Welcome to the Jungle[Lanying, Raen]

[Zack]

Zack stayed alert, trying to listen for the thing that had hit him. However, Raen suddenly said something about going for the river. That was a good idea, it'd be easier to see any attacks from their assailant. "Right behind ya!" he said to Raen as he ran behind him. He then yelled to whatever it was that was following them. "Hey! Catch us if you can!"

Luckily enough the river wasn't too far away and they made it pretty quickly. He could hear the creature had followed them and Zack looked around to see if he could now see any glimpse of it. He then spotted a footprint in the water. "There you are!" he yelled as he ran over and slashed the creature. He felt something connect and soon after the creature appeared. He jumped back away from it. It wasn't exactly what he pictured the creature to be, but he could tell it was a heartless. "Ugly-looking thing isn't it?" he commented to Raen and Lanying now that they knew what the thing looked like.

[Aerith]

I'm Not a Princess, Not a Cutie Girlfriend, Oh No, Don't You Know?
Wiping All Out (a.k.a. Lanying's newest battle theme)

Lanying was right behind Raen when he broke for the river. Zack was right on their heels, yelling something over his shoulder to whatever was following them. The thing would probably follow them without any verbal urging, but she supposed Zack's antics would not hurt anything. The river came into view, and she whirled around at the water's edge. "If it is the cat again, just throw it in the river," she muttered.

However, Zack noticed the distinct sight of ripples breaking the surface and immediately ran to attack that general area. The sound of metal meeting flesh of some kind resounded right before their attacker became visible. It was certainly on the larger end of the Heartless scale, though this lizard-like variety was new to her. It's beady eyes moved independently of one another, which would have been spine-tingling to any woman.

Unless that woman was Lanying.

She was not going to wait around to see if one of the guys would take care of it for her. Keeping her sword out, she moved quickly, lest this lizard Heartless disappear again. There was, she had noticed, a tree near the bank that had a branch stretched out over the water. That would do nicely. In a matter of moments, she had scaled this tree and made her way out onto the branch. The lizard was too distracted to see the very small, but very determined, woman leaping from this branch to land on its back.

Had Lanying ever heard of such a thing as a rodeo, she would have been quick to compare this experience to bull riding. Clinging tightly to the lizard with one hand, she wielded her sword in the other and plunged it mercilessly into the back of the creature's head. The resulting thrashing nearly threw her off, but she held on long enough to stab the lizard again. This time, though, she only managed to split open the shoulder of the beast as she violently tore her blade out. Another good shake finally did manage to dislodge her, and she hit the water.

Quickly surfacing, she found the lizard convulsing its way in a blind, pain-induced stampede along the shore of the river. Trying to get away, was it? She would have none of that. Upon reaching the shore, she stood, sheathed her sword, and nocked an arrow to her bow. One well-placed arrow in the lizard's back brought it to its knees and stalled its escape. With a neutral expression on her face, she spoke to Raen and Zack. "Now would be an excellent time to stop gawking and finish the threat off."

[Nothingness]

Where Did That Come From!?

Raen looked over his shoulder, glad to see the others keeping up with him and away from the invisible menace currently trashing the forest behind them. Turning back around he could see the river just in the distance, and breaking through the treeline found himself on its beaches and was soon in ankle high water. Lanying and Zack quickly appeared behind him and walked into the river with him. Zack was the first to spot the creature's footsteps in the water and sliced into its leg, revealing what looked to be some kind of chameleon. "With a face only a mother could love," Raen jokingly added to Zack's initial comment.

Seeing as how it could turn invisible at will, Raen was going to attack it now, but Lanying took care of that. With an amazing display of skill she managed to jump onto the creature, impale its head, and rip open its shoulder before being thrown off and then immobilizing it with a shot to the knee. Raen didn't really hear her but replied in a very disjointed voice, "Uh, yeah."

He kind of acted without really being aware of it, still in awe of Lanying's own combat skill. Approaching from the front the Heartless noticed him and feebly lifted its head, lashing its tongue out in a pitiful effort. Raen stepped to the side and quickly drew his sword, slicing the tongue off before taking a large step towards its head, twisting his body so his back faced the creature, and impaling the beast through its lower and upper jaws. It screeched with what little energy was left, unable to fully force its mouth open. Raen looked at Zack, motioning his head to the side, "It's almost out, one more shot!" Ripping Fimbulvetr out of its mouth, Raen leaped back a good distance to wait for Zack to deal the coup de grace.

[Zack]

Zack was ready to attack the heartless again, but before he had the chance Lanying rushed into action. She managed to jump up onto the creature and stab its head and split open its shoulder. He stood there a bit shocked. He hadn't seen many people pull off what Lanying just did and well he was just surprised she could do all that so effortlessly. There was only one other girl he knew of that could possibly pull off the same stunt. I need to train harder...... he thought to himself.

He must have been staring for a bit cause he then heard Lanying tell them to stop gawking. Zack shook his head and returned his focus on the heartless, watching Raen cut off its tongue and then also stab it in the head. Now it was his turn. Zack jumped up and attacked the heartless twice in an X-shape on its chest, landing behind the creature. He then turned around and stabbed it through its chest again and the creature began to disappear into darkness.

Zack spun his sword around above him and put it away. "Well, that wasn't so bad," he said after defeating it. He then turned to Lanying. "Man, Lanying, that was incredible!" he exclaimed towards her. Raen was probably thinking the same thing as well. "Remind me not to get on your bad side," he teased.

[Aerith]

Future Plans

Lanying quickly turned around just in case she started blushing again. Then again, she could always brush it off as being flushed after that battle, so she turned back around about three seconds later. "Oh, that? That was...nothing." She shook her head dismissively. "I did not want the fight to drag on for too long. So, I did what I could to help finish it." Truth be told, she did find herself enjoying the admiration her little display was getting her. Coming from a culture where women were expected to aspire to becoming meek wives and runners of households, she latched onto any praise for her battle prowess that she could, especially if it came from a man.

Now that they were at the river, getting back to their ship should not prove to be too difficult. Considering that they had not found much of anything on this world, it was probably time to leave. The only things of interest here were jungle animals, monsoon rains, and at least one (now dead) lizard Heartless. A positive in this situation was that Raen seemed to be okay. At least, he had not shown any major, unusual signs while she had been around. "I think we should leave this world. But I am unsure where to go next."

[Nothingness]

That is a Good Question...

Sheathing his sword, Raen chuckled when Zack commented about how incredible Lanying was in the fight. "You can say that again. That was something else." If they kept fighting together like that, then nothing was going to be stopping them anytime soon. Of course, he knew not to get overconfident about it, but still, it really felt good to work together as a team should.

Then Lanying asked the big question: where were they heading next? He scratched the back of his, "Well, I'm not quite sure. I mean, we've been mostly winging it, so I don't see much harm in continuing that. But still..." He let his voice trail off. He honestly didn't know where they should head next. There were so many worlds, but that just meant more choices to make. Well, at least one thing was clear: Zack probably wasn't going to be flying this time.

[Zack]

I Have An Idea!

Zack couldn't help but be amazed at how quickly Lanying went back to being so humble. She dismissed it like it was no big deal, but it was. He felt out of practice now all of a sudden after that display and now he wanted to get some in. He stood there arms crossed thinking about that, when Lanying asked where they should head next. Raen said they had been winging it and that was okay but sounded unsure about not really having a destination.

It was then Zack came up with an idea. "Hey, how bout we go back to the coliseum and see if the games are open yet?" he exclaimed towards the two. Even though they were having an easy time right now, that fight with that Zexion guy was a bit of an eye opener and they could all use some practice to get better. Plus, it had been awhile since he had competed and maybe he could actually get to the final round and win this time.

[Aerith]

I Am Not Going First This Time

They could continue moving as the wind took them, so to speak. So far, that had not been too terrible of a plan. They had, after all, met Zack that way. That little episode with Zexion was probably the only real bump in their road. Pushing thoughts of the Nobody aside before they resulted in some demonstrable rage, Lanying looked at both of her companions. Going back to the coliseum would be interesting, especially if there was a tournament going on, but she really wanted to see new worlds. Feelings of homesickness were ever-growing in a deep recess of her heart, and she wished to return home in the near future to check on things. Before she could do that, however, she needed to know more about the state of the worlds.

"That is a good idea, Zack, but I think we should go to a world we have not been to just yet." While they were thinking about where to go next, they could at least return to the ship. "We should find that clearing again and leave this world." She would have taken the lead herself, but her experience in the this jungle kept her from doing so. Instead, she waited for Raen or Zack to move.

[Nothingness]

A Small Compromise

Raen hadn't really thought about training or competing or anything. Maybe stopping by the Coliseum wouldn't be such a bad idea. But at Lanying's mention of going to other worlds before revisiting any others certainly did make a point. He was technically on a mission--detours would have to wait. "Well, we could use a little more training, and plus if we win who knows what kind of reward we might get. But we still have our mission to investigate the state of order in the worlds." He snapped his fingers, saying rather excitedly, "One or two more worlds, then we'll go compete! Now, let's just get out of here."

Seeing that Lanying wasn't in the mood to take the lead at all, Raen took the initiative and walked down the beach, searching for his last marker. It wasn't hard finding the branches he'd staked into the ground, especially since there was still a little bit of frost left on them despite the rain. It didn't take long to reach the ship, and he eagerly hopped into it. Assuming that it would be best if he took the helm for this flight, he waited until the other two entered before taking off.

As they were leaving the world, he felt that something big was about to happen. He didn't know where that feeling came from, but it was there and he couldn't shake it. "Still, as long as we're together, everything will turn out alright, right?"