Ajax Thera - Councilman - Hellmouth
Aiden and Oriel seemed confident and ready, opting to put greater effort into finding Claudius and dealing with him quickly instead of taking their time and making strategic plots. Ajax watched them ascend the ladder but he himself stayed behind in the base. He was suspicious that their target may attempt to slip past them and try to make an escape through the base rather than honor the deal. But after the hatch to the outside closed and no sand fell down the ladder, Ajax knew that Claudius had a different plan.
Claudius - Pharaoh
Desert BattleThe barren wasteland seemed extra dusty today, with a light breeze kicking up small clouds of sand every so often. Aiden and Oriel didn't have to walk far before they would find their target. A
man sat atop a small boulder, finishing the cigarette between his lips. Claudius didn't seem to acknowledge Aiden and Oriel approaching for a moment, but after he flicked the burnt cigarette butt on the ground he turned his gaze toward them.
"Two kids, huh," he spoke, his voice as smooth as his appearance suggested.
"I imagined you two would be older, from the descriptions I was given. Strange that the volcanic bastard would have this much trust in you two." Claudius stood up from the boulder and lazily put a hand on his hip. With his free hand he made a wide motion towards Aiden and Oriel, causing sand to whip around them in a thin veil. There wasn't much sand, so the intention wasn't to cause damage. After a few seconds, the sand veil died down.
Claudius let out a sigh.
"Killing kids ain't the best thing for my conscience, but neither is rotting in a cell for the rest of my life," he spoke, shrugging his shoulders. His expression suddenly turned dark and serious, his one good eye giving them a deadly stare.
"But I already know the Councilman don't intend to hold his end of the bargain. Killing the two of you won't help me none. There are other uses..."His right hand went forward, pinching the front of his hat and pulling it down slightly. He held his hat down as such as his left hand moved out to his side, slowly climbing upwards to hold a diagonal angle.
"Sand Ocean." The ground began to rumble, small pebbles and the existing sand bouncing around across the dirt. From behind Claudius a massive wall of sand blasted from the ground, stretching wide and flying high into the sky, blocking out the sun. His left hand moved forward now, facing Aiden and Oriel. With that command, the wall of sand came crashing down like a falling skyscraper. The sheer mass of it would crush stone and the size of it made running look futile.
"Welcome to my desert..."Stacy Kaiser - White Tiger
The pale woman only grinned as Kyou prepared to teleport her away.
"Don't worry about a thing," she remarked, running a hand through her own hair.
"I'm the best for a reason." Stacy stood with absolute confidence as she vanished from sight, teleported across the world to the far north. A place she hadn't been to in years. A region where the environment was quite to her liking.
Stacy appeared, stark naked, in the Avatar Bar. Her sudden appearance surprised the crowd, some even spewing their drinks from the sight. The white-haired girl took a look around before pointing at a nearby woman.
"I need to borrow your clothes," she declared. The woman clutched her chest and shook her head. One of the men sitting at the bar spoke up.
"I think you're just fine without 'em." As he chuckled to himself, Stacy's red eyes settled on him.
"Then I'll be taking yours."Bruised and beaten, the man fell to the ground now clad only in his underwear. Stacy adjusted the leather coat, finding it to be about the right size but not accounting for breasts given it was men's clothing. The white undershirt fit loosely and so did the jeans, and the boots were entirely too big. But it was good enough. This way she wouldn't stand out
too much.
"Thank you for your kind donation," Stacy said sarcastically, waving goodbye as she stepped out of the bar and into the snowy street.
The town of Valdosta seemed rather... quaint. Snow gently fell and few people populated the streets. Stacy crossed her arms over her chest and huffed.
"More boring than I expected... where are the kids playing in the snow? Where are the vendors?" With a sigh, Stacy decided to let it go and focus on her mission. Step one: locate Avatar. That wouldn't be particularly difficult, as conveniently some suspicious looking men walked past Stacy down the street. They wore thick clothes to protect themselves from the cold, but they wore hoods and masks. Conspicuously cult-like, and just what the White Tiger was looking for. Maintaining a safe distance behind them, Stacy began following their footsteps in the snow.
"Maybe I should take their clothes and disguise myself as one of them..."Piper Hatfield - Ms. One Shot
The bespectacled sniper adjusted her glasses as Chak spoke.
"So Kat is finally coming back," she noted first, a smile forming on her face.
"About time." Her gaze turned to Nigel, standing next to her. He had been seriously injured in the battle at Augustine Town but he had healed quite nicely. The idea of being made of many tiny machines seemed odd at times, but it was certainly useful.
In fact Piper was sure that if Nigel hadn't encountered Yunin first that day they would've all died. Nigel was a useful member of Harpy's Wing for sure. On the contrary, Piper could only reflect on Augustine as an example of her own uselessness. The one opportunity she had, getting in a position befitting of a sniper, and she didn't even hit her target. That failure possibly let Yunin grow as strong as he did. Her presence at Augustine held no benefit in the end.
The young woman suddenly snapped out of her daze and looked away from Nigel and back towards Master Chak.
"Well, I don't think the uniform design is too important," she confessed, crossing her arms over her chest and closing her eyes.
"But we need to decide on five mages to represent Harpy's Wing...""We definitely need Revan. He's the strongest we have, so his power will serve well for the fights. But we need more than just strength or we'll lose all the challenges. We can't just overpower other guilds like Lamia Scale and Vyper Bolt..." Piper opened her eyes and turned her gaze to Nigel.
"Who do you think should be in the lineup?"Hana Oshiro - The Last Samurai
Master Lyon didn't even have time to answer her question as Jeanne came barging into the guild hall, along with Revan of Harpy's Wing.
"Oh." With a friendly smile, Hana twirled around and walked over to Jeanne and Niti. The Soap Mage seemed to have a nervous breakdown when Jeanne thanked him, and he almost gave away Annabeth's secret before running away. A look of confusion took Hana's face, but she dismissed it with a shrug.
"It's good to see you're doing better, Jeanne," Hana greeted, patting the woman on the shoulder.
"Though I'm a bit surprised that you're already flying around. But I guess that means you've got your energy back." The pink-haired samurai flashed Jeanne a smile before looking to the sitting Yuuka.
"Maybe Niti just needs some fresh air. If something is bothering him, he'll surely speak up about it when he's ready." Behind the friendly expression, Hana couldn't help but feel an irony in her words.
