Fantasy Kaizoic: Earth Reborn

[Da Doofus]

"A right to settle on Colonial Republic territory once we're established, and a full pardon." He shrugged. "All in all, no more men after his hide for past crimes." He let out a long sigh. "I'm purposely not reporting it to the Directors, because they'd have me send the Guardian after him like an animal. Way I see it, we have more important matters than fighting over past deeds. This is my attempt at diplomacy." He pointed at the crumpled harness in Kairo's hands. "So, are you with me?"

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo relaxed a bit. He definitely wasn't expecting that answer, especially after all the other discoveries Stryx had made about Rufus. Something much more punishing sounded much more fitting, but he would take this over that any day.

When Stryx pointed at the harness, Kairo couldn't help but look down at it. He gave the offer some thought. Going beyond the camp walls would definitely mean danger. There was thousands of way's he could die out there, and he couldn't say that he wasn't scared of that. But there was a sense of obligation he felt in going. The results of the search could pretty much make a 180 turn if he didn't go. Besides, it would be nice to see Rufus again. He swallowed his fears, and looked back up.
"Better than boring labour work." He said.
"When are we leaving?"

 

[Da Doofus]

"As soon as you get ready." Stryx stated as he began a new walk into the camp.
"The team is gearing at the back gate. I'm making sure there is a chain of command while I'm away."
He passed behind a nearby tent and was out of sight.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Right now?

Kairo looked out the shed and into the camp. He definitely didn't get a lot of time to settle down. One day at camp and he was already being dragged out. He really wasn't going to get a break from the action was he?

He ran out of the shed and back towards the sleeping tents. The moment he reached his small bed, he grabbed a few things that might have been useful. A change of clothes, a water bottle, and a few other small things he could fit. He assumed that most of the stuff he would need would be given to him at the back gate. Hopefully that was the case, as he still had so much empty space on the harness to fill. He gave the area one last glance to make sure he wasn't forgetting anything, then, he made his way to the back gate.

 

[Da Doofus]

Once there, he'd find a group of five security officers in light armor colored for a tropical environment. Three men and two women.
One, who had her visored helmet on, removed it to reveal the pixie-cut blonde black hair atop a tomboyish face beneath.

"You're Hunjan?" She asked, eyeing Kairo. "Sergeant Valdez." She squinted at him.

"You were that guy we found with that lizard thing." One of the men blurted upon his own realization.

"Hudson!" Valdez scolded.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Looking around. He definitely recognized a few of the faces here from the last encounter with the Guest.

"Yeah. It's me. The guy who almost turned into lizard food" He said as an answer to the mans question. He then looked back to Valdez and gave her a small, nervous smile.
"Nice to meet you Sergeant." There was a pause. "Do I get armour? Or is that just a security officer thing."

 

[Da Doofus]

Sgt. Valdez shook her head.
"We'll get you a vest or something, but a full suit is something we don't have to spare."
She looked over his jumpsuit, and picked up a scanner attached to a console by the door.
"Hold still." She said to Kairo with her eyes focused on the device's screen.
Once it made a whirring sound, she aimed it at Kairo's feet, and a flickering beam of blue light cane from the slit-shaped barrel.
Moving the ray up Kairo's legs and body, his jumpsuit's color changed from the blue and black highlights of standard Noah ensemble, into a black and green striped pattern like tropical camoflauge.

"There." Valdez nodded, turning off the device and returning it to its place. "Now that you're dressed, come meet my family of fuckwits."

"Love you too Sarge." The man who recongized Kairo smirked.

"Wise-ass has the name, Jacob Hudson." Valdez rolled her eyes. She pointed to the chocolate-skinned woman adjusting an assortment of weaponry. "Over there is Adrianna Moore."
The last two members were looking at the two. One was in full armor and a plated helmet, a TL-34 Short range laser cannon was holstered on his back.
She directed her attention to the lighter armored fellow. "Over there is Bill Whithers and the big guy is Haru Akiyama."

"Welcome to Red Team, Mr. Hunjan." Bill tipped an invisible hat with a smirk.

Haru nodded quietly, then leaned against the wall quietly.

 

[Chai_T3a]

He gave them all a small smile. He hadn’t known what to expect of the team, but they all seemed like cool people.

“Nice to meet you all.” He raised his hand to wave at the group.
“I’ll try my best not to be a liability.” He joked.

 

[Da Doofus]

"Just don't get in the way if something goes down." Hudson advised with a trademark smirk.

Valdez shot a glare at him as Stryx approached in a full suit of combat armor. A ballistic automatic rifle hooked on his back.

"I'm guessing introductions have been made?" He said to practically anyone as he began typing the unlock code in the gate's pinpad.

 

[Chai_T3a]

"I think I can do that." He answered Hudson. Giving him a nonchalant thumbs up. He was beginning to like the guy already.

There wasn't much time for conversation, as Stryx had showed up only moments after his words. Kairo nodded in reply to his assumption. As the commander began to type in the code, he readjusted the harness to fit a bit more comfortably over himself. He did it more as a way to cope with the agitation that was building up inside him. Everything was happening so quickly, and he didn't know if he was nervous, excited, or a mix of both. But the team didn't have time for him to sort out his feelings. He took a deep breathe to calm himself, and waited for the door to open.

 

[Da Doofus]

Once the door slowly unlocked itself through layers, Stryx turned to Kairo and then to Valdez.

"Give him a weapon." He ordered.

The Sgt. saluted, and turned to retrieve a large metal case. Haru had to assist her in carrying it.

Once it was laid upon the grass, Haru flipped open the lid, and inside was a half-full assortment of standard issue firearms.

"Can't give you anything too fancy, you understand." Stryx shrugged, gesturing to Valdez about the jungle waiting for them outside.

"Alright people!" She said to her team. "We're out the door. Secure the entrance for the Commander."
Red Team moved outside, and took tactical positions as they waited for the other two.

Stryx turned back to Kairo.
"Take your pick. Whatever feels right in your hand."

Inside was a HC-45 assault rifle: 48 round magazine and a simple holosight along the bulky frame.
Next was a Borne Snub-barrel shotgun. Similar to the ancient sawed-off, but with a larger ammo capacity. Six scatter rounds before needing to reload.
Next was a standard-issue Jenzi handpistol. Quick fire-rate and quick to remove from a harness's magnetic holster.
Speaking of which, the holster on Kairo had two magnetic weapon sockets. One on the back and one on the leg.

 

[Chai_T3a]

"Thanks Haru. Valdez." He said to the two as they carried the case over to him.

Kairo looked down at the guns laid out in the case in front of him. He wasn't the most knowledgeable on the workings off the weapons, but he'd seen a few guns in his life. With his basic understanding, he was able to make out the purpose of each weapon laid in front of him. The shotgun seemed like fun, but it also looked like it would be much harder to understand. In addition to that, he didn't trust his hands to be still enough to make a good shot. In an emergency situation, he needed something he could fire quickly and carelessly without much thought. The rifle and the pistol seemed like much more viable options in that sense. He didn't waste much time in grabbing the hand pistol and the assault rifle.
"Don't trust myself with the shotgun." He secured the two weapons onto the holster with general ease.
"Hopefully we won't have to use these." He gave the weapons a light tap for emphasis.

 

[Da Doofus]

Stryx nodded.
"Just a precaution for now, but everyone here will be trained with firearms once we start turning this camp into a settlement in a few months."
He turned to face the open gate.
"Ready to take your first official steps out there?" He asked with a small grin.

 

[Chai_T3a]

He nodded subconsciously, although he didn’t think he could ever be ready for this moment. The best he could do was form a weary smile.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” He answered.
“Let’s go.”

 

[Da Doofus]

Stryx stepped outside the gates of the camp, and took a moment to breathe in his surroundings.

"Let's get to it people." He signaled to Red Team, who took the lead on the path into the jungle.
Stryx glanced at Kairo, then signaled to him to go ahead of him. It would mean taking a spot in the middle of the formation.

 

[Chai_T3a]

As the door opened he looked on into the jungle surrounding him. It was dense and seemed to
stretch out to eternity. He’d never seen anything quite like this. Even within the camp, the walls surrounding the perimeter would block such a view as this one.

Being so focussed on the environment around him, he had almost missed Stryx’s gesture. He took his position in front of Stryx keeping his gaze lowered slightly to the floor. Mostly to make sure he didn’t trip on a root. He walked in relative silence.

 

[Da Doofus]

The next few hours were like walking through a nature documentary on a strange new land. The lush foliage branched across mutiple plant species (most of them practically alien when compared to the plants before the Noah launch). Some however, bore similarities. Wide-leafed ferns dripped with moisture, as vine covered trees provided a shady roof via tropical canopy.
The temperature was humid, but oddly cool for a tropical morning.
Faint rays of the rising sun provided an orange light to the environment.

"Commander?" Hudson called out. "Got something."

Stryx pressed on to the head of thw group, where the dense vegetation had been crushed in a straight path through the forest.
A 'road' through the jungle that was littered with snapped branches and muddy ground.
The Commander knelt down and inspected the scene, he moved a branch away and uncovered a faint glimpse of a tire track in the mud.

"Well, he didn't lose it." Stryx said, pointing down the right direction of the 'road'.
"He's West." He said as Red Team proceeded.

 

[Chai_T3a]

He was relieved to find some kind of evidence of Rufus's whereabouts. The team didn't seem to have a real efficient way of tracking him, at least from his perspective. If he was right, the odds definitely weren't looking good for them without any real leads. Now, with the path in play, it was only a matter of time before they'd find him. They got really lucky with this.

"Nice of him to pave a path for us." Kairo commented as he inspected the open floor. He'd gotten pretty tired of manoeuvring over ferns and branches. The much flatter surface was a welcomed change.

 

[Da Doofus]

The band tracked the Cricket's trail with renewed surity.
Following the tracks, they reached a clearing where a great tree dominated what sunlight could be offered, leaving only dead branches and sproutlings in its wake.
The shade darkened their sight, save for a few spots of morning light.

The tree itself looked like an extraordinarily large oak in mass, but the leaves hung low to the ground in green, bud covered vines.
Red Team gawked at the titanic plant, but tensed when they heard the forest floor being disturbed from the trunk.

A dainty hoof appeared, followed by a deer-like head. It walked into the shaded clearing with gentle posture, as it chewed on one of the hanging buds. In appearance, it looked like a species of deer or elk, with the antlers growing outward, but curving forward at the barbed tips. It sported a light brown fur with a mixture of reds and darker browns. A white stripe coiled down its sides from its beginning around its doll-like eyes.

The deer-creature spotted the group, and only watched them from afar, gradually chewing the juicy bud. The scene bore a form of natural splendor none of them had seen in much of their lives. When born into a world where giants warred with mankind, one rarely had an opportunity to bear witness to the unspoiled natural world.

"Why isn't it running?" Bill asked Haru.

"It has no reason to." The armored man spoke, his voice a deep monotonous rumble even through the helmet's speaker. "It has lived its life without the fear of man."

When the troopers spoke, the herbivore bounded back into the jungle, making little noise on its light feet.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo had seen deer in pictures before. But never in his life had he seen such a creature up close. It looked so calm and innocent as it casually chewed on the jungles vegetation. Kairo couldn’t help but smile at the sight. The deer was a great sign. If such a harmless thing could thrive here, then maybe he wouldn’t have to worry so much.

He waved casually to the deerlike creature as it later jumped back into the dense flora. It wasn't long before the thing had been emerged by a sea of plants.
"I mean. It's running now." He said, still looking onwards in the direction the deer had gone. Haru's argument definitely fell apart quite quickly.

 

[Da Doofus]

The armored trooper turned his head to Kairo as both Bill and Hudson laughed at his failed moment of philosophy.
Hudson put forth extra effort to point at Haru to couple with his guffawing.

Valdez quicklt scolded this immaturity, and Adrianna scoffed at the behavior as well.
Stryx approached the tree to investigate further.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Seeing the disapproval from a Adrianna and Valdez he tried his best to keep himself composed and serious. Still being young and most definitely not mature enough, Kairo couldn't help but let out a repressed chuckle in Haru's expense. He gave the man a quick shrug, his lips still curled in his attempt to stifle his laughter.

Once he felt the need to laugh die down, he finally managed to notice that Stryx had been inspecting the large tree. To him, there really didn't seem to be anything to off with it. That is, except for the fact that it was probably bigger than a tall skyscraper. Maybe that was reason enough to get a closer look.
"See anything unusual?" He asked.

 

[Da Doofus]

Stryx looked at the clear ground around the tree.

"This has been cut." He said at last. "This spot has been preserved." He looked at the tree, and noticed something on the side the deer emerged from.
What he would find is an effigy made from carved wood and tanned hide bindings.
A face made from assorted pieces of stone was glued to the treeside in some sort of symbolic mural.
Yellow paint dotted in six places, giving the unknown deity six eyes from the looks of it.

"Well that's new." Stryx admitted, doing an excellent job of keeping his professionalism stable.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Curious as to Stryx's comment, he made his way towards him. His gaze was directed towards what Stryx had seen on the tree.

What he saw would shock him thorougly. He squinted his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. The effigy that had been carved onto the tree was intricate and detailed. Depicting what Kairo thought could only be some sort of god. But why would such a thing be erected here, and who could have been able to have done it.

The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he began to feel. This entire place had been meddled with by some kind of intelligent being, most likely a creature similar to the Guest. From the looks of things, this probably was a place of great importance. Who knows when they'd encounter another one of them here.

"I'm not feeling too good about this." He admitted, his attention remained directed to the carving.
"Whatever this is, there's definitely someone who tends to it. And I don't think it's Rufus."

 

[Da Doofus]

"I'm thinking the same." Stryx glanced downward, then gently coaxed Kairo back to Red Team.
"We need to keep moving." He said to them all, finding the trail past the clearing, and taking point himself.

Red Team glanced at one another, then proceeded to catch up with the Commander.