Swift As A Coursing River

Rushing Water
"I think we were a bit lucky to run into a lake like this out here in the forest." Alaskiel sighed as he sat is back against a tree and watched Ono, who was swimming in the water, trying to grab them a bite to eat.

"Lucky doesn't cut it." Tyrone was patching up his own wounds from earlier. "I think, had we not found this area, with these medicinal herbs combined with the magic you memorised, we'd have been shit out of luck a long time ago."

Erza sighed, glancing around. "How many of these bastards do we have left? I mean we've been out here for a damn while, and it's like they'll keep on coming...Kinda tired too. And hungry. And sleepy. And...wait, these are first-world problems, let's just do it!"

"Calm yourself, Erza." Tyrone snapped as Ono made a large splash down into into the water, pulling up two large catfish. She then fell into the water as the beasts made a wide jerking motion and tackled her down. No one paid her any attention.

"I think, after we get some food in our stomachs, we should rest here for the night." Alaskiel began to twirl his hat on his head. Unbeknownst to them all, Ono was wrestling with the giant catfish, punching it in the lower body. "I have a feeling one of the fragments is here."

Erza nodded. "Sounds like a good plan to me. I mean, where's the harm in it? Not like something will attack us in our sleep or something..." Though she was rightfully paranoid. "Naturally, one of us should keep watch. Dibs on not being first."

"I'll give it the first go." Alaskiel replied, ducking just in time for the fish that flew over his head. "It'll be simple for me, my magic is better than all of yours, after all." He looked over at Ono again. "Hey, kid, you alright over there?"

"Don't mind me!" Ono called back, bashing the nest fish against the shore. "Dinner is jumpy!"

Erza sighed. "Want me to stab it's goddamn brains out? ...Well, at least it's not like that music where the bass is dropped halfway through the damn song and I have no idea why people like it so much...." ...Huh.

"N-glub!" Ono was dragged underwater before she could reply, only to resurface, gasping. "I'm a ninja, I can do th-!" Dragged under yet again.

"...Well, at least she has spirit!" Alaskiel shrugged.

Erza laughed. "...So, she's a ninja. How did I not notice this? From what I know, ninja were basically rural types who had to think outside the bushido box, and therefore got a reputation for deception and trickery; the legends of mystical powers came later. It's like assigning magical powers to a league of talking turkeys and then having them topple governments and hire out to the highest bidding supervillain...Wait, I said that out-loud, didn't I? ...Dammit." She quickly shut up, hiding her face in embarrassment due to everyone looking at her funny.

"You sure know some odd things." Tyrone looked at her blankly as Ono finally managed to drag four large fish out of the water, speared on wooden pikes, and jammed them into the ground. "With a bit of this..." She quickly made a roaring fire using her magic. "Dinner is now cooking!"

Erza seemed to drool a little. "....Damn, have you ever had the feeling that you wanted to bite somebody's head off? That's how I feel right now. I'm so hungry that I could eat one of you."

The three seemed to just have some agreement that Erza would continue to blabber about things that made no sense, and resigned to just let her talk. The fish were soon cooked, and they each took one and began to eat.

"I'm actually wondering..." Ono said between bites. "What happens if we don't manage to destroy all these fragments?"

"I see what you mean." Tyrone bit off a large piece of fish. "With only two advance teams for nine demons...the odds look bad."

Erza made a bicep polishing gesture. "Ehhh, don'tcha worry 'bout it! I mean, we've been doing good so far. Let's keep up the good work, team!"

"Even then, we still have to worry about the council." Alaskiel pointed out. "This 'lil hunting expedition...it's just distractin' from what Jason made Akatsuki for in the first place."

Erza nodded. "Right, right. You'd think that they're not ONLY going after our guild, however. There's even bigger threats out there- focusing on us solely is not likely to go well, ya know?"