Enemies:

Hoshikita limped out of the infirmary of Base Seventeen on a pair of elongated crutches. He still hadn't quite recovered form his mysterious encounter a few days ago, and had been given some medical leave to heal up. It was late at night, and Hoshikita was headed to the bathroom while everyone else was asleep. While he had been somewhat tentative to be wandering the base alone at night after what had happened, the call of nature had been too strong. As the young marine headed down the hallway, images of skeletal faces appeared in his head. He tried to shut his eyes to force them away, but the frightening nightmarish images persisted. The young lieutenant hurried to the restroom so he could be done with this trip and return to his bed where he could wait till morning. Hoshikita usually wasn't this jumpy, but the recent horrors had taken their toll on him.

Despite his fears, Hoshikita was able to relieve himself without much difficulty and soon found himself walking back into the infirmary. As soon as he stepped through the threshold however, he felt that there was something very wrong in the room. There was nothing visual about the strange feeling, but the air felt chilled and Hoshikita felt far more on edge than he had before. The young lieutenant swung his crutches forward to return to his bed trying to shake the strange pressure off of himself, but as he did so he noticed a glint of steel out of the corner of his eye. A second later, the blade of a sword swung towards him and Hoshikita leaned backwards, careful not to lose his balance and fall over. The blade was brought back, and Hoshikita did his best to leap backward and bring his crutches with him.

While the movement was not graceful, Hoshikita successfully landed upright as, much to the marine's dismay, a skeleton lurched out of the doorway with a sword and shield at the ready. Hoshikita tried to call out to someone, but he felt as though he had lost his voice entirely and his breath felt incredibly cold. He wondered if it was the work of the skeletons, and mentally cursed to himself. The skeleton lunged at Hoshikita with the blade, and the young marine dodged out of the way and propped himself up with his left crutch. At the same time, he would ready the right crutch to trip his opponent with a swift swing. The maneuver was successful, and the skeleton clambered to the ground, dropping its shield and holding on desperately to its sword. Hoshikita was fully aware of how to handle these creatures, and he stomped the foot of his good leg onto the skull of the creature a few times until the hardened bone splintered into pieces.

With the skeleton now immobile, Hoshikita tried to catch his breath and regain his composure. The fright had been quite shocking, and he breathed heavily as he looked around for any more signs of danger. Finding none, Hoshikita walked forward back towards his bed, remaining extremely wary in case there were any more ghouls hiding in the shadows. The young lieutenant wondered why all of this was happening to him, what cruel miser was spinning his wheel of fate to such disastrous result, and whether or not he'd be safe going to sleep tonight. He looked towards the wall and reached over to flick the switch of the light so he could get a better view of the room before going to bed, and he was immediately glad that he had done so. Looking over to his bed, Hoshikita could see a mound beneath the sheets as if there were already someone sleeping there. Judging by how things had been turning out recently, Hoshikita had little hope that it was just another Marine playing a prank on him. With great apprehension, Hoshikita drew closer and closer to his bed until he was only a few feet from the headboard. He then drew up his right crutch and poked over at the mound under his sheets. Just before the crutch touched the sheet, a skeletal hand popped out and pushed the crutch away before yanking it out of Hoshikita's hands.

Not ready for the sudden exchange, Hoshikita lost his balance and toppled to the floor along with his remaining crutch. The skeleton then popped out from under the sheets with sword and shield in hand and lunged at Hoshikita. The young marine wasn't about to let this skeleton have his way though, and he quickly shot his good leg up to kick away the skeleton's shield and sending him sprawling backwards onto the floor. The skeleton scrambled to his feet at the same time as Hoshikita rushed to climb up his good crutch and get to a standing position as well. The skeleton was far more lithe however and had beaten Hoshikita in the impromptu race. With its skeletal arm, which by all rights should not have been able to move without muscles or blood, it hacked downwards at Hoshikita. The young lieutenant wasn't completely out of tricks however and, with a well executed Kami-e, Hoshikita let his body go limp and with a simple pivot of his feet the sword harmlessly passed by Hoshikita's front. He then turned back and faced the skeleton, ready to unleash his worst. Hoshikita raised his leg and let loose the best high front kick he could muster directly into the skeleton's face. The cracking of bones was audible and the holes in the nostrils for the skeleton had been fused and greatly enlarged from the impact of Hoshikita's bare foot. The skeleton staggered back, dropping its weapons and holding at its face, in a very animated and human way. Hoshikita almost hesitated for a moment, wondering if there was more to these skeletons than random attacks on his person. After the skeleton gave up on its shock though, it bared its bony fingers and lunged at him again. Hoshikita was ready, and gave a repeat performance of his last kick to end the skeleton's face in a splintery mishmash of broken bone. The jagged pieces cut into his foot a bit, and he began bleeding from his good leg now. Hoshikita paid no mind however, and rushed to go find the nurse's quarters. He now had cold hard evidence that the skeletons were real. How else would they have gotten up to the infirmary with such aged weaponry. Or at least, that was what Hoshikita thought. He certainly found the nurse and she hurried with him, tired and agitated, back to the infirmary to bandage him up and see these so called "walking skeletons". However, when they returned to the infirmary there was nothing to be found, no weapons or bones to speak of. Hoshikita's jaw dropped at the sight, and the nurse looked concerned, likely thinking he had experienced some serious fever dreams and somehow cut his foot on something. She quickly bandaged him up and set Hoshikita to bed, to which the marine reluctantly agreed. He was now uncertain whether there really had been any skeletons at all, and he resolved to shut this out of his memory as best he could.

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