The Raid

Akirai took a while to choose her clothes and in the end took a pair fitting jeans, long and water resistant boots and a tank top, she braided her hair into a neat braid that winded around her scalp and ended on the left side, the rest of the hair was put away into a side ponytail, she checked her gear over once more and nodded once she was done.

Everything was in order.

She was done with her preparations at around 11.am and put on her jacket before leaving to catch her bus to the Raid sight, the bus ticket costed her 5 Credits, and took her on a twenty minute ride before she got off and walked the remainder of the way, she kept a look out for anything interesting but nothing caught her eyes, the City was still under reperations from the Beast horde and except the occasonal shop here and there most buildings were houses and apartments.

The further she walked, the more nature she saw on her way, she tilted her head and debated if she should maybe bring a pretty plant back, she furrowed her brows in thought, but concluded that if she did find something that caught her eye, she´d ask one of the Millita if it was poisonous or not.

She made a mental note to study up on plant live more, sure she´d read up on the bare minimum, but there was only so much last minute cramming could do, there was no way she would remember every plant and it´s properties she´d read up the day and night before, and so she planned to stick close to people who know what they were doing, and hopefully not get in the way of people doing their jobs.

She arrived at the end of the city and the forests edge with a few minutes to spare, a few black jeeps were parked by a fenced gate, the fence sorrounded the forest and kept the Beasts inside at bay, soldiers were stationed by the fence, patrolling the perimiter, guns ready- locked and loaded and a second group surrounding the jeeps, there were a few other people there some with Beasts at their side, some without, the group was split in two, army personnel and civilians.

Akirai made her way over, bagpack slung over her shoulder, bouncing along with her step, and stopped in front of both groups, she gave a short wave and spoke up "Hello, I´m here for the Raid, am I at the right place?" She greeted and asked them at the same time.

A few heads turned to her, a few glances passing over her before the group of civilians ignored her, from the other side a man in a uniform and an air of authority made his way over to her "Akirai? Correct?" He inquired, seeing her nod he guestured her to follow and led her to one of the jeeps, the back was open and a few bagpacks were hanging on the insides, he jumped in and took on of the bagpacks before jumping back down and handing it to her "This is your gear, it has the standard equipment in it, a Knife, a map, a compass, a flare, rope, flashlight and the like, you can look it over now or later, we´re leaving once the rest gets here" He said courtly before leaving.

She nodded to herself and sat down on the side to unpack the bagpack- it was as he said, everything she payed for was there, she checked it over to see if it was functional- even comparing the map to one on her phone, once she was done- the whole thing barely taking 10 minutes, she was sure the gear was usable and packed everything back together.

It seemed she was just in time as another car arrived, the doors ripped open and a boy stepped out, a rat that seemed to shoot out lightning perched on his shoulder, he wasn´t alone as another man followed him, he had no Beast on or around him.

The others, already waiting, made their way over to the jeeps, one of the Soldiers called a "We´re leaving" to the group before grabbing his bag, the others doing the same- although Akirai had to rush a bit since she was still packing and swiftly stood up.

The group left with little to no fanfare, the Captain introduced himself as Captain Deron and told them the goal of todays Raid, the were hunting an Ironbacked-Ant colony in the south- the rules being rather simple too - You get what you hunt, as long as you can carry it and we won´t wait for you.

This put them in an odd spot because hunting before they tackled the Ant colony made them weaker, while they would be too tired and exhausted afterwards- she snickered to herself, no wonder they said the spoils were bad.

The person walking next to her, in the back -the soldiers being in the front- looked at her with a sneer on their face before turning back to the front and speeding up.

She tilted her head to the side in confusion, did she do something wrong?

---------------

The Commander turned his head to the side and looked at the civilians behind them with an evaluating glance, this group was quite small in comparison to normal- as normally Raids like these had at least 30 civilians but this time there were barely 20, although it was understandable since the Beast hord had horrid timing, not that the Beasts cared for that.

None of the newbies really caught his eye, they all seemed quite ordinary, although maybe they would shine in combat, a few of them had Beasts, he saw a few hound like Beasts and a few bird type Beasts, the most eye catching of them being a thunder rat sitting on the shoulder of a fatty, likely a rich young master looking for a bit of safe thrill.

He sighed, seems like this Raid would rely solely on the Millita this time, disappointing, but not suprising.

He turned his head back to the front and took out a map before looking around again, they were making good time, if they didn´t slow down too much, they should make it to the halfway point by the afternoon, they´d rest up for a bit before continuing on and going straight to the Ants, if everything went smootly, then they´d likely be back by tomorrow morning, he nodded to himself while marching on.

--------------

Akirai was puzzled as to why no one wanted to talk to her- did she break some unspoken taboo?

She was confused but shook it off and looked at the group, most had Beasts with them, and she guessed some had them in the Beast space- it was where Beasts resided when they weren´t needed by their Master, and looked around, she saw that most of them were either hound type Beasts or bird type Beasts- although she saw a lightning rat sitting on the shoulder of the one who´d been quite rude to her before, she also saw a snake on a woman in the front, curled around her torso and neck.

While she found them intriguing to some extend, she didn´t find them interesting, she´d rather raise her own partner and marvel at them instead.

She turned her head to the flora and fauna of the forest the were trecking through and tried to recognize them, she did recognize a few of them- most of them being poisonous plants.

One of them was the Blood Ivy- a mutation of the widely known poison Ivy, now dark red in colour and god knows how much more potent, it was very pretty to look at but -if it looks enticing and or very colourfull, until you know otherwise, it´s better to leave it alone- bright colours normally serve as a good warning from the plants to predetars- the same was for animals- bright colours are meant to keep people and other animals away for good- it was better not to touch it, there was an antidote ready, and in her bagpack, but why go through the trouble and pain when you could just leave it alone, yes?

The track was nearly silent, a few friends from the civilian side talking among each other quietly.

They reached a resting point around 2pm in the afternoon and settled down to take a break, although Akirai was puzzled by the absence of Beasts on there way there.