Enter Sandman (Open)

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James looked to his left and right; he had felt something odd. The Warden of the Southwest had been simply relaxing, having decided to turn up for work for the first time in an age. Normally, he spent his time in Argentina, in the Nature Iramasha's small shack; but he decided that today he would actually show up for work for a change. After all, it was his job. However, he had felt something... most different, enter the base. He felt it get past the scanners, and all the the other equipment. Who is it...? Another warden, perhaps? An enemy? He wondered, going up to the door of the meeting room he was dozing in. He opened it, taking a peak outside into the hall.

He could see a strange red light on one of the walls with his sensitive eyes, and he had to greatly fight the catness of his Nature Cells to not go and pounce on it, his cat ears and tail forming without him even noticing, twitching and moving back and forth. The tail, that is. They looked most peculiar; if he had seen a mirror, he most certainly would have been alarmed. However, all he did was walk down the hall, until suddenly...

What the abyss??? The thought raced in his mind. He reacted in such a way with a surprised look on his face as suddenly a flash of fire occupied the wall where the dot had been. He could physically feel the water molecules in the air heating up; such was the way of being the Nature Iramasha of Water. He ran forwards, turning the corner as he saw a young woman and a strange blazing bird. He blinked, suddenly before them.

"Erm... Hello there. The name's James Mizumuzi, Nature Iramasha of Water and Warden of the Southwest. May I ask what you are doing here, in the Vanguard base...?" He spoke, slightly hesitantly, his eyes darting back and forth a bit as he spoke. His stance was slightly defensive; he knew next to nothing about this woman, mostly because he didn't hear her speaking and also because he knew nothing of the other Wardens; only Genpaku, their leader. He wasn't sure what this strangely dressed woman was doing in the corridor of their base; he only had on his regular camo shirt and jeans. His blue hair remained where it normally was, cut to shoulder level and straight as an arrow. Hopefully she's not an enemy... that would make our defense systems pretty sad, huh...? He thought to himself, chuckling weakly within his mind. However, his gaze was clear as he awaited the woman's response...

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Just Keep Following the Stream...

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"GODDAMNIT! WHO THE HELL BUILDS A FUCKING BASE ON THE MOON!?" While one could probably go on to write many poetic references for how quiet and peaceful space and the moon seemed, today would not match any of them. Although the main base for the Vanguard was on the moon and on most days relatively quiet, not even the vastness of space seemed able to quiet the loud voice echoing through the base today. Of course, it wasn't just some random occurrence, and to understand why this person was so upset, you'd need a little more information. For starters, the man to whom the voice belonged was a man known as Axel; the "Master of Arms" of the Vanguard's Initiative branch. Now, anyone who knew of Axel knew that he usually had two distinct moods; quiet and uncaring, and loud and pissed off. Today, of course, was the latter. The reason for his anger today was actually quite simple; he had been summoned to the moon base by one of the higher-ups; most likely a Warden or the Commander, and had to get there right away. Now, while this may not seem like much of a reason to be pissed off, there was more to the story than just this.

For starters, Axel's powers were not just "fire-based", but were actually "Volcanic", or "Magmal-based" powers. While there were obvious complications with using fire-based powers in space, they were all multiplied for Axel. To put it simply, were he to actually use his powers anywhere inside the base, the most likely result would be either a large explosion or the creation of a large hole in the base basically killing anyone within the area. Now, while there really weren't any reasons for Axel to have to use his powers in the base, the fact that he really couldn't pissed him off greatly. Of course, the second reason was much more practical; Axel was a chain smoker and most people got pissed at him for smoking inside the base. If it were any other workplace Axel would just step outside to take a smoke and tell anyone who bugged him about it to "piss off", but since this was OUTERSPACE, that wasn't really an option. Finally, there was the whole "cliche" of having a BASE on the fucking MOON. Yeah, in Axel's mind, the guy who came up with the idea must have been, like, a damn 5 year old. So yeah, that pretty much sums up why Axel was so pissed.

So, as he continued down the hallway, Axel continued to grumble profanities to himself, occasionally stopping to shout out a "fuck" or "goddamnit" every now and then. Of course, Axel was wearing the same outfit he pretty much always wore; consisting of a black sleeveless shirt, dark blue jeans, and a pair of black military boots. Judging by his appearance, one really couldn't be too surprised to hear so many curse words coming from this man's mouth. Still, after turning the next corner, Axel quickly found himself face to face with two other people; one male and one female. Because he had been so caught up with his ranting, Axel had pretty much been completely ignoring if there was anyone else in the base then or not, but seeing as how these two currently had the hallway blocked, he was forced to finally confront someone. "Gah! the hell are you two?" he asked, his tone still full of annoyance and making no attempt at being polite. Then again, that was generally how Axel always spoke, so to any who had heard him speak before, this tone would most likely be ignored. Despite being in a "leadership" position, Axel really wasn't what most people thought of when they imagined a leader. Luckily for him, he was the leader of Vanguard's main battle forces, and his aptitude for fighting generally made up for his antisocial tendencies.

"Well… of course. It's natural for powers like this to come together. Power attracts power, that's just the way it is." James said shortly, turning his gaze onto the fire demon that had just entered their midst. It was quite an oddity; a water spirit and two users of fire, from the looks of it. Well… maybe more than fire. He thought, taking another sidelong glance at Axel. "And as for resting… Nature Iramasha never sleep. We don't need to. Sorry if we're keeping you up. Although I guess hot-head over here is just a night person." He said calmly with a slight smirk as his tail continued to wag around. "In any case, nice to meet you as well, Warden Akane. Tell me, how are the coral reefs this year? I went a while back, before joining Vanguard; and it was simply fantastic. Amazing how nature can recover itself… Of course, the stories I could tell about defending that beautiful spot…" He trailed off, getting off from leaning on the wall and stretching his back out.

"And you can drop the last name business. Just James is fine." He mused, remembering the hot-head's question. "James Mizumuzi, South-west Warden and the Water Iramasha, sometimes called Aquacat." He introduced himself, his chromo indium eye condition in full view as he gave his attention to the hot-head.

He snapped his fingers, suddenly throwing out and down his right hand from his pocket, halting it at waist level. Right above his shoulders, about the size of his head, the air began to cool down, visually turning the color of ice as it froze up into two head-sized spheres with eyes and small paws in the front of their bodies. They simply floated, and one floated over to each of the other Vanguard officer's, hovering over their heads.

"These… are known as Ice Shikigami. Basically, I can see anything they see at any given point, as well as feel what they feel. They can also be activated by spirit energy, releasing a signal pulse to me and allowing me to see what they are seeing. They CAN understand basic commands, and I cannot give them commands from my mind if they are in your possession. So, if either of you are ever in a real jam or need to get the attention of myself and the Vanguard, simply place your hand on the Shikigami."

Then he remembered, the shikigami freezing in the air, not moving at all. He opened his mouth once more, telling them one final thing about his gift.

"Both of you, be careful not to melt them with your power when you activate them. For one thing, that would send a pulse strong enough to confuse me of the signals origin, and secondly, it would overload the Shikigami. So yeah, treat it right, and it's a terrific tool."

He finished, walking down the hall a small way to the door. He opened it up, turning back to face the other two.

"Come on, we can get something from the bases cafeteri...a…."

He trailed off as he looked in the door…


THIS IS THE BEST MOON SOUP I'VE EVER TASTED!!! The thought raced through the Moon Iramasha's mind as he shoved in soup spoon by constant spoon, a line of soup just going into his mouth for the average observer. His body long blonder hair bobbed back and forth as he swallowed each mouthful, a large smile on his face. His standard garb was in full view; half covering his torso with a line over one shoulder and nothing on the other side. His black baggy leg garments and his strange armor made him stick out like a sore thumb; but then again, he HAD been living on the moon for nearly six thousand years. One dim light was on above his table, as well as a large Moonie-shaped hole in the wall he had walked through to get into. He planned to fix it as soon as he finished by bending the steel back into place and burning it into place with blast. However, right now, he was only interested in the strange melted moon-rocks and water concoction that they had created specifically with Moonie in mind.

Being the only populant on the moon wasn't easy; although with the addition of the Vanguard's moon base and the human habitations helped. He reflected on the events that had led to his sortie into the kitchen on this earth-lit night. First, James had told him how he was going to the Moon again, and immediately Moonie asked to go with him. He hadn't been there in almost A MONTH, and had been gradually watching during that time as his moon that he usually ran on he was able to watch as the light moved away from it, each night. He had been excited for the trip, and as soon as they got there, gone for a lap around his homeplace.

He had told Boss James he would be back soon, and he had just gotten back and hadn't found James in his room. Then he smelt something. It smelt just like moon rocks, but better. He walked through the wall of the room with two beds he and James shared, and ended up in this dimly lit kitchen. In the fridge, he had found a bowl with a note on it that read: "For Moonie; enjoy!" He had immediately taken up the giant bowl and walked over to the table, sitting down and enjoying his meal exuberantly. Of course, James knew nothing of Moonie's meal, and Moonie looked up squarely as he heard a door opening…


James realized who was sitting on the table, and sighed, resting his face in one hand. Then he put it down, going to the fridge and getting out a pitcher of water, grabbing it and sitting down next to Moonie. He poured himself a glass, looking back at the other two.

"This is Mjesec; or Moonie. He's the only native from the moon, being born of it. However, he's nice enough. Get yourselves something to eat and sit down." James said peacefully, waving his hand at the refrigerator and taking a sip of his water...

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