It starts

Having been delayed by the procrastination of the authorities, Donovan now found himself considerably late in the execution of his quest.  Whereas this had its downsides, it also brought with it a single glaring bonus.  Had he been able to carry out the action on his planned day, he would have missed the assistance of Rayne Itami, Demetri Sumtin and Xian Shadowsong, assistance that he now welcomed.

As Donovan, Rayne, Xian and Demetri now prepared to embark on their quest, they divided themselves into teams according to the roles that best suited their abilities.  Xian sent forward his subordinate, the Shii’gdre Rirka, and his frame operators with Demetri, while he, Rayne and Donovan stood back and attempted the creation of the solution to the current problem.  If Donovan’s theories were correct, the simple solution to the problem of the so called World Tree would be the creation of a supplemental energy system that would eventually curb its hunger for the anomalous Entropic energy type.  Unfortunately, this was a task that was easier said than done.  Rayne could easily create an energy type that effected entropy, but this would only seek to dissipate the energy around it, including the tree creature, and probably be registered as a hostile attempt.  What they would need to create was an energy type that somehow emulated entropy itself without seeming to be offensive.

As the three stayed back and pondered just how they would design this entropic energy, Demetri and his small compliment moved forward.  Xian’s frame operators stayed to the back of the party, with the Sentinel operator keeping the others just within range of his scanning equipment and sniper rifle.  This left 4 of Donovan’s wolf summons to take point while Demetri hung back with 2 serpentine summons in the middle.

A single, quick pounce would reveal their first opponent, a single of the stronger zeta powered creatures that had once inhabited the area, one that now took to devouring one of the wolf summons.  Before Demetri could react, a single round of sniper fire impacting the creature, briefly tearing its attention away from its prey, and allowing the other creatures to pounce on it while Demetri closed the distance.

Back with the tech team, the three finally managed to create the effect which they desired, and now opted to send a piece of Rutaedes forward to deliver the energy.  With Demetri and his team now engaging the zeta creatures in the area, this allowed the true agent of this quest to move towards the tree unhindered. 

Unfortunately for Demetri however, the first attacker was just one of many, which would attempt to overrun him and his team.  Demetri found it odd that Donovan’s stealthed creatures would actually be the primary targets of the attacks by their zeta imbued opponents, leaving him and the frames in relative safety as they now attempted to defend their escorts and revert at least one of the creatures to take a sample.  This task proved difficult however, as each time they seemed to get one of their opponents near dissipation, the energy in the area only served to feed the tree move, increasing the rate at which it spread through the area and hence increasing the spawning rate of their enemies.  Seeing this, Xian ordered Rirka to engage his stealth and retreat, while he powered into his Unholy form and moved in to cover the retreat of the assault team.  His Red Right Hand would be his primary mode of attack, allowing him to cover his fast retreating Ven Nu operator as well as the Sentinal frame, who now took to firing from behind his position.

Demetri and Eddie also found themselves in a bit of trouble, though thanks to the cover from Xian and Donovan’s summons, they seemed to be able to keep themselves alive long enough for Donovan’s mycorrhiza to make its way to the target.  What Donovan found interesting now as he looked on, was the fact that his summon actually found itself unable to make contact with the entity originally, seeming to be subjected to some kind of quarantine and scanning by the entity’s energy before it was allowed to proceed.

Rayne raised an eyebrow as Donovan’s energy began to flare now, causing even the young Summoner to be confused by this.  Luckily, the effect would not extend to the Itami, seeming to be a result of the creature’s deep scan, tracking the energy from the symbiont back to Donovan himself, an odd ability given the fact that once perfect summoned that link should have been, for all intents and purposes, cut.  After a few seconds, Donovan’s energy levels would return to normal, but he would be unable to sense or communicate with the symbiont.  The resulting population of Zeta imbued creatures would spike now, making quick work of Donovan’s summons while Demetri, Xian and his subordinates fled back toward their quest-mates.

“Okay, that’s it, it’s time to leave this area... quickly.”  Rayne commented now, powering up his form and heading towards the nearest established city.

“I believe the boy to be right...”  Xian’s voice also came over the communications link as he and his team blasted their way in Rayne’s directions.

“You don’t have to tell me twice...”  Donovan replied casually, quickly charging his energy before extending a dimensional rift over himself and porting out of the area. 

Demetri would waste no time either, creating a portal himself and diving into, unsummoning Eddie as he did.

As the creature’s influence expanded and the energetic wave expanded, Rayne in particular could sense an odd reaction.  For a second, he found it hard to place, but it would not be long before he remembered where last he felt such energy.  By now, Xian’s ethereal senses began to be tripped as well, causing the member of the Shadowsong clan to curse under his breath as what had just happened dawned on him.

“Gaia....”  Was all he would blurt into comm. link before reverting to his native language and cursing.

This caused Rayne’s eyebrow to move towards his hairline, while Donovan attempted to peice it all together.  By the time the three reached the city class area, they could only watch as the wave of distortion spreading out from the creature washed over the city and the environment around them began to change.

“Did we do this?”  Donovan now inquired, wondering how his symbiont could have created the energy to facilitate such a massive landscape change.

“I don’t think so...”  Rayne replied, as Xian also shook his head.

“It’s started...”  He paused looking down as his Data Pad.   “And earlier than I would have thought too.”  Xian replied, looking out over the landscape as vines materialised everywhere, spreading out to entangle the very landscape.

“Could someone tell me what the heck is going on??”  Demetri now inquired with some bewilderment.

“Restoration Earth... the fusion.”  Rayne replied slowly, as he watched the zeta infused creatures now turn their attention to the odd vines that spread across the area.

At first, this puzzled Rayne, but as the worlds moved more and more into synch, the ethereal energy running through the vines became more and more obvious to him.

“What the fuck!”  The young Itami started to panic as the ethereal energy surrounding him started to become more and more visible causing him to feel rather trapped.

As Xian continued to look out at the land, he now saw the vines tear themselves from the ground, shaking off the dirt, stone and organisms that had grown over them in what seemed like centuries of immobility as they began to do battle with not only the zeta creatures but the odd World Tree that now seemed threatened by their presence.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news... but perhaps we should flee...”  Donovan suggested, snapping the group out of their sensory daze.

“I have to concur, for the moment the effect is contained to a few hundred metres in diameter and the authorities should be on their way to deal with it, I say we board our ships and get as far away from this area as possible.”

“I’m all for that, this Gaia patch seems to be a lot worse than Easter Island...”  Rayne reasoned.

“Hm...”  Xian paused, weighing his own curiosity against the danger that he would be putting himself in.  For a second, his mind was made up...

“Sir...”  But the voice of his Ven-Nu operator would engage his better judgement.

“You’re right, let’s leave.  Once the authorities have stabilised the area, we can come back to investigate.”  He reasoned, looking over to Donovan, who simply smirked.

“Or not dude, or not...”

With that, the group would leave the area, monitoring the situation via the local and international news networks.