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Description
Last time we saw Byaku, Ame and Gadget, they were preparing for their first mission, which is to investigate the extremist cult that was behind the attack on Hope’s Pillar on Byaku’s first day in the city.
“Alright Ame, Have we got everything for the trip?” Byaku asked as he looked over the various things the two deemed necessary to bring on their mission. “I think this should be good enough yes.” Ame responded. “Alright, let’s go get Jett and head to the gates of the city, I’m pretty sure Headmaster Mortimer will be waiting to brief us further in the mission.” Ame nodded and the two set off to go get their friend and go towards the gates.

“Hey Jett!” Byaku yelled from outside the orphanage, “You ready yet!? We’re heading out soon!” “I know, that’s why I prepared last night.” Gadget said, somehow behind Byaku and Ame waiting for them. “DAH! Don’t do that! …HOW did you do that???” Byaku said, quite startled. “Magic” Gadget said with a wink. “C’mon you slow-pokes, we have a mission remember~” “Yes, let’s go” Ame responded. “…magic, pfft, yeah right magic…sneaky little sneak…” Byaku murmured to himself as he followed his two friends towards the gates of Hope’s Pillar city. As the three moved through the city, they took a bit of time to observe the sights around them. “I’ve never seen this side of the city before, it’s kinda nice.” Byaku said as he looked around. “It is quite the sight isn’t it?” Ame responded. “Eh, it’s alright I guess, I’m just used to it.” Gadget shrugged as she continued walking. “Hey, what’s that you’re carrying Byaku, some kind of board?” Gadget asked as she noticed what Byaku was carrying under him arm. “Oh this? This, is my hover-board, I’ve had it for a few years now, but my folks said it was too dangerous to be riding around, so it mostly gathered dust in my closet, but now, I’m free to ride the wind to my hearts contempt!” Byaku replied as he looked at his hover-board, which was red, and had a design similar to that of a big, futuristic sword, having two big edges that ran along the side of the board and ended at the top, but leaving a square gap so the two tips wouldn’t touch. It had three hover-pads along the bottom of the board with a boost-pad at the back of the board spanning the width of it, (Basically, think of Sonic’s extreme gear from Sonic Riders 1 and that’s it). “It certainly looks nice Byaku, but uh, how do you plan on using it during the mission? I’d assume we’d be sticking together as a team, with you on your board, you’ll most likely rush ahead and get separated from us.” Ame asked in slight confusion as to Byaku’s choice of tactics with bringing his hover-board on the mission. “Uh…I…did not think of that…hehe…” Byaku replied. “It’s alright, Ame, I have a mechanical griffon waiting at the city gates so we can travel, luckily for you, it has two seats on it.” Gadget said in response to Ame’s question. “Ah, that’s very resours-wait, I beg your pardon? A mechanical griffon? What is a griffion and why do you have a mechanical one?” Ame asked, in complete confusion as to what this ‘griffon’ thing was. “You REALLY don’t know a lot do you Ame?” Byaku chuckled to himself, “A griffion is a beast that has the front body half of an eagle, meaning the head, front legs, and upper torso, and has the back half of a lion, being the hind legs and tail. Griffons also have the wings of an eagle, allowing it to fly when need be. As to the mechanical part, I have to go with Ame on this one, why and how do you have a mechanical griffon, Jett?” Bayku explained to Ame. “Well, I just…made it this one time, I just build mechanical creatures or animatronics from time to time.” Gadget replied. “Huh, no kidding.” Byaku said as he saw the mechano-griffon come into view. “Well, Might as well mount up now” As he jumped on his board and sped over to the mechano-griffon. “Hm, impressive.” Ame said at both Byaku’s hover-board and Gadget’s Mechno-Griffon.

As Ame and Gadget arrived at the gates, Byaku was sitting on his board, waiting for the two ‘slow-pokes’ to arrive. “Finally! What took you two, it’s been like 5 minutes!” “We were walking, give us some slack, sheesh” Jett said as she put hers and Ame’s bags onto the Machano-griffon. “I’ve been thinking…” Ame said. “We haven’t been given a whole lot of information about this mission, we don’t even know where the village we’re supposed to be going even is.” “Huh, I guess you’re right, we have not been briefed…huh.” Byaku said, thinking to himself why they hadn’t been briefed on their mission.

“And that’s why I am here!” Said a voice from behind Byaku, making him jump, it was Headmaster Mortimer, with a large grin on his face. “DAH! Stop that old man! Sheesh!” Byaku said as he turned to face the headmaster. “My apologies Byaku, anyway, I’m assuming you all want to be briefed on your mission?” Mortimer said to the team. “That would be appreciated, yes.” Ame said in response. “Very good, as I said yesterday, you are being sent to investigate the extremist group within the Elemental Village, Elementos. Located West of Hope’s Pillar, the elementals that reside there are of all the various forms that they have appeared in, mainly the main schools of magic manifested into physical form, so be careful on that front.” “Ok, that’s cool and all, but why exactly are we investigating them? Well, other than the fact that they attacked the city that is.” Byaku inquired from atop his board. “Well, we suspect that something foul is afoot with the elementals, normally they are quite docile creatures, not socialising with the other species. But one of then suddenly attacking the city with the intent to destroy, quite unusual, even for an extremist.” Mortimer explained. “So we believe that something must have influenced the group to attack…something dark… Now, here is a map directing you to the village.” He said as he handed Ame the map, “I know you will be most trust-worthy to hold onto this. Anyway, I must advise that you are as covert as possible, meaning try not to draw the attention of the village guards, and in extension, the village chief. He will have you executed on the spot, then most likely march on the city for violating our ‘stay-away-meat-bag’ agreement…their name not ours. So you may want to consider this a stealth mission. Now, I believe that’s all that needs to be said, goodbye and good luck!” Mortimer said as a large plume of smoke exploded from Mortimer, and when the dust had settled, he was gone.

“Stealth? Meh, we can handle this, right guys!” Byaku said to his team-mates, who were covered in dust from the Headmaster’s exit. “Oh…*snickers*…DAH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” Byaku burst out laughing at the looks on Ame and Jett’s faces. As he saw Gadget’s face slowly get more and more angry, Byaku decided he’d had his fun. “Ok ok, I’ll stop now, dust yourselves off and let’s head out for Elementos Village!” “Smart move…Yakate” Gadget said as she walked past Byaku, giving him a stern stare. “Alright, Ame, saddle up, I’m driving!” She said as she mounted the mechano-griffon, Ame nodded and got onto the mechano-griffon behind Jett.

“Alright! Team, roll out!” Byaku called out as he sped off on his hover-board. “Hey! Wait up why-don’t-ya!” Gadget yelled out as the mechano-griffon began running after Byaku. There was some time before Ame and jett caught up to the hover board riding byaku, as the three rode, they could see the rolling plains of grass and trees slowly turn into vast sand dunes and dessert. Soon after, they arrived at a somewhat large village, dotted with small buildings, nothing like how hope’s pillar was. As they stopped, ame began to scan the surroundings before him. “Is everything alright?” jett inquired. “…it looks… empty.” She quickly looked around and realized that ame had a point. It did look empty. TOO empty. With confidence, byaku boomed out “all RIGHT! We’re here, let’s get looking!” rather underwhelmed at the deduction skills of the teams’ supposed leader, he asked “don’t you think there’s something strange?” byaku paused for a second “w-whaddya mean, Ame..?” gadget simply rolled her eyes. “There’s no-one here. Don’t you think that’s strange..?” Ame tried explaining to byaku. “Strange? I think it’s great! Less elementals, less trouble!” ame, disappointed, sighed. “Let’s… let’s just get out of here… Quickly...” byaku raised his voice in defiance “no! We’ve come too far to just back away now! That, and it’s our first mission!”

“Why, that would be disappointing if you failed, wouldn’t it~?” spoke out a shrill voice, not far from where they were. “Blast it all… Who are you?! Come out!!” gadget shouted in response to the strange voice. A moment passed, and a large flash of lightning appeared before the trio. “Hello...~” Ame assumed stance, ready for battle. “Now, now, that’s not very sporting, is it~?” the lightning elemental formed in front of their eyes. “WATTS up~?” he asked as he began to chuckle to himself. In a quiet, calm voice, Ame just asked “what’s your name?” He chuckled to himself some more. “My, my, I’d love to tell you! Instead, why don’t you tell me yours~ it’d only be the gentlemanly thing to do...~” Ame remained tense. “…you can call me Ame.” The lightning elemental continued to chuckle to himself. He began to laugh. “What a name! Boy, they don’t name ‘em like they used to!” his laughter trailed off. “You… you may call me… Zapp.” Ame softened his stance a little. “Hello, zap... May I ask you some questions..?” Byaku whispered to Ame “hey, what the heck are you doing?!” the lightning elemental snapped “hey, pipe down! Can you not see I’m talking to your friend, here? Show some decency! Now… sure, what would you like to know~?” Ame maintained eye contact with the potential enemy in front of him. “Firstly, where is everyone? I’d imagine there being more than just you here.” The lightning elementals face softened as he answered his question with another question. “Would you be at home when something quite important’s happening~?” Ame grew puzzled. “Is there a celebration of some kind?” zapp began to snicker again. “Perhaps... what’s it to you~?” byaku summoned his construct scythes. “Argh, I can’t take this anymore! He’s the enemy, why are we talking to him?!” “Excuse me! I happen to be a member of the royal guard! I came to formally collect you, we know that there was an attack on Hope’s Pillar by the local extremist’s, we keep a close eye on them, and we were waiting for representatives from the Academy to arrive before coordinating a counter-strike.” Zapp proclaimed as he saw Byaku was about to attack. “oh…um…sorry” Byaku said, embarrassedly as he de-summoned his scythes. “Royal guard? I thought elementals were tribal, not a monarchy. What’s up with that?” Gadget asked, confused as to how elementals had become somewhat sophisticated. “We ARE tribal, but we have a king instead of a chief, honestly, you meat-bags aren’t all that bright are you? Anyway, this way if you please, General Stone will want to devise a strategy with you.” Zapp said, gesturing for the team to follow him. Byaku nodded at Ame and Gadget and began following Zapp.

As they made their way through the back allies of the village, as to remain undetected, the team occasionally saw some sort of parade in the main streets of the village. When they got to their destination, they saw that it was some sort of bunker, with two guards standing by the door, Zapp nodded at the guards, and was let through with the team. The inside of the bunker was a bustle of various kinds of elementals at stations monitoring various things, as the team was looking at all the activity in the room, Zapp called out over the crowd, “General! The meat-bags are here!” “Very good, send them in!” A booming voice came through a door at the far end of the room. “Go see the general, he’ll help you coordinate your strike on the extremists.” Zapp said to Byaku, gesturing to the far end of the room. Byaku signalled for Ame and Gadget to follow him, when they walked into the room, there was a large earth elemental sitting in a chair, he was about the same size as Rockzar, and looked similar to the brute except had a large crack through his left eye and wore a beret with some sort of medal on it. “Greetings, Mages. I am General Stone, and by the looks of you, you must be Byaku Yakate, the one who defeated Rockzar. Yes, I know who you are, we have agents all over Terra Asteria, keeps us informed of certain goings on.” Said the elemental with an expressionless face. “Y-yes, that would be me, and these are my team-mates, Gadget Elgrid, and Ame of the Rain.” Byaku said as he introduced Ame and Jett to the General. “A pleasure, now, I’m assuming you’ll want to know how we plan on attacking the extremists, yes?” The General said as he stood up, towering over the three teens. “Yeah, now can we get on with this? We were meant to be doing this mission without anyone noticing we were here. So get gabbing or get going, cuz be got a mission to complete!” Jett snapped at General Stone, obviously a little miffed at how the mission has already diverted so far from how it was originally meant to be. “Gadget! What are you doing! Remember what the headmaster said, don’t piss them off or we’ll be dead!” Byaku whispered to Gadget to try and calm her down. “Alright then, I’ll listen to the little lady…here’s the plan…” The General said as he began explaining the plan.

Several Hours Later

“This was a TERRABLE plan! DAH!” *Explosion*
“Byaku! Oh what the-” *Explosion*
“Ame! Byaku! Oh shi-”

END OF CHAPTER 6

Description
Last time we saw Byaku, Ame and Gadget, they were preparing for their first mission, which is to investigate the extremist cult that was behind the attack on Hope’s Pillar on Byaku’s first day in the city.
“Alright Ame, Have we got everything for the trip?” Byaku asked as he looked over the various things the two deemed necessary to bring on their mission. “I think this should be good enough yes.” Ame responded. “Alright, let’s go get Jett and head to the gates of the city, I’m pretty sure Headmaster Mortimer will be waiting to brief us further in the mission.” Ame nodded and the two set off to go get their friend and go towards the gates.

“Hey Jett!” Byaku yelled from outside the orphanage, “You ready yet!? We’re heading out soon!” “I know, that’s why I prepared last night.” Gadget said, somehow behind Byaku and Ame waiting for them. “DAH! Don’t do that! …HOW did you do that???” Byaku said, quite startled. “Magic” Gadget said with a wink. “C’mon you slow-pokes, we have a mission remember~” “Yes, let’s go” Ame responded. “…magic, pfft, yeah right magic…sneaky little sneak…” Byaku murmured to himself as he followed his two friends towards the gates of Hope’s Pillar city. As the three moved through the city, they took a bit of time to observe the sights around them. “I’ve never seen this side of the city before, it’s kinda nice.” Byaku said as he looked around. “It is quite the sight isn’t it?” Ame responded. “Eh, it’s alright I guess, I’m just used to it.” Gadget shrugged as she continued walking. “Hey, what’s that you’re carrying Byaku, some kind of board?” Gadget asked as she noticed what Byaku was carrying under him arm. “Oh this? This, is my hover-board, I’ve had it for a few years now, but my folks said it was too dangerous to be riding around, so it mostly gathered dust in my closet, but now, I’m free to ride the wind to my hearts contempt!” Byaku replied as he looked at his hover-board, which was red, and had a design similar to that of a big, futuristic sword, having two big edges that ran along the side of the board and ended at the top, but leaving a square gap so the two tips wouldn’t touch. It had three hover-pads along the bottom of the board with a boost-pad at the back of the board spanning the width of it, (Basically, think of Sonic’s extreme gear from Sonic Riders 1 and that’s it). “It certainly looks nice Byaku, but uh, how do you plan on using it during the mission? I’d assume we’d be sticking together as a team, with you on your board, you’ll most likely rush ahead and get separated from us.” Ame asked in slight confusion as to Byaku’s choice of tactics with bringing his hover-board on the mission. “Uh…I…did not think of that…hehe…” Byaku replied. “It’s alright, Ame, I have a mechanical griffon waiting at the city gates so we can travel, luckily for you, it has two seats on it.” Gadget said in response to Ame’s question. “Ah, that’s very resours-wait, I beg your pardon? A mechanical griffon? What is a griffion and why do you have a mechanical one?” Ame asked, in complete confusion as to what this ‘griffon’ thing was. “You REALLY don’t know a lot do you Ame?” Byaku chuckled to himself, “A griffion is a beast that has the front body half of an eagle, meaning the head, front legs, and upper torso, and has the back half of a lion, being the hind legs and tail. Griffons also have the wings of an eagle, allowing it to fly when need be. As to the mechanical part, I have to go with Ame on this one, why and how do you have a mechanical griffon, Jett?” Bayku explained to Ame. “Well, I just…made it this one time, I just build mechanical creatures or animatronics from time to time.” Gadget replied. “Huh, no kidding.” Byaku said as he saw the mechano-griffon come into view. “Well, Might as well mount up now” As he jumped on his board and sped over to the mechano-griffon. “Hm, impressive.” Ame said at both Byaku’s hover-board and Gadget’s Mechno-Griffon.

As Ame and Gadget arrived at the gates, Byaku was sitting on his board, waiting for the two ‘slow-pokes’ to arrive. “Finally! What took you two, it’s been like 5 minutes!” “We were walking, give us some slack, sheesh” Jett said as she put hers and Ame’s bags onto the Machano-griffon. “I’ve been thinking…” Ame said. “We haven’t been given a whole lot of information about this mission, we don’t even know where the village we’re supposed to be going even is.” “Huh, I guess you’re right, we have not been briefed…huh.” Byaku said, thinking to himself why they hadn’t been briefed on their mission.

“And that’s why I am here!” Said a voice from behind Byaku, making him jump, it was Headmaster Mortimer, with a large grin on his face. “DAH! Stop that old man! Sheesh!” Byaku said as he turned to face the headmaster. “My apologies Byaku, anyway, I’m assuming you all want to be briefed on your mission?” Mortimer said to the team. “That would be appreciated, yes.” Ame said in response. “Very good, as I said yesterday, you are being sent to investigate the extremist group within the Elemental Village, Elementos. Located West of Hope’s Pillar, the elementals that reside there are of all the various forms that they have appeared in, mainly the main schools of magic manifested into physical form, so be careful on that front.” “Ok, that’s cool and all, but why exactly are we investigating them? Well, other than the fact that they attacked the city that is.” Byaku inquired from atop his board. “Well, we suspect that something foul is afoot with the elementals, normally they are quite docile creatures, not socialising with the other species. But one of then suddenly attacking the city with the intent to destroy, quite unusual, even for an extremist.” Mortimer explained. “So we believe that something must have influenced the group to attack…something dark… Now, here is a map directing you to the village.” He said as he handed Ame the map, “I know you will be most trust-worthy to hold onto this. Anyway, I must advise that you are as covert as possible, meaning try not to draw the attention of the village guards, and in extension, the village chief. He will have you executed on the spot, then most likely march on the city for violating our ‘stay-away-meat-bag’ agreement…their name not ours. So you may want to consider this a stealth mission. Now, I believe that’s all that needs to be said, goodbye and good luck!” Mortimer said as a large plume of smoke exploded from Mortimer, and when the dust had settled, he was gone.

“Stealth? Meh, we can handle this, right guys!” Byaku said to his team-mates, who were covered in dust from the Headmaster’s exit. “Oh…*snickers*…DAH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” Byaku burst out laughing at the looks on Ame and Jett’s faces. As he saw Gadget’s face slowly get more and more angry, Byaku decided he’d had his fun. “Ok ok, I’ll stop now, dust yourselves off and let’s head out for Elementos Village!” “Smart move…Yakate” Gadget said as she walked past Byaku, giving him a stern stare. “Alright, Ame, saddle up, I’m driving!” She said as she mounted the mechano-griffon, Ame nodded and got onto the mechano-griffon behind Jett.

“Alright! Team, roll out!” Byaku called out as he sped off on his hover-board. “Hey! Wait up why-don’t-ya!” Gadget yelled out as the mechano-griffon began running after Byaku. There was some time before Ame and jett caught up to the hover board riding byaku, as the three rode, they could see the rolling plains of grass and trees slowly turn into vast sand dunes and dessert. Soon after, they arrived at a somewhat large village, dotted with small buildings, nothing like how hope’s pillar was. As they stopped, ame began to scan the surroundings before him. “Is everything alright?” jett inquired. “…it looks… empty.” She quickly looked around and realized that ame had a point. It did look empty. TOO empty. With confidence, byaku boomed out “all RIGHT! We’re here, let’s get looking!” rather underwhelmed at the deduction skills of the teams’ supposed leader, he asked “don’t you think there’s something strange?” byaku paused for a second “w-whaddya mean, Ame..?” gadget simply rolled her eyes. “There’s no-one here. Don’t you think that’s strange..?” Ame tried explaining to byaku. “Strange? I think it’s great! Less elementals, less trouble!” ame, disappointed, sighed. “Let’s… let’s just get out of here… Quickly...” byaku raised his voice in defiance “no! We’ve come too far to just back away now! That, and it’s our first mission!”

“Why, that would be disappointing if you failed, wouldn’t it~?” spoke out a shrill voice, not far from where they were. “Blast it all… Who are you?! Come out!!” gadget shouted in response to the strange voice. A moment passed, and a large flash of lightning appeared before the trio. “Hello...~” Ame assumed stance, ready for battle. “Now, now, that’s not very sporting, is it~?” the lightning elemental formed in front of their eyes. “WATTS up~?” he asked as he began to chuckle to himself. In a quiet, calm voice, Ame just asked “what’s your name?” He chuckled to himself some more. “My, my, I’d love to tell you! Instead, why don’t you tell me yours~ it’d only be the gentlemanly thing to do...~” Ame remained tense. “…you can call me Ame.” The lightning elemental continued to chuckle to himself. He began to laugh. “What a name! Boy, they don’t name ‘em like they used to!” his laughter trailed off. “You… you may call me… Zapp.” Ame softened his stance a little. “Hello, zap... May I ask you some questions..?” Byaku whispered to Ame “hey, what the heck are you doing?!” the lightning elemental snapped “hey, pipe down! Can you not see I’m talking to your friend, here? Show some decency! Now… sure, what would you like to know~?” Ame maintained eye contact with the potential enemy in front of him. “Firstly, where is everyone? I’d imagine there being more than just you here.” The lightning elementals face softened as he answered his question with another question. “Would you be at home when something quite important’s happening~?” Ame grew puzzled. “Is there a celebration of some kind?” zapp began to snicker again. “Perhaps... what’s it to you~?” byaku summoned his construct scythes. “Argh, I can’t take this anymore! He’s the enemy, why are we talking to him?!” “Excuse me! I happen to be a member of the royal guard! I came to formally collect you, we know that there was an attack on Hope’s Pillar by the local extremist’s, we keep a close eye on them, and we were waiting for representatives from the Academy to arrive before coordinating a counter-strike.” Zapp proclaimed as he saw Byaku was about to attack. “oh…um…sorry” Byaku said, embarrassedly as he de-summoned his scythes. “Royal guard? I thought elementals were tribal, not a monarchy. What’s up with that?” Gadget asked, confused as to how elementals had become somewhat sophisticated. “We ARE tribal, but we have a king instead of a chief, honestly, you meat-bags aren’t all that bright are you? Anyway, this way if you please, General Stone will want to devise a strategy with you.” Zapp said, gesturing for the team to follow him. Byaku nodded at Ame and Gadget and began following Zapp.

As they made their way through the back allies of the village, as to remain undetected, the team occasionally saw some sort of parade in the main streets of the village. When they got to their destination, they saw that it was some sort of bunker, with two guards standing by the door, Zapp nodded at the guards, and was let through with the team. The inside of the bunker was a bustle of various kinds of elementals at stations monitoring various things, as the team was looking at all the activity in the room, Zapp called out over the crowd, “General! The meat-bags are here!” “Very good, send them in!” A booming voice came through a door at the far end of the room. “Go see the general, he’ll help you coordinate your strike on the extremists.” Zapp said to Byaku, gesturing to the far end of the room. Byaku signalled for Ame and Gadget to follow him, when they walked into the room, there was a large earth elemental sitting in a chair, he was about the same size as Rockzar, and looked similar to the brute except had a large crack through his left eye and wore a beret with some sort of medal on it. “Greetings, Mages. I am General Stone, and by the looks of you, you must be Byaku Yakate, the one who defeated Rockzar. Yes, I know who you are, we have agents all over Terra Asteria, keeps us informed of certain goings on.” Said the elemental with an expressionless face. “Y-yes, that would be me, and these are my team-mates, Gadget Elgrid, and Ame of the Rain.” Byaku said as he introduced Ame and Jett to the General. “A pleasure, now, I’m assuming you’ll want to know how we plan on attacking the extremists, yes?” The General said as he stood up, towering over the three teens. “Yeah, now can we get on with this? We were meant to be doing this mission without anyone noticing we were here. So get gabbing or get going, cuz be got a mission to complete!” Jett snapped at General Stone, obviously a little miffed at how the mission has already diverted so far from how it was originally meant to be. “Gadget! What are you doing! Remember what the headmaster said, don’t piss them off or we’ll be dead!” Byaku whispered to Gadget to try and calm her down. “Alright then, I’ll listen to the little lady…here’s the plan…” The General said as he began explaining the plan.

Several Hours Later

“This was a TERRABLE plan! DAH!” *Explosion*
“Byaku! Oh what the-” *Explosion*
“Ame! Byaku! Oh shi-”

END OF CHAPTER 6