Will saw two fireballs directly coming and a rising heat from behind which crawled up all the way to his neck. Instinctively, he formed two water balls which engulfed his fists like gloves. He struck out at the first fireball coming to his head, the fireball evaporated in to two smaller ones, splitting of and hitting a side of the cave. The second one came rapidly towards his chest, the water surrounding his fists lengthened to his elbow and he crouched and crossed his arms together. The steam from the water hitting the fire engulfed Will, his silhouette emerged from the steam and he charged towards Shida. He stopped right infront of him and began throwing boxing punches. "No more range" he thought. The water engulfed fists flew towards Shida. First a right hook, followed by a left straight. His fists flew into a rhythm of straights and hooks in the same pattern. Will wondered how Shida would cope without the distance to seperate them, like a flame being blocked from oxygen.

Shida hadn't realized he moved his king piece so close to the enemy, before he knew it, Will was upon him throwing punches left and right at a surprisingly even and quick pace. Shida was used to fighting at a range and in complete anonymity from his enemy amidst the chaos. But he also learned some hand to hand moves of his own from adapting to things his friends showed him. Backing up and dodging the first two swings, then being met by three more, closely ducking the right hook, but then being caught in the check as he was turning away to the left from the straight jab while attempting a sidestep. Instead of regaining composure, and using the opportunity of getting hit, he acted more injured than he was for a moment and hung limp in a feinted mid fall, seeing the right hook coming at his head a mile away.. When it almost made contact with him he ducked under it and attempted to take the follow through out of Will's punch by throwing his right arm up and meeting their inner elbows together and making a grab for the back of his opponents neck. He maneuvered back up behind his right shoulder, his right hand was now firmly pressed up against Will's neck, with his right elbow locking Will's arm in place by pulling it back with his shoulder strength.

Normally any person would have trouble holding someone in this position for long, but Shida didn't need to. Once somebody was this close to him, he was in extreme danger. "This is the end for you." He told Will as he jerked around for a moment. Shida generated deep and high wall of flame encircling them. Blasting fire all around them inches from Will's nose, the others disappeared for a moment. "My king piece is impervious to this flame, is yours?" he said with a grim smile.

Will managed to hit Shida in the cheek, knocking him down as he seemed injured. Will took the opportunity to subdue him while he was down but Shida grabbed his arm and put Will into a hold. "Dammit" he grunted as he twisted left to right. Will could feel warmth around him as a fire pillar swirled into existence consuming the two. The warmth increased to extreme heat very quickly. His body was restrained and the fireballs began to ping across. "My king piece is impervious to this flame, is yours?" Shida asked in a nearly creepy tone. Will knew he had been beat. "Na..." he said. "You won Shida, you can let go of me now." Will said with a smile, dang this guy is a good fighter.

"Right, right, old man, don't need to get all worked up," Kimberly said. But that was probably the least of her worries as she noticed a fight going on behind her. Apparently fire and water certainly didn't mix, as shown by the Fire and Water Hygrons having a little brawl. "Great. I can already see how this is going to end up," Kimberly muttered.

"Hey you guys, not that I want to be a downer or something, but don't go wastin' all your energy before we even get out of this cave. I'm sure we'll appreciate you hurling them fireballs at the enemy, not him," Kimberly walked over to Will and dusted him off from the tussle. "You alright? Well, it was close, but I dunno, isn't water supposed to be beat fire naturally or something? No offense, just tryin' to make some conversation here. I'm Kimberly Gemma, Earth Hygron."

A women, Kimberly, walked towards the two and broke them up. "Hey you guys, not that I want to be a downer or something, but don't go wastin' all your energy before we even get out of this cave. I'm sure we'll appreciate you hurling them fireballs at the enemy, not him," Kimberly walked over to Will and dusted him off from the tussle. "You alright? Well, it was close, but I dunno, isn't water supposed to be beat fire naturally or something? No offense, just tryin' to make some conversation here. I'm Kimberly Gemma, Earth Hygron."

"Will Mason, Water. Pleasure to meet you Kimberly" Will said, bowing and taking of his hat and tipping it towards her. "Don't mind us, just trying to get me and Shida to do a little training before we set odf." He grinned, whether Shida knew they were practically training or not was to be seen. "So, what do you make of all this?" He asked the lady.

Shida released Will and let the flames reside, the strain on his shoulder ached from even a short attempt to restrain him, and his jaw inflamed like a roasting fire from that punch to the face. He wondered if the water in Will's blood flowed so fast it could make his muscles hard as stone.. Shida was by no standard a weak individual compared to most men, but he doubted that he had ever faced a man with this kind of endurance and strength. As they were getting up, he met eyes with Will. He noticed that his hat somehow managed to stay on during the battle, he was surprised at it's craftsmanship for a moment. Shida, looked at Will and offered his hand to him.

"I knew you were going easy on me, but I think you should save that soft spot in your heart for half of those babes we just impressed over there."
A short moment later, a girl named Kimberly arrived.

infinitumxx said
"Hey you guys, not that I want to be a downer or something, but don't go wastin' all your energy before we even get out of this cave. I'm sure we'll appreciate you hurling them fireballs at the enemy, not him,"

Shida saw that she was clearly into Will, so he patted him on the back and winked to him as he turned away. "Thanks, I think it'll stay that way for now. I appreciate the complement."

Shida turned his head to look around and slowly began to walk off, he saw a few people sitting in a group, the people he recalled discussing the plan to split up and attack the Vygrons at the nearby outpost. Though he also remembered that the hunchback of trees would be on a warpath to scold him for burning down his lawn at any moment..Regardless of this, he found his thoughts and eyes moving to Aerilyn. The thought of ever getting married hadn't even begun to cross Shida's mind, or for that matter any woman liking him very much at all.. his experiences with women were even more limited than he bragged, not a surprising fact to him, he knew he could be a talker when he drank.

Shida within some moments after the battle, found himself walking over to a small gorge of water surrounded by grass and wildflowers. He laid down under the sun and closed his eyes folding his arms behind his head, and feeling the breeze blow through the holes in his clothes. For a moment, he thought he imagined Aerilyn eyes green and shimmering, looking into him, captured by her soft and porcelain face.The relationships in his life were usually those of people he almost thought of as disposable, accredited to his own obsessions with survival and means before, all of this... However, he found himself for the last few hours he awoke, after he experienced that blurry vision at breakfast this morning, feeling surprisingly better than he had felt in a long time. Aerilyn.. as far as hurting someone like her goes, he knew he never could. However, he did find himself eventually more worried about the situation at hand.. The Vygrons...

We can defeat them, we have too, no matter what.

Wolgran
Wolgran, even though he seemed to not care what was going on around him, was paying very, very close attention to each Hygron. Examining them, studying them.
"The Hygrons seem to already be forming bonds with each other. Hmm.... However I fear that they might be too young for this kind of responsibility and power. I'm surprised they took this so well and believed everything I said. Except the Lux Hygron, she might still have problems believing me"
In fact, Luce did not sleep since Wogran told them about the Vygorns, she has been muttering to herself for the whole night, but because the others were further away and sleeping very deeply, no one heard. Even now, at noon she still didn't come out from her dark indent in the cave where she spent the night.

A sudden shout suddenly broke out form Luce's wide open mouth as she came running into the cave, holding her head with both hands. Her palms were shining and her eyes were closed.
"Get away from me!" screamed Luce.
"Help! Someone!" she continued, running past Wolgran.
The Custodian stood up with eyes wide open and transformed into a faint, white mist and flew to where Luce has been while thinking.
"Oh no! They found us! But how can it be? I didn't sense them coming."
Wolgran, seeing that no one was near Luce's hideout, continued flying towards the entrance of the cave. When he got there, he materialised and peeked out from the cave. Strangely, there was no one but Ghost waiting paitiently with closed eyes, and of course barren wastelands for miles...
"That is strange, there is no one here. And I can't sense anyone either, the plants would've told me about any Vygorns in the cave"
Realization struck Wolgran like a war hammer. He immediately dissolved into the air and flew back to where the Hygrons were, as fast as he could. When he got to the open area at the centre of the cave where everyone was, he materialised once again. Luce was there, all the other Hygrons looking at her. She was running around in circles, holding her head.
"This isn't real, it's all a dream! Just a bad, bad dream. This grass isn't real, nor this cave, nor the Vygorns, I'm just dreaming and I need to wake up!"
"Hygrons, stay away from her and go take refuge, this might get dangerous! Don't stand around, go away! NOW!"
Luce suddenly opened her eyes and looked at Wolgran
"Stay away from me!"
Wolgran started slowly approaching toward Luce, raising his arms slightly in an attempt to calm the girl down a bit.
"Luce, this isn't a dream, it's all real. Please calm down and lets talk about this, there are people who need you. The world needs you.
"I said stay away!" Luce's hands glowed very bright just before launching a beam of light at Wolgran.
It wasn't really an issue. Wolgran, being the Custodian, had power over all elements. The beam quickly dissipated into the old man's outstretched hand. He continued approaching, quietly saying soothing words in an attempt to calm the Lux Hygron.
"BACK OFF!!" This time, Luce's eyes became fully white as her mouth opened to release an ear piercing scream. All around her there was intense light which she charged up for a couple of seconds and then released all at once.
The power of the blast was immense. Wolgran quickly raised his arms, trying to control the light and keep it in a big dome around Luce, who just continued screaming hysterically. Wolgran's face muscles started tensing into a grimace because of the effort he was making in keeping the light together, but the energy just kept coming from Luce. The dome quickly became so full of light, that Luce couldn't be seen anymore, there was just a dome of white and an extremely loud screm. Wolgran dropped to one knee, quickly running out of energy. He was about to give up and dissipate into the ground when the scream transformed into an even louder shriek of pain, which then slowly faded away. The clear white dome was still there but Wolgran felt that there was no more energy going into it. He slowly let out the light, so as to not cause damage to the environment around him. When the dome faded, Luce wasn't there anymore. Wolgran fell face forward, exhausted.
There was silence in the cave for what seemed like eternity, dead quiet, especially after all the noise from Luce. Wolgran, helped by the plants around him, slowly stood up and looked at where the other Hygrons were, his face was very sad and tired.
"Don't believe your element can't hurt you... Luce was eaten by her own power, her light. She would have disappeared anyways, whether I keep the light in or not. At leas none of you were hurt, and for that, at least, I am glad."

"We should split up and half of us attack RockHill on the other side of here, that way The Vygorns have less of an idea where we are coming from, not to mention that Rock Hill is a mining town, and going for the resources is like terrorist tactics 101, we could arrive at Rock Hill about an hour after the time they arrive at Riverdale, which would put both attacks at close to midnight, meaning that we would most likely catch them by surprise."

Cora rolled her eyes, pulling her hoodie over her new belt. She moved to stand by Aerilyn, admiring the creature perched on her shoulder. They were agreeing on battle tactics, Aerilyn, Beau, and that other dude she hadn't caught the name of. Cora wasn't sure how well they knew their geography, but the trek to RockHill was a long one under the sweltering sun. Plus, who knew what waited for them.

She shook out her short, chocolate hair, glancing at the amiable Lightning user. "Beau, was it?" She tried a smile, but it felt cold. "I like your idea of the elements splitting up, it's a good one. But let me point out some holes. When we get to Riverdale and/or RockHill, there won't be any Vygorns in alien form just waiting for us to take out. There will be guards, and there will be workers. Those workers will have families with them. We can't just go around killing innocent people in the hopes that the Vygorns will come challenge us. If anything, they'd send out more human guards to either arrest us or take us out. And we're stuck with a hard question: how far are we willing to go? 

"Do we want to be known as dangerous terrorists? That's what will happen if we attack a resource. Humanity in general will hate us, when we need them on our side. How can we have sympathizers if we're feared? Right now they need a hero, cuz the elements can't do this on their own. We could very well spark a revolution, and the whole of humanity would help us remove our alien oppressors. Besides, I'd rather be on the run from the government known as a vigilante that the people have hope in, rather than a terrorist the people demand justice of. 

"I'm going to Riverdale, and I'm going to try my damn best to wipe out the Vygorns and dismantle their little camp, harming as few humans as possible. But I want to hear your thoughts. Am I crazy? Or do we want to be a symbol of hope for the people?" Cora challenged the circle, confident she was right.

"I may know how to catch the Vygorn's attention without unnecessary bloodshed. But I need to test my theory first."

She turned to the bird tamer. "Aerilyn, we haven't really introduced ourselves, but I think we could help each other out. I have a plan, but I can't do it alone. It involves something awesome, though: Do you know what Ice and Air make?" Cora said, a mischievous glint in her gray eyes.   

It was hard not to notice Shida as he joined the circle, spouting hedonistic nonsense. He gave her an incredibly uncomfortable twist in the gut; she didn't trust him, or like him. So it was to her dark humor's relief when Will cooled him off, literally. Laughter escaped her lips, a sound she almost forgot existed. She'd have to speak to Will later; their elements were only different structures of each other, after all. 

Fire and water were a crazy mix to watch in battle, very symmetrical in their polar-opposite-ness. Shida, however, won that round, unfortunately. The lush ground of Nature's Haven was charred and ashy, serving as a testament to their disagreement. The sight of embers in so much green made Cora really want to punch something. 

Instead, she locked eyes with Shida. "This is the only nature for miles, and you think it's okay to just burn some up? Just look at your feet."

The next tragedy of Nature's Haven no one foresaw. The light user, Luce -- sweet 'lil thing -- ran into the cave like she'd seen a ghost. Light spewed from her fingers, casting unnatural shadows on the stone walls. The old man got in there like a dirty shirt, but to no avail. The light increased, and Cora watched in horror as Luce simply... Was consumed. 

"Don't believe your element can't hurt you... Luce was eaten by her own power, her light."

Cora paled, glancing up at Irys who floated a couple inches above her head. "You never told me there were risks, Irys."

"Irys said there were no risks for Cora. That still holds true." The spirit's voice chimed innocently in her head. 

"How do you know?"

"Cora isn't consumed yet, is she?"

"Yeah... Not the most assuring..."

Aerilyn watched as Will and Shida began to fight before completely ignoring their presence, blocking it off with her own willpower. She was tempted to try and steal the air away from both of them, but decided that she honestly had no idea how to even begin an act like that. She didn't even know she had powers until the night before. I haven't felt any signs of my powers... it's like they aren't there... She thought to herself as she looked down at her hands and clenched them, trying to conjure up even the slightest breeze-- to no avail. Why can they do it so easily? She was beginning to feel a tinge of jealousy towards those that had been able to conjure up their powers as if they had been practicing for their entire lives with them. Swallowing her anger, she became a mask of indifference once again, mostly because she didn't want to snap or lose her temper with any of the others. That would be the worst possible thing to happen at such an early time. Let them think that she was inhuman and emotionless. That would be the best for everyone.

Just then, Cora suggested that splitting the forces may be slightly more difficult than they had anticipated, and she knew that the girl was right. There were families and innocent people that lived with their overpowered Vygorn rulers. We'll have to figure out a way to separate the innocent with the guilty... which is easier said than done. Then the girl suggested something about what Air and Ice could do. She looked over at the girl and saw her mischievous grin. She did her best to return a smirk, but it was slightly lackluster. "We could definitely make powerful allies in this fight. I'm all in."

Then everything went to shit when Luce, a girl that she'd hardly seen the night before, burst into the cavern and started screaming bloody murder. She could sense the energy pouring out of the young woman, and her own inner power seemed to want to add onto it, but she held it back. Then they were warned to take shelter, and she tucked and rolled behind a large rock, curling into the smallest form that she could possibly manage, before the light burst and silence deadened the atmosphere. After blinking several times, she slowly stood up and stared in horror at the spot where the girl had initially stood. Our powers are our greatest weaknesses? She thought with a horrified expression on her face. Taking steady, deep breaths, she composed herself once again. "So this is the burden that we must bare along with the fate of our world?"

Everything was happening so fast it seemed that it all occured at once, flashing heat and dampening cool mixing, twisting, making the air in the cave churn with the myriad of power being thrust in various directions and into the world itself, the girl whom last night had been covered in bright lights and had spoken so passionately of the human condition, and of hope, emerged from her resting place, her eyes bloodshot, her look crazed and haunted. Then, everything suddenly began happening in slow motion, the attack, the screaming, the fighting, the bright light consuming it's own, suddenly, words pierced through the hazy sludge that was time and perception....

"Don't stand around, go away! NOW!"

Holding his arm to his face Beau looked away, unable to stand the blasts of tangible light, he almost threw himself behind a nearby scorched rock, but the tangible light stopped, it's destructive aura ceasing, and as he lowered his arm and looked at the seen what he saw was that all that was left of the point of origin was dust. Taking a moment to leave his mouth agape at what had happened, he only sort of listened to what was said by the old man, some sort of warning about getting to caught up in everything, and about the possible, incredibly deadly consequences of going overboard, it was all so surreal. Regaining his composure Beau put his folded hands to his lips, thinking for a moment about what, he was pretty sure their names were Cora and Aerilyn, had said, It made sense, they weren't terrorists, but there was something about it that he didn't like, maybe it was that as Terrorists they were free from an obligation of protecting citizens, but then he remembered what it was someone had said last night, about protecting those , as his leg bounced up and down rapidly, moving almost as fast as his mind, he decided that if this was ever going to work, there were already so many moving parts, and individual egos, personalities, and now even more probable death, he decided that his pride, and even his gut, needed to be kept in check, but perhaps there was a compremise possible, so he brought his hands down, looked at the rest of them around the fire and spoke "Look, if we can do this without pointless bloodshed, then great, not to mention I love your whole symbol of hope thing, for that I'm all in, but I still think that a two, even three pronged approach is the way to go though, It better masks our starting point, it splits their forces and focus, and generally the smaller the group the easier it is to be stealthy, which makes our lives endlessly easier, so I guess the question is, whats your theory?" Beau was curious, and it was getting the better of him.

Shida got up and walked around for a bit, feeling rested after his spar with Will. Shida knew some of the people in the room held a distaste for him, probably thinking him childish or rash. But he didn't care, he was going to live the way he wanted until the day he died without anyone stopping him. He thought he saw nature face glaring at him a bit, and Ice girl sort of managed to get to him for a moment, she was really scary for some reason and Shida did not want to piss her off. But when she mentioned him singeing up the ground a bit he couldn't help but tell her "If this is the last piece of nature, i don't think the grass here is gonna stop growing anytime soon." he said in his sarcastic manner. Shida instantly bit his tongue, as she gave him a cold and unforgiving glare.. he felt the ice of her silence trickling up his back as his eyes widened to capture her stare. This chick..really freaks me out...

Suddenly, there was a blood curdling scream. Everyone looked over, it was Luce. She seemed to be glowing in a way that was not at all normal for a lady, and having what looked like was a serious panic attack. Shida saw Wolgran running towards her.. This is serious.. he thought. Soon, Luce was writhing and screaming in pain inside of a sphere of light, Wolgran was doing something to deflect the power she was releasing he could see, but regardless, the screams grew louder. When it was over, Wolgran turned and his expression said that there was no more Luce. Shida noticed she had been acting strange earlier, a case of the jitters he thought. But is that really what just killed her? Couldnt be.. Shida looked around, everyone was completely stunned or hiding somewhere. He began to look for Aerilyn, wondering if she was ok.. he didn't really know why, but he felt some sort of empathy for her. Shida always thought he was good at cheering people up, and when he saw someone who was sad, he always wanted to make them happy. He thought she looked sad, but she may have not even be aware of it.. He saw some boots sticking out from behind a rock, curious to see, he walked over. He saw Aerilyn curled up into a ball with her eyes closed, shivering. She had an expression on her face like someone was about to punch her. Shida knelt down over her placed his hand on her shoulder and asked "Are you ok?" She looked at him "It's over, Luce is gone.. the old man said she let her own power take control of her, he also said it won't happen to any of us as long as we maintain our pace and don't push ourselves too much." Shida didn't know if that last part was true for sure, but he wanted to help calm her down.. "There's no need to be afraid.'

Will's hair stood up on his neck as he heard a scream erupt from the cave and the old hermit appear and then dissipate. "Hygrons, stay away from her and go take refuge, this might get dangerous! Don't stand around, go away! NOW!" Wolgran commanded. Will turned back to Kimberly. "Get down!" He yelled. He instinctively looked for a rock or something, he saw a log which was used to sit on. "That'll do" he said to no one in particular. "Follow me!" He said to Kim and started to direct her to the log. He waited for Kim to get behind the log until Will jumped behind it himself. For a moment, an almost heavenly light spat out of the cave until it became nothing. Will peaked over the log and saw the old man hobble out, with the Lux Hygron nowhere in sight. "Don't believe your element can't hurt you... Luce was eaten by her own power, her light. She would have disappeared anyways, whether I keep the light in or not. At leas none of you were hurt, and for that, at least, I am glad." Wolgran stated. "No shit..." Will muttered. He looked to see if everyone was safe, especially his brother Gilfred, Shida and Kim.

It wasn’t longer after Thema had given her approval that a girl named Cora decided to speak her mind. Her words were moving and she played the victim card well, even if her tone was a bit condescending. I can’t really blame her. We’ve all been through hell, it seems. Everyone had now given their two cents and unanimously decided it was time to catch some shuteye. The elementals scattered off to different sections of the cave, claiming their bit of land as their resting place for the night. After scanning the grove for a few seconds, Thema took notice of a large tree and decided to call dibs on it before anyone else could.

As she lay near the tree, Thema could feel her powers pulsating throughout her body. She wasn’t used to being near such a vast amount of nature and it was causing her powers to act up. The grass she slept upon snaked upwards, giving her body a nice cushion rest on. The trees branches reached out even farther than before, blooming flowers of an unknown fruit. It was like her body was radiating life and she couldn’t stop it, even if she wanted to. Maybe this is all a dream? she asked herself. Maybe I’ll wake up back in my shed and everything will be back to normal…A part of her feared falling asleep, afraid of what her powers could commit while she rested. But the bioluminescent bugs that twinkled on the cave ceiling were hypnotic and soon before long, the young witch was sound asleep.

Thema was one of the last to rise the following morning. The fruity scent of the blossoms that bloomed overnight invaded her scent glands, putting her in a good mood as soon as she awoke. The grass bedding was plush and comfortable and for a moment, she had forgotten she was about to embark on a journey to try and save humanity. From her resting place, she could see the Hygrons gathered around the old man, feasting on his hearty breakfast. Thema was never a big eater. So instead, she picked out a single fruit and decided that would satiate her hunger for most of the day. As she bit into her apple, Wolgran began explaining the task the group would need to fulfil. It all seemed a bit too surreal for Thema, but before she had too much time to ponder on it, the old man revealed a large rack filled with weaponry. The Hygrons gazed in awe. Swords, chains, and other various weapons lined the rack. Most of the elementals rushed over like they had just found a new toy to play with. Thema on the other hand was quite content without being armed. But as she watched over the others, she couldn’t help but feel a bit left out. As she munched on her apple, she decided she would give it a go. It couldn’t hurt, right?

Placing the stem of her apple on a dirty plate someone left behind, she walked over towards the weapons rack, unsure of what to expect. All that seemed left was a dagger, some gloves, and a utility belt. The belt was filled with various powders, seeds, and extracts, much like those back at her greenhouse. Nobody else seemed to give a shit about plants, so she decided to claim the belt as her own. Down the line, a pair of gardener gloves rested and she couldn’t help but laugh at how cliché it was. Though she was reluctant to try the gloves on, she admitted that they were a perfect fit. “Anything else to add to my gardening kit?” she asked rhetorically. All that seemed to be left was a lone dagger. Besides the glossy texture, it was quite plain. When Thema zeroed in on the blade, she realized that it wasn’t glossy, but that it was covered in a thick translucent slime. As Thema wielded the blade, she picked at the slime. She observed that it had a green tinge to it, but it seemed to serve no purpose. All she knew was that it was a perfect fit for the sheath in her utility belt. She wished to inquire more about the blade, so she scoped out Wolgren to understand why there was goop on her dagger and what exactly said goop was.

As she approached the elder, he was conversing with another elemental. This one had long brown hair with blonde highlights and wore a leather jacket. He seemed irritated by her questions, so Thema decided against inquiring more about her blade. As she walked away from the duo, she heard the old man speak up. "You Hygrons should talk less and act more, it’s almost noon already."

Thema stood a few feet away, listening as a few of the Hygrons discussed their plan of action. It was hard to hear the fine details, but it seemed as though they planned to split into two separate groups. As much as she would have loved to hear more, their words were being drowned out by two rather rowdy elementals. Just watching the fire and water Hygrons tussle turned her off. They could seriously harm each other, or more importantly, this haven. It was none of her business how foolish they acted on their own time, but to carelessly toss around fireballs in such a lush grove was enough to put the fire elemental on her blacklist. Unfortunately, her distaste for him didn’t stop there. He decided to open up his vile mouth and say, "If this is the last piece of nature, I don't think the grass here is gonna stop growing anytime soon."

Thema wasn’t one for emotional outbursts, but his ignorance was really beginning to wear down the witch. The grass he burned and the trees he charred all hold life. They were an extension of her, and she was an extension of them. Thema walked over towards the fire elemental and began restoring a little too much life to the ground he destroyed. Soon the grass reached knee length and thick vines burst through the earth’s crust. “It’s called respect you piece of—“ But before she could finish her scolding, a high pitched shriek had captured everyones attention.

Quickly turning to see the source of the scream, a young girl seemed to be emitting the sound. Beams of light shot from her palms and soon after her screaming intensified. Thema didn’t need any more convincing when Wolgran suggested the rest of the Hygrons take cover. Wolgran tried his best to contain her power, but beams of light protruded through his shield. Their intensity was blinding and her screams reached ear shattering levels. Thema tried her best to cover her ears but her screams still echoed in her head. But just as swiftly as it had begun, it had ended. When Thema looked over to see the girl, she was no longer there. It was as if she disappeared into thin air. Dusting himself off, Wolgran cleared his throat and gave the Hygrons a lesson they will never forget. "Don't believe your element can't hurt you... Luce was eaten by her own power, her light. She would have disappeared anyways, whether I keep the light in or not. At least none of you were hurt, and for that, at least, I am glad."

Thema stood there, mortified. That… that could have been me! All she could think about was last night and how her powers seemed out of her control. When rogue blades of grass wrapped around her and when the flowers bloomed, it all kept replaying in her mind over and over again. No… She needed to snap out of it, or she could be next. This can’t be a dream. This is my life.

Phil Started making his way towards Nature's Haven, He didn't know why but that place seemed to be... calling out to him. His new powers didn't scare Phil for some reason Nor did Toran. On his way to Nature's Haven, He met multiple people. Each person he met he tested his powers on. He healed the injured, calmed the scared and even blinded a few of the corrupt 'Law Enforcers' who were harassing some citizens. He felt in control of his powers and even noted a few things he noticed. For example, Every time Phil used his power the area around him gets slightly darker but returns to normal quickly as he stops. Toran Eventually reappeared in front of Phil sometime in the noon and started explaining what was going on, about Phil's Power and his own responsibility to look after him as Phil's Guardian. Phil took this on board easily and with complete understanding and calmness. Toran then explained there was other Elementals and they are likely at Nature's Haven as they got visions and desires to go there like Phil did.

After a few hours of walking through the wastelands he finally made it to Nature's Haven. It seemed fairly Peaceful for a few minutes or two. That is, until an unnatural burst of light emitted out of a cave. Phil found himself running to try and help, he couldn't do much in the moon light but he was able to cast a small dagger in his hand made of the moon light around him. He ran into the cave and saw multiple people, including an old man looking tired and depressed. Phil just stared at the people with his dagger gripped tight making sure he could defend himself if needed, they didn't look bad but the people he had seen before his powers, No one is as they first seem.

While Aerilyn had been curled up behind the rock during the girl's outburst, she hadn't realized that had been shivering in fear. Just then Shida was above her and asking if she was alright and then proceeded to tell her that it was okay to be scared. This annoyed her slightly. "I fear nothing." She ignored his offered hand and stood up herself. What does he think I am? A child? She thought as she felt heat of a blush prickling at the back of her neck. Her porcelain white skin presented the blush of anger and embarrassment like a badge. She crossed her arms over her rather flat chest and that's when she felt a slight breeze rise up around her. She glanced around, wondering if it was just her who felt the breeze, but then she began to wonder if she had accidentally caused it. This gave her a tinge of hope for her powers. Maybe I won't be miserably useless. With an icy look sent at Shida, she spoke, "I don't know why you suddenly care about me, but I can handle most things on my own."

She then looked at the others before she said her own addition to the strategy, "So we've all come to an agreement over splitting up and splitting their forces. Now we are presented with the problem of bystanders and families. Alas, we can't protect everyone, but there may be a way to wheedle out which of them are which.". She shrugged. "The Vygorns are bound to have meetings. We'll just need a reason for them to meet up. One or two of us are going to have to be bait. If they cause enough trouble, the Vygorns are bound to have to gather and discuss it. That's where the rest of us would come in. If we split up around the two cities, using our spirit friends as well, we can perhaps find their meeting place and take them out in one spot."

"It's messy, but it will limit innocent casualties and get rid of the Vygorns that are actually up for the fighting. The others, whom are not fighting or strategizing, are not worth our time at the moment. We can make them our last sweep."

"We could definitely make powerful allies in this fight. I'm all in."

Cora nodded, feeling the slightest release of tension. Aerilyn was impossible to read, her and that flawless face. But, priding herself in the ability to fly blind, Cora offered a partnership. And she agreed.~ This might actually work.

Everyone looked a little concerned for their lives after the Luce incident, including Cora. She hadn't felt anything strange in particular about her own powers yet, nothing that would hint to rouge powers. But then she had to take into consideration that most her life the element within her slept. She had little practice, but Ice seemed to come to her naturally. What her limit was, she had no idea. 

Beau, visibly shaken but focused, continued when the dust settled. "I still think that a two, even three pronged approach is the way to go though, It better masks our starting point, it splits their forces and focus, and generally the smaller the group the easier it is to be stealthy, which makes our lives endlessly easier, so I guess the question is, whats your theory?"

"Glad you asked. Only the Vygorns know of humans with supernatural powers. I'm not sure what their protocol is, but if something say... A huge fire twister -- the mix of you, Aerilyn, and a fire element -- were to pop up in town, without any evidence of people actually making it, I believe the guards will be too occupied barricading off the place. The Vygorns, not wanting to take chances, will scour the barred off place themselves in search of us. 

"They'll want to hide the Elementals existence for as long as possible so the people don't build up hope, but there's more. They'll also want to see with their own eyes that the Elementals freely exist and are fighting back, yada yada ya... It'll likely only work once, they'll smarten up and use humans to catch us at the next encounter, keeping themselves behind the lines. 

"That is my theory for Riverdale, at least. I propose a team including myself, Aerilyn, and whoever else come to the site. We'll flush out the humans with a full-out blizzard (courtesy of Ice and Air), draw in the Vygorns, and take 'em out." Cora gave a cheesy smile and thumbs-up to Beau before rolling her eyes. 

The Flora elemental didn't look so good. Cora assumed she was still freaked out by the whole 'eating ability' everyone's element had. If Cora had more time to think, she would be right there with her, wondering how any of this could get more screwed. 

"Hey, you alright?" Cora tugged lightly on Thema's sleeve. "I think I heard your name was Thema, right? I just wanted to say thanks for earlier. You sure left an impression on Shida, one I'll never let that hothead live down."

Aerilyn mentioned a very good point. "The Vygorns are bound to have meetings. We'll just need a reason for them to meet up. One or two of us are going to have to be bait."

Irys settled in the palms of Cora's hands, chilling them. "What you're thinking isn't wise."

Cora bit her lip, hesitant. But she shook her head. "When the time comes, I volunteer myself as bait. Not that I can be in two places or anything, but I'd rather it'd be me than any of you."

A loose smile played on her lips. "Except Shida. He can be his own bait."

Shida did not really know what to expect by putting himself in the way of trying to help this girl, but he couldn't shake the feeling that she somehow she shared his own burdens. Shida was a little shocked when she refused his helping hand, but then he knew that this was the way it had to be. "I fear nothing" Aerilyn said in a crass tone, she got up and crossed her arms and gave him a look that bit into him. "I don't know why you suddenly care about me, but I can handle most things on my own." Shida just looked at her.. bad thoughts arose for moment Prissy little.. but he knew that saying anything like that would be a mistake. One thing he did know well about people was that if you wanted someone to like you, you had to let them have their own pride. His face twinged a little bit, "I'm sorry if I offended you, but I needed to be sure you were ready to fight." He turned his head away from her. "You seem fine to me, so.." he paused for a second almost looking as if he was in pain "Good luck out there. We're all going to need it if we want to come back here alive." Shida began to walk off towards the other group discussing the plans. He felt a weight pulling him back in the other direction, but he forced himself to walk away.

When he arrived to the others, they were in the middle of discussing battle tactics on how to gain the favor of the human population in the encampment, as well as luring the Vygorns out into the open. He listend to the entire plan, but he was worried that focusing so much on saving lives might get one or some of them killed, but tried to repress his conventional instincts as much as possible for now. I suppose there wouldn't be any point in killing all the Vygorns if the entire planet thinks were the bad guys afterwards.. Still, Shida had his reservations, and saving everyone certainly wasn't his number one goal here. He was more excited to test out his abilities on a full blown scale. Although he didn't like the risk, separating the Vygorns and the humans tactically held some advantage, less things to kill. That is, if we could pull it off.

"I have a request as well as an observation. I would like it if Beau, our electrician, would accompany Cora and Aerilyn, I believe his ability's would be ideal for adding to the storm you're brewing against the Vygrons."
"As far as luring out the Vygrons goes, Cora, ill take you up on that offer, as much as we appreciate your dedication, I think a large pillar of fire should do the trick."
"Also, after I've lured them out Will, Gilfred, and Creepy dark eye-patch kid. Then Kimberly, Thema, and Myself should break into two teams of three and attack the group of Vygorns from both sides while you and your team advance through the storm and block them from retreating back the to encampment."
"It will be like shooting fish in a barrel after we herd them out, not to mention they'll have almost no idea whats happening until we're already upon them."

He then turned to Thema and Kimberly.
"Regardless of what you may think of me Thema, Kimberly, our abilities will naturally complement each other on the battlefield, and I do hope that we all come back from this unscathed."

"Also, who's that guy with the dagger standing over there?"

Kimberly never did got to respond to Will before Luce exploded in a shower of light. A chill went down her spine as she watched the scene. That could have happened to any of them. "Damn, one of us just.. died," Kimberly muttered.

After things settled down, however, the rest begun to form plans. Things seemed to be well underway now, and with no opinions whatsoever, Kimberly simply listened. It was a tangible plan, and there was nothing much to be changed.

"Yeah, I don't mind," Kimberly replied when asked to be in Shida and Thema's group. "Problem is, does she?"

It seemed that they would finally be leaving this cave, if not for the stranger with a dagger who had simply run into the cave without reservations.

"Hey, you there, stop!" Kimberly jumped up and pointed her crossbow at him. "Lay down your weapon. I will not ask twice."

Will whipped around to see Kimberly yelling at a newcomer, both with their weapons drawn. Will took this as a sign and put his two batons together before attatching the spear tip. He snuck around to the left of the new guy with white hair, using the various logs and rocks as cover. He got as close as he can before pointing his spear towards the man. "I would advise not to piss any of us of at the moment buddy" Will warned, his eyes beginning to glow a dim blue again as he began to gear up his powers if needs be.

Thema had a hard time concentrating on the groups words. Now is not the time to daydream! she scolded herself. The plan of action didn’t seem very clear to her and she was only able to pick up a few key points. So we split up, then distract the Vygorns— Lost in her thoughts, a cold tug pulled on her sleeve.

It was Cora. Her pale, slender fingers contrasted with the dreary colors of Themas wardrobe. She asked if she was alright, then continued on to say "I think I heard your name was Thema, right? I just wanted to say thanks for earlier. You sure left an impression on Shida, one I'll never let that hothead live down."

This marked the first time one of the elementals had interacted with Thema. “I… um, you know…” was all she could muster up. She couldn’t find the words. She wanted to scream and confess that she wasn’t alright. That she was afraid of the future and what it held in store for her. But showing weakness was not on her to-do list, even if it was written all over her face. Taking a deep breath, she readied herself to give an actual response this time. “Yes, my name’s Thema. I’m from Atlanta, blessed with the power of botanokinesis.” When Cora mentioned Shida, she could feel the hairs on her neck stand up. “This place, it’s very special to me. Back in Atlanta, I’m lucky if I see a weed sprout between the cracks of the pavement floor.” Her voice sounded disheartened as memories of her city flashed back to her. “But here, I look around and there’s life in every crevice.” What she said was the truth. There wasn’t a single patch of ground that wasn’t covered in lush grass. Exotic flowers unknown to Thema decorated the landscape and ivy crept up the cave walls. It was the last preserve of nature and it deserved to be protected at all costs. “It can be a bit… overwhelming,” she admitted.

Thema listened as a couple others offered their input. Opening up to Cora had really helped to clear her mind. Not only did the team need her, but the world needed her as well. It was overwhelming, but Thema kept a steady head, listening to what everyone had to offer. Soon before long, it was Shidas turn to give his two cents. He offered himself as bait, which Thema had no objection to. But when he said he’d like to split off with her and the girl in the leather jacket, her stomach couldn’t help but twist in disgust. He then turned to both her and Kimberly, trying to offer solace in his reasoning for grouping them.

"Regardless of what you may think of me Thema, Kimberly, our abilities will naturally complement each other on the battlefield, and I do hope that we all come back from this unscathed."

What an idiot! His brain must have been the size of a sesame seed if he thought fire and plants went well together. Had he not just witnessed the damage he caused to the grove? Thema wasn’t exactly sure what he meant when he said their powers would “naturally complement each other”, but if he meant burning her florae to a crisp in a malevolent firestorm, then yes, they would complement each other quite nicely. It didn’t help that Kimberly had no objections either. Keeping her negative thoughts to herself, Thema decided it was time to be the bigger person. The witch raised her chin and side eyed the fire elemental, answering with a simple “Fine.”

Thema was so caught up in the conversation, she hadn’t noticed some random guy had nonchalantly waltzed into Natures Haven until both Shida and Kimberly announced his arrival. Kimberly pulled out her crossbow and took aim while Will approached him with his spear. The boy looked young and his chocolate eyes contrasted with his fair complexion and attire. While she felt protected by her allies, she knew she could always rely on her powers if it came down to it. “Who are you and what do you want?” she asked. He owed us that much anyways.