Gunshots sounded. Ryn's head shot up. "In the cave, now! Those shots were fired from less than a mile away!" Ryn tried not to think about how Rose and Melik were both out there, not safe, not hidden and even if they were together they were probably well out numbered. Ryn grabbed the packs lying at the mouth of the cave and threw them in deeper where there were rocks to climb over and hide behind.

Lei, hearing the gunshots and Ryn's reaction crawled deeper into the cave and sat behind a rock with the blanket she'd woken up with over her head. She didn't say a word, she was just too scared.

The twins hadn't heard the gunshot, and weren't even aware of the situation, and been asleep against the cave wall, not exactly hidden. The duplicates were wearing them out, even if it wasn't that many duplicates. The duplicates had been lasting alot longer than usual. Everything seemed to be weird that day.

"Ryn, grab Kyle," Amaki said loudly over the echoing sound of the shot. Standing guard outside the cave was a good idea up until that happened. Now they would have to retreat back, not only to avoid being spotted, but also, it may help them turn the tides on whomever it was that fired said shot. The taller woman had already hoisted the other twin over her shoulder, carrying her carefully so she would not hit her blades that hung from her shoulders.

Her right hand hovered over the other blade as she slowly backed herself further into the cave and toward the rocks where Ryn had through the rest of their stuff. The girl wasn't sure of a lot of things, like if these people were looking for them, if they knew about the cave, if they had captured Rose and Melik, and if they had them, if they were holding them hostage and forcing them to tell them where they were. Thinking on that note, she did not believe those two foolish enough to give away their position, well more so Rose on this one.

It was a challenge for the girl to come up with so many different plans to cover so many different situations. If whomever fired the shot was just out hunting or something, then there really wasn't too much to worry about, except that they weren't fox hunting. As for their location being found and all the others; the plans all started the same, move everyone deeper into the cave. Each plan then branched out in their own direction from there.

Rose jumped in the air when she heard the gunshot. It was very close. There were no animals near so it couldn't be a hunter. Her instincts in this form were to simply run and hide but she couldn't leave Melik. She stood and faced the direction the shot had been fired from her fur raising. She turned back to the man and grabbed a sleeve and pulled. They needed to leave quickly. She could hear the shooter walking towards them.

"Awww, Rosey-poo, I dun wanna leave the froggies yet. They are so cute." Puffing his cheeks out, he made a croaking sound. "You are so lucky you can shape shift. I wish I could. I'd turn into a frog. No, wait... a lizard! Lizards are so cute."

His innocent eyes drifted toward where the noise came from. "Let's go check it out!"

Crawling on his stomach, Melik started to move toward the direction of the firing. He really had no interest in taking cover and acting like a coward. He would rather find out what was happening and see if he could do something about it. Looking back at Rose, he hoped the fox girl would follow him.

"Please," he whispered back to her. "We have to warn the others if it's really anything dangerous. If we go to the cave, we'll just be sitting ducks. We need to figure out what's happening. And, if you wouldn't come with me, I'll go alone."

"Yeah, change into a lizard and you biggest gift would be getting stepped on.

Rose growled at the boy. She had already broken the order about not going after him. She knew this was another. She took a moment to think about changing back. In her human form she could probably knock Melik out but it would be hard to get him back to the cave and not be found.

She stopped and looked at him for a moment before lowering her head. She let the change happen and ended kneeling in the dirt with no clothes on. She kept her head down and let her red hair dangle down covering her red eyes and face. "We will go and look but you will listen. Do not make noise. If I stop moving you stop. If I wave for you to run, you will run and not look back. You may have your talents but I know these woods and I can hear and smell better then you." At this she looked up and stared at him in the eyes. She growled and showed her teeth. If she had a tail it would have been raised.

She let the change happen again and stood as a fox with her tail raised. She would not move forward till he agreed. If he didn't then she would run out of there. She would draw the fire of whoever was out there and run as far as she could. She would have a chance of getting away and not letting the person know there were people out here. If Melik was seen then they would know they were out there.

Nodding his head, Melik followed the fox girl. With his eyes peeled and alert, he used his hands to feel any shifts in the ground. Even though he wasn't an animal, Melik was quiet skilled with anything relating to the earth.

Nose to the ground, he sniffed the soil. The section was disturbed. His eyes shot over to Rose. "Rosey-poo, they were here." His voice was hardly above a whisper as he continued to creep behind the woman. "I can see how they messed up the earth. It's uneven. This pattern can only be caused by boots. Their boots."

Poking his head up from the tall grass, his eyes narrowed as he scanned the horizon. There wasn't anything in range that he could see. However, the silence that covered the land caused him to believe otherwise.

"Something isn't right," he muttered before biting his lip. His heart raced as he knew danger had somehow surrounded them. "If anything happens, remain as a fox. We don't need them to figure out you're a shape shifter. Foxes are common out here as evident from these tracks. We'll make something work should we get caught."

Rose walked forward in her four legged body. She listened as Melik talked then walked back to where he had indicated. She put her nose to the ground and sniffed in the scent. She didn't know the scent but it wasn't strong. They bath often enough to keep their scent down.

She gave a very soft fox sneeze as an answer. Her human body would do them no good. Especially without any gear. Over time she had gotten pretty good with weapons but she didn't have any.

She stopped and listend then sniffed the air. There were at least three people out here and they all had guns. She could smell the acidic smell of them. And they were around them. They knew someone was out here. She turned to looke at Melik again and stomped her front paw three times. She hoped he would understand what she was trying to say.

Suddenly she heard the men come forward towards them. They would be on top of them in a few more paces. She jumped around and yipped loudly. She looked back at him and hoped he would be smart. If she distracted them maybe he would get away or at least attack. Then she jumped out of the cover and ran towards the man that smelled most like gunpowder. She yipped again when she got close then ran towards the other. She heard another gun shot but kept running. Occasinally she would bark or jump out of cover to make sure they were following her.

Ryn grabbed Kyle and pulled him back behind a rock. The poor twin was exhausted. Ryn glanced around at the group. He really could've used Lei's Mind sight and connection. Maybe she still had the capability. It didn't hurt to ask. He knelt near her. "Lei, I need your powers."

Lei rustled a little before attempting to slip into her mindsight. Things were blurry, but she could still see each energy of everyone in the cave, and the energy of the plants, the bugs, everything like a light show before her eyes. She then reached out and lightly touched Ryn, making the mind connection. There was a burning sensation in her head as usual whenever she let someone in. Ryn could now see her mindsight while she touched him. Unfortunately for Lei, Ryn was a very skilled Psychic and once let in he could control her mind as well as his own which was difficult for Lei to handle. Lei felt a tingle in her fingers start to build. It kept building and building until it felt like her fingers were on fire. She yanked back and curled into a ball until the feeling went away. She was having a hard time staying conscious. Ryn whispered his thanks, apparently he'd gotten all the information he needed.

Ryn picked himself up and approached Amaki. Ryn trusted Amaki, and usually viewed her as a higher rank than the rest even though technically there wasn't one because of her tactical insight. "On this side of the mountain alone there are four groups of ten foot soldiers sweeping the mountain. We'll be lucky if they don't find the cave, if they do they will investigate as far in as they can. Who knows what kinds of... experiments they have with them and what they're powers are. We're in a very bad position with Rose and Melik unaccounted for and the twins and Lei being exhausted for reasons unknown to me. Right now you and I are the only ones with the ability to fight, and even in stealth it'd be hard to take out that many. Ideas?"

"If we move too far then Rose will have a harder time tracking us. The others are too weak to move so we don't have much of a choice in this matter," Amaki said as she watched the blond male for a moment. Her blue eye then traveled over the others; they really were too weak at this point which did put them in a horrible situation. She ran her tongue over her lower lip for a moment before turning to look out the way they had just come.

Four groups of ten obviously meant that there were at least forty soldiers. It really was just a matter of what they had, their magics and all of that fun stuff. She knew that Ryn was more than capable; one of the main reasons why she followed him. Without the others though, a fight like this would be tough. There could be a chance that there could be hidden reservoirs along the sides of the cave; maybe that would suit for a hiding spot for now.

That wouldn't work though and Amaki knew that; such a spot was hopeful thinking and would take too long to get everyone there. "For now we lay low. Keep everyone hidden and as long as the groups don't swarm us all at once we should be fine. We'll do our best not to be spotted. If it comes to it," the woman then paused for a moment. A sigh escaped her lips as she looked back at Ryn, her left hand coming up to her eye patch. "I will not hesitate to do what it takes to keep everyone safe."

Ryn looked at Amaki softly and put a hand on her shoulder. "I know Amaki. I agree with you that we should keep low. I'll try to have Lei keep an eye on those groups as much as possible and if they get nearer, we should go farther into the cave. It should get narrow at some point, and we can use that to bottle neck them. Your power would come in very handy in that situation." Ryn commented before looking around. He gave Amaki's shoulder a small squeeze, then moved towards the blondes, hoping to wake them and tell them to cancel their abilities.

Amaki nodded before looking back out towards the entrance until Ryn's scuffling caught her attention. The blue haired girl then turned to look at him, her brow furrowing together slightly. "Do you think it would be wise to move them though? With the condition they are in it could do more harm than anything." There were other thoughts going through the girl's mind about this but she didn't voice them; she hadn't been asked her opinion about this as it was so she could have been taking a risk if it had been any other group leader she was talking to.

While moving further in the cave would have been a great idea, her concern was with the well being of the group. She was also thinking as to if there were a larger body and if they moved back now and fought then there could be a chance of them pinning themselves; she didn't know if there was another way out or not. All she knew was there was an exit right there and moving away from it seemed like a good and bad idea all at the same time.

Ryn shot a glance at Amaki. He appreciated her input, and twisted his lips in thought. "We're sitting ducks here unless we get very lucky. They've got to have trackers meaning they'll find us no matter where we go. If we make a stand here, Faction Nine will be no more. We could try moving further down the mountain but without promise of cover and in daylight it's incredibly risky because we'd be slow moving with these three. If we move further into the cave, we may get trapped, but we'll be better hidden, and in a better place to fight than here or outside the cave. The twins are just sleeping I think, I don't know about Lei though. Moving doesn't seem to be an issue, but we need some way to stop the magic from affecting her. In a fight like this she'd be very useful, but in the state she's in I can't count on her to fight. With Rose and Melik gone as well we're really in a tight spot. We have to fall back into the cave." Ryn picked Lei up. The small girl was not heavy at all and hardly a burden to move but it was also difficult to see in the darkness. "Here! The cave walls narrow here. We'll just stay behind here and bottle neck anyone who comes in. Against large numbers it's our best move."

(DON'T DIE!!!! T_T)