"It seems we've a budding tactician on our hands. They seem to respect his decisions; good. They need someone amongst themselves to turn to." With the scouting parties assembled and ready, Erk turned to look down upon them from his spot higher on the trail.

He turned the communication device on to frequency 1, and grumbled into the headset, "Deploy the groups. The center group will follow me when they split." Flicking the device off, Erk turned about, to ensure that he was alone and unseen by the students below. Satisfied, he looked forward again, and spoke a word, short and gutteral. A slight fizzing sound emanated from his shoulder, and with an almost imperceptible puff of smoke, a squat, dark shape appeared perched upon the shoulder of his cloak. A caw rang from it.

"Hush now, little one," Erk spoke in his thoughts, "we must be as silent as possible. I need you to take to the wing above. Keep an eye on the students, and alert me of any danger." The creature, revealing itself to be a crow, with bright, intelligent eyes, let out another caw.

"I know that you can't fly well in this darkness; but you must do this. In these mountains, even my sight is confined. You are my only way of knowing where the students are. You need not follow them. Take a perch on high, where you can see all." With one last disgruntled noise, the queer-looking bird took to wing, soon vanishing into the blackness. Erk watched it fly for a moment, before turning back to the trail ahead. Looking back, he could see the students begin to file up the trail. Pulling his hood further over his face, the old man began to pick his way further up the path.

A pair of teal eyes squinted through the darkness watching Shinu hand off communicators. She stepped out from the cover of the garden entrance and closed her eyes. Dozens of droplets glazed across her tanned face. For once, a childish grin formed on her face as she pulled up the hood of her coat over her head. A raindrop softly splashed on her eyelash. She wiped the rainy streaks leaving her face slightly wet, but letting it glisten whenever the outdoor lights shined on her. Kryst turned to her group and began to move foward.

Raven looked over at Kairi and whispered back.

"We are here to basically spy on the enemy that seems to be camped around this area, that and we are to report what we see back to Erk," he said to her and then reached down and rolled up his pant leg to show her a knife that he had hidden in his boot.

"I though am gonna keep to my word, was wrong move, and he's dead."

Nia looked at the sky, she was scared of thunderstorms but she didn't want to show it. She walked up to Raven and looked at him waiting for orders. Her hair were pinned up and they were already soaked with water, same as her clothes. Nia changed her usual white shirt to a black on and she got rid of the skirt staying with shorts only. That was a good move since soaked clothes would be heavy and it would be hard to move, if there was a problem she could use mud, this weather was pretty in handy for that. When Raven told them why they are there she nodded and whispered.

"Let's better get going..."

Shinu pressed the ear piece in further in his ear when Raven spoke.

Archer, got it.

Shinu turned his frequency to one to hear Erk's orders. Back on frequency two, he talked calm commands to Kira and Raven.

Visibility is getting worse the more we climb. Make sure you don't lose anyone. Gowing slower with everyone is better than quicker with a few.

As he said it, visibility was getting worse. The rocks were getting harder to climb because of the rain. Shinu reached back and took out a rope. He turned around to see Nioelle close behind him. Quickly he tied it around his waist and handed it to her. He turned his mic away to address her.

Tie this around your waist and pass it back to keep everyone together.

Rain was pouring down harder, relatively anyways. The sheets had changed to large obese rain drops that plunked as they hit the ground. The foot holds that Shinu was using began to slide and his footing was getting worse. He started to move slower, and he dug his large feet into the ground to make bigger foot holes for his group. It should go a long way for them to climb easier.

Checking back, Shinu saw that Archer in the back had tied himself on, and now everyone would be counting on Shinu. He pulled out his pick from a now empty back pack and began to drive it into the wall. Before moving each time, he rotated it in a circle to make a hold for everyone's hands. His visibility was less than ten feet now, the rain pounding his eyes when he tried to look up further than he needed to. The night was dark and the lightning strikes were the only aide to them now.

After a grueling climb, Shinu made it to the top. He stayed put behind a rock and his heart started pounding when he made out figures off in the distance. There was at least thirty men, he thought they were men. The figures were in the distance, and before he could get a better look, he tied his rope to a boulder and went over to help the others up. While he waited, he switched his frequency to two.

Kira, Raven, I see some men. I can only see figures, I'm not sure what's going on. Who the hell would be on a mountain at night during a storm?

Nioelle was the first to make it to the top after Shinu, with one hand he snatched her up and signalled her to wait behind the rock he tied his rope on. Corenian was next, and needed little assistance fro Shinu since he was already used to training in the mountains. The last person was archer, Shinu reached his hand out to him.

Taking Shinu's hand as he climbed, Archer hated mud. While the rain didn't bother him, mud was the hardest thing for his leather boots to get through. He slid halfway down the hill when he was almost up, catching himself only because he magnified an arrow and stabbed it into the ground. As he made his way up, the arrow flew from the ground, and back into his quiver. He wasn't one to waste them. After all, you never wanted to run out when you needed them most. And as Shinu pulled him up, Archer saw that he would need them. Thirty men. All of them he could see, as the impulses in his eyes increased. While the visibility was low, the light that the lightning gave off he slowed down, to get better glimpses at the men. Sighing as he looked at them, Archer walked next to Shinu. "Thirty men...all of them on a mountain in the middle of a storm. No other explanation."

This was the reason why he had been called on, he knew that now. His ability to use the weather when he needed or wanted to could be greatly needed in a mission like this. Cid...even Archer had never fully figured the man out. But now wasn't the time to think of that. Moving his left hand behind him, his bow quickly formed as Archer pulled it out, an electrical field not only putting the bow together, but made three metal arrows come from his quiver. Static coming from them, Archer looked at Shinu. "Do you wish to see why Cid called me?"

No, just wait.

Shinu got down on all fours and dragged Archer down with him, crawling over behind the boulder with the rest of the group. The three had their eyes on Shinu waiting to see what he would say.

Ok, let's remain quiet. There are thirty men wearing robes, it's as good a look as I got so far. We'll have to wait for the next lightning strike. Let me tell the other groups to keep themselves covered.

Shinu flipped the headset on to frequency one.

Erk, we have a slight visual on thirty men in robes. Waiting for a better visual. Over.

Quickly he switched to frequency two before Erk could give him any orders.

Kira, Raven, keep your cover. The lightening strikes here can illuminate the darkness and we could easily be spotted.

Flipping his mic up over his head, he turned to Archer again. His brain was flipping through a lot of different ideas for what talent this man possessed. That's it! Magnetic arrows, the rain, it all made sense.

Archer... lightning? Is that what you were going to say?

Sighing again, Archer made himself crouch, letting the arrows revolve, all three in a circle pattern, above his right hand. "If you call magnetism and electricity as such, then yes." Moving his bow into the air like the arrows, Archer moved his left hand, revealing the quiver of thin, metal arrows on his right thigh. "Seventy. But I only need three." Moving the bow back to his left hand, and letting his coat fall over the quiver once more, Archer let the arrows move towards the bow, as he held it tightly in his left hand. This was more talking than he had done at once in a long time. He wanted to get it over with and keep moving. Staying here would do no good, as it was.

As the next bolt struck, it was short, letting off light for only a second. But with even that limited time, it illuminated Archer's face. His eyes looked as if lightning were inside them, like they could shoot bolts themselves. "So, your answer?"

No, we have direct orders not to be seen. We need to see though. Can you create a lightning that can last me say... 10 seconds?

Shinu peered into his eyes for a split second. He saw this man could be dangerous, and he knew to be very efficient with the commands he gave him. He seemed to be a bit of a loose cannon, so Shinu was pulling back the reins a bit. The visibility faded and Shinu slowly made his way over to Nioelle and Corenian.

Corenian, you and I are moving in for a closer look. Nioelle, you're the outlet. Should anything bad happen to Corenian and I, you're to get back to Garden as quickly as you can and report everything you see. Do not move from here unless we get caught.

He walked back over to Archer, still in the same spot.

Your answer?

Sighing, Archers head fell slightly. This man truly didn't get what he was saying. With a well placed arrow he could cause a single lightning bolt to fly from the sky and shock one of them. With that, it would transfer to all thirty, killing them on contact. But, oh well. As long as they weren't spotted, Archer would settle with the orders. The arrows quickly moved back into the quiver, and the bow quickly folded in, settling back into the place it was kept when it wasn't being used; behind him under his coat. What Shinu was asking for would be a stretch. But, if he could cause a few bolts to happen in succession, then it would be simple. Creating a bolt lasting for ten seconds, though, was near impossible.

"One bolt, no. Many, yes. Give me a second." Gathering his mahic around him, Archer could feel the electricity in the sky, could feel it building and then snapping down into the air below the clouds. He could feel it moving, as if it were an entity all it's own. And...maybe it was. To Archer it felt as much. Maybe just a by-product of his magic. His eyes closed, Archer's body gave off the occasional jolt, going from one part of him to another, and then ending. "Each bolt will last two to three seconds. I'll make as many as I can for ten seconds, to give you enough light. Get ready."

With that said, Archer quickly gathered the electricity in the sky above him...and then let loose. One bolt flashed through the sky, large, and loud. It's light flashed twice, three seconds. A second quickly followed right after, not letting the light fade before it struck. This one was shorter, but brighter, two more seconds added. A few more. Three quickly struck, all in succession, lasting the last four seconds, before fading. The ten seconds were up, and Archer let loose with one more bolt, a small quick burst, letting one more second pass to allow Shinu enough time to look. With it, his magic ended, and Archer opened his eyes. That alone took out of him, and his arms slumped to his sides. Sending the occasional burst of lightning from his body was easy. Even amping up his brain's electrical output to it's maximum for a long period of time was easy. Manipulating electricity in it's basic form, high in the sky, that was difficult. He had done it, though. He would pay for it with his own strength. He was already starting to get slightly tired. He pushed it away for the moment, looking over to Shinu, nodding. His part was done, for now.