“YEAGER!”

“DUCK!”

CRASH

A combustion, lighting up an entire radius of the dark forest in a blow of red magma fused sparks. Two bodies flew back and crashed to the ground as a horde of undead began to surround them, some even marching through the freshly ignited fire. As one hit the ground on their side though, one remained on their feet with a small black stick in hand. Holding it out and with the mere press of a button- the stick extended immediately to ten times the length it was before, and from a slot on the side detracted a large scythe blade.

Yeager shot ahead with scythe in hand, twirling it above his head and swinging down, lashing through several of the zombies and ripping them to pieces. Another overreaching swing and down went a few more with heads and arms and torsos sent flying in pieces. Behind Yeager, Shree finally shot up with a stick of her own quickly extending. Halberd heads popped out of both ends, quickly expanding into place as she went in herself with a few swings.

A dozen down, and many more still raging with eyes aglow of that dark green near them. Swing swing swing and slash slash slash. Down went more one to two at a time, their numbers yet to thin however. Above with a thump came another, standing on the bark of the above tree. A figure with arms crossed and back leaning away- a smug grin spread across.

A plain man, black hair, sort of short, glowing eyes, plenty of eye shadow and white face paint- fangs present. Beside him another with wires extending out of their fingers much like puppet strings yet again- black hair again with long bangs and a goatee, plain beyond that. Two others hung out on the ground around the clearing, also not undead or anything special.

Grip

“Wha-?” came the mutter, a thick arm sticking from the ground, the hand to which was attached grabbing hold of Yeager’s ankle.

“Yeag!”

CRUNCH

“YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The ground shattered beneath Yeager to which a big burly figure broke through. One hand slammed upon the ground, and the other swung up sending Yeager flying into the air. The clang of his scythe hitting the ground, and the deep grunt followed by a groan as the big guy hurled Yeager through the air with one toss. SLAM- right into a tree and a subtle flop to the ground, the undead quick to close in around him.

SPLASH

Blood and guts sprayed through the air, followed by a rattle of bones sounding almost like fallen logs. Shree tore through the crowd and stood immediately over her partner, halberd swinging like a baton and carving right through. The snap of a finger, echoing from up top. The crowd of undead maintained a radius though no longer approaching.

“Yeag!”

“I ain’t dead don’t worry. The fucker snapped my damn ankle though, my mobility is shit now-”

“You won’t have to worry about mobility for much longer,” the man with crossed arms called out from above, “My buddy Jaxx here will have you fixed up right on que for a performance in no time.”

The man with the goatee grinned, flexing his fingers slightly. As he did so, different clusters of the undead began to circle themselves. Ring Around the Rosie it seemed at first though only a few seconds in the circles broke into pairs, each pair square dancing of all things. Weaving in and out, hand in hand.

“Heeheehee,” Jaxx giggled, “You’re too kind Ant. They will make for a FAN TUCKIN FASTIC pair, a new bride and groom!”

“Tch- you sick fuckers no… Shree is like a god damn sister to me. If you’re gonna break us you sure as shit ain’t doing that!” Yeager spat back.

“Aye no biggie, little incest never hurt anybody. Heh, I’ll take pleasure in playing with your bodies after you’re gone, conjoin you just for that you bigots,” Jaxx spoke with a grin.

“You two are supposed to be like me and for the life of me, I don’t see it,” Ant called out, “I just see a couple of weaklings who sure as shit act like they’ve never fed before. Why is that?”

Shree took a single movement back with the halberd held level in her right, gaze zooming around- to the brute, to the puppet master, to Ant. Yeager himself began to stand using only one foot and the tree for balance.

“Sure enough Yeag, that guy is the only one. The rest are-”

“Yeah I know I know. That doesn’t realistically change our circumstance though. We need to wait- wait? Where did that big guy go?”

Creeeeeak, CRRRRRRRRRACKLE CRACK- as the question was asked the tree behind both splintered, the truck just above Yeager’s height splintering off and collapsing to the right with the bottom flung left. Out stormed a strongman, jacked as can be, his right fist swinging round.

BLAM!!!

“Gyuh!”

“Shree!”

Shree flew forward, blood trickling from her mouth as the strike nailed her in the jaw. Yeager himself swung round and threw a punch of his own straight into the gut of the big guy.

“HRRRRRRGH-” he grunted, stumbling back.

“I’ll rip your fucking head off you bastard!” Yeager spat with a single jump into the air, spinning his good foot for the man’s head.

Spewwwww BANG!!!

An explosion engulfed both the big guy and Yeager, with the latter hitting the ground and rolling away near immediately, smoke drifting from his armor. The big guy stumbled away with burns covering his face and arms, his hair singed.

“Guh- oh Anne you fucking bitch, it’ll take me weeks to heal from that!” the big guy barked.

One of the two on the ground, stereotypical emo looking with black hair and blue eyes and baggy clothes, held in hand a bow. She paid no heed to her squad mate, instead looking at Yeager. The young knight, actively pushing himself up off the ground, appeared significantly unphased even as he coughed forth smoke. Across the way stepped Shree, a little bruised but more or less intact.

“Huh, well hell,” Jaxx spoke, “Can’t tell if it’s the armor or if ol’ Ant here was dead ass wrong about them being weak. Wouldn’t be the first, his eye for talent sucks sloppy man dick.”

“Oi!” Ant spat turning his head over and spitting at Jaxx.

“HYAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAA!” the brute laughed, stomping forward, “These two are great, lets add them to the collection already! Then we can deal with their friends. Hopefully they are just as exciting!”

The dancing zombies moved in around the two, changing from square dancing to hop scotch hopping across the ground.

“Heh. You cultists are a bunch of dumb asses,” Yeager chuckled looking up.

“Hoh? Why is that?” Anne questioned aloud, aiming another arrow, her bow close to her face as the shot was being lined up.

“Because if you did your homework you’d know that you totally fucked the pooch here.”

“Why is that?”

“Because aside from the princess kid, we’re by far the weakest out of the group… and we aren’t that far from camp. They’d have to be deaf, daft, and dumb to have not heard this!” Yeager laughed.

“So in short, you’re screwed~” Shree chirped.

“Oh yeah?” Jaxx asked, “Let me be a classic schmuck and ask that age old question. Them and what army?”

“This army you dumbass!” came the retort of Elise herself.

Kuhplunk- ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM CRASH!!!

A crater opened up, dirt was blowing upon the breeze, and the wires were all flopping to the ground- and with them the undead ceased their functions, remaining only stationary. A grin crossed Yeager’s face and a smile spread over Shree’s. This left a confused Ant looking at where his puppeteer had once been. The others however were all looking to the newly formed hole in the ground, and the very VERY apparently unconscious Jaxx. A single step and a loud echoing touch down from Elise as she now stood where Jax had stood, her glare locked to Ant.

“HRRRGHUUUUUU-” came the croaking of the big guy below.

The brute dropped to his knees almost immediately, falling face flat. Behind now was the older Fen Rao, looking down at the hulking human. At that exact moment the ground blew behind Anne the archer, her body falling back and the arrow being launched straight up into the air into a branch. The blast ruptured out as the young girl vanished inside of the pit. In sync with Anne’s departure came a hole appearing beneath the other figure lurking in the shadows, swallowed by the ground and vanishing- both holes closing.

“… well that’s just not fair at all,” Ant murmured, sweat flooding down his face.

“Are you two alright?” Fen asked, stepping forward towards both Shree and Yeager, a somber expression crossing over him.

“Yeah, just a slight annoyance,” Yeager mumbled.

“We probably could’ve won but we figured it would be better to wait for backup, just in case,” Shree added, “Sorry Fen.”

“Hmph… good work you two. You did good in that case,” Fen concluded, a slight smile spreading around him.

Back up top Elise stood unmoved, still looking up at Ant. All the while Ant himself was looking down and around. Locked unmoving undead, a team disappeared and defeated so effortlessly. And then back to Elise, the glow in her eyes intensifying.

“Care to give me a good reason to not light your carcass on fire right this second?” Elise questioned aloud, still looking up to Ant.

“I uh- you uh, hrmm well- you see I uh- shit is this, Drake my man? Uh- alright now, look here, you definitely don’t want to hurt me, alright?”

“I’m listening, please, do go on.”

“Ya know, me being a… a guy who can really look at a situation and, has the instinct to tell what’s what uh… how about we cut a deal here? I can tell that my team and I got sold down the river so- give us a by and I could tell you something useful?”

“You would sell out your order just to save your own skin? Bit cowardly now isn’t it?”

“Hey- fuck them, they didn’t tell us shit about any of this they just said to attack a bunch of chumps in the woods. Uh alright, we have an accord? Yes? Good uh- so that uh, that town you guys came from. My boss is burning that down as we speak and turning everyone there into more soldiers for us.”

“… what?”

“Y-yeah! They were going to torch it and be rid of it. They just figure with the Sarzentans and all-”

“Fen!” Elise yelled out.

“I heard, we need to move out now Elise or else Lox Town will be turned to ash!”

“Yeah you see- now isn’t that good? Now you’ll let us go righ- huh?”

Both Elise and Fen froze up, both at the same time, both with a dead struck look of straight faced worry instantaneously. Ant himself stumbled back, his mouth hanging open and wrinkles erupting around his face, eyes swelling with a sudden gasp. On the forest floor now beside the hole opened by Jaxx’s fall, one singular cloaked figure. Fen’s head shot up as the sound of fabric flapped just behind his position, a second presence appearing.

Ant’s step took him back, back right into something solid. A low thud, sending him a few paces forward and spinning around. Elise’s own gaze wandered up, where there atop with Ant stood a third shrouded figure. All three cloaked in darkness, all three with eyes glowing silver so bright that they illuminated the dark practically. Ant fell to his rear, gazing at the tall figure now hovering over him, a low sob escaping him for only a moment.

In unison, the gaze of the trio sharpened, glaring upon those in the proximity of what was to come.