[center][u][i][h1]Xander[/h1][/i][/u][/center]
“No I didn’t just ‘throw relics at them’,” Xander put his hands on his hips as he cast a look towards Zeke as if to say “Can you believe her?”, though the steel type only offered him a blank stare in return, crunching absently on something metallic within its mandibles.”I’ll have you know that I strategically approached the situatio- wait a minute, Zeke, what are you eating?!?!”

Any further comments from Mallory were lost as the boy attempted to catch the surprisingly slippery Doshe as it ran haphazardly over the plaza, devouring whatever he had gotten his mandibles at an increased pace. By the time Xander did catch him and force open his jaws, the object and been so thoroughly chewed up that it was impossible to tell what it had even been before. The Xanite let out a sigh as he tossed the item back to Zeke, knowing that Mallory was likely judging him from her seat.

“. . . Anyway, I think you might’ve said something about going out to look for some Natrelmon, right? Yeah, let’s. . .let’s do that.” Running a hand through his hair, Xander took out his relic and cast the line into the air, muttering a short incantation as the crystalline hook took on a dim violet glow. A similar glow emanated from all of his Natrelmon, their forms simplifying into glowing silhouettes before they were absorbed back into the relic. With his Mons recalled, Xander placed his relic back on his pack before making his way towards the gate, his bowl left on the bench near Mallory as he slunk down the street int he direction of the gates. “We should hurry before it gets too dark. I’ll talk to you about Gigi some other time. 
[hr]

Before long, the two were wandering around the forest the surrounded Toran, the road that most travelers stuck to being someways behind them at this point. The sun was still fairly high in the sky, casting Ielle’s light down through the thick canopy of green overhead. Xander had taken point with Lili resting on his shoulder. Of all of his mon’s, he figured Lili would be the best at supporting whatever Mallory brought to the fight, plus they both needed experience with each other if they were going to be effective partners.

“Ya see anything yet Mals?” Xander spoke up, turning back to see if she was keeping up just fine. She always had some trouble in dealing with the outdoors, though he could never quite understand why. [i]Must just be a city thing,[/i] he often figured, [i]I’d probably be just as bad if I spent all my life surrounded by concrete buildings. Must be dull tho.[/i]

Mallory’s eyes pried into the forest scenery. Her vision darted between the trunks, seeking out evidence or sights of anything besides the common wildlife. To say she was uncomfortable was an understatement as she pulled her jacket closer, pushing off the chill in the morning air. From her peripheral vision, she tracked Gwisin searching the underbrush and local plant life. She held doubts that Xander could see him, but she learned her friend could be resourceful and full of surprises. He proved that with his ability to catch natrelmon. 

A small glow floated in the trees beyond her causing her to stiffen up. She whipped about in time to catch another glimpse, the monster disappearing into the thicket. Her index finger straightened against her lips where to Xander could visibly see it. Quietly she signaled he should follow her, Gwisin already slipped in behind her and ready for a fight. 

With as much grace she could muster, Mallory began to navigate through the forest. She flinched with each time her foot misstep onto a fallen twig or the branches clawed at her jacket. Each obstruction slowing her down.

For a heart-stopping moment, she feared she had frightened the monster away. It turned the Wispy had some fight in it. 

Mallory heard the crackle of electricity building from the center of the interconnected monsters. For their size, all three connected orbs of light were no larger than a human finger. That didn’t stop their attacks from packing a punch as Mallory shouted back at Xander. 

“Shit! Xander, incoming!” 

With that brief warning, Mallory tossed herself to the side just when the Wispy let loose a shock attack at where she once stood. 

Xander's eyes narrowed as he heard a familiar tell-tale crackle, quickly turning around in time to see Mallory backway from a blast of electricity from what could only be a Wispy, the inter-connected faeries probably attempting to defend their territory from intruders. 

“Well, if you’re going to start things off with hostilities, I guess we can only respond in kind, right Lili?” The Lotulia in question didn’t seem to share it’s Tamer’s enthusiasm for battle, trying to hide behind his head from the electric type, but Xander was quick to pick them up and lay them on the ground. “Hey now, don’t be scared, little guy. I know he looks scary, but with me and Mals here, it’ll be a cake walk. You’ll be fine, ya hear?”

Lili’s gaze flittered between both Xander and the Wispy, still seeming to be less than enthused about the current situation. However, it turned to face its opponent, the petals that made up its body spreading open and vibrating as it prepared itself for the coming battle. Xander grinned but quickly focused up as he got into the zone, summoning an Enhancing Celestial Curtain about 5 feet in front of him and Lili before giving his first order. Having been a bit ahead and away from Mallory, the Wispy seemed to be about 15 feet away from his position. Not only that, but with its small size, it was likely to be an evasive little set of buggers, and fast too. Lotulia wasn't ready to go head to head with such an opponent yet. . . but giving support, it could certainly handle. “Alrighty, let’s give Mals some good support! Start off with a Surge of Life to keep this sucker from getting comfortable.”

Lili body began to shimmer with green energy before launching a seed rapidly from its center, landing right before the Celestial Curtain to form a purple-red plant similar to in shape to Lili, already shimmering with similar energy as the Natrelmon before firing off 2 Gaiashocks in rapid succession. With the help of the curtain, the Wispy was well within range for the attacks to leave it little reaction time, but given how much time Xander had taken to set up, he didn’t expect this move to hit. Still, it’d at least apply pressure that Mals could follow up on.

“Gwisin, miasmic sphere!” Mallory shouted as she picked herself up from the ground. 

Gwisin had been out of range of the attack when the attack attempted to hit her earlier. The hooded head turned then narrowed his blood red eyes, the darkness shrouding the snarl he wore. Gwisin raised his black fingers from under his sleeve and began to form a miasmic sphere in his palm, the monster then quickly wound up before he threw it. The target was about five feet to the Wispy’s right. 

Once it impacted the ground, the gaseous ball exploded to cover a 3.5-foot radius around the impact area. If the Wispy moved into that space when it hit, it would be affected and take moderate damage. 

Meanwhile, Mallory mumbled something under her breath. Her arm snapped forward then sent a shimmering bolt at the Wispy’s other side. She warily tracked the miasmic sphere’s effect to ensure she had at least 5 feet between the attack’s edge and her. 

The Wispy wasn’t expecting a four on one match, its attention shifted from Mallory to Xander fairly quickly. Moving on instinct rather than logic, the Wispy flickered to the right in order to avoid Mallory’s shimmering bolt and Lotulia’s dual attack. This caused it to blunder into the area affected by Gwisin’s attack. The explosion knocked the small faeries back a bit as it was taken by surprise. The dark purple-green poison swirled about the glowing natrelmon as it moved through it quickly, still damaged from the attack.  

Wispy used lightning conduit to charge up its lightning attacks, the electrical energy surged across the surface once more. It moved about to face Mallory, its next target. Then it released a multi-bolt attack at the group, four at Mallory, three at Gwisin and the last four at Xander and Lotulia.   

Xander clicked his tongue as the shot went wide, cursing the little buggers evasiveness. However, the barrage succeeded in backing the trio of faeries into the swirling miasma that Gwisin had formed, knowing the potency from it would take some wind out of there combined sails. That said, he didn’t let himself get cocky. A wounded and cornered Natrelmon only became all the more dangerous to both itself and others. That was part of the reason he always tried to just catch them outright with relics first, as it tended to be a safer alternative, in his opinion anyway. Plus, it usually left less bad blood then beating them down did.

Speaking of danger, the Wispy was far from out of the fight as it unleashed a barrage of lightning at the group, though Xander was quick to block the bolts directed at him and Lili with a Wall spell, though it barely withstood the impact before breaking, allowing two bolts to sneak through and strike him and Lili. A cry escaped him as the bolt coursed through his body, the pain being nothing to scoff at as he held his shoulder. However, he managed to remain standing and a quick check on his Lotulia confirmed they were also alright if a bit shook. The Xanite couldn’t help but appreciate the electric-types feistiness. That said, that aggressive nature had also caused it to led it to send four bolts through his curtain, and in so doing causing a violet mark of shimmering energy to appear on its form as the prismatic seal took effect. A strong little guy, but none too smart. Still, if Mals hadn’t seen it first, he might’ve caught it for himself. Alas, finders-keepers, plus he’d already gotten plenty of Natrelmon today.

“Looks like we got him on the ropes, Lili! Fire off a Lifestream to his left!. . . oh, but be careful not to hit Mals!!” The Lotulia gave only a slight shuffle of its petals in response, coating itself in a brighter sheen of green energy as it’s petals spread out into full bloom before launching it out in a concentrated beam of magical force. As it did this, the plant next to the Celestial Curtain fired another two Gaishocks at the Wispy’s current position. Meanwhile, Xander began to channel his energy, preparing himself for the next exchange of blows as he cast an Innudate spell around him, causing a thick mist of violet magic to coat the area around him.

Mallory’s hand jerked up to cast wall as she bolted five feet closer to Xander’s position. The wall blocked two of the bolts before it shattered, the rest shocked right onto the spot she had been standing on moments ago. The attack licked at her heels and she was sure it burned part of her hair during the escape. 

She knew she was stumbling through this battle, each hasty move resulted in her making numerous mistakes. Her heart raced from the near hit earlier. She gritted her teeth then look at Gwisin, who nodded his understanding. She was tired of this and it was time to get serious. 

Mallory inhaled then mumbled a few more words. Her hands began to glow as she looked at Xander, a single wordless warning before she clapped them together. A blinding light erupted right in between her and Wispy, hoping to catch the mon off guard and distract it. Gwisin jerked up his hands as a Seeking Chain flew from his right sleeve then rushed at the Wispy, ready to alter if needed as it sought to wrap about the nearest section.

The electric Natrelmon, upon seeing the girl before it try and escape, buzzed angrily as it attempted to give but was cut off by Lili’s beam of Life energy. Asit was forced back into its previous position, the two Gaiashocks smacked into it one after the other, causing the trio of faeries to falter a bit in the air before rising back up again. The electrical buzzing from before grew even more intense as the Natrelmon seemed to finally lose its temper with the group before it. This only became more apparent as it suddenly found itself blinded and bound by Mallory and Gwisin, the lithe figures struggling to break free from it as the bolts of electrical energy started to leap from their bodies in great arcs. Without taking the time to properly register the positioning of their targets, the Wispy would let out a ear-ringing screech as they let loose a veritable barrage of attacks, expending the rest of their multi-bolt uses (and triggering multiple instances of Variable pulse as they did so) in order to send 55 blasts of electricity in the general direction of Xander, Lili, and Gwisin, as a majority of the aggression it faced seemed to be coming from that direction. Combined all together like this, the attack seemed less like separate streaks and more a gigantic bolt of lightning arcing towards the group at a rather sizable clip, as the Natrelmon had used its variable resistor skill to double their speed.

This likely would’ve taken care of one of the three in the attack’s path, at the very least, as even at half power, this attack could easily have killed one of them. However, Xander had the benefit of being very familiar with the mannerisms of electric Natrelmon. As soon as it heard the increasing volume of electrical buzzing in the air, he knew that something nasty was likely coming their way. Not only was the creature beyond agitated, but with Gwisin having caught it with his Ethereal Chain, the Wispy was likely feeling extremely desperate right now. As such, while the faeries spent time shaking of the blindness of Mallory’s spell, Xander abandoned his previous plan to set down another Celestial Curtain right in front of it, this one containing the Diminish property. Lili, having ceased the Lifestream when it sensed movement from it’s Tamer, curled in on itself as it cast its gaze on the bound Wipsy.

And then the Wispy unleashed its torrent of energy, 46 bolts crashing through the wall of violet energy in order to tear across the field towards them all. However, thanks to Xander’s caution and Natrelmon knowledge, each bolt fizzled out just before reaching any of it’s intended targets as the Celestial Curtain leeched all of the energy out of the massive assault, though they did manage to eviscerate the Surge of Life plant. Not only that but as soon as they fizzled into nothingness, the arcane sigil upon the Wispy’s body would suddenly flare up, the captured Natrelmon letting out another irritated shriek as it an iridescent violet sigil opened up underneath them, trapping them in place. 

“Okay, we might want to hurry up here Mals!! It might’ve blown a lot of energy to make that escape, but I wouldn’t doubt it has something else up its sleeve, so hurry up and hit it with something else.” Xander wanted to order Lili to attack as well, but one look at the mon showed that it was terrified by the huge display of power from the Wispy, its whole body shaking as it turned away from the fighting. “Come on buddy, don’t be so nervous! I had it under control!” A bald-faced lie, as the two of them likely would’ve been toast if not for his quick thinking, but the last thing the scared grass type needed was the truth right now.  

‘So much for getting serious. Is being pitiful and weak the only thing I can do?’, Mallory’s inner demons mocked her.

Her high expectations of herself catching up as her reaction slowed, her briefly lived will fizzled out a bit. These results slammed her with truths she hated to admit and suspected for a long time. The Wispy’s outburst took her by surprise as she abruptly stopped short of the attack’s target. The lightning shot forward at the other three leaving her heavily shaken.

Thankfully, Xander was on his toes.

While Gwisin was left without much guidance in his actions, it didn’t seem to faze the Natrelmon. He stepped closer to Xander’s direction, coming in behind the trainer and allowing the Diminish spell to take the brunt of the attack. He kept a firm grip on his chain while he eyed the Wispy, his shadow splitting off from his form to create a sort of doppelganger.

Mallory stood there, frozen in fear and uncertainty before Xander’s voice snapped her out of it. 

“R-right..”

She focused her energy into the relic then aimed it at Wispy. Her magic coursed through the relic as it hit the mon, turning it into energy and zapping it back into the gem. As it finished, her eyes turned to Xander.

“Thanks, Xander,” she said as she looked at the gem in her hand.

“I think I’ve changed my mind. I’m not ready for this..” Mallory told him, her tone accepting her shortcomings she couldn’t ignore now. She wondered why she ever thought she was as she began to walk back into the city.

Xander gave a sigh of relief as he Mallory managed to seal the creature in her relic, but the feeling quickly turned bittersweet as he looked towards his fellow tamer. The look in her eyes was one he’d seen a few times before during his early times apprenticing on his father’s ship after a particularly bad encounter with a Natrelmon. For some people, the danger of these creatures is never fully felt until one nearly takes their life. When she spoke up, He could feel his throat constrict tightly as a rush of emotions swirled up from his depths. He wanted to rush over, grab her by the shoulders, and shake her till she got over whatever funk she had found herself in. But memories of a similar set of circumstances stayed his hand. 

[i]I. . . I can’t be her crutch right now. Because if another situation like before comes up. . . I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I let something happen to her. If she doesn’t feel she’s ready, then I’ve no right to force her.[/i] The simple truth of the matter didn’t make it any easier for the Xanite as he walked over to Mallory.

With a dry swallow, Xander merely nodded in response to her statement before reaching out a hand to pat her shoulder. “No worries. Maybe next year, ya know. Get some more of that special teachin’ under your belt and I’m sure you’ll be right as rain before ya know it!!” With a wide grin in place to hide his feelings on the matter, Xander escorted the group back to Toran,  the air between the two being permeated by a somber silence.
[hr]

After escorting Mals back to her family, Xander wandered the city in rather poor spirits. Every now and then he recognized a familiar face from Xaun and was quick to redirect his path down a side street or alleyway. After today, the last thing he needed was to have people from his hometown see him in such dour spirits. Somewhere along the way, without really thinking about it, he had released Sei from his Relic for the company. The Dragon-type didn’t need much time to figure what likely happened, and merely floated by his tamer to offer silent companionship.

Eventually, the two found themselves in the town square, where there seemed to be a contest going on between to Tamers, a man, and a woman. Nothing that really involved him, but at the very least, studying the fight gave him a nice distraction from his current feelings, so he sat down with sei and began to watch it go on in earnest. With his skill in Invocation and through observations of the fight, he figured that the man was a user of both Abjuration and Invocation magic, a strong mix to be certain but lacking much in offense capabilities. Though the man seemed to make up for this with his own physicality. The woman, meanwhile, was a tinge more interesting, as along with her definite skill in Kazemancy, and somewhat lesser skill n Cryomancy, there was. . . something else about her, something that he couldn’t quite place. The revelation surprised him, as he was certain he’d seen every type of magic under the sun among the Tamers that often flocked to Xaun. The prospect of encountering something new was definitely an enticing bit of info, and he stowed it away to consider later when he was in a better mood for such considerations.

Alongside the two combatants were two natrelmon, one of which Xander was mostly unfamiliar with aside from a hint of what the name could be([i]Soul-be, Solde. . . something with an S[/i]), and the other being one he was very familiar and was somewhat surprised to see. It wasn’t often that one saw a Mythari in a Tamer’s employ, after all, given how elusive Mythin tended to be. As such, Xander became even more interested in this strange woman and while he wasn’t feeling much like conversation now, perhaps he’d see her around the Arena? It was something to ponder as he watched the fight continue, noting that both of them to be rather skilled fighters that would likely give him a run for his money.

[i]I wonder if either of them were part of that whole big war that happened?[/i] He wondered briefly, remembering his father discussing it a couple times before. Xaun itself wasn’t really touched by it, being an inconsequential island far away from any important battlegrounds, so it was always a hard thing to imagine ever happening, and yet, it had occurred during his lifetime. It was such a weird thing to consider, that those he might meet on his travels had been involved in such an event over a decade ago.

[@Tuujaimaa][@Innue]