Help! Bandits!

The little spirit leaned into the hedgehog's pets, releasing a crackling purr sound. It was an odd feeling, like placing your hand just on the surface of a bowl of luke warm water. The bright orange being wriggled out from uner his hand after a few strokes, deciding that he liked the 'hog enough to wrap himself around his neck like a purring fiery boa.

     From this vantage, he could easily see all the other heroes, and observe each about as closely as he could without being to suspicious. He was only a small companion to pet, after all.

     The intercom crackled to life, the pilot's voice rumbling out that they were to arrive within the next twenty minutes. Just enough for Ari to glean at least a little info off these mobians.

Dione didn't even get the change to react to what Maxie had said to thank her for the apple. Boubka had beat her to it. 'Wow, that was.. something, Bou.' she thought to herself. As she had turned back, she noticed that Caen was petting the small fire creature. When it moved and wriggled, she couldn't help but 'Aww' at the small thing. 

Especially when it went to wrap itself around Caen's neck. She leaned a bit closer and scratched the small spirit's head with her fingernails, almost as if she were petting a cat. "It's so cute.." She paused for a minute to unwrap the choclate bar and take a bite out of it, holding it up to the red hedgehog next to her as well to offer him a piece too. She didn't know if he liked dark chocolate, but she thought she'd offer him some nonetheless. "Y'know, I'm kind of scared. I still don't have full control over that new ability and.. I'm afraid I'll fuck up during the fight..." She admitted her fear to the hedgehog, hoping he'd have some words of reassurance or understanding.

Caen petted the small being for a short while, the warmth from him actually being quite pleasant; almost like one of those hand warmers that you boil to reset. Soon, it wriggled out from underneath Caen, and crawled up the hedgehog's arm. When it wrapped itself loosely around his neck, he was tempted to say "aw...", but all that came out was a quiet chuckle.

As Caen had listened in on Bou and Maxie's conversation, he added a short point "let's not forget you saved the world from a narcissistic megalomaniac," he said, referring to a recent adventure in Spagonia. 

Caen took another bite out of his croissant, as Dione was suddenly drawn to the spirit around his neck. He agreed with her, though, it was cute. Very cute, in fact.

He politely declined Dione's offer of chocolate, before smiling reassuringly at her. "Nonsense. You have far more control over your powers than I do over mine, and if you do mess up, you have me, Boubka, and Maxie to pick up the slack, don't you?"

Maxie took a few more bites out of her apple as Bou spoke, each one a careful and delicate crunch. And each crunch, her eyebrow raised further. He was also competing in tournaments? He was defeating evil? He helped save the world? In hindsight, her own achievements didn't feel like much. Part of her wanted to argue and think of something to make herself match up to Bou's achievements, but she closed her beak before she opened it. Let's not get into that. She shouldn't be trying to demean friends, she should be praising them! Good for him! "Oh you little superstar! Look at you, you adorable hero! Mmmm, you should be so proud, cause you BET that I am!" Placing the apple down, she brought her hands to her beak and blew him a kiss, "Mwah~! Now, if you'll excuse me darling, I have something to address to the class..."

The griffon originally intended to stand up, but thought otherwise after the pilot declared that they'd be landing soon. So instead, she leaned over as far as she could, rear practically in the air, and splayed herself across her table. That was close enough to sitting. ...Okay, this was probably worse than standing, but she was going this route anyway. "Hey baaaabes~! Yoo-hooooooo~!" she called to the group, cupping her chin in her palm with a wide, catlike smirk, "See, sweethearts. There's something we've yet to've discussed with each other! How naughty of us! So I, Maxie, am going to start us off! Ohohoho I'm so generous, I know!"

"See, honeys, most of you know each other. And that's so CUTE. But people like MEEEE and that cute little doggy boy don't know your capabilities! And you don't know mine! For SHAME! To not ask a lady what she's capable of in combat? Oh you all should be ashamed of yourselves! I'm insulted," holding a hand against her chest with a disappointed, drawn out sigh, she continued, "So, since we have... mmm... about fifteen minutes? How about we discuss this? Because, sweeties, I'm not going to go into this without knowing what everyone else can do, you smart darlings understand, right? Because I'm not repeating myself~!"

Flexing a leg up into the air, she brought it back down with a clack of her heels. Still lying down, she raised a finger and pointed it at herself. "Now... ladies first~! Ohohoho! Well, as you KNOW, I'm a tournament fighter! And a dancer! My style, my art involves mixing these together to create a delicious blend that my foes are free to taste! I do this with the help of my weapon - my dear, cherished Halberd!" The griffon began to reach into her chest, but stopped herself short and giggled, "Ehee~! Oh I shouldn't get that out here, that'd be so rude of me! Oh look at me, being so naughty!" Stifling another giggle, her tail flicked up as she lazily pointed her finger at the ceiling. Only halfway up. She originally intended to use her powers as a demonstration, but she didn't want to cause sudden turbulence on the plane. So instead she just made a swirling motion with her finger, then pointed at the group and winked, "My powers? Well, I'm a little... breezy. Hoh! I control the air around me! I push nasties away from me, or bring them close to the pointy end of my baby! I've perfected them, and oooh I'm just SO excited to use them to help you darlings! We're going to be SUCH a good teeeaaam~!"

That pointing finger raised, gave another twirl, and flicked towards Boubka, landing upon him. Pulling her tongue, the griffon gave a playful wink at him. It was obvious that she was motioning for him to be next. It's not like she didn't know of his powers - she'd seen them in action, and the others knew too. Well, other than Cheyzy. Who should really take their headphones out, but hoped her shrill voice was enough to bring him out of it and engage with this conversation.

The fox watched the cute display of Ari and Caen unravel. He couldn't help but smile. He'd very much like to be in Caen's seat right now, being adored by such a cute and unique creature. It seemed kind of like a spirit. Was it Cheyzy's spirit or something like that? That'd be kinda gross. Spirits should be kept inside your body, but he had to admit that this spirit was actually a bit too cute to keep hidden.

Dione felt unsure about her powers. "I bet you'll do just fine. Y'know, maybe we could even put that thing were my body almost explodes to use! If we really seem to be losing we could always just throw a huge chaos-like bomb on it. But-eeh...let's only use it as a back-up." He grinned, but looked uneasy as well. "Don't wanna actually...blow up myself."

Caen metioned another adventure of him. "Oh-Uh...right. Yeah did that too..." Wow he sounded like a douchebag right now. Why did he only realise it just at this moment? He scratched the back of his head. "Sorry...I hope you're not jealous." But instead, the griffon seemed to be happy for him. Ah that was very cool of her! "Ay! glad to hear that Maxie!"

Maxie wanted to have a little power briefing. That was actually a pretty smart thing to do. He already knew what most of these guys' powers and abilities were, but for the others it was a complete guess. He remembered everything Maxie said. He saw it at the tournament, nothing new here. Then she gestured towards him. Ah. It was probably his turn now then. He raised his chest and spoke up. "Well-uh, most of you know kind of what I can do, honestly I'm quite bad at explaining it, but the main thing is that I can shoot beams, fight close combat with my gauntlets and I can sometimes stop time. So yeah mainly the shooting laser thing is cool..."

Who was next? He really wanted to know Cheyzy's powers. Because Ari really piqued his interest. He looked at the others. "I mostly know what all of your powers are." Then he looked towards Cheyzy. "But I don't know what yours are. Would you mind and explain us a bit? Maybe even tell about these little things a bit more?" He pointed at the keychain he got from the blonde dog.

Ari grinned under Dione's scratches, loving all the attention these two were giving him. He kept his purring up, nuzzling into the wolf's hand with a big smile.

   Maxie's shrill voice was indeed enough to give the pomeranian a small start, pulling out one earbud to check on the situation up front. Now they were discussing powers? He supposed it was a smart idea, but that mean't he probably had to talk about himself. And the fox...? Had been looking at him funny since he handed out the runes. He sighed as he pulled out the other earbud, hitting the pause on his music before turning his ears to the conversation. He was content just hearing the convo, that is until Boubka looked right at him. A chill ran up his spine, not really cause of the look or anything, he just didn't like being looked at. 

   With a sigh, he stood, moving into the seat just behind Maxie so he didn't have to call out from the back of the plane. His gaze nervously ticked over everyone's faces, his fur rustling with anxiety. 

"Ah, me?" The canine questioned dumbly, casting a slightly jealous look over at Ari.

"Well....Um....Where do I start? Uhm, I have basic production and manipulation of fire-" He started to explain, further the point with a little flash of fire from his fingertips. "I'd...like to think I'm stronger and faster than I look, but that's never really effective until I'm actually fighting.."

Cheyzy continued, ears flattening against his skull. He grently tugged at his neck, somewhat revealing the thick leather collar that had been hidden by his excessive chest fur before.

"Aaaaand, I make a great meat shield? I mean, it hurts an' all, but I'm immortal..."

His last sentence drifted off with his thoughts, eyes glazing over slightly in whatever flashback this small mobian seemed to have when mentioning it.

"N-nothing super fancy though...."

He stammered himself out of his thoughts, focuing on his hands rather than those around him. No, he wasn't ready to reveal Catalyst. Not yet. He was a last resort, afterall.

"It's....it's a last resort, after all...."

The adorable fire creature continued its purring and now actually nuzzled its head up in the wolf's hand. She couldn't help but "Aww" once again. It was just too cute. Petting the small thing felt weird, it was warm, but not too warm, and it felt liquid but solid at the same time. It didn't leave anything on her hands and it didn't burn her. Odd.

Maxie's loud and shrill voice startled Dione, causing her to jump slightly and turn to her in confusion. She stopped scratching and petting the small thing that was coiled around Caen and listened intently to what everyone was saying. It was indeed a good idea to discuss their powers and way of fighting with each other. Especially since there were a few people who Dione didn't know, such as Maxie and Cheyzy. They, in turn, also didn't know a few people in the plane so instead of going into battle not knowing what to expect from each other, it was clever to do this and get a bit of an idea of what everyone's limits and abilities were.

Bou's comment on using their power combination as a last resort made the wolf grin. "Yeah, let's not do that until we have no other choice." Dione made mental notes of everyone's abilities as she listened to their explanations. Maxie told everyone she was aerokinetic and a skilled fighter with her poleweapon. Boubka in turn explained how he used chaos energy to fight. When Cheyzy explained about his own powers, he noted he was pyrokinetic, and a... living shield? Okay that was kind of creepy. He seemed to be very uncomfortable talking about his powers and abilities, however, and Dione felt bad for him. 


"Something doesn't have to be fancy to be helpful though!" Before she realised what she was doing she already blurted it out. She covered up her mouth with her hands and blushed. "I- I mean. Uhh.." Now she had to tell about her own stuff, didn't she? What she just said and her own feelings towards her own powers were polar opposites. She often felt like her powers were useless or dangerous if she lost control over it. When she put Boubka in that situation where he had to keep shooting his chaos bullets for example, had left quite the imprint on her. 

"I uhm.. I can channel Qi energy and project it onto others. I'm like a walking power-amplifier.." She paused for a few seconds. "I can't do a lot when you're 'fueled'," she made quotation marks with her fingers,  "by adrenaline for example. It will more likely than not send you into an overdrive. It's dangerous." The girl awkardly scratched the back of her head. "I can choose what I amplify for myself, but for the recipient it usually goes to their powers, unless they have none. It's weird and I don't know why it happens but.. It just does, I suppose." She didn't want to admit she didn't know half of how her powers worked, so she tired to kind of avoid talking about it furthermore. Instead she made a quick comment about her own knife and her skills with that. 

"Thanks to my friend I started learning knife throwing and handling as well. That can come in handy as well, I think?" She patted the sheathed knife that was attatched to her waist with a special belt. "But that's enough about me. I think Caen should tell us as well, before we land!"

Dione continued to pet the small spirit, still wrapped around the hedgehog's neck, like a scarf, until Maxie brought up the rather apt point that the group should discuss their respective combat abilities, beginning with her, who appeared to have aerokinesis of some kind, and Cheyzy, much like Caen, appeared to be capable of manipulating fire. Boubka and Dione, he already knew about, so there was no real need to think about their combat traits too much.

Finally, it was Caen's turn to speak, and he summoned a small flame in his palm, letting it extend around him, before pulling one of his sheathed blades from the baggage hold, dropping it carefully into his palm. "I, like Cheyzy, have pyrokinesis, and can manipulate them like so for about 10 seconds at a time. When not manipulating them directly, I can use different attacks, such as firing off several flaming arrows, or wrapping my blades in flame. Talking of which, I use two swords to back myself up in combat, as I can't use pyrokinesis constantly without extreme fatigue and potential damage to myself."

He nodded, before allowing the flame to carry his blade back upwards, storing it carefully in the baggage hold. A drop of sweat rolled down the back of his head "that looked like I was trying to show off, didn't it?" He asked, scratching his head gently.

Well, if Cheyzy could get up and move about on the plane, Maxie could too! ...Only, she didn't feel like it now. Splaying herself across the table with one of her legs in the air was far more fitting, she thought. Propping her head up with a hand, the griffon let out a long, content hum of approval at the gathered party. Her fabulous self, two pyrokinetics, a power amplifier and chaotic firepower. This was all delightful - the bandits wouldn't stand a chance! She nodded at each person, though Cheyzy said a few things that were interesting. And concerning.

Seeing as he stood himself behind her, the griffon made a long, drawn-out motion of rolling to the side with a small 'muuuuh' sound. And then she stared him directly in the eye; "Honey, honey. You're not going to be a filthy little meat shield. We're going to work together, and you're not going to be our little scapegoat, okay dear?" she winked, giving a thumbs up, "Give yourself some credit, okaaaaay? Have some confidence! Don't beat yourself up - beat these pesky bandits up instead!" She knew what it was like to not have confidence, and seeing this poor pup so unsure of himself genuinely broke her heart. He had abilities and, hell, he was immortal! He should be confident! No-one can stop him! And dammit, Maxie was personally going to make sure that he was by the end of this quest!

With a stern frown at the dog, Maxie rolled on back to face the group. This was so much more inconvenient than simply sitting, but on the table, everyone could see her. And that's what matters. Dramatically raising a hand into the air, she called out to her fellow party members, "Yoohoo~! Oh you're all so WONDERFUL! We're such a unique little party, look at us, so cute!" Bringing that hand back down, she rested it upon her chest with a smirk, "Alright, lovelies! Before we break off, a little remindeeer~! We're SAVING this town from those nasty baddies! And people live there! As much as we'd loooove to unleash EVERYTHING at our disposal, we need to be super-duper careful of not damaging the buildings and any hostages they may have! I'm sure they wouldn't appreciate it if we did more damage than them silly bandits, mmm~? Be precise, and be delicate!"

A meat shield?! Is he thinking that lowly of himself? That's rediculous! He should have somewhat more faith in himself, otherwise he would be worth nothing when the fight would start. "Hey! Don't sell yourself short man! I bet you can do a lot of great things with those powers of yours!" He gave a pat on Cheyzy's shoulder and smiled. He then nodded. "What Maxie says!"

He knew the powers of the others, nothing out of the ordinary here. Everyone still had the same skill set. He knew how to work with them. "Oh! That reminds me, Cheyzy, Red. I'd like to remember you about the fact that my chaos attacks combined with fire attacks cause quite 'the bomb'. It creates explosions and we should be rather careful about that one then." He looked at Maxie, who just stated that they shouldn't go destroy the city.

The fox suddenly  lowered his voice. "Alright then! I'm ready for this! Mr. Pilot, please bring this airship down!" He grinned afterwards. This was going to be so cool.

Cheyzy was a little startled at the positive backlash his own comments created. It was really confusing! He wasn't sure to be grateful, embarrased or what! So he mumbled out an apology and bowed his head, fumbling more with his gloves. Not enough to lose track of what everyone else was saying, however. There sure was an odd group of powers here, that was more than enough said.

    As much as Ari was enjoying the attention, the small spirit noticed the anxiety rising in his original companion, emitting a small churr before slipping from the hedgehog shoulders to return to Cheyzy. He began to purr softly, earning a tiny smile from the dog.

    As Maxie and Boubka laid down a couple of warnings and or rules, Cheyzy nodded along, appearing a little more into brushing his chest fur back into place. Neck properly covered, he buckled himself in, just in time for the crackling of the speaker above to announce their landing, and to please buckle in.

    The plane drifted into a small airport in what appeared to be a desert like area, civilization dotting the horizon. Being the furthest back, and his stuff still in the back of the plane, Cheyzy took his time in getting up and gathering his items, grunting slightly when he put on the rather hefty looking back pack.

---

     Just outside the plane, a macaw stood anxiously for them, his bright feathers spotted with black and white dots. The heroes would be greeted with a happy squawk, and the fowl spreading his arms toward the sky.

"Heroes! Welcome! We're so relieved you came!"

     He grinned, stepping forward to offer handshakes.


"Mayor Blitzby, an honor to meet each and every one of you!"

The bunch of them made a funny and definitely colourful team. Various different powers which would either help each other or work very well just on their own, people specialized in different types of combat and each with their own unique twist to the way they went about things. This whole quest was going to be one Dione wouldn't quickly forget. She knew this for sure. It was one of her first missions ever, and she kind of jumped into the deep end by taking on this one, but she was with a few of her friends and with people who knew what they were doing. Or so she hoped at least.

Unconsciously her hand reached out to the amulet in her pocket again. Maybe it would be an idea to put the key chain on one of the loops on her jeans, just to secure it and be sure she wouldn't lose it in battle. The canine still didn't know what their purpose was, but she trusted it would be something important and not just some decorative trinket to commemorate the quest or something along those lines. That would be.. A bit weird. 

The crackling noise of the voice coming through the speaker, broke her train of thoughts and brought the canine back to reality. She was to fasten her sealtbelt again. Right. She reached next to herself and made sure the lock clicked to secure herself into her seat. Not too long after, the descend started. It was over rather quickly and people started getting up to pack their stuff again. Dione in her place also started packing up what she had spread out on the table in front of her, including the chocolate bar she had gotten from Boubka. 

Then it was time to get out of the plane and step into the new environment they were now in. It seemed to be rather desert-y. Lots of sand and barely any plants or animals. The town they were most likely destined to go to could be seen not too incredibly far away from the plane, creating a rather pretty sillhouette on the horizon. Hopefully that same sillhouette would still be there after they were done. Like Maxie said, they wouldn't want to cause too much damage, considering people still lived in the town. 

A brightly coloured avian welcomed them all to the area, clearly happy to see they had arrived. Dione stood silently, waiting for him to explain what he would want to see happen and be done. He obviously would want them to get rid of the bandits, but for all she knew he had other requests as well they had to keep in mind.

Indeed, the team the five of them... Or is it six, including Ari? Either way, the five of them were an interesting bunch. Personalities and powers clashed and complimented each other in very odd ways, yet... It seemed like they were all the perfect match, in a way? Caen couldn’t quite put his finger on where this feeling came from, so he decided to end that thought there, for now.

The speaker above crackled to life, as the pilot announced their arrival at their destination, and upon Caen looking out the window, he very audibly grunted. Desert. Of course it would be desert. He wished he had brought something a little less heavy to wear, at that point, but... He needed to look the part, didn’t he? Either way, he hoped that they could at least wait until night for fighting to begin.

Finally, when they had landed, Caen unbuckled his seatbelt, standing up and grabbing his bag, swinging it over his shoulder. As he made his way out of the plane, he looked at the horizon, his vision twitching slightly due to the heat. “Hmm. I’d expect something a little more... cold, from a place called Christmas Island.”

A brightly-feathered bird stood just outside, clearly awaiting the group’s arrival, and Caen happily shook his hand, “pleasure to meet you, Mayor Blitzby. Caen Flare, at your service.”

Maxie grinned as Boubka backed her point up, both in regards to Cheyzy not being a meatshield and also being careful of their surroundings when fighting. Giving a content hum and approving their little team, her head raised as a voice spoke up from the airline speakers. Ah, good! They were landing! About time! She sat herself back down into her seat, quickly realising that she'd get in trouble if she splayed herself across the table for much longer.

The griffon cast another worried glance over at the mutt - they were unusually quiet and dismissive, and she was hesitant about if they'd genuinely pull their weight during the attack. Underwhelming self-confidence was one thing, but she hoped that he could dismiss his feelings when they needed him. This was a team, and get Cheyzy felt like the biggest mystery to them all.

She turned her head away, preferring to gaze out the window. For Christmas Island, she didn't anticipate a desert region. Then again, that was vastly preferable to the freezing cold - her aerokinesis with the sand could prove to be extremely effective against these wannabe hooligans. The heat, however, would be a niggling annoyance that she hoped wouldn't bother her. Sweat was... less than ideal for her perfect form.

Eventually, as to be expected, the plane landed. And immediately, Maxie leapt up and practically darted out the plane! She was never content sitting in a mechanical flying vehicle - she had her own wings, but she didn't want to fly across an ocean and potentially get lost. Finally being able to exit and flex her wings was so relieving. The griffon loudly sighed as she stepped off the plane and stood to the side, slowly sliding her hands down her body as she stretched. "Oh it's SO good to be out of theeere~!" she chirped, raising her large wings as far as they could go.

And there was Mayor Blitzby himself! The woman gave a wide grin, taking the avian's hand and shaking it vigorously, "Oooh yes, the honour is all yours~" she purred, recoiling her gloved hand with a smirk, "I'm sure you're just FLUSTERED at the sight of me! OHOHOHO! Of course you should be - I'm Maxie, fighter extraordinaire~!"

Her hand went to her forehead to shield them from the sun, her gaze fixated on the distant civilisation, "Now, mmm... how about you tell us what's going on, sweetheart? And what babies do we need to teach a lesson to~?"

It seemed like the plane was going to land soon. Bou was still in his seat and had his belt still on. Maybe he didn't have to keep it on for the whole trip. The plane slowly started to descend. Bou had to grab the arm supports tight. He never got used to this. "Woo...wooohoooo!" Good. The plane landed. Bou couldn't wait to get out. 

As the fox walked out of the plane, he couldn't resist noting that he expected something more...flowery? Grassy? Something like that? He grinned at Caen's comment. "Indeed. I at least expected SOME presents around here. Where's santa?" Then he had to kind of dodge Maxie's wings that almost got in his face. "Woah hey, look out with the stretching please!" He always had to pay attention if he flicked his tails. It had happened more than once that he bombarded someone behind him with fluff.

Woah...this dude...he called him....a hero.... that's awesome! Bou walked up to him and shook his hand with quite some strength and excitement. "Yes yes hello I am Boubka. We're here to help you with your...cityyy!!!!...Villageee??? I should've read the mission description somewhat better..." He took a few steps back and kept quiet to hear what the macaw would say.

Due to Angered-Fluff disappearing from the forum (and an inability to get into contact with them), and high demand for the RP to continue, the guild RP shall indeed continue! After a hesitant 2 month delay to confirm Fluff's absence, the RP will run on its own! I'll be taking over Fluff's next post. All additional environment/npc posts will be done on my turn!

After looking at the wide and colourful group of heroes, the mayor then bowed gracefully towards the group. He was evidently disappointed that not everyone had accepted his welcoming handshake, but he dismissed this for more pressing matters.

"Excellent, excellent!" the avian mayor chirped with his head held high and his feathered flaunting in the desert sunlight. Indeed, they would be the heroes to solve this issue! Ah well, perhaps issue was a comforting and almost degrading term for this situation, but using it made him feel better. "Ah well, you see- the bandits! Yes the er..." his voice lowered slightly as he rubbed his arm, "the bandits... that issue."

"A quite... quite an embarrassing pickle we've found ourselves in. You see, yes... our town has not had the GREATEST defences. Or any for that matter. And- ah I should specify- it has not been an issue and we have not been issued with issues for a while. Long while. We've been graced with good fortune up until this very point in time. This time, this point in which we are here, that is where we are. This point. Where this good is... terrible. Awful. An... inconvenience."

A pause.

"...And that's where you wonderful heroes come in! Ahahah...!" He raised his arms, the mayor taking a step back and pointing to the distance where the silhouette of a town lay, "You see I- and a few others- have been.. away from the town. For the bandits would, ah, be rid of those who remained, you see. In a very unfriendly manner."

A few more steps back, less out of suspicious and more out of a sheer desire to just leave and let them handle it. His inching away lead to the blatant observation of cowardice, and his nervous twitches indicated a hesitancy to demand this upon them. "There is a large possibility of some of my townsfolk being held in captivity. I know you, ah, incredible heroes like to play hero to the most... destructive degree," he coughed into his fist, "-but please prioritise saving the er... the less fortunate who failed to escape the initial takeover. ...But I'm sure you will! You're heroes! You can solve this little... issue."

"...And our town is over there. Farewell~! Good luuuuuck~!"
And with a small flap of his wings, the mayor had left.

It was simple enough. Reach the town. Enter the town. Be rid it of bandits and save the captives. The first objective? Actually getting there. Nothing an extended work wouldn't do. It was clear that the mayor was hesitant to even travel with the group and guide them, but little guidance was needed considering it was visible in the distance.

The task had been explained by the nervous and.. to be honest, blatantly cowardly mayor of the town. All the while, Dione had stayed silent and remained in her own small spot. She had to admit, she was nervous herself as well. It wasn't just... anything they were gonna do, they were going to beat up people. The closer this whole thing came, the more nervous she became. Was it a mistake to embark on such a mission? Should she have signed up for support? Was joining the guild to begin with even a smart idea? She started to doubt everything. Not that it mattered right now, she had to focus and get herself back together so she wouldn't put the others in danger. 

She sighed quietly before the bright macaw took off. As he did, some sand was whipped up from the ground, causing the wolf to squint slightly. They had to walk over to the town. Right. Innnn... this desert. Made of sand. That was gonna be fun. Walking through sand was tiring enough as it is, let alone having to fight after that. 

Out of all the people in the group, she was the first to set off, something that wasn't quite like herself. It was the nerves and adrenaline taking over, making her wanting to get it over and done with as soon as they could. "Let's go guys, the faster we get there, the faster those people will be saved."

Caen was bewildered by the bird's fast, and, to be frank, cowardly speech, all the while standing there, unable to say a single thing, either being cut off too quickly, or simply being completely and utterly dumbfounded. 

Soon, the bird left with a flap of his wings, kicking up a cloud of sand that flew straight into the face of the hedgehog, causing him to cough away the dust. When he had regained control, he pressed his thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose. "So, what he meant to say was that he didn't want to spend money on defence, and he has gotten his townspeople kidnapped. Fantastic." 

He looked out, across the sands, to see the village. It didn't look... Too far? Not so far he'd die of thirst, at least. "I hope I remembered to pack some water bottles..." Caen muttered, patting his bag.

Strangely enough, Dione was the first to move, and she spoke of how they must make haste to save the townspeople quicker. He soon followed, in his usual brisk pace. "We must think of a strategy, though. We don't know what the bandits may want, and we certainly don't want to spill any innocent blood."

The mayor's speech had only made the smallest of frowns appear on the griffons face. She utterly detested cowardice, and cowardice which actively negatively effects the lives of other was a truly terrible and disgusting trait to hold. As he exited, she crossed her arms firmly. "What a rude, wimpy boy..." she grumbled with annoyance. The others had already spoken her thoughts on the matter, and the woman didn't see a need to repeat them further.

But the mission was simple, as far as he'd put it. Get in there, beat the butts of the bandits and rescue people that were kidnapped and taken for hostages. What they'd already imagined was the case, clarified by the quest creator themselves. What was going to be an issue was not knowing the town layout beforehand, and she sighed under her breath at the potential issues beyond the bandits that they were going to face.

Thankfully, Dione had already started walking! Maxie grinned at the wolf's enthusiasm, not quite realising the panic and worry her teammate felt beneath. To her, this was a sign of fearlessness! Yeah! Let's go kick their mean ol' butts!

Taking a few steps back from the group, not wanting to make the same mistake that the mayor did, the woman flew into the air with a gentle flap and a twist. Like hell she was going to be walking in sand in heels. She had an image to maintain, after all, and trudging awkwardly through would be terrible for her reputation!

With the mention of a plan from Caen, the griffon gave a click of her fingers and a grin as she hovered above them, "Ah, darling! How delightfully smart of you, you brainy little nugget~!" she praised, cupping her chin in her hands, "I have two suggestions myself, actually! Of course, I always have plans! Ohoho~!" With her small laugh out the way, she continued, "Now... either we keep the element of surprise, though that MAY have been shattered by the appearance of the plane rolling in - oh I do hope those ugly morons are nearsighted - and we sneak in and attack where and when they least expect it... or..."
She twirled in the air.
"I could, perhaps, fly forward and be our beautiful and talented scout! Examine the area, know the layout, and see what we're dealing with! Of course... they would notice me. And that would destroy all surprise we'd have. But we'd have a better idea on what we're dealing with."

She looked down at the group, a purr in her voice, "Any other suggestions, my lovely dears?~"

Wow! The bird man was such a friendly fellow! He explained everything to them with great detail and he got Bou totally pumped up and ready to fight. "Yeah lesgooo!" Let's punch some baddies and shoo them out of this town!

It seemed like Dione was the first to actually move, which confused Bou. She always said she was the support in the back, he knew she was the one with the least experience here, so he instinctively run forward and in front of Dione, just in case somebody attacked from the front.

Bou nodded towards Caen's comment. "Yes. Maybe it's better if we stay low-" Maxie flapped her wings. "Oh." He didn't want her to fly, so he almost grabbed her by the leg, then remembered that there were manners in this world. "I mean I think stealth is the best way to go if we don't even know against what kind of number we're facing. He looked at everyone. "I'd almost say someone should go undercover, but we're all way too recognizeable and brightly coloured to do such a thing." Then he looked at Maxie. "And who even knows what they'll do when they see you! Maybe they'll immediately pin you down to the ground for all we know!"

The fox crossed his arms. "But I'm not gonna stop you from scouting the area. If ya wanna do that, fine by me! Maybe we can actually get some useful information! Like where the citizens are!"

Dione nearly came to a halt and let herself fall back slightly when she noticed Boubka's protective behaviour. The wolf made sure to stay close inbetween him and Caen, ploughing through the sand at a nice pace. Boubka's comment about maybe going undercover made the wolf frown. She wasn't an expert, but they weren't with many already, and 'losing' another member of the already small group, would mean 1) someone had to go alone and 2) the group itself would shrink to an even smaller number. 

She herself agreed with Boubka that they were all too brightly coloured to even go out regardless. "Yeah, scouting probably won't be an option here." The wolf looked around for a second. The landscape was pretty barren, safe for a few sand dunes here and there. "Well, what we could try and do is stay out of sight as much as we can, that means walking behind those dunes and hills until there are no more." She quickly glanced upwards towards Maxie. "Maxie, do you think you could come down and walk with us? I know heels aren't the most comfortable in this situation, but uhm.. maybe you could take them off?"

Caen listened to Maxie's strategy suggestions, and shook his head. "Dione is right. Scouting is an impossibility, and I'm hardly fantastic at stealth, myself, so I can't suggest I do it, either." He gritted his teeth "and what if if they have bows, or guns? They could so easily hurt you, or worse, you could get shot down and captured. I'm sure you're good at fighting, but I doubt even you could take down an entire village's worth of bandits at once."

Caen looked back to Dione, crossing his arms "they've probably already seen the aircraft coming in, and possibly even Maxie. I wager any amount of stealth would be for naught." 

He sighed, drawing one blade, checking over it for any nicks or scratches "I suggest, instead, we prepare for battle at any point," he said, sheathing the blade again.

With the three of them against her idea immediately, she loudly sighed and exhaled like a deflating a balloon. Lazily hovering down, she almost joined the others. Her wings beat gently in the air, just keeping her feet out of the sand, and it billowed around her and lightly against the group. She refused to walk in this. It was so repulsively unfabulous - it'd ruin her! She'd rather be stabbed by a bandit!

"Mmm... you're all no fun. Boo. But ugh, fine, that makes SENSE," she reluctantly agreed, crossing her arms. As much as she'd love to storm in there and analyse the area, they were entirely correct. It was hard to muffle the sound of beating wings, and they'd see her coming a mile away. But.... "As lovely little Caen has smartly said, those devious ruffians have probably already seen the plane land. I, as much as it pains me, will hang back and allow you darlings to take the steps forward~!" Also because she was ruffling the sand around her with every movement of her wings, and she didn't want to have it gust up into someones face.

As they walked, or at least at the distance they had walked, there was something of note about the landscape. With the small distance they'd covered, the town far ahead had inched slightly closer in their vision, if even by a fraction. Blurs had become vague shapes. They still had a significant amount of distance to cover before those shapes were more clear and profound, but for the moment, there was a single thing that could be noticed if they were to squint.
There was... something... in front of the town. Something surrounding it, or attempting to. To properly analyse, they'd need to keep moving.

So there the fox was! With his friends on an adventure they'd surely never forget! This was so cool! And he'd even get paid for this! His tempo was raising constantly while his eyes were glowing. He started to jog, probably slowly inching away from the rest of the group. Oh boy oh boy this was awesome. Now he was going to stop some baddies from being bad and he could be an actual hero!.... Is that what he wanted? Nah. He just wanted to help out that's all. But in order to do that you apparently needed to be a hero. So he did that just in case.

Suddenly Bou started to see something of the town they were headed to. But that something was not particularly the town itself. It was something else. But what was that something? "Hey guys. Do you see that too? What's that?" He said as he pointed towards the town.

((Would you look at that, I totally didn't forget this was still a thing 8DD;;; ))

For a little while, Dione thought she was just seeing Fata Morgana, but the closer they came to the town, the clearer it became that wasn't the case. It more seemed to be something trying to.. surround? tangle and twist itself around? the town. What was that? She clearly wasn't the only one noticing it, as was obvious by the comment of Bou. 

"I uh... I'm seeing that too, yeah. No clue what it is though." The wolf turned her head to face the other two. "What about you guys? Any idea as to what it could be?" She frowned and slowly continued walking. It was heavy, the sand weighing down her every footstep. And it was warm. Incredibly warm, actually. Soon enough she found herself panting and in need of water. Dione took off her backpack, zipped it open and took out a bottle of water. She herself first took a big sip, only to give it to Boubka and motion to him to give it to Caen after he was done. Hopefully Caen would pass it to Maxie as well.