The Anomalies began screeching once more, swooping down into a dark flock of death and descending on the three. Jarrod unsheathed his blade and began running. . .in the opposite direction. "Um, what he said!" he shouted in response to Scarlet's question. The only way to deal with Anomalies were quite simple. Just kill them. Half of the flock dispersed while the other headed straight for Scarlet. Jarrod turned quickly and sliced the first two in half. Two that were quickly followed by four more and the swordsman took off once again.

"Ok, there's gotta be a better way of doing this." He gripped the handle of his sword tightly, activating the secondary function hidden inside. "Alright Marionetta, work you mag-hey!" The gust of wind that suddenly burst from the tip of the sword propelled him forward, rocketing him around the area in a frenzy. The newly dubbed "Neo Cockatrices" began firing fireballs and bullets at him from the cannons mounted on their backs.

"Whoah!" Jarrod zig-zagged back and forth, the jets of air sending him flying everywhere. His erratic movement were enough to dodge the initial attacks, but just barely. The swordsman smirked. "Looks like another daring escape from the amazing Jarrod Sm-whoops." Whoops indeed. He was heading right for Scarlet now, the speed of his acceleration too much to slow down now.

Only one thing left to do.

"Er, Scarlet? Um, tell me if this hurts or not." He braced himself for the crash he knew would happen.

Scarlet had a lack of experience when it came to the Anomallies. She had ran into them perhaps once before. But they were of a different kind than these. Shrugging at the words of both Angelo and Jarrod, she darted forward into action as some came at her.

The clank of metal hitting metal was heard as she began attacking. Her skills did prove well developed. One dagger would be used as defense while the other was used for offense. The two were constantly switching roles as she dug into a few of the creatures.

She felt she was doing pretty good until she lost focus at the sound of Jarrod's voice. "Wha-?" she began to say but was cut off as he crashed into her. Scarlet barely had any time to react before had and it wasn't like she had the reflexes of a cat. She let out an "oof" as she was knocked back and was slightly dazed by the sudden impact.

I saw them crash and I used my quick arrow shots to take down the anomalies that were going after them in their moment of vulnerability. I rained arrows at the neo cockatrices keeping them away from them. the arrows that hit immediately made them drop to the ground gasping for air while the ones that didn't hit kept them at bay so I could protect them till they pulled themselves together "if your done coping a feel Jarrod I think we have a few more to deal with" wondering how many of these did we have to kill before we could stop, I only had so many arrows before I have to use my special ones.

"Isn't that my line?"

Jarrod rolled Scarlet off of him before glancing at the flock above. He rolled his eyes in exasperation at Scarlet. "Geez lady, are you usually heavier than a rock? Not allowing her to respond-most likely because he would have been slapped-Jarrod crossed his arms in thought. How best to defeat this flock. There were at least twenty of them left, but that was still bad odds against them. "We could always run for it," he suggested. "There's no shame in admitting defeat or anything. Especially since we lack firepower and all that. . ."

The Neo Cockatrices caught on to their scheming, and so lined up in position and began aiming their cannons at the trio. One by one, they fired out a hail storm of fire and metal, bullets and fireballs flying everywhere. "Crap!" Jarrod ducked and tumbled, the point where he was a moment before now nothing but a piece of scorched ground. He swiped his sword at the avian Anomalies, sending slashes made of compressed air at them.

Some of the slashes made contact, knocking the birds out of the sky or drawing them back. Still, he had to be wary of their open fire as they continued bearing down on them. Two of them dived down at Angelo, their poisoned claws outstrectched for a death grip.

"Hey buddies?" Jarrod dodged another blow. "Um, any plans here?"

this is what I was waiting for! I thought with a wild grin on my face waiting for those poison claws then at the last minute I broke off their legs and threw them at a building quickly sucking the poison from the claws my eyes turning green "poison type paralyzer, antidote concentrated cobra venom" I said quickly smiling as I put some arrows into my blood again using the concentrated cobra venom into the arrows quickly shooting off the arrows at them and knowing it was their antidote and cobra venom induced hallucinations they started to attack eachother "such delicious poisons!" I yelled out grinning shooting off more arrows and watching them attack eachother from confusion

Scarlet looked plenty ready to hit him, putting one dagger away and beginning to lift her hand. However, they had other pressing matters. "I know I just met you two but I'd like to take the time to say how much you annoy me already." she said as she turned to face the vultures.

As they began firing, Scarlet was quick to duck and dive out of the way. Lucky for her, being small and thin paid off for a moment as it aided her this time when trying to be agile. She caught a small break to attack one of the bird things. "Hmm... How do you think they'll like electricity? They are metal after all..." she called out to the two thinking it over. She had yet to use her magic and rather relied on the normal metal daggers. Metal could conduct electricty but she wasn't sure how or if it would even affect these things.

scarlet! take down the ones im missing!" I called to her since they were either dodging my arrows or killing eachother from a hallucination if we worked together they would be dead soon. but only if we could actually work together and help each others weakness. my arrows were precise but nobody could hit a constantly moving target with armor that deflects my arrows. I wasn't sure how Jarrod could help unless the damn things were on the ground for him to take down with his sword

Scarlet continued to attack. She lunged forward at one, striking her dagger through it with a small struggle to pierce the creature. She quickly drew back as another incoming attack came. Even if they were hallucinating, if one got too close, they would be attacked. Scarlet stumbled as she dipped out of react. She nearly lost her balance but quickly regained it as she blocked the claws with one dagger. The metal screeched in contact and she clenched her teeth as she knocked the bird back and procceeded to attack.

"Electricity huh. . ."

Jarrod propelled himself in the air, the burst of compressed air pushing him higher and higher up until he was right in the thick of the flock now. He dodged the lashing claws as the air bursts kept him from falling. He spun and turned, slashing out and swiping whenever he could. Seeing them drop one by one, he whittled down their numbers to only a few more now. Time to finish it. He gripped Marionetta's hilt tighter, and let the wind carry him around the flock in a full circle. Then another one. Then another, until he successfully created a vortex right in the middle of the flock. The strong winds drew in the Anomalies, and Jarrod discharged Marionetta at the last second.

Without the propulsion, he began tumbling downwards, his body rushing to meet the ground. At the last second, he discharged another gust of wind to soften the landing, making him skid on the ground. A few scrapes here and there, but he'd live. He pointed at the captured flock, a wide grin on his face.

"Volt Girl. Arrow Boy. I got them trapped there nice and tight for you two. Why don't you guys finish them off? Whoever kills the least gets to buy us all some lunch. How about it?"

your on, but arrow boy is the best you can come up with!?" I asked grinning wide as I got my piercing arrows and got the blood in my hand again and I pointed it towards the middle of the flock and with one hard arrow I got through 5 of them at a time. starting to win and seeing them with holes in their bodies meant they were my kills easy. my poison blood splashed on the others making them weaker but I was already ahead if Scarlett didn't want to pay for dinner she had to get more then 5 kills in a blow "im poison arrow!" I told him since if he was going to start with nicknames poison had to be in mine

They heard some shots ring out as a knight in white armor with glowing blue hues for trim walked into sight. Corvain was surprised by how well these three had taken down the anomalies, normally people run and hide from them. Of course upon further inspection they weren't normal people. "You all did well, a few came into town but luckily no innocents were harmed." He says turning towards them, he sheathed his sword but kept his gun trained on the ones inside their proverbial net. "I won't take form your fun, though I urge you finish them quickly, anomalies tend to get riled up trapped as you have them." He pulled his helmet off with his other hand, his black hair falling just over his eyes as he kept the anomalies trapped in the vortex lined up in his sights, he knew that butting into their little wager, while it would be fun, wouldn't be good as he believed the swordsman could eat him out of house and home.

Soon some other travellers joined the girl. Ananeas couldn’t decide if this was a good or a bad thing. But it was clear they were strangers to each other. Slowly the roofs got lower and the group of three went to a tavern. The unarmed boy seemed familiar here so either this was his family’s tavern or he was a frequent in it.

Ananeas wanted to go down and greet them. He wasn’t used to the city folk, but he understood that most people were best opened to meeting new people while in taverns. Though the idea appealed to him he hesitated. He wasn’t sure what others will think of him. As he stayed hidden a couple of houses away looking from behind, a chimney looking thing, the skies began to darken.

Out of nowhere big metal birds came screeching and attacking. Ananeas stayed hidden until one noticed him. He quickly killed it and two more that were close enough to notice it. He killed them with ease. They were close to the building tops and the terrain could resemble mountains. This was like home to Ananeas.

Taking his weapons from behind his back, he dropped to all four. Leaping from one spot to the other in mere moments the birds couldn’t focus on him while he could focus and take down all three of them. The terrain was not even. Neither was it soft. It was hard, with lots of lifts, edges, shelf, and places to grab, making it a perfect terrain for Ananeases fighting.

The other anomalies concentrated on the group of three on the ground. After destroying his foes Ananeas quickly returned back to hiding. He kept watch at the group and was impressed by their improvisation of team work. Also he knew the previously unarmed guy was a warrior, just not someone using poison and arrows. When the swordsman crashed into the girl Ananeas wanted to jump in and help, but hesitated. He told himself that they should be able to handle themselves. Luckily they did. After the fight was over, Ananeas quickly moved two roof tops closer. Still his movement was silent quick and unnoticeable. Just as he was about to go down and meet the group a fourth person showed up. It was clear that this man was a knight. Ananas stayed where he was, in the perfect hiding and kept on watching what was about to happen.

Scarlet paused quickly to glare at Jarrod. "That's cheap on your part." she retorted before focusing on finishing off the once that were left. Her glare remained and she clenched her dagger in annoyance with the two. "As if I'm going to buy lunch for a couple of strange men who irritate me!" she stated as she drove her dagger into the chest of one the birds. It was a rather violent act on her part, as if made to emphasize her point. Which it did to some extent.

Finishing off the last one, she took a step and pushed the hair off her forehead for a moment with her wrist. She then procceed to shealth the two daggers. She looked ready to give yet another foul comment on how she would refuse to waste her money on them when the knight approach. Her mouth slowly sealed and her gaze now focused on him. "Show off..." she muttered in response to the armor he wore. It was probably as close to a complement anyone was going to get out of her at the moment. Her own was very light weight armor and barely protected her from anything. Calling it armor was even a stretch. Although she was from the Southern region and could generally adapt to the heat, anything that required her to wear heavy clothing was out of the question.

I smiled "don't worry I'll buy, we'll go to my tavern anyways. now before all this started you said your mange was Scarlett" I said going over to her and grabbing her hand and gently kissing her knuckle "I am Angelo Ortega, one of the few people that can control the poison the way I do as you have already seen. I am glad to meet your acquaintance and it was an honor to fight with you" I said bowing to her

Scarlett looked down at him. She pulled her hand away and with a certain swiftness drew one of her daggers. She pointed it at him and glared. While he was polite, Scarlett still didn't put up a friendly side. Instead he just further aggravated her. "Touch me again and I will hurt you, Angelo." she threatened bitterly. Strangely enough, she didn't sound all too serious. It was more annoyance than anything and she even bothered to use his name.That was the thing about her. Unless you truly ticked her off beyond believe, the likelihood of her trying to harm someone was unlikely. Casually she stuffed her dagger back in it's stealth and moved away slightly from the group.

"You two seemed interested in Yggdrasil. Mind explaining?" she questioned, as if they were interfering with her business. And her mind, they were.

Corvain smiled "Indeed I guess I am a bit of a showoff with this on." He says looking at them, he was ready to wince when the lady pulled her hand away, he was ready for the young man to get a slap but instead just got a threat. He looked at them "You all seem rather friendly towards each other, the two of you have a particular comradery it seems" he says smiling. "May I perchance stay at your tavern as well." He perks up when Scarlett mentions Yggdrasil, "I also am looking for the great wrym, why are you two?" He asks looking to the other two.

well to be honest I didn't have any great intention of going after the monster unless it attacked my village but why should I stay here and wait for that? im just friendly towards this guy cause he makes me laugh." I said laughing a little "but Scarlett over here just seems to hate me a little less each time. im a sucker for her fiery hair and I don't give a shit attitude" I said grinning at her "you can stay in the tavern as long as you pay like anyone else. theirs only so many people I can put on my tab anymore" I shrugged smiling. to be honest I never really cared about the giant wrym but I never really had this much fun with a different group of people and my skills would be better suited with them then to just stay here

Scarlett didn't respond to the first portion of his comment. Instead she just gave her regular, sour look as he mentioned the friendliness that was expressed. A his question she gave a small snort,as if the answer was obvious. "To kill the thing." she said bluntly. "If Yggdrasil lives, then people die. If he dies, then people live." She sounded rather certain of herself. Stubborn and straight forward on her opinion. It was unlikely that it would be changing anytime soon. This would explain her earlier outburst at the man.

"That is how I felt, I couldn't live life training, and sitting about in my father's mansion forever. This needs to be done...and yes I ahve more than enough money to pay for my room and board." He says holding his helmet under his arm, my name is Corvain, Corvain Ulthreos, second son and...that really isn't important around here is it." he mutters the last part to himself. "Yes she does seem like most of us from the Southern Region, fiery, sarcastic, and just a little much for most people," He says smiling. at them, he had no need to be uncivil as of this moment so he knew better to be civil than to make unwanted enemies.

then you two will get along easy, but of course she and I will have a strained relationship at best until she starts to turn that hate into like. don't worry about being to much either, im always a nice guy." I said smiling but winced a little looking at my hand and I sighed seeing the blood hit the floor hissing again as I wrapped it up in the bandage. oh the advantage of having different poisons be a part of your own body but how inconvenient it is if someone besides an enemy touches the blood "so nice to meet you corvain, if your like a walking tank the way your dressed then your okay in my book" I said laughing a little since with my ranged attacks I would need someone to fight and distract the enemy up front while I used my shots but that's if he actually joins the merry men plus one woman