There had been several moments of silence since the last radio conversation, and Kasai began to grow curious as to if the other woman would ever respond. She twiddled the radio in her hand as she led Barron and Kieron through the tangled vines and under looming branches of the forest. Every so often, a rustle could be heard and the group would stop to listen. 

"Weird, for being a spirit forest this place doesn't seem to be too active." Kieron remarked after they had paused to listen a moment. 

Barron took a step forward and pushed a limb aside as he tilted his head to listen. "Oh, they're here. They just don't want us to see them yet." The group picked up walking again, now a good way into the woods. 

"Probably all that ruckus Kas and her little rival managed to stir up while they were bickering." Kieron cheesed a large grin and prepared for whatever punishment would come his way, but he ducked behind Barron and pretended to shield himself. 

Kas turned and narrowed her eyes at him, the "death glare". She turned back around and kept on moving until soon enough they came across the crate that had been taken earlier by the other team. "First of all, she isn't my rival. She's an immature kid and I'm obviously far more skilled than she is." She advanced towards the crate and opened it up to reveal it was empty.

"Yeah, that's why they got the crate and we got nothin', right?"

This time, Kas sent a flame at Kieron without even turning her head to look his direction. His shirt smoldered and he quickly patted it out with frantic hands. "Geez, okay, okay!" Kas smirked and closed the crate lid, looking at the two and giving a shrug. 

"Well, it could be worse." As the words left her mouth, the radio buzzed again in her hand and the other woman's voice came through. Kasai let out a sigh and pulled the radio up so they could all hear. Kasai rolled her eyes as the woman spoke. [i]All jokes with this one...[/i] she thought to herself. Sure, Kasai knew when to have fun. But she had a mission, and when she was in that mentality, she didn't have much room for tricks and third grade humor. 

Barron had resorted to looking around for any scraps that were left over from the crate, not finding much more than a few granola bars and a half eaten sandwich. Kieron listened with Kasai and raised an eyebrow when the other team's leader asked her name. Kasai clicked on the radio and spoke. 

"We've got plenty of food, thanks. Try not to gorge yourself, would ya? And the name's Kasai. And if we're being formal, it's Sergeant Kasai Inoshi." She was never one to pass up on an opportunity to throw her full rank out there, as she was proud of how much she had accomplished in so little time at the PD. Plus, titles are cool, right? "How about you, trickster? What's your name?"

Kasai didn't have time to let go of the button before a dark figure flung itself towards Kieron. He promptly yelled and fell to his back, punching at the figure to get it to release its grip on him. "What the hell?" Barron turned around and hastily waterbended the liquid from inside the pouch than hung from his hip, turning it to ice around the dark figure. 

Kieron yelled and stood up, running a few steps and then turning around, stomping his foot to the ground and flinging a large hunk of earth straight at the spirit. The spirit became sandwiched between the rock and a tree, and it grew limp. Kasai looked around frantically and began to notice more dark figures appearing all around them. 

"Looks like we've got company boys." She shifted one foot back and prepared herself for a fight, finally realizing the radio was still in her hand, she released the button and shoved it in her pocket. The spirits wasted no time in traversing the small distance between them, and soon a half dozen were among the three. 

"We've gotta fall back, there's too many!" Barron yelled as they all battled together in unison. They each began to back pedal as they threw their bending, but soon they had to run to avoid being overwhelmed. They threw shots over their shoulders as they retreated deeper into the forest until they could find enough of a clearing so that they could fight back.