yea I'm back, I was in Egypt for 10 days, it was nice ^^, hot but nice.

btw. I turned 17 the 4th of august so gimme some presents, dammit

"NO!" Ridge yelled, and he jolted to the side of the deck. He loaded an arrow and looked over the side of the ship.

Scarecrow ran over with the cannon, ready to let his entire arsenal loose on whatever was above the surface.

But there was nothing. The kraken, and Khuzo, had disappeared completely underneath the surface. There was no sign of them, no thrashing about, and no blood on the surface. He had been taken completely, and was probably a hundred feet below the surface by now. Ridge kicked a nearby barrel over the edge of the ship.

"AGH!!" he screamed, and he shot the arrow up into the sky. "KHUZO!"

Rain tried to look up, but Devan held her down. There was no use. He turned his head from the side. Despite their differences, everyone on board except Sorrow had gained something from Khuzo, and had also learned something from him. And to make matters worse, he was undeniably the strongest person in their group. And now he was gone.

Reika just collapsed on the dock. She didn't say anything, and just sat there, staring out to see, as if she stared long enough, he may emerge from the kraken's clutches, holding onto a tentacle or biting into it's face or something Khuzo would usually do. There were no underwater explosions or signs of life. There were no signs of struggle or battle or even the kraken. Even in it's injured, half dead state, it had still managed to get away. The water slowly calmed, but there was still no Khuzo.

"WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO KNOW?!" Ridge yelled angrily.

Shungo just stood to the side, without words. The man who had saved him and his sister was just pulled underneath the ocean water by a giant, man eating kraken. He thought about the kraken chewing on Khuzo, or viscously tearing him limb from limb. He turned away, and then vomited over the side of the boat.

Sorrow had just realized that the only man capable of actually defending her from Itami, and the one who had also essentially used mental torture, was gone. He had been cruel, yes, but safe, as well.

Slowly, Devan turned to see the approaching island.

"Guys, we have to get ready...or else we're dead meat."

"We already are dead meat...," Reika mumbled, and she tried to stand up, but her body refused to move. Ridge regained composure and walked over to her stiffly.

"Come on...we have to go."

"Why? What's going to happen now? Whose next? You? Shungo? Myself?" she asked.

"Khuzo came here on his own, to do a job, and he let you come because you could do a job, so we need to get up, and do that job. That's the least we can do to honor Khuzo. Now come on, the island isn't far off, and in just a little while until the eclipse will arrive. Khuzo must've charted it to where we arrived right when it came. It's already starting to get darker."

Reika manged to pull herself up, but she had to sit back down. Shungo came over to her weakly. He put his hand on her shoulder, but she pushed it away. There was a look of shock and disbelief still struck on her face.

An hour later, the boat was closing in, but no one was in the mood for anything anymore. Khuzo still hadn't reappeared or sent up a flare nor had the kraken attacked again. It was as if Khuzo had stopped existing altogether. Over them the eclipse was clearly starting to come in.

Rain had been put to rest, and it was at the front of Ridge's mind that someone, or something, had SENT that kraken to them. Giant sea monster don't just attack boats like that. At least not often. Maybe it was the kraken's objective all along to steal or kill Khuzo. After all, by now Itami had surely revealed that Khuzo was obviously the leader of their little group. And what better way to tire an assaut squad than reduce morality to nothingness and make them fight a giant kraken? Rain would no longer be of assistance this time. She was completely drained, and probably would continue to be, for the rest of the day.

Ridge had basically gained control over the group. They had turned to him, the man Khuzo had been with the longest, and had been there for the kids, to lead them. He had usurped power he didn't want. Reika was still almost completely comatose, and Sorrow had hardly talked to anyone.

Devan walked over to him.

"So, friend, what do you think our chances are now?" he asked.

"Still good...but I don't know anymore...Reika is essentially a zombie, and Rain is exhausted. I don't know to take Sorrow or leave her here. She may try to betray us."

"I doubt that, for that one. She doesn't have the backbone. And if she does, I'll rip it out of her before she makes a move."

"Good man. We don't have much time now."

"No, I'll ready the boy and Scarecrow, you try and get the girl back down to earth, alright?"

"Good plan," Ridge said, and then he walked over to Reika.

"Hey, listen. I want you to know that this isn't how Khuzo would want you to be, so please just-"

"I want to kill them."

"What?"

"Them. I know it was them who sent that thing. I don't know how but it was, wasn't it?"

"Yes...yes it was...I don't how but it was...but-"

"I will kill whoever it is sent that thing. Kill them. You got me? When we find out who did it, I GET TO BE THE ONE TO KILL THEM."

"OK, OK, fine, fine, you can be the executioner, but we have to go. We'll be there in a matter of minutes, and look," he said, as he pointed up into the sky. The sky darkened, and the sun began to disappear. They were mere seconds from landing.

Just as the last rays of the sun were blanketed out, they jumped from the boat, and the others went the other way. Sorrow was there, but Shungo wasn't. Devan had probably left him behind to protect Rain.

Ridge and Reika jumped through the forests that were right up above the large beach they had landed on. No birds sang, no animals moved about, it was completely silent. Then arrows narrowly missed Reika, only because Ridge had pulled her back at the last second.

"YU YAN ARCHERS! RUN!" he screamed, and they seperated and began zigzagging and dodging incoming arrows.

Meanwhile, Devan, Scarecrow and Sorrow were being ambushed by their own friendly neighborhood death squads. Arrows narrowly missed Devan's head, and he began to run through the forest, with Sorrow and Scarecrow right on him. They all ran through the woods, occasionally spotting each other, but otherwise, the archers kept them seperated. Ridge ran across Devan's path at one point, but almost immedialtely dodged back through the brush. Their pursuers kept pace, easily gliding in between trees and bushes and constantly keeping up an offensive. Ridge spotted a familiar figure at one point, and it made his skin crawl. A masked, silent figure kept pace with him in particular the entire time, but didn't fire. Up ahead, after they reached a clearing, Ridge could see the top of the temple Sorrow had spoken of. Then he saw a river beneath him.

"REIKA, SORROW, WATER!" he yelled, and they both looked down and then, while jumping through the air, turned, landed on their feet, and raised their hands. The approaching archers cleared the woodline, and a thin layer of water washed over them. They looked down and then at each other, and ran forward, but Reika and Sorrow raised their arms and the water froze, and Devan, Scarecrow, and Ridge jumped up back over the river. They quickly dealt with the tripped, scrambling Yu Yan archers, but one more jumped down just above the frozen water, which was already melting. Despite the disappearence of the sun, it was very hot in the forest.

"Ridge...," the archer said. The mask completely covered the archer's face. It was a twisted, disgusting figure and was a disturbing, dark shade of yellow.

"Crap...Devan, Scarecrow, go, now," Ridge ordered.

"What? Why?" he demanded.

"Because, this is not your fight. Go."

He looked disturbed, but went on with Scarecrow. The two jumped back over the river and ran on with the other two. Ridge looked back at his new opponent.

"How's it been?"

"I had to learn archery all over again...and worse yet I had to do it alone. You used to be there, Ridge. You and Tojo. We were a fantastic team, and I could never understand it. Why?"

"Why did I leave? Because I wanted to. Look, I'm far from proud about what I did, and I really hate myself, but I left both out of hate and out of a want for change. I didn't want to be a soldier anymore. I'm a mercanary now. And you're just another part of my past I have to bury. Along with Tojo."

"We were friends, Ridge, and then, you did this to me. Now, I'll take more than your eyes."

"Well, you can try. But you never learned the most important lessons I tried to teach you, my pupil."

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" he yelled, and he pulled out his bow. Ridge got his own, and they both fired. The two arrows slammed into each other right into the middle of their new stomping grounds.

Meanwhile the others ran on, free of interruption. Reika thought of nothing but killing The End, and The Twelve. The others ran alongside her, ready to give it all.

My story is currently on the Day of Black Sun.

The eclipse just came. Mine stands independably on it's own. Although you can say I exist in the same world as the other RPers, mine is at a specific, set time. For example, the eclipse JUST CAME in that post I made.

That's why I made mine more independent. Less rape, more following the general rules of Avatar. None of the characters are prodigies or supergurus or avatars or can't bend more than one element(Infact, most of them can't bend at all).

I know Scarecrow is farfetched, but I actually based him almost entirely on ancient chinese artillery equipment, and his character was actually inspired by...well...Boba Fett, which explains the lack of dialogue, and more ambigious physical appearance underneath the armor.