Desert Storm [Open]

[Jehanne]

Word of Ranko's demise had already reached the Empire as Jehanne arrived on camel back with what remained of the army that went out to investigate the ring of fire which has already burned out. The townspeople came out of their houses and looked up to the Warrior Knight in awe as she entered the city for the first time, taking the black bag that had the former Empress' head inside and pulling out her head to show to all those present. Gasps filled the air as parents covered the eyes of their children to spare them from such a sight. As a message to her people and her enemies, Jehanne tied up Ranko's hair in her trademark ponytail and then used it to spin the head around. Throwing it through the air and towards the castle tower wall up above, grabbing the ruined Kasul and hurling it after the head impaling it on the tower where everyone could see it. The message has been sent.

Upon entering pass the castle gates and dropping down from camel back Jehanne began naming her new generals, who named their new commanders, who named their new captains before ordering that the best blacksmiths in town be brought to her. Jehanne wanted armor that was more mobile and could take more damage, as well as shields. She wanted blades that were sharp enough to cut through some of the hardest surfaces known in Jherra. And she wanted a message sent to the surrounding territories of the desert; those ran by loyalists of Ranko, the loyalists of Chloe, the cult of Maricul and cult of Beelzebub. A message to tell them that she wished only peace and to reunite them all under the banner of the Empire. Each reply back would read the same and could be summarized in four words: we will not bow. So be it.

After receiving the updated armor and weapons Jehanne set out with her troops to the nearest settlement where the Ranko loyalists were known to be. It would seem that those loyal to Empress Ranko and Empress Chloe would set aside their differences and work together to achieve a common goal. Across the battlefield in front of the settlement Jehanne could see those devoted to Ranko with their sword and shields raised, while those loyal to Chloe were nearby with their rifles in hand. No doubt the intended cover fire for the others. It was good to see that even if they were on opposite sides Jehanne was inspiring unity. The Warrior Knight looked back to her own army and gave the signal for them to move forward, their own swords and shields at the ready as they marched for the defenders of the settlement.

The Desert Storm has begun.

[Alex]

The knights moved forward one by one and side by side like pawns on a chess board from A to H. The militant on the other side of the battlefield remained exactly where they stood those with rifles aiming them forward towards the knights while the foot soldiers were ready to charge in but they refrained for one unknown reason or another. That reason would become clear to the knights as the last thing they'd hear was a "tick" before the ground beneath their feet erupted making all the armor in the world meaningless.

[Jehanne]

Tick! Jehanne's eyes widened as she knew that sound and that her men didn't have a chance to get out of the way of the blast before it went off and their bodies blew into pieces right in front of her eyes.

"Landmines."



"They have landmines. Archers!"

The archers in the back rows of the army raised up their arrows into the sky and aimed it on an arch releasing the arrows and sent them raining down upon the heads of the militant. The Warrior Knight jumped down from her horse and drew her long sword as she stepped forward. She knew that with her speed she'd be able to get out of the way of the blast of the mines as soon as she heard the tick. Setting them off and leaving a path for the knights behind her to memorize and follow where they didn't have to worry about any more surprises. The archer doubling as cover but with her speed she didn't have to worry about the bullets either.

[Alex]

The swordsmen formed a perimeter around the gunmen and raised up their shields to protect against the arrows. A small round yellow ball fell against the sand out in front of Jehanne out of reach of her sword but close enough to cause damage as it went off. It didn't explode but released a massive sonic boom that shattered the eardrums of all present to hear it. Even if Jehanne only proved to be momentarily deaf her soldiers were fucked while the militant all had their ears plugged to protect from the sonic grenade. As soon as she went deaf the second tick came and history repeated itself as the bitch stepped on the claymore mine directly in front of her.

[Jehanne]

Jehanne looked up ahead of the little round ball that hit the ground and prepared herself for an explosion, but she wouldn't get an explosion. Instead she would feel her eardrums shatter as everything went deaf and the explosion beneath her feet began. Her body adapting quickly as she moved right over the claymore before it could finish exploding. Energy of azure poured out from her eyes and engulfed her ears empowering the life force within them, healing the damage from the shatter eardrums and giving her back hearing. But there was nothing she could do about the rest of her army who now had to work without the use of their hearing as she began looking out into the direction the grenade was thrown.

Her search brought her to the Blind Assassin's position to the west of the field at long distance. That was some throwing arm. Bringing up her sword to her shoulders and then swinging it downward right into what remained of the used sonic grenade Jehanne sent it flying right back to her.

[Alex]

Shrapnels flew out in every direction from the claymore, some hitting the back of Jehanne's head and her armor while she moved over the claymore to reach the sonic grenade. Fukari could hear the sword making contact with the remains of the sonic grenade even from this distance. The grenade going up and being carried by the wind currents blowing towards her before coming down in an arch and being caught in the half devil's hand and tucked away. Recyclable grenades. Fukari was too far away for Jehanne's eyes to see anything more than a small object of pink and white. The Blind Assassin slipped a hand into her jacket and activated the detonator inside.

To the right-hand of the army to the mountains that separated the desert from Moon Valley came another explosion they couldn't hear. A rock slide commence as large rocks hit the ground and broke into several medium size rocks that headed for Jehanne and her soldiers. Smoke and debris being led in by the wind masking them from the gunmen across the field who had their position memorized and began shooting at them. They wouldn't be able to hear that either. If they managed to avoid the rocks there would be bullets, if they avoided bullets there would be rocks. It wasn't going to be a fun afternoon for them.

[Jehanne]

After golfing the grenade back to Fukari Jehanne sent a number of quick hand signals to her soldiers to advance. It was clear that the Blind Assassin and the militant were on the same page which also meant the militant knew where the mines were and would be looking to avoid them. The natives of Jherrazad also knew this area better than anyone so the soldiers were able to make a very good educated guess on where the best places to lay mines were and avoid them from there. They were covered either way. Then came the next explosion over by the mountains.

Her men were already on the move at this point using their shields to protect against the bullets, which were made of a strong enough steel to withstand them meanwhile some of the soldiers were taking out by the rocks while others weren't and got out of the range from the mountain area now engaging the enemy soldiers directly with their blades. One large rock came for Jehanne but she backed up, timed herself and then jumped through the opening created when the large rock cracked open to form slightly smaller rocks that now went pass her. The archers had stayed away from the blast and resulting damage altogether and aimed their arrows at Fukari at Jehanne's signal and fired at the Blind Assassin.

[Alex]

The sound of soldiers feet marching forward came to the Blind Assassin's ears, soon followed by bullets colliding and denting the steels and blade clashing against blade while bows were released sending arrows into her direction. Fukari set a hand on the hilt of the Katana at her waist, sheathing it and releasing several slashes that cut through the dimensional barriers in the air in order to slice through the arrows cutting them into pieces regardless of distance and resheathed it all in the same instance.

[Jehanne]

That was definitely no human warrior and she was definitely not wielding a human weapon. However, the archers were only the set up as the real attack came from the tip of Jehanne's sword. Releasing a beam of holy energy out from the tip that would cover the distance in seconds while Fukari was focused on slicing the arrows and hitting her square in the chest by the time she resheathed the blade.

[Alex]

The holy energy connected and made contact with the energy shield that formed around her body protecting her from such a projectile from the already equipped person-shields she got through a contact in Kari. It was good to have friends in high places that hated the same people you did. The claymore mines weren't the only thing in the sand. As the knights fought against the militant something moved the sand from underneath,closing in on the knights from behind. In the seconds to pass a mechanical scorpion tail erupted from the sand grabbing a couple of knights around its tail and sending them plummeting straight into the nearby claymores causing them to explode before moving back underneath the desert sand.

[Jehanne]

This woman had a bad case of OCD to be this well prepared for the battle. One by one though Fukari's resources were being exhausted and it was only a matter of time now until they ran out completely. The scorpion's tale came out and grabbed a couple of her men as some to the side of it began hacking and slashing at the tail to slice through it, ready to hold up their shields to protect from the shrapnel that would come from the erupting claymore while the rest of the soldiers in the front row kept pushing against the enemy forces.

Jehanne signaled for one of the left over archers to head back to the Empire and get them reinforcement. The Empire wasn't that far from here and they only needed to hold out a little while longer before a second and third wave joined the battlefield to use their numbers against the militant and Fukari's traps. The Warrior Knight herself began a charge moving to the right of Fukari with her sword in her right hand and a shield on her left arm.

[Alex]

Chunks of metal flew through the air at the swords which slashed and hacked at the tail before the scorpion finished digging its way back underneath the sand. Seconds later the scorpion would rise back up through the sand revealing its full body to the Jherrazad soldiers forcing them back out of fear of being annihilated.

It flew through the air above the ground and then dug its way back underneath the sand keeping the soldiers on the defensive as it set off more of the mines they had tried so hard to avoid in the first place. What didn't hit the soldiers the shrapnel would get. The shrapnel wasn't enough to kill but being hit by shrapnel was no fun experience for anyone and what it did do were slow you down. And when you slow down...

The enemy catches up.

As Jehanne grew closer to Fukari's position uphill on top of a large pile of sand, Fukari set off the C4 that made up the empty space currently between them. Setting off explosion, after explosion, after explosion, in the Warrior Knight's wake until finally the real surprise would come. Emerging out from the sand hill was a large red mechanical device that began sucking up everything and anything that wasn't bolted down to the ground.

The machine set its sight on Jehanne and opened its mouth causing a powerful vacuum to activate threatening to drag Jehanne into its depths and rip the woman apart.

[Jehanne]

Jehanne continued on her charge uninterrupted moving to the left, right and jumping to avoid the explosions mixed with her speed to cover that distance. The Warrior Knight would soon be forced into a halt as yet another surprise from Fukari emerged from the desert sand to block her path from the target.

It was massive.

The vacuum activated and Jehanne found herself being pulled towards the large mouth of the machine beast, now hanging on for dear life at the edge of its mouth. Using all her strength to pull over the edge and climb up on the side of the machine while it was absorbing the surrounding sand. Working over to its back and balancing on top of it, searching for the power supply from there to pull the plug on the machine. Meanwhile reinforcement arrived with a catapult loading it up and firing at the scorpion as it came out of the ground with intent to blow it up.

[Alex]

The Blind Assassin leaped up on the back of the machine sheathing her Katana swinging it towards the Warrior Knight's chest. It didn't matter if she avoided the slash, blocked or otherwise. The point of the slash was to keep her away from the power supply while positioning herself in front of it as the machine started moving on all fours towards the remainder of her army.

The scorpion crawled back under the sand to avoid the projectiles of the catapult. Digging through the underground and coming up unseen behind the knights handling the catapult bringing it tail back up from the sand to grab them and submerge them underground with it.

[Mewtwo]

The roar of a jeep echoed across the desert as two figures sat in it, neither could believe that they were heading out of one danger and into another, they were here to explore this region for their own curiosity. Both of them know pretty much about Isfaro already, Jherrazad would be their next stop, thankfully they had researched the area thoroughly before embarking on their journey. That was why they were using a jeep instead of trekking across the desert, however their sourjoun through the desert would not be without danger and action.

”Hey did you hear that Nadia?” Rebecca asked, her being in the driver seat, as she was the only one out of the two to have a driver’s licence, even though it was practically useless in Genesis. But once a cop, always a cop, as she had insisted she drive if Nadia didn’t have a licence.

”Yeah, sounds like something big is going on,” Nadia said sitting up straighter, they then drove on top of a sand dune as Nadia took out a binocular and observed the battle going below them, ”holy crap, is that some sort of giant machine?” she asked as Rebecca took the binocular and looked at the red machine as her jaw dropped.

”Well this world never ceases to amaze me,” she said to her partner as Nadia had a grin on her face, ”oh no, I know that grin, please don’t tell me you’re going to fight that thing!”

”Those guys look like they need some help, it would be a shame not to help them,” Nadia said with a Cheshire grin as Rebecca sighed. Even though she hate to admit it, but Nadia was right there was no way she could ignore them either especially against an enemy such as what they were facing now.

”Well at least have a better plan then just charging ahead,” Rebecca said as Nadia only looked at her, a silent word exchanged between the two girls, ”fine…but if I get killed I’m blaming you!” Rebecca said as she stepped on the gas while Nadia rummaged behind the jeep’s back before taking out a rocket launcher as she stood up and primed it to fire. When the scorpion machine dove underground Rebecca slowed the jeep down, her foot ready to accelerate in case it was coming for them, both their heartbeats hammering, but then it emerged behind where the catapults were as it began to attack the knights. Without wasting a second the jeep drove straight in again, once it was in range Nadia fired a rocket straight towards the machine, hoping that the explosive would hit the scorpion machine.