Point of No Return (Flame)

[Kurosaki]

Wind has a powerful effect. It moves and bends things such as plants to it's will. A small sail boat rocked amongst the waves, now becoming progressively choppier as it approached the shore of a small island. This sail boat had been whisked here mostly at the will of the wind even though it's owner had been trying to aim for another island. However, it seemed fate had other things in store for him.

A figure stood in front of the boat, standing with his hands in the pockets of his pants. His hair was ruffled by that same breeze. white and black strands flicked back and forth, some brushing his face and obstructing his vision momentarily. But even then his light brown eyes could easily make out the features of the place he would call his next resting point.

The Island seemed to be composed of mostly vegetation. Of course, there were beaches. Some of the parts of the beaches would make an easy place to land and tie up his vessel. Water pulled back from others to reveal sharp and dangerous rocks nearby; a danger the craft's owner intended to avoid. If the wind played along, of course.

"This place screams adventure," the young adult observed with a slight smile before he got to work on adjusting the sail. This time it obeyed him and he soon touched down on sand. Shoes sank into the mixture of sand and water and were hard to move as he yanked his boat up onto the shore. Drier sand stuck to those same wet shoes as he pulled the vessel still further up and toward the foliage. He then proceeded to use some large palm frans to cover it up.

It was his only way off.

Though it would make for an interesting story if something did happen to it, Ethan Chapman observed.

"North, looks to be that way," Ethan observed, turning his eyes to the right before clicking his compass closed. He began to poke around at the base of the forest and eventually discovered a small pathway. "Looks like I'm not the only human here." Ethan began to start forward.

[flame08]

The rustle of the brush was the only warning. Shadows passing, only a flash of gold could be noticeable of the beasts of the forest. It was here on Golden Island, in which such animals existed in such numbers and such color. The tensing of muscles as a waiting silence overcame the forest. Rows of shiny white teeth lined the faces of a few of the beasts which crawled silently through the underbrush to their final target.

That target stood in the middle of a small opening in which the light of the sun had punched through. The clearing of medium size drew in light like a beacon in the darkness. A man, though he looked not older than 14 stood in the middle of the clearing, his eyes boringly dreary and yet alert, piercing the woods. A black hood covered the white hair of the young man in the clearing, upon his hands were contained two gloves of sorts, gauntlets they were called. For this man was of the Technician's Guild and upon his and were a set of Technician's Gauntlets.

His name was none other than Forge Crux, Guildmember of the Technician's Guild. He had come to the island, on his search for inspiration, something to make his Technicians Boots special, to make them different from any other that ever existed. And now here he was, on an island where such technology was unheard of, yet inspiration and adventure were plenty.

But now that was the last of his problems for in a split second the battle which had waited in silence came. With a bark the trap, the ambush sprung. From all around giant golden wolves leaped into the clearing, claws out and teeth bared, they had found their prey, and while not being much more than a snack, they would take whatever was offered up to them.

Looking around him Forge cracked a smile "I wonder how you guys became so . . . golden." His mechanical fists banging together.

Stepping toward the wolf right in front of him Forge looked up, his blank eyes staring straight into the wolves. "Tech Hammer" he swung, the mechanical fist making direct contact with the jaw of the wolf in front of him, smashing the wolf to the side as 2 more jumped upon him.

The battle was beginning

[Kurosaki]

The forest only had noises like the occassional bird chirp or rustling of foliage to break the silence at first. However something soon caught Ethan's attention. He turned his head and tilted it down, listening more closely.

Was that... A bark?

If he had heard right then the noise had come from up ahead and to his left. Ethan's eyes narrowed slightly as he heard another noise like metal hitting metal. Something big seemed to be happening up ahead. What exactly that was he really had no clue.

"Time to investigate," he said with a wild grin before taking off running directly in the direction. Most people would have proceeded with caution if they even went toward the noises at all. But too Ethan he couldn't resist the temptation to go figure it out.

When he hit the clearing running he stumbled directly into a battle in the midst of happening.

A boy in the middle of the clearing was taking on golden wolves and seemed to be very close to losing as two at once jumped at him from either side.

Reflexively grimancing, Ethan reached for his hoster and pulled out his pistol. He took aim and fired a quick shot off. The oddly golden colored wolf to the white haired stranger's left went down with a whine of pain and then took off running. The bullet had actually only grazed the wolf's back but had been enough. Now all was left was the one. Ethan raised his gun up but probably wouldn't be in time to get off another round before it closed in...

[flame08]

Forge whirled around with his fists ready to make the next hit. But already two of the wolves were jumping upon him. Turning upon the one to his right he let his fist go, the wolf's open mouth which had been lunging at him bit down upon the fist. While strong, it was not yet able to push through the metal which made up his special Technician's Gauntlets.

Paying no attention to the wolf behind him, Forge swung his right glove in to face the wolf directly. "Pot Shot" Forge open fired with all five bullets at once straight into the wolf's face. At the same time another shot could be heard, though Forge was unable to. Behind him he could here the padding of paws and whining of the hurt wolf who had been jumping upon his back. In front of him the other wolf was convulsing dead on the ground. Forge looked on taking pity on the wolf, "This'll be quick . . ." his right glove aimed the pointer finger directly at the wolf's brain and in one shot the wolf stopped moving.

Turning to see what had happened to the wolf who had ran off he could make out a white & black haired man standing off to the side with a gun in his hand. At the same time the last wolf in a last ditch effort to get some prey was making its way to the man. His right glove went to work immediately firing a shot to scare off the wolf. The shot did the trick perfectly at the golden-colored wolf headed odd its tail between its legs.

Walking over to the man, he took off his right gauntlet placing it on the ground. "Thanks for the help, though I think we may be set equal now. My name's Forge, Forge Crux. What might yours be?" He held out his hand while sizing up the man.

A fairly tall figure, he had distinctive white and black hair as well as light brown eyes. His pistol was still in hand but Forge wasn't to concerned, he still had a secret weapon in his left glove.

[Kurosaki]

By the time that Ethan had realized that he was the next intended snack for the wolves, it was too late for him to change his gun hand position and make off a shot. Or at least he would have the wolf almost on top of him before he could make a real move. Luckily Ethan didn't have to find out if that would mean that he'd be seriously injured. The black hooded younger man that he had helped returned the favor. A shot was fired and the wolf stiffened with fear, tail tucking between it's legs before it ran off into the woods.

The young man walked toward him. As he neared he could tell more about the boy's appearance. In all honesty he looked like an older teenager at the most in age. The first thing that he did was take off one of his gauntlets and thank him.

"Yeah, no problem. Thanks for returning the favor," Ethan responded with a nod at the young man, scanning him up and down for a moment. He trusted this guy though pretty much right off the bat. Anyone that would help him back was cool in his book. The stranger introduced himself as Forge Crux.

"Name's Ethan," he responded before holstering his pistol and reaching out to grab the man's hand and shake it. "Nice to meet you; especially in such an interesting way. You know anything about this island? Besides the wolves being golden?"

[flame08]

The man shook his hand without what seemed to be a second thought, though there was a slight pause where he seemed to size Forge. "Yeah, no problem. Thanks for returning the favor," The man said. Forge shrugged "Its only proper manners ehh . . . nothing more to it."

The man introduced himself by the name of Ethan, then inquiring "Nice to meet you; especially in such an interesting way. You know anything about this island? Besides the wolves being golden?"

Forge scratched his head "Ethan is it? Well I'm sorry to say I don't know much about this island. As far as the wolves being golden I have no idea about that either I arrived here not two or three days ago. These aren't the first animals I've met here though . . all of them seem to be golden. Its an interesting phenomenon, I thought I might study here a little, except I haven't been able to meet any humans with the exception of you. I've seen signs but I haven't met any just yet."

Turning to Ethan again he said "But what brings you to these parts? I'm not very good at the biological sciences that I'd need to know here so maybe I can help you out. As a favor for what you just did for me."

He smiled at the man placing his right hand back into the gauntlet. "Hmm maybe we should keep moving, wouldn't want any more animals finding us."

[Kurosaki]

The white haired kid, Forge, scratched his head and told himthat he was sorry to say that he knew very little about the island other than the fact that there were other golden colored animals. It was an odd phenomenon on the Island that he was actually thinking about studying. The only thing that he said was holding him back was that, while he had seen signs of human life, he hadn't actually come across anyone on the Island yet.

"Hm, sounds like we should maybe check that out," the black and white haired man responded, curious about it. Maybe the people on the Island were somewhere that the kid hadn't explored yet. Or perhaps they were nomads that were moving around in order to avoid detection. Either way it intriged him.

"I stopped here on my journey to find some food since I ran out on my raft. Well, I was on my way to Roguetown or Mirrorball Island but it seems I was blown off course. At any rate, this place looks interesting so I figured I would explore it!" Ethan said excitedly, his eyes lighting up at the last part. It seemed that it was his main motivation to explore. "Yeah, if you want to come with that'd be awesome. The more the merrier."

"If there is anything I can help with to maybe get you the information you need, just ask," Ethan then offered in reply. "Yeah, let's get moving. Over there looks interesting!"

Of course, Forge didn't know Ethan's knack for getting into the heart of danger. As they headed toward the North of the Island, neither knew what dangers lay ahead but they were many in number with varying difficulty. The first thing that they would find themselves encountering would be a a series of traps set up by the natives to catch wild animals. Yet they were just as lethal for humans who didn't know how to avoid them...

[flame08]

The man agreed that they should look for signs of human life, not that there was much else to do on this island. For without human aid, it would be troublesome to do anything for an extended amount of time upon this island of the unknown. Forge had wondered about the human inhabitants of the island . .. had they been wiped out? hiding? or just deeper inside the forest. He wondered . ..

"I stopped here on my journey to find some food since I ran out on my raft. Well, I was on my way to Roguetown or Mirrorball Island but it seems I was blown off course. At any rate, this place looks interesting so I figured I would explore it!" The man explained in answer to his next question. He gladly would accept any accompaniment into the forest. Forge looked around "Yeah definitely the more the merrier, and probably the safer. Well food is plentiful as you can see, well as long as your up to eating meat. " He nodded toward the dead beast laying against the tree.

"If there is anything I can help with to maybe get you the information you need, just ask," Ethan offered. "Yeah, let's get moving. Over there looks interesting!" Forge laughed quietly "I'm not exactly here for information as I am here looking for inspiration." Heading on after Ethan they aimed north through the island.

The forest seemed to go on endlessly, as there was no light to be seen before them accept the small movement of leaves allowing light to pierce through the canopies of the above trees. Forge pushed on endlessly, until a slight tug on his leg was felt and a twang could be heard. Swinging his large gauntlet in front of his body he wondered what had happened. He didn't notice that behind him a large trunk was now flying to him and arrows were coming from the side.

[Kurosaki]

Since Forge had been there longer, it seemed wise to listen to his advice. Though he explained that if he was looking for food, meat would be his main option. Ethan nodded and did a thumbs up to show that he was definitely okay with it. Forge told him he wasn't there to find information, but inspiration. Either way was fine with Ethan. He just wanted to experience something new and exciting. Something his mind couldn't even imagine.

Together the two of them made their way through the mostly dense and dark forest. When a small breeze went by the canopy would rustle and then let little streams of light in, but that was the only exception.

They continued like this for a while with only the crunching of leaves and branches under their feet and the calls of nearby animals. However, a moment later Ethan picked up an odd noise. It was sort of a twanging. His eyebrows narrowed slightly and his eyes slanted to the side as he picked up another noise from one side.

Arrows were flying through the air headed directly for the spot Forge was heading towards. He must have triggered a trap!

Ethan didn't see the tree trunk that was also coming in for an impact in front of them. Instead he dove forward, grabbed Forge from behind, and tackled him to the ground. The arrows whizzed past them overhead while the trunk swung down and then past them. But it wasn't over yet. The trunk was on a return path back towards them.

"Whoa, close call," Ethan chuckled before standing up and brushing himself off. He waited for Forge to get up, standing directly in the path of the blow from the trunk that was sure to follow.

[flame08]

(OOC: do you have any clue where this plot is going <<'' . . we seem to just be walkin around)

Forge was still confused about what was happening when a force hit him from behind. He figured he must have sprung a trap as he heard whizzing go past his ear as he fell to the ground. A second woosh came past going straight up his head. The sound of metal hitting the ground could be heard as the arrows which had whizzed at his side stuck themselves into the ground.

Ethan had simply saved his life by knocking him to the ground to dodged the arrows coming up from the side. Little had he known that there was a tree trunk so as he he stood up brushing himself off saying "Whoa, close call," Forge got up with him a little more weary. Still looking forward, his eyes blasted out as he saw the giant tree trunk coming down upon.

Winding up one arm he shoved Ethan out of the way with his other arm. "Hammer!!" He swung out with his right fist making direct contact with the tree trunk. The force was extreme, torquing Forges body knocking him backwards into trees on the side of their makeshift path.

Rammed back into the tree he fell unconscious from the shock of the attack. His head rolled over as he fell into sleep. He regained consciousness quickly feeling an aching feeling upon his back. Trying to lift himself up he found an extreme weariness about his right arm. "Yo a little help please?"

[Kurosaki]

His companion had also began to stand to his feet. But instead of moving on like Ethan was planning on doing, probably to find out who on the Island had set these traps, he was shoved to the side by Forge.

"Hey, what's the big i-" started Ethan, but immediately cut himself off when he witnessed the man making contact with his first directly with a giant tree trunk that had been swinging down towards them. Even though he had gauntlets, that impact was sure to cause some pain. Worse yet, the force was so bad that it literally knocked his body back into a tree back first.

The tree trunk itself lost it's velocity for the most part. It swung back once more but then slowly came to a stop, swaying back and forth only a few inches after that. Ethan ran over to where Forge lay next to the tree, his head rolled over. It was a pretty sure thing that he had fallen unconscious. Since Ethan had no medical expertise to speak of, he hoped that that was all it was. Otherwise they were both without luck unless some miracle occured like the natives helping the people they almost killed with their traps. That was... Pretty unlikely.

But luckily Forge woke up, stirred, and tried to get up but had to ask for his help. Ethan grabbed his left arm and hauled him to his feet.

"Guess someone here isn't happy to see us. Thanks for the save back there. You going to be okay to walk or should we break and make camp for the night?" Ethan suggested, since there wasn't really any hurry in the matter either way. It'd be foolish to press on if Forge wasn't up to it.

(I was thinking either way we have an encounter with the natives. Maybe they capture us thinking we're pirates and then give us a task to do in order for them to set us free; like proof we won't loot them or something through doing them a favor?)

[flame08]

Ethan was standing above him, looking quite worried, stretching out his arm to gain some aid, the white haired man took it and pulled Forge up. Brushing himself off he felt a soreness come upon him from the contact, "At least we know there is civilization here. Those kinds of traps would have rotted over time, so they must've been set up not too long ago."

Forge looked at Ethan as he asked whether they should make camp and spend the night. He looked around distrustful of the surrounding forests. They had proven to be rather dangerous, though the trail would be rather dangerous as well and in his conditions he wouldn't be able to dodge as well. He gave in and nodded that they should set up camp. "You want to gather fire wood, as you can see I'm not in the best condition." He smiled slightly, "This clearing should work fine." He pointed to a conveniently placed clearing (=P) visible from where they stood on the path.

Treading carefully towards the clearing he walked with a special eye out for traps on the ground, making it to the clearing unscathed he opened up a compartment in his gauntlet bringing out a small sleeping bag. His gauntlet was still fully charged so he wasn't concerned about that. Grabbing a piece of wood off the ground, he stuck it in the ground, letting off a small charge of electricity to start it burning, he hoped it would last until Ethan made it back. If not he'd have to use a a second charge.

[Kurosaki]

What Forge had said as Ethan had pulled him to his feet was right. If the traps were still working then someone must have set them up recently otherwise they would have succumbed to weather and other conditions. Were they getting close to civilization then? It sure felt that way since the traps had been something that Forge had only just recently encountered. It would make since they would be closer to the parts that no one wanted anyone to make it to as well.

Forge seemed to finally give in to the adventure's suggestion. Ethan wasn't someone willing to take it easy so... well, easily either but it wasn't like they really had much of a choice in the matter when it came to injuries. The good thing was that, even though Ethan was very reckless, he could recognize that.

The black and white haired man nodded when Forge suggessted that he gather firewood since the white haired younger man wasn't in the best of conditions. He also pointed to a nearby clearing that they could use for the camp. Ethan nodded, fine with doing the searching, before he started to look around for firewood. Of course, he was incredibly careful with his footing and kept a sharp eye out for anymore traps. He tried to stick to the path that they had already come from as well, knowing that to be safe. Of course, Ethan was an adventurer at heart and that made it very difficult for him. His eyes would turn to look longingly at certain areas. A few times he gave in to fetch a particularly good piece of wood.

Eventually he relented, already holding tons of firewood that would last them days instead of one night, and wandered back to the clearing. He was almost there when someone grabbed him by the arms from behind, pinning them behind him. Ethan went to shout out but instead his mouth was covered. Firewood struck the ground and rolled every which way. A silent scuffle followed as Ethan fought against his two strong captures until one of them struck him in the neck. The blow was pinpointed onto a nerve that caused the man to black out.

[flame08]

Minutes, and more minutes continued to pass. Forge was starting to get concerned about what happened to Ethan. Standing up he let the fire go out the forest was almost plunged into darkness if not for the light of the stars and moon which cut wavering rays of light into the surrounding darkness. He hesitated to call out as it would give away his position but he had no choice. "ETHAN!! YOU OUT THERE?" No answer.

More and more he became concerned about what had happened to his companion and also, what was happening here. The sound of leaves crackling and sticks breaking surrounded the air breaking the unnerving silence of the world. Forge's eyes flitted back and forth keeping an eye out for movement close by. Then something caught his eye, a shadow sliding between trees, he couldn't tell if it was actually there as there were no more signs from that direction.

He spun around in position looking around, it all became quiet. Way too quiet, suspiciously he raised his gauntlets into a protected position. Turning around all the time he tried to keep blindspots to a minimum. Suddenly out of nowhere a group of shadows at least 6 burst from the bushes towards him. His gauntlets were ready as one of the list was hit by a large fist, or at least he thought he was. Somehow his fist felt like it had made contact yet, the man stood there unhurt, now only now could he see the figures. These tall slightly obese looking men were larger than normal, their arms were stubby and their legs were similar.

Getting ready for the next punch he felt something smash against the back of his head. That followed by a bunch of well positioned pokes taking him down from the inside with pressure points. His body broke apart as he lost consciousness. The world went black, his eye glazed over into darkness.

The next thing he heard was the sound of stomping and music, his eyes burst open.

[Kurosaki]

The world slowly came back to him. Ethan groaned, his body slumping against the ropes that bound his body in an upright position. Noises penetrated into his skull and caused a headache to begin. The roars of sound he pieced together as music mixed with something else. Stomping perhaps?

Slowly his eyes drifted open. He squinted slightly, realizing that he was looking directly into a rather large fire. No wonder sweat was rolling off of him; down his face and collecting in his clothing. He wasn't that far from the fire at all either; perhaps three to five feet.

"Oh, look. One of them is up!" said a man nearby with a toying sound to his voice. Ethan's chin was grabbed and his head jerked up so that his brown eyes ended up looking directly at a grinning man's face. The man was perhaps in his late 20's and had shaggy brown hair and narrowed eyes. A scar ran the length of his face. "You guys just had to get too close to the village, didn't you? You probably figured that the Abon Weed was some sort of gold indicator, like they all did, and got greedy, didn't you?"

The man then thrusted Ethan's face away roughly. The pirate looked back at him with a perplexed expression. What was this guy even going on about?

"This is the problem with pirates! This is why we can't just rely on the bounty hunters or the weed to make off with these guys. We have to defend ourselves and take a stand so that they'll stop coming here. We should make an example of these two!"

"Well that doesn't sound good..." Ethan said to himself before noticing that he was bound up next to Forge who was alert as well. "Got any plans to get out of here?"