On the Road for Moon Valley [Chapter XIX]

[Sincara]

The Netherrealm was gaining ground in Jherra quickly and the Resistance wasn't gaining any ground back. A fact Sincara intended to change now that Kain had ordered her and Gabrielle to infiltrate Moon Valley to find the demon seal and cut off one of the Netherrealm prime advantages in this fight.

It is time

Gabrielle and Sincara set off on the road for Moon Valley, taking the left over horses Kain had in stock as they needed every available vehicle in stock to fend off the coming Netherrealm invasion led by the Crimson Devil. Which worked perfectly for the two as they were more comfortable on creatures like horses anyway. Going down the dirt path Sincara looked up to the small mountain town up in the distance.

"We'll have to abandon the horses a couple miles north. Cut through the trees. Horses take up too much space and make too much noise."

[Gabrielle]

Gabrielle stayed to the right of Sincara as they went down the dirt road which led to the small mountain town. From what Sincara had told her Moon Valley wasn't as advanced as Kari was but still far more advanced than what she saw back in Jherrazad when she first visited the city with Zora. The world these demons came from was located right under the city and if Gabrielle had to venture a guess then the gateway to the realm was no doubt heavily guarded. They may be able to sneak inside the city but they may be forced to break right on through once they found the seal if a distraction wouldn't be enough to lure guards away from the seal. For Gabrielle it was just another day at the park.

"Any idea what we'll find? Aside from a bunch of demons and a gateway?"

[Madara Uchiha]

Murkuro Rokudo was heading towards Moon Valley, though he didn't know it at the time. The trident was in his left hand, though it wasn't fully extend. His skull eyepatch was on his right eye, and his middle school jacket was open, revealing a cameo T-shirt. It had been a while since he came here from Japan, and he had yet to see Tsuna, or Reborn, so it was safe to assume that they weren't here, or that they weren't here yet. He could see a small settlement in the distance, and was thankful, maybe there he could get some food. The journey was uneventful, until about 4 kilometers from the town. In front of him he heard something large, or two medium sized somethings trotting on the dirt. He ran faster to see two people on horses. He couldn't make out what they were talking about, but he didn't really care, that was until his stomach grumbled from the lack of food. Thinking of the pros and cons of yelling out to them, or trying to run up and catch up to them, he decided the latter. He began to sprint up to them, and got about 50 meters behind them. However, his hunger was beginning to catch up to him, and he slowed down. Hopefully one of the two heard him, and would stop for him.

[Sincara]

"I expect-"

Sincara was cut off by the sound of gunfire as bullets hit the ground by the horse's feet causing the horse to panic, lifting up into the air and forcing Sincara to hold on as more shots fired at the pair. Brown eyes looked up to see a total of 15 Vulture's troops with the old equipped AK-47 and light armor. Similar to the soldiers who were stationed outside of Moon Valley when she was chasing down Darkseid. Sincara moved away from the shots on the horse and drew her own Six Shooter aiming it towards the chest of one of the soldiers uphill and fired.

[Gabrielle]

People couldn't even finish their sentences anymore. Gabrielle dropped down from her horse at the sound of gunfire and grabbed her wooden staff strapped to the horse as one of the Vulture troops closed in on her position.

The horse Gabrielle was riding took off, not wanting to be anywhere near the gunfire and who could blame it? Gabrielle herself still hasn't gotten used to the sound that guns made but she endured. This wasn't her first battle and it certainly wasn't about to be her last as the Vulture's troop got back up to his feet with his back turned to Gabrielle.

Soon after knocking the soldier back down to the ground a second Vulture's troop closed in, once he was close enough Gabrielle swung the staff downward, her body following suit to sweep the man off his feet.

Gabrielle couldn't remember the last time she used her staff. It's felt like ages since she felt the hard wood between her fingers and it brought her back to a time, that while hectic, were so much simpler than now. But this was no time to reminisce. Seeing soldiers charging towards Murkuro, Gabrielle ran over to intercept.

"Are you- Hold on."

Gabrielle spun around and collided the end of her staff into a running soldier.

"Are you all right?"

[Ayen]

“EXPELLIARUMUS!”

A red jet of light flashed through the air and disarmed a sniper from the surrounding trees who had their sights set on Gabrielle before their arms and legs were tied up by the witch's magic. Zora, against the wishes of Kain and Gabrielle, had followed the two out of Kari and finally caught up to them just in time to save Gabrielle from being shot by a coward who hid in the trees. She ran over to the blond, not paying any attention to the other man for the time being.

“Haven't even made it to Moon Valley yet and already you nearly get yourself killed. Good thing I decided to tag along.”

Some things just never changed.

[Madara Uchiha]

Murkuro was stunned, a random attack on the people he was trying to get to. Men began to charge Murkuro, but one of the people he tried to get their attention knocked away some of the men. In response lights his ring, and activates his box, to summon his mist owl. It began to fly to the battle. The owl finds the closest target, a larger sized man, and swept down, and began to attack his eyes. Murkuro was stood there, due to the hunger behind the battle, though his right eye having a flame on it. He turned to the man who saved him, and nodded at him. "Yeah, thanks"

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The larger man, charged Murkuro, because it was his owl, and swatted at Murkuro. This did succeed, and Murkuro fell back. Murkuro laughed, and his eye changed forms.

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Out of nowhere, another Murkuro appeared, and charged the same man. The man swatted again, but it faded through the illusion. Then another Murkuro appeared, and charged the man. Though the man knew it was an illusion, did not swat at him, but he was hit with a rock thrown by the real Murkuro. The man was enraged, and charged Murkuro, only to end with Murkuro's trident stabbed through his skull. The man fell, though the trident was stuck. Murkuro desperately tried to get the trident out, though other soldiers charged at him.

[Sincara]

((Battle isn't over. I said there were 15 soldiers, Gabrielle only fought 5 and killed none. I shot one in the chest, but he had armor on and Zora only tied one sniper up. There's 9 who hasn't been engaged not including the sniper who brings the total up to 16.))

Sincara charged full speed ahead on the horse as she continued to fire from the Six Shooter. Once she got in close, Sincara removed the hat on her head and the sharpened rims began to spin wildly as she swung it downward and beheaded a passing soldier before turning the horse to the side to avoid more gun shots and placed the hat back on her head, firing a single explosive bullet into the ground by the soldiers feet to knock them back.

[Gabrielle]

Gabrielle turned her head upon hearing the familiar cries of the young witch and she was surprised to see that the child had followed them all this way, not to mention not all too pleased about the fact. Sparing her the pain of a bullet notwithstanding.
"Zora, what are you doing here? You were told to stay in Kari."
The Battling Bard turned back to the trees, noticing other figures moving among them she drew her sais.

And threw them right into the snipers taking them down.
"Stay by me."

[Ayen]

"Zora, what are you doing here? You were told to stay in Kari."

“You may not have noticed but I don't take direction all that well.”

"Stay by me."

Zora raised an eyebrow and then smiled as she replied,

“What did I just get through saying?”

Another jet of light cast out from her wand, this one like a blue flame that set one soldier's hair on fire before the leg binding curse tied his legs up and caused him to fall backward onto the ground being unable to get back up to his feet.

“Although, I suppose just this once...”

Zora stood at Gabrielle's side with her wand and staff at the ready to fight off the Vulture's troops together.

“I'll stay close.”

[/blockquote]

[Madara Uchiha]

((I modified my post, as I misread the others, though it still should fit with in the thread. Sorry for the mess up.))

Mukuro finally pulled out his trident, and was able to switch his eye back to the one with the flame. This helped with him dealing with his hunger, so he was able to fight more proficiently. The two previous Mukuro clones vanished with the changing of his eye. Soldier began to rush in, though they were stopped by the owl. While being distracted, Mukuro stabbed the soldier closest to him in the side, causing him to collapse. The other soldiers tried to get closer to Mukuro, but the owl prevented most of their movements. Quickly looking around, Mukuro located the other three, and rushed to them, keeping his trident in his right hand. "Sorry for interrupting the party, just let me know what I can do to help." By now, the owl was defeated, and returned to Mukuro's box, and Mukuro raised his trident towards the group of soldiers near him.

[Gabrielle]

"Follow my lead."
Reinforcement came in the form of swords and men in black robes and hoods that was different to the Vulture's troops but charged at the group with the same conviction the Vulture's troops carried. There was something not right about this. Were these people being controlled by the Netherrealm? Gabrielle didn't have time to think on this matter further as the first one made his charge.

"I don't think we're dealing with natural people here. Can either of you sense anything off about these men?" she asked hoping either Zora's magics or the new person will have some way to confirm her thoughts. Gabrielle stayed by Zora making sure that anyone who closed in on their position would have go to through her first.

And that just wasn't going to happen.

[Sincara]

Sincara jumped off of her horse and rolled just seconds before hitting the ground to lessen the blow given her height and and height and distance from horse to ground. Once on her feet she found herself surrounded by more soldiers with their weapons raised but Sincara spun a full 360 degree, firing off from her revolver amidst the spin taking down each soldier that surrounded her. One bullet missed a vital organ and the soldier was on the ground bleeding out but still capable of speech and movement but Sincara was quick to aim the gun at him from where she stood.

"Who ordered you to attack us?"

The soldier said nothing and merely looked up towards the child.

"Do you want to die?"

The soldier only chuckled and then drew a grenade, pulling the pin and holding it in his hand, "HAIL DARKSEID!"

Sincara pulled back on the trigger of her revolver, an energy barrier cast from the end of the barrel protecting her from the blast of the grenade and being knocked away as the soldier was blown apart. What he said struck a cord with Sincara and she was quickly up to her feet reloading the revolver. The god that had evaded her grasp, the god that had stripped man of his will was near and this time...

He wasn't getting away.

[Ayen]

"Follow my lead."

“EVERTE STATUM!”

Zora knocked back several of the charging men in black hoods, at least as many as she had time to hit to lessen the load on Gabrielle as she didn't venture too far away from the Battling Bard.

"I don't think we're dealing with natural people here. Can either of you sense anything off about these men?"

“I'm not sure. It feels like they've lost a piece of themselves. Like all traces of individuality has been lost. They're little more than puppets.”

Zora's attention was then taken to the eruption of a grenade over yonder where Sincara was.

“Bloody hell!”

[Madara Uchiha]

Mukuro nodded at Gabrielle and with his eye still on fire, he charged in on a near by soldier, attempting to stab him through the soldier's lung. Skillfully, the soldier got out of the direct line of fire, but the trident nicked his arm. Quickly, the soldier took his Ak-47 seven and attempted to smash in Mukuro head, though failed as Mukuro side stepped him, and proceeded to hit him with the butt of his trident.

“I'm not sure. It feels like they've lost a piece of themselves. Like all traces of individuality has been lost. They're little more than puppets.”

"Hm... that would explain the lack of intuition that these people were using, and the fact that they seem to show very little pain... I wond... Mukuro was cut off as a soldier tackled him into the ground, attempting to smother him to kill him. The man was to heavy to physically lift him up, so instead his eye change into a single line, and Mukuro faded away, only to reappear next to the man, and like the soldier before, hit him with the butt of his trident. That is when he heard the explosion go off, and Mukuro turned towards the noise with his trident horizontal to the ground at his back. "Are you ok!