The King of Thieve [Mission/TehDMCmaniac/sworbet]

Finally. It was time that he can go out in missions where he wouldn't wear a disguise. A simple thought, as he is glad he left Savage Skull. He left because of their intention. Their 'evil' intention. "I think it's time to pick a job." He said to himself, lying on the bed on his mansion. When he heard that some cargo of lacrima ordered by the Caller family is stolen, he went to the guild hall. "Hey guys. Is there a recent mission posted on the missions board?" he asked. "Hm? Oh sure. The King of Thieves. Take it or-" he snatched the paper and left for the rendezvouz site.

Meanwhile, he arrived at the Forgotten Desert. He may be a tad early, but he was just observing the base. "Hm... they might be strong wizard. I think I should wait for the other mages to assist me." and there he waited. Meanwhile, he also checked his requip menu to see if his waterjug is there. He got it out and drank it. "Man it's so hot." he complained. Suddenly, a chibi Card Stack Emperor appeared beside him. "You seem to be enjoying the heat.""Wha- Juan what are you doing here?""I was observing the base without being seen. I might give you some information... somehow." he said. He whispered to Verge's ear, and he gained some iformation about the enemies in camp. "Wait. I thought Jesdum told you to stay and keep watch of the lightning vault?" "You see, I was also instructed to spy on the base, and give you some piece of information. The energy lacrima he ordered is in there too. I hope you don't mind getting it. Do you?" and all of a sudden, he disappeared, leaving a puff of smoke. He was also smiling. It was like he was summoned by someone. "Time to wait."

One of the defining traits of a knight is his accuracy. Not his accuracy to shoot a weapon, but his precission when it comes to arrangements. A true knight should always be on time no matter what happens and while Aegis failed at that miserably the last couple of times, he finally had a chance to show off that trait. Provided he didn't get lost in the process, that is.

"Good thing I brought a compass... and water..." - said Aegis to himself sarcastically as he lamented the loss of his preciouss trench coat, fitted with all the necessary survival and navigation tools.
"Such an unfitting end..."
Indeed, it was so sad. The blue knight, who was no longer blue, trully did love that coat. It was a fundamental part of him and, perhaps, one of his best friends, as it was one of the few things loyal enough to jump with him into the fire. Ofcourse, that was probably because he didn't have many friends to begin with, but either way the problem remained - he lost his compass along with it.
Having been left to wander around the desert at high noon, the knight was completely helpless since the sun was directly above him, meaning that he couldn't use it to tell which way is East or West. The fact that the annoying star was baking his brain wasn't helping him either.

"God I hate heat... where is this place anyway?"
It had been 4 hours. He had chosen to go to the desert earlier than needed and be the first to reach the randezvous location, but instead ended up wandering around the place for 4 hours during the hottest part of the day. One starts to wonder, how come he's still even alive? It's almost like he has a cooling system installed in that ice-coloured hair of his.

As he further wandered through the endless sea of dunes he kept on trying to get his bearings, but to no avail. Perhaps if he could he would realise how close to his destination he actually was. But either way, it seemed like he wasn't going to find his way any time soon. Not unless something acts like a signal for him, anyway.

Warmth....Heat....Ignition.....Those were the 3 words that were repeating themselves over and over again in the jewel summoner's head. The thick hot rays of light could easily give her snowy skin a sunburn. Thankfully the young female had her plush companion, whom she had forced to carry the umbrella, saying that the little female lion wasn't good for anything else. Carulea Dasher was annoyed yet again. During the night before the surprise mission the evil twins had cut her beautiful red hair, boy short and had colored it blond. When she had woken up in the morning the idiots were nowhere to be found, however a note with the location and the word "Mission" was left on her desk...Yuhi, her pet, had apparently known about the twin's plan and hadn't told her. So now the boy-looking-girl was taking her anger out on the little lion by making it carry a heavy, black, leather umbrella.

"Ya know,"the lion started as it huffed tiredly "You'll be having two partners Dash." Carulea raised an eyebrow at her partner and ran a hand through her now short, blond hair. The annoyance was clearly visible in her beautiful yet frightening eyes. Carulea looked down at her feet, noticing that she had stopped walking at one point and was sinking in the golden sands of the forgotten desert. She glared at the sky silently before asking Yuhi to drop the umbrella and try pulling her out. " After we pull you out of here we need to find your partners." Her plush minion stated as its small paws were placed on each side of Dasher's pale right hand. "Yeah yeah, let's hope they don't make me screw up." She said as she was being slowly but surely pulled out of the small hole. Yuhi giggled at Carulea's sour mood and with on last pull, got her out of the pit of golden dust, immedietly reaching for the umbrella, holding it back up over her master's body. The summoner smiled slightly when the shadow of the umbrella covered her from the sunlight. "I hate this place." she growled in agitation as she rubbed the places on her legs that were slightly burned from the sand. They stung, and not in the good way. "Lets hurry up and find my moronic partners." Carulea said, more like ordered, her small plush pet making it grin at her. The blond stood up and stretched, the cracking of back bones could be heard around her. "Aye." Her hyperactive pet said as both of them continued on walking silently towards the destination of where she was meant to meet her partners.

(OOC: Sorry I wasn't able to post 3-4 days... grandma doesn't want me to use the internet)

Verge kept spying on the base of the Cartel using his pair of binoculars. With the information given to him by Juan, he plans the strategy to himself. Apart from that, Verge is still waiting for the other members to arrive. The suns rays was so hot, and Verge is sweating. So he took out a cooling lacrima and an invisible umbrella to cool himself from the 'Requip Menu'. "The heat is killing me..." he said to himself. Later, Jesdum , the Thunderclap Emperor, arrives in his 'chibi' form. A puff of smoke appears as he enters the scene. He can be seen floating. "Oi Verge, what are you doing here?" he asked "What does it look like? I'm retrieving the stolen lacrimas and the energy lacrima you ordered was stolen as well." he replied back to Jesdum. "Oh I see. I was just about to order another when I heard that you were here." "What'd you expect? I'm just here to retrieve the energy lacrima and generate power to the village." He faced at different directions, with no sign of either the 2 mages. "Man, where are they?" "Where are who?" "2 mages should be able to accompany me here. It looks like I was too early." he took a deep breath, and then sighs. Again, he looked through his binoculars again and examined the base. "It looks like there are many Cartel members in the base, and they appear to be stronger." Another puff of smoke appeared out of nowhere. When the smoke fades, Juan appeared. "C'mon Jesdum. Don't bother him. Just leave everything to Verge." he grabbed Jesdum and disappears along with a puff of smoke. "*sigh* I guess I really AM very early." he said to himself... again.

Tic toc tic toc.
The slow passage of time felt like an eternity as the relentless rays of radiation assaulted Aegis' skin to a point when it felt as if it was on fire. The fact that he was clad entirely in black and dark brown didn't help either.

"I really despise heat." - a complaint the knight directed to himself as the burning sands seared his hands. The reason there was sand on his hands? He was climbing a dune, something generally impossible to accomplish without going down on all fours. The purpose which drove Aegis to do that was a simple one. Having wandered around aimlessly for so long, the need to get his bearings was greater than ever, but to do that he needed to get a vintage point. And it just so happened that the said dune was the only higher landmark around.

As he reached the top of the burning hot pile of sand, the coatless knight knelt down and gazed at the surrounding scenery. As he did so distant silhouettes revealed themselves before the knight, their perfectly straight features contrasting with the curvy dunes.
"Ah, - those must be the ruins" he started saying but then something something far more eye catching appeared in his peripheral vision.

"No way..."
His gaze instantly shifted in the direction of interest, Aegis could not believe the bad luck he was shown. In the distance stood a lone figure, slowly marching towards the designated meeting point where one more figure awaited. Unmistakeably, those were the cyan-haired mage's allies. But there was something neither one of them could see from where they were. Near the horizon, farther away than his teammates, the knight saw as a large group of silhouettes slowly moved through the desert, their possition being behind a massive dune which broke the line of sight between them and the knight's allies.
"Are those the thieves? They must be returning from a raid. They are way too many for just the three of us to handle at once, especially considering the unfavourable terrain. And they are heading straight towards both my partners... damn it."

Shaking his head in dissatisfaction, Aegis immediately shot up and jumped down the steeper side of the dune. Within moments he had slid down the mass of sand and was already running full force towards the alied figure that was still traveling to the meeting point. The knight had to get them out of the enemy's way before they were spotted, else the mission would go horribly wrong before it even officially began.

With a full speed sprint, Aegis managed to reach the possition of his partner for just under 10 minutes, probably breaking several land speed records along the way.
As he was engulfed in the thought of helping the person, the cyan-haired mage didn't even notice that she was a guild mate of his, someone he had seen once before.
"Quick, follow me, we must get to the location of our meeting before those guys spot us!" - ordered the knight as he hastefully grabbed Carulea by her wrist, ready to start running once more. Surprisingly enough, despite being in a hurry, Aegis' hold was gentle enough to avoid bruising her. Ofcourse that didn't exclude the possibility of her still turning to him with enmity in the future because of his sudden transgression. But that was something he would deal with later one, as at that time the only thing that was on his mind was protecting his allies. A fact which was painfully obvious to anyone who would observe the young man.

Carulea was definitely sure she was near her desired destination. She had been walking on the golden grains of sand for about two hours now and her plush companion had fallen asleep on her head, leaving her carrying the heavy leather umbrella herself. Don't get me wrong, the only heir to the Dasher family is pretty strong but when she is annoyed, she takes her burning anger out on others. For the past 2 hours she had been scolding Yuhi for stupid things such as the fact that her fur color changes in sunlight or the fact that she isn't holding the umbrella properly, and now her cute little pet had fallen asleep from exhaustion on top of the now short, blond colored hair of the male-looking female.

Dasher sighed as she stopped walking, she wasn't tired, however, her throat was very, very dry. She put her favorite umbrella carefully on the golden ground. The thirsty female then slid the bag pack off of her wrists quietly, trying not to wake her tired partner up, and took a sip of the somehow still cold source of life. She then put the water bottle back in her black leather bag pack and closed it,then she slid it gently back onto her pale shoulders. She then quickly raised the umbrella from the sand, as if someone was attempting to steal it from her, and covered herself with its shade. She started walking again. Her almost white skin was her pride, the albino twins would always comment on how it was almost as light as their hair. Carulea chuckled, of course she would never let a simple mission ruin her wonderful skin.

The jewel summoner paused. Her eyes were averted to a puff of smoke which appeared to be coming at her. It looked like a very powerful wind, or a mini sandstorm. Dasher blinked several times as the dust devil-looking thing stopped in front of her and a gloved hand came out of it, grabbing her by the wrist. Carulea noticed that the grip on her hand was surprisingly gentle before the dust devil took off into another direction. She growled at his fast speed and used her other hand to rip Yuhi off of her head and put her in a death-grip, making sure she doesn't fly away. "IDIOT, CALM THE HELL DOWN." Carulea shouted at what she presumed was her team-mate and decided to let him drag her to where-ever. After about 4 minutes of running she spotted someone else, a darkly clothed male, looking out of binoculars.

While he was spying on the enemy base, he can hear a faint shout somewhere. "IDIOT, CALM THE HELL DOWN" the voice said. He took his eyes off from the binoculars and wondered where the voice went. Later, he can see a puff of smoke behind him. He wondered what it might be. But then, a puff of smoke appeared beside him, and Jesdum appeared as the smoke cleared. Apparently, Jesdum and Juan can't be seen by other people... yet."Hey Verge. I think your partners are here. "Hm?" he stared beside him. He can see a blonde female and a cyan hair colored figure running against the smoke behind him. ... OH SHOOT! he rushed towards the 2, and grabbed their wrists. He dragged them below the camo-umbrella, where they can't be seen from anyone, except for him. "Forgive me if I dragged you here by force." he apologized at the 2 mages. "You must be my partners on this mission, right?" he asked the two mages in front of him, while getting 2 bottles of cold water from his 'Requip Menu' "You must be thirsty from your journey, so i thought I'd bring you this." he hands out 2 bottles of cold water for the two mages, with a smile on his face. The heat was absent under the umbrella, so it is cooler. Although it was cool, Verge was sweating from the extreme heat from the desert when he walked outside the umbrella. He picked up a face towel and wiped it on his face. "Oh sorry, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Verge Caller from the Caller family. You have heard of my parents, right?" he introduced himself as the son of the greatest treasure hunters in Fiore.

The knight ran full-force still, despite having exhausted his endurance reserves long before he even reached his ally. How that was even possible he had no clue, but Aegis had no time to wonder about such trivial matters at the time.

"IDIOT, CALM THE HELL DOWN" - the angry cries of the girl he was dragging behind himself. She was probably furious at that point and he could understand that, even if he might have wished otherwise. The knight was the only one who could see the approaching danger so it was natural that to others it seemed like he was just randomly harassing a girl. But he couldn't help it no matter how much he thought about it. He ran a pollicy of "help first, be sensible later" usually, so it was to be expected.

A few minutes worth of running later the two reached their ally, the one who was observing the enemy's base of operations. Amusingly enough it seemed that he was expecting them, as the young man shot towards them, grabbing his team members and dragging them beneath what seemed like a small dome-like structure capable of camouflaging whatever's within it's boundaries.
As soon as they hid there, the man began apologising to them for the forced drag in a rather composed manner. Kneeling down to catch a breath or twenty, Aegis took the opportunity to look at the man before him. He was clad entirely in black and wore an appropriately-coloured leather trench coat. Black hair, black eyes, it seems that he enjoyed blending with the shadows, a feat which would prove rather simple if he had not strapped two swords to his back.
A swordsman? - thought Aegis as he observed the two weapons. Were they twin swords? While they did have many similarities, they were not identical as differences could be seen both in design and colour. Perhaps they were made separately.

"Oh sorry, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Verge Caller from the Caller family. You have heard of my parents, right?"
"Oh?"
Verge... Caller.
Caller...
That one name caught Aegis' attention. There was something to it, he had heard it somewhere before, long ago.
For a brief moment the silhouette of a small boy appeared in his mind, one with raven black hair and dark eyes. Then it faded.
Aegis felt as if it was some distant memory he had just seen, but memory of what? What was it that he should remember? So many questions arose, so little answers accompanying them.
"I suppose they'll resurface eventually." - the knight's inaudible whisper.

"It is quite alright, dragging us to such an excellent cover was a good thing." - the knight started saying as he turned to Carulea - "About earlier, I'm sorry for appearing out of nowhere and grabbing you like so. The reason was that before I ran to you I was ontop of a high dune south-east of here. From there I saw both of you, but more importaintly, I saw..."
As the cyan-haired mage paused, the abrasive sound of the army he was so keen on avoiding rang in the group's ears. Apparantly the army of thieves and thugs was passing right by them.
"...That."
A minute or so passed until the noise passed and it was safe to talk once more.
"Well that sure was close, it'd be troubling to have to deal with all of them at once." - spoke the cyan knight with a light smile.
"At any rate, my name is Aegis Bright. I'm a knight, as well as a mage of Sabertooth. As for your parents..."
A moment of ponder.
"I might know who they are."