Hunters

"Sure!"

"Saffire!" the girls protest.

"I was just joking!" you say, but it's a little late. Obisidian has already morphed his arms into tentacles again and is touching Nuh on her grebnaks and thighs.

"Obsidian, I said I was joking! Stop tickling Nuh!"

Onyx comes to a halt, and Blackfire nearly runs into her. Onyx crouches, and smooths her hands and feet over parts of the ground.

"We need to get into the trees!" she shouts. "Hurry!"

"Wait, why?" Foxy asks. "Is there--"

"No time!" Onyx shouts louder. "Just get in the trees!"

You follow Onyx's orders, and grab Nuh and Obsidian.

*WHOOSH* You fly up into the nearest tree.

*WHOOSH* Blackfire carries Onyx into a nearby tree.

*WHOOSH* Flashfire and Foxy fly into a third.

*rumble rumble Rumble RUMBLE* Something big is coming, and it shakes the ground like a stampede. Could it be some kind of stampede?

*RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE* The thing draws near, large lights firing ahead like giant cannons!

It is a giant metal vehicle with a dozen wheels and a broad metal nose. It rumbles by, its lights missing the brances of the trees. Its 30 foot long metal body just scrapes by, and breaks off low hanging brances. As it passes by, deep ruts are left in the ground by its wheels. Did Onyx know it was coming from vibrations in the ground?

"Onyx, how did you know that was coming?"

"The ground felt like it had been trampled on within the last day," she answered. "I had heard stories of the Hunters using large wheeled vehicles to capture Shadowans in large numbers, and that they would run around on a regular basis. I made a guess that it'd be back, and I was right."

"Come on," you say, "let's continue on to the mountain. In the air."

*WHOOSH* You fly up, holding Nuh in your arms and Obisidian on your back.

*WHOOSH* Blackfire and Onyx take off, followed by Flashfire and Foxy.

From up in the air, you can see several other paths had been made by those large, tank-like vehicles, and can just see their lights in the distance.

"We should go free the Shadowans!" Obsidian shouts.

"I don't know," Foxy says. "We're probably outnumbered by several dozen!"

"Foxy has a point," Flashfire says. "We Tamaranians may have strength, flight, and lazers, and Obsidian may have his shapeshifting, but he's only a kid, and we three can't take all of them!"

"Hey!" Onyx protests. "I may not have shapeshifting powers, but I can fight!"

"And so can we," Nuh speaks for her and Foxy, "but that doesn't mean we can take a group of hunters that have giant metal vehicles!"

"We'll talk about it more when we get to the mountain!" you declare.

The seven of you land on a flat part of the mountain above ground level. Obisidian grumbles.

"We should go help our people!" he shouts at Onyx. "Someone has to!"

"I know, I know," she tells him. "But Nuh had a point, we're way out numbered. I just want to know those hunters haven't gotten my family, or YOUR family."