Diverting another Great Flood (TacticalFallacy and Riohorse)

Now on normal days, Aldous Focusine might be travelling a bit more slowly, allowing himself to take in the scenery and the beauty of nature's gifts to the world. However, the moment he had set his eyes on the piece of paper that was his job request back at Magnolia, he had immediately got on Abraxis and sped his way towards Mountain Village, even utilizing his own magical power to boost his bicycle up to the maximum speed. But yet he still felt that he was not moving fast enough.
"CAN'T WE GET ANY FASTER, ABRAXIS!?" He yelled at his bicycle Exceed.
"Faster? If you had given me better oil, I would be flying towards the moon singing "ET PHONE HOME" right now! BUT NO! YOU HAVE TO ACT ALL MISERLY AND SAVE UP ON JEWELS WITH THAT CHEAP LUBRICANT!" Abraxis yelled back through his bell-shaped mouth.
Aldous ignored him, refocusing himself back on driving over the now mountaineous terrain, the growing sparseness of trees and the new prevalence of hill fields indicating that he was getting closer to his destination.
"What were the villagers thinking?! Putting their distress mission on a little note on the request board, instead of immediately sending someone to inform the guilds for quick help!?" Aldous gasped in exasperation as he head on, the silhouette of the Mountain Village now appearing over the horizon, overshadowed by the disaster that was looming over them.

Freya jumped out of the small wagon handing over some jewels to the driver and thanking him, looking around as the wagon jolted off, she was about a 10 minutes walk from the mountain village. She looked up at the terrain smiling to herself she could probably make it in 5 if she ran. She jogged off looking for the town as her feet hit the gravel path, she sighed knowing her shoes would most probably be ruined by the end of this job. She hoped the villagers weren't panicing to badly, from the looks of the sign some of them were, she thought to herself turning her head as she heard the sound of a motorcylce and two people shouting, she stopped and looked towards the path she'd just run up putting a hand up to her eyes shielding them from the sun and squinting. She could see an unmistakable cloud of dust and waved her hand shouting wondering who it could be, hoping it was her partner for the job, she couldn't really remember the mages name just that she was looking at the jobs request bored when a mage asked her if she would join him on the job, before dashing off. She hoped she hadn't decided to complete a job with a weird mage she thought.

Did he asked someone at the mission board? Aldous could not really recall, for he had been overcame with urgency and maybe a little panic, to the point that he might have uttered something along the lines of "WOULD YOU MIND HELPING ME OUT?!" before possibly dashing off. Indeed, he had not expected anyone to heed his request for help, much less a teenage girl. But when he heard a shout to his right, Aldous could not help but turn towards the source of the shout.

Normally, at his 60 miles/hour, he might have completely missed the girl yelling at him and waving her hand towards him. But when Abraxis yelled out "ALDOUS WATCH OUT!" and three black-coated Nightgale Cats suddenly came rushing out from his unwatched left, Aldous was leapt on by the unexpected felines, their claws, shining in the light, and snarls causing him to lose his calm and his balance. He had not seen them back then; they must have been very well-hidden. Mid-fall, he was still clear enough to realize that the impending flood, along the explosions, must have caused the animals to go feral, thus the attack by the cats. And hence, he was sent tumbling down the slope towards the still unfamiliar female mage who had been calling him.

The member 'TacticalFallacy' has done the following action : Dices roll

'Monster Dice' :

Tori saw the mage lift his head at her shout and gasped as a group of nightgale cats leapt out of some nearby scrub leaping onto the mage, what shocked her even more was the talking bike. Her jaw dropped in shock, but she quickly regained her cool as the mage came hurtling down the hill towards her, with three very angry looking nightgale cats clinging onto him. Freya looked around for any sort of vegetation she could to stop the cats and the mage from completely knocking her over. She decided to try and take out the cats before he hit her "Strangling Vine" she yelled sweeping her arm infront of her as three vines launched towards the nightgale cats. Two of the cats manage to get out of the way of her vines, but one was now firmly tangled in one hissing and trying to claw it's way out, Freya smiled thankfully the vines around this part were strong. She looked up her eyes wide realising she had been so preoccupied with the cats she forgot about the mage coming straightfor her, she only had time to create a pile of soft dirt behind her to cushion her fall as the mage ran straight into her knocking her over, she gave a yell of suprise and fell backwards landing in the pile of earth, thankfully sparing her from any unneeded bruises. She wasn't to sure about the mage who ran into her though and looked up "Hey are you ok" she ask quickly looking around for the cats wondering where they'd slunk off to.

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'Damage Dice' :

nightgale cats blocks (soz forgot to do it before)

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'Block Dice' :

It was a surprise really, getting cats whacked off you by somehow animated green vines and then awkwardly falling straight into a mage in the most unceremonious of manners. Having tumbled down at least a stretch of slope that was 15 metres long, along thirty individual little claws that had scratched him, Aldous was not entirely alright. He was pretty beat-up and unfortunately when he had been assaulted by the cats, he had been using his magic to power Abraxis' movement. While it would usually takes a maximum of thirty seconds for him to recover back to his normal strength, there was not exactly such a period of time when he had been sent tumbling down. And hence, he had been falling down as a perfectly normal, magicless human being, powerless to protect himself adequately. He had fallen down on his left arm at least twice, possibly stretching and tearing a few muscle fibers in both his upper and lower arm. His head had also hit a pretty dense rock on descent, so a large bruise was already growing dead center of his forehead, while the cogs of his brain were sent reeling from the impact. It was a rather painful fall. At least however, the momentum of the fall made it very hard for the cats to scratch him, so he should be thankful for the fact that they did not assault him that much.

WHat he should not be thankful for, is the sight of his screaming bicycle companion, rolling down the hill, hurtling towards the two mages with his increasingly closer metallic frame. "Look out!" Aldous felt relief wash over him as his magic returned in time, as purple-edged black seals begin to glow around him as his Seal Floater ability activated, causing his previously heavy body to feel light and giving him a much needed boost of speed and reaction. Pushing the girl out of harm's way of his tumbling friend, Aldous had just enough speed to dodge Abraxis by a hair's thread, his friend smashing into the pile of soft dirt that the girl's apparently Earth-based magic had created. As the dust and earth finally cleared from that brief little action, Aldous felt himself almost stumble at the disorientation of his headache, but he found it most courteous to at least give the girl a grateful "Thank you.", just as two villagers begun running up the path from Mountain Village towards them.

Block Roll #1: Dodging Abraxis.

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'Block Dice' :

Freya's eyes widened as she saw the mage's battered frame "You are hurt!" she exclaimed starting forward to see if she could help, the snake coiled around her hair raised its head, sensing her distress and ready to use it's healing ability to do whatever it could. "Look out!" she heard the other mage say her head snapping up as she saw the bicycle hurtling towards her and uttering a sound of suprise and she was pushed out of harms way, having no idea how but guessing it was something to do with the other mages magic. She looked curiously at the screaming bicycle as it landing conveniently in the pile of soft earth and she had created. She ran forward to support the other mage,draping his arm over her shoulder and sighing relieved when she saw two villagers running over, this job wasn't going very well so far, she waved at the villagers but stopped midway and turning her head realising that only one of the nightgale cats were trapped in her vines wincing as she saw the other two furiously spitting at them. She narrowed her eyes at them and and held out her palms as rocks shot towards them. She huffed frustrated, these cats were agile, she thought as the two cats nimbly dodge her rocks, the third cat was staring at her coldly from the ground the vines still wrapped around it.

OOC: damage dice 6, 3 rocks for each cat, block dice 6, 3 for each cat

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#1 'Damage Dice' :


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#2 'Block Dice' :


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#3 'Damage Dice' :


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#4 'Block Dice' :

It did not happen much, Aldous getting pissed. He was a rather calm and focused individual, who should be able to control his anger in some of the most stressful of times. But saying that he is one thing is far different than what he actually is. Simple unelaborated words usually give the illusion of a straight-up answer, all black and white, you are either this or that. However, while he may be described as calm and focused, Aldous is actually more in the grey area in this regard. Couple this with the still heaving flow of adrenaline pumped up from his fall, his growing rage in response to his pain, along with the incensing sight of those darn cats hissing at the girl as she tried to hit them with rocks, to no avail, and he was getting pretty pissed.

Trying to make sure he was not too much of a burden to a girl was in his mind as well, so Aldous tried to lift himself off the girl's shoulder, his injured left arm screaming at the movement, but he ignored it. However, most of him was now focused on the cats and so raising his uninjured right arm at the felines, Aldous' face crunched up into a scowl as he activated Formula #1: Breach Lines, six tiny coin-sized circular seals appearing on the edge of his fingers, before bursting out in the furious form of pencil-thin lasers of black screeching arcane energy. "GO AWAY!!"

One of the cats managed to dodge one of the lasers with a deft leap and flip into the grass, disappearing again in camouflage. It did not really help that the other two lasers intended for the cat veered off the wrong direction and angle.

However, thankfully, the other cat, while jumping up in the air to dodge the fourth of his beams, was struck dead-center by the fifth one, being sent flying down into the trees that lined the path, clearly knocked out.

Finally, for the cat that was caught tight in the girl's vine and hence unable to protect itself, Aldous allowed one laser to smash into it, sending the cat to join its fellow feline out of the vine's grip and knocked out and away into the forest, beaten out cold by the concussive impact of the Breach Line.

Seeing his successful hits, Aldous gazed expectantly at the last remaining cat, whose widened eyes and nervous stares seem to indicate surprise at the sudden and ruthless disposal of its two comrades. Now that he had released his rage, his head was clearing and thus Aldous found that he could not blame the cat's reaction. These were indeed feral creatures they were fighting right now. They did not follow logic, but instead instinct. They were driven by fear and paranoia, not killing intent. If he and his.....partner can just show these creatures that they are too strong for them, the cats should disengage.

OOC:
Damage Roll #1: Three attacks by beam for first cat
Block Roll #1: First cat block
Damage Roll #1: Two attacks by beam for second cat
Block Roll #1: Second cat block
Damage Roll #1: One attacks by beam for third cat

Cooldown:
Breach Lines (x6): 2 posts

The member 'TacticalFallacy' has done the following action : Dices roll

#1 'Damage Dice' :


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#2 'Block Dice' :


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#5 'Damage Dice' :

Freya's eyes widened as her companion let out a sound of frustration and shot lasers from his fingertips. Freya grinned as he took down three of the night gale cats, including the one she had trapped with her vines. She shouted encouragement as the Mage took down the cats until only one was left, arching its back in fear it's slit eyes flashing, she wasn't sure whether it was in fear or anger.

She turned to the other Mage "So we just need to scare it away right?" she said staring at the cat her eyes focused on the ground around it as tremours shuddered near the cat and the ground buckled beneath the cat, it yowled suprised at the mini earthquake Freya had create and dashed off its tail high in the air. Freya sighed glad that the night gale cats were sorted and turned back to the other Mage, her eyes concerned she still wasn't sure of how many injuries he'd sustained falling down that hill. She ran over to the Mage and looked up wondering where his talking bicycle was "hey,um bicycle thing sorry I don't know your name but I think we should get your master to the village" she said the villagers nodding and beckoning them over she could tell they were worried about the pipes leaking as they kept looking around worriedly "hey I'm Freya can you walk or do you your um bicycle" she said guest urging to the bicycle and standing up. Waiting for the Mage to introduce himself and answer her question.

[colpr=blue]"Pu-P-B-Bicycle?" [/color]Abraxis, his voice spitting about as if his mouth was spitting out dirt, pulled himself out of his self-made crater, which was a bit large, thanks to the dirt having being softened up due to the girl's Earth magic. Despite his near-death experience with falling down the hill, Abraxis' voice was not even a least bit frightened, neither was he even shaken with pain, for apparently all he could think of, in his perpetually was: "Aldous, did that girl just call me A bicycle?!"

"Yes......she did....." Aldous rolled his eyes in an expectant sigh of irritation. He had often been the victim of this bicycle's narcissism and throughout his entire partnership with the Exceed, if there was one lesson he learnt, it was this: never ever call Abraxis 'a bicycle'. Realizing he might not have the time to reply to the girl's question until Abraxis is done, Aldous stayed silent as his legs, now steadying back to normal,

"Girl....look at this...," Abraxis snobbishly pouted out as he drove closer towards the girl now known as Freya, showing off his metallic surfaces and curves, as if somehow he was a model. "You see this, girl. This fine metal chasis, the exquisite black handle bars lined with this fine rubber, this little basket, its individual threads woven by the personal polished hands of Queen of Earthland, and my gears, smelt in the fires of the King of Dragons!! Little brat, with your hair that looks like pathetic green moss and your unsettling cute face.....I am not A bicycle! I AM THE BICYCLE, ABRAXIS!! I HAVE BEEN SENT OVER THE STARS TO-"

"Quiet you." Aldous murmured, his tranquil fury passionately letting itself free through his powerful kick straight down on top of the annoying bicycle, his fervour and strength driven by both dizziness from the fall and complete annoyance, brewing together to form the powerful entity known as rage.

"U-WAHHH!!" The little brass bell that was Abraxis' mouth gave out rings of pain as his voice screamed like a little girl, gurgling as his teeth was being kicked in by Aldous' rock-hard boot. Murmuring out his now spiritless self-praises under his breath, it is easy to imagine that Abraxis has apparently been knocked out, his body now lying prone onto the ground, which had been depressed by the force of Aldous' dropkick.

"I must apologize for that, Ms. Freya. Abraxis does not always know his manners," Aldous gave a deep bow towards the green-haired girl, both out of gratitude for her saving him from a nasty fall, as well as embarrassment not only for the trouble that he had brought to her, but for her having to see Abraxis ranting about. He had lost quite a bit face thanks to THE bicycle. "I'm Aldous. Aldous Focusine. Guildless, if you want to know. And thank you, but I am alright with my own legs. My left arm has been strained and my head is a bit bumped about, but my legs can still hold me up. Also....." Aldous scratched his head awkwardly as he turned towards the direction where the cats had been knocked towards. "Thank you again for the save and for deciding to help out the village. I know a few kids here before.......I should check whether the kittens- I mean, cats are alright." Without another word, Aldous sheepishly shook his head as he walked into the trees, deciding to look for the two cats he had attacked and possibly injured with his Breach Lines. Just to make sure.

As for the villagers running up towards, upon sight that one of the mages, namely Aldous, was heading towards another direction, they immediately turned towards Freya, with one of them, an adult male with pale-brown hair and obviously shivering all over, yelling out in frantic terms. "SAVE US!! HELP US!! WE ARE GONNA DIE!!!!"

"Keep yourself calm, Juke. I'll handle this!" Ahead of him, a young woman, possibly in her twenties, had an air of calmness and cool that possibly commanded a bit of respect, but not enough to get Aldous' attention. She had very few signs of panic, apart from the stray strands of black hair that messed up her initially finely combed and carefully tied bun. "Are you mages? Are you here to help us with our situation?"

Freya raised her eyebrows at THE bicycle rants, slightly impressed by how the bicycle was made, her eyes smouldering as he insulted her and her face hardening "For your information green moss is not pathetic nor is my hair" she addressed the bicycle indignintly. Freya smiled appreciatively at the man who introduced himself as Aldous. She looked suprised as he went off to see if the cats where ok. She smiled to herself this act prompted her to feel respect for this man who could see that the animals were only acting out of fear and confusement. "When you come back my pet orochi will be able to heal some of your minor wounds" she called after him

Freya turned around at the shouts of distress from the two villagers, her mouth quirking into a small smile at the shouting villagers antics and the wsy the women calmed his distress. Freya inclined her head as the women approached waiting patiently for her to speak. Freya listened to her question and smiled as calmy as possible "Yes we are mages I'm a rune knight and my names Freya, over there is my parter for the job Aldous" she said guestureing towards Aldous faltering about to say what guild he was from but she had no idea, she shrugged and turned back to the women. "Yes we are here to help and will do everything we can to save your village and catch the perpertraitor" she said grinning "So if you take us to where everything happened we'll do our best to help" she said looking at Aldous hoping those cats weren't going to attacks again.

The cats were okay. Aldous felt a sense of relief fill his initially worried heart, as his kneeled down form stretched out a gave a gentle nudge to one of the soft comforting cheek of the now cute-looking cats, as the two of them slept soundly on the moss that ran over the trees' roots in its unconsciousness. Right now, he envied the cats, being able to now just lie down and rest, free from the strains of the world, free from the curses of time, free from the expectations of oneself. Just sleeping like that, their role in the world now complete for now. "Sleep a little tighter....." He involuntarily murmured under his breath, his heart jumping at this unexpected utterance, hoping his voice had been too inaudible for anyone behind him to hear it.

Giving out a customary cough, as if somehow it should make him more serious and professional, Aldous felt like he should just at least be courteous enough to allow the girl to heal him with her....snake? Whew, looks like Abraxis is not the only unusual pet. Aldous had heard of anti-venom but a snake being directly curative? That's a first. When he turned his eye toward the villagers, he could instantly recognize which one of the villagers was the one named "Dawn" on the request letter. "I assume that you are Dawn," Aldous took the initiative as he addressed the patient-looking woman, who affirmed it with a prompt, stiff nod.

He felt an eyebrow raise up when he heard Freya introduce herself as a Rune Knight. He was not surprised nor was he doubtful of the girl's claim, for he was not in the position to question her, especially not when she helped him back then. Instead, he was glad. A Rune Knight meant better authority and in turn a lot more trust-worthy. Aldous had heard over the air of rumours of Dark Guild members posing as Official Guilds, so he was now more cautious with those he partnered. Her claim as a Rune Knight, however, dispelled that doubt. Also, her claim had finally made him pay a bit more attention to her and for the first time, Aldous got to see Freya in full detail.

The first thing that came to the spotlight was her long green hair, allowed to flow freely in the air, its colour almost blending with the richness of the forest and the hill fields. It was also perfect camouflage for the snake that sat comfortably on the top of her head, its beady eyes looking at him as he was looking at it. Her eyes were unusual though, green with tinges of gold mix in, and those looked just like moss. Not the pathetic one that Abraxis had described but the one that shone in the sunlight, allowing its full nature to bloom with its environment, unafraid to let itself shine, yet compassionate enough to beautify everyone else around it with its own beauty. They say 'Don't judge a book by its cover' but for this little girl, Freya, her cover was extremely impressive to Aldous.

As for the now revealed Dawn, she looked in awe at the the young girl who has revealed herself as a Rune Knight. It was kind of staggering really, seeing such this young girl being able to become part of the biggest magic organization on Earthland and a distinguished member nonetheless, seeing from her clothes that she is not just one of the thousand soldiers that were the cannon fodder in the Rune Knights.

However, towards Aldous.......Dawn had nothing to say about the dark-haired man. Not only was his face tight and stern, his eyes were like an alpha wolf, all business, no distractions, single-minded to the point of possibly focused obsession. That demeanour not only made him very hostile-looking but otherwise downright unsettling. And his clothes, with that night-black trench coat worn over his shoulders like a cloak, just made him even more dangerous-looking. like What guild he was, the girl did not tell her. Maybe he was part of a secret division of the Rune Knights, like black operations or the sort? Dawn hoped not. This village is already in too much trouble with the levees being in danger of breaking.

Thus whenever she spoke to Freya, she spoke with respect and patience, while towards Aldous, her voice would be filled with suspicion and possibly contempt. Aldous did not mind; he was familiar with that kind of experience, thus it did not bother him that much.

"Thank you for your assistance, Rune Knight," Dawn bowed in respect to Freya, a quick glance to Juke made him bow as well. Next, turning to Aldous, Dawn's face gave a harsh frown, which Aldous ignored. "Follow us back to the village. We should still have enough time to fix the levees before too much damage spread. This is probably the fifth time that this has happened and though we have a good idea who is behind it, we are getting irritated at this constant threat. So, IF you are willing to help, we have a plan to end the basin threat, once and for all....."

"We are. Don't doubt it." Aldous resolutely replied, unfazed by her piercing gaze.

"We shall see, mage," Dawn almost seemed to scowl when she turned away to walk down the path, with Juke yelling out frantically as he obediently followed her, yapping away unintelligibly, no one unable to comprehend his panicking speech patterns.

Shaking his head with a sigh, Aldous decided to follow the two villagers. At the same time, expecting Freya to follow as well, Aldous picked up the still unconscious Abraxis and then turned to the girl mid-walk with a sheepish face. "Ms. Freya, about that offer.....Could your pet...." Aldous struggled to remember the name "Orochi, right? Could you have him heal my injuries?"

(OOC: Because there are so many repeats of this same quest, I decided to add a little twist to it, as well as some realism to the situation.)

Cooldown:
Breach Lines (x6): 0 posts

Freya saw Aldous looking at her and raised an eyebrow and laughed before turning back to the women who Aldous had said was Grace. She watched as the two conversed noting that, the women seemed to distrust Aldous and regard hi suspiciously, Freya sighed she didn't know what guild Aldous was from or anything about him, but she did not sense any ulterior motives in his gaze or actions, she focused her attention back on Dawn her face showing suprise as Dawn and her companion...Juke bowed towards her, she was only a new recruit of the Rune Knights so she really didn't think she demanded much respect as of yet.

Freya listened to the women, the seriousness of the situation finally dawning on her, this didn't sound like an accidental action, more of a person who wanted the village to drown and would try and try again until it was succeeded. Freya shook her head, she was determined to catch this criminal no matter what. She walked behind the women who had set a speedy pace and was already ahead of them, Freya had to jog every now and then just to keep up.

Freya watched as Aldous carried his bicycle Abraxis, she recalled his name thinking about how unusual it was and left her tongue twisted. Freya turned as Aldous ask for Orochi to heal some of his injuries noticing how similar Aldous and his bicycles names were, wondering if he had named the bicycle or if it was just fate. She nodded as Aldous smiled sheepishly at her "Sure, he should be able to heal you head wound and any cuts and scrapes, I'm not sure able your arm but he should be able to at least relieve a bit of the pain" she said smiling as the snake slithered onto the ground, growing in size till it was taller than both mages together "Sorry about his size..." she said hoping the size of the snake did not scare Aldous "Ssssooo Missstresss what do you need me to do" the snake said it's beady eye focusing on Freya and then Aldous flicking it's tongue and looking at them haughtily "Heal this mans wounds, and don't give me that haughty expression" she said yelling at the snake annoyed. Orochi chuckled and slithered over to Aldous, tears forming in it's eyes as the fell down his face and dropped onto Aldous "You shouldn't be wet for much longer" Freya said as the tears evaporated and Orochi shrunk assuming his previous position twined around her hair squinting at Aldous wondering how much Orochi had healed his injuries.

Aldous could not help but gasp when the snake had suddenly grown taller than the two of them, its eyes now essentially the same size of Aldous' head. His jaw slackened even more in surprise when the snake, after that brief heated exchange with Freya, begin to bring its head on top of him, tears forming just below it from its glands. These tears then begun to fall on him, washing over him while almost instantly evaporating at the same time. "Healing....tears?" Aldous mouthed in awe as the bruise on his head, the most exposed injury, begins to heal, not only removing the pain, but also the dizziness. The cats' scratches were also healed away by the tears. As for his left arm, some of the most external fibres were also beginning to heal, but the tears could not go deep enough to heal the entire arm. Thus, while his arm had now steadied back to combat-readiness, Aldous, giving it a precautionary flex, cringed as there was still a little pain running through the inner-most sections of his left arm.

Either way, it was still a very complete healing process and Aldous felt grateful. Of course, he had said 'thank you' to Freya many times, so he found it best just to give a short smiling nod of gratitude, instead of diluting the meaning of the phrase. "Let's go, Ms. Freya," Aldous gestured to his partner, as the two of them quickly tried to match Dawn and Juke's quick pace.

From her position at the front, Dawn felt that she should respect the mages' privacy and so kept her eyes to herself, thus she was not aware of the giant snake that had appeared. However, as they neared the village, she decided to let them in a little bit about their plan, just so that they would not be too surprised.

The first thing that she spoke of was the most controversial. "If you are looking for a culprit, someone who blew up the levees this time, that would be Juke and I." She knew that there would a lot of shock from the mages, so she quickly assured them. "But only for this particular time. The other times are truly made by a criminal who wanted us dead. As for us, we have noble intentions and the permission of the village. Trust us: we've prepared for this for a year."

"You will see when we are at the village," Juke, having somehow regained his composure and had gotten more serious, spoke up this time. "In fact, we are already here."

And sure enough, as the group stepped into the Mountain Village, Aldous felt his heart jump. It was not just familiarity with the rows of neighbourly houses, cottages and , but also shock at both the large group of organized villagers who had seem to be waiting for their arrival in the village center, but also, at the other end of the village, there was a high wooden wall, which he had never seen before since his visits at the Mountain village. And then he understood what the villagers intended to do. At least, he had a good idea what they were about to do. When he spoke, he spoke with a slight tone of apprehension.

"Just a mile to the east, there is a river called the Baying and another mile to the west, there is a river called the Howling. Don't tell me: you want to truly divert the flood?"

Freya smiled at Aldous's reaction to her snake, most people when told that Orochi could heal their wounds gave her looks of concern and brushed off her other, little do they know, she thought, glad that Orochi had healed most of her partners wounds, hoping that his left arm would not bother him. She stroked the snakes head as her way of thanks and walked alongside Aldous. Freya's jaw dropped in shock as the women explained that it was her and her frantic companion that had blown up the levee. She shook her head confused wondering how blowing up the levee could solve their problems, but if they'd been preparing for a year they hopefully had a fool proof plan.

Freya looked around at the mountain village noting the careful craftsmenship of the houses and building. She looked around and stop when she saw the group of villagers waiting in the centre of the town. The people stopped talking at once when they saw Dawn and Juke. She gulped nervously as the villagers gave her and Aldous suspicious stares. She listened to Aldous and nodded hearing the familiar names of the two rivers looking curiously at the large wooden wall and turning to Aldous suprised wondering what he meant by truly diverting the flood. Freya turned to him and then to Dawn hoping at least one of them would explain what they truly intended to do, Freya had a feeling it had something to do with that wooden wall, she had a vague idea of what the villagers might be trying to do, but she wasn't sure, it was probably one of the reasons why she wasn't part of the intelligence division in the Rune Knights. "Would one of you please care to explain so we can start to help you" she said her question directed to Dawn and Juke.

When Freya asked her question in confusion, Aldous could not blame her, for it seems like the mission that the two of them had gotten themselves into was quite different from the one that had been stated in the mission request. It was best to tell her what the villagers really intend to do. "I had been wondering a bit when I saw the letter calling for our help, but my urgency had pushed my questions to the back of my head. Now that I have seen it, I think I have a good idea of what they have in mind."

"It's about the mission's title, isn't it?" Out of the blue, Abraxis' voice came out, as the bicycle, now being rolled around manually by Aldous, apparently had finally recovered from his knock-out by Aldous' vicious boot.

"Yes," Aldous gave an affirmative nod as he began to explain, "The mission's title said "Diverting the Great Flood", when in fact, the contents of the letter pointed to something that can only be more attributed to blocking the flood. You see, repairing the levees alone is nothing more than just blocking the flood, preventing it from happening it, but diverting means that, what the villagers are going to do, is to change the direction of the flood, such that it goes in a totally different course."

Turning towards the listening Dawn, Aldous' eyes narrowed, "If I am right, you and your companions intend to break the basin's levees, allowing the water to flood AROUND the village rather than through it. And then DIVERT the basin's water to the two rivers. Therefore completely eliminating ANY chance of there being enough water to flood the village." Aldous looked at Dawn for affirmation of his theory.

Dawn's face gave a grim smile, her nod showing her acknowledgement of Aldous' theory. She might be even a bit impressed by the man's intuition but in the end, the grimness in her smile seemed to say: so long as you don't try to stop us. "Yes, that is indeed what we plan to do. For the sake of the village and its future, we want to remove the possibility of future floods and sabotages. Thus this plan was concocted after the first two floods. During the last three we have been preparing our plan in secret."

"Then I hope you have more than just a big wall."

"We do. You can't see it but we have prepared far more than a wall."

"So where do we come in?" Abraxis asked with a snort, obviously not at all okay with this trickery. The fact of the matter is that the mission request letter had lied to the mages about the true circumstances of the mission and even its goal.

"Protection."

Freya listened to Aldous and Abraxis explain what the villagers intended to do and saw Dawn confirm his theory suprised at their approach, thinking it would solve the problem of the village being flooded "But if you intend for the water to split around the village how to you intend to leave the village, or for people to enter the village" she asked thinking that the land around the village would most likely flood and wondering if their were any villages close enough to suffer any consequences of their plan failing, thinking the villagers had planned it well for it was summer at the moment meaning the rivers were less likely to flood with the large amount of extra water.

Freya frowned just as Aldous has said they'd need more that that wooden wall wondering what the villager had up their sleeves. "Protection...from other villagers or the flood itself?" she asked metally counting how many villagers were gathered in the center of the town and how many houses were situated in the village and eyeing the villagers wondering what had become of the traitor who had previously been trying to blow up the levee. She turned to Aldous "Good thing I have experience with the defense squadren in the Rune Knights" she said gazing around the village looking for any exist other than the one they'd cames in, knowing if they wanted to fully protect the villagers they would need a full map of the village and some of the surrounding area.

"But if you intend for the water to split around the village how to you intend to leave the village, or for people to enter the village?"
Aldous smiled at Freya's question. Indeed that was a valid question. But the answer was simple. What the villagers are trying to do is pretty much similar to what the River Villagers have already done. Actually, maybe there is a bit of a difference, if his guess was right. However he did not try to explain, not when Dawn seemed to bow in acknowledgement of Freya's question, turning towards the wall, with the rest of the villagers in tow.

"Follow us and you will see what we are fully trying to do."

Aldous nodded as he too began to follow them, expecting Freya to follow as well. When the girl said that she had experience with the defense squadron in the Rune Knights, Abraxis gave a low sarcastic whistle with mocking awe, only to receive a swift punch on the bell from Aldous. Aldous could not say whether he was impressed by Freya's experience with defense. However, he could tell that she was thinking of a comprehensive protection "Well, Ms. Freya, that would be very useful. Right now, I'm sure that they taught you that one should however stay vigilant no matter what. Because I think that now, whoever or what group, that blew up the levee the past four times, would have a different target."

Aldous knowingly gazed at the wooden wall, which now, at a closer distance, was actually revealed to be pretty tall. It had been at least taller than the houses, but now Aldous saw that it was at least three stories high. Not only that, it covered a significant The way it was built was also pretty solid, with thick tree trunks bound togther to form a solid two-metre-wide face, while behind it, large wooden beams diagonally supported the wall. It even had a second wooden layer applied to it. This part had a flat top, allowing people to walk up prepared up to the top of the wall, so that they can see over it.

While most of the villagers stayed down behind the wall, Dawn gestured at Aldous and Freya to come up the wall with her. With a patient finger, she pointed over the wall's side, probably pointing down towards the ground just in front of the wall.

"What is that?" Aldous asked when he gazed down. What he saw took him a little by surprise. He had been expecting something reminscient to two giant trenches dug into the ground to split the flood towards the sides and divert the water to the rivers, thus creating a Y-shaped diversion that would prevent the flood from surrounding the village, as Freya had expressed worry about just now.

However, what truly met his vision was similar to what he had thought of, along with some key differences. While there were indeed two giant trenches that created a V-shaped diversion, there were also unusually large boulders that should be impossible for the villagers to move. These were just between the gap of the trenches and the wall layer. In fact, it seemed like they would make a wall of stone as well. More importantly though, is the clear orbs of explosive lacrima dotting the boulders' front, facing towards where the flood should be. "Force buffers." Dawn explained, "We expect that when the flood comes rolling in, even with the boulders and the trenches, we might not be able to hold off the force of the water. Thus the explosive lacrima are thus used to counter-balance the excess force of the flood; weaken it before it overcomes our wall. As for the boulders, during our previous floods, some of the mages(OOC: chel and Josef) manage to help us make a rudimentary natural dam using those very same rocks. It was meant to be used to stall for time so that we can repair the levees but after that, we decided to utilize these dislodged rocks for another purpose and thus the additional stone wall."

Freya narrowed her eyes at the bicycle and childishly used her magic to place several sharp rocks in the bicycles path smirking before focusing her attention back on dawn and followed her towards the wall noticing how the other villagers followed her without a second glance. Freya smiled to herself recognising this womens control over her village. Freya looked at the wooden wall appreciatively running her hands along the smooth wood feeling it thrum under her fingers with natures energy.

She followed Dawn up to the top of the wall peering over following the direction of her finger and gaze down, just like Aldous she expected to see the Y shaped path diverting the path of water but blinked suprised at the boulders forming what looked a lot like a wall and her eyes widened even more when she saw the explosive lacrima, these villagers were way more prepared than she gave them credit for, well they sure would have had time to learn with experience. Freya nodded smiling at Dawn "Well it seems you are fully prepared for this flood, I know you said you needed protection from us, but surely there is more to be done on the...divertion barricade" she said thinking thoughtfully of what you would call this structure the villagers had made.