Seth sighed, trudging down a narrow deer track between the trees. He slipped, heart jumping, but regained his footing shortly, sending an acid glare at the mud that had betrayed him. "If you were alive, mud, I would hit you." Growling, the man jumped down onto a rock, and headed towards a river, its rushing water creating a thunderous, constant booming in his ears. Dropping down on the bank, he splashed some on his face, and then cupped his hands, filling them with water and drinking it hastily. "Mm..." Having drunk his fill, he stood up again, rubbing the back of his hand across his mouth, and started walking along the bank, listening to the sound of the river and the wind in the trees. "Wonder how many people actually come through here? I don't see any tracks...of course, that doesn't mean anything." He remarked, talking to himself since he had gotten in the habit of doing so through the long hours of solitary walking.

Astra looked up at the moon, then down at the map in her hand. She was about to take another step forward when suddenly her head started throbbing. With a startled yelp, she dropped the map and clutched her head, a sudden rush of memories filling her head. Images of jail bars flashed behind her eyes, and a blonde girl with a staff and wings. The sky, and a sudden burning feeling on her back. IN a sudden rage, she drew her Celt and took off, running out infront of a man. Growling when she saw him, she lundged forward, prepared to kill.

Seth yelped, and threw himself to the side, rolling out of the way of the weapon pointed in his direction. "What the hell!" He stood up, and eyed the strange girl warily, a nerve twitching in his temple. "What was that for? I don't even know you!" Snapping the words, he narrowed his eyes, getting ready to draw his own weapon if she persisted in attacking.

Astra smirked before holding out an ARM. She called it forth as a nature ARM, and suddenly the ground rose up in a spikey wave of rocks and dirt and mud, heading straight to Seth.

"ASTRA!" A females voice called and she ran past Seth, shoving him out of the way before twirling her staff around in a fast circle, breaking up the rock as it hit. "ON BEHALF OF THE AILYX ROYAL GUARD I COMAND YOU TO DROP YOUR WEAPONS!"

Astra narrowed her eyes before turning and taking off, diving into the deep river only to be swept off a waterfall into the ocean.

Kikoto growled, just about to take off after her before a strong pair of arms wrapped around her, holding her in a lock, pinning her arms to the side. She struggled and they held her tighter, tight enough to force her to drop her staff.

Ichishi suddenly popped by, and noticed the two "Geez, why do I gotta be here when there's some battle, and I'm sleepy too" Ichishi said walking to the two and then yawned. He looked at the two, then fell asleep, basically ignoring them.

Seth held onto the strange girl for a few moments more, then released her when he was sure she wouldn't bolt after the attacker. "She's probably gone by now, don't bother going after her." He said quietly, and looked at her seriously, shaking his head and turning away slightly to look up at the sky. "You called her Astra...who is she?" Mildly curious, he glanced over at the stranger with the staff once again, and cocked his head before looking back to the waterfall, wondering if his assailant had been killed on the way over or not. It seemed unlikely, she seemed stronger than to be killed by some waterfall.

Kikoto picked up her staff before muttering something. Suddenly, pale yellow, glowing shards flew around the man behind her, encasing him in the cage. She turned sideways slightly, hair covering her eyes. "Who are you?"

Seth blinked, and looked at the cage, twitching. Always in trouble, aren't you? He thought in annoyance, touching the glowing bars, but they shocked him and he dropped his hand, eyeing the blonde haired girl. "No one in particular. My name's Seth, would you mind letting me out of here?" He rolled his eyes, hair falling over them and partly hiding one.

Kikoto looked at him with an emotionless face and hard eyes. "Why were you with her? With Astra?" Kikoto commented, touching one shard with her staff and making it disappear. She reached in and grabbed Seth, pulling him into the shards. "Tell me or i'll make it hurt more."

Ichishi woke up, noticing that Seth was in a cage, and some other person was near him. He walked towards the person near Seth and asked "Hello, do you know why this person of which I do not know is in a cage." He then looked at Seth and asked him "What's your name anyway?"

(Hope you guys don't mind if I join this topic.)

((*Twitches* Yes... I mind...))

Seth's eyes snapped open, and he yelped, trying to push himself away from the shards, but failing. "Ow! I don't know...ow! She attacked me!" He shut one eye, glaring at the girl who was pinning him to the electric bars. "Would you mind letting me go?" He flinched as the shards shocked him again, sending impulses of pain through his entire body. Not noticing the other due to the electric shocks, he kept one eye tightly shut and glared at the staff-girl with the other, twitching.

Kikoto narrowed her eyes before shoving him back and making the shards disappear. "Hn..." She turned, not even giving a glance at the boy who had said hello. She looked around before seeing a paper on the ground. Walking over, she picked it up, making her staff disappear. It returned to a ring form as she opened the paper to reveal a map. A small smile appeared on her face. "You, boy." She looked at Seth. "Lets go."

Seth blinked, and looked at her, narrowing his eyes in annoyance and glancing at the slight burn marks on one arm left by the cage. He sighed, then flicked his gaze back to the girl. "My name's not 'boy.'" He said flatly, and then shook his head, taking half a step back. "Who are you, anyway? You don't need to be giving me orders seeing as I don't even know you."

Kikoto looked at him with the same cold eyes before taking her badge from her hip. She held it out. "I am Kikoto of the Ailyx Royal Guard and I command you to assist me in capturing an escaped convict. Now lets move."

Seth twitched, eyeing the badge, and then shook his head. "I don't even know what this Ailyx Royal Guard thing is. Care to enlighten me?" He gave her an annoyed glance, planting his feet in the thick grass. "And if I don't know what you're talking about I'm not going to take orders." Not like I want to anyway.

Ichishi, feeling alone, sighed "Why I'm I ignored like this." Ichishi said as he looked at the ground, then back up. He thought I don't like being ignored, and other things, and now it's happening, this stinks. "I wish I'd be noticed, and at least noticed for more than a minute." He said to himself, still hoping for someone to notice him.

Kikoto glanced at the other before looking back to Seth. She activated her staff and walked over to Seth and the other boy. Looking at Seth, she proded him in the stomach with the largest spike. "If you COME i'll TELL you." She said before eyeing the smaller boy. "Whose he? Your brother?"

Seth shook his head, and shrugged, also turning his gaze to the younger boy. "No. What gives you that impression? We don't look anything alike." He remarked, then cocked his head at the newcomer. "Who are you, anyway?" He inquired, raising a brow and then turning his focus back to the spiked staff which was pressing into his stomach. "Would you mind?" He snapped, glaring at the girl in charge of the offending weapon.

Kikoto looked at him. "Oh, no, I don't mind." A slightly sadistic smile came over her face before disappearing. "Anyway, are you going to help me or not? This... place, whereever it is, isn't safe as long as Astra is out there." Kikoto's face became slightl;y stressed. "Shes a theif and a killer; one of the most dangerous criminals in the history of Mandar, and now I fear that the paracite is weakening and her memory may be returning."

Seth rolled his eyes, and shrugged. "I already knew that she's a killer, seeing as she tried to kill me with that hammer of hers." He remarked dryly, and moved away from the spiked end of the staff with a distrustful glance towards it. "I've never heard of Mandar." He added, and raised a brow. "Or this Ailyx Royal Guard thing you were going on about."

"That 'hammer' is the all famous and powerful Celt. She stole it." Kikoto said acidly at Seth before proding after him. "Come back here..."

"I'm Ichishi, and a killer eh? I'm becoming interested in this." Ichishi said as he looked around, thinking of what to do, and how to do it. If that person's a killer then I'd like to watch all of this, maybe this'll get interesting after all, maybe it'll keep me awake too. He thought, also thinking why he would be called Seth's brother, I don't even have a brother.

Seth glared at Kikoto icily. "Stop poking me with that thing!" He exclaimed, growling. Catching Ichishi's name, he looked over, and smiled wryly. "Ichishi, then? Seth." He felt the staff press slightly harder into his stomach, and shot Kikoto an acid glance, obviously getting annoyed by her jabbing.

Kikoto narrowed her eyes. "No. Not until you help me." Kikoto somewhat demanded.

Seth glared at her, then grabbed the handle of the staff and pushed it to the side. "You know, I really don't like your superior attitude."

Kikoto narrowed her eyes. "And I really don't like your incompetentness. But people live with things they don't like." Kikoto growled, moving to stab him with her staff slightly.

Seth glared at her icily, jerking out of the way of the sharp end of the staff. "I'm not incompetent. And if I was, why would you demand my help? Maybe you're the incompetent one if you have to stoop to asking someone like me." He narrowed his eyes, moving sideways and keeping his eyes on the staff.

"So Seth is it?" Ichishi said remembering the name "Okay I got it, wow, getting poked with a staff constantly must be annoying, I'd be annoyed for sure." Ichishi watched Seth get poked with a stick for a while, to see if it would be fun to watch, if not, he'd need something to occupy his time.

(Whoops, forgot what it was called.)

Kikoto twitched. "I'm incompetent? No, I think you are. You.... wingless creatures don't know how to follow orders." Kikoto spoke the word wingless like it was acid, and she ripped her staff away from him before moving to hit him with it, not reilizing how close they both were to the river.

((ITS NOT A STICK! %^&%$%#%$&%$#^%$#))

Seth growled, ducking and moving aside. "You don't have wings either, genius." He snapped, moving sideways to avoid the staff again, then his foot caught on a rock that was hidden in the grass, and he fell backwards over the waterfall, grabbing Kikoto's staff and giving a hard yank to try and pull her in with him. "If I'm going down...so are you!"

Kikoto yelped, stumbling forward. They both hit the water and KIkoto recalled her ARM. Kikoto nerrowed her eyes at Seths smirking face before looking behind her. "Oh no! You fool! Theres a waterfall!" She attempted to swim away but he grabbed her. "Let go!"

Seth glared at her, holding her fast against his chest. "No. If I'm going to die, so are you." He informed her in an uncharacteristically cold voice. Turning his head slightly, he watched the waterfall approaching, narrowing his eyes against the spray of water from it.

"That's bad," Ichishi said as he jumped in for no real reason "But everybody's doing it, I wonder if I should help them." Ichishi swam towards the two but unfortanatly just noticed the waterfall. He was at least a foot away from the two and it'd be hard to swim back with such fast running water in front of them. "I can't think of anything to do this time." Ichishi said, wondering if they'd all be alive if they fell down the waterfall.

Kikoto growled, gasping as water rushed over her and Seths head. Suddenly, they went over. Kikoto screamed, grabbing the only secure thing around her, Seth. "LET ME GO AND I CAN SAVE US!"

Seth coughed, barely surfacing, and looked at her, narrowing his eyes. "Yeah right! How are you gonna do that?"

Kikoto growled. "Let me go and i'll show you!" Kikoto looked behind her at the water that was comming up fast. Before she could think, they hit it.

"AH!" Seth yelped, crashing into the water with Kikoto. He shut his eyes, feeling the water close over his head, and kicked violently, trying to pull them to the surface. The current was strong, dragging them down, but at last he broke free from it, surfacing and coughing violently.

"That's it I'm leaving." Ichishi said spinning and create air, then gently dropping the two all the way from the waterfall by getting them in the wind and landing on the ground. "There, you two are safe." Ichishi said then flying away.

Kikoto coughed, tredding water and looking at Seth as they floated in the ocean. She grabed his shoulders and pushed him under the water before grumbling something angrily and swimming to shore.