"No where else to go, after all," R.D. said, "Most of these buildings block off any other possible routes. Let's get going."

He motioned for the group to start following, taking the first steps on the road to the building.

Matt began to follow. "I could blow them all up or something."

"Oh, sure, that's a great idea," Hugo said. "While we're at it, why don't you teleport us into a rock or something?"

"I'm fixin' to teleport YOU into a rock," Matt muttered under his breath.

"Do you two ever stop arguing?" R.D. asked as they walked.

Matt and Hugo glanced at R.D. "No," they both said at the same time.

R.D. rolled his eyes. "Well, shut up, okay? You're probably attracting more Ing."

"Are you sure?" Alasea said, "The only thing I can hear moving is... well, us."

R.D. snorted. "Between Matt and our luck, they'll come running."

Kalmar looked at the men surrounding him as they kept pace. He smiled despite their grim situation.

"Is this as fast as you can go?" He said almost mockingly, "I was just making sure Kite could keep up." He sped up a small bit, slowly outdistancing the group to show he was not at his limits.

Blazen glanced at Kalmar. "Then look after them after I'm out of sight." Blazen retorted as he then then turned to blue fire, his hair and jacket turned to a blue color. He then shot out ahead, taking leaps as well to jump over obsticales.

"Oh, sure, blame me," Matt muttered, sliding his hands in his pockets.

Despite R.D.'s words, the journey through the path was rather uneventful. It was close to midday when they reached the giant building, which seemed to be some sort of subway transit station.

Alasea peered down the darkened stairwell that lead inside with unease. "We have to go down here?" she asked timidly.

"'fraid so," R.D. said, "We don't have any other choice."

"Oh, I don't mind." Meta replied with a friendly smile. "If that makes beating Xastra any easier, I guess we should take the oppurtunity." She turned to Shujou, and spoke: "What do you think, commander?" As she said this, she gave the man a wink with the eye the 'goody-goodies' couldn't see.

(Okay...who is with who now? I'm confused...O__o)

(OOC: Poncho, Meta, Shujou, Gilgamesh, Kouken and Juno are all still together, like one big, happy family.)

"Well then," Meta said, "I suppose we go find an oasis and set up camp there. At least we'll have water and shelter." She turned to Juno and quirked an eyebrow. "I don't suppose you have any camels or other animals of some sort that need taking care of?"

"This as fast as I can go, meh, I could run like this with a hernia!" Kite said speeding up at Kalmar.

"Here, I'll make some light," Matt said. He gestured, and the ball of light returned, floating in front of them and illuminating the scene. "Too bad I can't use my gun while it's on, though."

"Are you referencing something again?" Hugo asked.

"Maaaaaaybe."

"Ugh. Never mind."

"It'd probably be better if you just replicate my Light Beam anyway," R.D. said, "Let's go. This place disturbs me, let's just get through it. I can feel that strange presense on the other side."

And with that, R.D. drew his Phase Blade and began his trek down the stairs.

The rest of the group followed, Matt's light orb revolving around the group to spread light to all sides.

Gilgamesh's brows became one straight line above his eyes. "The size of that army makes me think someone's overcompensating for something."

Meta chuckled a little at her bodyguard's comment, before speaking to the others. "Well, I guess that's only good then. Makes it all the better. More food for the living ones."

R.D. looked about the place warily once they reached the bottom of the stairs. They saw various things down here: Posters for movies of which neither Matt nor Alasea had heard of, vending machines offering snacks--some they recognized, some not.

Other things roamed in there as well--thankfully, they weren't Ing.

They were mutated bugs. Each about the size of a cat, vaguely resembled insects seen on Earth, and thankfully for the group, harmless, as each wandered past them or near them without attacking or running away.

"Nozz-A-La?" R.D. said, picking up a discarded soda can kicked over to the group by a stray bug. "The hell is this?"

Edited by RisingDragon on February 17, 2007 at 22:20:38.

Matt leaned over the can, examining it. "Sounds like some ripoff of Coke." Raising his head, he grew more serious. "I don't like this. I've seen some stuff here that I know, some stuff I don't..."

"Are you saying that this world could be an alternate version of yours?" Helena asked.

"Yeah, it could be. I dunno."

"An alternate version that apparently had an intercontinental war with demons," R.D. said tonelessly, keeping a watch.

Another insect, this time looking like a cross between a spider and a beetle, skittered past Alasea's boot, causing the brunette girl to jump.

"Why are there so many bugs in here?" she asked timidly.

Kalmar sped up greatly, catching sight of Blazen but staying behind as not to lose the others before they could catch up. He dodged around obstacles with ease, or simply formed his barrier and blew through them, a trail of dust and rubble following the Demon Hunter.

You're NOT getting away... Kite thought as he continued pursuit.

"Only roaches survive the holocaust," Matt mused, feeling darker and darker as they explored this broken world.

They soon found their way to the rails, where they found several ruined subway trains, although each looked remarkably different than what they'd be used to on Earth. Some looked like they had been attacked by weapons, some had derailed, some had fallen over, making a haphazard maze.

"Huh," R.D. muttered, "This looks like that one graveyard from Final Fantasy Seven."

"What?" Alasea asked, giving him a perplexed look.

"What? I said... oh," R.D. said, realizing what she was probably referring to, "I've got some of my memories back. Just not a whole lot."

Blazen looked back and smirked. "C'mon! We're making awesome progress! At this rate we could get to Germany by nightfall!" He called back. He then turned back and continued forward, a streak of blue fire following Blazen as he went. He could feel the cold wind hit him only to become warm air as it passed him. The air did not bother him, merely any obsticle before him.

Blazen would continue, assumeing the others were quickly enough. He would finally stop and pant a bit. He looked up at the now would be orange sky and see the sun set a bit. Blazen returned to his natural colors as the flames behind him would die. He would then seat himself on a peice of ruble and wait.

Blazen would plant his feet against the ruble and lay his right arm over his lap. His left elbow would be balanced on his knee and his head in his hand. He waited in this pose, similiar to 'The Thinker', but with its flaws of course.

"I can only wonder what nutty world you come from," Matt muttered, though a part of him felt that he would eat those words later on.

Helena eyed the destroyed trains before her with great interest. "These are trains? But...they don't look like the trains back at my home."

"They're FUUUUUUTURE TRAINS!" Matt proclaimed, wiggling his fingers.

"Will you stop that?" R.D. said, "Every time you do that we end up in trouble."

A Warrior Ing hopped up onto a train and screeched at them.

"See!"