Call of Duty : Magic in Action

[On a royal desk, there is a map shows a marvelous moon and a glorious sun shine over the beautiful realm of pony within mysterious sky. A pony capital city names "Canterlot" is on a mountainside at the center of the region. A map have a several pins and quill's marks.  Photos, that scatter on the map, show museums and libraries across Equestria were assaulted and robbed. Blurred photos show unidentified figures, that lurking in the shadow. The photos pin on each cities on the map with short notes, that describes the crime scenes, are everywhere on the desk.)]

[Celestia : The evidence is unclear... An investigative and searching team still have no clue to track down on a numerous missing of valuable objects across Equestria.]

[(Photos of strange footprints and traces with a short note are pinned on Las Pegasus with telekinesis. The note and photos almost covers a compass on a left corner of the map.)]

[Celestia : We'd tracked down on this footprints, but it always ended at a empty area with strange marks. The wood around these area were slightly damaged, but no trace of teleportation have been found in these areas. We hoped witnesses can help us, but they didn't give us more information. Mostly, they said they saw monstrous glowing eyes or heard loudly noises before the objects was gone. The witnesses told us about thieves' appearance, but nothing in Equestria matches their description. Moreover, our night guards, who watch over the places, was injured by several magic shocks at the day of the objects have been stolen.]

[(Another photos are placed on the desk. It shows a crime scene in the Manehattan museum with various missing objects in showcases.)]

[Celestia : Somepony who behind this incident shouldn't be underestimated. They may have more magic than we could expect, and probably, have in number or well organized. ]

[(All of photos and notes are cleared from the map and replace with photos of missing object, including ancient spell books, stone inscriptions, crystal stones and history books.)]

[Celestia : We didn't know why do they want these artifacts, but I couldn't let their crime go unpunished. They must be brought out from their shadow. Since you've an commander of night elite guards, Blackjack. I need your assistance in this task.]

[Blackjack : My pleasure, your highness. These thieves will pay for what they've done.]

[Celestia : I wish you success, commander.]

[(In the map, Celestia marks on The ruin of Castle of the Two Sisters with phoenix's feather quill. Upon the Castle of the Two Sisters, a peaceful midnight in Everfree forest is interrupted by beam of lights, that come out from the outer space. One of the lights fly and hits directly at the old castle, but no damage have done to the ancient ruin. They cause a loud explosion that echo around the forest along with bright light, follows by strong gust and sparking of magic surround the castle.)]

[(Inside the castle, A dim room at the top of tower have lit up with mysterious light. When the light is gone, ancient spirits appear and descend down on the floor peacefully with unconscious guests. The spirits held the guest's collar in their mouth. In the same time, suspected shadows from faraway are moving over the Everfree forest and heading toward the Castle of the Two Sisters.)]

"Twilight Sparkle..."

"Huh!?"

Twilight frighteningly woke up. Her heart was rapidly beating. She had a hard time to breathe. Her sweats soaked her blanket. Twilight looked around in her new bedroom and searches for the night princess, but only sleeping Spike was found. She couldn't remember anything after she fainted in her nightmare. It was bizarre and realistic. A cold and lifeless voice of dark figures still haunted the friendship princess and covered her in fear.

"Come on, Twilight." Twilight thought. "Dream couldn't harm anyone."

The time passed, the Alicorn finally could catch her breath, but a bad dream still terrified the mare. Twilight looked at the clock beside her bed. It was nine o'clock at night. She shook her head and covered herself in blanket. Twilight tried to sleep, but neither sleep methods could help her to forget the nightmare. Twilight put her blanket away and stepped down from her bed. She went out to the balcony and thought the way that can calm her down from the dream.

Curtains was pushed by the wind gently. A wavy of luxury fabric danced along with the breeze. Twilight looked up to the sky. It was clear and decorated with brighten stars. The night was peaceful and lovely. Twilight breathed in the fresh air of the night. She gazed upon the sky which have never disappointed any stargazers in its beauty.

The fourth Alicorn, Twilight Sparkle, was admiring the sky. The sky was rich with sparkle stars, that are glamorous like rare diamonds decorate on a purple vast mystic velvet, and knowledge of astronomy that never deplete. The pure beauty and enigma of constellations always amaze the Alicorn of friendship who falls in love with science since her young age. Twilight gazed at constellations which might look unsystematic, but they weren't a problem to the youngest Alicorn who have already mastered in astronomy.

"What a beautiful night..." Twilight mumbled. "It's like the night at the Canterlot and the Golden Oak Library."

Reminding the past cause Twilight felt nostalgic to her former house. She dropped her head and sighed. It wasn't long ago after Tirek had broken out the Tartarus and destroyed her house during the fight. Her grief was strong. The lost of her documentaries and the nostalgia of the Golden Oak Library was too hard to forget. Along this week, Twilight couldn't sleeping well. She was awaken in the middle of the night because of nightmare many time.

"Maybe, I should send the letter to Princess Luna." Twilight mumbled.

Twilight raised her head and was about to turn back to her bedroom. Unexpectedly, She was interrupted by a loud noise from the sky. Twilight looked up and saw three falling stars. When they got closer to earth, twilight realized they weren't falling stars. They were bright meteors. She nearly screamed out when the strange meteors hit on the earth. The first meteor fell into the Everfree forest. The second meteor fell near Ponyville. The last meteor fell upon the Castle of the Two Sisters. The impacts caused a enormous shockwave, virtually five time more powerful than Sonic Rainboom. She covered her eyes with her front leg from bright lights emits from the impacts, which created strong gusts. The wind was frightful, but caused no damage to houses and Twilight's castle more than covers them in a ton of leaves and branches. When the madness stopped, Twilight slowly lowered her front hoof. She feared that mighty meteors might destroy a grassland outside Ponyville, the forest and the ancient ruin, but she was totally surprised when she saw that they weren't devastated. Only the Everfree forest was slightly damaged by the gust. Twilight's pupils widen open when she saw a magic dome was created and shielded the Castle of the Two Sister inside.

"...What's just really happening?" Twilight said.

An unpleasant feeling built up inside the youngest Alicorn. Twilight ran in her bedroom. She levitated a paper and quill to her desk and wrote all what she saw on the balcony. Outside her castle, weather was changed drastically. Black clouds spread across the sky. The cloud rumbled with thunder. The wind quickly turned into a storm. Twilight closed the doors with telekinesis, then she continued to finish the letter. Twilight levitated the letter and rechecked her writing to make sure she didn't miss anything.

Dear, Princess Celestia.

I apologize for sending a letter at night, but there is a emergency I must report.

During this night, Falling stars could be spotted on the sky. I thought it was comets, until I found out it was meteors. One of them hit the Castle of the Two Sisters while other meteors fell at the outside of Ponyville and in the Everfree forest. They created the most powerful shockwaves I've ever seen. The meteors released the lights upon touching on the earth nearly bright as the sun, but strange, I couldn't feel any earthquake from this forceful impacts and no serious damage had been done due to these meteors.

To be honest, I have never seen or heard this kind of meteor from any books. I think this might be a rare astronomical event. I wonder if Princess Luna and other ponies witnessed the same meteors, since I'm not sure that I'm the only pony who saw this incident. In my theory, the meteors might contain a undiscovered matter, so I urge you to send some scientists and scholars to bring the meteors back to Canterlot's institute or destroy it if they are too dangerous to leave on our earth. For me, I will travel to the areas and survey the surrounding on the next day after I cleared all leaves and branches from Ponyville.

Lastly, The Castle of the Two Sister and the sky have acted unnaturally. I will go to check the castle or probably speak with the weather teams tomorrow, if the storm doesn't stop, to find out what was going on. I'm not sure if the meteors causes this abnormal event.

May the incident wasn't too direful. I will waiting for your answer.

Your princess,

Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight rolled her letter and tied with a letter's ribbon. She levitated the letter and walked to Spike. The baby dragon was sleeping and still didn't know what's going on outside. Twilight nudged and called him gently, but Spike didn't respond. Twilight nudged him again which gave no different result.

"Spike, I'm sorry to wake you up, but I really need your help." Twilight said.

"...Em what...?" Spike muttered. "...Didn't we just changed the quill yesterday...?"

"No, it wasn't about the quill!" Twilight argued. "I have to send this letter to Princess Celestia. Something unusual was happen to the Castle of the Two Sisters and the weather. I must send the letter to her."

"I think we should just send the letter in the next morning..." Spike said with fully laziness.

Twilight frowned. She knew that Spike tried to stall her. Twilight levitated him up and brought him with her to the balcony's doors. She placed the baby dragon on the floor, then carefully open the door.

"Seriously Twilight, you have no need to-"

A gale blew into the room upon the door is opened. Spike bounded up when he heard the storm. Twilight brought Spike up to get him a better view. A normal thunderstorm is terrible, but it couldn't be compared with the terror that is roaring outside the castle. She pointed him at the Castle of the Two Sister that is covering in a magic dome.

"Is- Is- Isn't this day supposed to be a clear da- day. What's this!?" Spike said. "And what's happening to the Castle of the Two sisters!? Wha- What's really going on, Twilight!?"

"This is why I must contact with Princess Celestia immediately, Spike! I need to ask her!" Twilight replied. She shut the door tight and put Spike on the floor. "No time to lose, Spike. Send this letter to Princess Celestia, warns her about the meteors."

"Meteors?" Spike said.

"I will tell you everything later." Twilight replied. "But send the letter, quickly!"

"Okay." Spike received a letter from Twilight. He breathed in and blew a green fire at the letter. It was burned into violet cinder and floated up. The magic ash vanished and teleported to the Canterlot.

Roach awoke. The wind was hitting him violently upon his free fall.

He couldn't see anyone. Everything was dark and empty. Paralysis triumphed over him and caused Roach becomes helpless. The air froze Roach slowly. His goggles, as well as his outfit, were encrusted with ice. Roach didn't know if this space is bottomless or when he will crush on a surface below.

"I'm gonna die..." Roach mumbled.

The darkness soon had the light. Roach spotted a small white dot in the darkness. The dot came closer until Roach could see it is a winged equine in bright pure white. It rushed at him and held his jacket's collar in its mouth. The winged equine descended down with Roach at incredible speed. Roach could feel the wind push him with a brute force. The ice on his goggles was wiping along with his outfit. A pure black on tactical jacket shattered and revealed its true color. the equine was bright up. The darkness collapse and revealed a round room. The winged equine had flied up to avoid an impact. It alighted and placed Roach down on the floor. Roach was lain on his back and barely saw another bright winged equine is putting Ghost down on the floor beside him.

The equine looked at Roach's eyes. He noticed that the equine have a horn on its forehead. Its brightness leaded him to unconsciousness and guided him to his past.

"S.S.D.D."

Day 1 - 14:42:26

Sgt. Gary "Roach" Sanderson

Task Force 141

Fire Base Phoenix, Afghanistan

It was a regular day at Firebase Phoenix. Rangers had many thing to do in their military campaigns and some need to rest or heal from a long operation in a heat land of Afghanistan, but something kept the base thrived with a little bit of excitement. First, they had no casualty from last interception at the enemy's territory, which bought some time for allies to escape from surrounded. And second, Task Force one-four-one was arrived in this noon. Both events added more topics in the army's conversation.

Beside of successful interception, the presence of Task Force quickly spread a infamous rumor in a battalion. They said that Shepherd, the commander of Task Force one-four-one, want to use the Task Force to go after anyone, that caused the incident at Ahvaz in Iran which wiped out all his men. The rumor became more reliable when Shepherd stated that he want to pull shooters from the unit for special op and the Task Force was deployed to help in this recruitment.

In The Pit, Ghost and Roach had been busy since this morning. They had to move military equipment to The Pit while other members went to search for good shooters. Inside the trench, Ghost checked and prepared weapons for newcomers while Roach was moving a create from a cargo plane to The Pit. An activity in U.S. Army Ranger base could be heard from the outside of The Pit and helicopters were flying in the sky. Their comm was loud up when their tactical radio received a message from their captain.

["Ghost, I'm on my way to you. All creates must be there already. Did you copy?"]

"Solid copy, over." Ghost replied.

Roach pushed the last weapon create into the trench. He sat on sandbags to rest from his hard work. Ghost walked to the last create and checked guns inside to ensure that they didn't miss anything.

"... SCARs, ACRs and Desert Eagles." Ghost mumbled. He closed the create after he found nothing missing. "Alright, mate, we have everything ready. Our job is done."

Ghost sat on the create oblique to Roach who finally recovers from his hard labor. He picked his journal out from his tactical vast and wrote about his mission to pass the time.

"It's pretty hot today." Ghost started a conversation.

"Sure thing." Roach replied, but his eyes still glued on the journal. "But it will be hotter in another day."

"No doubt." Ghost replied. "Go after a HVT isn't a job for everyone."

Roach stopped writing. He thought about an incoming mission, before he continued on his journal.

"Well, no mission is impossible for us." Roach replied. "...We couldn't fail to hunt down Kingfish twice."

"We won't." Ghost said. He turned his head to the sky and glanced at another helicopter flies past.

Before Roach finished his journal, Soap entered the trench and ended their short break. Roach and Ghost stood up and were about to salute, but Soap raised his hand to stop them. Roach and Ghost stepped out from creates. Soap briefly checked the boxes, before he turned to Roach and Ghost.

"Good, all weapons are ready." Soap announced. "Selected shooters will be here soon. We have enough firearms and ammo for 'em to test their performance. Shepherd will be there and decide who will join in a next operation."

Soap pointed at the observation. Roach and Ghost nodded. Soap continued on his announcement.

"Well, after I saw the record of The Pit, I think this course hasn't been run by any professional. Ghost, Roach, it's your time to perform the real skill in this course, so pick up your gun and show 'em what you got."

"Roger." Roach and Ghost said in unison.

Roach went to the weapon create while Ghost walked to sit on sandbags. Soap went out the trench and contacted Shepherd. A serious conversation could be heard in the radio, while Roach chose his weapons and picked ammo from creates.

"I think he want to revenge." Ghost said.

"Who?" Roach asked.

"Soap." Ghost replied. "After we lost Price. Soap has taken his job extremely seriously to hunt down Kingfish."

"I see." Roach said. "He even refuses that Price is dead. He also thinks it was his fault that he couldn't rescue Price in time... it couldn't help when we was in that situation."

Ghost nodded. Roach picked up a Desert Eagle with two reserved mags while Ghost picked out his M1911 and stood up. Roach looked at Ghost's pistol and frowned.

"Ghost, what time did you expected to beat the course with that gun?" Roach asked.

"At least in twenty seconds." Ghost replied confidently. He briefly checked his pistol before he turned his head to Roach. "Like the day back at S.A.S, Roach. It's just a mere playground."

Ghost chuckled and entered The Pit. Roach didn't surprise why Ghost is highly confidence. He knew that his masked teammate have demonic accuracy and speed, but still, he was unsure how Ghost could beat the course with only a pistol in twenty seconds. After flash decision, Roach picked up a SCAR and two reserved mags. He sat on a ammo create and waited while Ghost was running in the course.

During waiting, Roach felt someone is watching him. He looked up at the observation and found something...

Instead of Shepherd was standing at the observation, *A mysterious figure** was standing there and glaring at him. The figure quickly vanished after it was spotted and everything was blinded in bright light. The air was colder. Roach could heard Ghost in both the past and the present are calling him from a faraway.*

"Roach, Roach! Can you hear me!"

"!?"

A crackling fire welcomed Roach who finally broke through his unconsciousness. He was lying on his back on the floor while Ghost called him several time. Roach was dizzy. His vision was blurred. Finally, Ghost noticed Roach was awake and pulled the sergeant up to lean on an ancient marble pillar, which is one of marble pillars that encircle a bonfire on an elevated stone floor with two empty ACRs and four mags.

"Roach!" Ghost said. "Finally, you've awoken. Are you alright?"

"I'm... fine." Roach said.

Ghost breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his teammate didn't injure. He tapped Roach's shoulder and walked to sit opposite of Roach near the bonfire. The lieutenant pulled out his tactical radio, before put it back when it had no signal. In other hand, Roach had finally regained his eyesight. He frowned and preciously looked around. Roach held his head and disbelieved what he is seeing.

"What's the matter?" Ghost asked, when he noticed Roach is acting weird.

"Ghost..." Roach said. "Where the hell are we?"

Ghost didn't answer. He glared at the bonfire and didn't say anything. Only a cracking fire could be heard in the room.

"I literally have no idea." Ghost replied.

Roach looked at himself. He was no longer soaked in gasoline, but stained with blood. His wounds had been healed. Roach turned at Ghost, who blood stains on his balaclava and outfit with one bullet hole on his chest. Neither Roach and Ghost were physically changed, but they were dyed in candy colors like the surrounding. Roach slapped himself to prove he isn't dreaming. The sergeant rested his back on a pillar. He sighed and held his helmet. The sergeant tried not to be serious for what he had to encounter after Shepherd had tried to kill them.

"At least, we're still alive." Ghost said. "Even it's not in a regular way to survive, but somebody might know what's happen to us."

"We must go." Roach said.

"Hold on." Ghost raised his hand in protest when he saw Roach is getting up. "If you're going to escape, I must said it's impossible."

"Impossible?" Roach said. He didn't expected Ghost would said this. "Come on, Ghost, It's not a time to play around."

"I'm not kidding you." Ghost said. "I had looked around this room, but I found no clue who brought us here at the top of tower. The doors are shut tight. Our floor are too high to jump down and too steep to clime. Our rappelling rope are missing along with most of our gears, and I spotted no enemies or civvies around in this area."

Ghost stood up and jumped down from the elevated stone floor before he went to a ornate doors and pushed it, but it didn't budge. The lieutenant walked to a old window. He looked at a giant luminous translucent dome have shielded the ruin out from a dense forest. The trees outside were swaying due to the wind of thunderstorm.

"It's possible that somebody trap us here." Ghost said.

"This might be critical, Ghost. We shouldn't stall here." Roach argued.

"But there is nothing we can do." Ghost said. He turned to Roach. "We don't know what is this place, Roach. Everything here might be dangerous to us. We didn't have any support and our comm couldn't contact to our team. Even we manage to get out, we have to face that barrier at the outside."

Ghost pointed at the dome and walked back before he climbed up the floor and returned to sit near the bonfire.

"If you have an idea to get outta here, just tell me. We will go out as soon as we figure out the way." Ghost said.

Roach was speechless. He also had no idea how to get out of the room. Roach didn't even know what is happen to him or why did he end up here. Instead of useless arguing, Roach decided to get along with Ghost for this time.

"...Okay then." Roach said. He sat on the floor and leaned on the pillar, but his tiredness and stress continued to pile up. "I thought nothing could be worse than being chase by a thousand of militias." He thought.

"If we're in luck, this might just only be a big sore joke. It would be better if you prepare yourself for tomorrow and don't let your guard down." Ghost said. "Well, I found those rifles and mags in this room, here."

Ghost picked up a ACR and tossed it to his teammate. Roach caught a clip-less ACR and glanced at his rifle. The gun was muddy and designed to work in the woodland. Roach remembered it was his rifle uses in the last assault at Makarov's safehouse. Roach wiped mud out from his rifle and found something wrong on his gun besides a candy-colored woodland camouflage.

The gun was enchanted. A light was glowing on some part of his gun and the red dot sight had a fancy insect symbol at the center instead of simply red laser dot. The gun's weight was also slightly lighter than a normal ACR and some part of the gun made out from enigmatic materials.

"Roach, catch."

Roach turned his head to Ghost and caught a mag in mid air. Ghost tossed another mag after Roach kept the first mag in his pouch. Roach inspected a mag in his hand closely. The mag didn't have bullets inside, but two shiny white connectors and unknown glowing parts.

"Pretty weird, huh?" Ghost said. "I hope it works like other ACRs. We didn't have much time to learn something new here."

"I hope so." Roach said. He roughly cleaned mud out from the mag with his hand and reloaded his rifle. Roach checked his rifle and made sure the gun won't mess up in the field. He turned the selector to safe mode. Unexpectedly, the gun stopped glowing and gave a quiet strange noise of electric shutdown. The reaction of gun aroused Roach's curiousness. Roach switched the fire selector to burst fire. The gun made a low buzz noise and glowed again.

"It's better not to have our gear shiny. It would give us away." Ghost said.

"Gotcha.'" Roach said.

Ghost put his reloaded ACR beside him, while Roach switched his ACR to safe mode and put it beside the pillar.

"We have many thing to do tomorrow. I will be on guard, so you may rest now and wait until your shift." Ghost said.

"Understood." Roach replied.

Ghost nodded and turned his head to the bonfire. Roach moved in the most comfortable position to sleep sitting. In order to prepare for emergency incident, Roach glanced and remembered the surrounding .

They was in a dim round room. Silver light shone through a broken wall and a roof to the bonfire on the elevated stone floor at the center of the room. The ruin appeared to be an ancient castle. Strange enough, The structure was aged and abandoned, but the room was pretty tidy, like it was cleaned up recently. Outside the room, the castle was still covered in an intense bright dome, that shields the castle from the outside.

Roach put out his tactical radio. It's still in good condition, but received no signal. Roach put his radio back. He was exhausted and starved, but these couldn't be compared to how he is worried about what is happen to him and his teammate.

"I hope it's just a sore joke." Roach thought. He leaned on the pillar and slept . In other hand, Ghost kept his eyes on the surrounding and occasionally looked at the old ornate door opposite of him.

Outside of the castle, The night in the Everfree forest had become more terrible than it should be. There was no monster or night animal roam out like usually. The thunderstorm was strong. The woods wobbled by the wind and some branches were broken from their main stem. Under the chaos weather, suspect shadows quickly flied over the jungle. Sky was echoed with thunder and heavy engines. Red dots rushed through the rain over the forest. Along the way they went, no monster or high terrain had a power to stop them.

The night sky was rumbled with lighting and revealed the true face of stranger. Nopony knows how a group of dreadful machines could fly through the worst thunderstorm in the pony history. The machines were heading toward the Castle of the Two Sister. They stopped over a ravine, that lines between the forest and the Castle of the Two Sister in a magic shield.

The machines were floating in the sky, until three flying engines pointed barrels on their sides at the magic shield.

Inside the ruin, Ghost was watching out while Roach was sleeping. The lieutenant sensed a danger when Ghost heard helicopters approaching from a distance. The lieutenant listened the noise until he could confirm the direction of approaching helicopters.

Ghost grabbed his ACR and jumped down from the elevated stone floor then rushed to a cracked wall. He hid and carefully peaked out. Ghost spotted five helicopters, similar to Black Hawks and Little Birds. The helicopters were hovering in the air. Ghost observed helicopters for seconds before Little Birds rapidly fired missiles at the dome. It was penetrated violently and started to crack. Ghost quickly ran out from the cover to the bonfire and rushed to Roach.

"Roach, wake up." Ghost said.

"Eh? What's happen?" Roach asked.

"There-"

A second later, Ghost and Roach heard the dome is shattering. They looked back and saw missiles is flying toward them.

"GET DOWN!" Ghost shouted.

The missiles hit on the bonfire, after Ghost and Roach jumped away. The missiles devastated everything they hit and crushed surrounding into rubble. The explosion was very colorful like fireworks more than real missiles, but the damage wasn't different. Some part of the tower's roof and wall fell apart and one of pillars collapsed and hit directly at the doors. The dome, that caps the castle, was shattered and a thunderstorm soon poured down a rain upon the ruin, but it couldn't extinguish fires causes by the missiles. Thunder was roaring when Ghost landed safety and rolled on the floor. He stood up and held his gun tight. Ghost searched for the sergeant and found Roach is lying on his back on the floor. Ghost quickly moved toward Roach. He took Roach's rifle and sent it to the sergeant.

"Here." Ghost said. "Get up, we must move, now."

"Nightlander"

Day 1 - (Night Time)

Sgt. Gary "Roach" Sanderson

(M.I.A.)

The Ruin

Roach took his rifle and stood up. The rain soaked the elite soldiers in cold water. Roach and Ghost heard helicopters flying close. The elite soldiers ran and hid behind debris to avoid to be detected. Ghost pointed at doors, that now breaks into pieces. Ghost motioned his hand to call Roach to follow him.

Spotlights was shining in the room and the rain quickly covered the floor with puddles. The elite soldiers carefully went through the room on crouching. Upon reaching the doors, they flanked and briefly peaked through the broken old ornate doors. Ghost peeked through the door, while Roach watched out their rear. Ghost moved through the broken door after he saw no movement inside the room and found a spiral stairs leads to downstairs. He briefly checked the room and turned his head to Roach.

"The room is clear." Ghost whispered. "Come on, let's move."

Ghost walked down the stairs. Roach went through the broken door and followed Ghost who leading the way. The rain perfectly covered two former SAS soldiers' footsteps, but it couldn't cover them from helicopters' searching. After they walked down the stairs for awhile, Ghost swiftly sent a hand signal to Roach when they heard an incoming helicopter.

"Halt." Ghost whispered. "Find cover."

They crouched behind nearest covers and waited. Seconds later, a Little Bird approached and hovered near Roach and Ghost's hiding spot. It shone a spotlight through a broken wall and vigilantly searched in the dark. Roach held his gun and hoped the helicopter won't find him. The helicopter was searching for seconds, before it flied away. After the helicopter was gone, Roach looked out the cracked wall to make sure there is no more helicopter around, then he went past the gap to follow the lieutenant, who is waiting for his teammate behind his cover and continue to go down the stairs after Roach went past the cracked wall.

After they had went downstairs for awhile, they reached a second floor and found a way to a long corridor. Ghost and Roach crouched down when they heard footsteps is coming up from the stairs below. Ghost pointed to the corridor and the lieutenant and the sergeant quickly went in the hallway. Roach and Ghost ventured in a broken ruin and watched out for enemy. Beside a long soaked luxury carpet, they went past numerous artifacts, including pictures of big eyes quadrupeds in an ancient military uniform or a Victoria dress, quadrupeds' plated mail statues and ornate banners of the sun or the moon with a slim white or a deep blue equine at the center.

"The occupants of this castle were kinda strange..." Roach thought.

The elite soldiers continued to go through the corridor and finally reached at a main hall. They quickly hid behind the wall when they saw helicopters hovers above the hall. Roach and Ghost peaked out from a shadow and observed.

An unknown squad, appeared to be hostile, rappelled down from a Black Hawk to the ground and searched the hall. They weren't the Inner Circle, and quite well-trained and heavy armed. Most of them used ACR as main weapon with at least two men have heartbeat sensors and silencers. Only one man equipped with MG4. The squad also had a pair of creepy lights on their goggles or their eyes, which appeared to be aiming device or advance military tech.

"Follow me." Ghost whispered. "Keep an eyes on 'em."

They waited until all enemies reached the floor, then Ghost lay prone and crawled to other side of the hall. Roach crawled and followed Ghost. They seldom stopped and glanced on the first floor to observe the hostile force movement. Ghost raised up when he was out from a open area, then he waited Roach crawls across the hall and moved out when Roach reached a cover.

"They went inside the ruin." Ghost whispered. "Possibly tried to find something here. I hope they didn't go after us."

The sergeant slightly nodded. Roach and Ghost stealthy went through the corridor. Along the way, they had witnessed several paranormal activities. They saw shadows quickly moves away when they were spotted. Paintings was animating or staring at them in unwelcome manner. Outside the ruin, the thunderstorm was still raging. The rain was showering into the ruin and soaking everything in cold water. The elite soldier sought for exits, but they found the hostile squad at their left instead when they reached another corridor. Ghost took cover behind a wall and dodged a laser bolt that shooting from a man in the squad. The lieutenant peaked out. Roach crouched down next to Ghost and watched out for hostile force from their rear.

"They're here." Ghost whispered. "Incoming from the left corridor. Showing a hostility toward us."

They heard footsteps were coming from their rear. Ghost raised his rifle. Roach cocked his gun and prepared himself.

"They left us no choice." Ghost said. "I'm gonna count to three. Roach, jump out to that statue and light 'em up."

Roach nodded. Footsteps was getting close. Ghost moved closer to the corner and prepared to attack. Roach moved out from the wall and waited the signal from Ghost. Roach stared at a slim equine statue on a thick pillar opposite of him. He held his rifle tightly.

"One..."

Ghost's rifle was at the corner. One man from the squad spoke unknown words in a unwelcome tone of voice.

"Two..."

Ghost pointed his rifle out from corner. Roach prepared to dart to the statue.

"Three!"

Ghost opened fire. White laser bolts hit an unexpected squad preciously. Roach dashed out and took cover behind the statue. He aimed at a hostile squad, who quickly takes cover behind pillars. Three enemies were shot down, while other successfully dodged laser bolts from the elite soldiers and took cover behind pillars. Before hostile forces could fire back, Ghost went out from the corner and ran into the right corridor.

"Roach, withdraw into the library!" Ghost shouted.

"What!" Roach yelled.

"Retreat into the bloody library!" Ghost said. "There's the way outside!"

Roach dodged incoming red laser bolts. He fired back at enemies, then sprinted out from the cover and followed Ghost into the corridor. Roach reached and jumped down stairs before rolled in a library. He saw a broken tall window at the end of the library, which lead to the outside. The elite soldiers flanked and crouched behind the library's entrance and shot at enemies. Ghost killed two enemies while they were following Roach down the stairs. The fallen enemies crushed into pieces when they fell down. The elite soldiers noticed something was abnormal, but they had no time to mind the broken enemies as they saw a hostile reinforcement. Enemy squads hid behind pillars or wall and shot back. Roach and Ghost realized they couldn't hold them off with only a reserved mag for each of them and no grenade.

"Dammit, they're too many!" Roach said.

"We won't hold 'em much longer." Ghost said. "Roach, run to the window!"

Ghost pointed at the end of library. Enemies shot laser bolts upon the wall around the library's entrance. It cracked after the elite soldiers ran out from their cover. Roach and Ghost sprinted through a damp library, which further ruined by laser bolts. Books were shattered. Shelves was broken to pieces. Roach and Ghost reloaded their gun while they were running through the library to the window. When Ghost was about to jump, a hostile Black Hawk flied down and blocked his way.

"Watch out!" Ghost shouted.

The helicopter's spotlight shone directly at the elite soldiers. They stopped and raised their arm to shade their eyes. Enemy squads were approaching from their rear. Roach and Ghost were in an open area with no cover nearby. Roach heard miniguns are spinning and their time was slowed down.

(*CRUSH!*)

When Spotlight was gone, the time returned to normal. Roach and Ghost looked up at the helicopter. It had been destroyed by a big rubble. The helicopter crashed on the ground violently. Its propeller was spinning and cut through a grassland and debris, before the helicopter exploded.

"Who the hell did that." Ghost said.

Roach turned back and saw something behind them.

"What the..." Roach said.

"Roach?" Ghost said.

Ghost turned back. They saw two white bright shining equine stand between enemy squads and the elite soldiers. The left equine was larger and more masculine than the right one, but they both had a pair of winks and a long horn. Their mane were flowing. Their eyes were ablaze like a star in a dark night. The right equine was looking at the window. it's horn glows and covers in a white aura for a minute, before it turned back at enemies.

"These equines look so familiar..." Roach thought

Scraped their front hooves against the floor, dreamy equines stared hostilely at enemies. The hostile squads aied their rifle at a pair of equines and shot. Laser bolts were brutally shooting at the equines, but they were blocked by a translucent shield summons up when the right equine' horn flares. The left equine roared up and flailed its front hooves before it stomped on the floor. Shockwaves were created. It hit enemies off their balance and crashed some enemies to pieces. The remaining enemies retreaded to find the cover and fired back before the fight ensued and echoed through the library.

Roach and Ghost were watching the fight quietly, until Ghost called his teammate.

"Time to slip out." Ghost said. "C'mon, move out!"

Ghost ran and went across the window. Roach briefly looked at the fight. During he got out the library through the window, he saw laser bolts overwhelmed the equines and the shield started to crack, but the shield quickly replaced with another shield when a larger equine's horn was glowing and covering in a white aura.

Roach and Ghost landed safety on a swampy grassland, but faced a big disappointment. They might run across through debris to a dense forest, if there is no wide ravine lines in between. Roach and Ghost run at the edge of ravine, which rounds the forest with deep cliffs and wide fissures. They froze in the middle of thunderstorm. There's nothing near the castle that aids their retreat from helicopters' hunt down.

"We're trap!" Roach said with fully frustration.

"No, there must be the way!" Ghost said. They turned back when they heard helicopters are flying closer. Ghost looked around to find something useful, then he quickly eyed on a Blackhawk's wreckage on the ground.

"Roach, man at the helo's minigun!" Ghost pointed at the wreckage.

"But-!"

"There's no time now, Roach. It's the only way we can rid off those helos!"

Roach nodded. He ran to the wreckage and manned a minigun, which in poor condition but still usable. Ghost took cover inside the wreckage and looked for hostile helicopters. Roach grabbed minigun's handles and point it to the sky. They didn't wait too long when four helicopters flied over the castle and found the elite soldiers on the ground.

"Thirteen o'clock high! Open fire!" Ghost shouted.

The minigun spun and sent thousands laser bolts up to its target. The first helicopter was hitting, but still could resist the damage. Roach aimed to hit at the cockpit in order to kill a pilot. He took cover when hostile helicopters fired back at him then he shot back when they stopped. The firefight went intensely under the terrible night. Upon on one moment, the wind forced helicopters to fly down and one of helicopters turned its cockpit at Roach. He took this chance to fire at the pilot, but Roach's minigun was overheated before he could crack the helicopter's windshield. After Roach failed to brought down the helicopter, three helicopters quickly surrounded the elite soldiers and stormed laser bolts at the wreckage, but Ghost and Roach hid in the wreckage in time and were safe.

"Bloody hell, they try to pin us down!" Ghost yelled.

"Here I come!" Roach shouted.

Roach spooled his minigun up and shot at the nearest Little Bird. Finally, the laser bolts managed to crack the cockpit's windshield and killed the pilot. A Little Bird spun down when the pilot had been killed and crashed on the earth. Its propeller slowed down and set in fire.

"One down!" Roach said.

"Fourteen o'clock high!" Ghost shouted.

Roach turned his gun at a another Little Bird, which turned its rocker's barrels at the wreckage. Unfortunately, Roach's minigun was unable to shoot due to it was heavy damaged and overheated.

"The gun is down, the gun is down!" Roach said.

"Incoming!" Ghost shouted.

The elite soldiers jumped out from the wreckage, which destroys into dust by missiles. Roach and Ghost rolled on the grassland and ran to the nearest cover. Enemy helicopters crushed debris one by one and forced the elite soldiers to retreat. Hostile helicopters was chasing and tried to bring down two soldier with everything they have. Ghost was leading Roach through the rain and laser bolts, until he saw a old wooden bridge lies across the ravine and leads to the forest.

"We found the way!" Ghost said. He pointed at the bridge. "Make haste, run across before it's too late!"

No choice, they sprinted across an opened field while helicopters was chasing the elite soldiers from behind. Enemy squads came out from the ruin and shot at the elite soldiers. Laser bolts were hitting around Roach and Ghost, like grim reapers is breathing behind their necks. Missiles were exploding around Roach and Ghost, while they had to make their way to the bridge.

"Almost there. Keep movin'!" Ghost said.

Ghost and Roach reached at the bridge and quickly ran across the deadly ravine fills with mist. Roach heard the wood cracks. When Ghost managed to go across, Roach quickly jumped and launched himself at the forest's side. A Little Bird fired missiles and destroyed the bridge. An explosion pushed Roach away from the land. He managed to grab on a ledge, but he slipped and slid down. Roach tried to climb up but his effort was going in vain.

"No!" Roach yelled.

"Roach!"

Ghost darted and grabbed Roach's hand. Ghost nearly lost his balance, but he could hold Roach before he fell into the deadly ravine. A destroyed bridge was falling to a endless depth. The elite soldiers were defenseless under the thunderstorm and enemies' mercy.

"Hang in there!" Ghost shouted.

Fortunately, an explosion at the castle was distracted the enemy and bought the elite soldiers some time to survive. Ghost pulled Roach up from the ravine, but his right arm was shot by a laser bolt and Ghost's hand was slowly slipped from Roach. In the moment of life and death. Ghost grabbed Roach's hand with other hand. Roach booted on a cliff and Ghost took the momentum and dragged Roach toward the surface. Roach landed safety on a damp ground.

"We made it!" Ghost said. "Come on, get up! Let's get the hell outta here!"

Roach and Ghost stood up and swiftly retreated into the forest. The enemy tried to shoot them down, but the elite soldiers quickly vanished within the woods' shade. Roach and Ghost went through brushes and hid their presence within the dense forest. They were hearing the fight erupts from the ruin, which they chose to remain it to be a mystery.

At the castle in Canterlot, Princess Celestia had read the last letter from investigate team in her chamber. She noted every useful information in the paper and rearranged photos into evidence's case. She looked weary. It was nearly 3 A.M. , but the sun princess had shown no willing to go to sleep. Celestia rolled the note and kept it in a scroll's shelf. She put the photo's case in the drawer before she lay on her cushion. Celestia took a short break and eyed on the letter sent by princess Twilight Sparkle.

Princess Celestia levitated and untied the the letter. Stress showed up on her face, while she carefully read the emergency letter. When she finished, she dropped the letter and rushed to the door, before her sister, princess Luna, galloped through the door to her.

"'My sister!" Luna said. "The weather is out of control. A thunderstorm now have spread across the Equestria!"

For a moment, Celestia quite startled when her sister had run in the room with her soaked coat, but a second later, the sun princess smiled and brought a towel out from drawer to dry her sister's coat.

"I know." Celestia said. "Twilight sent the letter to warn me."

"Twilight told you?" Luna asked.

"Yes, she did." Celestia replied. Two sisters walked to rest on cushions in front of a fireplace. "She also reported she spots strange meteors and asks you if you had seen the same."

"Meteors..." Luna mumbled. "...Then that shooting stars aren't a illusion..."

"Luna, did you see the meteors this night." Celestia repeated.

"Oh, yes yes. I see them, my sister." Luna replied.

"Well then..." Princess Celestia levitated a paper out from a scroll's case. Before she wrote the letter, Celestia heard her sister sighing. Luna was looking down and holding the towel tightly. The sun princess moved closer and held her sister, but the moon princess wasn't cheered up.

"Did you have something to tell me, my dear sister?" Celestia asked.

The question was gentle, but Princess Luna seemed hesitated to answer. Luna looked at Philomena's cage. The phoenix was sleeping on a golden perch and still didn't know what's going on outside of the castle. Luna sighed and turned back at her sister.

"I'm not sure, my sister..." Luna said. "Along this week, our subjects, who haunted by strange bipeds in their nightmare, are sharply increased. I have to stay in dream's realm longer to repeal their nightmares."

Princess Celestia nodded. Princess Luna continued.

"I- I couldn't stop this outbreak, my sister. I don't know what should I do to save our subjects." Luna said.

Princess Celestia didn't answer. She finished and tied the first letter, then she wrote a second letter. Princess Luna held her sister's front hoof. Anxiety could be seen in two royal sisters eyes, especially within Celestia.

"'My sister... what if the legend was... real?" Luna asked.

The sun princess finished the second letter. She tossed them into the fire and the letters turned into magical ashes and vanished.

"Then we must fight, my sister." Celestia replied.

In the forest, Roach and Ghost still retreated within the forest. When Ghost was sure they have managed to get away, he sent a hand signal to stop running. The elite soldiers looked back and breathed a sigh of relief before they took a short break under trees. Roach placed his rifle beside him and Ghost sat down under the trees opposite form Roach. Ghost looked up and saw rains dripping through leaves. The forest's ground was filled with muddy puddles. The rain echoed through the woods like a strong waterfall.

"That was close..." Ghost mumbled.

Roach grabbed his rifle. He took out its mag and checked the ammo like usual, before he realized his mag wasn't an ammo mag anymore. Ghost took off his sunglasses. The rain was continued to drip down through leaves.

"I must said... There is too many question in my head... right now..." Roach said. "I think I don't want the answer..."

Silence was rotting their time. Roach looked at Ghost and knew he is upset. Form the beginning, they had ended up in nowhere with no clue why, then they had been attacked by an unknown force and had to go through laser bolts in order to get into the damp forest. Now, they're tired and injured, furthermore, risked for being lost in an unknown area. Roach sighed and looked around. Even the forest was quite childish and cartoon-like, if compared to forests that he used to go through.

"Whatever we have to face, we will go through it." Ghost said at last. "No matter what we take, we'll fight."

Ghost put his sunglasses in his pouch and picked up his rifle. "We need to find a shelter for this night. Let's move, mate. We have many things to do tomorrow."

Roach nodded. The wind blew. Trees were swaying. Roach raised up and picked up his rifle, then followed Ghost who leads the way into the forest. They walked through bushes and watched out for danger nearby.

"This forest is strange..." Roach whispered.

"I know." Ghost replied "At least, it's much better than what I used to venture through."

Roach recalled his memory. The masked lieutenant said once when they're on the mission to hunt down Kingfish, that no jungle or forest could stop him. Ghost once used to go across a dangerous jungle to wipe out a terrorist's hideout by himself. The name "Ghost" isn't just a name for the lieutenant. The name Ghost also shows the lieutenant's skills and experience he has under his skull mask.

The forest was noisy with rain. A strong wind was blowing above. Thunders seldom roared and shone through leaves. Roach and Ghost went through bushes and thorns in the forest. The darkness covered them slowly. They were moving forward in the dark, until they reached a narrow open ground and a high cliff. Roach and Ghost looked around and found a small cave, much like in a cartoon trope. They decided to move closer and carefully explored inside the cave. They found the cave is occupied by nobody. Roach and Ghost could feel their luck have returned.

"Well, it's good enough." Ghost said. "We will stay here this night."

"Oh man... this cave have so many woods." Roach said.

"That's good. It mean somebody use this cave for store woods." Ghost said. "Pretty primitive and untidy, but at least we didn't have to be in the rain all night."

The elite soldiers surveyed around the cave for dried spot. They picked the left side of the cave as their shelter, then Ghost and Roach split up and searched the cave for firewood. Roach walked past logs and picked up branches from the ground, which strangely they all still have fresh leaves. Roach sensed an uneasy presence. The sergeant looked around in the cave but he found no enemy. After Roach collected a good many branches, he regrouped with Ghost and put branches on a dry ground. Roach calmly waited Ghost lights the fire up. A small light soon shone through the cave and heated up both soldiers. Ghost put a flint back in his survival pocket before he kept it in his tactical jacket.

"There we go." Ghost said. "Man, what a day..."

Ghost sat in opposite of Roach. The elite soldiers still didn't released their hand from their rifle. They both wasn't trust their surrounding. Behind Ghost, there is a fresh wood log, but Ghost had no wish to lean on. Roach looked out at the dense forest. The rain outside had become more vicious. Roach turned his head to Ghost and saw a wound on Ghost's arm.

"Are you okay, man?" Roach asked. He pointed at burned Ghost's sleeve.

"I'm alright." Ghost said. "It felt like I got an electric shock. But at least, it's better than a bullet."

Roach nodded. He racked burning woods with a branch.

"I own you one." Roach said.

"It's nothing." Ghost said. "Your guys used to help me out from those terrorist bastards. You own me nothing."

Roach and Ghost chuckled. Ghost was captured by terrorist when the one-four-one tried to rescue hostages in Ukraine.

"I hope our teammates are safe..." Roach said. "Price warned us after we had been shot near Russia border. I heard they have to fight the way out."

Ghost didn't responded. He put out his radio, which still had no signal. Ghost sighed and stared blankly at outside of the cave.

"Price and Soap are tough. They won't die easily." Ghost said. "Especially that old bastard."

Ghost and Roach laughed quietly. Inside the silence cave, Roach noticed that there is something in his leg's pouch, but before he checked his pouch, both soldiers were surprised when their radios were loud up with a static noise. Ghost flinched when he notices someone's talking through the radio.

["(*Buzz*) Ar-(*Buzz*) Come in!"]

The voice continued to speak, but always interrupted by a bad signal. Ghost and Roach looked at each other. They quickly stood up and ran to the outside of the cave to get a clear signal. The voice spoke again. Roach and Ghost listened carefully to their radio.

"This is Ghost, come in."

["(*Buzz*) Ghost...?"] The voice said.

"Yes, I'm here." Ghost replied. "Wait a sec... Scarecrow?"

["Hooah. Scarecrow's here."] Scarecrow said. ["I'm with Ozone on a cliff. We tried to recontact Archer since minutes ago. Lucky enough, we got you on the horn."]

"Archer...? He's alive?" Ghost said and turned his head to Roach. He slightly nodded. "Well then, we must regroup, Scarecrow. Can you tell us where you are and where is Archer?" Ghost asked and turned his head to the forest.

["We're on a cliff somewhere inside the forest close to a dirt road. Here-(*Buzz*)"] Scarecrow said before a bad signal was interrupted.

"Scarecrow!" Ghost said. "Dammit, The signal is cut..."

Roach turned back to the cave as he heard something occurs behind him.

"Ghost..." Roach said. "Is that..."

Ghost looked back at the cave. The firewood were howling and glowing green. Roach and Ghost quickly aimed their rifle at haunted woods, that floating slowly along with other wood logs and branches. Finally, It assembled into three big wooden wolves. The elite soldier stepped back from wooden wolves. A terrible smell came out from wolves' mouth. The wolves' dreadful glowing eyes glued on Roach and Ghost and barked hostilely toward them.

"Shoot!" Ghost shouted.

Roach and Ghost shot at wooden wolves and cut them down into wooden trunks and branches. Woods were scattered and fell down to the ground. Some were burned or broken. The wolves were destroyed, but Roach and Ghost didn't embrace their victory too long when those woods soon reassembled back into three wooden wolfs. The wolves were restored, like they didn't be shot by the elite soldiers. Roach and Ghost stepped back and quickly turned back into a dense forest. Wooden wolves didn't let their pray escape. They followed them as soon as the elite soldiers retreated.

"Bloody hell, what's those things!" Ghost swore. "Scarecrow, can you hear me! Monstrous wolves are chasing us! I repeat, god damn wolves are chasing us!"

Scarecrow didn't replied. Ghost groans as disappointment filled in his comm.

"We need to find another cliff!" Ghost shouted. "Keep your head down and run!"

Roach and Ghost maneuvered through a dense forest. The wolves didn't leave much distance from the elite soldiers. The elite soldiers ran, jumped across obstacles and avoided to be stuck in muddy ponds or ivies. Ghost moved quickly through leaves faster than Roach. The sergeant had to keep up his speed and tried not to lose Ghost in sight. After long ran, they arrived at a ledge. Roach and Ghost grabbed ivies and descended down. They rolled on the ground after they touched down on an earth and ran into the woods. The wooden wolves followed the elite soldiers, but they didn't expected the ledge. One of them fell and crushed on the ground. The other wolves lost their speed and had to chased on two human, who now too far from them.

"One down!" Roach said.

"Nicely done!" Ghost replied. "Hurry up. Don't let 'em close!"

Roach jumped over a big branch, which later hit by another wolf. A wooden wolf jumped at Ghost, but it missed him by a mile. Wooden wolves soon got closer. Their speed was increasing when they're getting closer to the elite soldiers. Their fierceness showed toward their prays that try to run away.

"They're closing in!" Roach shouted.

Ghost briefly looked back and saw the wolves are getting close. He touched on his headphone and hoped the signal was back.

"Scarecrow, can you hear us!" Ghost said.

["(*Buzz*) Gh- (*Buzz*) Ghost! (*Buzz*)"] Scarecrow said through his radio.

"Scarecrow, come in!" Ghost said.

["Ghost, What happened? We had lost contact from you."] Scarecrow said.

"A pack of wolves, Scarecrow! Those wooden wolves are chasing on us. Assistant needed!" Ghost said.

Ghost avoided a tree. A followed wolf hit the wood trunk and collapsed. Roach dodged another darting wolf that is dashing toward him. The wolf missed its target and fell into a muddy pond, which a fierce stone-covered alligator crushed the victim into pieces.

["Roger!"] Scarecrow replied. ["Ghost, I advice you to find a dirt road. We might see you there!"]

"I have a better idea." Ghost said.

Ghost raised his rifle and shot three rounds. Laser bolts was flying upward to the sky. The lieutenant hoped Scarecrow could see his signal. Ghost and Roach jumped on a small rock in the pond and darted toward another side. When the wolves arrived, they were blocking by stone-covered alligators that raises up from the pond. The wolves had to run around in order to follow their pray.

["Ghost, we saw the light!"] Scarecrow replied.

"We're there!" Ghost said. "Tell us the direction!"

["Roger."] Scarecrow replied. ["Turn sharp left. Sharp left!"]

The elite soldiers quickly turned left. Ghost shot another three round into the sky and listened to the comm.

["Ghost, you're on the way to the road! Turn left and ran along the road if you found it! We likely could see you there!"] Scarecrow said.

"Copy, out!" Ghost said. "Step up the pace, Roach! Don't let 'em close!"

The wolves was getting closer. After jumped across two stumps, the elite soldiers reached a dirt road. They saw a cliff and ran along the road fills with puddle and mud. Both elite soldiers and the wolves didn't give up easily. The elite soldiers weren't too far away from a pack of wooden wolves.

["I see you!"] Scarecrow said. ["Just run down the road. We will cover you!"]

"Scarecrow, count on three when you can suppress on those wolves." Ghost commanded.

["Copy that."] Scarecrow replied.

As they proceeded, the forest was became more clear. The elite soldiers could see the dark sky above and the cliff at their right. They ran against the heavy rain and the wind, which slow them down. Roach hoped his speed was enough to get in Scarecrow's perimeter.

["One!"] Scarecrow counted down.

Roach dodged another leaping wolf. It hit a tree at the side and fell apart.

["Two!"]

Ghost shot back at the wolves. Roach saw someone on the top of the cliff. The wolves was nearly close to Roach and Ghost.

["Three!"]

The time was slowed down. Roach and Ghost jumped out from the killzone and rolled on the ground. Scarecrow and Ozone shot from the right cliff at wooden wolves. They were pieced into branches and logs. When Roach and Ghost turned back, there's nothing more than scatter of wood behind them. Scarecrow and Ozone on the cliff shot until a hostile wooden wolves had been eliminated.

"Cease fire, cease fire!" Ghost commanded.

Scarecrow and Ozone held their fire. Ghost and Roach looked at defeated wooden wolves, which now turns into pieces.

["Good work. We got 'em!"] Scarecrow said.

"Yeah, for now." Ghost said. "Scarecrow, tell the way to get up there."

["You need to clime up."] Scarecrow said. ["There are ivies at the cliff. Don't worry. It's strong enough."]

"Roger." Ghost said. "Come on, Roach. We need to get up the cliff before these bastards could resemble."

["What do you mean?"] Scarecrow said.

Roached and Ghost ran toward the cliff, passed dense bushes and reached at the base. The cliff was covered in ivies. Roach and Ghost put their rifle on their back and climbed up on ivies.

["Ghost, those woods are glowing and floating!"] Scarecrow reported.

"This is what I mean, Scarecrow! They can revive 'emselves!" Ghost said.

["God dammit, I thought we got 'em!"] Scarecrow swore.

"Keep shooting at 'em. Don't let 'em restore!" Ghost commanded.

["Copy that!"] Scarecrow replied.

["Taste this, scums!"] Ozone said.

Scarecrow and Ozone were covering fire Roach and Ghost. The lieutenant and the sergeant quickly climbed up on ivies. Roach and Ghost knew if they stall here, there would be a hell for them. Roach swiftly climbed on a ivy as fast as he can. They had to avoid a thorn ivy, which grows in between normal ivies. When the wind was blowing, the elite soldiers had to stop and wait until the ivies were stable enough to climb. They also had to be careful on ivies, which are slippy due to the rain.

["This is not good, Ghost. Those woods have reassembled into something big!"] Scarecrow reported.

"Bloody hell, I didn't expect this!" Ghost said.

They're not too far from the mid way. Ghost was in the lead. Roach was losing his balance due to the wind and it slowed him down. The team on the cliff want to help their teammate, but Roach and Ghost were out from their reach. Ghost saw Roach was stalling, so he turned back and shouted at him.

"Roach! Don't stalling! Speed yourself up!"

"I know!" Roach yelled.

["Hurry up! It's almost done!"] Scarecrow reported.

"Roger that!" Ghost said.

Ghost took another ivy to change a route. Roach tried to keep up with Ghost, but he always faced many obstacles along his way. Roach jumped to another ivy, when the first ivy couldn't handle his weight. Ghost was in the mid way, but Roach was quite too far from him. Roach felt something was weighted him down beside his gears and the wind.

(*GRAAAAWR!*)

["Ghost, the monster is heading on your way!"] Scarecrow reported. ["Our weapon is useless. It's too strong!"]

"Cease fire and wait there! We're not too far from you!" Ghost said.

Roach looked down. He saw a giant wooden wolf, that is twenty time bigger than the normal wooden wolf. The giant wolf is running and heading toward at the base of the cliff.

"Incoming!" Roach yelled.

Roach and Ghost held the ivy tightly, when a giant wolf rammed on the cliff. Rocks on the cliff fell off. Roach and Ghost had to avoid being hit by heavy rocks. Ghost booted on the cliff and dodged to his left. Roach hid under a ledge and avoided the rocks. Scarecrow and Ozone on the cliff nearly slipped down. Rocks hit on the giant wolf, but a few damage had been done to its wooden shell. Roach and Ghost waited until rocks fell to the ground below, then they continued to climb upward.

"Roach, hurry up!" Ghost looked back and yelled.

Roach couldn't come close to Ghost, who nearly reaches the top. The giant wolf looked up and saw Roach wasn't climbing up too far. It jumped up and slashed at the sergeant. Roach saw the wolf. He quickly jumped off to another ivy. The wolf's claw was missing his back a few inches. Roach put every strength he has to climb up as quick as possible. The cold rain soaked the sergeant. His gloves was slippery. Roach faced a difficult time to climb up. He felt his left leg is weighted by a ton object. Finally, Roach stopped. He held a ivy and didn't move.

["Roach, come in!"] Ghost shouted through his radio. ["Get up here. Don't stalling!"]

Roach didn't reply. He put his feet on a ledge and picked out his knife. Roach looked down on the giant wolf. Its eyes was glowing and staring on the sergeant. The giant wolf sneered. Its mouth was filled with slime and hunger.

["What's happen, Roach! You have to get up here before it's too late!"] Ghost said.

The giant wolf jumped up. Roach knew he had to risk for his life. He turned back and raised his knife up. The time was running slow. Roach eyed on the wolf's eye. He moved his knife up and aimed at the wolf. Upon the cliff, Ghost tried to climbed down to help Roach, but Scarecrow and Ozone held him back from the ledge.

["Ghost, calm down!"] Scarecrow said.

["No! Get off from me!"] Ghost said.

During a moment of live and death, the sergeant concentrated on his knife. He aimed at the giant wolf and swiftly threw the knife at its eye.

["Roach!"] Ghost shouted.

Roach's knife flied toward the wolf. The sergeant threw perfectly, but Unfortunately, the wind changed the knife's direction. Roach knew this and he was panic. The wolf was getting closer. Roach closed his eyes and prayed. In a second, The knife flied into the giant wolf's mouth. The wolf grabbed it throat when it felt something is stuck inside. The wolf missed Roach, but hit on a ledge under him. The giant wolf and Roach fell down. The wolf aloud collapsed at the base of the cliff and sent a cloud of dust widely covers the area. Broken branches and logs were flying in every direction.

Roach felt a cloud of dust against him. He swung his arm blindly to grab anything in the cloud of dust.

"Roach!" Ghost said through his radio. "Roach, come in!"

Ghost and the team looked down. They saw nothing but a big cloud of dust. Ghost received no replied from Roach. Scarecrow and Ozone looked at each other. They had no idea if Roach's still alive. Scarecrow and Ozone search for Roach down the cliff, but they couldn't see the sergeant anywhere below.

"Roach!!" Ghost shouted.

Nobody called back. The wind wiped out dust away. A scatter of fallen giant wolf was at the base of the cliff, but Roach wasn't there. Scarecrow and Ozone searched for the sergeant. Ghost leaned over a ledge and spotted Roach was holding a ivy. Scarecrow and Ozone cheered as they found the sergeant is safe. Roach slowly climbed up to the top. Scarecrow and Ozone helped Roach climbed over the ledge. Finally, he managed to regroup with the team. Roach nearly fainted when his feet touched on the ground. Ghost and Scarecrow helped him up to sit under a tree.

"Well done, Roach." Ghost said. "You killed it."

Thunderstorm slowly turned into drizzle. Ghost looked at Roach. He was tired and injured.

"Ozone, watch out the area. Scarecrow, check Roach."

Ghost crouched beside Roach while Scarecrow checked the sergeant.

"Roach, keep yourself together." Ghost asked.

"I try..." Roach said. "I lost my knife."

"But your life is safe." Ghost said. He clapped on Roach's shoulder. "Scarecrow, did you find any serious wound?"

"No, I didn't." Scarecrow replied. "I think he's just fine. We should let him rest."

"Good." Ghost said and nodded. "Tell me if something is happen to him."

"Roger." Scarecrow replied.

Unexpectedly, a static noise was loud up in the team's comm. Ghost touched on his headphone and carefully heard the transmission.

["(*Buzz*)-crow, come in!"]

["This is Scarecrow. I've received your call, over."] Scarecrow said. He turned his head to Ghost. "Ghost, I got contact from Archer"

["Ghost?"] Archer said.

"Archer, do you read me?" Ghost asked in his radio.

["I read you, loud and clear."] Archer said.

"Where are you now?" Ghost asked.

["Toad and I are in unknown territory somewhere. We're on and surrounded by a glassy area. I can see a city on a steep at the north-east and a village at the west from here, over."] Archer said.

Ghost looked around. He walked to the ledge and peered on the horizon. Ghost spotted something on a height. At first, he thought it is a weird rock, until he could see it is a big city on a steep mountain. Ghost was amazed and confused at the fancy architecture, that manages to set in the most impossible terrain.

"Okay, I see the city. We will move out ASAP. Rendezvous at the village." Ghost said.

["Roger that."] Archer replied.

Ghost turned back to the team. "Alright, everyone. We need to find a the way to Archer and Toad. Move out." Ghost said.

"Hooah." Scarecrow and Ozone replied.

Scarecrow helped Roach up. Ghost looked at the forest below and took a deep breathe and turned back. When the team was about to move, Ghost spotted Roach's leg pocket is wide opened. Ghost walked to check on Roach's pocket and found what slowed the sergeant down. Scarecrow and Ozone stopped and turned to face Ghost.

"Scarecrow, Ozone." Ghost said. "We need to talk to Roach when he awake."

The fight at the castle of the two sisters had come to the end. Defeated ancient spirits lay down on a damp ground. The intruders had more reinforcement. Their flying engines landed in front of defeated spirits. The intruders jumped out from flying machines and ran in the castle. A leader of the intruders commanded its guards through a speech sending device to search every secret rooms in the castle. The intruder carefully searched for secret doors in the castle. One group of intruders traveled down into underground rooms. They blew up ornate doors at the deepest of castle. The group of intruders went in and searched the cave behind the broken doors before they reported back to their leader through their speech sending device.

The spirits tried to stand up, but they soon surrounded by the intruders. They pointed their stick at the spirits' head. Their leader stepped in. Its glowing eyes stared on the male spirit.

"Where are THEY..." the leader said with its lifeless voice.