Echo woke up like every other morning, tucked under a thick blanket. He woke up before his alarm went off, and when it did he squeezed his eyes tight as it beeped over and over. He quickly hit the top of it and sighed. He looked over at the wall that his bed was pushed against and saw a calender. He looked for the specific day, and his eyes widened with excitement. He pushed the blanket off of him, revealing he was only wearing a slim black v neck shirt and a pair of black boxer briefs. The date read 'First Mission'. This was the day he had been waiting for for a few weeks now. The Cramming year of Gemist Hunter Training finally paid off. Today hes finally going to become a Gemist Hunter.

Echo quickly walked over to his closet, putting on his daily wear. After taking off his night shirt, he put in a thin black and gray stripped sweater and a pair of black pants along with black running boots, and walked out his room. His room was on the 12 level of a 24 leveled building that was away from normal beings. This was known as Home, its not only where the Gemist Hunters stay and train, but its where the Scientists of G.E.M. undergo experiments and where different data on Gemists and threats can be found. He walked down the metal floor, each level had a square perimeter made out of metal for the floor, to the left of the metal floor where the rooms but to the right was a rail where if peered over you could see the bottom level. Echo yawned a little as he scratched his head as he came closer to the northern perimeter of the level he was one where the Elevator could be found. He made it to the elevator and pressed level one.

After a few seconds he managed to get to the bottom floor. He ran out of the elevator and watched as the Gemist Hunters and Scientists walked back and forward. The nervousness finally kicked in. He walked towards the registration desk,"Today is my first mission." He said softly looking up at the lady who was typing on the Holographic computer.

"Please show me your bar-code." She said without emotion, the same as her distant gray eyes and her pale white hair, all the woman across the registration desks appeared this way."Oh...right." Echo said trying not to make eye contact with her. He turned his back towards her and pulled up the hair that fell on his neck, showing a bar-code that looked as though it should have been on a box of cereal or store item. She lady placed her hand, palm up, inches away from Echo's neck. Her hand became unattached to her wrist showing a red scanner rimmed with metal, a red light beeped on Echo's bar-code and her hand became attached to her wrist again."Thank you." She said without emotion. Echo turned around as she begun to type again.

"Alias, Echo. Male, 16 years of age. Classified, Geomancer. Completed Missions, 0. Available Missions, 1. Printing Mission Overview." She said not looking at Echo. The lady grabbed a piece of paper from under the desk and gave it to him,"Have a nice day." She said and didn't acknowledge him further.

Echo walked away with a frown on his face then looked at his Mission,"Hm, it seems that I'm not the only new recruit in this mission."

A dim light strayed into the darkness of Saber's room as sweat beaded down his torso. He had not slept that night due to prepping himself for his first mission. His muscles were strained from vertical push ups, pull ups, sit ups, and several fighting styles he had been practicing while waiting for sleep to take over him. A grin appeared on his tanned face as he caught sight of the clock next to his bed as he finished his last vertical push up. "Time to report in." he said quietly to himself.

He snapped the lights on and walked into the bathroom, catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror. His dark hair was thick with sweat and his eyes were slightly bloodshot from lack of sleep, but his physical appearance made it seem as if he had all the energy he needed. He stuck his head in the sink, washing out the sweat and then grabbed a towel to dry off. He pulled on his regular clothing; a white undershirt, a heavy blue jacket, his pale blue jeans and a pair of white shoes.

He strolled out of his room and onto the metal walkway of the 10th floor, running a hand through his hair and taking a deep breath. His right hand slid across the railing as he made his way to the elevator, peering down to the first floor below him. He could barely see the female robot at the registration desk typing on her computer as always. He couldn't believe that today he was finally going to get his first mission. 3 years of training had seemed like a life time to him, and now that he was finished everything seemed like a dream to him. Probably why he had trouble sleeping at night. It didn't bother him much, however, just as long as his abilities were top notch and didn't suffer from him being slightly tired.

The slight hum of the elevator calmed Saber's nerves as he descended to the first floor. The door slid open and the registration desk came into view. Hands in his pockets and nerves completely hidden with a confident smile, Saber approached the desk. "I'm reporting in for a mission." he said eying the woman.

"Please show me your bar-code." is all she said, her voice as emotionless as the expressions on her face. Saber nodded and held out his left hand, allowing her to scan his wrist. She then spat out his information like a computer. "Alias, Saber. Male, 16 years of age. Classified, Monk. Completed Missions, 0. Available Missions, 1. Printing Mission Overview." Once the printing process was done, she handed Saber a piece of paper and then went back to typing on the computer. "Have a nice day."

Saber's dark eyes scanned the paper, spotting his alias next to a couple others. Each alias seemed to have a very short description of the person it belonged to. A cooperative mission... he thought. at least I won't be alone. He walked away from the desk and then spotted someone not far in front of him. A brown headed kid in front of him who matched one of the alias descriptions carried the same piece of paper he did. He looked to be the same age as Saber, and so the monk was sure he might have the same mission.

He caught up to the boy and looked over his own paper a second time, trying to remember the boy's alias. "Echo?" he hoped he had the name right. "I'm Saber. I think we might have been paired for a mission together."

Echo looked over at the boy that approached him with a distant smile, his mind was still on the mission, though he didn't want to seem stuck up. Echo was a complete bookworm tried to be the best of the best when it came to Gemist Hunter Testing, his knowledge over the different Gemist and populated Gemist Attacked areas was exceptionally top quality."Yeah, we were in a couple classes together, you're Saber right?" Echo recalled this new Hunter, he was very skilled when it came to fighting, almost to the point of intimidation. Echo looked back at the paper. It was him and Saber as partners, he thought it was a good partnership since Saber was a melee fighter and Echo could perform magic attacks, though Echo's magic was powerful it always depending on the monsters in the area.

"It seems that we are suppose to report to a Airship immediately," Echo said softy, "odd how quickly they are trying to put in the field huh?" Echo sighed, he walk to the Elevator, and pressed for it to open. He walked in and waited for Saber to come so that could go to the top floor, that could also only be accessed by the Elevators(there were 4 on the northern perimeter). Echo was nervous and ready all at the same time.

Hawk awoken to the sound of his alarm clock blaring in his ear. he hit the alarm clock, but it wouldn't stop he then gets up and unplugs the clock. he then gets back in the bed. Hawk tries to sleep but he can't he then gets up. he sets his feet on the cold floor and rubs his eyes. he looks at the calender and says " ah new recruit mission day, what a joy." Hawk stands up and walks to his closet, he grabs his light blue shirt, black jeans and a white jacket. he puts them all on and yawn. he grabs his staff before he leaves. he then heads down the unwelcoming metal floored hallway to the elevator. he presses the button for the first floor and the elevator goes down. Hawk reaches the bottom floor and walks out of the elevator, he sees the registration desk. He walks over to one of the women behind the desk and hold out his right hand to show his bar code. the woman scans it and then says as she types " Alias, hawk. Age 19, Classified, Summoner. Completed Missions, 315. Available missions, 5. the woman prints out a sheet and hands it to Hawk. Hawk looks at the sheet and says " Hm, not bad missions, i wonder which one I should do?" Hawk looks at his bar-code. every time he looked at it he got the feeling that something was going to go wrong that day. it didn't come true all the time, but since he looks at his bar-code everyday something bad was bound to happen eventually. Hawk then goes and sits down on a small bench. he summons Carbuncle, the small blue fox like creature with a red ruby in it's forehead appears in a flash of light. he smiles as it jumps up on his lab. he pets Carbuncle, Carbuncle is the first summon Hawk was ever able to summon. the two are very close, Hawk looks at the sheet and says to Carbuncle " which one do you think I should do?" Carbuncle tilts it's head as if really trying to read the paper. Hawk laughs and then gets up and heads for the elevator.

Pit was dreaming. It was a wonderful dream. He was flying. Through puffy clouds, and a bright blue sky. He wanted to soar. So he flew high. Higher. Higher. Towards the sun he flew. It was a marvelous feeling. The feeling of freedom. Then he heard it. A loud beeping sound. "No...!" His wings began to melt. He was falling. "No!" Falling down. Faster and faster he plummeted. "Noooooooooooooo!!"

------------------------------------

"--ooooooooooooooooooo!!!" Pit was awake. The alarm was blaring in his ear. Pit shut it off, and sighed a most depressing sigh. "Man...mission day..." He knew without even looking at the calender. He marked all the days he had to go on missions, and dreaded all of them. He just wanted to stay and have some fun, not go out hunting monsters that might kill him. He groaned as he got out of bed, wearing nothing but his dark blue boxers. "Wonder what lady luck has in store for me today..." He got up and walked over to his dresser, and got dressed. He then moved into the bathroom and got a handful of hair gel, and spiked it up. This particularly was an arduous task, but he got it done fast enough.

He then picked up his three decks of cards, two pouches of dice and strapped them to his two belts. After that, he picked up his small pack of darts and put them away in his right pocket. Satisfied that he was ready, he moved out into the hallway, past the rushing crowd and into the elevator. After about a minute, he stepped out and headed toward the receptionist. "And how are you today, doll?"

"Please show me your bar code." She said in her usual monotone voice.

"As charming as ever I see." Pit said sarcastically as he raised his right wrist. The receptionist scanned the bar code tattooed to his skin and took a moment to register the information.

"Alias, Pit. Male, 19 years of age. Classified, Gambler. Completed missions, 10. Available missions, 1. Printing mission overview." Pit was mockingly mimicking the receptionist by saying what she said word for word as she said it. He had heard what she had to say dozens of times already. He accepted the paper she printed, and looked at it.

"Hunting the Black Boss..." Pit sighed. "Sounds like another hard one..." He walked towards the elevator that would take him to the airship designated on his sheet. "Guess my partner will meet me there..." He studied the paper further to see who his partner was. "And the lucky man is...Hawk?" He was partnered with a long time veteran. Interesting. "A summoner if I remember..." Pit entered the elevator and rose toward the shipyard.

Hawk yawned he was lounging on a bench in the hanger with the airship he was supposed to take. Hawk had decided which mission he was going to take. he says to himself " The black boss, hm doesn't leave much to the imagination does it Carbuncle." Hawk patted Carbuncle who was laying on his chest. Hawk took the paper out of his pocket and looked at the mission specifications and he saw who his partner was " Pit, hm I think he was the Gambler if I'm not mistaken. well i guess I'll just wait for him to get here."

Hawk heard the elevator ding, he got up and Carbuncle jumped off of him. Hawk says " sorry about that." He then gets off the bench and walks toward the elevator and then he sees someone with spiky blue hair and a bunch of piercings and he says " ah yes, now i remember who pit is." Hawk walks toward the elevator to talk with pit before they get on the airship, Carbuncle follows closely behind Hawk to his left. As Hawk gets closer to pit he hears the engine of the airship starting up. He gets to Pit and says " So, Pit you ready for this mission, I'm Hawk by the way, but I'm sure you had already guessed that."

Pit looked up and saw the black haired man, with what looked like his pet following him, as he introduced himself. "So, Pit you ready for this mission, I'm Hawk by the way, but I'm sure you had already guessed that."

"Yep, nice to meet you." Pit replied. The engine of the airship was already starting. "Hey, we better get going eh? Before we get left behind." He and Hawk quickly moved into the airship. Pit settled next to a window, looking out. The ship rose and moved out. It glided through the murky air swiftly, as it flew past the dark buildings of the city and outside beyond the borders of civilization. He watched the clouds pass by. He envied such clouds. Free and without worry.

The airship began to slow, as it lowered itself closer to the ground. He saw that they were landing near a large, dark, and seemingly abandoned old mansion. "Jeez...could they have picked a creepier place for us...?" He could already see a couple of Warrior Gemist patrolling the gates.

(OOC: Chris, make sure you post in correct place. It also has enemy description in the place tab.)

She had been up for a while when her alarm quietly went off; a tiny digital pocket-watch shoved down into the left pocket of her black shorts. The woman dipped her fingers inside of her pocket, the painted burgundy nails pushing at one of the clock's tiny knobs and turning off the soft beeping. Vera came to a stand as it was cut off, stretching out her long, lightly toned arms covered in the white sleeves of her long-sleeve shirt; draped with black lace along the end of the sleeve as well as the bottom of the shirt and the tie-up 'V' neck. She turned to her bed, and the shoes fallen over next to it. Taking a seat there on the edge, she slipped her feet into her high-heeled boots, zipping them up along the inside, and coming to a stand once more. She grabbed her jacket and pushed her arms through the black thing. Pulling it together, she laced the burgundy corset-like centerpiece, letting the bottom hang open just below her shorts; giving way to some of her smooth legs. She left the hood down, and grabbed her staff. Holding it by the top orb, she used it almost like one would use a walking stick.

Exiting her quarters, Vera cut straight through what little crowd existed in the halls to reach the receptionist in the lobby. There, she went through the routine schedule. She raised her left hand, pulling back the edge of her jacket and shirt so that the barcode could be seen and scanned. There, she received the information of what she would be doing mission-wise today. She'd be hunting the Haunting Gemini, with a partner named Jecht. Now she had heard of Jecht before, and simply knew that he was an astonishing warrior. They'd make a great team that way; as his strength would make up for the lack of her own, and her magic would topple any other who dared battle her.

Her staff made a heavy metallic thud as she walked, her left hand's fingers wrapped around the translucent orb. Her white hair seemed to bounce as she walked, heels clicking softly. There was an air of seriousness and duty about Vera. She wasn't one to play around; for playing around was how her last partner failed. The woman reached the hangers where an airship would come to depart her and her partner to the mission area.

As she came, she spotted other Gemini Hunters waiting for their shining carriages out of here and into the world of battle and investigation. Her smooth honey-colored eyes popped against her rather pale complexion and ivory hair. But she saw all in the room as if she had taken a look at each individually. She could sense their ''life'' around her. Vera found herself a bench and took seat upon it there, crossing her legs and leaning her head back. Reaching up with her right hand, she drew her hood over her head; the edge covering her eyes just a bit. This way she could see in front of her for a good distance; but not the horizon. But this lack of complete vision also gave her the chance to enhance her unique ability of being able to detect people and lifeforms around her.

Vera simply waited, soon closing her eyes and shaking her foot almost anxiously as she counted off time in her mind.

Hawk looked at pit and says " yea your right this place is a little creepy, but the faster we finish this mission the faster we get out of the place." As the airship descended and finally touched the ground Hawk got out of his seat and the headed to the exit ramp of the airship. he then saw some Gemist warriors that he didn't notice on the way down. He walked over to the gate of the mansion and one of the warriors walked over to him. Hawk jumped back as the warrior swung his sword at Hawk. Carbuncle then hits the Warrior with the force of it's own body. as the warrior tries to attack Carbuncle he teleports out of the way, Hawk then hits the warrior with his staff with all the force he can conjure up. The Warrior Gemist falls to the ground, Hawk then recalls Carbuncle and summons phoenix, Phoenix then sets fire to the Warrior and the Warrior slowly burns. Hawk then looks back at Pit and says " well that was interesting. I didn't notice that guy there. Phoenix then appears in behind Hawk, it's body giving of orange flames that could boil the blood. Hawk looks at Pit and says " so you ready to go?"

( ooc: Sorry for the mix up my bad.)

"It is fairly odd..." Saber answered as he followed his partner to the elevator, "but I don't care. I'd rather get into the action as quickly as possible than wait for another 3 years." The Airships were on the top floor, so Saber pushed the button and then waited as the doors slid shut. Standing next to Echo, he could already feel like they were going to do good as a team. His only problem was that he hadn't had enough time to get to know him before the mission. Oh well... he thought to himself, plenty of time for that now I guess.

The elevator stopped with a ding and then the doors slowly slid open. A couple Airships had already taken off towards their drop off points. Everything seemed a lot busier and hectic up here than down below where everything was calm and quiet. As Saber walked out of the elevator, he spotted a single girl sitting on a bench, obviously waiting for her ride. She had her hood down and a staff in her hands. She looked almost intimidating with her face slightly hidden.

"Alright Echo," Saber started as his eyes scanned the hanger for their Airship, "you seem to know more about our mission than I do. Where is our Airship and where will it be taking us?" He couldn't help but be curious, and he was too lazy to look all of this up on his own piece of paper. So instead of reading it for himself, he stuff his mission details in his pockets and watched a few Airships fly off, waiting for his partner's answer.

(OOC:Blargh, you edited while I was posting, ah well it's fine. Edited.)

Pit watched as Hawk quickly disposed of the warrior gemist. "Nice. Your definitely dependable." Which was fine with him. Pit hated going face to face with his foes. He supposed that was why he was paired with Hawk in the first place. "Let's go then."

They approached the house, which was old and creeky. The door seemed even less inviting, with a large demon like head for a knocker. Pit approached, with his partner, and with a gulp, grabbed the handle and turned. It opened easily, though with a loud squeaking noise.

They entered a large foyer, with a staircase on each side that lead to the second floor. A there were at least four doors on the second floor, but only three on the first. There was also a large chandelier, though it was dusty and without brilliance. In fact, most things in this house were pretty old, dusty, and dull thanks to the cobwebs and mold. There were paintings and porcelain lining the walls, and gold rimming the ceiling and railings, in elegant patterns. But again, with all the dust, it took away whatever brilliance it may have had.

"So..." He muttered. "Where should we start? First floor, or..." His thoughts were interrupted as a Black Mage Gemist dropped from the ceiling, scaring Pit. "GYAAHH!!" Was all he could shriek as he instinctively tossed two dice at it. They both hit hard, dazing the creature, but it only made it angry. It started to come towards them as the dice fell to the ground and landed on the numbers '5' and '4'. Instantly, the Black Mage Gemist was hit with 9 magical explosions. The creature fell to the ground, weak. "D-d-d-d-d-don't scare me like that dammit!!" Pit screamed.

Hawk stepped back from the black mage gemist and says to pit " wow, you get scared easily, i think this is going to be one hell of a day for you.' Hawk looks at the Black mage and then says " Fenrir I summon you." a Light flashes around Hawk and it turns from a blinding white to a soothing dark blue. out of the light steps a wolf the wolf about two times the size of an average adult wolf., this wolf shakes his head and looks at the black mage Gemist. Hawk walks over to Fenrir and pets him he then says " Fenrir attack the black mage." Fenrir jumps over Hawk and then attacks the Black mage, it bites and scratches it. The black mage and Fenrir stare at each other. The black mage hits Fenrir with a fireball. Fenrir then gets angry and bites the Black mages face. it tears into the black mage and holds the black mage's head in it's teeth till the mage goes motionless. Fenrir is the recalled and Hawk looks back at Pit and says " maybe we check all the rooms down here and then make our way up stairs. Hawk acts as if the battle between the mage and Fenrir never happened. Hawk walks over to one of the doors on the first floor and opens it, he then sees two warrior gemist with a white mage Gemist. Hawk quickly closes the door and says " nope black boss is not in there." Hawk laughs and says " how about we try the next room."

Echo entered the Airship,"I'm not quite sure where they are taking us. The men in charge like to keep things like that secret." Once they where on the Airship took off. Echo walked over to the Window and looked down at the large body of water,"But it seems that we are going overseas." Echo turned around facing Saber,"Meaning the rumors about the Virus spreading to different parts of the world is true,"Echo turned back around looking into the body of water that turned into a thick forest,"and we have to stop this epidemic quickly."

The Airship came to a stop letting the two boys off deep in the thick woods. It was somewhat cold, Echo warmed his arms by holding himself, he exhaled white steam as the Airship left,"Do you have your Communicator? We don't want to get stuck here. You can already tell there is something odd about this place." Echo wondered why the Overview of the mission didn't give a lot of details. And why would they put two A ranked Students in the same team. Echo turned around and looked at Saber,"Come on." He said quickly and begun to walk into the woods, avoiding thorned branches and small holes. He touched every tree hoping to get information through his Psychometrics,"This use to be a holy city," He said to Saber,"People use to sacrifice sinners by cutting out their tongues in hope that the Gods would forgive them, that would explain the Voices. Gemist can mimic or redo emotional things in their life, the sacrifices must have caused some sort of rip in the Gemist's being, empowering the Gemist...no wonder they put us together this is a mission for a Officer Gemist Hunter. This is a suicide mission." Echo said sounding concerned, though he got to caught up in his Psychometrics not being aware of his surroundings and that a Warrior Gemist was hiding in the branches behind him. The Gemist jumped at Echo right when he turned around. Echo gasped. With a quick respond he manipulated the tree he was touching to extend its branches to try to grab the Gemist, but the Gemist was to fast and avoided the attack, and was that much closer to attacking Echo.

Pit looks at the intimidating wolf, as it disappears, dropping the decapitated head on the floor. "I'm so glad your having such fun at my expense..." He mutters to Hawk. He picks up his dice and continues, deciding to check the rooms one by one. Hawk checks one, as it has two warrior and a white mage gemists in the room. He quickly closed it before they notice, saying

"Nope black boss is not in there. How about we try the next room." He laughs at this, and continues.

Pit wasn't so amused. He hated fighting monsters. Unlike other Gemists, who had superior strength, skill, and magical ability, all pit could do was throw dice and cards. Admittedly, he was still a bit dangerous, but he couldn't compare himself to others.

He opened the middle door on the first floor, which revealed a clean room, full of chests and beautiful pottery, with gold sparkling on the ceiling. "He-llooo~!!" Pit sung, as he dove on top the chests, almost snuggling them. "This may be all worth it after all!" He opened the chest, revealing a big space inside it. Pit stared. He moved on to the next chest. Also nothing. He kept moving from one to the next, until all he found was a small box with an emerald ring inside. Certainly very valuable, but nothing next to what he was expecting from a room like this. "Ah, lady luck, you torment me." He sputters. He turned and exited the room. "Neeeext."

As Saber climbed on the ship after Echo, he spotted something with his name on it. A long metal box sitting towards the back of the ship. Saber opened it up and reached in, surprised to find his light upper torso armor and his metal gauntlets that he used for fist fighting. Whoever signed them up for the job obviously put it there for the newest hunter. "Guess we're on the right ship..." Saber said quietly to himself as he found a seat next to Echo, strapping on his equipment. Once it was on he couldn't help but feel powerful and ready for combat.

The monk nodded as his eyes traced the waves they were passing over. Echo was right. Things with the Gemists were getting worse. They were adapting, growing stronger, and even spreading the virus all over the place. He only hoped that this mission would lead them closer to getting rid of some of the big Gemist dogs.

"Do you have your Communicator?" Echo asked as they both jumped off the Airship and into the brush. "We don't want to get stuck here. You can already tell there is something odd about this place."

Saber nodded as he checked his left wrist which was coated in a very light armor. His communicator had been installed into that piece of armor, so he pressed the button opening a channel to test it. "Yep I got it. Looks to be working just fine."

"Come on." Echo's voice sounded like that of a leader, firm and serious. Seeing that his partner had a good handle on things as far as where to go and how to get there, Saber followed him closely, watching his back. Something felt very odd about this place. He didn't like the way the trees looked, hanging over him and Echo as they passed underneath.

"This use to be a holy city," Echo spoke, obviously using his powers to figure this out, "People use to sacrifice sinners by cutting out their tongues in hope that the Gods would forgive them, that would explain the Voices. Gemist can mimic or redo emotional things in their life, the sacrifices must have caused some sort of rip in the Gemist's being, empowering the Gemist...no wonder they put us together this is a mission for a Officer Gemist Hunter. This is a suicide mission."

"Come on, we can't think like that. Just stay focused and let's get the job done." Saber said, spotting a pathway that trailed upward toward the north. Just as he began to go down the path, he heard Echo gasp as something pushed through the trees. A warrior Gemist! The huge infected beast leaped out towards the Geomancer as he tried to entangle him with branches, but missed just by an inch.

Saber leaped into battle, spinning and twirling in the air as he practically glided towards his enemy. He landed directly inbetween the Gemist and Echo, using his body as a shield and blocking the beast's attack. Saber through up a counter attack by shooting two swift kicks to the Gemist's chest and then gave a hard punch to it's ribs with his gauntlets, sending him to the ground. Somehow, that wasn't quite enough. The beast jumped back up and then charged Saber and Echo.

"Gaahh, finish him off!" Saber said in a weakened tone, afraid to meet the charge. Instead he stood his ground in front of Echo in a defensive martial arts stance, giving the Geomancer a human shield if needed.

Hawk looks back at pit and says " hey what did you find in there, you know we have to split it if you found something good." Hawk laughs and says " i'm just kidding you can keep whatever you found." Hawk opens a door that has blood stains everywhere, Hawk sighs and shakes his head. as he closes the door and walks away a sword is stabbed through the door and slices open the door, reviling a warrior Gemist Hawk says " oh just great another on of you, Diabolos come out." A dark light expands from Hawk's body and then a creature that looks like a winged demon emerges from the shadows. Diabolos grabs the warrior Gemist by the neck and throws it to the ground, the warrior is then sucked into the shadows of the dark light, a crushing sound is heard and then the warrior Gemist comes out of the shadows covered in it's own blood, but it still moves. the warrior gemist rushes at Hawk and Diabolos blocks the blade with it's wings. Hawk then says " hey Pit you want to give me a hand."

The Gemist was inches away from Echo. Echos eyes widened little by little with every heartbeat. Almost as though Saber teleported, he appeared in front of Echo, counterattacking the Gemist's attack. Echo's heart felt as though his heart stopped, hes never witnessed something so majestic his entire life. He felt almost petrified, he felt secure, like he would 7 years ago, when his parents were still alive."Gaahh, finish him off!"

Echo woke from his trance like state. With his eyes fixated on the target, his hair and clothes on his body swayed softly as he attempted channeling the nature around him, he pointed at the Gemist with his entire hand. The clouds moved more quickly, and in a split second a strike of lightning fell from the sky hitting the Gemist. And with the blink of an eye, the Gemist disappear. Echo breathed deeply. Channeling that sort of Terrain was always a lucky strike.

Echo looked at Saber, still breathing deeply. He blushed a little, then turned around quickly, to resist the temptation of hugging his savior for putting himself in danger. He took a pair of battle fans from his pockets,"Thank you...I guess I have to keep my guard up. Are you okay?" Echo asked softly. He kneeled to his knees and placed his hand on the ground with the battle fans leather strap around his hands."There are a number of Warrior Gemist in the area. We have to keep moving if we want to make it to the Ruins without attracting to much trouble."

Echo begun to run through the forest towards the Ruins. He saw a few Warrior Gemist in his path with a quick look to the ground vines shot up from the ground entangling the Gemist and moving them out the way of the Hunters. It was a couple minutes afterward when he came to the Ruins. His eyes darted from crumbled building to bloodstained wall. Vines grew all over the broken buildings and up the single temple with a dim light coming from the top of the temple.

Jecht was in a deep, deep sleep, practically in a coma. It took three staff members of Home to come in and drag him out of bed, right hand still clutching his sword in his sleep. Even then, he only woke once he was halfway to the registration desk, when he was suddenly hit by a killer headache. It was the result of an attempt at drinking himself to death the previous night. Jecht, a troubled alcoholic, was always suffering from some aftereffect of alcohol, and now that he had a headache his irritability would increase tenfold. Discovering he was being dragged, the man groaned and suddenly stood.

"Unnnghh... The hell..?" he grumbled, shoving away the staff members and dragging himself over to the registration desk. One hand on his aching head, he slumped over the desk and glared at the woman sitting there whom was seemingly oblivious to his pain.

"Please show me your--"

"I know, I know," Jecht grumbled, sliding the hand on his head back and brushing up his hair. The woman stood, detached her hand, scanned it, reattached her hand, and sat down again. Jecht let his hand fall from the back of his head to the desk and slowly forced himself to stand at full height.

"Alia--"

"I already know my own info, dumb bot," he snapped, not in the mood for the programmed recital. Grabbing a piece of paper under the desk, the woman handed it to Jecht and then went back to her work.

"Have a nice day," she said, indifferent to his behavior.

"As if I ever could," he grunted back, slowly dragging himself off towards the hanger that held the airship to wherever he was going. Glancing at the paper as he entered the hangar, he read he was going to be working with some young girl named 'Vera'. Why did it seem that Jecht was always stuck with these punk kids? Tossing the paper aside without reading his objective, Jecht stumbled into and eventually out of an elevator, emerging in the massive hangar where his airship would eventually arrive.

"Alright, where is she," he mumbled to himself, slowly regaining his sense. Fully lifting his sword in his right hand and forcing himself to stand up straight, Jecht spotted the girl sitting away from a group of more kids and slowly walked over. The way she was sitting made her seem vulnerable to Jecht's approach, but Jecht decided to comment on it as he arrived.

"Hey, you the kid I'm stuck with today?" he called out in his gruff, deep voice. Stopping a few feet ahead of her, he stabbed his sword into the ground and put his free hand on his hip. Leaning forward, he noted that it looked like Vera had fallen asleep. Just perfect! A drunk and a sloth. No way this could go wrong.

Soon enough she sensed it. A man coming behind her, tall and powerful. His energy was somewhat soft, as if he had just woken up. Vera closed her eyes and breathed slowly, when he finally reached her. His words reached her ears smoothly and Vera brought her head up, her full lips pulling into a grin.

"I guess I am. Are you the old man I'm working with?" She stood up, using her staff like a walking stick again as she moved towards a docking airship. Soon enough, she stepped inside, moving up and into the bridge. There, she took a seat. Vera pulled her hood back a bit more, unveiling her eyes as the ship stayed docked for a while, and her legs crossed out of habit once more. She looked over Jecht and grinned.

"Wow, you really are buff. I thought it was just a bunch of rumors." She chuckled softly. "Our mission, if you didn't know it, is the Haunting Gemini. You ready for it?"

Vera turned a bit in her seat and looked out the front window and at the rest of the inside of the hanger from the ship's interior. She sighed, pushing a lock of white hair behind her ear within her hood.

The faster this is done, the faster I can return...

Pit cries a bit as he sees that a Warrior Gemist comes crashing through the door and attacks Hawk. Pit was about to act, but Hawk summons a demon to badly wound the monster. Pit was always fascinated with summoners. They were able to summon the beasts of heaven and hell with ease. He envied powers like that. But the monster still comes at Hawk and the demon as he asks "Hey Pit, you want to give me a hand?"

Pit nods, as he reaches into his right pocket to grab a couple of throwing darts. "I guess it's time to play some 'Sharp Shooter' eh?" He takes aim and calls out, "Hey! The guy with the...er...face!" The confused beast turns it's head to face Pit as he throws the darts and hits the Gemist's eyes. The monster howls and lashes in pain, as Pit then reaches into his card holder strapped to his belt and pulls out a playing card. He then points his hands out and calls, "Slots!" Three ethereal reels appear in midair, as it began to spin. One by one, the slots stopped, revealing an elemental symbol. Fire....fire.........fire! Pit grinned, and then took the card and threw it as his foe. The card exploded with magical fire on impact, causing the Gemist to be blown back on it's face, laying dead on the floor.

"Geez...this place is seriously not for me..." He said as he walked over. "So...no black boss eh? To the second floor we go?"

Everything happened so fast that Saber's adrenaline kept pumping through his body even after the battle was over. He had never seen power like Echo's before. It was something very amazing and frightening to witness at the same time and for a moment, the Monk wished he was a Geomancer. He stood beside his partner as he breathed heavily, trying to regain his energy. It must of taken a huge punch of MP for him to call up something like that.

It appeared that Echo had finally caught his breath. "Thank you...I guess I have to keep my guard up. Are you okay?"

"Not a scratch on me thanks to you. We both need to keep an eye on each others backs from here on out. I have a feeling things are going to get worse." Saber answered, watching as Echo then knelt to the ground. At first the Monk had no clue what his partner was doing, his head slightly bowed and his hands resting on the grassy terrain.

"There are a number of Warrior Gemist in the area. We have to keep moving if we want to make it to the Ruins without attracting to much trouble."

Saber nodded. "Right. Lead the way, I'm right behind you."

Saber ran directly beside the other 16 year old hunter as they both sped through the forest. His training had given him an incredibly amount of endurance and agility, so the run didn't take hardly any energy away from him. In fact it only felt like a light jog as the finally came upon what they were there for. The ruins which consisted of a temple sat right in front of them, now covered in vines. A dim light shined at the very top.

"That looks like the place we need to go." Saber pointed to the top of the temple. "What's our point of entry? We want to travel through the ruins and up the temple, or can we climb these vines to the top?" The natural ladders looked strong enough to hold a young 16 year old, but then again Saber had been known for small mistakes in his training. Unsure of what needed to be done, he planned to leave the decision up to his partner.

Hawk looks at Pit and says " well that was interesting, on to the second floor and don't worry I'm here to help you so don't be so scared." Hawk starts walking up the stairs and he thinks about what Pit just did, He think Pit's powers are interesting. as Hawk walks up the stairs they start to make a creaking sound, the steps are old and Hawk can feel that they want to give way at any moment. Hawk reaches the second floor. he then goes to the closest room and Diabolos follows behind him, as Hawk open the door he sees some of the Gemist gathered together. Hawk slowly closes the door and says to Pit " I'll take this room you check out another room, if you see the black boss just close the door and come get me." Hawk steps into the room with the Gemist, they rush at him Diabolos then stands in front of Hawk, the Gemist are then slowly sucked into the darkness created by Diabolos, Hawk smiles and says " aw, do you Gemist have to go already I thought we would get to have some fun first." Two warrior Gemist crawl out of the darkness Diabolos created, but the white mage Gemist lays on the ground dead. As the warrior Gemist attack Hawk switches from Diabolos to Shiva, a white light shines from the darkness and then from the ceiling falls a meteor sized piece of ice. The ice hits the floor and shatters covering the room in a sheet of ice. from the ice rises a blue woman with long flowing blue hair. She looks at the Gemist and then the Gemist slowly start to freeze and then they shatter. Hawk then recalls Shiva and walks out of the room, he looks around and sees another door, but he is scared of what might be inside. Hawk slowly backs up to the stairs. and he says " I'll just wait for Pit before I open that door."

"Old man?" he repeated, raising and again stabbing his sword into the ground. This kid really had some nerve talking to him like that! However, just as he was going to say something back the airship arrived, and so he bit his tongue and followed her inside and on board. Once in the bridge, Jecht stood beside Vera's seat and looked down at her, surprised to see she didn't have a half-bad face.

"Of course I'm buff. You gotta be tough to handle things like this." Jecht stabbed the sword into the ground, possibly damaging the ship a bit, and crossed his arms. "Haunting Gemini? Sounds too easy. I'll probably just let you handle most of this one." Reaching up, Jecht crudely stuck a pinky in his right ear and began cleaning the thing out as the ship lifted up and took off, heading towards wherever their mission was.

"What are you, anyway? Some kind of mage or somethin'?" Jecht plucked the pinky free and flicked the odd residue on the tip away. "Just so you know, I don't work well with snot nosed brats. If you're another overconfident punk I'll gladly take care of this myself."

Vera chuckled as he repeated the comment- perhaps to himself. Had no one the balls to call him old before? Well Jecht was not truly old, as he simply out-aged her. She rested in her seat, the airship lifting up and hovering within the hanger before slipping out into the sky. They'd have quite a little ride before them. He continued, as if he were going to bite his tongue about the earlier comment. His next series of words were based upon being buff, and whether she was a mage or something. Vera chuckled quietly, nodding her head.

"Black Mage of the Elements. And don't worry, I won't toot my own horn too much." She grinned, thinking it was funny that because he was working with a late teenager he assumed she might've been snot-nosed with perhaps tunnel-visioned battle tactics. Vera was a great combatant, and a team player by all means. When he flicked away the resisting residue, she made a slightly grossed out face inside of her head, studying and recognizing his energy as he sat with her.

"So how's your record sir Jecht?" Vera questioned. "I've heard a lot of rumors about your battles prior against the Gemini."

Hawk said he'd take one door as Pit would take another. So Pit decides to take the third door from the left. It's locked. Pit frowns, and moves to the door next to it. The door creaked open, as Pit cautiously peered into the room. The room seemed to be empty. What he entered seemed to be some kind of ball room. It was spacious enough, and there was another chandelier hanging on the ceiling, with chairs stacked to the side. He walked in, expecting to find something. Maybe another treasure chest? It was odd. Every other room thus far had some kind of enemy crawling around trying to kill them, but all that was in this room was the echoes of Pit's own footsteps.

Pit walks to the end of the room, and affirms that nothing valuable was in the room, so he turns to leave. Several meters from the door, a black mage gemist drops from the ceiling and growls. Pit screams and falls flat on his butt, and turns to run, but sees that another black mage gemist is on the other side as well. Pit quickly gets up and runs toward the wall. Trapped. He looks back, as both gemists began casting their magic. Pit grabbed four darts, two in each hand. He threw all four at his foes, two hit square in one of the gemist's eyes, but the other two hit the other's arms. A blast of fire launches at Pit, but Pit simply smirks as he raises a psyonic wall of blue energy. This shields him from the attack, allowing him to retaliate with two more darts, each hitting both gemists, square in the forehead. He sighed, as both fall to the floor dead.

Pit exits the room, hoping that this mission would end soon. He finds Hawk on the other side, obviously finished with his door. "One of the doors there is locked." Pit said, pointing to the locked door. "Did you find a key or something? 'Cause if not..." He turns to the last door. "It's probably there."