Wilderness (TZA)

For RPs in the wild away from the rural communities and towns, no civilization, no comfort to be found here.
== Prelude: The Manhunter Awakens ==
In a dimly lit ruin of a laboratory hidden deep within the Rocky Mountains, two MCCP Agents are searching the crypt like place. Bodies of man and horrid monsters lay rotting, requiring special oxygen masks to proceed. The reason why the bodies were not removed is simple. Fear.
Fear of what was within before, and could be dormant. This was the laboratory of Loua Ensworth, a woman of unspeakable depravity. Though, even calling her a woman at this point would be flattery, for she discarded even her humanity with her vile research. Desiring immortality, she researched extensively into cellular mechanics, and desired to hack into the cellular reproduction and infection methods of viruses and bacteria. After many inhuman tests on unwilling, kidnapped subjects, she finally perfected her serum and injected herself, transforming her into something the UEI now calls a 'Viral'.
Contact with her body is forbidden, for she wouldn't hesitate to rewrite your DNA into a Viral, and the mere tiniest of touches would suffice to begin her wicked work. She could even project her cells into the air, making her contamination airborne if she chose. These bodies, while dormant, could harbor what could be effectively Viral landmines, waiting for something to touch them, to breathe their fumes in.
Their goal was simple. Burn it all.
Nothing must survive. 
Burn.
The second they unleash their flamethrowers, the 'corpses' come to life howling and screeching as they rush their assailants, screaming as the fire ignites and sterilizes them. The howls echo through the ruined laboratory like the screams of the damned in the darkest pits of hell.
They continue on.
Nothing must survive.
Burn it all.
Not a trace.
Burn.
But the darkness held something greater in its company, unseen from below. It leaked from the vents, that awful black sludge. Knowing, fearing. Waiting.
As they refuel their flamethrowers, it strikes. Spraying into threads of black metallic slime, it lashes at them, constricts and chokes, piercing and stabbing, again and again and again. The prey doesn't move. So it devours, it consumes, and it gains wisdom of men. It swells, it grows mass, and attains a heart.
But it desires more. Much more. Yes, it would like to see what 'outside' was. Mother talked of it so. Leaving nothing, not even bone, the ooze trickles along the floor, consuming any organic material as it passes, oozing toward the light and freedom. It soon senses the warm light of the outside, but cannot see it.
It must eat more. It must evolve.
Consume, Consume, Consume...
Hunt, Hunt, Hunt...
Kill…
…
The mass has become a large trailing tubular shape as it oozes along, primitive segments form basic armor and structure. Little centipede like legs allow it to move a bit faster. It’s searching and hungry. So hungry. It prowls the tall grass and consumes rabbits and rodents but it is not satisfied. 
A form is sensed, tiny beady eyes on the ‘head’ tell it a shape is coming and it’s big. It prepares to attack when the beast strikes first, biting into the tubular mass. What a careless mistake. Without resistance the ooze allows the bite, only to rush into its mouth like a torrent, filling up the careless wolf from the inside. It cries in pain as the ooze devours its first big meal in hours. But more than that, the ooze has a ideal form to improve itself.
Using the wolf’s body as a template, it constructs a head and body, refining it with hominid improvements. The head has no visible eyes but refined visual sensors ingrained in the entire carapace, and strong crushing jaws full of sharp teeth. The body is supported by four legs, with appendages resembling human hands, and has a vague humanoid profile. Its posterior is ended by a long black whiplike tail. Along with all of this, it has the ability to hear and smell acutely now, and quickly picks up the scent of its next meal miles away, beginning to sprint on all fours towards it.
Soon, it arrives at a cabin, its door slightly ajar. The scent is powerful, much more than the meager humans that gave it initial mass. If it eats this, it will evolve into its final form... it salivates at the thought.
It takes a step forward and halts as the loud thud is picked up by its senses. Too loud. It reverts into its ooze state, now a veritable flood of darkness as it slithers towards the smell… of its two victims. It continues into a room in the center of the building where two green haired humanoids with blue wings are resting together, in love and completely unaware of the intruder now oozing up into their bed. In one motion it swallows and encompasses their entirety and begins integrating them into its being. 
If they understood what happened it was only for a brief moment until they were integrated into its consciousness, their bodies melded with its own. Unlike before, it desired to be as them and achieve full consciousness. They would be one. They would be Viral. But no more did he exist solely to feed. Now a burning desire has taken hold. 
Love.
Desire.
Companionship.
Reproduce.
Consume.
He shall be Lux. He shall find love. They shall propagate. Dominate. 
So he flew to the scent of millions…
== Aceda ==
The trip was long, but having made it to the Canadian Border, he was immediately greeted at gunpoint until he produced his documents, and after much tense back and forth, he was finally permitted to cross, albeit with evil eyes following him past.
Certainly the Californian Republic had a better handle on presentability these days...
Continuing his journey, Ark eventually reached the area of Vancouver, however his work had only begun. Barring the city and main island itself, there were at least ten large islands and twenty smaller ones dotting the region after the Fantasy - Reality War and all of them uncharted and afar, any a place to hide for a renegade.
Ark takes a deep breath. "Looks like I'll need to set up several probes and triangulate any fast moving targets. Easy enough, so long as no one decides to be an idiot."
Once he takes a moment to breath in his surroundings he slowly makes his way towards the sea.
As he approaches the sea, he immediately can't help but remark upon the sheer volume of cave systems beneath most of the islands, some teeming with small or large signatures. Among the largest of the signatures he can easily discern several large to mid range Kaiju and a few dragons, though they decidedly avoid each other's range.
It's as he's making these observations a rather large oceanic dweller seems to take notice of him and shortly thereafter he feels a reverberation and the sound of something akin to a whale's call, followed shortly by:
"A visitor from afar, I think. Not the first one to take up roost lately... though I suspect you are after something other than an abode, are you not?" A female voice, almost grandmotherly in tone reverbs in his head. Along with this call, he notices some of the other Kaiju in the area immediately shirk away from its area, which gives him the impression that the speaker is fairly high on the local food chain.
"Indeed. I am looking for someone, an incomplete Insecta type, who has been starting fires all around. Should they be afraid to move, simply tell them that 'Kuzuryu' is aware of them and willing to meet in a neutral territory. Aside from that, I have little interest in interfering with your affairs or making a large fuss if it can be helped."
”Hmm. I know of you. An upstart from across the seas at the island nation… but still possessed of decent heart. I know the one you speak of, indeed she took roost in her abode only a short time ago, in short order concealing her presence. Either she is not receptive to your coming or tis another for whom she continues to lurk. In either case, her guard only rose with the sounding of my voice, so instead I will direct you.
Travel to the furthest large island and head towards the thick forest at its western most point. A thin and small in width but long cave carved by her beams will be your destination.”
"You have my thanks." With that, Ark vanishes shortly after a distant peal of thunder booms.
Ark eventually finds the area described, and after some careful analysis is able to discover the cave, whose entrance was obscured by foliage and careful angular orientation. It appears not much larger than a person’s form in size and carries downward at an angle, coated in obsidian. He can tell there’s a energy source in the cave somewhere quite a ways down, as though to limit the ability for others to readily detect their presence.
He thinks he sees a flash of mint green light in morse code, questioning the identity of the one outside.
"You are well aware of that," Is Ark's response.
There is a lack of response for a notable period of time, just when he’s about to attempt to communicate again he sees:
“In, quickly. Talk here.’
When further inquiry fails to solicit a response Ark enters, and it’s not until a fairly deep descent does a mint green light illuminate a side chamber, and he sees her at last. It would seem as though Simon’s guess at her nature was correct. She is looking downward and not meeting his gaze.
She is notably gripping one of her four arms tightly.
<It has been… some time, has it not? I…> She speaks in a manner faintly similar to her original voice but marred by the sounds of her mouth’s various parts, creating a rough, barely human cast to her voice. It sounds noticeably difficult for her to string together the language she once spoke brightly and clearly.
<Before anything I… I… …> She lowers her head to the ground, in a repenting posture.
<Forgive me…! I should never have… I should never have listened to that snake…! I’m sorry for turning my back on you and believed Daisuke…! If only I listened and helped stopped the others, you would be an outcast and…!> She speaks frantically and in a jumbled manner, beginning to sob at the end.
"Calm yourself. The only bad blood I may have directed at you is from you harming a few people now under my watch and making a rather large scene, even if the ones who were provoked aren't exactly fair on our lot," Ark says. "So long as you don't attack people indiscriminately or cause a large fuss, I won't have to apprehend you or take you down. With that in mind, aside from the apology, was there something else you needed?"
She begins to clutch the ground tightly. <...I came to ask- -nay, beg your aid to stop Daisuke. You're the only one I could think of who could help me oppose the Squad.> She begins trembling, still in her repentant posture.
<He didn't stop his ambitions when you left. In fact he... he already had a contingency in mind by that time.> She clutches her stomach tightly. 
<Do you know what he told me as my Armament began to take me over? He loved me- -as an ideal subject, an ideal template.> Her mouth parts begin to gnash in agitation. <...And what I'd create. I only understood what he was after as he pried my newborn daughter from my malformed hands...!>
"Breathe," Ark says, tone firm. "Dealing with Japan isn't something I can do lightly. Their Yokai would protect the place and the only real way I could deal with that would be with the Old Rain at the present and that is firmly off the table. It is not to say that I am unwilling to provide you with aid, but there are going to be hoops and official channels I need to go through before I can, else there will be problematic elements. In the meantime, if you can bring yourself to do so, tell me more about what's gone on. If things are as dire as you make them sound, action will be required sooner rather than later and I will need as much information as possible to aid in the resolution."
He looks as if he would say more, but holds off for the moment.
She opens her mouth to speak but then a large explosion rattles the island and her head whips towards the location and her mouth parts wide in an inhuman scream of aggravation. She forces herself to calm down and pushes her mouth back into its normal state, clearly not fully at home with her new body. She then urgently looks at Ark.
<Kuzuryu, take the side tunnel, there's a side exit a few miles out of the way. It's->
<ACEDA, IT'S ABOUT TIME I FOUND YOU AGAIN. I KNOW YOU'RE DOWN THERE. SURRENDER OR I WILL ELIMINATE YOU.> A man's voice booms and echoes through the tunnel from the entrance. There is only one man who could be boisterous and loud enough to be heard so clearly despite being still partially human. Agent Tyrant. Probably the most insufferably loyal man to Japan on the planet.
<-I'll distract him, leave this place and me behind. If he finds you here with me...>
"Very well. Escape if you can, however. You are both necessary as a witness and and as an expert."
Ark then pauses for a moment, willing a thunderstorm to brew as he follow's Aceda's instructions. It's best not to fight now, killing that agent would be difficult without revealing my hand and would spark an international incident.
He withdraws something from his pocket as he moves, only to shake his head. Not enough signal to request rerouting and interference from Viola.
Aceda snarls and her eyes and various vents in her body flash green repeatedly as she prepares to launch out the tunnel. If only the Canadians didn't intercept me, Tyrant wouldn't have known I was around... it looks like I'll be running again. For who knows how long...
As Ark makes it out of the cave, the area of the island where the central part of the cave was explodes and then collapses in a massive pillar of mint green light as a massive complete dragonfly Insecta rockets out of the cave, firing rapid fire bursts of mint green attacks off its back at a humanoid figure who while slower, seems to shrug off her attacks like they're nothing, launching missile like scales in retaliation that cause massive explosions all around the Insecta, whose rapid fire switches to an anti air style defense while its legs charge large bursts of energy to keep Tyrant at bay.
It's clear though that Tyrant's infamous barrage attacks are far too strong for most Kaiju to contest, as soon Aceda is seen rocketing off at hypersonic speed to the south, with Tyrant starting up slow, but repeated scale bursts cause him to soon be rocketing along at a near pace to hers.
Noise... I detest noise... The commotion has roused the Amphibian Kaiju and her tone is most displeased.
"That would be from the other visitor in the area choosing to attack the one who was taking refuge." Ark replies, leaping into the cloud bank as they swirl around and rumble. If I recall correctly, that particular Kaiju was unable to be hurt by energy in life so I'll need to make this shot count if I'm going to slow him and give her time to escape and hide away.
He makes sure to have recorded the commotion outside before he manifests a very long and large rifle, materializing a long spiraling shell that he quickly chambers, aims and fires as electricity swirls around the barrel. The shot is quieter than the brewing storm, but the bullet vanishes the instant it leaves the barrel carried along the clouds with arrested momentum until it reaches a location to the left of Tyrant and bursts forth as if fired from a railgun, aimed squarely at one of his shoulders as it flies past.
When the shot hits Tyrant’s shoulder it cracks the armor into many small glittering pieces that all suddenly explode violently, sending him tumbling from the sky towards the coast of Washington. He tries to right himself but a heavy gale of wind blasts him into the sea, which strangely has a thick viscous quality that makes it heavy and stick to him, allowing a sudden rip current to lead him out to sea.
” The impudent one has paid the price for disrupting my quiet. Take care not to bring any more disagreeable ones with you should you return. I will be very displeased.”
Aceda continues to fly on, veering off to the northeast in the direction of the Yellowstone Exclusion Zone.
Ark takes the time to nod in response to the older Kaiju's words before enveloping himself in lightning and moving to follow after Aceda.
After managing to catch up with her and getting her to calm down, she lands on a cliff, shaking and ill at ease.
<I had been able to rest for so long that I forgot the feeling of being hunted… …but why does it hurt more than it did before…?> She continues to rattle in distress.
<I don’t think we have a lot of time before he will get free… so I should at least say this much. He didn’t stop with you. He didn’t stop with me. He’s grooming Miwa, our- -my daughter into his new ideal pawn. She likely has a year or less until the Armament built from the parts they tore off me begin to change her into a Kaiju. Then he’ll have his key to an army of soldiers. He won’t ever stop, Kuzuryu. There’s no low he won’t stoop to. Not even transforming his four year old daughter into a monster. Or…> She presents him two photographs, one of a child shortly after birth and…
A girl in her twenties who bares a heavy resemblance to Kazue and Daisuke.
Her eyes flicker red with anger. <No low, Kuzuryu.>
"Then it is imperative that the proper procedures are followed. Can you fully revert to your human form or do you need assistance? We will need to move fast and I'll need to contact an associate in regard to the situation."
She looks to one side. <Probably, haven’t tried. A miserable reminder of my past and woefully ineffective at hiding from Tyrant. …And neither do I have clothes for covering said form.>
She nonetheless changes to a mostly human form with Kaiju armor still covering her torso. 
<This will suffice until otherwise necessary?> She asks.
"It will have to," Ark says, pulling out an odd device. He pressed a few buttons, gesturing for Aceda to follow him as he does. "Viola? Good you're awake. I need you to inform Issac that our person of interest has been secured and that we're on our way. They're a guest and things are going to get very complicated. If you can patch him through, I'll give him the details as we go."
Aceda follows with an awkward gait, unused to using human feet to travel.