Hunters Moon...

The reploids simply waited. Doc bit her lip.

Ariana just looked at the pendant for a long moment, then at Ameya. She then closed her eyes, making a soft humming sound. "This is really odd... I've never known of any family, but then again I was an orphan... but you feel familiar to me, kid. I just don't know. As for this thing, not sure how it's supposed to help.." She reached out, her finger's brushing over the pendant.

The moment Ariana touched the pendant, memories began to hit her like a train.

The time Ameya was born. Her parents, how the mother was Ariana's biological mother's sister, which made Ameya Ariana's cousin. It did explain why Ariana and Ameya did smell slightly alike, among other things. Other memories showed. Of around the time Ameya's parents were killed by some unknown group. Of being taken to live under Eras for some time before she managed to escape and end up with the others. All the way to Valvatorez helping her to get there to the present.

All this happened within a minute at the most.

Ameya still waited..she wasn't sure what to say but she knew it was doing something.

The Repolids continued to wait.

(They'll do this until they are interacted with So go ahead and skip me. ))

Ariana's hand dropped limply from the pendant, and she just stared at Ameya in shock. She didn't even realize tears had sprung up in her eyes. In those memories, she'd briefly seen her own parents, for the first time. She'd seen herself as a baby, for the briefest of moments, being cradled by her mother. Knowing she was loved.... it meant alot. "...You're... my cousin... my mother... my mother was your aunt..."

Ameya just waited, nervous and unsure. She wasn't even how much time had passed as she waited for some kind of response from Ariana after she touched her families pendant. While Ameya didn't experience a memory flash like Ariana did..she did feel something, even if she couldn't describe it.

The last part and the tears snapped Ameya to react. "Ah..I'm sorry, don't cry!

Samantha just smiled warmly. "It's okay Ameya. Those are happy tears." She couldn't imagine what exactly transpired when Ariana touched the pendant. Her guess was it was a memory thing..it had to be. At least that was one of the things that made the most sense, if Ariana knew how they were related now.

Ariana wiped her eyes quickly, hating to show weakness in front of strangers, but was still watching Ameya. "So... you need a place to stay... Ameya?"

Ameya was still a bit nervous about the answer. "..Yes...can..can I stay then?"

She was hoping she could.

Ariana actually smiled softly. "...I can't possibly turn my back on my family, Ameya..."

Doc made a slight squeak of joy and Blade placed a hand on her shoulder. Blade stepped forward pulling something out of a hidden compartment. "You should be warned that there is a particularly nasty dragon who wants her for some reason. He's in Nobus custody at the moment." She handed Ariana a small device that had a glowing blue button on it. It looked almost like a car alarm key. "This is a panic button, if you should ever need us we'll be here."

Doc reached out for Ameya, "I'm so happy for you." She tried to hide her crying however she did a horrible job of it. "You be good now, okay. I'll visit when ever I can."

Desperado simply took off his hat.

Lug-Nut was a little uncomfortable. He was never really good with over emotional moments.

Shade suddenly appeared next to Saber. She looked to him and gave him a slight nod. Saber also nodded. "I'm happy for her too, and you're right, when we're done here we need to figure out our next move. This time line is very different than what we have in our archives."

Ameya's eyes brightened and she gave Ariana a tight hug. It didn't hurt Ariana but the little girl was stronger then she appeared because she did feel the hug at least. If she were a human, it might have been slightly uncomfortable.

She pulled away, and then gave Doc a hug as well. "Thank you!"

Samantha smiled at this and then made her way over, Yulina in tow. "We'll, regardless Ameya seems rather attached to you and no one would want to get in the way of that. Much less for what you've done for her, so.." She gave Doc a card. "You can use that to contact us and talk to Ameya anytime you want, when she's here anyway."

Ameya was watching Ariana with bright, happy eyes. "Where do I stay then Ariana?"

Kiena who was silent went and said something to Valvatorez who nodded after a bit and went to Blade. "Blade. It's been a pleasure traveling and fighting alongside you. I believe this is where we part ways, you have things to take care of, and so do me and Kiena." He produced a card. "Judging by how some of your technology works, this should be easy enough to use even without a cell. We'll meet again though, I'm sure of it."

It was amazing how quickly things could change.

Ariana just smiled again. She did that alot these days. A big change from how she used to be. "Ameya, you'll be staying at my home. It's not too far from here, actually. Didn't want to live too far from my family... speaking of. Ameya, this man here is my husband, Adell. That's his mother, Samantha, and little sister, Yulina. So they are your family too now... as will any children I might have."

Saori simply watched everything, though glanced at Valvatorez and Kiena curiously. She still wondered what Kiena found so familiar about her. Then, she realized Kiena likely had seen the ads. She frowned slightly at that.

Blade extended her hand "Thank you very much for everything. If you need us for anything you know how to call us." She handed him a com device. She looked to Kiena and hugged her. "Thank you as well." After she disengaged she patted Doc on the shoulder.

Doc took the card. "Bye Ameya. Call me any time." She sniffled looking to Samantha. "Thank you very much." She walked back to the rest of the group.

The other reploids said their goodbyes. Desperado tipped his hat, "See ya around pardner."

Saber let go of Saori's hand. "Be right back." He walked over to Valvarorez. "Thank you very much for bringing my sister to me. I am in your debt." He bowed slightly and returned to the group.

He looked to the others, "Well let's get going." He said.

Blade looked back "Valvatorez, if you need help in your endeavor why not come with us? We can talk about what to do next."

Adell smiled a bit and crouched down. "You'll like it here, I promise. Yulina will be a very good friend too. Won't you Yulina?"

"Yeah!" Yulina went over to Ameya, looking rather happy. "I can show you to my room and the all the other stuff too."

At first the dragon girl blinked, then she smiled. "Oh, okay. I would like that."

While this was happening, Valvatorez debated internally with himself. They didn't have much of any leads of where to find Kiena's friends, maybe they would have better luck in a group?

"..Very well. I think I'll take you up on that offer, Blade." Valvatorez decided to join Blade and the others, Kiena not too far behind.

What happened next happened out of the blue.

Yulina and Ameya were still around, talking and Adell was nearby. Samantha was watching the scene, nothing out of the ordinary happened at first. For people like Samantha, sometimes 'feeling' when danger was close was akin to a sixth sense in its own way.

Something.. Samantha didn't get time to really process why she was feeling that way before her body reacted on its own.

A thin beam of energy headed towards Ameya.

Samantha was suddenly gone.

Instead she was in front of Ameya, 'grabbing' the beam with glowing hands before seeming to crush it and cancel out the attack. However, Samantha didn't stop there before she moved again and hit some invisible form with a 'thud'.

Whatever it was, it hit the ground with enough force to make a crater. The still form was human-looking but something was..off about them. Their features were just a little too sharp, too stiff. Almost as if they weren't really alive. Yet, somehow they still felt human oddly. The impact also revealed more of the beings, about five more. The first who Samantha had cratered picked itself up; Adell having already moved Yulina and Ameya back by instinct.

All this happened within a few seconds. It might of been a surprise that Samantha who was human was able to do all that, though naturally at the moment there were more important things to focus on.

Valvatorez looked in disbelief. Not at what Samantha did, but the fact it was yet another attack. For Anya's sake..! He thought before summoning his sword once more.

(For the record though, this is the last attack on Ameya lol)

Saori had screamed when the attack happened, unable to help herself. Technically, she was capable of combat. However, she was not really aware of this herself. For that matter, she was just plain scared. Someone else, however, was experiencing an entirely different emotion. An emotion that caused a very dangerous reaction.

Ariana had, throughout her life, had everything taken from her. Her parents, freedom, dignity, sense of self worth, motherhood and countless other things. This had made her many things in the past. Now, it just made her protective of what she did have these days. Namely, her new family. Which now included Ameya.

Ameya, who someone had just attempted to kill. Ariana stood slowly, her eyes flashing dangerously. "Adell. Get Ameya inside. Now." She didn't tend to order her husband around, but when she did, Adell knew she was serious. Ariana hadn't even drawn her sword yet, but her internal rage was already manifesting in the world around them. The temperature around them was rising rapidly, and fire was starting to form around Ariana, spreading outward, and over her body. Her face had gone eerily blank, and she drew her sword almost at a crawl. "I'm going to kill every single one of you for that..." The fire began to erupt all around them, and Ariana's hair itself became flames. Mysteriously, the fire did not harm those who Ariana considered to be an ally in this fight.

Blade instantly reacted by drawing her sword and moving close to protect Ameya. Saber covered Saori with his own body and reached out his hand. He kept it steady fingers open. "Stars! Deploy! Defensive pattern Epsilon!" He called.

Blade was already in position. Lug-Nut deployed all his weapons and stepped in front of the house. "Lock and load."

Doc ran into the house pulling off her pack. "Is, anyone hurt!?"

Desperado drew his gun and started to make his way to the roof of the home while Shade vanished. She was making her way to where the assassin was in order to assess the situation there.

A sound could heard from the distance. It was the sound of something moving very fast. Up in the sky something could be seen arching towards the group. As it rose it broke the sound barrier. Soon it reached its zenith and began coming down. Fast Saber caught his sword by the handle and twirled it. It was fully assembled and rested point down like a shield. "Saori, are you okay?"

The creatures blank, souless gaze continued to stare out unphased by Ariana's rage. They only had one focus and one purpose, and she wasn't it.

"..All right." Adell grabbed Ameya and Ariana before the former could protest and headed away from the upcoming battlefield.

While the beings simply had one purpose to get to Ameya, there was also a secondary objective to deal with anything that got in their way. If they were hostile and proved a threat, then they were to be removed by any and all means available to them. If they were human or some other light creature it was to try to simply knock them out. If they were of 'darker' nature, then they were to be eliminated as well.

One of the first one's charged at Ariana at a inhuman speed, its arm morphing into a strange flesh-like hammer in a attempt to break her into two. Samantha dashed towards, charging her Ki into her hands and she slammed her fist into another before it could react. The impact knocked the creature clear off their feet and away towards Kiena---who hit the being with a electrified fist.

Strangely, on impact there was no blood. It was like they were made out of some type of strange clay.

Shade would find no one else around. At least no one that was actively controlling them. It seemed they were working on their own.

A few of the others opened up their hand and fired other thin beams of energy at Lug-Nut and Blade. They wouldn't do high damage from one shot but wracking up would be a issue if they kept letting it hit them.

Ariana growled lowly, and then shot forward, leaving a trail of fire. She was immediately attacking in a violent flurry, her body seeming to become more and more like living flame, seeming to dissolve into flame.

The Reploids moved as a unit. Lug-Nut set up a perimeter in front of the house. His armor was thicker and more durable than Blade's so he would take the damage and return fire if it got too close. If an enemy got within 10 meters he would turn it around or turn it to ash. Desperado fired shots at the ones on the ground. He waited for Shade to report anything.

Shade continued to search the roof tops for more of those creatures. Blade dashed out of the way of the energy blast with the aid of her dash boost system. She spun her blade around her body like a whip and lashed out at one of the creatures. She was aiming for the neck.

Saber looked to Saori, "Hide, I gotta go to work." He looked back at the creatures and leaped high into the air. He flipped and grabbed his sword with both hands. He brought it down hard on one of the strange creatures.

Doc looked to Adell "Is there a place I can set up?"

The one charging Ariana had some heat resistance, it wasn't exactly enough to deal with the high levels she was putting out. That was to say the clay-like creature was starting to melt like a candle. That didn't stop it though, only coming to continue to attack Ariana with whatever angle it could reach her at or try too.

In the mean time, Samantha had vanished behind one, as if teleporting and hit it hard. On impact it hit the one after Ariana and towards her leaving them clear and opening for a atack. "Ariana, you're on!"

As for the one at Lug-Nut and Desperado's position, they would find a hard time approaching without sustain heavy amounts of damage. In fact, one of the creatures legs had been blow off. No blood or anything like before, but it still tried to crawl where Ameya was despite the heavy damage.

Blade's attack almost worked, the creature grabbing it before it could reach its neck and trying to pull.

Shade would find no more of the monsters. The one's attacking were the only ones sent it seemed.

Adell looked to Doc, blinking once. "Uh..over there." He wasn't sure what she was trying to set up. He had gotten both Ameya and Yulina away from the battleground. It was too risky to be anywhere near there.

Saber's attack almost hit, before his opponent had grabbed it with both hands. However, due to the sharpness added with the force of impact it still almost took its head off anyway. It attempted to reach for Saber.

Saori, heeding Saber's words, rushed away from the fighting, giving them a wide berth as she rushed into the house. In the meantime, Ariana's entire body had seemingly become one giant living flame, in the shape of a woman and wielding a sword. When Samantha hit the enemy toward her, she raised her sword, and slashed downward, causing a wave of fire to cleave through the thing. Immediately, she moved blindingly fast, a trail of fire the only sign of the movement.

Her movement carried her right into the creature Blade was fighting, grabbing it's face and melting it as she threw it to the ground and hacked it apart. The flames coming off of her body had changed color, becoming a rich blue color as the temperature rose.

Blade grabbed her sword and pulled it back as Ariana came over. She switched her target to the one Saber was fighting and lashed out her whip to the hand reaching for him.

Lug-Nut aimed his gatling gun at the strange clay like creature and opened fire. Desperado targeted the one that caught Blade's sword whip "Head Shot!" He called and fired.

Shade slid down the side of the building. Once she hit ground she headed over to Blade. It would take her a few seconds to get there.

Doc set up her triage center. She hoped she didn't have to use it. Drawing a hand gun she waited.

Saber pulled back a hidden leaver on his sword and ejected one of of the larger blades. He spun himself around in an attempt to sever the hand reaching for him. "What the heck are these things!?"

The creature that was trying to fight Saber had its arm removed from the attack but still kept coming. At least until it got a burst of black fire and ki energy that reduced it to slag from Valvatorez and Samantha respectively.

Lug-Nut's shot proved to be more effective then Desperado's, the shots doing heavy damage to the creatures. Add the fact it was a gattling gun and soon the few who had been around were cut to ribbons. Overall, the clay-creatures were outnumbered and outgunned. The only thing they had going for them was the ability to take damage and a single-minded, almost eerie focus on trying to get to Ameya anyway they could.

Before they knew it was over. The six of them had been dispatched relatively quickly, Lug-Nut's gattling gun having moped up the stragglers.

Samantha looked around, she didn't see any of the creatures. They seemed to be all gone. No doubt all that noise would probably attract Nobus, or a scared/concerned neighbor would have called it in. "Everyone okay?"

This whole thing didn't feel right to Valvatorez. He went to one of the creatures(or rather what was left of it, Desperado and Lug-Nut had shot the shit out of it)

What was it about? It was more like a last desperate attack then a organized assault. It does fit the style of unprofessional hunters or maybe mages? These things are magical..

He crouched down to look it over, and something began to dawn on him and he frowned. It was clicking.

I see..

Samantha noticed Valvatorez, maybe he knew something. "Do you know what these things were?"

Ariana seemed to slowly be calming down, though with effort. This was a far cry from how she used to be. Controlling her anger used to be near impossible for her.

Blade walked over to Ariana "Thanks for the assist. I uh... underestimated these things."

Saber walked over to Valvatorez "I've never encountered anything like this before. Is it, Magic?" While the concept of magic wasn't new to Saber his understanding of it was largely lacking. He then turned and walked back to where Saori had been. "Saori, are you okay?"

Doc stepped out making her rounds, checking if everyone was okay. First and for most on her list was Ameya. She looked back outside and hit her com. "Sound off people. I need an assessment."

Lug-Nut put his guns away nodding to his handy work. "Lug-Nut check."

Shade made a double click on her com indicating she was okay while Blade reached up placing a hand to her ear. "Blade here, everything's five by five."

Desperado seemed a bit bummed out. "Desperado here. Ah'm good."

Blade looked at what was left of the creature. "Any idea what it is... er... was?"

Saber reached up to his ear "Saber here, all systems go."