Sabotage

Ok. so. Tarot Tower. Home to our enemies. Well... what good way to fight then create a little bit of mayhem at the enemy's base?

Alexis paced in front of a long table, covered in stacks of notes and maps and pens and everything one could use in planning an invasion. She frowned as she stopped, staring at a large sheaf of paper. On it was part of floor plan to a building, but it looked largely incomplete. She had gotten this map of the Tarot Master’s base from….. certain sources… But even he didn’t have full reign on the castle…. And if she was going to launch a final assault… She needed to know where everything was. It’d be idiotic to run in there with multiple battle groups completely blind.

The old fogies knew this, she kept telling them this… But they kept talking and talking about plans and she had excused herself after getting sick of the bantering. It reminded her of home… All talk and no action. Well… If they weren’t going to do it… Then she would. Simple as that. It’s been like that since the beginning of the tournament anyway, taking up the responsibility. Back in her room, she plotted and planned…. It couldn’t be like last time…. Last time she went in there looking for a fight. This time…. She had to be sneaky. Get what info she could, and head out without anyone noticing…. Actually….

A small grin rose on her face as she went over to a small table in the corner of the room, and picked up a small black dot. She scooped up a good few of these from the technical geeks a few floors down. She didn’t know what she’d need them for…. But now she did… She lifted the dot to her face and stared at it. Inside that tiny dot she could see a small pulse of electricity, powering the recording device. True, she couldn’t see what the camera could, but if she placed a few of these around the TM’s base… She grinned as she put the batch into a small bag and tucked that in her coat pocket. Sticking one to the cloth she currently tied up her hair in, it could record what she saw.

Now for the other supplies… This time, she wasn’t going in unprepared… Digging through the chaos, she began to gather supplies that she’d need for this recon mission.

Hooves crunched in the grass. Slowly, the being crossed through the forest, looking about himself. He was a strong, well-built creature. Muscles rippled through his legs as he walked, his coat shined in what light came down through the leaves, and large ears flicked as the being looked around.

Koltar was a centaur, just hitting his prime. Blue eyes scanned the trees in front of him as he slowly went on his way, bow and arrow held at the ready, quiver on his back. He had been traversing this strange world Fragment for a while now. It had toughened him up. On his shoulders and legs were mismatched armor. More than a few scars adorned his chest and arms and they were not carelessly got.

A rustling. Koltar reared, front legs kicking out violently as a small man came darting out, knife in his hand. Thundering, his hooves came down, crushing the person's legs. Screaming he fell, but Koltar did not pause. His hooves came down once more and a sickening crack resounded throughout the quiet woods.

Brushing blood off his chest, he carried on his way only after tearing the Tarot Card to bits. Could have any of those following him about.

The centaur was all about saving his world. The priestess, Lauri, had told him of Isac and Lan's arrival here. Koltar wanted to help and she brought him to Fragment. But the centaur had had ill luck finding his companions. Since he could not find his friends in arms, he decided to go to the castle. It seemed like the only place he didn't look. And if they were captive, then he could get them out.

Slowly, the centaur continued on his way, making an effort to hide his tracks.

The first thing she felt was a freezing sensation as the air hit her skin for the first time. A bright light blinded her, as she held her hands in front of her face to block it. She heard people talking around her, as her arm was gently pulled away from her face. She looked up to see several people peering down at her. The room was full of wondrous things, colors and lights and sounds and things she never experienced before. The little girl looked up brightly at the scientists that surrounded her, before thinking hard for a moment, thinking of what she should do.

“……Hi!” Said the small child, to the scientists who looked rather pleased with themselves, talking to each other in a muted tone as one of them picked her up off of the table and set her in a small room. There, she was asked all kinds of questions, given small puzzles and toys to play with, while the other scientists took notes. She pulled at the white dress she was in, knowing what it was somehow, even though she had only been around for a few minutes. She knew what lots of things were, what things were called, how to do things without doing them before… It was neat! There was one thing she didn’t understand though…

She pulled on the scientists sleeve, pointing to his name-tag. “What’s that?” She asked brightly.

“It’s my name-tag… It says ‘Robert’. That’s my name” He said, patting the girl on the head before taking more notes.

“So you’re a Robert? Then he’s a Sanford and that’s a Thaddeus and that’s a Ethan?” She asked, pointing at each of the scientists in turn. The man nodded, as the others began furiously writing. “….What’s my name?” She asked after a short pause.

“Uhhh…..” The man mumbled, scrambling to pull back on his notes, “You don’t have one”

“Why?”

“Don’t worry about it sweetie, now why don’t we-“

He was interrupted as the girl popped up on the other side of the table, looking over his arm at the notes. “There’s a name right there! It says-“

“That’s not your name… That’s where we got the original tissue from”

“What?”

“We need to finish up the tests soon, lets go” The man said, picking up the girl again, slightly more rough as he set her on the now freezing cold table. “We need to get more samples, and then we have to put her on stasis until we can get the original in here and perform a memory transfer, then we can accelerate the rate of growth until they’re the same." The man said to the others, along with a long stream of technical babble, through which the girl grew bored and began to poke random things around her to see how they reacted, finding everything intesting and wonderful.

Now sit tight.” The man said, pulling out a long needle, hovering right over the girls arm.

The shot hurt terribly, and the girl began to cry as it filled up with a blue liquid. She didn’t like her insides being on her outsides. She didn’t like it in here anymore. She looked up at the men again, and they didn’t seem very nice, all of their colors seemed cold and dark. They had motioned over to a long glass container in the corner of the room earlier, filled with a strange colored liquid and sharp looking metallic implements. Similar to the color of the wet stuff that was on her earlier. Was she in there? She didn’t want to go back in there. Back to the darkness and the cold. She didn’t want to stay here, and they couldn’t make her!

She struggled to get down from the table, but firm hands kept her still. Something grew up within her, a tingly funny feeling that was indescribable to the small child. Suddenly she was on the floor, in a long hallway. She stood there rather surprised, then joyful with her new found freedom. She could explore! And not go back in that tank! Yay!

She raced off, as a clamor of yelling followed behind her, soon to be lost as the girl ran away, faster than anyone should be able to run. Through this magical place she ran, this way and that, until she found a fun looking door. She stopped, hopping up to reach the knob, and managed to get inside. This was exciting!

Koltar continued on his way. Luck of the Stars was on his side and he ran into no more soldiers. The trees began thinning and his cover was fading. The centaur knocked an arrow in his bow, just in case. Then, in a flurry, he galloped from the trees, dashing here and there. Weaving through the remaining obstacles, he emerged from the trees.

There was the tower. Path leading up to it, unguarded and free as sunshine. No patrols on the top, no guards at the door. Just... the large front door. And... Koltar raised his bow, but squinted. Was that a child!? He took a step forward, hoofed foot stamping on the ground. It was! Why was a child here?! Galloping to her, all thoughts of traps were lost as his thoughts turned to getting the child out of harm's way.

The child was astonished by the sight when she closed the door behind her. It was all so... BIG!!! The celing was much higher than in the hallways and other rooms she had been in, and it seemed to stretch out practically forever! She liked the giant plants that seemed to reach up towards the celing. She wondered what it'd be like to run through that path that seemed to lead off into the distance....

She looked up to see someone she didn't recognize. It wasn't one of the card men from before... it was... someone else! He looked nice! And didn't have any needles or mean looks or anything! She liked him!

The child cheerfully raced up the the centuar, looking up brightly at him. "Hi! I'm 'Lexis!"

Koltar stared at the child, genuinely confused. What was a tiny elf-girl doing out here!? In the middle of the war zone? Not the mention right next to the enemies...

He bent down to stare at the child. While it may have looked a bit strange to others, this was a natural stance of a centaur.

Bright, childlike face. Overflowing cheerfulness and innocence that shouldn't be here, in the war-torn planet built on the deaths of countless others.

"Little elf child," the centaur asked sweetly, "why are you out here? Do you not know the dangers of this place?" Or maybe she was a danger he should watch for. Elves were tricky creatures.