Yuna Falls's Story

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The ceiling illuminated the large, nearly empty room of EVO's official meeting area. The glow of the ceiling lit the room dully, a spotlight focusing on the center of the room, landing on the two espers underneath it. Twenty feet in front of the two teens was the set of stairs that led up to the seating area of those in higher command. Looming 18 feet above sat two of EVO's head scientists and four of the top military commanders, their faces dark, a few clearly more infuriated than the others. The six adults spoke silently amongst each other, the whispers unable to be made out as the sound echoed around the empty room until finally one of the soldiers faced forward and his narrow eyes coldly stared at the espers below.

"Former EVO students Ciel Lavier and Crow, Espers of the Athena experiment, it has been decided that the betrayal of your comrades can not be seen unpunished. It is only natural that due to your previous comrades poor choices will lead us to question your loyalty to us as well as the Four Kings. However,"

The man paused, turning to the military commander next to him who stood and placed his hands on the desk in front of him. This mans stare seemed to be even colder, his deep maroon eyes piercing through the two teens in the spotlight.

"Those who betray us must be eliminated at all costs. And so, these are your orders. At dawn tomorrow you will begin the mission to exterminate the traitors who have turned against their own kind. The six espers who now pose a threat to the four Great Cities must be extinguished. But," The man raised his head "If either of you come across the opportunity to capture at least one of them, returning with the traitor will become your first priority."

At this, a female scientist stood up and she leaned forward slightly. "They've proven to be failed subject, but there is still a chance we may be able to extract that power and reverse the experiment and inject that power into someone more fit. We only need at least one or two subjects for this, so be sure to get rid of the rest after you accomplish this."

"You're dismissed!" The man who had spoken first rose his arm to signal towards the massive electronic door behind the two teens. "You begin your mission at dawn!"

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"Maiya!" shouted Minato, reaching out his hands. The silver haired man tried to convince the young girl to follow, yet she was too stubborn. Yuna Falls followed and tried to talk the young girl out of it, but it was useless. The ripping and crashing had already starting to happened and acting out of pure instinct, Minato activated his powers just in time to surround the group of espers with a barrier, enough to protect them from whatever that might come afterwards. He turned his head back and found the girl that stood behind him whispering something before everything happened in a flash.

An explosion occurs and sends the group flying sky high, but with the help from his barrier, they managed to get off with only minor scratches and injuries. Minato was the one standing closest to the explosion and with what the small amount of power he could deploy for himself, he barely managed to avoid severe injuries. The pain was intense and the major descend from the sky pressured his lungs, his mind was telling him to just close his eyes and forget everything but he clung onto his consciousness and slowly opened his eyes. He found several of the group separating only a few miles further and just as he crashed, he saw something red landing closest to him before blacking out.

---

Moments after, he had came back to reality. He snapped opened his eyes only to find he was surround by young crops. A trail of smoke was in the dark blue sky and the source of it was a small fire not far from where he was. He struggled to stand back up only to find his hands getting weaker by the moment. He was about to give up when he remembered the past. He couldn't do anything then because he didn't have powers, but this time, now that he is an esper, there is surely something he could do.

He gave his all into pushing himself up, a painful sensation went through his back. He knew that he was injured somehow but after hearing a familiar scream, adrenaline pumped throughout his body. He didn't know why, but he knew that he had to get up and do something. That scream was so muffled and there was so many buzzes going around his ears, but he had a feeling that it was something he knew. He stood back up and turned around, forgetting the pain he was supposed to tend to.

"Vance! Minato! Where is everyone!? Somebody, please answer me!!" The buzzing slowly went away and more and more he was able to recognize the voice. He turned his head around and around when he finally found the source of the voice. Someone was facing him from the back and yelling something to somewhere and without hesitation, he staggered his way towards the voice. Just before he reached the figure, he felt like he was back to normal. There wasn't pain or anything. He was back to usual self.

Tapping on the shoulder of the figure, he announced his presence. "Yuna! I'm glad you're safe!" Those were the first words he spoke. His mind was still trying to process what he said and it was only moments after that he realized that he had found Yuna Falls, a member of the group of espers. The pony-tailed red hair girl had turned around in surprise and Minato was analyzed the situation. Or rather, he looked at Yuna only. He didn't care about the environment. There wasn't anything that interests him. His eyes searched around her body for something and immediately, right after spotting blood and a small cut on her left ankle, he quickly knelt down and pulled out his handkerchief he kept inside his pocket.

"Yuna, you're hurt! Don't move!" The only thing that filled his mind was to take care of her injuries. He remembered that he had left his small portable med kit back at his room. He needed to stop the bleeding and so he wrapped his handkerchief around the injury, hoping that the bleeding would stop. And it wasn't long until the bleeding stopped. He stood back up and calmed down. Just as he treats everyone in his esper group as siblings, he couldn't stand seeing them hurt. He had worried himself just now but now that the bleeding stopped, he could relax just a bit better. "Thank goodness I stopped the bleeding." Minato mumbled to himself. He took a look around the crop field; it was disastrous. Multiple metal pieces crashed onto the ground, presumably the leftover pieces the time travelling machine they rode on.

Minato had again remembered that there were also others who was with him. He turned around to the confused Yuna. "Where are the others? He obviously did not expected an answer from her. If she knew where the others were, she would had gone to find them instead of yelling here. He looked around the destroyed crop field. He was able to spot one of them, Fuu Sasaki, the smallest of the group. "Fuu!" He tried to run towards her when he suddenly lost control of his body. He fell down on the ground lifelessly, even though he was still wide awake. He couldn't even move his fingers and he noticed that Yuna was next to him, asking him what's wrong.

"Go... get Fuu... I'll be fine here..." Minato told Yuna. He preferred to know that Fuu was okay rather than having Yuna tend to him. That will have to come later. It seemed as if that even after 5 minutes that he realized he still couldn't move his body. He only wished that he could quickly get back up and find the others before he actually collapses the next time.

Holland dusted his hands against his pants, having tossed handfuls of chicken feed into the coop. He set the container aside and turned around, pausing a moment as he squinted under the moonlight’s glow.

“Julian,” he shouted, his voice loud and reverberating as it echoed throughout the field, motioning forcefully with one hand. “Get away from the fence!” Puzzled, the boy’s head turned this way and that before settling on the visage of his father. He nodded slowly and backed away from the fence. “What did I tell you about going near the horses?” Holland continued, making his way over to his son. “Huh?”

“That was an accident!” he cried in his defense. “It won’t happen again!”

“No, it won’t,” he replied sourly, grabbing Julian’s hand. “Come here. What are you slacking off for, anyway? Why aren’t you in the house helping your mother?”

“I just wanted to play with some of the animals,” he muttered, his eyes downcast.

Holland let out a light laugh, his eyes briefly drifting to the side before fixating back at him.

“You wanted to play with the animals?” he said. “You thought it’d be a good idea to play with the horses again?”

“That was an accident!”

“Yes, I know. You know what else I know?” he said, clearly beginning to lose his patience. “I also know that you forgot to take care of the back pen last week, not to mention the fact that you broke the cutters again because you keep fooling around with them. Oops, right?”

“That’s different.”

“Really? What’s so different? I give you a job, one job, and you throw in the towel before you’ve even started. Look at Ethel. Look at Isabel. Now look at yourself. What do you see, Julian? Hm? Tell me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Louder.”

“I’m sorry, father!”

Holland gave him a rough pat on the back and shook his head.

“Get some work done,” he said. “You don’t get to take a break until you’ve gone through the mill like I have. We’ll talk about this later.” His son nodded before hurrying back into the house. Holland removed his work gloves, cramming them into his shirt pocket and making it around to the other side of the building. “Isabel! Ethel!” he said aloud. “Back inside!”

Silence.

“Isabel! Ethel! Are you hearing me?” Sighing, he worked his way to the field, spotting his daughters standing side by side, staring at something in the distance. He walked in close, nearing his daughters as he slowed down to figure out what they were fixated on so intently. “What in the bloody hell are you two looking at…”A trail of smoke was billowing up into the sky in a cloudy plume, stemming from somewhere within the crop field.

“I think there’s a fire…” Ethel whispered.

“That’s no fire,” Holland answered gruffly. “Get back in the house.” After a moment’s hesitance, they nodded to each other and obeyed without another word. He sighed and worked his way over, a number of figures becoming clearer as he drew closer to the site.

“The hell is going on?” he muttered under his breath.

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Before Valerie was even fully conscious she could feel heat and wetness. She wanted to move away from the heat but as she went to turn pain exploded across her body. 'Ugh god I hurt. Alright then one thing at a time.' Slowly she opened her eyes. At first there was only blinding light, but as her vision became clearer she realized that it wasn't the light of day that assaulted her eyes but a small fire in front of her face as she lay in the dirt of some ruined corn crops.

Feeling something wet drip down her nose she reached up and wiped at it, pulling her hand back to reveal the slick liquid to be blood. 'I guess that's why my head feels like it's splitting in two.' Valerie laid there a moment longer testing out her other extremities. Her arms and fingers seemed to be fine, her left leg hurt but would probably only end in a nasty looking bruise, and her toes didn't cramp up when she wiggled her feet. Aside from the bleeding from her head she was doing okay, she guessed anyways. Not like she could see how bad the head wound was.

"Vance! Minato! Where is everyone!? Somebody, please answer me!!" Valerie recognized that voice to be Yuna's followed by someones else's muffled voice. Pushing herself up off her stomach a wave of dizziness swept over her. She swayed a bit on her hands and knees as she waited for the dizziness to pass. When she felt a little more stable she finally stood and looked around. She couldn't see the others but she could hear some of them off in the distance and so, shakily, she made her way to them. "Had to be a corn field didn't it, this is how Horror movies start." Instinctively she reached down and checked for her weapons feeling relieved when her hands met them. Not knowing where they were or even when they were she pulled the scorpion from it's sheath.

"Guys!" As soon as the word left her mouth pain shot through her skull so much so that she doubled over throwing up whatever contents was left on her stomach. "Guess it's too early to start yelling." she chuckled to herself as she wiped her mouth on the back of her sleeve. Gripping the sword tighter she trudged further into the field, the others were close by and hopefully they were all okay or as okay as they could be considering that two of their supposed friends had betrayed them and a third was killed. Valerie wiped a tear away mixing it with the blood that still ran down the side of her face. They would pay for what they did, all of them. 'Especially crow, that bastard. I'll rip his heart out and crush it my hands.'

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It was not difficult to tell from the high-pitched keening of the engine that something was about to fail catastrophically. He could see pieces of the vessel’s body begin to detach and fall away, lost to the atmosphere as their landing went from ‘barely under control’ to ‘completely beyond saving.’ Well… perhaps not completely. He wasn’t ready to write them all off as dead yet.

Luka refused to fail. It simply was not in his nature to give up, to resign himself to some end that had been determined for him. When he died, it would be because he was ready and willing to die. He would not, as the turn of phrase went, go gently into this goodnight. Taking a deep breath, he moved himself along the aisle so that he was centrally located amidst the others, and they were al within his radius. His powers were not such that he could simply stop their fall, but he could do everything within his power to make sure they survived. Bracing his hands on the headrests of two seats on either side of the aisle, he ignored the progressively louder sounds of their ship falling apart, the whistle of the wind rushing by, and the roar of the failing engine.

The world was never quiet in Luka’s mind, but he had become good at excluding that which he did not want to notice. The sounds dimmed until they faded entirely, and he was left with the steady intake and exhalation of his own breath, the regular, measured intervals by which he assured his own connection to life, however pitiful it might be at times. There were five other people on this ship who breathed as he did, and one who breathed no more to offer them this chance. If he had anything to say about it, six would be breathing still when this was over.

The rest of the words to the bit of poetry swirled around inside his consciousness, mixing with scattered fragments of color and memory. Her face—Maiya’s face, as she bid them all leave her behind and run. The expressions the others wore as they came to grips with the knowledge that it was the only way. The sound of Yuna’s piano music—he’d never asked to duet her with his violin, discarding the notion as ridiculous, though some part of him had continued to entertain the possibility. The intent look Vance got on his face as it was lit up from beneath by the screen of one of his many devices. The shade of green of Fuu’s hair. The mismatched hue of Minato’s eyes. The peculiar noise produced when Valerie swung Scorpion against him in training. Observations, bits and pieces of their lives skittered intermittently through his concentration, but he was so used to thinking along multiple threads at once that he didn’t find it bothersome. On the contrary, it reminded him why he must do this.

The air around Luka crackled faintly with some kind of unidentifiable energy, and the descent began, painstakingly, to slow, as he loosened gravity’s inevitable hold on the ship. But he could not do anything about the engine, and just as it looked as though they might land in mostly one piece after all, the whine of the machine signaled that an explosion was imminent. The effort of slowing an entire ship caused Luka to pass out before it hit, and just like the others, he was flung far afield of the vessel they had piloted to escape from EVO.

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Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

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Consciousness returned to him only slowly, in a series of lurches and starts. He woke once, to what sounded like Yuna calling to the group, but the darkness claimed him again for yet another few minutes before he was able to force his eyes open. He had been flung far from the wreckage, which was perhaps somewhat fortunate, as it meant none of the meta pieces of their ship had landed on him.

Propping himself onto his elbows with great effort, Luka hissed at the pain accompanying this movement. Almost automatically, a hand reached for his head, temporarily blocking out the light that was blinding him. Quickly, he performed an assessment of his own condition: it hurt to breathe, which meant he’d probably bruised a rib or two, but not so badly that he’d fractured anything. He knew pain well enough to know the difference. All in all, his body was in remarkably serviceable condition, considering. Perhaps his efforts had done some good—at the very least he wasn’t a smear on the pavement.

…Not that there seemed to be any pavement here. His setting was entirely alien to him—they appeared to be in a field of some kind, which was strange enough; raised in Hades and then transferred to EVO, he’d had precious little contact with nature of any kind, outside of the controlled, pruned “garden areas” the military facility maintained. This was not like those. Biting off a pained exhale, Luka rose to his feet, blinking until his vision adjusted fully and then setting off towards the others, a cluster of silhouettes gathering around one another. He did not consider himself overly close with any of them—he was not particularly adroit in social matters. They were, however, certainly the most familiar features in an alien environment, and he was willing to admit that whatever they’d gotten themselves into, they were in it together, at least for now.

One among them was unfamiliar-- a stranger approached from another direction. Luka was as yet unsure what to make of that. The man's manner of dress was incredibly odd, like something from a whimsical illustration of the world long past. The sheer strangeness of it made him immediately wary, but beyond fixing the stranger with a cautious look, he did not make any hostile overtures. For all they knew, this man was simply an innocent bystander... though where exactly he was bystanding was unclear. Though, given that the so-called 'ship' they'd hijacked happened to be a time machine, maybe the best question of all was when. Perhaps he might aid them in figuring that out...

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"Maiya! Stop!"

"Just go!"

"You can't fight all of them!"

"They'll catch us at this rate! I have to do something!"

"Then I'll do it!"

"Don't be so stupid. I've got this, now go!"

"Lookout! Maiya!!"

"Maiya!"

Fuu heard the whole conversation between Yuna, Maiya, and Minato. She wanted to say something too, but there was always a problem in those sorts of moment. Her throat became suddenly dry and her voice just wouldn't project any sound, so although her mouth was open and look like she was also shouting something, nothing came out. She realized this a second later after she had tried to shout something, and broke into tears, reaching her hand out just like the others to bring their other friend with her.

It was then that Minato had created a barrier around them and Fuu noticed that Maiya still wasn't heading over to them. She took a step out, about to call her name until all of a sudden, everything changed in a blink. Were they falling?

Out of pure stress, little pain, and overwhelming events happening in such little time, she blacked out. The last look she took before passing out was the sight of the cloudless night sky.

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When she woke up, Fuu was in a field of tall grass; grass that was much taller than her, as was most other things she came to. But the blades of green were huge and it frightened her since it was night time and she had no clue where she was. Or where everyone else was. That's when her memory came back to her all at once. She gripped her hands tightly, remembering how she hadn't grasped on her friend's, Maiya's, hand. It made her really wonder; if she had just taken one more step forward and grabbed her, would she had made it with them? Maybe it was her fault in the end.

"Vance! Minato! Where is everyone!? Somebody, please answer me!!"

Fuu heard the sound of Yuna's voice in a direction as she turned her head to her left. But was it really to the left? Her ears were still ringing and she could hardly intake all that had just happened in those mere few minutes. Not to mention, the grass field she stood in the middle of was perhaps more than a whole foot taller than her. She really had no clue where Yuna's voice was coming from, but just thinking about it made her anxious.

She started to stand up, whispering as loudly as possible, since she hardly spoke up at all, "I-I'm here..." But then realized that her left leg had a huge bruise on it, right next to the knee. Well, technically, there had been other minor injuries like a slight concussion since her vision was waving and she had a horrible headache, seeing how there was blood running down the side of her forehead. But none of that really bothered her, seeing how she only whimpered slightly, but pulled together and started limping in the direction she believed Yuna to have been.

"Fuu!"

Then came Minato's voice, in a similar direction, but once again, with all that had happened, Fuu had no clue where he was calling from and now had hardly any clue to what direction she should head in, "Where..." She asked herself, looking in every direction. She was going to open her mouth and shout, but then remembered; she couldn't do that. It wasn't any special medical condition or that she didn't want to, Fuu just simply couldn't shout as loud as other people could.

But Fuu was still a child really, a mere young teenager, and the shortest one, that was for sure. She couldn't take all that had happened. Especially with Maiya. Fuu hardly knew anyone, she hardly even knew her family before she enrolled into the academy and found her new friends who she found just as close, perhaps closer. To lose someone that close hurt Fuu insanely, and the thought occurred to her that she probably wouldn't be seeing Maiya again, leading her to falling back down to her knees and weeping like a kid, again.

She got super anxious again and when she opened both her eyes after crying for quite the while, she noticed that the thick and tall blade of long grass in front of her was on fire. Immediately, she noticed that she had gone into a break out with her emotions, thus leading for her to create a fire with her ability, the one she so feared and hated, "S-Stop!" She shrieked slightly, crawling over to it quickly and patting it down.

Because of the type of ability she possessed, fire, brushing it off wasn't much of a problem for her. It never hurt as much as regular injuries. Before the fire could spread, only burning the one blade of grass, she sighed, laying on her back and looking at the sky again. Fuu cared a lot for plants, so burning them was something she hated too.

Even though it was night, she wasn't very cold either. Fuu could create fire, bat fire away, and because her body temperature was so hot, she didn't wear much clothing. Night time, to her, was like day time to normal people. But that wasn't important at the moment. She was lost in the fields and couldn't shout for someone's voice, "Where are you all..." Is all she could silently ask as she got up again and began to limp for any signs of one of her friends.

A lapse of consciousness. A rush of air and the smell of smoke. The undeniable sensation that something terrible was going to happen, that something, somewhere, had gone horribly wrong and there was nothing anyone could do to make it stop. A loud noise followed by darkness, followed by light, followed by darkness once again. Through the impact, Vance had shut his eyes to the danger and covered his mouth, but it was a futile effort when he flailed his arms to catch his balance for wherever it would be that he'd fall, because he knew he would eventually and wanted it to hurt as little as possible. In the end, none of his efforts seemed to matter anyway, because when he came to, he was on the ground, on his back.

He didn't open his eyes right away because he was trying to comprehend the definite buzzing sensation bursting through his body, as if his very cells were in a panic over what had happened, trying to make sure that the body they were confined it was still alive. For a moment, Vance wondered that too, but there was an unmistakable light beyond his eyelids and he knew being dead wouldn't make any sense. Still without opening his eyes, he tested each limb, curling each finger into a fist and shaking his feet back and forth. There was a shooting pain in the palm of his right hand and his throat burned with the scent of burning metal and heavy smoke, but otherwise, he felt like he could move.

His eyes opened and watered with the dry air around him, but he ignored it and sat up, biting back a groan at the throbbing pain in his head that told him sitting up so suddenly had been a bad idea. A few thoughts briefly crossed his mind, pulling along a sense of panic with them. He was alone. There was nobody else here and he was going to suffer alone with nobody to help him. What was he-- No. There were voices. Through the smoke and tears, he could make out figures. His ears were ringing, but he could make out the faintest voices coming from their directions. Recognizing them as familiar, he allowed himself to relax, scolding himself for ever getting in a panic about them in the first place. It wasn't like they should matter to him anyway. Yeah. His safety over theirs.

Vance shifted into a sitting position and froze at the distinct "crunch" of something cracking underneath him. For a moment, he thought he'd broken something, but there wasn't any pain, so he investigated. Getting to his knees and glancing behind him, he spotted his precious PDA laying there face down. The panic from earlier returned and he picked it up, caring less about the possible danger around him than the device in his hands. He turned it over after examining the back and his breath caught in his throat at the blatant crack going down the screen. Biting on his bottom lip, he quickly turned it on and checked its condition. Everything seemed to be fine besides the crack going down the right side of the screen. First Maiya. Not this. He got to his feet and looked around with the PDA held tightly in one hand. He felt nervous now that he was fully conscious. Were they still being followed?

He started towards the others grouped around each other and paused on his way there, bringing his free hand up to his face and frowning at the small piece of glass in the palm of his hand. He pulled it out with a hiss and studied the wound, deciding it wasn't anything to worry about. It stung, but it would be alright. He made sure to keep his PDA away from the blood so it wouldn't get hurt anymore than it already was.

Before he moved again, his head lifted at the sound of something in another direction. It was faint, but noticeable from his position. Looking over his shoulder and squinting through the thinning veil of smoke, he could just make out the form of who he was sure to be Fuu. He looked between her and the group, deciding to go to her instead. "You're hurt?" She seemed to have a limp, but he wasn't very good when it came to medical things. He assumed Minato would be better at dealing with it. He almost hoped for it, but didn't let his thoughts stray that far. With his free hand, Vance pointed to the group in the short distance away. "Can you get to them? Or should I bring them to you?" He hesitated when another voice sounded, coming a little farther off. It sounded deep and unfamiliar and put him on edge. "We shouldn't be here. We need to leave."

---

There was no answer to Yuna's call and she stood silently for what felt like minutes. Her eyes had just begun to water again only a second before she felt a light tap on her shoulder. She spun around defensively, nearly puling the gun from it's holster on the belt around her right thigh, but stopped abruptly when she realized who it was.

"Yuna! I'm glad you're safe!"

She gave the brotherly figure of the group a small smile, feeling relieved to see that he wasn't hurt. "You too, Minato."

"Yuna, you're hurt! Don't move!"

She blinked at him in slight surprise. Come to think of it, she'd nearly forgotten about her ankle, but now that he'd pointed it out she could feel it start to hurt again. Funny how things like that worked. She watched him kneel down to inspect her wounded ankle. "Ah, that's right. From the looks of it I guessed I must of sliced it on some broken metal. I don't think it's too deep, but I can't deny it hurts."

She continued to watch him mend her ankle with nothing but a handkerchief. It was sort of nice, knowing that despite everything that had happened only a couple hours ago hadn't completely changed everything. Well, it turned around most of it, but not everything. Not Minato's habit to worry about every little thing. Yuna was curious, actually, how he must be feeling about....about having lost Maiya. He didn't seem that troubled but there was no way that he could be okay, right? Of course he wasn't. Her eyes saddened and she felt her lips from into a soft frown. She wasn't okay either...

"Thank goodness I stopped the bleeding."

"Oh," She stepped away from her thoughts and her polite smile returned, "thank you."

"Where are the others?", the silver-haired boy asked after he returned to his feet.

Yuna just shook her head sadly. He was the only one who must've heard her yell out. She didn't have any idea where the other four were. They couldn't all be dead, could they? No, she knew for sure Ito and Valerie were too tough to let a crash kill them. However she couldn't be so sure with Fuu and Vance..and that made her worry more.

"Fuu!"

She looked up at Minato, a little confused at first before she realized he'd turned around after spotting something. "Fuu?"

She quickly took a step forward with her right foot and looked ahead to wear Minato was facing, just barely being able to make out a small figure in the distance beyond the smoke and the dark. Maroon eyes widened slightly in shock and relief. It was extremely difficult to make out exactly who it was that she was looking at, but for some reason she could just tell that it had to be Fuu. She readied herself to call to the youngest of the team, but just then Minato suddenly collapsed

"Minato!?" She fell into a kneel beside him her hands hovering over his back, not really being sure what to do. "Are you okay!? What's happened?"

"Go... get Fuu... I'll be fine here..."

Good. He was awake.

She took a deep breath before giving him a stern look. "Don't talk! You must've done something to your spine. You were fine just a second ago though..." With a glance to the direction she'd just been looking, she took note that the outline of what was probably Fuu was no longer in sight. Either the girl had walked in the other direction or she'd collapsed herself. What could Yuna possibly due in this situation? She had some medical training, but she had absolutely no equipment with her, not to mention she couldn't even be sure what was wrong with Minato. She could carry him..but he was much heavier and taller than her. Even with her strength and agility training there wasn't much chance of her picking him up, not without possibly causing more damage at least.

"Alright..." She spoke hesitantly, swallowing after she did so. "Don't try to move, I'm going to try and find the others and then we need to look for shelter." Standing up she clenched her hands into fists. "And stay absolutely quiet! We don't know if we've been followed by the enemy, so don't call out unless you're absolutely sure it's one of the others. I promise I'll be back soon."

With that, she reluctantly left Minato's side and began to make her way through the cornfield and smoke. They'd all lost a good friend..and been betrayed by two, but right now Yuna couldn't let herself be phased by that. It hurt more than she could ever imagine, but for now she had to focus on what was happening right now. They needed to get back together and find shelter wear they could heal and figure out their next move.

After walking for a few minutes she heard a voice, but not one of which was familiar to her. Quickly tensing up she stopped and peered ahead. There were two silhouettes, though they were quite far a part from each other. Being that she was closer to the shorter one, the one she couldn't recognize as one of her comrades, she decided to approach him first, however she would not do this without taking the proper precautions. She moved forward, her foot lifting to take a step but without ever doing so. Her body had vanished, leaving no trace until, before anyone would have time to blink, she stood only three feet behind the older man, gun raised firmly and inches from his head.

This man was a stranger to her, not anyone she'd seen from EVO. Though she highly doubted it by the way the man was dressed. It was odd, but then again she'd only ever seen cornfields in books when she was a child. Chances were this was a resident of whatever year they'd landed in, but that didn't change that he could be a threat.

"State your name, rank, and intention.", she said firmly. There was no way she was going to shoot, and as soon as he introduced himself she'd put her weapon back where it belongs, but for now she needed to be safe.

"Oh, and if you could. What year is this?"

As the figures became more defined, Holland started pacing his steps a little more carefully, wondering how those people had ended up in the middle of his crop field. One of the closer ones was looking in his direction and made as if to start walking but instead, completely vanished from thin air. That was either the greatest display of illusory magic he'd ever witnessed or his mind was starting to generate content on its own. When he felt the presence of a gun at the back of his head with a voice to follow it, he couldn't say for sure which would be a better assumption to make.

"State your name, rank, and intention," the voice said. "Oh, and if you could. What year is this?"

It was a girl, and a young one at that. He'd handled a myriad of tense, critical situations, but nothing so bizarre. A number of things began flooding into his mind as he was trying to process what exactly the hell was going on. And what was with that last question? What year is this? The peculiarity of the situation wasn't going to throw him off edge, but he was definitely going to have to address this whole ordeal later.

If there ever was a later.

"That's no way to greet someone," Holland answered, keeping his position. "Can't an old man get a break for once?" Despite the gravity of this situation, he couldn't stop thinking about how strange these circumstances were, wondering who the girl was, what she wanted, and how she ended up in his (metaphorical) backyard. But first...

Holland sighed once. He could answer the questions. And then what? Get shot in the back of the head for his trouble? He couldn't risk it, not with his family on the line. Whoever the girl happened to be, she was either under-confident about her accuracy or over-confident about her superiority in this situation considering how close she was. Here was to hoping that she didn't have the itchiest trigger finger.

He moved his head to the side, slid one foot back so that it hooked around one of the girl's legs, and used both of his hands to tackle the weapon arm to wrench the gun from her grip all in one blindingly swift motion, putting some distance between them, now wielding the girl's bizarre weapon. It wasn't a make he recognized in the slightest and, considering its odd design, it may or may not even be a gun, though he was certainly willing to bet that it was in this situation. "Holland Carpenter," he answered, slowly taking steps back. "War veteran and, currently, a married farmer with three brats. The year's eighteen forty-seven." The girl didn't look like she belonged anywhere in the country. If there was anything he could make out, it was that the girl was an oriental. "I've got a daughter," he continued, the gun still trained on her. "One of em's probably close to your age. It'd break my heart to have to shoot you, but if you make this any harder than it is, that's what's going to happen. No exceptions."

Which he was seriously doubting. Whatever she'd done to get behind him earlier, she could probably do it again. Not only that, but she might even have a second gun that he wasn't aware of. For now, all he could do was hope that things didn't get too out of hand. "Now, what I'd like to know, is what the hell you're doing in my crop field." He couldn't forget that there were others lurking around, either. This couldn't end well at all for him.

---

---

The bleeding had mostly stopped when Valerie reached the area Yuna and Minato had been, she was just in time to see Yuna's retreating back. "Where the hell is she going all by herself?" She asked looking down at Minato but noticed he was in poor condition. "Never mind, I'm going after her. Who goes exploring on their own in unknown territory? Stupid people that's who." Valerie grumbled to herself as she stalked after the girl. Still feeling a bit woozy from the head wound it was hard for her to catch up, always several feet behind her.

It was when Yuna slowed that Valerie noticed the person off in the distance. It was probably the property owner, after all their crash landing couldn't have gone unnoticed. She tried to hurry and catch up but before she could reach Yuna she'd used her Esper powers to try and surprise the person. At this point Valerie was mad. They had trained so much, had this crash knocked something loose in the girl that she could think straight? Being Espers gave them an upper hand it didn't make them invincible, and you never attack an unknown enemy alone.

The anger fueled her giving her the strength she needed to pick up the pace. As she got close she could tell it was a man that Yuna held at gun point. That was until she didn't. In an elegant well trained move the old man had not only taken her weapon from her but also put some distance between them.

Adrenalin surged through her veins at the sight of another of her friends in danger. Pressing the release to turn Scorpion from a sword to a whip Valerie dashed off to offer some support to Yuna. She used her training to keep as quiet as possible as she quickly approached the two.

"I've got two daughters, one of em's probably close to your age. It'd break my heart to have to shoot you, but if you make this any harder than it is, that's what's going to happen. No exceptions." the old man said as he aimed a gun he obviously had no knowledge of, considering his dress, at Yuna. "Now, what I'd like to know is what the hell you're doing in my crop field."

Valerie stood a good distance behind the man now, her arm out and at the ready to send the Scorpion his way. "I can tell you we sure as hell don't want to be in your crop old man. I can also tell you that if you pull that trigger it will be the last thing you do." Using her free hand she brushed away a dribble of blood from her eyebrow that threatened to fall into her eye. "I would advise you to put the weapon down and move away from her." Silently Valerie hoped that the man would be startled enough at the sight of a nineteen year old girl, in strange clothes, with rings and chains attached to her face, who was bloody enough to look like she'd just been in a fierce battle that he would do what she said. She was really in no condition to fight anyone.

---

---

"Where...." Fuu began to grow slightly more frightened as her vision wavered a little. She was certain she saw figures in the distance, but she couldn't be certain if they were her friends, or if they were normal people. After all, the six of them travelled into the past, and she, for sure, had no clue how people would react if they were seen.

Could she take her chances? If she found her friends, well... she'd finally find them. But if they weren't... who knows what could happen. Fuu didn't want to think about it, so she slowly shrunk back, being as silent as possible, but also being a little hesitant because she could also be going away from her group. Still, she had to take safety precautions first.

As she did so, she heard a voice just as she turned around, "You're hurt?"

Although it did sound familiar, the sound still made her jump since she wasn't expecting anyone to speak, or any noise either. At first, she was a little frightened, but after a moment of thinking straight, she looked at the person who was talking her, squinting her eyes a little bit to see more clearly, she said quietly, "V-Vance?"

It sounded like she was taking a guess, since her vision was horrible now that it looked like two images that kept on wavering from each other, but she did get her guess correct, which was good enough. After realizing she was right, she answered, glancing down at her leg, "Fine..." She said, shortly.

Fuu always talked with little words, and hardly said anything longer than two or three sentences, and that was a lot to say in her opinion. Even in the most dangerous situations, where she may sometimes choke up, she would still hardly speak, just as she did then.

Then, she saw him lift his hand and point in the direction Fuu saw the figures, the direction she was baking away from, "Can you get to them? Or should I bring them to you?"

'That's... them?' She wanted to ask, but only opened his mouth and closed it, not a single word coming out. She looked in the same direction where she saw the outlines and went silent again, but this time, she went silent to listen for their voices. Fuu knew she could trust her friend, but she always wanted to check for sure since she felt insecure, especially after all that happened in such little time.

"Alright... Don't try to move, I'm going to try and find the others and then we need to look for shelter. And stay absolutely quiet! We don't know if we've been followed by the enemy, so don't call out unless you're absolutely sure it's one of the others. I promise I'll be back soon."

"Yuna-" Fuu began, almost shouting, for once, but then cut herself off when Vance spoke.

"We shouldn't be here. We need to leave."

Fuu nodded slightly, and pointed to the group again with her small and pale hand. She then made her way over there slowly, but the closer she got, the more she wanted to run towards everyone and cry out. It was hard for her to intake everything, and she knew she had to get it all out somehow, but argued with herself to hold it all in until the time was right and stay strong from the time being.

She moved a little faster when she was near before then saying, "W-We're here." Her voice was still a little quiet, but it was loud enough for the group to here her as she began to limp up to them, ignoring her wounds since it seemed to have numbed just then. But apparently she had gone to the group at the wrong time since she saw an unknown man seeming to have threatened them all, "W-What's going on..." She asked with a terrified look in her eyes.

What. The. Hell.

At the moment - in any moment, rather - there could be no serviceable explanation as to why he was or would be surrounded by oriental children armed with bizarre weapons, some of them with a look that said that they were ready to kill while others were somewhat more reserved in their disposition. In any case, he was surrounded and outnumbered, they probably possessed some kind of strange ability like the first girl had displayed, and he had no idea what was going on. Going down guns blazing in a situation like this wasn't exactly at the top of his list.

"I can tell you we sure as hell don't want to be in your crop old man.," the blonde-haired girl said. "I can also tell you that if you pull that trigger, it will be the last thing you do. I would advise you to put the weapon down and move away from her."

Holland slowly crouched down and set the gun down on the floor, backing away from it and putting his hands up to show that he wasn't going to try anything else. The blue-eyed girl seemed like she was serious so he complied for now. "No need to get so worked up," he answered with a steady glare, curling the corner of his lip into a frown. "What could an aged sack of dirt like me possibly do?" He paused a moment as he warily eyed the three girls as he said this, looking over the rest of the field as he started to wonder who else was creeping around in it. "Anyway, your, ah, your friend here," he said, nodding toward the red-haired girl, "thought it'd be a good idea to jump the gun. If you don't need to be here, I figure you'd best be on your way, yes?"

"Alright..."
"Don't try to move, I'm going to try and find the others and then we need to look for shelter."
"And stay absolutely quiet! We don't know if we've been followed by the enemy, so don't call out unless you're absolutely sure it's one of the others. I promise I'll be back soon."

Without a doubt he could still hear Yuna talking to him, but no matter how much he tries to, he couldn't move his body. He feels numb all over and the mental itching feeling of wanting to move nagged at him every second. He tried to force strength into his fingers, but it only responded with a twitch. He cursed at his own body for being so weak and to break down now of all times where everyone is gonna be confused. He was worried at Fuu more than the others. The others would be able to deal with this situation on their own, but Fuu is another thing. She's probably scared out of wits now that she's alone.

"Damn it... Why can't I... move!?"

He was so awake that he could be using it to get some shelter for everyone yet he can't because he couldn't move his body. It was then that excluding his own breathing, he could hear moving crops. The faint yet clear footsteps of multiple people means that either it was his group was on the move or it was people from this time. They did went in a time machine.

However, even through the footsteps and his breathing, he could hear sounds. There were three voices, two of which he can barely recognize; he was more worried about the other one.

[Did the others get in trouble or something? Damn it, this seems bad. What if it was Crow and the others? Could he already had brought help and found our crash site?] Minato was trying to analyze the situation even though he can't really see what's really happening. He closed his eyes and focused on the voice. Hopefully, he can get something from the conversation.

"...got two daughters, one of em's probably...break my heart...to shoot you...that's what's going to happen..."

The word "shoot" immediately brought him adrenaline. [Yuna! Valerie! Damn it! Move, you damn body! We don't have the luxury to be lying helpless down here!] He screamed at himself. Through pure will and concentration, he managed to push himself up with his hands. He can feel the heaviness weighing on him, pain stabbing at him everywhere. But despite that, he continued.

[I don't have time to worry about my body! I need to get where the others is now!]

He stood back up and viewed at the sight of the disastrous crop field. Just as he looked at the side, he saw a man pointing a familiar looking gun at the same red hair girl he knows. Acting by instinct, he limped his way forward. Before anything happens, he has to get there. He was terrified at the though of the gun firing and hiting Yuna; they've all already lost one good friend and betrayed by two. There is absolutely no way that he will allow losing another one of his friend again. [We've lost way too much in one day. I don't want to lose another life again!]

---

---

---

---

Everything happened very quickly after that. Luka watched from his angle (enough behind the man that apparently he was unseen) as Yuna approached, then he blinked and she was directly next to the man, pointing her weapon at his head. Not something he would have advised. They had no way of knowing if this person was hostile or not, and he would have bet against it, had he been forced to choose. But some among the others leaped always without looking, and for the moment, it seemed Yuna was acting like one of them.

The man’s movement was fluid and well-practiced from the look of it; clearly he had some training—whatever the equivalent of the army was in this day and age they’d found themselves in. Some things never lost their effectiveness, though, and a good leg sweep was one of them. In short order, it was Yuna who stared down the barrel of her own weapon.

A more rash and emotional man might have acted right then, but still Luka did not move. The man’s words confirmed that he did not want particularly to do her any harm, and he gave off none of the traditional signs of lying. Besides, the counter-threat was already on its way: Valerie. There were more words exchanged, more people arriving on the scene, and Luka suppressed the urge to sigh. This was ridiculous. He wondered if they’d all forgotten their negotiation training already. This was almost the worst way to go about it.

He figured this was probably where he should step in, and try to smooth things over as much as possible. Clearing his throat softly, Luka held both his hands up in front of himself, mirroring the local man’s gesture. “Forgive us,” he told the man, his voice oddly toneless. “We will be on our way as shortly as we can. Our transportation was… lost to us.” His eyes flickered to the crash heap, still smoking a bit, and then he slowly and deliberately made his way over to where Yuna was, offering her his hand to help her pull herself up. He was not overly fond of contact with others, but this was a necessary measure and not a casual contact, so he could overcome that. “We’re all under a lot of strain at the moment, and some of us are injured. As soon as we can leave, we will, Mr. Carpenter.” He'd hold off on his own introductions for now, but it was probably better to address the man by name.

He put great effort into making himself appear as nonthreatening as possible, but for someone who looked like he did, it might not honestly have done a lot of good. Still his tone was quiet, rational, reasonable, and he locked eyes with each of the others on the scene. Minato especially looked to be in poor condition, but it was imperative that they deal with this situation before they could relax enough to lick their wounds.

And in that respect, there was more than one issue to address. Not a one of them was entirely unaffected by what had happened at EVO, though whether it was Maiya’s death, the betrayal, or simply the utter obliteration of the comforts of their day-to-day routine depended on the person, he supposed. Luka, however, was a rational man first and an emotional man only when he determined it wouldn’t get in his way, and so he knew he had to deal with the immediate before the less proximal could be safely addressed. He dearly hoped that the others would understand this as well. Not only was this man not the correct target of their hostility, but it would be wrong to direct it at him. Pragmatically and morally.

---

"Crap."

Yuna had underestimated the older man more than she should have let herself. Not even a minute after he'd answered her, and not even with the information she'd asked for, he made a quick movement and knocked her off balance. Now usually at the slightest sight of such movement Yuna would just teleport herself back to avoid the defensive attack. Then after avoiding it she would teleport close once more and be the one knocking the other person from their feet instead. However at that very instant it was as if she'd completely forgotten that she had the power to do so, and during her very ungraceful fall she cursed herself for allowing her own weapon to be taken so easily when she very well could've kept that from happening. She only hoped no one had been witness to her clumsy mistake as she quickly made an attempt to recover herself.

"Holland Carpenter,"

She'd brought herself into a kneeling position and watched the man with steady but cautious eyes. She didn't recognize the name, but with the skills he'd just shown her she couldn't be sure if he was from EVO or not, despite his odd clothing.

"War veteran and, currently, a married farmer with three brats. The year's eighteen forty-seven."

A farmer and war veteran? Well that settled it, though it sort of went without saying, Holland wasn't someone from EVO who followed them. That was a bit relieving, knowing that if one followed them then there had to be more. She now knew how he'd been able to surprise her as well now, though she still felt a little embarrassed. Then there was the current year. The six of them sure had traveled back pretty far. No wonder the machine had acted up. There was no way it was created to travel this far back in the timeline. Could anyone from EVO even trace them back this far?

"I've got a daughter, one of em's probably close to your age. It'd break my heart to have to shoot you, but if you make this any harder than it is, that's what's going to happen. No exceptions."

She may have made one mistake, but she wouldn't let herself make another. She knew those guns like the back of her hand, and she could easily dodge a shot by simply using her ability. However for some reason she didn't feel as threatened as she probably should. She remained in her kneeling position and made no move to grab the guns twin from her left thigh. After all, she'd been the one who threatened him first so if anyone was the bad guy here it had to be herself at the moment.

"Now, what I'd like to know, is what the hell you're doing in my crop field."

She made no attempt to stand up, preferring not to alert than man more than she already had, and instead slightly lifted her arms to reveal the palms of her hands. "Ah...well you see-"

"I can tell you we sure as hell don't want to be in your crop old man."

"V..Valerie?" Yuna perked up a little at the sight of her friend. Not because she was expecting her to save her, but merely just to see that the pink and blonde girl was alright. She felt her lips part slightly in an open smile, though that didn't last long when she noticed her friend had her weapon ready to strike.

"I can also tell you that if you pull that trigger it will be the last thing you do. I would advise you to put the weapon down and move away from her."

Wait a minute..this meant somebody had seen her little beat down...and Valerie of all people.

"Hold on Valerie! This is sort of my fault, so no need to go maiming anyone, okay?" She said, waving her hands a couple of times and giving the girl a nervous smile. This man really must be thinking the two of them are lunatics..

It was then, in the corner of her eye, where she spotted that strange yet pretty green hair that could only belong to one girl, Fuu. What made it better? Vance was with her, seeming to be just fine as well. Now they were nearly all together with Minato only a little ways away. The only one they were missing now was Ito.

No need to get so worked up. What could an aged sack of dirt like me possibly do?"

Yuna turned her attention back to Holland and Valerie, holding on to the pleasing relief of knowing her friends were safe. The old man had set her weapon on the soil in front of him and seeing this Yuna let out a small sigh, relaxing a little and readying herself to stand up from where she was kneeling.

"Anyway, your, ah, your friend here, thought it'd be a good idea to jump the gun."

She paused, her face turning towards her hands that were placed in the soil. Alright already, she'd acted rashly..no need to go rubbing rub it in. "S..sorry." She mumbled this very quietly, mostly to herself really, deciding to remain where she was even after Ito had finally showed himself. With his arrival it just made the situation even a little more embarrassing for herself. With him being two rank above herself, she always sort of looked up to him. The same went with Micheal too..until now that is.

“Forgive us. We will be on our way as shortly as we can. Our transportation was… lost to us.”

There was some hesitation when she realized Ito was now offering his hand to help her up. For a second she thought of brushing it off and standing up herself. She could, after all. It wasn't as if she was too injured to do so, but with the way she was raised she knew that would be incredibly impolite, even if Ito wouldn't see it in that way. She murmured a small thanks and lightly took his hand, though not really using him to pull herself to her feet before letting go.

“We’re all under a lot of strain at the moment, and some of us are injured. As soon as we can leave, we will, Mr. Carpenter.”

She remained quiet, figuring that she'd already caused enough trouble and didn't have the right to speak as of yet. Her eyes instead rested on the soil and battered crops in front of her where she'd been knocked down. This was something she did often after making a mistake, a habit of sort where she would continue to brood over what she'd done and how she could've handled it differently. A a part of her wanted to say that she only approached the man in the aggressive way that she did because she wasn't totally sure if he was an enemy or not. Minato had no way of protecting himself, so if a threat was that close she'd have to eliminate it as soon as possible, if Yuna would actually be capable of killing another even after what EVO had done to them. Then there was the side that wanted to shout at her about how she shouldn't of let it play out the way it did. How she should've first tried piecing the situation together with her mind before jumping in with her body.

These back and forth thoughts probably would continue later on, but the moment she spotted Minato they were instantly pushed to the back of her mind. It had been a couple of minutes and she didn't really pay attention to the rest, but when she saw the silver-haired boy up and walking when she'd clearly ordered him not to move she felt furious.

"Minato!", she said fiercely, turning in his direction. Whether or not she'd interrupted anyone she wouldn't know, for now she was just upset. "Idiot! Didn't I tell you to stay still?! You could seriously be hurt and here you are thinking it's a good idea to be up and walking? What happens if you permanently damage yourself and you end up not being able to walk or move ever again!? Would you listen to what I say then?" During her motherly scolding she'd walked passed Ito and now stood just in front of Minato with her hands bawled into fists at her sides, a frown on her lips and her eyes stern.

---

---

Yuna waved her hands slightly looking a bit sheepish. "Hold on Valerie! This is sort of my fault, so no need to go maiming anyone, okay?" Valerie gave her a pointed look, it was obvious whose fault it was but the man still had the gun trained on her. It wasn't like she wanted to hurt the guy, he was just protecting himself and what was his, but she didn't know him or how dangerous he was so she stayed at the ready until the old man lowered the gun to the ground.

"No need to get so worked up. What could an aged sack of dirt like me possibly do?" Valerie inspected the man. Aged? Yeah she couldn't deny that but this man was far from helpless, he looked as if he's never seen a days rest in his life. His feeble old man act shouldn't fool anyone . "Anyway, your, ah, your friend here, thought it'd be a good idea to jump the gun." Scoffing at the statement she let the Scorpion slide back into sword form. It wasn't like she hadn't seen the whole event take place.

It was then that Tsubasa made his way over to them, apparently trying to smooth over the situation. Forgive us. We will be on our way as shortly as we can. Our transportation was… lost to us.” Valerie watched as he surprisingly helped Yuna up off the ground. He'd never been one for contact with others, she figured it was mostly a show for the old man's benefit.

“We’re all under a lot of strain at the moment, and some of us are injured. As soon as we can leave, we will, Mr. Carpenter.” when his eyes met hers, she simply raised an eyebrow. "What? I only did what I thought I should, wasn't like I was gonna kill the guy." Valerie thought looking back over to the old man.

It was then that Yuna rushed off to Minato who, against others advice, had made his way over to them. In her haste Yuna left her gun behind, Minato taking a priority. Valerie carefully stepped forward and picked up her forgotten gun, making sure not to put the old man any more on edge.

"My friend here is right, as you can tell by hobbles over there and with blood covering half my face, my friends and I aren't in the best of shape." she said motioning to her own face and her blood matted blonde hair.

"We'll be gone and out of your hair as soon as we can. If you can spare any kind of resources to speed that along I'm know my friends and i would really appreciate it." Doing the best she could, Valerie spoke in a more civil manner that she had moments ago. She hoped that he could be swayed to help them out, after all they weren't out of the woods yet and this was an unknown time with a very different set of rules to be sure. As far as Valerie was concerned they'd need all the help they could get.

"Minato!"
"Idiot! Didn't I tell you to stay still?! You could seriously be hurt and here you are thinking it's a good idea to be up and walking? What happens if you permanently damage yourself and you end up not being able to walk or move ever again!? Would you listen to what I say then?"

Although the walk was supposedly short, his constant limping and the pain in his arm made it felt like a year long. Every now and then, his vision blurred. He didn't know what caused it, but he suspected that it might because he was losing blood. Then his got lightheaded for a moment but he kept on walking instead. If there was something that was making him do this, it'd probably be because of the situation they're in now. All he had on his mind was the scene he just saw and it messed up his rational thinking.

Until someone screamed.

He stopped immediately and stared in the air, trying to decode the scream earlier. Whose voice was it? It was awfully familiar. Instantly, judging from the scene before, he quickly realized that it was Yuna that screamed. But, as he deciphered the scream more, he also figured out that it wasn't a scream; rather, it was an angry shout at his name. He blinked and few times and found Yuna stomping her way towards him. Cold sweat immediately broke out and realizing that he disobeyed her orders, he would be receiving a scolding later on.

Minato quickly tried to laugh it off. He was close enough to actually listen and see the situation now. Even though the man is now unarmed, the fact that he was able to swiftly turn the tides to his favor is no easy task; especially when Yuna is a trained soldier and esper. He looked at the old name that called himself Holland. He had already put down Yuna's gun and Valerie had gone to pick up the gun that Yuna seemed to have forgotten. With just a little push, they might be able to escape unharmed - not that thery weren't though. Perhaps he would be kind enough to treat and shelter the group for a while?

"Please beg our pardon, sir. We seemed to have trespassed your territory without permission, but forgive us. Our transport, like my friend said, had a little malfunction and it sent us crashing here." He tried to steady his breathing and make his speech seem more normal. He approached the old man. " My name is Minato Kurayama, and again, we would like to apologize for the lost of your crop field." He slowly bowed down, his right hand still holding his left shoulder. "We shall take our leave until we are all recovered. Until then, we would like to borrow a shelter. Any kind would do. We won't be staying long." He had really hoped that the old man would accept his request. What they need the most now is to rest and fighting against someone now would be impossible. None of them could fight now and even if they did, they would break down in the middle of a fight.

"My friend here is right, as you can tell by hobbles over there and with blood covering half my face, my friends and I aren't in the best of shape."
"We'll be gone and out of your hair as soon as we can. If you can spare any kind of resources to speed that along I'm know my friends and i would really appreciate it."

Valerie seemed to be acting more matured. He appreciated it. He's negotiation might go bad but if more people were into it, the old man might take pity and grant them their requests.

Holland's hands were down at this point, already having made it clear that he wasn't going to try and pull anything funny.

"Damn brats are just pouring out of the woodwork now," he grumbled to himself, eyeing each and every one of them with a callous glare that was less belligerent and more irritated. He'd have to save the questions for until they'd all decide to settle down. "Blowing a hole in my crop, threatening to kill me, and then asking for my help?" He let out a defeated sigh and crammed his hands into his pockets, turning his back toward them as he headed back to the house. "Follow me. We'll patch up anyone who's taken a hit, you'll spend a night, and then you're gone. That clear?"

Whatever was going on here, he sure wasn't planning on becoming a part of it. And if they laid so much as a finger on his family, there'd be hell to pay, supernatural powers or otherwise. At least some of them seemed more cooperative than others. At any rate, the kids would be absolutely ecstatic from this kind of development and that was likely to cause a lot more trouble than it was worth. Anything new interested them, whether it happened to be new faces or entirely new cultures that must've spontaneously spawned some time during their lot spent away from the rest of society for so long, though he somehow doubted the validity of the latter.