Not In My Back Yard

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 17, Post Number 411

-Silver Wolf Guild Hall, Leona's Room-

Wearing her green, gold, and white outfit with Argent Gloves, backpack of supplies on her back, and newly purchased black bike shorts underneath her skirt, Leona put on the sword belt for her Silver Longsword and put Ses Revanche in her right boot. She was just about ready to venture into the Phoenix Mountains to locate and put a stop to a Dark guild that was rumored to be setting up shop somewhere in the mountains. They were counting on the cold and remote location to protect them, but little did they know that the Phoenix Mountains were Leona's back yard. The Phoenix Mountains belonged to Silver Wolf and she would not tolerate the incursion of a Dark guild into sovereign Silver Wolf territory. However, Leona would not be traveling alone on this job.

She had also recruited fellow Silver Wolf guild members Ozwald Morgan and Tsubasa Kageyama to assist her in this endeavor. Her left shoulder was almost completely healed, but it was still good to bring a couple of teammates along for the job in case it decided to bother her again. Besides, it had been a long time since she had worked with any guildmates and she wanted to become a better leader by helping them with jobs that they might need a helping hand with.

Having gotten everything she needed for the trip, Leona left her room and proceeded to the guild hall foyer to wait for Ozwald and Tsubasa to join her.

-In the guild foyer-

Leona waited patiently in the middle of the foyer for Ozwald and Tsubasa. So far her left shoulder was holding up, which meant that she could aid them if there was fighting to be done. Since a Dark guild was involved, chances were high that the Wizard Saint would have to fight, but that was fine by her. Silver Wolf territory had to be defended and it was only appropriate that its Guild Mistress go in person to defend it.

[Post Word Count: 337]
[Leona's Word Count: 337]

Leona felt a magic signatures appear behind her and turned to find Ozwald coming to join her. She was glad to see him. While she had fought the forces of evil by herself many times before, she wanted to join forces with other people for a change, particularly members of Silver Wolf. Today was a good chance to try that approach with Ozwald Morgan and Tsubasa Kageyama at her side. This seemed to be a simple and straightforward job, but the Wizard Saint knew from experience how getting overconfident about "simple" things could lead to a lot of embarrassment by not taking it seriously until it was too late.

Leona would do her best not to make that mistake again.

"Hey Ozwald!" Leona greeted her guildmate. When he asked if they were waiting on one more member to join them, she did not have to take long to reply.

"We're waiting on Tsubasa Kayegama. Once he's here we'll go over the job details and we'll get going." Leona informed Ozwald. That briefing would not take very long because what little Leona knew about the job could be written on a napkin from the guild cafe. Other than a Dark guild was rumored to be attempting to set up shop in the Phoenix Mountains, she did not have very much to go on.

There was nothing about their numbers, an approximate location of their base, the direction they were last reported to be heading in, not even a description of their appearance. Even something basic like "watch out for shady-looking guys in dark robes!" would have helped. Oh well.

A few minutes after Ozwald showed up Tsubasa arrived.

"Hey Tsubasa!" Leona greeted the newly arrived guild member. Now that both Ozwald and Tsubasa were here it was time to go over the job details. That would not take very long and Leona knew it. She had to keep a straight face despite the embarrassment that the lack of information would inevitably bring because the Guild Mistress was supposed to be better informed than anyone except the Aces.

"OK, here's what I know about the job. Rumor is that there's a Dark guild attempting to set up shop somewhere in the Phoenix Mountains. We don't have a very good description of them... I suspect that's because the intruders are trying very hard to go unnoticed. We'll just have to use our magic-sensing abilities to try and find them, but there's quite a bit of magic on this mountain, so that's not a foolproof method." Leona briefed them with one-third fact and two-thirds conjecture. Realizing that what she had told them was not very much to work with, it was time to add more conjecture to the mix. It was also time to use her brain and think a little. After putting a bit of thought into it she put forth a hypothesis... and a course of action.

"I'm thinking that they've set up a base not too far from civilization because they need more supplies in a climate like this than they would somewhere more temperate like Capital Crocus or Minstrel. I suggest that we go asking around in villages in the Phoenix Mountains. Maybe someone there can tell us more and whether someone's made some big purchases at the village stores." Leona suggested to her teammates.

[Post Word Count: 555]
[Leona's Word Count: 892]

Leona watched Tsubasa stride in and introduce himself and his flying squirrel companion named Ahab. The Wizard Saint knew Tsubasa by name, but she had never met Ahab until today. She also did not know that Ahab could speak in human language and be understood by humans.

She learned something new every day.

Leona listened to Tsubasa offer to use Ahab as an eye in the sky to help their search go faster, something that the blonde had not considered doing herself. His offer got her to thinking about using her own summons to aid in the search. Leona's mind turned to her Pharaoh Owl Summon, but she recalled that its coloration was consistent with that of sand and would make Ramses stick out like a sore thumb in the mountains that were covered with white snow, green tree canopies, and gray rocks.

Her mind then turned to her Harpy Sisters. They had the speed to evade trouble and the power to fight if there was no other choice, but not the ability to blend in with the surroundings because golden armor that glinted in the sun and varying hair and wing colors did not make for stealthy surveillance. The entire point of Tsubasa's idea was for Ahab to fly around undetected and observe the area undetected, a duty that Leona's summons were not suited for.

"OK, Tsubasa, I'll leave the aerial reconnaissance to you and Ahab." Leona gave her approval to Tsubasa's proposal. With that matter decided, Leona then turned towards the issue of how they wanted to approach the search on foot. Her idea was to stick together to avoid any one mage getting lost on the mountains or getting surprised and taken out by the dark mages, but she was willing to hear Ozwald and Tsubasa out in case they had an alternate idea that was reasonable and backed by good logic.

"Since we don't know exactly how many dark mages there are or what magic they can use, I'm saying that we travel together to avoid getting lost and to reduce the chances of the dark mages isolating us and picking us off one by one. It'll be slower that way, but at the moment I'm more concerned about safety. We don't need to get overconfident just because we're on our home turf." Leona said to them. If the Silver Wolf mages got overconfident and split up just because they had a home field advantage they could be in for a world of hurt. The search would go slower by sticking together, but in exchange the Silver Wolf mages would be able to present a united front against their foes instead of being isolated and picked off one by one because they chose to go it separately. Leona had learned the hard way that trying to take on a group of dark mages with unknown capabilities alone could end in disaster.

She was going to do her best to not make that mistake again.

[Post Word Count: 498]
[Leona's Word Count: 1,390]

Leona obligingly stayed with Ozwald outside a small general store while Tsubasa went inside to check the place out. He had the good idea of keeping Leona and Ozwald on the outside so that if their quarry was in the store the appearance of three Silver Wolf mages would not scare them into either alerting the other dark mages or doing something rash like taking the people inside the shop hostage or outright destroying the shop without regard for their own survival. Since the idea made sense to the Wizard Saint and was a good one, she readily followed Tsubasa's suggestion. Now she stood outside the shop waiting for something interesting to happen.

After a few minutes of waiting around for Tsubasa to report back the front door flung open and out ran a man with a magic signature followed by Tsubasa shouting instructions. Tsubasa shouted that the man knew something and that he was to be detained. That was Leona's cue to step in and stop the stranger before this became a lengthy chase through the mountains.

"Get ready!" Leona warned Ozwald before placing herself into the path of the stranger. The stranger paused in his tracks for a moment at the sight of the Wizard Saint, then raised his arms and fired a wave of energy at her that knocked her back a good three meters but did not knock her off of her feet, plowing a trench in the snow to mark where she had went. Leona recovered and jumped straight up into the air, then glowed silver as she transitioned into a Meteor Jump Kick. With her right leg extended the Wizard Saint descended like a silver meteor towards the surprised mage, who barely dodged the kick with a sidestep to the left as she connected with the ground and did a recovery roll onto her right shoulder to return to a standing position.

The enemy thought he would be clever and circle behind her for an easy attack, but Leona had learned a spell just for that occasion. She channeled magic into her right fist and spun 180 degrees, performing a Spinning Backfist that struck the enemy right in the right temple. The man clutched his head and staggered back, but Leona did not leap to the attack right away. She recalled what Luna Mira had told her about thinking before acting and slowed down a moment.

Why rush to the attack when she held a momentary advantage?

Instead of rushing right back into hand-to-hand combat Leona raised her right hand and fired a Wind Blast that staggered the mage further and nearly knocked him off his feet, making her advantage last a little longer. While he was staggered Leona sprinted towards him with a Zephyr Dash to close the distance, but he recovered a bit faster than anticipated and punched towards her midsection with a glowing violet fist that hit her stomach. Leona clenched her teeth and hit back with a Mach Straight to his chest that knocked him off his feet, sending him a meter away and onto the snow.

The Wizard Saint felt the adrenaline flowing and rushed the man before he could get up. She grabbed him by the collar and he retaliated by seizing her wrists with hands glowing purple and squeezed her wrists until she let go. He then tried to strike with a palm thrust to her chest, but Leona was just a tiny bit faster and sidestepped the strike, then sidestepped back into place and quickly followed with a Mach Uppercut that hit him under the chin and sent him flying a couple feet up before he landed on his back for a second time. This time he was slower to get up, suggesting that his injuries were beginning to affect him.

He got to his feet and faced the Wizard Saint, but she performed a Tornado Kick that connected with his left temple, knocking him down and to the snow. Leona hurried over to the barely conscious man and grabbed him by the collar, this time meeting no resistance from the dazed mage. She stood him up and then forced his arms behind his back and held onto him for all she was worth.

"Ozwald, help me make sure he doesn't get away!" Leona instructed her guildmate. She was pretty sure that the dark mage was not going anywhere after the beating he had taken, but the Wizard Saint wanted to make certain that she did not lose their only lead on the location of the dark mages.

[Post Word Count: 762]
[Leona's Word Count: 2,152]
[Group Word Count: 5,154/7,000]

OOC: I have Tsubasa's permission to post in their place for this time since Leona was addressed directly by Ozwald. Once Tsubasa makes their next post the posting order will revert to normal.

Coming down off of the adrenaline rush after the intense battle with the dark mage, Leona watched Ozwald use his tome to heal all the wounds she had accumulated during the struggle to subdue the mage without killing him or knocking him out. That task was harder than it sounded due to the sheer power the Wizard Saint could bring to each fight. After Ozwald healed her he tied up the subdued mage with some rope that he produced from his backpack.

"Thanks for the healing, Ozwald." Leona made sure to thank her guildmate for his help. She then watched him speak to the captive dark mage in a friendly manner. The "adventurer extraordinaire" was about to work some magic of a different sort to get what the guild needed to know out of the man.

Ozwald's friendly approach to the interrogation belied the threat he posed. Ozwald was a big guy who had quite a bit of muscle despite his scholarly appearance and demeanor. He was keenly aware of that disconnect; in fact he leveraged it towards his goal without ever having to scream at the captive mage or inflict physical harm on him. It was somewhat disconcerting to watch Ozwald get information just by implied threats, not overt threats. Watching him work made Leona glad that he was on her side.

By using that approach to its fullest he managed to gain some crucial information that would help the Silver Wolf trio find the dark guild without having to comb through the entire Phoenix Mountains range to do so. Leona briefly wondered where he had gotten the practice necessary to become a skilled interrogator, but some questions were best left unanswered. Instead she focused on the results.

The first and arguably most important thing the Silver Wolf mages learned that the dark guild was headquartered next to an abandoned building a few miles to the west of their current position.

The second piece of information was the name of the dark guild they were looking for: Weather Report.

The third was what the members of Weather Control could do. As the name suggested, its members used elemental magic like fire, air, earth, water, and other such magic.

Leona was glad to learn all of this because now the Silver Wolf mages had not only the location of the dark guild's headquarters but also a name and basic information on what its members were capable of. Now they were not going into enemy territory entirely blind. Ozwald's question caught Leona's attention.

Was there anything else she wanted to ask the captive dark mage?

Leona gave the question some thought and tried to come up with a good question or two to ask, but the fading adrenaline rush had numbed her mind somewhat and she was unable to come up with anything good.

"I don't have any further questions for him, Ozwald. Thanks for your help." Leona answered her guildmate's question. Perhaps Tsubasa would have some questions that the Guild Mistress had failed to ask. She was satisfied with what they did learn because it allowed them to prepare for the raid on Weather Control's base, but as the Guild Mistress she should have had the foresight to ask more questions of the man while she had the chance. She just hoped that her guildmates would not pay the price for her lack of foresight.

[Post Word Count: 565]
[Leona's Word Count: 2,717]
[Total Word Count: 6,522]

Tsubasa kip-upped to his feet and, rubbing his back, walked back towards the others as they were interrogating the captive dark mage. Just as Tsubasa arrived he heard the name of the evil guild and sighed. Weather Control had been a big part of his recent past, albeit not intentionally. It had turned out that he had been foiling them at every turn without actually knowing anything about them. This came to a head when he actually met one of their Lieutenants after the vengeful sub-leader named Samiel had come after the young man’s family as retaliation for what he deemed to be the ‘final straw’.

This had lead to the first time Tsubasa had actually taken a life. The only time, to date. He had been laying low for a short time aside from his gaiden adventure with the hot people (known to most as Mythal and Serilda of the Rune Knights), but it didn’t strike him as just a coincidence that they would pop up so close to the Silver Wolf guild hall. “Ah crap.” He said, “I’ve dealt with these guys before. If they’re anything like the one I’ve had to contend with, they’re not the weakest mages around. Maybe if we catch them off guard we can negotiate with them about-“

He cut himself off and acted by instinct, reaching his hand out as a baseball player would to catch a wayward ball. Rather than a In a loud fwumpf, there lay a flying squirrel of unusual color. Ahab uncurled himself and said, “Tsu, other people, it’s the Weather Control guys from before! I think I found them. They’re setting up to do something… bad. I couldn’t recognize many of the runes but I could swear I saw a summoning sigil as the outline. And I’m pretty sure those guys ain’t summoning an ice cream truck.”

“How close are they to finishing?”

“How long does it take to boil an egg?”

“You know I hate when you use egg-based chronology.” Tsubasa sighed, “Well hey, at least we know that guy’s honest,” Tsu jerked a thumb towards the captured criminal, “I know I'm not leading this mission but I think we should take care of this right-stat-now.” He produced from his hoodie pocket a small silver disc which he threw on the ground. Before it would hit, it expanded in size and formed the shape of a boomerang, looking roughly large enough for a person to stand on. It didn’t actually hit the ground, but levitated slightly waiting for riders. “Miss Mercury helped me build this. It’s pretty dang fast. I got one more but someone’s gonna have to ride shotgun, unless ya’ll can fly.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out another one while he stepped on the first. Whoever rode shotgun would likely feel a little cramped on the standing device.

Letting them decide for themselves who would ride what, or if the device was even needed, he took off into the air. Balancing on it would be a lot like standing on two vibrating planks that veered inward ever so slightly. However, provided the rider had a strong sense of balance, they would likely not be thrown off for the short trip. Tsubasa went ahead, with Ahab on his shoulder pointing the way. Tsubasa’s mind raced with possibilities of what they would encounter once they arrived there. He knew that their Guild Leader was among the strongest mages in the land, but he wasn’t sure how he and Ozwald would fare.

[WC:588; TWC: 1746]
[Job WC: 7100]

Things got a lot more interesting when Tsubasa arrived shortly before his flying squirrel companion and the flying squirrel told Tsubasa about something bad that the dark guild had in the works, something that involved a summoning ritual. To make matters worse, the Silver Wolf trio was on a short timeframe... an egg comparison was used. And to top things off Tsubasa admitted that he had encountered Weather Control in the past, but finding out more about the circumstances behind that encounter would have to wait until later. Right now they had a crisis to avert.

Tsubasa suggested that they deal with what was going on right this instant. Leona agreed.

"I agree, Tsubasa. Let's stop this ritual now." She agreed with his urgent request to stop the summoning ritual before it could be completed. He produced a small silver disc and threw it to the ground, where it expanded in the shape of a boomerang with enough space for someone to stand on it. He then produced a second one and attached it to the first. Tsubasa offered for someone to ride with him, but Ozwald and Leona had their own ideas about transport.

"You go ahead, Tsubasa. I'll catch up with you. I've gotta figure out what to do about the dark mage we've captured." Leona said to him. She then turned to Ozwald, who had asked her if guilds dealt with saving the world while under a strict time limit. The blonde nodded.

"Guilds deal with a lot of interesting situations, Ozwald. Not all of them involve strict time limits, but the life of a guild mage has a lot of excitement. Of course I'm only speaking from the Independent standpoint... I can't speak for Legal or Dark Guilds." Leona replied to Ozwald's question the best she could considering the time crunch they were under. She saw that he had created a portal of sorts that he could go through, meaning that he did not have to rely on either Tsubasa or Leona for transport.

Ozwald asked if he could go on ahead of them so that Tsubasa would not be left without support. Leona nodded.

"Sure, Ozwald. Go on ahead of me and help Tsubasa if he needs it. I'll follow on my Winged Lion and be there shortly." Leona gave him the go-ahead to head for the site of the ritual ahead of her. She then raised her hands to summon Winged Lion so that she could follow her guildmates before they got too far ahead of her. Leona was by far the strongest of the trio and she needed to be with Tsubasa and Ozwald in case Weather Control had somehow learned that the Silver Wolf mages were on their way to stop them.

"WINGED LION!" Leona called out telepathically. Moments later the Winged Lion appeared at her side and looked towards her.

The blonde pointed towards Tsubasa and Ahab, who were barely visible in the distance and were moving away at a good pace.

"Follow them!" Leona ordered before hopping onto the Winged Lion's back and secured herself on its back. She was about to take off when she remembered that she needed to deal with the captured dark mage. The Wizard Saint took a few moments to think the matter over and then called upon two more summons, Sky Champion Rafale and Tempest Avian. They would be the ones to keep the dark mage where he was until the authorities arrived while Leona hurried to end the threat to the Phoenix Mountains and possibly the world.

"Sky Champion Rafale, Tempest Avian, make sure that this dark mage stays here. I want him to remain alive and unharmed if possible." Leona informed the green-clad summon and the metallic owl. They nodded and lifted the man to his feet. As two of her strongest summons, Leona had no doubt that they were more than able to keep the man from escaping to warn his friends or wreak any more havoc. Leona called out another summon, Sylvia the Harpy Sister.

"Hey girl, how's it- oh." Sylvia started before gazing at the man that Rafale and Tempest Avian were keeping a watch on.

"Sylvia, I need you to go back to Silver Wolf Guild Hall and have someone contact the authorities. Tell them that two of my summons are holding a dark mage for them to pick up." Leona said. Sylvia nodded.

"I'll head there right away." She said before taking flight. With those arrangements having been made, Leona took off on the back of the Winged Lion and flew at about the same height as Tsubasa was. She did not want to fly too high and ruin the element of surprise... a green-clad mage on a winged brown lion did not blend in with the terrain at all.

[Post Word Count: 803]
[Leona's Word Count: 3,520]
[Total Word Count: 8,450/7,000]

Having arrived last to the site of the summoning ritual, Leona saw that her guildmates had done a good job of cleaning up the Weather Control mages who were outside in a clearing, but she saw a stream of them rushing towards Ozwald. Leona decided that was where she was needed and shortly made her presence felt. Leona pointed the site where she wanted to land to Winged Lion, who nodded and began to descend to allow his mistress to land where she needed to be.

Almost a minute later Leona landed on the back of Winged Lion and swiftly dismounted, then sent the summon airborne again to serve as a distraction from above while she cleaned up the enemy reinforcements focusing on her and Ozwald. She counted ten more Weather Control mages heading to sweep Ozwald and Tsubasa from the clearing and resume their ritual. Leona would need to take them down fast before they could get their momentum going again.

Leona activated her new Gale Force ability and felt a rush of power... observers could see that Leona had a faint silver outline and that her hair was blowing violently about even though the gusts of wind were sporadic. The first of the enemies approached her and paused for a moment, charging a ball of electricity to throw at her. Recalling her last encounter with lightning mages, the Wizard Saint kept her distance and used a Wind Bullet spell, firing the small silver marble just as the mage fired his yellow electric ball. Leona sidestepped the ball of electricity while her Wind Bullet hit the enemy mage in the chest and knocked him back.

Leona saw most of the enemy reinforcements group up into a semicircle and prepare spells of four different elements, fire, ice, lightning, and wind. There were two cheeky mages in the semicircle who prepared a wind spell. Leona was amused that someone would be so cheeky as to use a Wind spell against her, one of the strongest Wind mages alive.

The Weather Control mages began firing their spells in staggered volleys; the ice mages led off with ice beams fired at Leona's legs, which she dodged by jumping straight up into the air to a height of four meters, then launching into a Meteor Jump Kick aimed right for the lightning mage who had first attacked her. She moved so quickly that her right foot slammed into his face, causing him to fall backwards and fire his lightning spell off to the left, striking a fellow Weather Control member and shocking him with an errant lightning bolt.

Having seized the advantage with the Meteor Jump Kick, Leona moved to keep the advantage by taking aggressive action against the eight mages still on their feet. Leona moved to take care of the left side of the semicircle as she telepathically ordered Winged Lion to distract the right side of the semicircle from firing on her.

Leona got into the face of a fire mage, who tried to use a fire-infused punch to burn her face. She ducked under the straight punch and hit him in the face with a Swift Palm before following up with a Mach Uppercut to his chin that knocked him up and onto his back, where he passed out. Leona spotted another ice mage firing a ball of ice that resembled a typical snowflake before it exploded like a fragmentation grenade and icy shrapnel went everywhere. She used a Zephyr Dash to escape the fragmentation of the snowflake and close the gap with the ice mage, who was so surprised by Leona's sudden appearance that he barely had time to charge up for an ice-infused punch before she hit him directly in the face with a Mach Straight that knocked him out on the spot.

He had barely fallen onto the snow when a beam of concentrated fire magic called "Hellfire Beam" whooshed by her left side. Leona spotted the offender and rushed through the snow towards the man, avoiding another Hellfire Beam aimed directly at her head by executing a last-second evasive roll to the front and popping back onto her feet to resume the charge towards the fire mage before he could burn her. Leona closed to within five meters of the man and executed a Zephyr Dash that caught him completely off guard; the Wizard Saint slammed into his chest with a wind barrier that sent him flying backwards and left her unharmed. Once he was down she heard yelling from about thirty meters away as Winged Lion dove on an ice mage and sent him scurrying for safety as the other Weather Control mages fired spells at the retreating lion.

In front of her an enemy wind mage blinked into existence and leaped backwards, firing a series of crescent blades of wind from his hands. Leona ducked under them just in time to avoid a haircut and raised her left hand, firing a Gale Cannon that hit him in the chest and knocked him down, then ran over to him and kicked him in the face, knocking him out. Leona faced a fire mage who rushed towards her with his hands glowing the color of his chosen element.

Leona resisted the impulse to rush in and stayed back until he got to within three meters of her, then raised her left hand and hit him with a Wind Blast, but to her surprise he blocked it with a "Fire Wall" and closed the gap to reach hand-to-hand combat range. Leona drew back her right fist and used a Hurricane Punch to hit the man twelve times in the face and torso faster than he could blink, then hit him with a Tornado Kick to the head while he was still dazed from the Hurricane Punch. The fire mage twirled in midair and landed on his back unconscious.

Leona faced the right side of the hemisphere, which had five Weather Control mages. The elements of earth, ice, fire, lightning, and wind were represented by one mage apiece and they were giving Winged Lion a hard time with ranged spells that he narrowly dodged. The Wizard Saint took a moment to breathe and then focused magic and fired an Air Pressure spell at the lightning mage while he was busy aiming at her. The compressed column of air hit the man in the head and torso and disoriented him, but he was about forty meters away from her position and his fellows were now aiming spells at her.

Leona dodged a Hellfire Beam with a one-handed cartwheel to the left and then repeated the cartwheel to dodge a Frost Beam aimed at her chest. She began to sprint forward when she jumped over a wave of sharp rocks that erupted from the ground in front of her, barely missing getting impaled. The Wizard Saint then dodged a volley of crescent blades of wind aimed at her neck by ducking under them just in time. She was within thirty-two meters of the men, but they still had a range advantage. She would need help from her guildmates to get through this fight.

"I need help!" Leona called to her guildmates as she was forced to go on the defensive.

[Post Word Count: 1,210]
[Leona's Word Count: 4,730]
[Total Word Count: 11,004/7,000]

Thread Summary:


TWC: 13,365
10,000 Towards A-Rank Freeform
2,000 Towards C-Rank Freeform