Thrynn stared into the eyes of Quexi, using his facial expressions to calculate what he might be wondering.
My name? Understandable. . . Thrynn then showed the unknown necron his side, and pointed to the codename that was painted on him.
Thrynn0X2

I sat up, with Raechal leaning on me, dozing. She was still young, and the wound and that weed has worn her off. I bit into the apple where the girl 'courage' had given me, savoring it's sweetness. It was long since I had ate something this sweet, since the swarm war. I was just about to doze off when

"Guys! I think she's talking about how there's a meteor shower heading our way, and that she's a planet's incarnate!" Nath shouted, rousing Raechal.

"What is it?" She asked drowsily.

"G to sleep, Nathaniel's gone loony." I replied, and Raechal snuggled against my arm and was asleep immediately.

I guess Nath heard me, cause he suddenly stared at me. "Excuse me, Mister who has incredible powers? I thought the girl, Courage, or whatever, was telling us she was an apple, not something about a planet's incarnate....." I glanced at Courage, who was staring at Nathaniel like he had finally understood a joke she was saying.

"You're kidding right? You ARE kidding, right?" I asked Nathaniel, hesitatingly. I glance at Raechal, and nudged her.

Azure knight:

The azure knight looked over his back. He hated jungles. Of all the biomes that were stored in the clockworks, jungles unnerved him the most. Their guide, who called herself Evera motioned out a scene, probably indicating something falling from the stars. Looking to his right, he saw that Nate had decided to tell everyone that the scene Evera depicted was a meteor shower that was going to hit them. The knight began to plant his forehead in his palm, and let out a light sigh. He decided to not even speak rule 56 of the order, don't question superiors. Then the Necron decided to say that she was a core incarnate.

Beginning to question the parties sanity, the azure knight edged away a bit. He found himself next to the the Necron commander. "I'm starting to get a bit unnerved by this." the azure knight joked to the commander. "Oh, sorry I forgot to introduce myself." he said, surprised by his lack of conduct "Benedict, squadron 547 of the recon corps." he said, saluting to the commander.

Axis:

I laughed. The Rose commander was just plain insane. Same with the necron. But the thing that really caught my eye was the girl that had just approached them. Whatever she had done, she had just taken out a swarm deadnaught in less then a second. Not to mention her story, which was a riddle on its own. With night descending on the party, I decided it was time to make a move. I had several swarm forces in the area, but they weren't like the others. "Attack." It was a simple order, but it would be effective. From the brush surrounding the party four knights emerged, they were all swarm infested.

The party was made up of a guardian, recon, striker, and commander. The thing that made the commander special was the fact that he was practically a living swarm seed. Infested with the same technique that Benedict had been. Only in death would they have their freedom back. I mentally called out the order again, attack. And with that, the swarm infested knights charged.

OOC: as you can tell, i don't have much time to make quick, short posts. So here's another lump of text. Let me know if there are any errors in it.
_______

Athena

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion as the Infected said, "One second, I need to deal with something." He grabbed the Necron and electrocuted him once more, then sent a vicious left hook into his stomach. He scowled and said, "Stay out of my way," then turned back to face me. He slashed at me with his blade, and I easily parried it with my spear. Snarling, he said, "Don't worry, your death WILL be painful!" I smirked and replied, "I'd like to see you try." Before we could begin the fight, the Necron desperately jabbed at the Infected's head and landed a solid, but useless, hit. An expression not unlike that of a rabid Wolver arose on the man's face, and he growled "Was...that supposed to hurt?" With that, six Dreadnaughts crawled out of the ground and charged.

A sadistic look in his eyes, he turned back to me and said, "Now that there's no interruptions, ready to die?" I rolled my eyes and said sarcastically, "Yes, that would be just lovely!" The Infected took a swing at me with his sword, but again, before I could respond, something interrupted. That arrogant jerk Nathaniel had teleported in between us and blocked the blow for me. Shooting a condescending look at the Infected, he said, "You probably shouldn't have done that." He glowed with a dark aura, and I could feel the evil energy emanating from his body.

Suddenly, the Necron approached once more, muttering, "Low-down, useless, spoiled little son of a-" he burned a mark into the Swarm's shoulder with a scream, but it quickly healed. The Infected slowly rose to his feet again and smirked, "You REALLY think you can harm me?" He ripped the skin off his shoulder and continued, "Your marks are weak."

A scowl growing on his face, the Necron said, "I almost hope you don't fall asleep. The Core, the Swarm, and all will be ripped from you once you enter my domain." With that, the Necron propelled himself away and went to a place where I spotted Winter, another Necron, and a few others. Suddenly, the Swarm-infested fool rushed towards the, and sent another wave of energy through the Necron. A cruel scowl on his face, he said, "If you really hated lies, you'd give up any hope of beating us." Turning to Nathaniel, he hissed sarcastically, "We'll settle this later." Teleporting away, I purse my lips; the fool had thought to give us an unpleasant present. Standing before me was a pack of Wolvers and an entire workforce of sleep-deprived Devilite Overtimers . Turning to Nathaniel, I said sourly, "You wanna help me mop up here?" He nodded, and a smile played upon my lips for a moment before I turned back to the monsters.

"Cleaning time."
-------

The Necron once again joined us and helped get rid of the Swarm pestilence. It took no more than a mere thirty seconds, and faster than you could say "Sweet flip-floppin Biscotti milk!", we were heading towards the others. The Necron broke the awkward cloud of silence that hovered above us and said, "What's our next move?"

With some assistance from Winter, Top said to us, " I say we stay here. We've got wounded, and it's best we leave them healing. They're very weak, even at this stage," Turning to the Necron, Top continued, "No offense, but yes. You, the commander and my sister should be resting now, not fighting. We should set up camp here, and waiting maybe a day or two." I puffed my chest out a little, a bit of pride swelling inside me. They had to rest, but I didn't. I smirked as Top tried to give everyone a stern look, but with Winter holding him and his shaking legs, he wasn't exactly the epitome of horrifying.

Sighing, the Necron sat down, a weary look about him. He looked lost in space, then apparently had a great revelation and pointed, "Look! That's where we need to go!" I turned my attention to where he was pointing and saw an elevator in the distance. Hmm.

Without warning, a barrage of black shards bombarded us, and I saw the small furry Gremlin that we'd captured before. Grinning like a maniac, he waved his Wrecker around and yelled, "Yo. Wassup dawgs?" Suddenly, a Knight appeared and Wolver-hugged the Gremlin, saying jovially, "How ya doing, Josiah? Good to see you alive, buddy! Man, I thought you were a goner when you didn't come back in time!" The embarrassed Gremlin muttered, "If you'll...put me down...maybe I'll tell you...all about it!" Chuckling, the Knight gently set the... Petite creature on the floor and announced, "Guys, meet the venerable Josiah Jeremy-" he was interrupted by a slap to the face. "For goodness sake, don't give them the whole thing!! It's embarrassing!" interrupted Josiah frustratedly. The Knight laughed heartily and patted Josiah on the back, almost toppling him like a domino. "Okay bud." Giving us a curious look, he continued, "I'd still like to know who you guys are."

The Necron proceeded with the formalities and shook the man's hand. "I'm Quexi, adopted heir to the Tribe Shaman of the Southern Chapter of the Necron." Ah, so his name was Quexi. The man nodded thoughtfully and inquired, "Shaman Tribe, you say? If I recall correctly, they were alternately known as the 'Watchers.' Is it really true that you guys can't shed blood without losing your own in equal amount?"

Quexi replied, "Yes, that's correct. If we kill, it's only if our blood is drawn. It's a religious thing with our...gods." He hesitated on those last words. The newcomer had a sour look on his face, but quickly recovered and laughed awkwardly. "Well, that certainly makes you unique. Have you met my friend Thrynn? He's a tiny mechanical dragon. I think I've heard him dubbed a 'battle sprite,' whatever that is."

Intrigued, Quexi asked, "You have a battle sprite with you?! I've always wanted to see one! Could you show him?" Within the minute, Top approached us, carrying an adorable young girl- oh dear. An Infected. She didn't look too bad; the furry ears and bushy tail gave her a cute kind of quality. She was a lucky one. Still, it must suck to be ridiculed for your appearance all the time...

Interrupting, Quexi muttered, "It's getting worse." I look at him, a confused look on my face. A groan interrupted us again. The other Necron was trying to sit up and looked to be in severe pain. Limping towards us, he asked, "Hey, has anyone seen my sword?"

Awkward silence.
-----
Gwen materialized out of nowhere and summoned the Necron's sword. She gave the new Knight and the short, pudgy Gremlin a stern look and reprimanded them. "Who are you? You don't belong here." Although the Knight's eyes widened and he fingered his rocket hammer nervously, Josiah seemed to be nothing short of annoyed. "Yo, lady! Excuuuuuse me! You don't belong here either, so GIT!" I rolled my eyes. I knew what was coming.

Gwen squirmed uncomfortably and replied regally, "You shall not speak to me that way. Now-" Josiah cut her off and mocked her. Making all kinds of moronic faces, he said, "...you shall not speak to me that way...what a total derp-face." Gwen's eyes flashed angrily, and i could tell she was thinking of making Gremlin stew.

Gwen scoffed with disgust. "If you really like my face that much, I can give you one just like it." Josiah put up his hands and took a tentative step backwards. "Eh, no thanks. I'll pass."

She turned back to the party. "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, we now need to continue our journey. I recognize that some of you are wounded, so if any of you don't feel like continuing, you may leave now, as it only gets harder from here." She started walking to the elevator. "So who's with me?"

Nathaniel raised his hand and said, "Yeah, I guess I am," then teleported next to Gwen. I scoffed in disdain: the lazy fool couldn't bother to walk a few meters. I nodded and shouted, "I'm with you," then strolled over. The Wolver-girl from earlier raised her hand and squeaked, "How do you expect to kill the entire Swarm? The Master's legion is thousands strong, with fully transformed Wolver-Knights, and other monster hybrids that can tear your flesh and kill you faster than you can even think. He has an army, and we're just eight people. This isn't an action movie, lady."

Gwen smiled and said, "My dear girl, you quite over-exaggerate the situation with the Swarm. The creatures we have been battling happen to be the rank and file troops in his vast legions. They are no stronger than ordinary monsters; in fact, they are slightly weaker in that they don't deal any special damage types. Their main advantage is numbers; they can always spawn new troops, while we cannot. They can be beaten."

Shrugging, the girl continued, "Also... one more thing... you have a very interesting smell. No... it's not that, you just smell like absolutely nothing. The other Valkyrie girl has a smell, but you don't-" I interrupted, my face flushing red.

"Excuse me? I have a smell? Are you TRYING to insult me?" The girl gulped and continued, "Everything has a smell, even the rocks and gemstones. Why is it that you don't have any smell at all?"

Gwen stifled a laugh and replied, "Regarding my lack of smell, I'm afraid I cannot explain it. I am as much a physical being as you are; you may touch me to confirm it, if you wish. Last I checked, I smelled like lavender, though it's possible that it wore off. The total lack of scent may just be one of the perks afforded me by my power." With that, we walked to the elevator.
------

We stepped off the platform and saw an enormous Dreadnaught, ready to kill us. I gripped my spear ever tighter and was about to charge when the creature crumbled to ashes. A small Drakon chirped giddily and waved for us to follow.
Gwen shrugged and asked, "Shall we heed the creature's beckoning and go where it takes us?"
------

I hate jungles. Hate 'em.
After hours of hacking through foliage, tripping on roots, and struggling through strange, tentacle-like, awfully grabby vines, we finally reached a clearing, where the sprite, Knight, and Josiah set down their baggage and set up camp. "Are you sure it's safe?" Winter asked nervously. "It's our home," replied the Knight.

Suddenly, a girl stepped through the foliage on the other side of the clearing. She was the dirtiest human being I have ever laid eyes on, more so even than the homeless that wandered the streets of Haven. Her white hair was oily and muddy, though oddly enough, it still looked well-brushed. Her plain white gown was tattered, worn, and discolored from constant use and lack of washing. She had bright, sparkling gray eyes that seemed to pierce into your very soul, and her face was kind, caring, and unusually beautiful.

But the strangest thing about her was her smell. She didn't stink of sweat or bacterial toxins, as one might expect from someone who clearly hadn't washed in nearly a year. She smelled only of earth and dirt, which, in comparison, was not an unpleasant scent.

She smiled, showing all her perfect white teeth, and merrily danced up to our group. But when she had gotten within a few meters of them, she stopped, folded her hands, and approached them with a regal gait. She curtsied to both Nathaniel and I, saluted to the Necron, and waved happily to everyone else.

She did not speak a single word.

Quexi walked over to the woman. "Why haven't you talked yet, and what are you hiding?" he asked in a businesslike manner. "Why would you wear a dress in the battlefield?" I ask her. "And why are you so dirty?" Quexi then proceeded to communicate the messages in sign language. The girl listened intently, then replied through a series of gestures. Why haven't you talked yet? She put a finger to her mouth and gave him a sad look. What are you hiding? She shrugged. Why would you wear a dress in the battlefield? She twirled in it and looked at him questioningly with a smile on her face. And why are you so dirty? She laughed and shrugged.

She took Quexi by the hand and sat down with him. She beckoned to Winter, who came over and asked, "Hi! I'm Winter. What's your name?" The girl thought for a moment, found a stick, and wrote out her name. Arthur overheard the question, and said, "We call her Courage, 'cause she's totally fearless."

But when the girl was finished writing, the letters spelled "Evera."

Arthur didn't seem to notice- or care. "Courage is really an amazing leader. She must think pretty highly of you if she trusts you already." Evera took Winter's hands and closed her eyes. Winter decided to do the same. Arthur shook his head and quipped, "After several years, she still never ceases to surprise me. Do you have any idea what she's doing?" he asked Quexi.

When Evera opened her eyes, Winter stood up and held out her palm. A small point of light appeared above it, and grew into a little ball. Gently, she touched one of Quexi's wounds with it, and healed it instantly, and Evera smiled gently.

Quexi muttered, "Concentration of two high mental capabilities, focused on a single point in space to condense the energy around us into a pure state of function. Basically like taking the oxygen particles that float amidst water and magnetizing or pulling them to a single fixed point, creating a pocket or bubble of pure air."

Quexi then looked back at Evera and added, "Do you not talk because it will betray your title? Or because of a physical error, or because something from afar keeps you from betraying information?"

Arthur piped up again. "She's told us some incredible stories -on paper, 'cuz she can't talk. She once described her encounter with the Master; did you know that he was a veritable gentleman at one point? It's true! He's long since lost it, though. She told us another story about how she met the Arch Valkyrie for a banquet. The way she tells it, upon meeting each other, they both paid homage to each other out of respect. Imagine that! A Valkyrie bowing to you! I'd never get that to happen to me in a million years!"

Arthur nodded thoughtfully, then said, "But I gotta say, her weirdest story was about how she was once an apple. She always tells that one in charades. Wanna tell it to our visitors, Courage?" Evera looked at him with frustration for a moment, sighed, and beckoned for an apple, which Arthur promptly produced and handed to her. She arced her hands over her head and circled them down, then took a few bites of the apple. She even carved out a few slices with her knife and fed them to her listeners. As she did so, she looked up to the stars, pointed out a few, and wiggled her fingers as she slowly brought down her hand (presumably representing a meteor shower). When she finished the apple, she pointed to herself, then to the apple's core.

"See? She's an apple," concluded Arthur. "Really weird, right?" Evera shook her head and shrugged, obviously irritated.

Suddenly, Nathaniel shouted, "Guys! I think she's talking about how there's a meteor shower heading our way, and that she's a planet's incarnate!" Well. That was random. This guy was a total maniac. I snickered as Top said to his sister, "Go back to sleep, Nathaniel's gone loony."
---

Apparently, Nathaniel was very touchy. He stared at Top and said arrogantly, "Excuse me, Mister, who has incredible powers? " I growled and said, "Shut up and learn some humility, will you, you idiotic little piece of-" I then proceeded to use every swear word I could ever think of. Top's eyes widened, then he said, "I thought the girl, Courage, or whatever, was telling us she was an apple, not something about a planet's incarnate....." he shot a glance at Evera, who looked pleased with Nathaniel.

"You're kidding right? You ARE kidding, right?" I asked Nathaniel, hesitatingly.

Quexi verified this strange proposition and chimed in, "She came from the Core, and she's saying how Cradle's pieces came from the stars to go around the Core, protecting it. I can't tell yet if, perhaps, she is the Core, because I have nothing to measure her powers with....but there is a chance she's just another Core Blood...." I pursed my lips; as far as I knew, the rest of the Core Blood were somewhere in the Master's fortress, dead, or swirling amongst the living matter of the Ocean of Twisted Beings...
---

Suddenly, a squad of Infected Knights charged at us, swords drawn.

Evera's eyes widened, and she leapt up, pointing to the infested knights, then drew two wicked looking daggers from her hip. The Knight activated his hammer and Josiah drew his Robo Wrecker. The cheeky little Gremlin cracked his neck and shoulders and declared, "This is gonna be a Piece. Of. Cake. Be very afraid, Swarm Knights!" The Knight shifted on his feet nervously and said, "If you say so..." He set the nozzle of the hammer on the ground and loaded a pair of Magnus bullets into the chamber.

Evera charged at one Infected, ducked under his swing, and disarmed him with a single deft move. She peered into his vacant eyes and waved at them for some strange reason while the strange Knight repeatedly shot at the Swarm guardian's shield in an intentional attempt to break it. Meanwhile, Josiah armed a Deconstructor and tossed it to the guardian. I decided to chime in, and bashed my shield into the Infected Guardian's. It shattered immediately, and I impaled him on my spear. Spitting on his corpse, I muttered a curse and kicked him off of my spear, then flicked the black blood off of the shaft. Too easy.

((OOC: I'm just continuing from the Azure Knight's talking to me. I don't have the time to get in everything beforehand.))

The pain in my leg had subsided due to brace's support, but whether or not the brace would hold up over time remained to be seen.
The knight in Azure Armor edged over to me. "I'm starting to get a bit unnerved by this." the Azure Knight joked. "Oh, sorry I forgot to introduce myself." he said. "Benedict, squadron 547 of the recon corps." he said, saluting to me.

"At ease soldier. The 547th, eh? I've heard good things from them."

Before Benedict could respond though, Josiah's voice filled the clearing. "This is gonna be a Piece. Of. Cake. Be very afraid, Swarm Knights!" Arthur shifted on his feet nervously and said, "If you say so..."
Scanning the scene for the cause of Josiah's outburst, I found what I was looking for. Four Swarm-infested Knights rushed at us; a Recon, a Guardian, a Striker, and a Commander.
My sword was out and ready in a second. I glanced towards Benedict.

"Well, it looks like you'll have a chance to make your Squadron proud now." With that, I leaped into battle. On one leg that is.

The others had already taken care of the Guardian, so I focused my attention on the Recon. I telekinetically levitated a metal bowl inside the camp, and hurled it at the Recon, hitting him dead center in the chest. Snarling at me in rage, he ran forward and cloaked.

Splendid...

I slashed out, but hit nothing but air. In a heartbeat, the infested knight had uncloaked and jabbed at my braced leg, scoring it down the side. Spinning on my good leg, I tried to catch him with his guard down. But the knight was smarter than that. He speedily backed up, just out of my sword's reach.

So why use a sword?

Continue into another spin, I molded my sword down so into a spindly hammer. I knew it would break in one hit, so I had to make this one count. My momentum increasing every millisecond, I stretched my arm outward as far as I could.
The connection was bone jarring. The Recon's temple crumpled inward like it was made of miracloth. My makeshift mace had splintered out over the clearing. The Swarm Knight's body had sunk to the ground as well, but I could tell he wasn't finished yet. And here I was, weaponless...

I stop and quickly manifest a bright white room. I reach out with the corners of my mind and pull someone over. A girl. She floats into a chair and sits down at the manifested white table. "What's your name?" I ask...

(addressing Raechal's unconscious form)

I search her mind. I had tried to refrain from doing so, but I could see she was going for her weapon. "Raechal," I said as I found it. "Sister, younger, of Top. Oh, so that's the guy in our party lugging around the unconcsious girl..." I look to the dagger so close to her hands. "You won't need that. This is the domain beyond domains. The realm of sleep." I tilt my head. "Can I tell you a secret?" I ask...

I smile and a teacup flies across the room and lands in front of her.

"I am not really a Necron," I whisper. "I don't really know what I am, but...I'm not a Necron. I have a sister somewhere on this planet, presumably powerful, who might destroy us all with the wave of a hand. The secret is.....that Nathan is not our chance of survival from the Master. I am."

I look at the girl, and seeing her tear up...I couldn't bear it. "Of course you can." I smile and change the landscape, and we're sitting in a tree, branches parallel to each other. The sun is setting, and the fields of green grass wave in constant motion. I close my eyes as the sun sinks behind a hill, turning everything to night, and light up the tree and fields of grass with fluorescent light, and shining butterflies fly around. "Tell me anything."