Zodiac Chapter 1: Down The Rabbit Hole...

El hated to ask the Taurus not to be as protective as he was being, it was just in his nature, but it seemed like it was the only way they would be able to figure out and get out of this forest safely. If they just tried to rush to their destination without figuring this forest out, then how were they going to be able to leave? The forest was keen on not allow them to leave as it was. They almost had everything figured out, so they could see Taurus when they final got to the Earth Sanctuary.


As Tzita's image began to fade beside him, he remained as calm as he could, with nothing to hide. Even though her image was fading, he could still feel her beside him, and grabbed her hand with a reassuring squeeze. "Tzita," He said, not calling her Lady L'sia this time. "Are you hiding something?" He wondered if the forest was responding to something else when it came to Tzita besides her current mood. She was calm, sure, but it seemed like she wanted to leave in much the same hurry as the Taurus. He wasn't sure why the forest was responding differently to her.

"Voice, does the forest respond differently to magical beings. I don't want to be separated from my companion. Is there something wrong?"

"The forest only responds to the waves around it," the voice said now with more clarity, since the Taurus' vibrations from its spectral aura coating them dying down enough for the voice to speak to them on a normal, calmed level. "And since I don't have to yell anymore, I can keep the path completely stable for you. As long as you all remain in a state of contentment or at least no sort of severe shift in emotion too suddenly, you shouldn't get lost." Before, their emotions would have sent them spiraling off in some sort of infinitely looping direction based on simply their emotional state alone and the direction of their compass would not function properly.

"I, myself, can also adjust my mood to keep the forest as one single solid portion or broken environments in order to help travelers walk more easily or make the paths more hazardous. If I am not helping or hindering people actively, then it all depends on their wavelengths and energies alone. There is no difference between the beings; only the measure of energy of any kind is being released at one time." Whatever it was that was speaking to them, its voice was now as clear as a bell. The forest would completely shift to that of a normalized forested environment; trees green and completely solid, without bend nor sway. "There, now. Is that better for you all? Your device should lead you straight there with no problems, now."

So El had been correct in how he thought the forest worked. Thankfully the voice was able to stabilize everything before him and Tzita got separated, once Taurus left. It meant Taurus had been the one creating the distortions that prevented them from hearing the voice as crisp and clearly as they could right now. El was glad that his hearing was so keen, regardless, or that could have been a harder ordeal to overcome.

While he was prepared to hear with Tzita had to say, he was more keenly interested in finding the Sacred Beast that the Pisces spoke up and told them about. So interested, in fact, that he was was already looking around for the clue towards where it could be. As such, he missed Tzita's tender looks and her initially soft words. "Sure, I think find this beast and getting to the Sanctuary is more important. We've left Taurus waiting long enough." El nodded in assurance on this thought before rushing off towards where the Ankh was leading them.

"Quick! It went that way!" Even if El weren't paying attention to what was going on, Tzita's eyes, with or without their power, were already trained for these types of situation. It took her a lot more effort and concentration to keep up this time, but at the very least, she wouldn't lose sight of the Sacred Beast so easily. "Right!" she cried, slapping his right shoulder profusely, just in case he didn't know which direction.

El's sight was sharp, especially with the forest so clear and unmoving, like it had been; his hearing was just as sharp. Tzita's directions were unneeded, but not unwanted. If they supplemented each other, then he supposed that the fleet footed sacred beast would have that much of a harder time trying to shake them. However, the voice he heard while running after it made him wonder if, perhaps, it wasn't attempting to escape them at all and something else entirely. They hadn't presented any threat to it as it were, after all.

"It said we're being followed." He relayed to Tzita, taking a sharp gaze over his shoulder to see if there was anything unusual behind them, unusual in the sense that it was something that looked out of place. This world was all unusual to him, but he was starting to get used to it. "It could be that guy dipped in black from earlier." Though he didn't suspected that Tzita would know who he was talking about. The only ones who had probably seen the man were himself, and possibly Taurus. Tzita had still inebriated by the forest at the time.

El really hated to do this, because he knew that he probably wouldn't hear the end of it later, but it seemed like he and the bunny were moving so fast that even their various thought processes was moving faster than Tzita could comprehend. It wasn't her fault, presently, for she couldn't hear the thing that they were chasing. Still, with her outburst, she was giving away valuable information.

Sucking in a breath, "You got it." El nodded and burst straight forward like he'd hit a dash panel from Sonic, adding to his running speed, as the beast pass them to go in the opposite direction, ignoring Tzita's direction. To that, as he knew she would say something, he simply smirked and placed a finger to his lips. "Ssh." If they continued forward then it would seem as if whatever they were following hadn't changed direction. They had the Ankh, so it would be simple for them to find whatever it was they were looking for again. In addition to this, if they needed to lead whatever was follow them away from the area entirely, then they could always come back and whatever they were following would probably be more receptive to them since they'd helped it out. El was thinking long term here, since this mission wasn't suppose to be a quick and easy campaign in the first place.

"Don't worry Lady L'sia, just trust me." He would get her what she wanted, he could guarantee that. All he needed from her was a small bit of patience. He hoped he'd never given her any reason to doubt him, so far.

What emerged from the shadows was one of the mechanical servants of the shadows; a dog-like humanoid machine known as a 'Blackhound' named 'Desoto'; a 'Hownder' Type Mechanica Model (as were all 'Dog-Type' Mechanica.)


Its metallic coating was a sleek, jet black with red trim; something like a Doberman's design. It was swift and keen, but not nearly as fast as the targets of interest. Once it realized that it needed to accelerate, from under the mechanical dog-woman's feet would come electromagnetic propulsion that repulsed the natural electromagnetic waves from the normal gravity of the planet, sending the machine hurdling forward at a high speed; just enough to keep up with Faulkner. The eyes gleamed a piercing red as a red visor draped over them, looking to lock on to the targets. They were still moving in a straight line, making targeting easier.

In Desoto's hand, an electromagnetic surge began to charge, condensing in the palm as it gathered energy. Before too long, it was stable enough to release as a powerful electromagnetic blast, shooting a hurdling sphere directly at the backs of the targets. The charge was strong enough to temporarily disorient who it hit by scrambling their brains, resulting, most times, in complete disabling.

Meanwhile, just entering the forest at a blinding speed, searching for the designated owner of the Ankh and just as happy as a clam swinging from tree to tree like the jungle boy he is was the Tsuchigami, Titane, who had his mind on other things. "Bitches~! Bitches~! Gonna find me a hottie~!" Clearly, this was his only concern now that basically all of his business was done with the Earth Signs and with his own Legend, meaning he was basically free to do as he pleased. Like most of the other gods and goddesses of the Veritas, he needed a companion and was basically, at this point, completely thirsty. "She's gotta be super cute and awesome and~~" By the time he was relatively deep in the forest, the Ankh that was shining would point him in the direction of something that was moving just as quickly through the forest. He was hoping it was a cute girl.

"... BITCHES!?!? " he exclaimed happily, taking a nose dive straight for the little swift one; the Sacred Beast that had been fleeing the premises. If she weren't expecting his arrival, he should have rather quickly tackled it to the ground, staring with a goofy grin.

The extent of El's plan was to trust that Tzita would do exactly as she had done. React to his sshing and proceed to look behind them and gather whatever she could about what was following them. While El's senses were sharper, sharper than they had ever been, he had extreme tunnel vision moving at this velocity. If he were to even attempt to look behind him, then he ran the risk of slamming into something, full speed, and injuring both himself and Tzita.

While he didn't particularly care for the way she described what was behind them, he did find it adorably cute and gathered that there was some kind of machine after them. He didn't have any technical knowledge about technology, but it really didn't matter since he probably had the physical power to rip right through it. Which was the extent of his follow-up plan at the moment.

"Hold on tighter." He warned, letting up and sliding for a few feet before using the remaining momentum that he had to soar high into the air over the robot in pursuit of them. What he hoped would happen, seeing Tzita using her chain to deal with the electrical pulse the robot released, was that Tzita's chain would be effective in doing so as well as wrapping around the robot, who could have been caught off guard by their sudden shift in direction. If this occurred, then by jump in the air he hoped it would pull the dog bot in the air as well where he'd be free to demolish it by slamming it down hard onto the ground.

In the midst of hot pursuit, the Blackhound's electromagnetic blast was cut off and absorbed into what seemed to be a metallic chain that randomly appeared in midair, of which was immediately magnetized and drawn to the metallic body. Also taking into account the speedy movement of the Mechanica, it would not be easy to avoid, either, even for a robot. The chain's wrapping around the unit was more or less inevitable, resulting in a temporary encumbering ensnarement.

Processing this setback and integrating into calculations based on orders, the machine already had a new program running to deal with this situation and the fugitives. After having been forced to a stop, with arms wrapped up tightly by the chain (but legs still free, mind you), Desoto would come to a halt only moments after the targets leapt high into the air, where her eyes guided by her lock-on targeting visor would follow. As they reached the height of their jump, the energy that was within the chain would be drained into the machine for power, similarly to how the energy was generated previously. Once drawn back into the mechanical body, the electromagnetic energy would be stripped completely from the chain, causing it to fall to the ground (unless stated otherwise) whilst the absorbed energy went straight into the right arm of Desoto.

Meanwhile, from various assortments of compartments on her body, numerous smaller, more compact machines shaped like puppies (called 'Pups'), which hovered using the same electromagnetic technology that the Hownders were naturally built with, emerged to assist with the removal of the chain if it hadn't fallen off naturally. They would, using their own magnetic forces, pull the chain apart in several different directions, freeing Desoto that way whilst the energy in her right arm continued to charge up. She hadn't wasted a moment of her time (being a machine, and all). Immediately, with her targets still overhead, possibly coming down now, she would take aim at them as her right arm configured into its 'Cannon' mode, wherein it would release a much larger and more powerful condensation of electromagnetic force hurdling straight up at the two of them. Even numerous chains wouldn't be able to dispel this large blast as easily as the first.

Once Titane saw that what he tackled was a babe-ilicious bunny girl, he was immediately head over heels for her and her nice curves. "Woah, score~..." he said to himself, but clearly well enough for her to hear (since he was on top of her.) He rose to his feet and helped her up, clearing his throat and giving the most debonair smile he could muster, saying in a comically suave voice, "Hey baby~... The name's Titane... I'm the Tsuchigami. Means Earth God. I'm totally single and available for a hottie much like yourself~..." He chuckled raising a hand to his chin and giving the 'comical bishounen' look, complete with sparkly background and glittering 'I'm so pretty and elegant magical' twinkling sounds, "Do me the honor of being my one and only, lovebug~? We can travel across the land... I'll show you some thangs... *suggestive eyebrows*"