When Surrender came dashing into the nursery followed by a handful of goblins Toni was terrified. Then, she was fucking pissed.

  "He sent you and stayed?!" She shouted, Surrender gred at her.

  "Yes! We not want h-"

  "What the hell is he thinking! For fucks sake, the idiot's gonna get himself killed again. Sioh, come on" She grabbed her gun and called to Sioh who was flexing in her new armor. It was easy to fix that, the excess metal can be folded in easily using [Quick Shape]. Though shaping metal she hadn't made wasn't all that easy. Especially not simple iron like that which was quite impure.

  Toni felt something smack her head and turned around to gre at Surrender who gred back.

  "He sent us so that you could come up with a pn that wouldn't endanger the nursery!" Surrender shouted, Toni's eyes widened. Not just at the clear anger in her eyes, but the eloquence of the sentence.

  "Y-you- how long could you."

  "Long time. I told you, only say when important." Surrender hissed, but rexed as Toni's head cleared. The shock of the situation and the hit had cleared her head a bit. She frowned and motioned for the others to follow.

  "Surrender, go find the Trevad, let them know what's coming and to gather the Sparks and greenlings somewhere safe. Opposite wherever they're coming from. If they want to they can come find me to help with the fighting, but we should be able to handle it."

  Toni's mind was racing now, maybe 100 marchers? One demi-lich, if that was even what it was called which she doubted. Voel could scout it out, and that's where they headed immediately. Toni guessed it probably wasn't very strong if it hadn't been able to overrun the goblins and Temate quickly.

  So that meant they could beat it, whatever mockery of the lich it was. Especially with a good pn. It wasn't smart, Ren had said, it just kept charging them. That was very important information, and it meant an easy win against the marchers who were already not difficult to fight.

  "Voel" She shouted as she approached the Cuen-hach, a term she'd learned from Kea while working. "Kea." She acknowledged her as she turned blinking at Toni.

  Kea grinned. "Finally come to take me up on th-"

  "Not now, we have a problem, you see it yet Voel?" Toni asked the feathered man, he shook his head.

  "A-I am just getting eyes over to examine it. A-I saw the gremlin returning a brief while ago." Voel replied.

  "Good, apparently it's marchers, maybe a hundred. I'd like a better count, and Ren said there was a 'demi-lich' leading them, but I'm guessing that's just Temate making up a name because it's like the lich but not it. If you can tell what it actually is and if it has a weakness let me know." She rattled off the instructions quickly.

  "Do-do you want us to fight?" Kea asked, suddenly nervous. Toni was about to reply when Voel spoke up.

  "A-you will fight Kea, A-I will not." Toni blinked, then frowned.

  "Why aren't you fighting, scared?" She snapped. Voel opened one eye, sighed and shook his head.

  "A-I see what is coming, it is simply a flesh marcher. A-strong variant, with some power gifted by it's creator. A-it is not a threat, however." Voel held up a winged hand to stop Toni's response.

  "A-it is not smart, but it can be clever to a degree. A-it is possible other marchers are in hiding, or that it will send a portion of it's group around. A-I will remain in observation. A-there are only 53 marchers remaining, including the flesh marcher." Voel added.

  "Damn, Temate and his group took out almost 50 with their little backward fighting?" Toni asked, Voel nodded.

  "A-and the rest of the goblins and Pipuck are returning now. A-Temate has remained with 6 of his own marcher creations. A-they seem more than capable of maintaining the retreating fight indefinitely and safely." Voel gave Toni more information.

  She took a deep breath to prevent her shout of anger at hearing Temate was staying behind. Alone. Stupid muscle-bound id-

  Voel hissed and opened his eyes with a gre.

  "What happened?!" Toni panicked immediately, but Kea and Surrender asked the same question just as quickly.

  "A-he started whistling." Voel frowned. Toni tilted her head in confusion, made worse when Kea seemed to nod with understanding.

  "Why is that a problem?" Toni decided to ask, she already had a pn in head and it wouldn't take long to set up.

  "A-it's not." Voel stated. Toni looked to Kea who shook her head in that 'not my story to tell' way Toni recognized. So it wasn't something bad necessarily, just a bad memory for Voel. Possibly traumatizing? Well that was his secret to keep, even if Toni didn't particurly like the guy.

  "Fine, if you'll make sure nothing sneaks up on us, we can handle the fight itself I think. How long do we have?" She asked Voel again. Intelligence was important, the most valuable resource of war. Toni started at the thought she'd just had, grimacing but settling her resolve.

  It wasn't a war, but it was battle, combat. Her friends and loved ones were in danger, and she could help. Maximum casualty to enemy for minimum casualty to friend. Fight to protect.

  "A-30 minutes, give or take a few minutes. A-assuming nothing startling happens to force Temate to retreat earlier." Voel added and Toni winced. She'd said Temate's full name in front of strangers again... Shit. Why was she so bad at that? Mate was her nickname for him.

  "Alright, I got a pn, you guys with me, Kea you might as well come too." She lead the group away from Voel who shivered at an unknown memory.

  "If that's the length of the line you guys had, we'll want a ditch, about 10 feet thicker on either side. Laurel, you and the Trevad gather the branches and leaves like I asked and ttice them like this." Toni walked the gathered goblins, Kea, Laurel, Ren and two of the Trevad, Thares and Nijij, through the basics of a pit trap. If they could dig it deep enough...

  "Too much to dig." Sioh frowned as she looked at the space Toni wanted dug. Toni sighed and reached into her and Temate's bag. She pulled out two folded up digging shovels.

  "These help?" She unfolded them with a flick of her wrist and watched the goblins eyes widen. "Your two strongest will dig, the rest will help shift the soil away so it's not obvious, as well as gathering all the rocks, twigs and leaves we need."

  She handed the shovels out to Chiel and Sioh who were immediately shoved forward as the strongest. She was surprised to see Nijij step up, examine the digging space, and grin. She moved Chiel over to Sioh's end of the pit and spoke up.

  "I bet I'll dig faster than both of you combined." There was a twinkle in her eye and the two goblins set their faces in scowls.

  "No! We two! You one!" Chiel shouted.

  "Then prove it." Nijij muttered, and Toni felt some power flow to the goblins. They glowered but set to work, moving faster now than they had been before. Huh. Neat trick. Not as neat as what Toni saw when she looked back over to Nijij though.

  The Lacert man, as he was a man much to Toni's surprise and annoyance at Kea's smug expression, wasn't just digging. He was practically swimming through the earth. He practically y in the soil as his hand swung in a circle. It dug into the ground and a huge spray of soil shot up and out of the pit.

  Seeing this Chiel and Sioh redoubled their efforts, and the race was on. Though it wasn't much of a race. Even with their [Power] enhanced digging speed, courtesy of Nijij, the two goblins were no match for the natural digging power of the Lacert man.

  "Teach you to dig against a Lizard awoken Lacert." Thares smiled as she shook her head at the two sweating, shocked goblins. They handed their shovels back to Toni who cleaned them off by [Quick Shape]ing the metal away from the dirt. She folded them up and put them away as Sioh asked the question burning her own mind.

  "Lizard awoken? She asked, her head tilting slightly.

  "Ah, Lacert come in two basic kinds, those awoken from birds and those awoken from lizards respectively. Simply put, ones awoken from lizards dig very well, and are strong." Thares nodded towards Nijij who was now helping Laurel y the covering on the pit trench.

  "They ck the willingness to fight like my kind, one of the awoken made specifically for taking are of the nurseries. Yet they will fight when their homes and wards are in danger, and they're nasty." Thares added.

  Toni nodded and smiled at Thares. "Thanks for helping by the way, the fight shouldn't be too bad all things considered, assuming no surprises."

  Thares ughed cheerfully as she examined a rge bow Laurel recently grew for her from a tree seed.

  "I thank you for not assuming I am too weak to do so. I may ck combat specialization like my sister, but we Laegor are naturally willing fighters." She smirked at Toni.

  "Huh, I always took rabbits for cowards." Toni responded absentmindedly.

  "Most do, but then most are also much bigger than rabbits. Rabbits are not cowardly, they are simply... pragmatic. We run if we are certain the fight is pointless." Toni returned a broad grin to Thares as her smirk grew.

  Pipuck and the goblins arrived shortly after the preparations were complete. Toni had to shout and direct them around the trench before they fell into it themselves. Pipuck immediately set to healing the wounds of the goblins again and Toni grimaced.

  "Will you all be able to fight when the marchers get here?" She asked, and the unanimous gre's screamed only two words to Toni 'of course'. Even Hema, one arm wielding only a club, seemed determined.

  "Okay, okay I had to check, I don't want anyone dying out there. Here's the pn." Quickly she expined the pn to the goblins who nodded and got into positions on their side of the trench. They ducked and hid in the taller grasses and pnts scattered in the area, waiting and watching.

  Toni stood with Thares, Nijij, Kea, and a few goblins who'd already confirmed they could do what needed doing. Sioh, Chiel, Qinq and Hema hefted their clubs, bdes, and rough shields as they waited and watched. Qinq started cnging a rock above his head with his club.

  Soon after, the other goblins, even the hidden ones, started doing the same. When Temate came bursting from the tree line they stopped and readied themselves. Toni waved him over.

  "Mate! Here!" She grabbed her guns handle, still holstered. She wouldn't need it for this fight if all went according to pn. Even if it didn't... Well the gun wasn't a great help against bones anyway.

  Temate came running up to her, panting, followed by 6 little goblin marchers who stopped short. She looked him over for any wounds, noticing only a few scrapes and a slightly discolored patch of his poncho. It recolored as she watched, healing itself even from whatever magic did the damage.

  "Pn?" He asked her, looking over their line.

  "Pit behind us. We want to get as many in direct combat, then leap over the gap. When they charge after they fall in and we bombard from above. Anything left standing the heavy hitters leap in to fight."

  "The demi-lich?" Temate asked.

  "Flesh marcher, empowered not a full caster and not smart. Surrender will handle that with support fire from myself and Thares." She pointed toward Thares who nodded toward Temate. Temate nodded back then grimaced.

  "Don't think my marchers can make the jump." He said.

  "That's fine, leave them and let them serve as a distraction, an obstacle. Shouldn't stagger too much, may even confuse." Toni replied.

  It was brief, but Toni could already see the marchers stumbling through the woods. Her math was quick but there were definitely less then 50 now. Not even 40 if her quick count was accurate. That still meant nearly 3 or 4 kills for each of them, but they could do that... right? Once the flesh marcher went down, they were weak right?

  She settled her stomach as Temate stood tall and she felt the [Towering Presence] rex her. She saw the goblins backs straighten. Even Nijij and Thares seemed to be bolstered by the [Power]. Temate stood next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. She smiled and then her eyes widened.

  "Oh right, your machete, I finished it." She went to grab it and Temate shook his head.

  "Not useful on these, bones and bdes." He lifted his bone arm and hefted the rge white bone thing in it. Was that... it was! Toni knew weapons, it had become a fascination for her, though mostly she knew guns but she also knew the big cssics. A kanabō, though with it's huge size, designed to be wielded by Temate, and it's singur composition, Toni presumed it was more of a tetsubō.

  Her father certainly would have called it the tter, it was a monstrous thing that Temate had made. A singur piece of massive bone shaped in the image of a tetsubō, a little rough considering how it was made. Rough, but effective. It also meant she probably shouldn't stand so close to him.

  "Be careful with that thing." She muttered. He blinked and smirked at her, no answer came from him, because he had no time.

  They were here.

  The marchers began to run, charging at them as the flesh marcher danced in the back. It grinned and ughed sending a shiver down their spines. Yet despite the power she felt in that ugh Toni could tell it was weak compared to it's masters. It barely caused a shiver for a start, and faded rapidly.

  Toni knelt, calling fme to her hand as Temate stepped forward and heaved. With a single swing she saw 3 of the marchers colpse beneath his blow. He stepped back, to prevent the ones behind from leaping on him and Toni stepped just passed him. Her hands pushed the fme out and a scorching fan of fire charred and twisted the bones of half a dozen more marchers.

  Then there were two many for the big swings. Small bursts of fme were all Toni could manage as she avoided shing cws of the small creatures. Temate took steps and single quick, crunching strikes knocking one then another down. Yet they kept coming. The goblins were being overwhelmed first, already wounded and weakened.

  "Back!" The shout came from Toni and Temate at the same time, both seeing the flesh marcher lifting a hand, power gathering at it's fingers. The goblins leapt, Nijij and Thares each grabbing one who was already injured as they leapt back as well. Toni could see a half dozen destroyed marchers next to them, good work.

  Temate grabbed Toni suddenly and leapt himself, she didn't fight it, taking the opportunity to gather and fire another cone of fme. She watched a dark fsh cover the space Temate and her had been standing originally and winced. The pnts there died instantly, withering to dust in a moment.

  Temate's marchers stayed behind, those who were still standing, they didn't st long being even in strength and vastly outnumbered. Before they'd fully regrouped the marcher's came on. And they fell.

  Like a wave of white they stumbled forward onto the trench covered by leaves and sticks, and fell. The flesh marcher in the back seemed confused at first, then surprised, then outraged. Finally it stopped smiling as it stepped forward, power fshed in it's palm again.

  Then it stumbled.

  As the wave of bone fell into the pit, filling it, the goblins ran forward. Lifting rge rocks and tossing them down on top of the helpless things. At the same time a shadow slipped out behind the flesh marcher and a cw tore at its ankle scoring the bone. It seemed ineffective.

  Yet the flesh marcher clearly didn't think so. It snarled and whirled to look at her, bsting its magic into the space she no longer filled. Then fire tore at it's back, it whirled again and a rge arrow struck its eye.

  "Ha! Who says you can't hit a marcher between the eyes!" Thares tossed her head back and prepared another arrow.

  "No one says that!" Kea shouted from one side, Toni had forgotten about her but the girl, despite eyes filled with panic, was fighting. She lifted a rock and Toni saw a jolt of electric energy run down and onto it. She tossed it onto a marcher who cttered to the ground shaking as electricity shot through it.

  Nasty.

  "Well... Well..." Thares sniffed and shot another arrow into the flesh marcher's back as it whirled looking for the shadow which cut at it's legs again. Toni shot a bst of fire once more, concentrated. This was...

  Easy? Rexed? The fight was over in a minute, as the flesh marcher colpsed to cuts and arrows and fire. When it fell the marchers in the pit seemed to lose all cohesion, some simply fell apart immediately. The rest battered against walls trying to reach the goblins above who pelted them with rocks.

  She felt uneasy, sure it was just a bunch of... well skeletons really, but was that why she was comfortable with it? A soft hand pressed on her shoulder and she turned to smile at Temate. Only to realize it wasn't Temate. It was Thares who smiled back at her.

  "Wanna get something to drink and talk? I wanna know about your world still, you were so busy with fixing that strange sword, and the armor, we haven't had a chance." She offered, and Toni felt there was more to that offer then just a desire to learn.

  "I should... help with clean up." Thares hummed for a moment at the expnation.

  "Nope. You shouldn't, they're goblin bodies, let the goblins bury their dead." She chirped in response.

  "But... But I-" Thares' finger pressed to her lip.

  "Shoosh. You'll wake the weary." She pointed over to a lump lying in the grass. A single small Spark flitted around them warily. Temate was... passed out?! Was he ok-

  "He is fine. He has been fighting for hours, and though his nature helps temper him, the threat is over let him rest. You deserve rest as well." That came from Nijij who stepped up to pce a hand on Toni's other shoulder. It was so soft, and Toni could feel the two women pouring their power into something.

  Still, she nodded and went with the two Trevad, slowing only to shout to Chiel. "You guys can bury them right?"

  Chiel nodded back. "We have goblin burial. Big go rest, come join when ready?" It was a question Toni realized.

  "Of course, come find me when you guys are ready." She smiled and nodded back. Chiel beamed at her and she ughed. Goblins seemed sweet, she wondered what peoples problems with them were?

  Force2reckon