The hydra turned out to be rather cowardly. Or maybe it was just smart enough to know when a fight couldn't be won, Jason thought, remembering its retreat.

He and Blossom had worked together to get rid of half its heads, him cutting one off with each swipe of his sword and her searing the wounds shut with a series of well-timed throws. Those orange bombs of hers packed quite the punch, made of some explosive resin she somehow produced with her Spirit. Greenkin Arts were always strange that way; their biology was different from that of a human's, at times much more different, and so the kinds of things they came up with had to Jason always seemed well beyond anything he could've managed even if he'd have wanted to.

Having sustained so much damage and having no real openings to retaliate, the hydra had eventually cut its losses. Those wings must've had some power, not only to let it fly despite its massive size but to do so as fast as it could. Before Jason or the others could stop it, the monster had twirled around in the air and escaped into the distance, a shrinking silhouette against the bright afternoon sky.

Not that Jason cared. He was just glad to be done with the beast, and hopefully whoever it stumbled across next would be better equipped than he had been.

Serena didn't care either, but then again she'd gotten all she'd wanted from it. The red tag the hydra had carried went snuggly into one of her pockets, and now she sat near him on one of the rocks by the cliffside, a fire burning warmly before her. In her hands was a makeshift skewer, and stabbed through it was a chunk of meat she roasted steadily over the flames.

There was certainly enough meat to go around, Jason thought, looking around at all the decapitated hydra heads around them. They littered the ground like overturned cars, sagging into their dead weight and pooling with blood. Already bugs had begun to swarm some of them.

Serena held out a skewer for him, and after a brief look down Jason took it. He hadn't eaten all day, and now he could at least add hydra to the somewhat surprising list of monsters he'd had the dubious pleasure to consume.

"I don't get how you people can hold that down," Blossom whined. She sat further from the fire, which Jason supposed made sense, not only for a dryad but also for one whose body literally made organic TNT. "All that blood. Those juices. It's gross just to look at."

"The juices are the best part," Serena said. Her skewer rawer than Jason's, blood dribbled freely from both ends of her lips and down to her pallid chin. "Builds muscle."

Jason bit into his own hydra chunk. It was rough, but as he chewed he found it tasted a bit like pork.

"You're rather strong," Serena said, glancing over at him. "Have to say I'm impressed. We took care of that surprisingly fast"

"We?" Jason took another bite. "Your friend and I did. You just stood and watched us without helping."

"I like to get up close and personal. When I can't, well, that's why I have Blossom here." Serena looked down at his other hand, which had retained a deceptively tight grip on the handle of his sword ever since the hydra escaped. "Calm down, we won't attack you. That'd be a stupid thing to do, and we already have our tags." When he didn't let go of his crossguard, she settled for a wan smile. "I'm curious why someone like you would enter a Tournament like this. Seems silly to risk losing a Talisman so powerful."

"I got roped into it by a family friend."

"Ah. And will you actually give up your Talisman if you lose?"

"Of course. That's the rules, isn't it?" Jason looked down at Blossom, who immediately glanced away to avoid meeting his eyes. Where Serena seemed totally unperturbed by his capacity to kill them, Blossom looked ready to bolt at any second. "What about you? Greenkin couldn't get away with going Rogue for long, and you don't seem like ELD. Who even are you guys?

Closing her eyes, Serena finished off her skewer with a smack of her bloody lips. "We call ourselves the Guardians of the Forest."

"Never heard of it."

"We're new," Serena said, licking her smile clean. "You could say that's why we're doing this Tournament. A new group like ours needs to get some credibility, and even if we don't win this contest, making it far puts us on the map as far as the Mystic World's concerned. You could call it public relations."

Jason hummed, finishing his own skewer and throwing the stick on the ground. Blossom frowned at that—was it technically littering? "What're you Guardians up to, then?"

For the first time, Serena's smile lost the irony that had colored it. "This world is reaching... I guess you could call it a breaking point. Some Greenkin have given up, accepted that the human world is too strong to fight against. Others hate humans and want to kill them all." She looked directly at him now. "We Guardians think this world can't work for Greenkin or humans, that the true enemy is a system that destroys the planet for the benefit of a small few. Greenkin and humans have been fighting that system for a long time. There are groups all over the country doing something or other. Challenging corrupt politicians, protesting land seizures, disrupting infrastructure... The Guardians is an attempt to combine all those forces, make a broad coalition that can work together and use different methods for a common cause."

Jason blinked. "Sounds like a lot."

Smile growing wicked once more, Serena shrugged. "If that's what it takes. So, what do you think? Someone strong like you would be quite the asset to our cause."

Had this been one big pitch? Jason felt the hand on his crossguard loosen, and for the first time sent the woman his own smile. "Thanks, but no. I'm a working Ranger Captain. Got plenty on my plate as it is."

"That's too bad." Serena suddenly jumped to her feet, turning around to face him with hands behind her back. "What do you say to a more limited partnership, then? We've all completed the challenge. Let's go to the exit together."

Jason raised a brow. "How could you tell I already found my second tag?" he asked, feeling the pair of green rectangles burning a hole in his pocket.

Serena's smile turned coy. "It's the second day. Someone like you, I'd be surprised if you hadn't by now."

It had mostly been luck, as far as Jason could tell. The hydra had unfortunately not been the first monster he'd run into, and out of those one of them had just so happened to carry the colored tag he needed. "Guess I'm pretty transparent," he muttered. Then, he shook his head. "Sorry, but I can't go yet. Still gotta find the rest of my team, make sure they're alright. We came in as four, and I want us to leave as four."

"We came in as four too," Serena mused. "Got split up during the fall."

"You're not worried about your friends?"

"Yeah," Blossom mumbled.

But beside her now, Serena waved off the question. "They can handle it. Anyway, big as this Sanctuary is, finding anyone in particular seems pretty much impossible. You'd just be wasting your time, and for what?"

"My team might need me."

Serena put a finger on her chin. "So, as strong as you are, they basically depend on you. That it?"

Jason frowned. "They're not weak if that's what you mean."

"And you still worry about them?" Serena made a big show of sighing, hands splayed dramatically at her sides. "Sooner or later, we all have to leave the nest. I'd think Rangers like you would already know that much."

Frown still in place, Jason stared at her. "Don't think I can't see what you're doing. Really, you just want me to go with you as a fallback in case you run into something you can't handle yourself."

"So maybe it's my turn to be transparent. But was anything I said wrong?"

No. Truth was, the same arguments had made their way to the back of Jason's mind over the past day and a half. Every hour during which he couldn't find Malcolm, Stretch, or Red was another hour in which they all could for all he knew have wound up even further from each other. He'd kept his Spirit Flow and Sense up all those hours in an attempt to suss them out, but even the most powerful Magician couldn't have either technique encompass the entirety of a single Sanctuary biome much less the whole Sanctuary itself. All it had ended up doing was draw monsters to him, and now here he was in the aftermath of dealing with a particularly troublesome one.

What use was it to keep looking, then? Just to make himself feel better? Maybe Serena was right. Jason had to trust that Malcolm and the others would be able to handle things on their own, if not to pass the challenge then at least to survive it.

Plus, he thought in the darkest part of his heart, chances are Dad's already passed too. If he's at the exit now, maybe I can corner him before Mal does. Take care of it before it turns into a real problem.

"I guess you've got a point," Jason said, getting to his feet. With a casual air he raised his sheathed sword and propped it on his shoulder. "So let's go if we're going. We reach the exit before the sun goes down and maybe I can sleep in a real bed."

"Poor little human," Serena said, smirk far too pleased. "Can't handle a few days roughing it out with Mother Nature?"

"Not if I can help it. Like anyone sane, I prefer a mattress."

"Mm. Don't promise me a good time."

"Y'know, there's such a thing as too transparent."

- - - — MKII — - - -

Malcolm kept his eyes on the descending beast. A blue-black horse with long, feathery wings sprouting from its back. A pegasus, rare indeed on this side of the Atlantic, and large enough to carry three magicians on its back. All of them stared back down at him, and Malcolm tried to gauge their expressions. Surprise? Interest? Determination?

He clapped his hands.

Immediately one of the Magicians threw out his own hand, index and middle finger slashing down in a wide arc. The spike in Spirit was enough to warn Malcolm even through his weak Sense, and he dived out of the way just as a thin, white line slid across the ground where he'd stood, cutting through grass and stopping hard against the walls of Stretch's transparent prison.

Hands still clasped, Malcolm glanced sideways and saw the line remained there for another few moments, thick chalk drawn on the ground and sparking inches up into the air almost as if made of fire.

Damaging, but not enough to kill him outright, at least Malcolm didn't think so. The earth hadn't been split the same way it would have from one of Jason's flying slashes. Either the Trick wasn't particularly powerful, or it wasn't meant for direct offense.

The pegasus touched down and the magicians riding on its back leaped down to their feet. Breathing deep, Malcolm decided to test them further. He spit out a fireball, watching it sail through the air and leave a trail of charred, smoking grass in its wake.

The same Magician as last time slashed with his hand again, this time down at the ground before them from left to right. The white line was drawn, and when Malcolm's fireball reached it the explosion swept out in all directions, crashing against an invisible wall. When the smoke and flame dissipated, the Magician stood there unscathed, dark leather trench coat blowing in the breeze.

A barrier, Malcolm realized, and a strong one. Not unlike the box Stretch had been put in. Could this Magician have created it? Looking at where the first line had been drawn, Malcolm saw it had already disappeared and decided that no, this couldn't be the same Trick. Similar, but not the same.

Meaning it had come from one of the other two. Malcolm looked between all three, taking in every detail as quickly as he could manage. The barrier Magician stared back at him with cool, waiting eyes, one hand in his coat pocket and the other held up at the ready, index and middle finger pointed like a gun in the air. Hiding behind him was a tense-looking woman, small and lithe, brown hair pulled into a messy ponytail and eyes set warily behind a pair of big, round glasses.

Then there was the leader. Malcolm could tell at once just by the way she carried herself, a knowing smile on her face and a strutting step in her thick boots. She dressed like she was out on safari, a beige button-up rolled up to her elbows and a mass of split curls spilling down from a big, wide-brimmed hat. When their eyes met, her smile widened and Malcolm had to do everything in his power not to take a step back.

She looked at him the way a lion would a rabbit. Patient, considering, supremely confident. But most of all, hungry.

"Not bad, kid." The woman strolled to the Spirit prison, and when she reached Stretch she tapped the wall right in front of his face, knuckles thunking hollowly. "Guess you were more lucky than your friend here."

"Actually," Stretch said, hands flat against the invisible wall, "we totally planned for this."

"Ah... That supposed to impress me?"

"Just making sure we all have our facts straight here."

All the grandstanding gave Malcolm more time to examine their new enemies. It soon became obvious to him that the other woman must've cast the Spirit prison Trick; her hands were held out before her, indexes and thumbs meeting at the tips to form a rectangle. As clear an invocation as you could get , even if Malcolm had never seen this particular one before. All he had to do was break the shape and interrupt her flow.

Naturally, the enemy Magicians were just as aware of that. The man kept himself in between Malcolm and the others, watching attentively and ready to draw another line at a moment's notice.

The leader glanced back at Malcolm, turning fully away from Stretch and leaning on the Spirit prison's wall with arms folded. "I know what you're thinking, but ease off. This doesn't have to turn into a fight. How about we strike a deal instead?"

"... I'm listening," Malcolm said, keeping his stance wide.

"Sure. Give us your tags and we'll let your friend go."

"Uh, rejected," Stretch said.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

"I don't talk to caught prey."

Stretch bristled a bit at that, but the leader kept her eyes on Malcolm. Had she decided he was in charge here, the same way he'd immediately placed her authority?

Either way, Malcolm wasn't going to make it easy for her. "Your offer's pretty one-sided, don't you think?"

The leader sighed, shaking her head. "Kid, let me level with you here. That pyramphibian in there?" She pointed a thumb over her shoulder at the big orange lizard trapped in the Spirit prison with Stretch. "You've probably already figured this out, but that one's mine. Call him Jalapeño."

"You're a Beast Tamer," Malcolm said, looking at the pegasus now grazing beside her. It stood just as tranquil and docile as the pyramphibian did, reaching down with its long neck to tug carelessly at the grass. "Pretty good at it too, if you can control more than one at once."

"It's not controlling, and flattery won't get you anywhere," the leader said, though she smirked at the compliment regardless. "Look, Jalapeño might be brainless, but that's what he has me for. With my help, it's hard to survive going up against him in such a closed-off space, eh? I assume your friend's not fireproof."

"Maybe I am," Stretch said. In a moment Jalapeño locked onto him and spat out a stream of fire. Yelping, Stretch threw himself out of the way just before the flames could wash over him, falling to the ground just as they hit the invisible wall he'd been standing in front of. "Okay, I'm not, I'm not!"

"Now, you could go after Penny to end her Trick," the leader continued, ignoring the flames still burning right behind her as if on the other side of a glass screen. "But Tony here won't let you singe a single hair on her head. Will you, Tony?"

"No, Miss Leandra," Tony drawled. He'd put his hand down, but Malcolm remembered the speed at which he could draw his lines. "No ball of fire's getting through me."

It wasn't a bad strategy, Malcolm decided. Penny would trap their prey in with the pyramphibian, where they'd either surrender or get burnt away. They'd even accounted for someone evading the trap like Malcolm had, Tony's Trick the perfect shield for his allies. Whoever these people were, they were good.

But they did have one glaring flaw. One so glaring that Malcolm was half-convinced it must be part of their trap, though he couldn't understand how. They were just so... so...

So tactless.

As far as Malcolm was concerned, magic fights were all about information. You had to learn everything you could about your opponent and their tactics while making sure they didn't learn anything about you. Mystic Arts were varied enough in their application that the surprise of one could often be far more consequential than the sheer power one could grant. As Magicians, these people should've known that, yet in mere moments Malcolm had been allowed to figure out what each of them could do and how they worked together.

They certainly weren't Rangers. Even a One-Star rookie should be smart enough not to show so much of their hand, at least not unless they were supremely confident it wouldn't come back to bite them. And maybe Leandra was that confident. But she shouldn't have been, because the one piece of information she didn't have was about to upend her whole plan.

"Stretch," Malcolm called. "You said you've been practicing, right? Mind giving me a balloon in there?"

At first, the man didn't seem to understand. Then, as their eyes met the wordless intention passed between their Spirits, he perked up and grinned. "This already felt cramped enough, but since you ask..."

Leandra frowned, glancing back at Stretch just as his Spirit surged. "Balloon?"

In a second, Stretch's whole body grew five times over, bulbous and round as if filled with air. He grew so much that his body started pushing up against the walls of his box prison, and soon the whole space was filled with cloth and flesh, leaving no room to breathe. Not for him, and not for the pyramphibian he'd been trapped with. Everyone outside saw the flame salamander get pressed flat against the invisible wall, looking more and more like the other end of a sticker.

"Now," Malcolm said, watching Leandra's eyes grow wide, "you wanted to make a deal, right?"

Leandra swerved back to him. "You're killing Jalopeño?"

Malcolm shrugged. "You were gonna try and burn my friend to death."

"It was just a threat!"

"Well, guess I don’t have your conscience. Tell your girl to end the Trick."

"You..." Leandra drew herself up, trying to stay in control. "Th-That's just a Mystic Beast. Who cares?"

"Then it'll die and Stretch'll be in there alone. No fire-breathing lizard, no problem. We'll wait you out. Or you let him go now."

Penny glanced between them, a bead of sweat sliding down her forehead. "Leah, I can—"

Leandra threw a hand out to stop the girl, now glaring at Malcolm. "Give us your tag first."

"Uh, you're clearly not the one with leverage here anymore." Malcolm saw her suck in a breath and had to fight to keep himself from smiling because of how blatant a lie that was.

Had she kept calm she probably could've figured out a way around this—in the end she and hers still had the advantage in numbers if nothing else. But it seemed she really did care about her beasts. Malcolm had gambled on it based only on the fact that she'd apparently taken the time to actually name them. No sure thing, but then again none of this had been from the outset.

Take that and throw in the shock of finding out what the man she'd so easily discounted was capable of, it was no wonder she'd start to panic a little. Panic did not make for good decisions.

"Tell you what," Malcolm said, using the momentum now that he had it. "Let Stretch go and we can settle this fair and square. You guys against us for the tags. No tricks, no ambushes, just a straight fight where the best team wins. Sound fair?"

Leandra held his gaze, and Malcolm thought he could sense her thinking through her options for the first time. Don't think, he prayed, some anxiety bubbling inside even as he kept his face confident. Trust me. Make the mistake.

She closed her eyes, and for a second Malcolm thought she'd decided to call him on his bullshit. Then to his immediate relief, she gave him a nod. "Penny, break it. Let the guy go."

Sighing, Penny pulled the frame of her hands apart, and at once Stretch popped even larger as all the force he'd been pushing up against the walls with was released. The strength of it was enough to send Jalapeño away, and Leandra had to lunge sideways to catch it before it could go flying across the plain. She landed roughly on the ground, the salamander in her arms, both of them disorientated.

Good.

Malcolm clapped his hands and ran forward, Spirit flowing like a tidal wave, hoping that Stretch would take it as the cue it was. They weren't quite done yet.

Leandra and Penny both were too distracted to try and stop him, at least not until he'd already filled his lungs and breathed out the largest stream of fire he could manage. It washed over the distance between them like a blazing avalanche, consuming every inch, filling the air with smoke and disintegrating strands of blackened grass.

The only one who hadn't been distracted—who had, as ordered, kept his unwavering attention on Malcolm—was Tony. The man's hand swept through the air, drawing a line right in front of his feet, and just in time too. A wall came up right before the flaming river flooded into them, breaking it into two thick, sweltering strands at either side as if cut through with a knife.

Tony had to narrow his eyes to see through the fire and smoke, coughing against it. Behind him, he heard Leandra and Penny doing the same. Though his wall had taken the brunt of the attack, they were now surrounded on nearly all sides by a bright haze of embers, cinder, and upturned dirt particles floating in rushing plumes through the air.

So much power! Not enough to break through his barrier—almost nothing was—but the sheer scope of it was still impressive. Tony might've congratulated the kid for training it up if it wasn't now being used against him.

But Leandra had agreed to a fair fight, hadn't she? Apparently, that had been a lie. Tony frowned and kept his eyes ahead, waiting for what he knew would be another barrage. Underhanded as their opposition got, he at least would always be ready for it.

Except when what broke through the haze wasn't another fireball but Malcolm himself. The boy jumped through the smoke and flame with his arms crossed before his face, skin an angry red and steaming from the heat, sprinting right at him.

Startled, Tony quickly drew another line. It came up just like the previous one, ready to stop the charge, but then Malcolm leaped up into the air over the hastily conjured wall. Too high over it, Tony saw; some twenty feet, probably as high as he could go.

Tony held his hand out, gritting his teeth. Did the kid think he couldn't draw lines in the air?

Before he could do just that, something else slammed into Malcolm. Or rather, someone else. Gaping now, Tony saw it was Stretch up there with the boy, arms and legs fitting themselves like a harness on Malcolm's body, torso flattening and broadening. A sail?

Tony's eyes flew open. A parachute!

He sliced the air with his hand, index and middle fingers drawing a line that cut across the space as well as any sword, splitting cleanly through the smoke. But it was too late. Already Stretch's body had caught the heat and bounded up high into the sky. Another balloon, though one open at the bottom to take in hot air.

In moments they were well away. Much too far for Tony's lines to reach them. He turned around, mouth already open to tell Leandra that they couldn't be allowed to get away. Then that mouth clamped shut once he saw Leandra staring back at him. Only Leandra.

"Where's Penny?" he asked, glancing around with sudden worry. Flames still surrounded them, though by now they'd begun to blow out. If Penny had somehow fallen into them...

Leandra shook her head, face pinched. Jalapeño shook in place at her feet, clearly rattled still from its near asphyxiation. Her pegasus—Cirrus it was called—looked ready to bolt, wings waving sporadically and rearing up in utter confusion.

"The tags are gone," Leandra muttered, looking up at the diminishing shape of the escaping Rangers.

Tony clicked his tongue. "Alright, but what about Penny?!"

"Where do you think?" Leandra breathed out a chuckle. It grated even in her ears. "Damn it. They sure got us good..."

Several hundred feet away and soaring through the air, Malcolm and Stretch both cackled like a pair of hyenas.

"I can't believe that worked!" Stretch was saying, feeling the air whip through him. It felt strange, being this flat and vulnerable. It felt like the smallest thing could rip right through him. But even so, his head was too high on adrenaline and success for him to mind it any. It even felt liberating to be so high, to fly so fast, to exist so unbounded. "Man, I wish I could've seen their faces!"

"Good job getting the tags!" Malcolm shouted, hearing his voice carry over the rushing wind. "And getting her was a nice touch too!"

He glanced over at Penny, who'd been wrapped up by one of Stretch's snake-like arms from neck to toe. She screamed a frenzy of unintelligible words at him, face twisted in terror and eyes nearly popping through her glasses. Nothing new there; she'd been doing the same thing ever since Stretch plucked her on their way out of harm's reach.

"YOU PEOPLE ARE INSANE! LET ME GO!"

Malcolm was just glad that, like him, she hadn't quite mastered her trick yet. Even if she had, the strange frame she made with her hands implied she'd need them to activate it regardless. Good thing they were safely held tight against an immobile body.

"Just wanted to be safe!" Stretch said. "I dunno what her range is, but the last thing we needed was her trapping us in another box while we flew away."

"Speaking of range..." Malcolm turned to look at where they'd taken off from, spotting the burning field a distance away. If he squinted he could just about make out a strange shape rising into the air and soaring in their direction. "Don't forget that pegasus they had. I'm betting that thing flies faster than we do."

That stopped Stretch short. "And I'm betting they'll be pretty mad once they catch us..."

"Right, which is why we can't let them catch us." Malcolm's eyes swept over the landscape. From so high up he could see most of the Sanctuary's distinct biomes, and most importantly he could see the ones that would make for the best hiding places. Making a split-second decision, he pointed down. "Get us back into the forest, Stretch! They won't see us from up here under all that cover."

"Sounds good! The plan was to go in and out anyway, right?" Stretch shifted ever so slightly, and soon they were pointed back toward the trees, descending steadily. "Man, wait 'till everyone hears about this!"

Malcolm wasn't quite as thrilled about how that had gone. Too many close calls, too much left to chance. Had Leandra been just a little less willing to act on impulse it would've been them out all their tags. But things did go right, he thought. Your plan did work.

So maybe it was alright. For once, he had no big complaints. Not with the situation and, perhaps most surprising, not even with himself.

"PUT ME DOWN RIGHT FUCKING NOW YOU MANIACS!"

Alright, the shouting was starting to get annoying, but aside from that.

"Wonder what the others are up to," he muttered. Smiling, he supposed Stretch had a point. It'd be nice to see what the others thought of all this. Maybe it would be enough to compete with whatever craziness they were getting up to.

- - - — MKII — - - -

"I hate this idea."

"Why'd you agree to it, then?"

"I didn't agree. You guys literally took me up here and now I can't get down by myself without dying."

Red shrugged, or at least he tried to. It was hard to gesture with an arm raised up over his head. "Details."

They flew over the air—at least that's how Red described it, even if Lu refused to call it anything other than 'running on the winds.' The canyon elf carried him with one muscular hand gripped tight around his forearm. The same Trick that gave him traction in the air also stuck them together like glue, enough that slipping off seemed practically impossible even with how bouncy the ride was. Each step forward was done in a bounding leap that jostled him like a hanging ring of keys.

In this way, the group traveled over the desert to the large mass of monsters whose features grew more clear the closer they got. Thick-legged masses of fur with big, white eyes and stumpy horns. Six-legged dinosaurs with thin heads and an even thinner, anteater-like tongue that whipped around in lashing loops. Bipedal creatures whose wings flapped as quick as any hummingbird, their heads entirely consumed by a beak that stretched into a full helm with a singular razor-sharp point.

The sight filled Red with wonder and excitement. Chase, who hung from Lu's other arm, was filled with the opposite.

"This won't end well at all," the other boy groaned.

Red sighed. "Dude, seriously, stop being such a drag. I already have a friend who sucks the life out of everything. I don't need two."

"I agree with Friend Red," Lu shouted. As much effort as he was putting in, the volume seemed all he could manage. "We are companions now, yes? We will live or die by our trust in each other. I have seen you do battle, Twig, and I trust you will not break as easily as it looks like you should."

"Gee, thanks."

"It'll be fine!" Red sent Chase as reassuring a smile as he could manage. "Look, let's just go over it again. You remember the plan, right?"

Chase scowled at him. "You mean the one you came up with in five seconds?"

"Right! Flawless!"

"It's karma, isn't it. I did something unforgivable in my past life, and now I'm here doing this."

"We are nearly there!" Lu said.

His shout drew some attention from the monster birds. They began squawking, turning to see the group of Magicians as they passed by. Eventually, when it became clear these Magicians weren't friendly, they started trying to intercept.

Red gave a whoop before throwing out a punch and slamming the closest one away. Huffing, Chase unsheathed his sword and started slashing in kind.

"Look, this just better work!" he said, starting to reach for his Spirit. "Lu, get a green tag first, alright?! Green!"

"I will return with many!" Lu said, now bearing down near the sand. The grounded monsters started taking notice of them too, and some were quick to start rushing after them with maws already open and fangs glinting. "Prepare yourselves!"

"And try to keep up, 'Twig!' " Red said, grinning down at the waiting beasts.

" 'Glowstick' is bad enough, jerk!"

Lu let go of them at the same time. Falling at an incline, Chase clapped his sword between his hands and then tapped his heart with two fingers. Second Gear should be enough to simply not die; Red was the one looking to beat on as many of these monsters as he could find.

As they landed, Spirit exploded from Chase's body. It coated his skin as he straightened, a thin and effervescent light that waved with each movement, each breath. Next to him, Red drew up too, hands already balled into fists. Monsters kept marching all around them, throwing up clouds upon clouds of sand, the closest beginning to surround them.

"There's our guy," Red said, staring out at the front of the stampede.

There the Magician in charge of this monster army sat atop his mammoth, and going by how he turned to look back at them their entrance hadn't gone unnoticed even by him.

Red came close, his back to Chase's. "Alright, let's give him a show."

Chase looked up to see Lu dipping out of sight, chased by a whole flock of avian creatures. The elf was depending on their distraction. "And it better be a good one."

"Ha! Now you're speaking my language."

Spirit flowing and the sun beating down on them, the two got started.