Stepping off the shuttle, Landon adjusted his backpack on his shoulders and took a deep breath once he was clear of the shuttle's propulsion system.

"It's even better than I remember it. Isn't this awesome guys? Nothing but nature all around us. The earth is thriving here." Landon said, turning to his two friends.

Zephyr swatted at a mosquito absentmindedly. "Yeah. Thriving."
Zephyr focused and blew at the mosquito, his wind element forcing the small insect to be launched across the clearing.

Landon looked at Rena, and wondered how she'd do on this little camping trip. The shuttle would return to this location in The Wilds in a week. Until then, they'd be on their own.

"How about you, Rena? Isn't this better in the city? Less crowded?" He asked.

The girl had been stepping carefully through the forest's undergrowth, but stopped when she was addressed. "In a way. It's a different sort of crowded. Less pressure, but the animals here are nervous about something."

"Nervous? About us?" Landon asked.

"No. Something more.. universal." Rena said, shifting the weight of her pack. "Are you sure that the weather is going to be ok while we're out here?"

"All the weather reports I saw had favorable conditions. Even if it does start raining, me and Zephyr can handle it." Landon said, smiling.

"I suppose." Rena said, still a little uncertain. All those little minds had to be sensing something that these two city naturalists were missing.

"All right. Let's go!" Landon said, leading the group onto a small path in the foliage. The plants perked up as he passed, and one sunflower seemed to bow in greeting.

Rena and Zephyr followed, both seeming a bit uncertain and hoping they'd come through this week in one piece.

Duplicate due to saving issues. Ignore, please.

Duplicate due to saving/server/potentially home internet issues. Please ignore.

Lightning suddenly flashed across the sky, accompanied by a crack of thunder that shook the trees and sent birds flying in alarm. Shortly after that, several engines rumbled to life somewhere above them. All three looked up to find a huge shape, significantly larger than the shuttle that'd brought them there, turning and lowering itself into the clearing they'd just come from.

It looked like a boat - and a large one at that - but attached to the top was a balloon that doubled its height and bulk. It hovered over the ground while six feet lowered from its hull; once they were in place, it touched down. As the engines quieted, voices could be heard:

"Max, Tsering!" A male voice called. "Get a party together, check this place out."

"I think we should do that ourselves." A woman with bright yellow hair pulled back into a braid leaned over the side of the ship, then looked back to someone on board behind her. "Doesn't look too dangerous, I think we can handle looking for fuel."

There were a few seconds of silence before the man responded. "If you're sure, I don't see why not. You guys stay here and watch the ship, make sure nobody comes to visit." He said to the other people on the ship. "Hey Scarlet, you mind coming with us?"

A third voice replied: "Oh, sure, captain."

After a little movement and noise from the ship, a ladder dropped from the side, letting two people down to the ground. First came the woman with yellow hair in a braid down to her ankles; she didn't appear to be wearing much more than a red-brown leather coat rolled up to her elbows. She was shortly followed by a man with red hair in a ponytail. He had pants on, at least, but when he turned to look around, they saw that he wasn't wearing a shirt under his jacket.

After him, a tall, imposing man with darker skin and a large tube slung across his back dropped to the ground. "So...what'd you say this place was called again?"

"I didn't." The woman said, looking down at a device in her hand. "I just hope they have what we're looking for."

"Whoa!" Zephyr was nearly bowled over by the sheer awesomeness of the magnificent craft in the sky. As an air elemental, he couldn't help but admire the beautiful way it soared through the sky. Pity about those engines, but not everyone could be so gifted as himself.

Rena regarded the new developments critically, ignoring the noisy ship with so many minds and focusing on the small landing party. Determination was the primary emotion she felt. They seemed.. diffrent. Not like other Quadrans she'd met.

Landon waved. "Good morning! Fine day for a nature walk, isn't it?" He shouted, exuding friendliness.

"Landon." Rena's tone held a note of warning. "I'm not sure we can trust them."

"I'm sure it will be fine, Rena. Besides, the bigger our group, the safer we'll be here in the Wilds."

The woman looked over her shoulder at them, somewhat suspicious. She put away the device and turned towards them: "...hello."

The two men with her turned too, and the taller one smiled and waved. "They seem friendly enough."

"Don't let your guard down." The woman muttered, shooting him a look. Then she addressed Zephyr, Landon, and Rena. "Can we help you?"

"I was actually wondering if we could help each other." Landon said, with a friendly smile. "The Wilds is no place for those who are unfamiliar with it. I thought it may be good if we travel together through it."

"Hey. What kind of ship is that?" Zephyr cut in, stepping between Landon and the other group. "That was totally awesome the way it just FWOOSH! and then--" Zephyr made sweeping motions with his hands, the air currents kicking up the leaves and forest debris at his feet until it almost formed a tornado around him.

"Uh...a class 2 airship...?" The taller man glanced at the ship and back at him.

The woman was still suspicious. "How do we know we can trust you?"

"Val, chill, if they were gonna steal our stuff they probably wouldn't have stopped to chat first." The taller man put a hand on her shoulder. "And the ship isn't unoccupied, so we don't have to worry about our cargo."

"Fair enough..." She picked up her braid to keep it from dragging the ground as she walked over to them. "You're natives here?"

"Here? No." Landon said, looking around at the lush vegetation with a degree of longing. "Some days I wish I did, but no. We've traveled here to see how the place fared after the storms."

Landon turned to Rena as he felt foreign twinges of fear, suspicion, and concern. Her eyes were obscured by dark glasses, but the firm set of her mouth was enough to tell him that she didn't think too highly of these three. "It's all right. I'm sure they mean us no harm." He said softly, turning back to the group.

"My name is Landon. May I have the pleasure of making your acquaintance? It's rare to find someone who still shows an interest in The Wilds."

"Hey, I'm Ukase, this is Valkyrie and Scarlet." The taller man said, ignoring the look the woman gave him.

Scarlet waved slightly; the woman rolled her eyes and pulled out the same device she'd been holding earlier.

"We're looking for fuel, actually." Ukase said, "you know where the nearest city is?"

"Heh. The nearest city is the Capitol, where we just came from on that shuttle. It's about a two hour trip via shuttle, but I just be that thing could get us there faster." Zephyr said, looking up at the sky with his hands on his hips.

"The shuttle isn't due back for a week, though. We're on a camping trip, remember?" Landon said.

Rena continued to monitor the three strangers, hoping to get clues from their emotional states. They seemed almost alien, and she was having a bit of trouble reading them. Why would they be so concerned about their cargo? As far as Rena could tell, the airship and the minds onboard were still aloft, fairly safe and inaccessible to anyone without a rope or strong air elemental skills.

"How much fuel did we have left again?" Ukase looked over at Scarlet.

"Um..." he pulled out a small device and clicked a few buttons, "37 and a half gallons."

"Shit, that's not a lot." Ukase thought a moment. "Think you three can point us towards the Capitol?"

Zephyr turned to look at the landing space at the shuttle had used, then up at the sky in that direction. "Uh.. That way, I think. Or did we take a turn on the way here?"

"Don't look at me." Rena said.

"I'm not sure either. I was just enjoying the view and looking forward to our camping trip." Landon said, shrugging.

Valkyrie rolled her eyes. "We'll figure it out."

"Hold on, we don't have any idea where we are and how to get to that city." Ukase said. "We should at least find someone who can tell us where we are in relation to it."

"A map can do that." She tapped on her device. "Damn...something's disrupting it..."

"Yeah?" Ukase looked at it over her shoulder. "Oh, man, you're not bouncing off any signals."

"They have flying vehicles, they should have radio signals." She frowned.

"Radio signals? We haven't used radios in years." Zephyr said, looking at them. "What isn't done by psychics is done with L-waves. Not many relays way out here, though."

"Where did you say you were from, again?" Rena asked.

A crack of thunder caused both Landon and Zephyr to look to the sky.

"Uh oh." Zephyr said, lifting a hand with a palm up to the sky. "Currents are changing."

"Great..." Ukase pulled out a radio and said into it: "Guys, there's a storm coming, pull in the sails."

"Roger that, captain," a voice on the other end responded.

Valkyrie looked at her device again and frowned. "L-waves...if there're any relays within two hundred miles, I can pick them up on this; problem is I can't pick it up if I don't know what I'm looking for..."

Zephyr sidled over to look at the device more closely. "Well, it's a pretty simple algorithm.." he said, reaching for the device.

Something made him stop mid-motion, and look up. "Whoa."

"What is it?" Rena said. She had felt the spike in Zephyr's awareness.

Zephyr's bright blue eyes darted toward Rena for a moment, before he chuckled weakly. "Eh.. Nothing. It's probably just--." He stopped and looked up again. "Hey, uh.. Ukase, right? How's your airship do in a storm? Does it have an anchor.. or something? This one feels like you're going to need to do more than fold the sails."

Ukase looked up too. "Uh...you guys seeing this?" He said into his device.

"Yeah, captain," the person on the other end responded. "I'll take care of it, don't worry."

"Thanks, Tsering." He glanced between Zephyr and Rena. "Anything we need to be really concerned about?"

"If it's anything like the storms lately, yes." Rena said. "Landon, I thought you said the weather reports were favorable."

"They were." Landon said, putting a hand on Zephyr's shoulder. "What do you think, Zeph?"

"Uhh.. I wasn't here for the last storms.. but this. This feels massive." Zephyr said, his eyes scanning the clouds above that were starting to darken and thicken. "We really should find some cover."

Ukase sighed. "This oughta be fun."

"There's a gully over there, we can probably go there..." Scarlet looked around.

"I guess," Valkyrie looked up at the sky, "we could get in the ship, though with this weather I don't think we can guarantee anyone's safety."