Encounters

Ambush
The sun began to creep over the village, casting a warmth onto the sleeping group. Jason was the first to stir, and his nose caught the scent of a woman. His eyes opened to reveal Solele sleeping next to him; sure enough, she'd crept over when she figured he was asleep. He could already hear her denials and claims of sleepwalking now. He set up, gently stroking her hair.

He was happy to have her back.

Jason stood up, stretching his body before walking over to the river and splashing water on his face. He couldn't help but feel a chill in the air; it seemed to be permeating all around, mixing in with the strange silence of the morning. He frowned. "Where's Tsuruko?"

Solele's eyes snapped open as her emerald pupils swirled a few times- a regular trait of an Esper, apparantly. She herself leapt from her position, somewhat annoyed. Then again, when wasn't Solele annoyed? Adding onto that, Solele was an absolute saint compared to you-know-who. "...Did we just do...that?"

"No, Solele, no we didn't." Jason said with a slight edge to his voice. He didn't meant to come off as rude; there would be, after all, plenty of time to do 'that' later. "I hate to make this a rough morning, but we need to find Giselle and Tsuruko, take Riskal, and get moving. I have a feeling something's about to happen."

"I think that crabby woman's just pissed off and left us for a bit." Solele responded, rather unsure of herself right about now. But one thing was for sure- Giselle had definitely, probably left, though Solele wasn't sure if she actually knew how to return to a regular world and left them there.

"She'll be back, she's not our concern right now." Jason said hurriedly as he swiftly stood up. "We'll find Tsuruko and move, Giselle will be back at some point."

"HEYHEYHEYHEYHEY!" Tsuruko...immediately ran past the two at full pelt- she appeared to moving faster than a speeding bullet. No doubt; this was her lowest speed. "Canyouatleasthelpmegetawayfromthesepeopletheyrehardtoreasonwithandtheyrechasingmeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-" ...What?

And there was no doubt about it- an angry mob of villagers was chasing Tsuruko Sejren down with torches and pitchforks, screaming and ranting angrily- something about "The railway bujin" or something along those lines.

"....." Jason was speechless. This was the result of Tsuruko's carelessness yesterday; had she just let him handle that beam situation, this angry mob wouldn't be an issue. "Tsuruko, Solele, get to Riskal now!" Jason ordered, and, surprisingly, the two headed towards the Legion. "Tch..." Jason swung his arm in the direction of the angry mob, releasing a large blast of wind from the force of his blow; it upset the ground, causing a large amount of earth to raise up in a wide arc, serving as a barrier while Jason quickly hopped onto Riskal's neck. "Riskal, up in the air, now." Riskal heeded its master's orders and immediately took the sky, spreading its wings as it launched upward, far above the mobbing village. As soon as they were in flight, Jason shot a cold glare at Tsuruko. "Are you aware that situation was your fault, Tsuruko?"

"Not really!" Tsuruko retorted ever so casually as she rolled around on the Legion's back, trying to keep a steady hold. "Can't they notice that Gaiki is different to the bujin version? Mine's of a lighter colour, and it doesn't have the wings, and that one's visor is inverted! It's as clear as day!"

"They're humans, what did you expect?" Jason replied sharply, sounding remarkably like Levi. "You looked like something they're scared of, it's natural they'd react violently. In fact, I'm surprised it took them that long to actually form a mob." Riskal took them farther away from the village; Jason couldn't care less where Giselle was by this point, he just didn't feel like killing a bunch of innocent people to protect Tsuruko. And it wasn't just that. He still felt that dark edge in the air; it wasn't from the humans.

"We need to keep moving. Something's coming."

"Oh, please." Tsuruko got back at him. "I'm sure that I could have talked them out of it..."

"I'M GISELLE MERCURY, THE PHOENIX KNIGHT!"

Tsuruko's bad flashbacks were a reminder- that she wasn't good at handling angry, irrational mobs. "...Or not."

"...What's coming?" Solele ignored Tsuruko, asking Jason such a question in confusion.

"I don't know yet." Jason replied rigidly. "The only thing I know is this; it's dangerous, and it's here to kill." He could feel darkness approaching; darkness intent on swallowing them whole. And all he knew was every instinct was telling him to run. He'd never experienced this before; abject fear. Even against Gehaburn.

Gehaburn.

"Riskal, move faster!" Jason urged, egging him on. The thing that was following him, it felt similar in essence to Gehaburn. But worse. Far worse.

Tsuruko murmured to supposedly herself, "Of course, if the thing that's chasing us is what I think it is, it'd probably punch a hole in your flying giant cat..."

Solele tried to slap Tsuruko, but the wing resistance put her off a bit. "It's a Legion! L-E-G-I-O-N!"

"I just name things how I see them..." Tsuruko seemed to emit a low growl. "And why do white-haired people always try and hit me!?"

"I need you two to focus." Jason hissed. "Tsuruko...what do you know about the Primordial Demons? The Two Heavenly Demons, if that's what you prefer." His own knowledge was hazy; a combination of research and two hundred year of 'ghost' memory forced into his head by Hephaestus — by himself. "They are Gehaburn and Elsydeon. Do they sound at all familiar?"

"Yep." Tsuruko responded, adding, "I think that I've seen them before...along with their clones. Many, many clones. Like, maaaaaaaaaaaany clones. Well, one's light and one's dark. They're cast off from Origin and Varian, Elysdeon and Gehaburn are, respectively. I think it was kinda vague what I learned other than that, though."

"I used to have Gehaburn sealed within my body." Jason explained shortly. "Someone else — and I only recently discovered who — has Elsydeon sealed inside him. The problem, however..." He looked back towards them both. "...is the thing coming for us feels exactly like Gehaburn, only much, much worse. I don't know what good fleeing will do, but every instinct in my body is telling me not to fight it."

"Ah, that's Hikari, right?" Tsuruko paused momentarily. "But Hikari is a girl." She looked back- her head unnaturally twisting around with a mechanical whir. "We should get to the next bit of land we see. Preferably near the sea."

Jason had Riskal lean slightly to the left and began a slow descent. "Do you have a plan then?" Jason inquired; he was curious as to why she would advise landing when he could still feel it following. It hadn't decided to stop, though it did seem to be slowing its pace.

"Of course I do!" Tsuruko seemed a bit snippy, at least momentarily. "I plan everything from the very beginning! Now, land over near the sea, so we can try something new!"

Riskal, on Jason's command, began a long descent down to the rocky shoreline; the Legion dug its claws into the stones to slow itself to a full stop and the three slid off Riska's back. Now fully on the ground, the smell of the seawater hit their nostrils; Jason found it unpleasant.

Tsuruko herself seemed to fall straight off- not sliding- but barelling down involuntarily, ending up with her landing with her limbs in a twisted mess. "I was never good with landings..."

"Huh?" Solele was starting to get worried about Tsuruko's exploits.

"Oh, I just kamikazed a being of pure energy into a active volcano." Tsuruko hopped to her feet, scratching her ears. "I remember it like it was yesterday."