Mission #5: History Lost and Found -invite only-

[Mirra|Robin]

Since she was a little girl, Robin had heard the stories about Lost Island from the archeologists at the library. It was an island, dangerous and untouched, since the fall of the civilization that once flourished there. No one knew if there was a poneglyph there but there had been a lot of speculation as to whether or not one was, in fact, hidden in the ruins of the forgotten island. If she could find it, then there would be another piece to the puzzle added; one step closer to the true history of the world. Even if she did not find a poneglyph there, it would be worth it to see ruins no one had seen in years.

She had another year before she had to meet back with the captain and crew on Seabody Archipelago, so a few side stops along the way would not hurt anything. Perhaps, if this didn’t take long, she could spend the rest of the year looking for yet more ruins. In this, she might also discover more about the world’s true history. That is, if it had not been hidden away as well. That was probably why the revolutionaries gave her a ride here on their ship. They, too, seemed to gain from obtaining proof of the world’s true history. They still were trying to get her to join them, although Robin had been firm in declining their offer in favor of staying with Luffy and the Strawhat pirates. After all, they were the first people to ever help her, to save her, and to show her she belonged somewhere.

Robin shut her book and set it on the table beside her as the revolutionary ship’s crew dropped anchor and made preparations to go ashore. With a slight smile on her face, anticipation growing steadily within her, the archeologist stood ready to disembark. The crew of this ship was, obviously, really good. They managed to see through the mirage and get them through the typhoon. Thanks to her own tales of the legends of this island, they were able to properly prepare. Sure, her addition to the revolution would be an amazing boost to their abilities, but her heart was with her real family, her crewmates.

The sailors lowered the gangplank to the beach and secured it as Robin waited. Once they gave her the okay, the dark haired woman disembarked and set foot on the warm, golden, sand. Turning back, she could see the strange shine of the mirage and beyond it the typhoon raging on. Robin regretted being needed on deck while they went through that terrible bit of weather. However, they had asked her to make sure no one went overboard and drowned. Her devil fruit ability was perfect for the job. However, it was dangerous for her, as well. If she had went into the water, she never would have come out.

Robin turned and waved back at the crew, smiling and laughing a little, before walking off to the explore the ruins. This was like a holiday to her, one of the gift giving holidays. Maybe, if there was some treasure her, she would bring some back for the crew. Nami, especially, liked treasure. There was a lot of ground to cover, and it would be good to at least get a good bearing on where she was so she would know where to start. Nearby there was a leaning tower that seemed to be solid enough. Robin climbed the steps and took a look around. There were ruins taller than this one, but this one was indeed tall enough to at least get a good view of the beach.

[PlatonSkull]

Being shipwrecked wasn't fun.
It was a wet, tiring, exhausting affair that involved the immense powers of nature beating its inhabitants around like specks of dust in a grand typhoon.
Being shipwrecked is especially not fun when you are, for example, Cyrus Odin, a young, silver-haired Viking with a dysfunctional eye and a love for books, that weren't waterproof, no matter what bag you stuff them into. They lied drying on ground near the beach, where the sand wouldn't get anywhere and the shade wouldn't reach. There was barely a single breeze to blow the sand into his eyes or make the pages turn, but they did, and that was fine, because wind dries water away as much as any heat would.
But the breeze that turned the pages didn't cool Cyrus very much. It kind of tickled his hair, except with sand, so he had thrown off his overcoat and taken off his boots in an attempt to deal with the heat. He kept his cape on, however. He really enjoyed wearing it, it made him feel strong and tall, which he actually was, but it made him feel even stronger and taller.
It was a weird phenomenon that had led him to the island. Some sort of transparent mist had made him disoriented, and before he had known it, there he was - on an island full of ruins, seemingly empty of human activity, and only some ragged planks left of his ride home.

Even still, Odin couldn't help but smile a bit as he lay there, waiting for the interesting books to dry. This was the quintessence of adventure, the very thing he had set out to seek, and it seemed now to be searching for him too, and it had found him.
The island may be named Lost Island, but it felt like the opposite of that, for neither he nor the island were lost, they were just wandering. And how can you get lost when you have no destination in mind?
He sighed, and decided to take a look around the island. He loved exploring, he had loved it since he was a little kid. But this was different than climbing the hills and cliffs of home, this was a brand new, fresh island untouched for many years. He tightened his eye-patch, which had gotten a little loose.
Hummings was nowhere to be seen. That raven tended to fly off on its own. Odin enjoyed thinking of the many little adventures that bird might be having, as it set out to explore like its master had done for the many years he had been its owner.
As a matter of fact, Hummings went on silent, lone journeys of existential dread, seeking what it did not yet know could be sought, soaring above the small, insignificant world beneath. That might be fun too, in its own way.
Cyrus went on his way.

Hummings had just noticed someone moving inside the small tower nearby. It flew in through one of the highest windows and looked around - a mysterious woman, with black hair and a distinct nose was walking around. Hummings found something about the person oddly comforting.
It tried saying: "What is a lost soul like You doing on this god-forsaken land? There is no one left to mourn and nothing left to see...!"
It came out as... "Kraaa"
Hummings didn't speak human too well.

Square rocks weren't very normal in nature, were they? Odin assumed not, and started brushing the sand off them. There might be signs of architecture and carvings in the stone. Quite an exciting prospect...

[BlacKitten]

Adventuring randomly around the seas, the panda possessed no clue what sort of island he landed on this time. He just went with the flow obediently, letting fate guild him to wherever.

Hops! The inquisitive panda crouched low upon the soft impact on the tilted pillar. There were broken structures everywhere! After crawling, he meticulously balanced his hind legs on the tilted white pillar as one end of it was underwater. Light grey, whitish stone structures scattered in a messy unorganized fashion such as walls, pillars, floor, and stairs. Most of them were lopsided were tilted; many were partially underwater. Green fuzzy moss growing on them signified how old it must have been since it was last standing. The artificial stone structures were quite clean, bright, and clear in some ways, yet some were marred by cracks or eroded by nature. There were no scorch marks, craters, bullet dents, scratch marks, or any sign of a battle; the former civilization that once stood here seemed to have died out from a natural cause. Perhaps a storm caused all the damage. Another sign was that there were no skeletons or rotting bodies of people of the past.

Under the clear blue sky with a few white fluffy clouds, Maru, a human disguised as a panda, sauntered deeper into the prehistoric-like island. Exploring every inch of the island, he was like an innocent kitten lurking for adventure, filling his ignorance with analysis. There existed plenty of rock formations and small bodies of water near the coast. As he glares further into the island, he notices a mountain-like land, covered in ruins and building structure, almost like a castle. His surroundings were pleasantly placid, and the lack of humans surprisingly didn’t make it prosaic at all.
Hiking up a steep hill, the young panda consistently turned his head left and right, scrutinizing and absorbing all that his eyes could receive from his surroundings. Trees grew at the side along with more moss. Green bushes and grass grew naturally to the side of the trail. The trail that he stepped upon was sandy brown, covered purely in dirt or sand.

Even though he was isolated from other creatures, he unusually didn’t felt alone or lonely, but this island was almost too peaceful for his taste. Speaking of taste, where was he supposed to obtain food?

Waddling like a teddy bear, past the trees, Maru glanced at a high elevation, scanning the view far into the distant. If he had a longer tail, it would be wiggling because his eyes detected motion far into the distance. He saw a tiny speck, dot-like, that moved slowly from his perspective. A human? Why were there still humans on this island? Or was that even a human at all?

Flexing his index finger, he pointed it onto the bark of a tree trunk. He grazed his fingertip across the rough surface as black ink mysteriously traced along his finger. Drawing several rectangular segments, one smaller than the previous, he ended each segment with a slight curve. Envisioning an image in his mind, he mentally said, “Manifestation!” Within a heartbeat, the sketch vanished from the surface as an object appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Letting the telescope fall into his grasp, Maru peeked into the smaller end to enlarge his vision on the small moving speck from earlier. It was still blurry, but now, he was sure that it was a human, a woman to be more accurate. Someone with long shoulder-length black hair, and that was all Maru mostly noticed.

If a woman was on this island, were there any other humans here?

[Konaa]

Coughing and spitting out seawater, Konaa finally managed to hoist himself onto dry land. For a few minutes, he just lay flat on the sands, trying to catch his breath. What a mess. Flipping himself upright, he made his way further upshore, lurching, looking about in a daze for any sort of shelter.

It seemed like it was going to be simple enough. He had been assigned to go along with the routine patrol vessel up to Reverse Mountain, and back to B-3. On the off chance they encounter any pirate vessels that had gone unnoticed and were attempting to enter the Grand Line, they were to engage and destroy them. That part...Konaa'd been less than thrilled about. He'd never entered combat before, aside from running away from a few rowdy pirates back in town. Combat just seemed like it was going to take an awful lot of effort on his part. Also, the whole threat of death thing. Definitely not a fan. He'd done more than his fair share of grumbling for most of the trip to the edge of East Blue. He was a garrison soldier! Do you know how hard it was to lounge about doing nothing on a ship? It had taken him this long to even find a place where no one would see him sleeping through his duties - behind the cabin.

It was just a routine run, anyway, he didn't need to be awake for this. There weren't any pirates who'd made it past Loguetown, and they'd be back in no time. Hardly even worth the effort of coming out here, if you asked Konaa, but then again, if you asked Konaa, just about anything wasn't worth the effort. He was conked out in his hiding spot, exhausted from all the dodging out of work he'd been doing, when the Marine vessel, having been blown slightly off course, encountered the typhoon of Lost Island. The Marines handled this situation quite well, managing to steer the ship out and back on course. But say, for example, there'd been an inattentive and heavy sleeper who hadn't secured himself to anything. Frankly, he was lucky being blown straight off the deck had woke him up at all. Actually, lucky was a good way to describe most of the outcome of this situation, seeing as he'd managed to cling to a piece of the railing that'd come off, all the way to this mysterious island.

Konaa had heard of the legend of the Lost Island, of course, but it was just that - a legend. There shouldn't've been any island within that damn storm, and yet, here the young Marine was. First things first. He needed a way out. No one was coming to rescue him. Sighing heavily, he leaned back against a ruined wall, gloomily kicking at the dirt and dust. Was he really going to die out here? Alone and without any sort of hope...Worst of all...

"...I'm gonna have to TRY to get out of here, aren't I!?" He cried out in despair, covering his mouth as his voice echoed up through the ruins. Oops. Better not advertise himself. Just in case. Well. If he had to save himself, best get to it. He removed his Marine jacket and tie, hanging them out to dry on a bent tree. Now he had marginally less sopping fabric to weigh him down. Next...better check out these ruins. Yeah, these ruins! Bit of a late reaction, but check them out! They were probably left by some ancient culture...Oh, no, Konaa, the squirrels made them. Geez..

Forging his way upshore and off the coast, he looked up, squinting into the distance. There was a decent sized tower...And a person at the top! Yes! Someone else to do the work of getting off the island! He started jumping up and down, waving his arms and calling out with his customary charm. "HEY! HEEEEY! DOWN HERE! DO YOU HAVE A SHIP? I'M STUCK ON THIS ISLAND! IT'S VERY RUDE! THAT TYPHOON IS A PAIN IN THE ASS!"

[Mirra|Robin]

Robin was a little surprised to see, of all things, a raven on this island. She had almost been certain it was not one of the indigenous species and, with the barrier that kept things both in and out she doubted it migrated alone.

“How did you get here? I didn’t think there were any ravens on this island. Are you here for the ruins, as well?”

Smiling at the bird, the archaeologist continued onward, knowing very well that birds like this one couldn’t talk or understand what she was saying. Carefully, Robin stepped up to the top; her hand running over a curious image of a dragon in flight. It wasn’t long after she had reached the top of the tower and caught a breeze in her hair that the archaeologist heard a strangers’ voice call to her from the ground. She giggled at his informal speech, it reminding her much of the crew she missed and was on her way back to.

“I’m coming down. Stand back, if one of these blocks fall on you, your head will split like a melon.”

Her cautionary note was more of a joke on her part. Not many people found her jokes funny besides herself, they did tend to air on the darker side of life. All the same, she was unsure how stable the ruins on this island were. She had not been here before though she had wanted to come here for a long time now. Robin descended the stairs, reminding herself with every step this stranger could possibly mean her harm. There were some pirates that enjoyed pretending they were ship wrecked in order to take advantage of island natives. However, this was one instance in which she was tempted to believe the story.

When the dark haired woman reached the bottom, she examined the stranger quickly. He seemed to be legitimately shipwrecked and in need of help. However, Robin was unsure how her current company would react to such a stranger. On one had they could accept him with open arms, on the other they could shoot him on sight. Revolutionaries were not the most friendly to outsiders when it came to protecting their secrets. This did prove to be a perfect opportunity for the pirate woman as she may need help later on in the ruins. Sure she had explored dozens of collapsing structures but this place was all new to her and it was best to count all of the possible outcomes of any situation.

“So you are shipwrecked? My ship made it though fine. I’ll ask the crew if you can board if you do me a favor. I am an archaeologist and I came here to explore the ruins.”

Robin was careful not to look in the direction of the ship. This stranger could easily take it and go if he was a devil fruit user of considerable skill. However, he didn’t look familiar and she did try to keep track of the others she met along the way, just in case. The archaeologist began walking toward the inner island in search of an entrance to the deepest part of the ruins.

It was exciting to think of what the legends said about this place. They said dragons used to live on this island. Amazing creatures that could breathe fire and fly. As much as Robin would have loved to see this place in its prime, all she was left with were the bare bones of the skeleton. She didn’t mind. After all, the markings she had seen so far proved to her that this was indeed a place that revered dragons.

[Konaa]

“I’m coming down. Stand back, if one of these blocks fall on you, your head will split like a melon.”

...What the hell kind of a thing to say was that!? Can't you warn someone without being unreasonably creepy about it? Or...was that supposed to be a joke? God, that was even creepier, if so. Who was this lady, anyway, and what was she doing on this island? Exploring?

For his part, Konaa just lounged about kicking at the sand idly while he waited. She seemed odd, sure enough, but she at least understood that he was in a bit of trouble and at the very least seemed to be about to offer him some help. He'd take it - not like he was gonna find anyone else on this island that wasn't even supposed to be real.

To the mysterious woman, upon getting close to him, he would appear to be something of a drowned rat. His rather unkempt hair was all over his face and soaking wet, along with his clothes. As for his clothes...Well, they were the same white undershirt and blue pants that were part of the uniform, but without the button-down overshirt and cap it wasn't immediately evident that that was what he was. Granted, they were drying well within sight, but he didn't seem to be hiding them, either.

As for his perception of this strange woman...Well, she was honestly pretty attractive. He actually felt a little self conscious, soaked to the bone and pitiful as he was. Then he looked more closely at her face, and something clicked in his head.

E...eh? Um. Isn't that. Nico Robin. The "Devil's Child" worth 80,000,000 beri, and one of...the Straw Hat Pirates? What. Is she doing here. I thought they'd been wiped out. Isn't she supposed to be some sort of demonic woman!? Why does she look like a kindly older sister!? Konaa's brain, usually not terribly focused, was temporarily in overdrive. All he could do in response to what Robin had said was nod his head once.

"A...archeologist, e-eh? Okay. Cool. So you um. Want to check out the ruins?" Smooth. Calm the hell down and don't let her see how freaked out you are. If she knows that you know who she is, there's no way she won't kill you!

Coughing slightly, he forced himself to look her in the eye. "So in short, you want me to help...And by help, I guess you mean trigger all the traps for you." Dammit, sarcasm, take the backseat for once in your life. Still, it's not like he had that many other options. Maybe her ship would- HER SHIP? Like...the Straw Hat's ship? Oohhh dear. Just what had he gotten himself into?

[PlatonSkull]

"Kraa[/i]", mumbled Hummings, and flew on from the tower. It probably meant some deep, philosophical thing, but Hummings might as well have cawed for all the good it did the world.
There were odd smells around the island. Odd movements could be felt.

The forest of the island was awfully quiet, Odin noticed, as he moved through the thick bushes, his face getting scratched by the branches. No birds could be heard, no insects were buzzing, not even the smallest rodent rustled in the grass beneath his feet. The slight movement of tall trees in the wind were the only audible sound in the entire forest, apart from the viking's traversing.
This is when anyone would look suspiciously to his right, muttering "it's quiet... to quiet..." and then something would pop up and scare him etc.
This did not happen to Cyrus. The thought had only crossed his mind when something jumped him. You could barely hear it gliding through the air before you had to duck so hard you hit the ground face-first. He did just that, barely avoiding the thing's claws. It screeched and glided onward, before making a u-turn. He could get a look at the thing now - underdeveloped wings allowing it to glide through the air from treetops, claws on those wings that allowed it to crawl to said treetops, huge daggers for claws to kill or snatch prey in the air, and the weirdest part - scales, like a reptile.
Odin got up, drew his sword, and readied himself. The thing was about the size of a fox, so it wasn't too threatening, in spite of its demonic appearances. He swung Yggdrasil to scare it off, and the thing let out a frightened screech and glided into the bushes. The rustling could be heard clearly in the silent forest. It climbed up a tree, making thudding sounds each time its front claws pierced the bark. Suddenly, it stopped moving, its reptile head turned quickly, and it sprang once more. He prepared himself for battle, but the gliding creature snatched something out of the air - a bird. Movement in his peripheral vision made him turn his head - at least five birds flew off, their wings barely making any sound.
The reptile went after them, snatching as many as it could in the air. Then it was gone. It looked similar to the carvings in the square rocks...

Odin went on pondering about the silence of the forest. The thing was obviously a powerful predator, snatching every thing that moved. It was also the only thing that made a sound.
Maybe the animals had adapted to its presence by learning to be as quiet as possible. The thing didn't even have ears.
He took hold of the thing as soon as it jumped out, his reflexes just fast enough to avoid its bite. The size of a wolf, also a reptile, and with a huge jaw that could swallow rabbits whole. It was less nimble than the gliding creature, and more green than brownish. Its tail was long and thick, and its eyes were small but focused. He threw it past him, letting it land flat on its back, before it rolled back over and stood up on its hind legs, spreading a pair of wings out, making it look big and tough. Odin drew his trusted sword and stroke one of the wings. The thing roared and stood back down, blood pouring from its leg. It dashed past him, snatching rabbits, that he hadn't himself noticed before that, from the ground as it went.
He was sure the things had to do with the carvings. And the closer he got to the center of the island, the more frequently they appeared. Awesome predators of the silent forest. Nothing could beat them, and nothing tried.[/color]

[BlacKitten]

“Human!” Maru cheered enthusiastically to himself as he tossed his arms into the air. Being all alone sucks, so the loving panda made the inevitable decision to meet face to face with whomever he just saw with his very own eyes. Whether she was friendly or not, he shall find out once he reached to her location. Shortening his little telescope, he morphed the item into a two-dimensional sketch on the surface of his black coated forearm. Kneeling down, he began to crawl down the steep grassy slope like a wild animal while his eyes briefly glimpsed at the infinite-appearing strands of grass as if he had never seen grass before. These common plants were so naturally green that it was without a speck of tainted harmfulness.

Gravity pulled his head down, and the panda flipped over his head, somersaulting and tumbling like tumbleweed. A sphere of black and white ball rolled down the green grassy hill until he reached the bottom. Ending short near the border between land and water, the panda stared over the large pond of clear water as he curiously noticed his reflection of another panda. Dipping his entire head underwater, his head jerked left then right then straight ahead for any signs of fish. Everything was crystal clear under the water level, probably due to the fact that humans hadn’t contaminated the water. After submerged his head for a couple of heartbeats, Maru popped his head out of the water, slowly inhaling the fresh air through his nose, then he exhaled through his mouth.

Waddling a few meters to the left, he leaped forth to pounce on a giant white boulder on all four paws. This giant rock extruded above the water level, and there were more of them ahead of him. Jump! Pounce! Jump! Pounce! Maru leaped from one boulder to another as if he was playing leapfrog. He wondered if the woman would want to play! What else would she be doing on an island such as this with such few people? Uh oh! There wasn’t a boulder for him to leap to, and the land was too far away for him to reach from a single leap. However, at this distance, the water depth was probably shallow enough for him to do this! “Manifestation,” a long tannish spear with a leaf-shaped blade on one end popped into existence from his white cape that he wore. This very spear was given to him as a gift from a terribly hot desert known as The Waste. More importantly, this spear was made out of bamboo, crafted beautifully with a smooth feeling to it. Well, it was bamboo after all! Bamboo was very strong yet flexible.

Pushing off of his feet, Maru thrust his six foot long spear into the water when he felt himself descending. Gripping the with both hands, he used the spear as a support for him to momentarily hold himself above the water before flipping himself over, kicking off with his feet as he landed on solid ground on his hind legs. Whirling the long pole-like bamboo weapon, he produced a whistling sound caused by the friction of his spinning spear against the air itself. Halting it to a stop, he firmly thrust the spear down on the ground with the tip pointing up. It was easy to grip and smooth enough for him to slide his hand across the pole to adjust the length of his reach. Using this spear as a walking stick, he sauntered forth up a miniature grassy hill while using the pole as a third leg.

While glaring at the sky, he questioned innocently, “Is there food on this island?”

[Mirra|Robin]

Robin stared at the stranger she had met on the suposively uninhabited island. Something about him seemed to scream ‘marine’ to her. Maybe it was his clothes or the way he was standing. Sure, he didn’t seem quite as polished and he didn’t have that hateful glare in his eyes that meant he was interested in her death. However, he did seem nervous and that could be a good or bad thing. The raven haired woman decided that since he wasn’t attacking her yet she had nothing to fear from him as long as she kept a good distance, didn’t allow herself to get cornered, and didn’t try to corner him everything would be alright. Besides, she wasn’t here as a pirate, she was here as an archaeologist.

Becoming a pirate had just been a formality to continue her work in the name of her family and friends that lost their lives studying the history of the world. They had come too close to some truth that the government feared. This same truth seemed to give the revolutionaries hope. Then again, anything that made the world’s rulers nervous would naturally make those who held disdain for them happy. Perhaps they would be wanting to use the knowledge to poke and prod at certain officials or perhaps they were more interested in a total takeover. To her, it didn’t matter. All Robin wanted was the truth.

“I don’t want anyone to trigger the traps. If we did, we might both die. I think there is more danger from us getting crushed by debris we disturb as we look around.”

The archaeologist kept a straight face as she spoke of death. Her eyes emotionless as she seemed to stare at the young man as she spoke. If he was a marine, he could not have made it far up in the ranks at his age. What was a marine doing here anyway? He couldn’t be looking for her, even if they had not kept it silent, someone so inexperienced would not be sent to hunt her down unless they wanted him to lose his life. That is, if he didn’t have some secret ability she couldn’t see. Having been shipwrecked, she could rule out him eating a devil fruit.

“We should go to the forest. If what I’m looking for is here then it will be deeper inside the island in some protected place. Many civilizations revered such things before they fell.”

[Konaa]

Nico Robin was confusing him more and more each second. He'd expected her to be, well, a vicious pirate at the very least, a demon at the worst. Was this a trick? There was no reason for her to lie to him even if she knew he was a Marine. She could kill him quite easily. Was she just toying with him? That could be it. Some sort of sick game for her own amusement.

But he looked at the woman before him, casually explaining that they would likely be in danger from falling debris as if it were a mildly interesting tidbit, and he made eye contact with her...Konaa couldn't help but feel a little at ease. There was something just inherently friendly about her, as strange as she was. Even if she was such a notorious criminal.

...Well, so what? He was self proclaimed to be a crappy Marine, anyway. What was he doing, listening to what they had to say about someone before he judged them himself? He wasn't like the others, soldiers that could follow orders they didn't truly believe in without complaint. Konaa couldn't shut off his brain no matter how hard he tried, and he had tried, believe you me. It would lead him into trouble sooner or later, he knew that. But it was just how he was. Right now, even though it didn't seem to make much sense to trust a criminal, something inside him, something he couldn't really identify, was of the opinion that she was exactly who she seemed to be.

So he relaxed his shoulders, brushed some hair out of his eyes, and nodded at the archeologist. "You sure do like focusing on the negative, lady. And making it sound sunny and pleasant. Well, your ruins aren't gonna investigate themselves, sadly. Let's get to it."

He was forgetting something, with this whole talking to strangers thing. What was it again? Oh yeah. "E-er. Also." He put a hand on the back of his head, shyly lowering his eyes. "M-my name's Konaa."

[PlatonSkull]

Another climber drakeling trying to claw him along with the tree trunk. All he wanted was to get to the top of the tree, or somewhere near, but that would be nearly impossible with the completely screwed up ecosystem of this forest.
It had been a few minutes ago when Odin had discovered small houses, something like an ancient suburb. The architecture must have been awesome, but the buildings had crumbled long ago and withered by time as they were, plants had grown across the ruin. And as he grew closer to the dead civilization, he had also come closer to two things:
1) A thick and large cloud of fog covering Gods know what
2) Being murdered by the drakelings
Odin had come up with that nickname around the 5th time he had gotten assaulted by the things. He liked the name. Like dragons, but small and cuter. Cuter not necessarily meaning they were cute creatures, just cuter than what a real, big dragon might be.
This shipwrecking had turned into some adventure now, and Odin was excited to find out the secret behind the fog, but now that he neared the top of the tree he was climbing to get a view and escape from the immensely thick population of drakelings, he realized that he hadn't gone way too far away from the beach, and that the fog was larger and thicker than anticipated.
He sat himself down, relaxing for a moment, not listening to the quiet birds, since they weren't chirping anything. It was eery, ghostlike, to sit up there on a branch, the forest completely quiet around him, except the soft breeze.

There were many types of drakelings, he'd learned. They all had tails, scales, forward pointing eyes, claws and sharp teeth. The types of drakelings he'd encountered were pretty straight-forward in their biology - the flying drakeling could glide through the air, catching birds and stuff. The brawling drakeling was more of a bear or lion, muscular and powerful. He had met an amor drakeling, that was eating plants, and protecting itself from the other drakelings through spikes and thick armor, kind of like a deadly turtle.
Then there was the climbing drakeling, some of which had harassed him just now. They climbed trees and snatched eggs from nests.
They seemed to be more threatened by Odin than angered by him, but they were dangerous creatures nevertheless.

He looked around him, as far as his eye could see, out on the beach, and noticed something odd - movement. On the beach, near some ruin, someone was moving. He knew it was someone and not something, because nothing that big existed on the island, as far as he knew, that wasn't a drakeling, and the drakelings were not bipedal, again as far as he knew. There were also two of them, and he hadn't seen drakelings in pairs or flocks. That would be terrifying.
Well, getting farther in would be more trouble than it was worth, he thought, checking his bruising that he'd gotten from one too many fights with the drakelings. And he might as well check out some safer ruins. Maybe these people, assuming that was what they were, would help reach the fog and figure out what was going on.
He climbed down a bit, until he reached a branch that connected with another tree. He looked down, a long fall. He took the jump, landing firmly on the other tree.
Odin had enjoyed tree climbing when he was younger. It felt epic and adventurous, but ultimately safer than real adventuring. Well, now it wasn't as safe, but that didn't matter. He was a one eyed, island hopping, caped viking with an ancient sword by his side. He wasn't really too afraid anymore.

[BlacKitten]

Marching up a hill, the bipedal panda whistled a happy tone to himself. He swung his arms in an exaggerated manner after turning his bamboo spear back into its sketch form, printed upon his white cape. As the high-spirited black and white bear reached the top of the hill, he held his paw on his forehead, casting a shadow over his eyes as he viewed the wide scope of the terrain. As soon as he spotted two tiny specks of human-proportion-like figures, he dramatically pointed his paw his prey. But geez… that was a long way for him to reach on foot. By the time he gets there, those two humans would most likely wander elsewhere, and Maru would have a hard time to interact with them. He must hurry!

Deliberately falling forward, gravity pulled the panda down as the bear summersaulted down the grassy hill. When the fluffy black and white ball reached the end, he felt dizzy, and the entire world spun around him like a merry-go-round as he stood up. Sauntering forth, he had reached solid ground made out of smoothly carved out stone, a place where civilization had once settled here until they apparently went extinct.

Waddling inside the entrance of the tallest building he could locate, the panda scaled up the spiral stairway inside, skipping several stairs per step. Cracks branched out everyone on the walls and ceiling that he feared it might cave-in on him. Crawling up to the rooftop, he had reached a higher elevation than before, looking down at nature and eroded rocks within his view.

Pointing his fingertip at the surface of the roof, his arm guided his finger vigilantly as he black ink followed on the surface. Drawing a large triangular shape, the panda added several details and finishing touches. “Manifestation!” After a heartbeat later, the drawing vanished, leaving a bigger trace of existence. A three-dimensional magenta-colored wings made out of fabric were summoned into existence along with the framework that supported it. Carrying the hang-glider over his head, Maru stepped forth, dangerously standing at the edge of the ceiling. Aiming cautiously at his target, the panda sprang forth, and in midair, his body adjusted itself to ride with the gentle wind on the magenta hang-glider.

Gliding through the air at a low height, a flying panda soared through the skies with his majestic, manly wings. Covering massive distances, it wasn’t before long before he approached closer and closer towards the two humans down below. Shifting and turning his body, he adjusted the direction and angle of where he wished to head towards, but there was one grave mistake that Maru had not considered. HOW WAS HE SUPPOSED TO LAND???

Descending smoothly, Maru flew directly straight at the marine soldier within view. Then, he got an idea! Flying straight at the young man, he would adjust his direction if his prey tried to escape, and Maru childishly cheered, “ULTIMATE ATTACK: FLYING TACKLE HUG!”