hoped that he would be done with this mission soon so that he could return home to his daughters. The only thing he had left weighing him down to the ground and keeping him from giving in to the powers coursing through his veins. He could feel the ancient power rise up within him. The power threatened to consume him at times of high emotion like all Sorceresses an Sorcerers, but he found that they also pulled at him when he was in a primal state like the one he was in at the time. He glanced down at his tattoo on his arm to find it giving a soft purplish glow. Luckily, just thinking about his daughters smiling faces made him calm once again and the glow dulled a bit. Ever since he and his sister had inadvertently used their powers to travel through time, though, they had become harder and harder to control.

The man stopped cold. He could hear the sound of beasts hunting nearby. Then the louder sound of them pouncing their prey. He rushed towards the sound as he realized the hunters were quickly turning into the hunted. It had to be the wolf.

He slipped through briers and bushes until he at last found the site of the distress. On the ground lay four tiger-shaped fiends. Each one was dead, seemingly bludgeoned to death by something much more powerful than themselves. The bodies of the beasts slowly lit up into a thousand orange pyre-flies which flew up into the air and dispersed. The fact that they hadn't dissolved by the time that he had gotten there meant that they had just been killed. The man became deathly aware that he had just rushed right into the killzone.

He crouched and brought his rifle up to his shoulder, the scope just inches from his eyes in case he needed to aim quickly. His trigger-finger itched and twitched in anticipation. His emerald eyes were speckled with a glowing gold, showing the the powers were still trying to unleash themselves from within him and take control, as they swept across the dark wilderness. The beast could be anywhere in the darkness and the thick canopy over the grove made it impossible for the moonlight to help him search.

Finally, he saw it. Two glowing eyes stared at him from a nearby cove. He instinctively raised his gun at it, but caught himself. He raised his supporting arm away from the rifle and held it up in the air. He kept his trigger finger on the trigger of the gun and kept it pointing in the direction of the wolf, but lowered to seem less threatening. He stared at the beast for a long moment before saying, "Easy there. It's ok, I'm not gonna hurt you. I just want to talk for a minute, see if you're ok, and then I'll let you go. Ok?"

I heard the quiet footsteps of some human, and the rattling of some unfamiliar tool as I finished off the monsters. I lowered my hands from defensive stance, seeing how unfamiliar tools seemed to be ranged weaponry nowadays. I couldn't necessarily block ranged as much as stop ranged, and being in a defensive stance and standing still didn't help my case. Gentlemanliness would tell me to give this person the benefit of the doubt.

As I heard him enter the area in which I'd killed all of the monsters, I would only listen to him. I viewed his body language. He definitely came in peace, but he was clearly not going to trust me, even if he was being honest. I stood, worried a bit for my health, the hollow tip of that weapon he had was pointed in my direction. I would regain my complete sense and attain my polite posture, "Wonderful, a person who doesn't assault people they don't even know."

I would turn to face the man more up front. "But what do you mean, okay?" I asked him, "Experimenting further on an unfortunate victim? Who sent you?" I wasn't one to trust a man with a weapon drawn saying they wanted to help me. Not after the cleric squad thinking they could take me in with their lies.

The man kept calm as the beast turned to face him. It was strange seeing the beast stand at such perfect posture, but he had seen crazier things in these worlds. Heck, he was even proof of that, being the only male besides a god to inherit the powers of the Sorceress. So, he felt a little at ease with the beast.

As the wolf spoke, the man lowered his rifle even more and reached back to pull the mask down from covering his lower face while he also removed his goggles, revealing his whole face to the creature. His eyes still retained the golden hue to their usual emerald, but they were sunken in from lack of sleep. He had a stubble of a beard showing that his usual clean cut face had gone unattended for a day or so. All in all he looked haggered and worn out, but those tired eyes still held onto their determination.

When the wolf finished his questions, the man slung his rifle back onto his shoulder. The wolf didn't appear to be a threat and if he was one, the man could easily grab his sidearm to defend himself. There was no need to threaten the wolfman any farther, especially since he was there to help him. The man reached down to his vest and pulled out a long silver tube, no larger than his thumb at its width and as long as a combat knife. He twisted the tube at it's middle and a needle popped out of one side of it. The man tossed the tube between the wolf and himself. "Its medicine, in case you are hurt. My name is Fury Leonhart. I'm not from this world, I'm from the world of VIII. As for who sent me, no one did. Not after you at least. I'm here for something else. I saw that you were in trouble and I have a very good friend who cares very deeply about... creatures and she would never let me hear the end of it if I hadn't stopped to make sure you were all right. I hope you can help me with what I'm really here for, though."

Fury reached into his vest again and pulled out a small pad. He pressed a button on the pad and a small bluish hologram of a ruby looking crystal popped out of the pad in the palm of his hand. He took a step forward and placed it on the ground between them and then backed away, allowing the wolf space to grab the pad and giving himself some space to react if needed. "It's the fire crystal from Karnak. It powers the machinery there that produces most of their exports. I need to... procure it for another one of my friends who is looking into using crystals assist those who don't have magic to perform the same types of magics mages use through weapons and armor. I just need help finding it. Do you think you could help?"

I was a caught off guard to tell the truth. This man, though he was clearly from somewhere I haven't been, claimed that he was from something he called the 'world of 8 or something'. While I wasn't one to call another person out, I felt like I needed to know some stuff. "Alright, allow me to describe my situation. While I don't completely disbelieve you, I am unfamiliar with this 'world of 8' you are describing. You see, this may be a new interdimensional transport development, and I am quite old-hat. Not only am I unfamiliar with modern developments upon magic, but I am even less informed due to being in an asylum for the past six or seven years. Since escaping, I've been constantly on the run, and haven't been able to enter a town for more than enough time to figure out where I am, hence why I am stuck without clothing beyond my trousers. Please explain to me why I am to trust that you won't turn me in as soon as I let my guard down?"

I would look at him with a questioning leer. I would hold my arms to a slightly relaxed position, showing that I wasn't questioning him out of distrust, but I needed answers, and this was the first person to talk to me outside of, 'Die foul beast!' and such. Perhaps if I could get a grip on the situation, I could fix it.

Fury stepped back from the wolf some more and leaned up against a nearby tree. He reached down, picked up a stick, and pulled out his knife. He began to whittle away at the stick's end with his knife as the werewolf began to speak. While he couldn't argue with the wolf's logic, he was also on a time schedule. He had already gone clear out of his way to help the creature for Jayda and in hopes that the werewolf had information he could use. He didn't have time to inform him of everything that had happened during his time in captivity and sure didn't know how he would go about explaining the Multiplex and other worlds. He let out a sigh and tossed the stick off to the side. He stood up straight and gave a stretch to his arms before saying, "First off, if I was going to stab you in the back, I wouldn't have come up here to talk to you, nor given you that medicine. I would have just shot you t a distance and skinned you like any other wolf. Probably get a pretty penny for your pelt.

"As for what proof I have that I'm not from around here. Have you ever seen any of this stuff I have here?" Fury pointed to the hologram again and pulled his rifle from his back to display. "If that's not enough proof for someone who hasn't even had the courtesy to give me their name after I gave them mine, I don't know what else to do. If you want to learn about these new things and new worlds and find help from people who won't attack you on sight like myself, then I'm going to need a little bit of help from you first."

Fury swore under his breathe something that could be taken as "dumb dog" and jammed his knife back in its sheathe. He started to walk away from the beast and said, "You can still have the medicine if you want it. I'll leave it where it lays."

He started off towards the direction of Karnak and activated his communicator. "Kestrel, this is Raven. I caught up with Cujo. I don't think he'll be helping us with this rodeo. It would appear I'll be doing this solo. I'll radio again when I reach Karnak."

He had to get into and back out of Karnak before the sun came back up. At this rate it was going to be tight and he might still get caught, which he really didn't want. He didn't want to spread any more blood than was absolutely necessary and town guards just doing their jobs didn't really fall into that category. It was going to be a long night.

I looked away as he would complain that I was clearly being irrational. As true as that was, how could he prove that his stuff wasn't invented recently? I had all the reason to be suspicious, of him, and he had the sheer audacity to call me a dumb dog under his breath, easily hearable for my heightened senses. I looked at him, though he made a point. Perhaps I was too hasty to demand info from him.

My eyes drifted over to the medicine vial on the ground. I wasn't injured, but I reached over and picked it up, storing it in a pouch I strapped to my trousers for convenient storage. I would follow him listening to him talk to himself at some box, and I would say, "You know, keeping mental notes is perfectly fine. But Cujo? Such distastefulness. Call me Zeru Royce, from here on in." My complaint remained polite and even informative, as an ex-butler, I was not one to talk without inquiry or information. With the exception of speaking to myself, which I found myself having done quite often.

I walked a slight distance behind the smaller man, and I would simply ask one more question of him, regarding the little assignment he was on as well. "Might I inquire upon the moral ambiguity present within this assignment? We're going to remove the source of economic drive belonging to an entire town, for the simple means of attaining magic that a mage can use. Not for a group, but for a single person who lacks the ability?"

Fury stopped in his tracks when he heard the wolf come up behind him and finally introduce himself. He chuckled a little and said, "No no no, I'm not taking mental notes I'm..." he couldn't think of a way to explain his communicator to the man, "Nevermind. Zeru Royce, that's a good name. Glad to have you aboard." He activated his communicator again and said, "Scratch that last. Cu- I mean, Mister Royce, will be accompanying me on the op. We're heading out now."

As they walked along, Fury kept his rifle in his hands, ready for any unwelcome guests that might rear their ugly heads out. The forest seemed strangely quiet now and he wondered if it had something to do with Zeru. In his experience, the woods seem to die when they were around things they couldn't explain and Zeru was about as unexplainable as you got. He scratched the back of his head when he thought about how he was going to explain to Jayda that Zeru wasn't just a big wolf, but actually more mannerly than he was.

The silence of the forest was broken by Zeru speaking again. Fury's lips pursed as he rolled the question over in his mind. He needed to answer it truthfully enough for Zeru to accept it, but he had to leve a lot out of it for security reasons. "Well, for one, we aren't actually taking the whole crystal. I just need a little sliver of it for my friend to examine. I know we could probably just ask to see it, but considering the last man to try and touch it was imprisoned by the queen, I'd rather not chance it.

"As for who it's for it is for one man. But this one man has a dream of everyone being on an even level. He doesn't want this for himself, but for anyone who wants it. This new technology is going to be free to use by anyone who wants it. It just so happens that we'll be help incredibly by it because I run an arms company. But that's a story for a different time. Right now, we have a job to do."

Fury slowly brushed aside another bush to reveal the tall stone walls of Karnak. He laid down on the ground and began to scan the city with his scope, mentally marking positions of guards and sentries. Finally, when he was pleased with his recon, he stood and looked to Zeru. "Alright, how do you want to go about doing this?

I would listen carefully to Fury's explanation of why he was doing this. It all seemed to check out, and as long as this wasn't going to completely destroy the economy here, I was willing to aid him. As he would look into the tube of the object he held near the top, I would look questioningly at it, unable to decipher what he was doing. I guessed I should probably examine the nearby area. Sniffing the air, I caught the presence of Fury of course, he gave off a distinct smell, like really intense fireworks and sweat. Along with this, I smelled other things, grass, flowers, fire. Fire?

I looked in the direction of where it came from, and saw that there was a campfire, with corpses nearby. I suppose since the fire was the thing that stood out, the corpses were fresh. Brutally killed, head off the shoulders dead. I would look over at Fury, worried, "I see you've had a spot of fun over there?" I would get low as Fury appeared to be done, and asked what I would like to do in this situation. I figured he was talking about getting rid of the guards. "If we can gather all the guards into one area, I can remove them without causing them any harm." It was a long shot of an idea, but it was one that I would prefer. "Or we could boldly charge in, indifferent to what the guards do," I offered as an alternative idea.

Fury knelt down on the ground in front of Zeru while he listened to the werewolf's ideas. He wasn't too crazy about either of them, because they both put the whole operation at risk, but he did keep an open mind towards the first. Having all the guards out of the way would make the mission endlessly less difficult. "I don't think rushing in would be a good idea..." He was hoping for a little bit of a stealthier approach, but his idea placed most of the risk on Zeru and he wasn't quite sure if the wolf would go along with it since he obviously wasn't even close to trusting Fury yet.

Fury decided he was going to risk it. He had CRAIG create a three dimensional replica of the town and then projected it out so that Zeru could see it in flickering blue light. He began poking at it with his index finger at points where he knew guards were stationed. Whereever his finger touched, a single red triangle appeared, marking the location of a guard. His hand hovered over a building near the castle for a moment and the entire building turned red. he looked up to Zeru. "Each of these red triangles represents a single guard. The red building is the barracks, where all the off duty guards stay. What I'm thinking is this," he began to trace a green line through each of the guard checkpoints and straight through the barracks before rushing back out of the city, "If you were to follow this path through the city, you could probably pick up most of the guardsmen in the town. Seeing a monster, no offense, in the town will get almost all of them to chase you down. Then all you have to do is lose them in the woods and meet me back here. A simple misdirection to allow me to slip in undetected. What do you think?"

Fury looked back at the town, hoping the wolf would agree with his plan. If not, then they'll go with Zeru's first idea. Either way, he wanted to leave as little of a footprint as possible in the mission and with as few fatalities as well. He hated killing people who didn't need killed.

I stood there in awe at the magical projection placed before me. It had many details in it that I hadn't been able to detect, including symbolic placements. As he would describe his plan, I almost didn't pay attention to him. Alas, that would be rude, and standing there in slack-jawed amazement was bad manners. I got over how amazing this technology was, and listened.

He was tracing a line through the map, and hit all of the guard stations, before making a hasty retreat from the town. Listening to his explanation, I could easily tell that his idea was better than mine. "Well, I was never one for infiltration on such a grand scale. So my plans probably aren't fit for this kind of thing," I would admit and I would then straighten my back a bit, showing by full, overbearing height, as I let my back pop a bit again, and I would say, "So... how swiftly shall I perform this feat?"

Fury finished getting his gear together just as Zeru asked his question. A smirk crossed his face when he turned to walk past Zeru into the underbrush and said, "Depends on if you want to get caught or not. Just don't kill any of them if you don't have to. I'll signal you when I'm in position and ready for you to begin. Just stare at that tower there, you'll know when it's time," Fury pointed at the top of the nearest guard tower. He walked past Zeru and disappeared into the underbrush again.

He began his slow and deliberate crawl towards the guard tower. He moved with the wind, allowing the natural movement of the brush as it swayed in the wind to mask his own movement through it. He kept all of his senses completely open and ready for any thing. It was this primal feeling that made him love the woods. Once more he felt like he was back on Pulse, slinking through the jungles, and infiltrating rebel bases. Only instead of it being a rebel base now, it was a fully functioning city, and instead of native rebels attacking him with sticks and stones, he was fighting fully armored knights. The usual stuff.

Finally, he could see the guard post through the brush. There were two guards stationed at the tall stone gate, both unflinching in their vigilance over the surrounding area. Luckily, since this world was still in the age of steel, they didn't even have electricity. So the front gate was only lit by two flickering torches. The bad part was that it was a full moon, so the two hundred yards of open space between where he was hidden at the edge of the forest and the wall of the city was well lit enough that the guards would see him coming from a while off. There was only one thing he could do. He pulled the mask back up to cover his face, pulled his hat down over his eyes, and stood up to casually stroll across the open space.

As he approached the wall, one of the guards drew his sword and pointed it at him to get him to stop dead in his tracks. "Halt! Hours for admittance have passed. Why are you here?" the guard said with his sword lightly pressed to Fury's throat. The other guard stood a little behind him with his hand on his sword hilt, ready for anything. "I said, why are you here?"

Fury Swung his right hand over and knocked the sword away from his neck. The bandanna tore from the force, but his throat was unscathed. His left hand reached out and grabbed the wrist of the hand that was grasping the sword and pulled him towards him. His right elbow shot out and struck the guard in his unarmored face, sending out a sickening crack as the force of the man falling towards him and Fury's elbow suddenly stopping him caused his nose to shatter. the man tumbled to the ground grasping his nose in pain. His cries were cut short by Fury sending a kick to his face, sending him into a blissful sleep.

As the man fell to the ground, Fury swiped his sword and spun to face the other guard who was already drawing his sword. The guard slashed at Fury's neck, but Fury quickly parried and rolled to the left. As he rolled, he swung out with his sword, slapping the guard's sword hand with the flat side of the blade. The guard jerked his hand back, dropping his sword. Fury jumped in and swung his free hand out to sucker-punch the guy in the face, dropping him instantly.

Fury stood there heaving heavily for a moment after all went still. He was hearing if any other guards had overheard the fight and come running, but it didn't sound like it. He slipped both of the swords back into their respective sheathes and dragged the bodies off to the side in a dark alcove under the wall. He then walked back to the front of the gate and pulled out his AMP generator. the generator activated, allowing him to jump the height of the building and land silently on the tower.

He pulled out another small pad similar to the one that had shown the hologram of the town earlier and held it up to the sky. It flashed a bright blue light in the direction of where Fury had left Zeru three times before going dark again. Then Fury sat down on the edge of the tower and waited for the fun to begin.

I nodded curtly as he answered my question with a variable. Since I didn't want to be captured, I supposed he was alluding to the fact that I should make it quick. I reached into my pockets and pulled out a pair of gloves, big enough to fit my large hands, with a gem on the back of either of them. I would walk right through the front gate, and by walk, I mean run. The plan appeared to be working, as the front gate guards began to chase me.

I quickly moved from checkpoint to checkpoint making sure every able guard was chasing me by the time Fury would make it in. I would then lead the environmentally blind fools towards the forest. As I would move into the forest, I would use the gloves' special ability and create a burst of light energy that thrusted me forward and away from the guards, as they would follow into the forest and get lost quite easily. I waited for a little bit so that my path was clear, and then I ran out of the forest. I knew that they were better equipped for the forest than I was, so I knew that the fewest possible would die.

Fury watched from his perch atop the tower as Zeru began to tear through the town. He didn't have time to stop and stare, though, he had to get moving. The distraction would only keep the guards occupied for so long. So as soon as he saw Zeru disappear around the bend, Fury activated his AMP unit again and jumped from the tower, landing harmlessly on the ground at the base. He brought his rifle up and scanned the area to make sure it was clear before he moved. He could hear the distant shouts and hollering of the guards as they chased Zeru, but other than that the town was silent, which wasn't that surprising considering the time of night.

Fury silently moved through the silent streets. The town was well lit, but all real threats were off chasing the giant wolf that disturbed the night. Fury dashed for the castle in the center of town. By this time, the werewolf should have already passed it and making his way back out of the city. As Fury rounded a corner to face it, he could see guards pouring out of the castle and the barracks nearby in a mass of organized chaos as they all tried to get moving after the wolf. Fury waited until all but a few were gone before he started to move towards the castle.

By now, Zeru should be in the forest. The window was going to close soon. He had to get moving and soon, but he was waiting for that special opening...

There!

Fury bolted for the front of the castle just as the two remaining guards outside turned around to face down the street towards where Zeru and the others had gone. As he approached the two from behind, one started to turn around, hearing his heavy footfalls. Fury slammed the butt of his rifle into the man's face as he ran straight through him. The guard was leveled instantly, knocking him out cold. The other was either too shocked or too dumb to defend himself as Fury wheeled around and use the rifle as a club again to subdue him like his friend. Once more, Fury dragged the bodies out of the way and then slipped inside the castle. By now the guards would be splitting up to chase Zeru down. Some would continue after the wolf while some would return to the town to defend it in case another monster attacked. Things were about to get interesting...

At the moment, all seemed well... but I found myself with a problem upon exiting the forested area I so cleverly lost the city guard in. There was one who was smarter than the rest of them. Yes, it appeared that the commander of the guard wasn't dumb enough to fall for such an easy infilration trap like the one that I had set up, and intended to slay me, the beast who would execute such, with his own capable hands.

I daresay that he was strapping, which for the quality of the guards in this town, was saying a lot. He wielded something that I found to be quite unnerving though, in such a fashion that was even more unnerving in itself. He held in his hand, note one hand, a greatsword. Not just any greatsword, but one of those really big ones that shouldn't be held even in a showy manner with one hand. No this sword was almost my height, and about the width of both of my arms.

This man... he laughed at me. He spoke in the wrong manner, called me a mutt, and even an imbecile in so many words or more. It was quite... infuriating to speak the truth. So I'll skip the dialogue as you readers prefer to see the action, right?

I lunged towards the man, fury laced in my glowing glare. The man swung his sword at me, one handed, as if it was a one handed sword. I found that I couldn't avoid by my position, so I quickly pointed my palm toward the right, and fired a quick pulse of light that propelled me out of the way. I landed on one foot and saw that the man was recovering slightly more slowly than he had liked. I started working a plan in my head... one that would end it quickly if nothing more.

Fury slowly made his way through the twisting halls of Castle Karnak with delicate grace. He needed to move fast, because the guards were beginning to filter back to their posts, but he also didn't want to get caught. It was like walking a tight rope above a bubbling pit of lava, one wrong move and he could be toast. So he snaked his way through the halls, slipping passed guards and knocking the ones he couldn't avoid out and hiding their bodies. Around the time the captain of the guard caught up with Zeru, Fury reached the central chamber where the crystal was stored. Fury stepped into the light around the crystal and stopped cold.

Across the room from him was a large throne, but Fury knew better than to think the hulk of a man sitting in the chair was the king. No, this man's sole purpose was to guard that crystal. The man stood up and drew two very large axes from his sides. He swung the two pieces of steel through the air with ease, creating a whistling sound as he did so. The man wore no armor, only a kilt to cover his lower half. He was easily the same height and weight as Zeru, maybe even more and he hard cold-steel eyes that showed that this was not his first rodeo.

Fury drew his pistol out and fired three bullets in a neat group in the middle of the man's forehead. As each bullet got close, though, they seemed to strike an invisible barrier, flattening mere inches away from his head and falling to the ground. The man let out a guttural laugh and gave a toothy smile as the color in Fury's face drained. Of course they couldn't have a normal guard. That would be too easy. he thought as the man began a slow walk towards him. The man swung his ax through the air, swinging to chop Fury's head off, but Fury ducked under the blade and rolled between the man's legs. As he was just underneath, he swung his leg up and landed a blow to the man's groin. The man howled in pain and staggered for a moment before turning and charging at Fury with both blades swinging like mad. This was going to be a long night...

I held my ground for a moment to gain a good understanding of my current surroundings. I figured that the man before me who possessed such combat potential, was but a stepping stone on the path before me. I had already taken into account his slow recovery time from a miss, but that wouldn't prove enough in my situation. No, I needed something on this man. I needed to be better than I was. I suddenly was overcome with a wonderful idea!

This battle would soon prove itself to be over, and I knew it. If I could avoid an attack with the slight boost of speed, I could also simply outpace him with a simplistic application of the Glintstone. The man raised the sword over his head, ready to swing it down at a moment's notice. I would take this into note and apply it into my final strategy for this man. His downfall was in his tactics.

My first move, went as such: I would charge at him, with a brief boost from the Glintstone Gloves, propelling me at him at a speed faster than my standard sprint. Unfortunately, the man still had enough reaction time to swing down on me if I wasn't clever. Luckily, I could provide 3 bursts in a few moment span of time. I fired another burst causing my course to veer just aside the man's vertical slash, that would have cleaved me. I would jump a bit up, and with a cleverly positioned kick, I hooked the bridge of my foot around his neck, and I pulled furiously, yanking the man off his balance, and onto the ground.

Whilst he was gagging on the need for air he was no longer appeasing due to a powerful kick, I would pin the man to the ground with my knees on his shoulders, which would effectively disable him, if only for a moment. I would reel back my arm, and speak one of my pre-knockout snarks at him, "And a good night to you as well, sir." Alright, so I admit that it wasn't funny, but if you would have known the dialogue from beforehand it would have been hilarious. I assure you sincerely.

With that, I would fire the last burst from my glove I would have for this round, and used the boost to deliver one of my shockingly powerful punches to the man's face at a faster speed than usual. I'm not too certain how the math works on that, but I'm pretty sure the fact that he wasn't choking anymore was a good sign that I knocked him out enough to make a proper escape. I would run on all fours away from the scene back towards Karnak. Perhaps I would be lucky enough to run into Fury again.

Fury rolled to the right just as one of the axes split the floor where he had just stood. The guard didn't show any signs of slowing down and Fury was just tiring himself out dodging all the attacks. He knew he had to make his move and it was now or never. Fury slipped his knife out of its shoulder holster and reversed his grip on it before dropping into a fighting stance. The man slashed both axes at the same time in a over the head downward swipe. Fury dodged to the side with a roll and came up behind the guard. He gave a slash to the back of the man's calves, causing him to drop to his knees, spinning as he did so. Fury sprung up to his feet and stabbed the blade of the knife deep into the man's throat, causing him to gurgle and spit out blood from the wound. Apparently, the wards only protected the man from projectile attacks. Whoever placed the wards must have been very trusting in the man's capabilities to set them up the way he did.

Fury puled his blade from the man's throat and cleaned the blade of his blood before replacing it back in its sheathe. He turned to face the crystal that sat on the podium in the center of the room. As he approached it he said, "Ok, CRAIG, you are up. Scan for countermeasures." A light shot out from his goggles and scanned the crystal for any traps or security systems. After a long moment there was a single beep, indicating that there were no traps. Fury removed the crystal from its perch and placed it into a small container. He activated the container and after a few short seconds, the container beeped an opened up, revealing the crystal again. Fury placed the crystal back on the podium and then turned to the door. "Cowboy, this is Raven. Objective is completed. Heading towards primary LZ for pickup. Possibly plus one for pickup. Over and out."

Fury headed back up to the top of the castle and then used his AMP unit to shoot straight out of the city from the high vantage point. He landed outside the city walls with a thud and looked around. He wasn't far from where he was supposed to meet Zeru. He silently and without conflict moved back to the copse of trees where they had originally met and waited for the werewolf to return.

I arrived at the scene at where I had last seen Fury... and then pondered why he hadn't arrived yet. It had taken just about everything into consideration before I had realized that I was in the wrong location. I would turn around, and see the guard, returning. I looked around in a panic for a place to hide, but it would seem that even if I were to find one, I would have no time. I hadn't a choice at this point, I would have to go through them. Yes, it was inevitable I suppose, a mistake always has its consequences.

I would take a low prowling stance and charge at them on all fours. It was depressing how I looked like a monster, and I had managed to frighten most of them out of the way. Most. I would be confronted by a few brave soldiers who I rammed out of the way with my clearly superior strength. Their armor left some cuts from the slight juts in the plating. I passed them up and kept on running.

As I hit the forest, I would take the various turns and such through the forest that I had previously performed, and ended up seeing my good acquaintance Fury. "Oh, there you are. You've got no idea how many soldiers I went through to get here," I would tell him, making it sound like there was fighting involved, despite what it was. "I take it I'm not too late then?"

Fury looked up when he heard something moving through the forest towards his position. It was most likely Zeru considering how much noise whatever it was was making. One could never be too sure, though, so Fury drew out his revolvers and aimed them at the brush just as Zeru pushed through. He let out a sigh and holstered his pistols as the wolf complained about how many soldiers he had to fight through.

"I take it you dealt with them non-lethally like we agreed upon?" said Fury as he reached down into his vest and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and his zippo. He placed one of the cigarettes in his mouth and lit it up before saying, "And no, you aren't too late. In fact, you have arrived just in time."

As if on cue, the trees behind him seemed to come alive as they were tossed out of the way by the Kestrel as it started up and began to hover. The ship turned around to reveal the large open cargo doors with both Angel and Sev on the rear turrets. The ship came to a halt and Dusty walked down the ramp and clasped arms with Fury. "Good to see you, brother. You ready to get the hell out of this backwards world?' Dusty scanned the area and saw Zeru. His hand slipped to his sidearm as an instinct reaction but stopped himself short. "I take it this is our plus one?" he asked.

Fury looked back to Zeru and looked him up and down before saying, "That he is. He's a local named Zeru. He helped me complete the mission. We're gonna take him along with us back to the Garden where people are a little more tolerant of people like him."

Dusty chuckled as he turned to go back into the ship and said, "Yeah, and Jayda can have a new pet too. Just what she needs." He opened his mouth to say something else but was cut short by a slap to the back of the head. He wheeled around to see Angel standing there shaking her head. "What the hell was that for?" he asked as he rubbed his head. Angel just ignored him and went back to watching the treeline for soldiers.

Fury started to get on the ship and stopped as he stepped up onto the ramp. He turned around to face Zeru and said, "Alright, you have a choice. You can come with me or we can go or separate ways. Either way, I am grateful for your help tonight." He turned and walked the rest of the way into the ship.

Well... this was impressive. I really had to say, this was a shocking development. Not only was this man provided with some kind of automatic rock-flinging device, but he also had some kind of... flying mechanism? I wasn't too sure about it, but I figured if these men could be inside, what bad would I do? It seemed to be as safe as anything else I had run into in the past few months.

I was given the choice to go along with Fury and his allies... or go my own separate way from him, and deal with the relatively bad happenings of recent. I would shrug my shoulders, "Your tone of voice makes it sound like it's supposed to be a difficult decision. Ever since I had escaped from the asylum, the people of this world see me as nothing but a monster with a profitable pelt. If there's anywhere more tolerant of my type, I'm more than happy to go there." Of course, I made it sound like I was some kind of victim. While it was true that I was experimented on, it was the people's fault for overreacting to my appearance.

As Fury would step the rest of the way onto the strange transport chamber, I would follow on, noticing their strangely non-hostile behavior thus far. I was already more pleased, multiple people who weren't so afraid of someone like myself that they lashed out with weaponry right away. I could smile, but that would look odd on a gentleman of my stature, so I continued my contentment. "Umm, does anybody need one of these medical injections? I'm not too injured, but I kept it around," I would speak. "Oh, and do they make shirts for people my size at this... 'Garden'?"

Fury chuckled as he heard Zeru's question. He moved through the ship towards the cockpit as he talked to the werewolf. "I'm sure we can find something that will fit you. If not we can have something made for you. We have tailors at the Garden that will be more than willing to help someone out who aided me." Fury entered the cockpit to see both Cowboy and Dizzy behind the wheel and getting ready to take off. He put his hand on Cowboy's shoulder and said, "We're all aboard. Go ahead and take us back to the Garden. CRAIG, send the scans of the crystals ahead of us to the shop and start analyzing it for the weapon crystals."

Fury turned around as Cowboy punched the portal canon which opened the wormhole back to the eighth world in front of the ship. Then the ship tilted forward and moved into the portal. He waved his hand towards the back of the ship again and said, "Right this way, I'll show you where you can stay for the rest of the trip." He walked through the ship until he came to the ships's briefing room. He tapped the large table in the middle of the room and it lit up in a bright blue color. He tapped it a few more times and a small man wearing combat armor appeared on the table. "Zeru, this is C.R.A.I.G. He is our onboard Artificial Intelligence. Which basically means he's a living computer. He'll keep you company for the rest of the trip. He'll tell you anything you want to know about the world of VIII. Just talk to him how you would talk to a normal human and he'll respond."

Fury then walked out of the briefing room and locked the door behind himself. Not that he didn't trust the wolf, but because there were just a few things on the ship that even his closest friends shouldn't see. He then moved right down the hallway to the onboard armory. He entered the armory and stayed in there working on his projects for the rest of the ride.

About and hour later they were landing in the Balamb Garden hangar. Fury returned to the briefing room and let Zeru out. Then he escorted him off the ship and into the hangar. Stepping out of the ship, Fury waved his arms through the air and said, "Welcome to Balamb Garden, home of the famous SeeD forces." He turned to a cadet walking by and said, "You, get a hold of Miss Kinneas and Miss Brix and have them meet me in the infirmary. Thank you" He then extended his arm towards the infirmary and said, "This way, Zeru, we have to get you checked out before I can show you around."