[Episode Two] Right of Passages

[Kai]

Miyuki didn't seem to notice the lightning, so focused was she on the park- She didn't even stop when the others did, but had continued running around the lake, trying to find another place to get over to the podium.

"Where is she? Who took her?" Miyuki angrily muttered, searching, but not seeing anything. However, upon Noticing the arrival of Zulan, she summoned the Babylon Key and the Sapphire, Switching swiftly into her magical outfit to prepare in case anything happened.

Raiko, flanked by Kiki and Ginga, walked onto the scene, and while the two followers cringed when the lightning flashed, the Regal Rai-Hime simply unfurled a traditional paper umbrella, holding it over her head.

"So what will you do?" she asked.

*************************

Lightning flashed again, this time even closer, and it struck the podium this time, where lines scrawled around the perimeter and on its upper surface briefly glowed- More runes and symbols, suddenly charged by the flash of lightning. The lightning strike seemed to imitate something, and the podium began to move, beginning to rise out of the ground- complete with a stone pedestal, and the water began rushing toward it, piling up unnaturally at its base, creating an immense squall that looked like it could easily crush a person by bashing them against the pedestal.

The runes began glowing once more, and a flash of light, accompanied by a puff of smoke appeared on top of the platform, shrouding behind it shapes that appeared to be two figures, one that appeared to be tied to a pole.

[CadetNewb]

'One-Mississippi, two-Mississippi, three-Mississippi, fo-.' Duncan couldn't reach the device he was saving up for this moment in time without blustering and loosing composure, so instead, he eyeballed the Mahou Shojou and counted to find out how long it took for her to do an outfit transformation. 'Huh. Three seconds to fully transform huh? Not bad. I know some had changes that took..40 plus seconds.' The American boy turned his attention away and towards 'Calamity' as that little act finished up. Was she an American too? There were only a bare handful of other organizations back home, all countable on a single hand and competing to gain whatever contracts they could with mega-corps or the military.

She seemed interesting enough - that is, formidable - already. Revolvers, caster rounds or plain hot lead, it didn't matter. Either or was damn good. Plus, whatever other tricks she had up her sleeve. It wasn't much to go off of, but considering this was the magical world, that was already something. And she was seemingly knowledgeable about what was happening. Could she be one of them? Possibly. Duncan watched with a guarded expression as the podium rose to reveal what was likely a sacrificial altar or pedestal, plus a tied up captive alongside captor. Time. It was running out fast.

"I spy with my little eye...what looks like one of two people we're trying to save about to be sacrificed or something." Duncan spoke smoothly. "But what do your eyes see Calamity? Are you trying to defend that position, or do you happen to be a Good Samaritan who's trying to rescue our kidnapped friends?" The boy grinned before taking a single step onto the water, to test its surface with a single foot.

'The little woman's going to let me sink, I just know it!'

[Kokuten]

There it was, their aggressor, for sure and in secluded sight. The Welshboy struck his staff onto the ground, and the summoning circles below him formed, and rose up, overwriting his school uniform with Zulan's Shawl. The regal blue vestments flowed in the gentle gust of wind that flowed in the wake of that expenditure of power, and the Caxton took to charging out onto the water, somewhat cautious at first of it, but his feet slapped down on the shaky surface of the lake. Percival's feet seemed to hold themselves up well enough, little ripple bouncing off the sides of his feet. Duncan however, had his feet sink down to his ankle, before a blue glow seemed to take around his feet. The glow sank into the American's shoe, and Duncan would feel a tingling sensation of power grip his feet. Permeating through his shoes, he could see the glow of a fish-scale pattern contouring to his feet, and with that came buoyancy, giving Duncan the ability to keep his feet standing solid on the surface. This came enchantment came to others as well, imbuing the same fish-scale pattern on Ruarc's, Riley's, and Miyuki's feet.

"Woh!" went the Mini-Zulan, slamming her shields together, forming a glowing sigil on her Aegis of Hope. She looked back at Percival. Percival met her blue eyes with his own green stare.

"Go!" yelled Percy, which Zulan answered by leaping forward onto her belly, the water before her splitting somewhat as the water behind appeared to explode as the miniature god blasted like a jet towards the rising platform, and it's swirling water. We're coming, Hana!

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

Jane smiled wryly. "Just tryin' to do the right thing, that's all." Then she took a deep breath. "As for that," she nodded toward the slowly growing pseudo-storm, "Do you really need to have someone tell you it originates from a Dark Evil? It has your friend, and that platform is imbued with a foul essence." She twirled the revolvers once around her trigger fingers, impatient with having to wait for something to happen. Her determined stare never left the events at the middle of the lake, save for a glance to her inquisitors.

[CadetNewb]

As Duncan stood on water, with both shoes most likley ruined, he called out to the rest of the group. "Well? What are we waiting for? The dark and ominous guy in the middle of it all to hand us a nicely written invite? Get over here!" the American boy called out to the group sarcastically. He could have sworn that they were all idiots or something. Oh, wait! They were! Or at least noobs. Duncan stuck both his hands into his pockets and took a leisurely pace towards the epicenter of it all. He knew that whoever this was likely had an affinity for water, otherwise this wouldn't be staged like this; the American boy knew he was going to be at a disadvantage, especially since he was already walking forward and at the front for now, but he had to do it. Why? The dolts were all rooted to the ground.

What's more, Duncan wasn't the brawling type either, and was supposed to hang back and provide support. Still. He had to do this. He had to. Because he had to show the others how it was done. 'Hopefully, they'll get off their lazy butts and do something before I have to.' he thought. Though, if they didn't take the lead, this battle was already lost.

[Straken]

The Druid bit his lower lip as he looked out at the platform. The time for action was quickly approaching and the group had to get in position. Once again mulling over his handicapped offensive and defensive abilities, Ruarc deemed that he would either need to get a lot closer in order to effectively use his runes or he could hang back and provide a few defensive spells as well as healing.

Given his limited abilities, Ruarc decided to play some upkeep for this battle. Pulling out his stock of runes he quickly found the ones he was looking for. “Oi Percy! Catch!” the Irishman called to the young Welsh boy as he tossed him a Vigor rune. After the encounter with the giant skeleton Ruarc figured Percy could use some extra energy for his summoning, so parting with a Vigor couldn’t hurt.

Then Ruarc snatched up another rune and located Miyuki. “Miyuki! Take this. It’s a good luck charm,” he called to the stressed Japanese girl as he gently lobbed another one of his runes. This one was a Calm rune, and would probably be more of a boon to Miyuki in the upcoming fight. “Just hold onto it for me.”

As he shuffled through the rest of his runes he noted that he had no more Calm or Vigor runes, but he still had four Heal runes, a couple of defensive runes, and a handful of offensive runes such as Fire, Wind, Light, and a few combination runes. Depending on how things went with the confrontation Ruarc could provide healing, defensive support with Stone Skin, and potentially work as a distraction with some debuffs such as Blindness, Light, and Darkness.

“So, Miss Desperado, are ye gonna be giving us a hand with this,” Ruarc asked Jane with still somewhat of a skeptical look before walking over to the edge of the water and testing his own footing.

[Luca]

Mr. Miller had taken his glasses off and put them in the V of his sweater vest. He then blinked for a moment as he looked at the targets up and down. He was looking at the figures on the platform and tied to the pole, and the one on the platform simply oozed wrongness, moreso than Duncan. It was more than mere pride that Miller saw in this person, it was also power and hatred. Furthermore, the fact that there was an innocent party in danger made the teacher flare up with motes of 'Light' again, just like he did when the skeleton was attacking.

"I'm ready," Mr. Miller said as he cracked his knuckles and made a wide legged stance, ready to spring into action. It looked as though he could jump the length of the pond and get to the platform immediately once he was given the word to, given that he was able to leap up onto the giant skeleton earlier. He looked to the others for any input, since getting up close could be just as destructive as it could've been useful. He wasn't aware of wizarding tactics after all.

[Kai]

All of the sudden, the progress of those on the water was impeded- By a flurry of slimy scale-clad creatures. The Koi from the pond, among other fish, seemed to have turned a bit angrier than usual, and were now hurling themselves hapahazardly at those making their way toward the pillar. Unfortunately, they were no longer simply fish, a change had overtaken them. Runes glowed on their foreheads, and their eyes had turned to an eerie red that smoldered from within. the tiny, normally ticklish teeth they bore had grown to several times their normal size, and had become razor-sharp. and lastly, theyr fins and scales seemed to be acting like knives- as they impacted upon the students, clothes and skin began ripping and tearing- This was something that they needed to deal with, now.

However, that was not the only problem. Even Zulan would notice, they could no longer make any forward progress for a second reason. The water had become like glue, and had an unnatural sheen to it, suddenly devoid of the ripples normally associated with movement, its surface was smooth, and it was now creeping up their legs, as if trying to pull them under.

************

Miyuki Froze as she watched all this unfolding. As much of a rush as she had been in, and as ready as she had gotten herself to save her friend, suddenly seeing her companions like this seemed to have frozen her in place as effectively as the water had done to the others.

"Wha- What's going on?" She mumbled in disbelief, as everything just kept turning against them. There seemed to be nothing they could do to escape this sudden fate. "How can we stop this?"

[CadetNewb]

"WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE FATHEAD?! IT'S A TRAP!" Duncan screamed; his expensive leather boots followed by designer jeans were quickly being taken apart by the sharp scales and vicious teeth the fish now sported. Based off what he saw of the others so far, it was likely that none of them had what it took to take this new foe down. Duncan knew he could have probably done it, but only if they were both on even ground, and even then it may have been iffy given his condition. But this wasn't even ground he was standing on! He'd have to waste some of his precious magical power - he knew that if he only killed the fish, the spellbound water would finish him off, but he needed time! They needed time! Duncan couldn't let them die! Not like this!

What Duncan did next was surprising.

While chanting a spell of choice, the boy thought of one thing, and one thing only, repeating it over and over again to direct the flow of his spell. 'Fish brains. Fish brains. Fish brains. Fish brains, fish brains, fishbrainsfishbrainsfishbrainsfishbrainsfishbrainsfishbrainsfish -' A powerful lightning bolt capable of burning human skin lanced out from his finger tips and into the water, visibly sparking from one fish to another as the electrical energy leaped from head to head of the fish in the water. Duncan's world briefly spun for a second as he expended a portion of what little power he had in an attempt to save himself, and to an extent, the others that had stepped into the water with him.

"Well?! What are you waiting for? Do something you dolts!"

[Straken]

”Ruarc, watch the water!” Laoise said sharply to the druid as the water became alive with activity.
No sooner had his familiar warned him than a large fish launched itself with deadly accuracy at his neck. Reflexively he brought his arm up to knock the attacker away; this however resulted in a respectable sized gash to be left on his forearm from one of the fish’s fins.
“Ya! That’s sharp!” Ruarc exclaimed in surprise at how quickly the fish had sliced through his shirt and into his flesh. He once again lamented his handicap of having to carry around his cloak if he wanted protection, and for once found himself jealous of Miyuki’s ability to simply make her outfit appear.
“Well, no matter, Ah have ma own li’l work aroun’ for this problem,” Ruarc said confidently as he rolled up his sleeves. Out of habit he reached over his shoulder to grab his Tome, only to be reminded of it absence. “Damn, tha’s right. Sigh, guess Ah’ll haf’ta make due.”
”Incoming from your left,” Laoise said as she fed details to Ruarc from the air.

Sure enough, another large fish was rushing through the water as it prepared to launch itself at the young mage. “Craiceann na cloiche!” Ruarc quickly chanted. Even without increased power and effectiveness, the Druid’s Stone Skinspell spread a tingling sensation across his body. Then he shot out his right arm to intercept the now airborne fish. With the second fish, Ruarc now noticed the rune glowing on its forehead. This detail caused a sudden burst of frustration in Ruarc, reflected in the fact that instead of knocking the fish away he now held the fish by the jaw with his thumb in its mouth to hold onto it.
Even with Stone Skin activated, due to its lower power, the fish drew blood as it sank its teeth into Ruarc’s hand. ”This is different from the other animals. These runes are visible when active, not subtly hidden. Also a different median, these aren’t on paper. Was this done by the person I’m tracking?”

”Now’s not the time to think about that, there is still more fish.” Laoise called to him in an annoyed tone from her view up in the sky.

Ruarc shot a look over to the water as two more fish launched themselves out of the water with such reckless abandon. In no mood for their games, the Druid swung his right arm, with the fish still latched firmly onto his hand, slamming it into the flank of one of the scaled assailants as the other continued forward and sunk its teeth into Ruarc’s right upper arm.
Gritting his teeth, Ruarc reached into his left pocket with his left hand as he began chanting, “Turraing.” From his pocket he pulled out a Shock rune and slammed it into the forehead of the fish latched to his arm, while his right arm shot the Lightning spell at the fish latched to his hand. For a brief moment the fish emitted a blue light as electricity arced through their body. Ruarc winced as he also felt the shock from the spells that came back to him through his direct contact with the fish. It was worth it however as the fish fell away onto the ground, one fried and the other twitching slightly.

With a brief respite, Ruarc looked to the others in the group, taking note of the other fish as well as the water trap. Thankfully due to his decision to hang back and provide support, Ruarc was safe from the trap in his position on the bank. Unfortunately he had no idea what to make of the water or how to help those stuck in it.
“Wait, I can try something,” the Druid mumbled to himself in Irish. Unsure of how well it would work without his Tome, he knew he had to try something; otherwise he would be a horrible support unit. The young man closed his eyes and focused as much magical energy as he could without a proper medium. Once he had gathered the energy he called out a spell. “Cloch a oscailt agus a ithe.” The moment the last sound came from his mouth Ruarc pushed the magic energy into the ground, hoping that with Fissurehe could try and lift those trapped in the water out of harm’s way.
However, it was too much stone over too wide of an area, and without an amplifier, Ruarc managed to raise a platform under those in the water, but not high enough to get them out. Feeling physically drained from casting, two days of imprisonment, and having giving his Vigor to Percy, Ruarc sank to his knees as he took in several heavy breaths.
Out of the back of his mind came a random memory of the fight with the skeleton when, prior to his arrival, an abnormal flood of water had cascaded down the canal. “Miyuki,” Ruarc said as he quickly made his way over to the stunned girl. “Can’t’chu manipulate water an’ earth, or something along those lines? Something like tha’ might be handy, don’t’cha think?”