Baby Sitting III

[Vice Ysal]

Evening, the most eventful time a person could hope to find anywhere so long as they knew where to look. Then again, it was usually during these hours that things only began to pick up, with the most exciting chorus beginning in a few more hours. Still, the young man wasn't here to have his usual share of gore and glee. As important as that was, there was a job to be done and if Vice wanted this program to get the place he wanted it to be in then he'd have to start making things less kiddy and more appropriate for the relevant age bracket that most users he found were in. His fingers twitched before curling into fists, the gloves on his hand slightly stretching itself from the pressure being exerted on them. Breathing evenly, slowing his heart rate forcibly, the biker did what he could to try and fend the symptoms from appearing again. He was already beginning to feel the blood in him boiling, his vision swimming into darkness, and memories suddenly fragmenting themselves into things he couldn't understand. Whatever the fuck was happening to him, Vice doubted could be solved through conventional means.

Still though.

The man shook his head as he did his best to keep his patience from wearing too thin. If they didn't appear, well, Tristan better know what would be in store for him the next time they saw each other. The young man got off from his concrete sitting area, stretching his legs and raising his arms to the sky. Yeah, there was probably quite some excess energy still swirling inside him and he needed to vent it out. Too much power and not using it enough would just be a waste, he reasoned to himself, and began channeling energy into a tightly compact ball in front of him. Arondight's form hovered slightly over his person as Vice seeped away the excess energy that had begun to build up into the ball before grabbing it with his gloved hands. Not a moment later, the biker, with Arondight's help, threw it with as much force as he could at the direction of somewhere before seeing it detonate into an impressive explosion. A moment after the release, Vice was feeling pretty damn well and the symptoms were beginning to recede bit by bit at least.

Now, where the bloody hell were they?

---

Tristan Carter
Aile Kalias
Kyle Shibata

[Kyle Shibata]

Kyle yawned a bit as he made his way to the meeting point. Just typical of his uncle to get him caught up in a repair-job around the house right when he was about to head out to meet Vice. Phoebe'd warned him that Vice had started up a sort of 'training program' for newbies and she had recommended him for one of the 'excursions'. He muttered a small curse. He was appreciative of the chance to train but dammit, must that butterball take such an initiative for him all the time?

She's almost like the big sister I wish I never had, he thought to himself and scoffed. One of these days maybe we need to spar.

At any rate, he figured he could use the workout. He was glad it was Vice, after all. He liked the guy. He came around the corner to the meeting point, just to find Vice... well, blowing a pile of debris into smithereens with a dark blast. He should've been afraid... but he wasn't. Not so much because he trusted Vice, or he was overly confident in his own abilities (yeah, right) or anything. He just didn't really put much stock in fear for his well-being. And he had a good idea of why Vice might do that. He often felt the need to blow shit up when he was worked up and since getting his Persona he'd realized he rather enjoyed lightning.

"Yo, Vice," he said calmly, shouldering his axe again. "You done showing off?" he added, a small sardonic smile playing on his lips.

[Aile Kalias]

After leaving the school when Vice told him to prepare, he did so with little else on his mind. Once he got home, he took a little nap to prepare himself for the surely eventful night. Once he awoke a few hours later, a little before 8, he started on making the food. It was nothing big or extravagant, just simple things like sandwiches and chips with another lunch box full of omlettes. And after checking if he was fully prepared, which he was after confirming he had his sword several times along with the food, Aile set off to the meeting spot....only to remember that he had forgotten where the place was, or Tristan had even told him where the place was.

So the man wondered around, lost with backseat commentary coming from Volt, who was making remarks about how lost they were. They were annoying but helped pass the man's time as he looked frantically for the place where he was going to train.

So some more time passed, and as Aile looked down at his watch, he saw that it was right at nine, and he was late now. Thus the man ran, while taking care to not drop any of the food, and after a few more turns, he found himself some distance away from a far off figure who looked familiar, somewhat close to a now exploded pile of stuff, while also close to an unknown. Aile approached them, setting the food on a near by table before saying," if I had known that I would be making food for an extra giant, I would have brought more."

Volt then materialized behind Aile, clutching onto his leg," Is it time for fun yet?"

[Tristan Carter]

Tristan was not looking forward to showing up late. He knew Vice would give him hell, and he really didn't want to experience that. With a sigh, he walked towards the meeting place when an explosion rang out. Unsure of what was happening, he started to run. When he got there, however, he saw nothing but the two people he was supposed to be meeting tonight to train with... And, for some reason, Kyle was there. Not really sure what to do about the third person, Tristan simply walked up behind Aile, who had summoned his Persona. 

"What's up, Aile? Vice," he said, turning to face the biker. "Did I miss something, or is there an extra person? Also, sorry I'm late. Things... Happened that really shouldn't have." Tristan really didn't want to waste time explaining how he beat the shit out of a mugger who attacked him on his way to the area. He'd much rather just get on to killing monsters and getting a feel for Aile's abilities. After all, if he was going to be in charge of training the guy, he needed to know what he was capable of. He needed to know strengths (he was guessing Zio-based spells and possibly Pierce attacks) and weaknesses, along with how long the guy could fight without going down.

Still, there was the matter of Kyle being there. Tristan hadn't seen him since the sewer boss, and that wasn't exactly a perfect example of a great time. For one thing, that horrible smell lingered for a while, making Tristan gag every time he inhaled. On another note, this was the first time that he had seen Kyle in the Shadowlands- without something big around- since the cemetery incident. He was curious as to how it would play out.

"So, Kyle... Gonna punch me this time?" Chuckling a bit, Tristan walked up to the barista. "I'm kidding, man. So, what are you doing here? Heading in to explore a bit, or are you here to go in with our little party?" He didn't really care either way, but it would be good to know in case Vice was good on his word and made Tristan take over Aile's training. Not wanting to go on Vice being dishonest, he figured these things would be needed. Suddenly, his Persona spoke up. Look at it this way, human. Now you have set allies, ones that you know you can depend on... With a sigh, Tristan acknowledged what the djinn was saying was true. He concentrated a bit, then summoned Ifreet. The djinn wanted a word with the others.

"Greetings, humans. I am Ifreet, a fire djinn. I understand we are to be training, yes? In that case, allow me to explain my finer points. I specialize in multiple spells, mostly offensive. I nullify fire attacks as well as slash. Sadly, I am weak to ice and pierce. With this in mind, we should we should specify roles, yes? Vice, perhaps you would like this task?" Tristan doubted the man would, but he looked on with slight interest. Things were already getting interesting, it seemed. Ifreet spoke to someone besides him for the first time, after all.

[Vice Ysal]

'Volume, check. Brightness, check. Now all I need is for enough worthwhile shadows to notice it and training could be more focused in my terms rather than the shadows'. The running stratagem in his head was interrupted not long after the presence of another person entered his field of awareness. Turning around, although at a sedate pace compared to his usual briskness due to fear of worsening his current condition, Vice was met with a familiar axe man's profile. Now, why Kyle was here, he didn't exactly know but there were a few probable ideas running in his head to reason out the man's attendance. Replying the barista with a grim smile of his own, Vice answered back with: "If you think that's impressive, then I'm sure you'll be enjoying what's going to happen later." Rolling his neck to get the annoying crick out of it,Vice continued with a question further. "How have things been since last time? Hope you've been following the regime I showed you."

Before he got an answer though, the newest addition to the group finally arrived with what looked to be his only equipment. Vice's eyes slightly narrowed at the two possibilities that had been presented to him with that image. The first being that the young man had disobeyed his orders of preparing for the trip, or the fact that he had yet to acquaint himself with the local blacksmith for some actual equipment and not some ragtag clothing. Seeing as the kid actually brought some food for the group however made Vice lean for the latter. "Don't worry about the food, kid. I brought my own just in case. Also, this here's Kyle. Starbucks, that's Aile. He's one of the New Bloods. I'm sure you've got an idea on what we'll be doing tonight, yeah?" Vice introduced the two, or at least made them learn each other's name. It was the most he was gonna do until the last person of this little expedition arrived, and it was sort of pathetic that the person he was going to be entrusting the new blood to whenever he himself wasn't present was the one late. Already a few marks were mentally docked from the older Magician's tally. "And soon, Mr. Roboto. We're waiting for the last guy to arrive."

Right as he finished deducting the required amount of points, said User had finally managed to arrive and came up with an excuse as to why he wasn't on time. Ignoring that for the most part, though Vice did take note that both Tristan and Kyle knew each other. They should at least have an idea on how hard the other one can fight but given that they had a new addition to the group tonight, introductions was still in order. "Doesn't matter right, but for now can everyone move two feet away from me and form a row. We'll be doing introductions." Waiting for the three to do so, the biker did raise an eyebrow at the apparition of Tristan's persona appearing just like that and…already starting off with what he was planning everyone to do. Looks like Ifreet, as the Djinn went by, remembered what he did the last time this kind of thing happened.

"That we are, Ifreet, and thank you for the demonstration of the introduction. I'll also be explaining the roles after it so for now, I want Kyle to go next. Aile, you'll be last. Like how Ifreet did it, but I'd like it if you all included some personality in your introductions. Things that you like, dislike, goals and aspirations, and the good stuff."

---

Vice would nod at them periodically, to show that he was listening and for them to continue with whatever it was they were saying as he took down mental notes of the fighters were capable of and such. When all was said and done, and Vice having the minimum requirement of their personalities memorised, he then began assigns roles as he had promised the Djinn earlier.

"As per usual, I'll be the off-backup for this. What does that mean? I won't be lifting a finger except for two things. Those being when there are too many shadows that the teamwork exercise for tonight would be hampered or when the team is going to be overwhelmed by an uncharacteristically strong shadow…unless you three want to try your luck on it, then I'll back off. That said, here are your positions. Kyle, you'll be taking point for now. Your attacks and durability are a good match, so we'll be working on those. Make sure none of the enemies get past you. Aile, you'll be in the middle. Make sure to always have a clear view of the enemy, and since you're the newest here we'll be trying to improve your max capacity in terms of skill usage, active time in a fight, and your awareness in a given situation. Trust your teammates to have your back and make sure you have theirs. Tristan, you'll be staying at the rear. I'm going to have you train your situational awareness to an intermediate degree, and knowing what's happening to both the field and your teammates is a good way to start. You'll also be providing both Offensive and Defensive support for the others. Don't let them die and always keep them in your sights."

A small breath.

"I want you to digest your roles, prepare what you need to prepare, and come up with a formation that fits your positions."

---

Notes: I'll be handling the shadow spawning for the time being, along with a few choices to allow Vice to have a better grasp of your thoughts and such. How our thread continues will all be up to the three of you, so discuss with each other what you three want to do. Lastly, remember to have fun.

The First Wave Will Appear In My Next Post.

[Kyle Shibata]

He nodded at Vice's remark about the regime. "Yep. I roped the butterball in too. If I'm gonna suffer I'll want company," he scoffed. "But seriously, she's taken to it like a drill-sergeant. She's almost as bad a slavedriver as you. I'm kind of scared of how much she can take before she starts to look like she's suffering."

Kyle nodded at the other two when they finally arrived. Vice and Tristan sure were taking this whole training thing seriously -- then again, given what they'd all seen so far, he saw the point of it. He blurted a little, amused snort at the new kid's little Persona. He looked like a tiny mech from sci-fi anime like Voltron or whatever. When Tristan arrived, he cracked a smirk at his remark.

"Only if you tick me off, Tris," he said, amused. "Or I might just take an axe to ya," he added with morbid mirth. "Vice sent me a message about a little training excursion, but by the looks of him, he forgot or sent it by mistake. I'm here anyway. I brought coffee and a load of Phoebe's muffins if anyone's peckish later. She's off doing a job across town." he added, patting his messenger bag.

While Vice was explaining to them what today's schedule entailed, Tristan's Persona popped up. Kyle's eyebrows popped up a little. Phoebe had told him that Tristan's Persona had changed, but seeing it in the flesh was every bit as dramatic as it should. Phoebe's Persona had undergone a similar change and it had left her a little worse for wear, psychologically. After all, not a lot of people would take it well if they ended up with a pet Shadow and massive baggage due to it.

He wondered just how bad his own 'evolution' would be if it came around.

His turn came around and he willed Sitri to appear. He didn't even really have to slice the card, he just crushed it in his hand and the winged leopard materialized with a very majestic roar and a flutter of his wings. Sitri was a lot of things but damn him if the Persona wasn't vain and liked making an entrance. He sat on his haunches with his wings elegantly folded, beside Kyle and favored everyone with a downright imperial glare from his emerald eyes.

"I am Sitri, the Great Prince of Hell. I am master of lightning and darkness. I rend all foes to pieces and weaklings tremble before my presence. The fury of thunder and darkness are my friends," he growled. "You are honored by my presence."

Kyle shifted his weight to his other leg. "Yeah. I'm Kyle Shibata, nice to meet you for the new ones. I guess you'd call me an axe-man. What Sitri didn't tell you is that he doesn't like wind and light. He's a lazy, pompous furball but you get him going and he will tear you to pieces and then cough you up like a hairball."

Sitri favored Kyle with a sharp, angry snarl and wrinkled his muzzle in an ugly, aggressive grimace but Kyle didn't care. Sitri knew better than to turn on him.

"I'm pretty good at plowing through stuff but I tend to get too pissed and get carried away. Working on that," Kyle finished. "I like coffee, I make damn good coffee and I hate people who won't get their heads out of their ass-cracks. Goals... get to the bottom of this whole stupid Shadow business. But today I just wanna chop some goddamn Shadows down."

Yeah, that was a good introduction. Taking point wasn't a problem with him. Meant he'd get to chop down shit sooner.

"Yay, I get to be in the front," he chuckled and swung his axe down from his shoulder and did a quick little warm-up to stretch his shoulders and arms. "Just say go, guys."

Sitri looked almost bored and just lazily padded ahead with a wide-mouthed yawn, showing off his impressive fangs.

[Aile Kalias]

He listened to his team mates as they shared, with Tristan and his persona having an affinity with Fire and slashing type attacks, but weak to ice and piercing type attacks, and Coffee man having domain over electricity and darkness yet weak to wind and light attacks. It seemed that they both had one of Aile and Volts respective weaknesses, fire and darkness.

It was now Aile's turn for the group sharing, " So, my name is Aile. Um, incase you don't know yet, I am very blunt and straight to the point. I primarily use my wooden practice sword which is the only weapon I have at the moment, but until it breaks, if it breaks, I have a feeling it will serve me well."

He paused and then Volt took this time to speak up in his usual child like, higher pitched voice," My name is Djehuti, but I am also called Volt. I don't really have a wide range of skills at the moment, but I can electrocute things, stab things till they turn into goop and give the enemies headaches...sometimes. Electricity and Ice oriented attacks don't effect me for some reason, but I don't like Fire or the dark." With this, the little mech looked at the other personae and his emoticon happy face turned into that of a sad face.

"Yes, what the runt said," Aile continued," And I guess it'll be a pleasure..of sorts, working with you all." Then he walked over and behind Kyle, with his sword in hand, ready to go.

"So, any idea what we'll be facing, as I am sure you are probably used to Vice's training." Aile asked, rather curious.

[Tristan Carter]

Tristan nearly laughed. Kyle was weak to light, and the new guy was weak to both fire and darkness. If I were to ever get in a fight with these guys, I'd be able to tear through them.

With his little grin, he regarded the position that Vice had given him. He had no problems with being in the rear, if only it meant that he would get to be last to get to the fight. He looked to Vice then said, "I've no issues with being in back. Someone's got to keep these two in line, I guess."

He then considered his goals and such. "I second what Ifreet said," he addressed the group. "As for my goals, I want to clean the area of shadows any way possible." His face had turned grave as he said this, but lightened up as he continued. "I like books, video games, and my quiet. My main interest, though? Hearing the creeps scream when they fade away." He looked around at the group. "Anyway, nice to meet you guys. You officially, Kyle." He grinned, then turned to Vice singularly.

"So, are we starting now? Or should we give a demonstration of our abilities first?"

[Vice Ysal]

[/font]

Though Vice was suffering from the sickness, it didn't mean that he had suddenly become an invalid. He was still sharper than most, and the way Tristan's body moved told him that the kid was starting to get full of himself again. The older male shook his head slightly and pulled out his revolver, a weapon that dealt Pierce. The biker even gave it a small twirl to make sure that the more experienced magician would see it. It was a reminder that Vice didn't even need his persona to deal some damage on the guy and that it'd be better for him to stick to what he was supposed to do.

"Training's already started. I'll be kind enough to warn you guys that the enemy's about to come at you in three…two…"

The biker counted, slowly, and with a slightly mocking tone of voice for disregarding his instructions to start making a formation already. Apparently Aile and Tristan still treated this as a game. At least Kyle knew what he was doing, and given that he was gonna be the vanguard for the current team line up, the two would have enough time to get out of being rattled by the incoming wave.

"Try not to trip."

---

The Battle Has Started!

First Wave

Angry Cupid x3

• Holy Arrow


• Media


• Marin Karin


Rpl: Abs: Nl: Rst: Pierce: Nt: Weak: Slash

Default Maya x2

• Assault Dive


• Agi


Rpl: Abs: Nl: Rst: Zio Nt: Weak: Strike

[Kyle Shibata]

Kyle all but rolled his eyes at Tristan. Yeah, Phoebe'd been right. Kid was getting a little too screw-loose for his own good. No wonder the butterball would quibble at Kyle about it. Judging by his face, Vice knew too. Something had to be done about it, but now wasn't the time. They were already surrounded.

"Alright. Ala, get behind me. There's a lot of crap coming. Stick to range until we cut down a couple of them so we don't all get dogpiled," he said sharply and flexed his neck then gyrated his shoulders a bit while getting into a loose stance with his axe in both hands. "Gentlemen, the party's starting."

He'd seen Cupid-types before in one of his forays out into the Shadow lands for scrap collecting and other reasons. Little fuckers always irritated him. Sitri padded up next to him lazily, grunting. The Cupid types closed in fast and Kyle had a plan of attack. He couldn't take them out all at once, but he could halt their speedy approach a bit.

"Sitri, Mamudo."

The winged leopard snarled, lifted its head and pulled back its lips in an angry grimace. It flapped its wings lazily and a wave of darkness surged forward from him, spreading out like a fan and hitting the three Shadows hard. They staggered in midair and stopped their fast advance. One of them pulled back the string on its bow and shot an arrow of light at him. Kyle took it in the abdomen, cursed gently but then stood straight.

"You hit like a girl," he said with an angry little smirk.

He let another of the damn things wander closer for a better shot at him, then he lunged. He dodged under the next fired arrow, making sure his angle was such that it wouldn't go and hit someone else, and got close. When he swung his axe, all hell broke loose. He swung true and the blade buried itself in the face of the closest Cupid with an ugly crack. The thing went flying and with Viking-like confidence, Kyle turned and swung his axe again, catching another Cupid with the axe and sending it back in a deadly spin, as pieces of Shadow stuck to the axe.

The third one spread its arms and cast what appeared to be a healing spell on all three of them, which made Kyle glare fiercely. He hated it when those things did that. Still, he'd dealt enough damage to the little fuckers that the healing didn't do much to restore the two he attacked to much health.

"Sitri, cut it down," he commanded and Sitri obediently obliged.

He raised his front paw up and snarled, then swung it down. A blaze of energy formed along the paw and grew outwards, blade-like with the swing. It swung outwards from the swipe and the resounding noise of a heavy blade falling rang out and the first Cupid exploded into nothing. Sitri hit hard.

Another arrow of light shot at Kyle and he dodged this one too -- he was getting better at this, for sure. He reached the Cupid and this time he didn't stop chopping away at it angrily until it evaporated and a foul-smelling, sticky ichor clung to the blade of his axe. Two down. Just three more to go.

[Aile Kalias]

Aile was conflicted. Vice had told him to stay in the middle and Kyle told him to keep close to him. If he did that, he would be leaving Tristan un, not necessarily protected, but, he wouldn't be following Vice's orders. So after a few moments of hesitation, Aile came to an internal compromise that would hopefully help instead of hurt the group.

The novice magician only somewhat followed Kyle as his job was to keep an eye on the enemies, and this somewhat lead Aile to think that he was somewhat more of a support character for this training excursion. He witnessed as Kyle managed to take down a few of the Cupids, only one survivor out of that pack, but there were still the Mayas. They reminded Aile of the initial masked sludges he encountered upon the awakening of Volt. So, thinking right to do so, the man called out to his team mates," Only three more that I can see guys. And...um, still not used to this, so if ya don't mind, maybe call out your movements before you, ya know, move-" that was cut short as, while running around to keep the enemies in sight, Aile tripped over one of the Mayas, landing with a loud thud.


Once he hit the ground, he was open. The little fire shadow started towards the fallen, before ramming him, only to knock the wind out of him before he could get up. After which, it started to charge up a small orb of red light. Red light was bad. So, reacting in the quick time he did, with his adrenaline pumping, he managed to bring his sword down onto the shadow, striking it heavy and hard, only for it to not be dead, however, it stopped the charging of the fire orb.

After this, the man managed to get up, breathing hard. This was fun, to a degree, but it was also really hard. He then locked his eyes on the maya before calling to Volt," Volt, Shock it dead!" and the little robot did, getting excited as he did so, but whenever the bolt of electricity connected, it didn't really do much, and this left Aile dumbstruck and somewhat disappointed.

It was really hard to concentrate on the other two comrades while he was focusing on this shadow, and this shadow was not fun to fight. Especially so once it started to charge up another ball of fire, which Aile almost managed to dodge, except his leg was hit as he was diving out of the way. And as expected, he started clutching his leg in pain after batting the fire off of it. Once he recovered from that, he stood slowly before charging towards it, with his sword in hand and bashed the maya with all of his strength, before finally defeating it.

He felt this was going to be a long night, but looked over the battle field as his comrades continued to fight the shadows. They seemed to be doing fine.

[Tristan Carter]

Tristan looked as two groups of shadows appeared, one group being Cupids and the others being the sludgeballs that were referred to as Mayas. The biggest threats to everyone were the cherub-wannabes, which Kyle cut down quickly. With a look of approval, Tristan turned in time to see Aile disregard Vice's "helpful hint" and trip.

This would have bugged Tristan a little if it weren't for the fact that the other magician ended up taking out the shadow he tripped over. That left the rear guard with only two enemies, but that was fine. He started to summon Ifreet when he felt an arrow pierce through him.

He looked over himself and verified that nothing vial was in the path of the cupid's attack. Once sure that he wouldn't die of internal bleeding, he looked at the two that were left to him. He grinned, then summoned his Persona. "Let us vanquish them, Ifreet. Megidola!"

Pure energy washed over the both of the shadows, causing them to scream and dissipate. Tristan, satisfied, walked over to Aile. He summoned Ifreet, cast Dia to heal the minor wounds, then did the same for Kyle. He then situated himself where the two were in front of him. "That serves as a good demonstration, I believe. Shall we go on, Kyle? After all, you're in the lead."

[Vice Ysal]

"78, 64, 68."

Three numbers that probably held no meaning whatsoever to those who didn't know what ran along Vice's head. Three numbers that could just be thrown against the wind and expect it to never be seen again and Vice hoped that those would not be repeated any time soon, or at all for that matter. His red eyes, despite the slight glaze to them, watched with as much scrutiny as he could afford for the situation and gave the trio an individual rubric for what they were meant to do for today's exercise. So far, they didn't perform horrible but it was still far from being passable when faced with the shadows that Vice was trying to ready them for. Shaking his head, the biker reminded himself that this was, for the most part, just an introduction exam. He couldn't expect them to be as capable as the others, hell Vice was probably worse off than the trio of them when he first started.

Which was the point of this exercise after all.

The most experienced of the ones present there, Vice however wasn't going to just correct every little mistake they made nor was he going to hold their hands to get through this. They say a guiding hand may help, and though this is true for the most part, everything had a price to be paid. The biker would rather that these people learn to adapt rather than stick to singular frameworks for their battles. A one trick pony, unless believably broken, won't get far after all. Shaking his head again, the User leaned back on the air and crossed his arms to help him concentrate. The presence was getting stronger, but it'd still take some time for them to arrive. It should be something the group could handle provided that they try a bit harder.

"Next wave's arriving in roughly 20 seconds. Fix anything you think you might need."

---

The Second Wave

Chibi-Gigas x2

• Swift Strike


• Rebellion

Rpl: Abs: Nl: Rst: Strike: Nt: Weak:

Earth Scale x3

• Magaru


• Mabufu


• Media

Rpl: Abs: Nl: Rst: Garu, Bufu: Nt: Weak: Agi, Zio

[Kyle Shibata]

Kyle shouldered his axe and raised an inquisitive eyebrow at Vice. Sometimes he wished the damn guy would actually vocalize what was going on in his head. It was stupidly hard to get into his head and try to figure out what he meant. Most of the time, all Kyle could do was roll with things.

He flexed his neck again and loosened his shoulders for the next wave of Shadows. He wasn't tired yet, but he was concerned about the new boy. He... hadn't fared so spectacularly well. It could've been a whole lot worse, but still. And Tristan... honestly, he wanted to just deck Tristan for many reasons but today wasn't the day for this.

"You okay?" he asked Aile. "Don't panic, alright? We got your back."

He breathed out and lowered his axe in expectation of the next arrival. Another group of five, from the look of it. Two Gigas types and three... scale-shaped ones. Ooookay. He stepped forward a bit, hefting his axe. The first one to get close enough was going to die. Kyle Shibata guaranteed it.

And the first one to get close enough was one of the scales. He went out on a limb and ordered Sitri to attack. The winged leopard snarled and crouched, then jerked forward, stretching his wings and roaring into the sky. Electricity crackled over his wings and then a bolt of lightning came down on the Shadow. Kyle saw it get thrown backwards and just knew he'd hit a sweet spot.

"The Scale types don't like lightning!" he called and watched for one of the Gigas types getting close.

The porker was rushing him and Kyle took a deep breath. Wait for it...

The Shadow swung his arm for a fast attack but Kyle was expecting it and ducked. He dodged the wild blow and then sprang back up swinging his axe under the Gigas' arm and catching him right under the arm. The blade bit deep but Kyle suddenly snapped his leg up and pushed the Gigas back with a swift kick to the chest. He hated touching Shadows directly because of the slimy, shitty feeling he got, but it was necessary. He had to keep the damn things from crowding the rest, after all.

"Sitri!" Kyle said sharply and Sitri obliged.

Another bolt of lightning came down on the Scale and this time it wiped it out. Yeah, they really didn't like lightning. One of the other two... wiggled a bit and suddenly Kyle was assaulted by a horrible, cold feeling as ice crackled, not only over him but also over the other guys.

Whoa, area attack? Shit. Ow - fuck this is cold.

He grunted a bit when the ice shattered with a very sharp feeling like needles digging into him. So the damn things had ice attacks and didn't like lightning. Okay. He'd managed to kill one but now he wanted to at least take out the damn Gigas he'd attacked. With the other three Shadows looming towards the others, Kyle focused a bit on him. Sitri swung his paw and struck the Shadow with a powerful Slash blow. Ever since he'd found that trinket that boosted blade attacks, Kyle and Sitri had become quite effective. The Gigas stumbled backwards and Kyle closed in, swinging his axe at him again. It was a very deft blow, going straight for the head and struck true.

The mask on the head of the Gigas cracked. Kyle dodged another clumsy blow and swung again. The last blow was a finisher and wiped out the Gigas by reducing him to noting.

[Aile Kalias]

Tristan had healed the man of his minor wounds, but what he said after kind of made Aile wish that he had not proceeded with the act of kindness. How he spoke to Aile was though he expected the novice to be a well thought tactician, though the more adept magician should've been fully aware of how new this was for Aile.

A few moments passed after the Greek's spectacular performance, before the second wave had appeared. I'm not going to mess up this time, Aile thought to himself, and Volt responded with, yeah, we're gonna make the bad guys fail.

Then the next fight had started, and Aile stood there for a few moments, preparing himself, and it started with Kyle.

Aile nodded towards what Coffee man said. They had his back, and eventually after some practice, he would have theirs, but above all else, he needed to stay calm. If he was calm, he could think better and hopefully not mess up as much. And after a few moments of Kyle fighting the shadows, he had called out one of their weaknesses, one that Aile could actually do something about.

Now deciding to follow his nicer friend's advice, Aile decided to stay a distance away from the enemy and try long ranged combat, by casting a Zio spell towards one of the scaled snakes, which had hit thanks to some last minute course correction by Volt, but even then, it barely hit. It's effect was desirable, knocking the scaled enemy back. It was obvious they would need some more target practice.

After that stray thought had oassed, he decided to try hitting the scale while it was down. This attempt at a continuation attack was cut short when another scaled enemy, seemingly untouched yet in combat, had cast ice over the field, and over Aile's comrades, and it seemed that Aile was the only one who wasn't greatly effected, yes it still hurt, but it felt similar to that of stubbing a toe on a couch, over an even spread of an area.

Somewhat out of annoyance, Aile took another deep breath and had Volt launch another stark of lightning, though it was aimed at the yet to be touched Scale.