Shinu led the group out of the Garden, watching Erk off in the distance. He had taken the lead to ensure a safe passage while Shinu and the rest of the group followed. It was a pretty brisk night, a chilled breeze was flying through the entrance/exit to the Garden. As soon as they left the Garden, an onslaught of rain came down in sheets. Shinu's eyes moved up to the dark blue sky. Small ripples of lightning peaked through the large overcast and rain continued to shower them.

As they marched on towards the mountain range, the rain poured down harder. The ground was muddy now, everyone had their feet sinking in while the mud was displaced around them. Erk was waiting for them at the bottom of the cliff. Shinu turned to look at a group with a more serious look than he expected. He turned back to Erk to await his orders.

Nioelle flinched as the rain hit her skin. She loved the rain, but hated the thunder that came with it. She was waiting for it.

Of course it has to be raining.

She whispered it to Shinu, not wanting to get in trouble for talking. The last thing she needed was to be sent back to Garden.

The elf stood stock still in the mud, rivulets of water running through the folds of his oiled, leather traveling cloak drawn close around him. He stared up at the peaks for several long moments, his face shadowed beneath his hood. His keen eyes swept across the dark face of the peaks above, searching for something, anything that indicated activity. Frustrated at last, Erk turned about again to face the students just coming to a stop behind him. His features were composed and stoic, and sign of anger, or any other feeling, gone from them.

Erk gave a short nod over his shoulder towards the beginnings of the foothills of the range, keeping his old eyes locked upon the students, almost invisible from the darkness of the night and his hood.

"Somewhere up there, in those cliffs, is what we have been sent to investigate. You remember the headmaster's orders; we are to avoid detection, at any and all costs. In a large group like this, stealth is nearly impossible. First task, split yourselves up into groups of three. If you're wearing any heavy armor, boots, gauntlets, anything metallic or clanking, take it off now. It'll do you no good there. Leave it here, bury it under the mud. We'll start up the path which begins there behind that large boulder behind me." As everyone turned to follow his pointing finger, they noticed the rock marking the path, little more than a goat trail snaking a short way up the cliff and around a bend.

"Divide yourselves and make sure that you're ready. I'll be a little ways up the trail keeping watch. Remember, keep quiet. The rain may be loud, but we've no idea what could be listening." Speaking those last words, a sudden flare of lightning threw his sharp, angular features into stark relief, highlighting his unearthly eyes. The effect was unconcerting, to say the least. Erk turned, and soon vanished into the shadow and obscurity of the rain, little more than an indistinct shape.

Corenian just heaved a sigh, pulling on the hood of his trenchcoat, allowing the water to trickle over him easily. Looking in the direction the old man had left in, he could only wonder what had put him in such a foul mood, though he seemed to be like that most of the time he had seen the man which was not long. Returning his focus to the rest of the group, he heaved another sigh, thinking who would it be best for him to team up with... this day just kept getting worse and the only thing keeping him going was that fact that Fia was still with him. Taking some time to look at her, she just smiled at him reassuringly, the rain fazing right through her spiritual body. Corenian just heaved yet another sigh before moving closer to the rest of the group, wondering just whose teams he should try to get into.

Cyrus followed everyone silently. The rain didnt bother him much, but for some reason he didnt feel like talking. Cyrus was usually kinda crazy, and he wouldve normally done something goofy by now, but he knows when to be serious.

He had never been on a stealth mission before, but with his mimicing skills, he hoped he could do well. After hearing the order to split into groups of 3, he began to ponder who he should work with carefully. In stealth missions, his mime skills could be an aid, but they could just as easily be the thing that gets them caught.

Lucien followed at the end of the group. If there was a sudden surprise, he would be able to defend better from the rear. The rain started to pelt down heavy, this annoyed Lucien as his hair was now flat instead of spiked, causing small dreads of hair to fall into his eyesight.

Lucien knew that they would have to split up into smaller groups to make it to the hills undetected, but he was not sure who to go with since he needed someone skilled in close combat to defend from a quick surprise attack.

Everyone had about the same look on their face throughout the group. Without specific orders, all of them were kind of lost. For a moment it wasn't clear who would be the one to decide the groups, until Shinu spoke up. He spoke in a monotone fashion, his voice never wavering, and he kept as quiet as possible for everyone to hear him.

Coming with me up the east flank will be Nioelle, Corenian, and new guy. Group two will be led by Kira, in his group will be Kryst, Faina, and Lucien. Group three will be led by Raven, in his group will be Cyrus, Nia, and Kairi. Group two up the middle, group three wraps around to the west, no more than a quarter of a mile away though. My group will do the same but to the east.

Shinu reached into his pocket and took out some equipment. Talking devices, two of them he handed to Raven and Kira, another he tossed over to the old man to report in. He grabbed Kira and Raven and told them in a whisper...

We report to each other first. We're on frequency 2, then I'll talk to the old man on frequency 1. I still don't trust him. Got it?

Taking a few steps to the east, Shinu looked over his shoulder to see that the rest of his group was in tow. Looking across the way, Raven's group was moving out, and Kira's group headed up. The climb should take no longer than twenty minutes he thought to himself.

Spliting up such a wonderful plan, at least we got these headsets just in case anyone of uss gets in trouble Raven said heading his group to the east, occasionally checking over his shoulder to see if they were still behind them. He was wearing his casual clothing since it was already all black, but he add his metal knee pad form his battle outfit and his gloves to give him an advantage just in case close quaters came into play.

"Ooh by the way Shinu, the new guys name, is Archer. Lets not just keep calling him new guy," Raven said through the headset with a little grin

Staying to himself the whole time, Asuma, under his name Archer, silently watched the sky, feeling the electricity coming from the clouds. It was something he always found fascinating. How that large of an electrical signal could be created in a large cloud of condensed water vapor. It was even better that it was up there. With the cloud cover, their darker clothing wouldn't be seen, unless they were wearing white. He didn't care to see if any of them did. The lightning coming from the sky is what made him chuckle to himself. If he had to, Archer would tell Shinu just why Cid asked for him in the first place. After all, if they encountered any unwanted people...all he had to do was aim a lightning bolt at them. After all, they would most likely have metal on them. Just a stray bolt that would kill those in front of them. It would be simple, quick, and deadly.

Hearing that Shinu had already decided to say who was in what group, Archer sighed. At least none of them knew his real name. It was better that way. At least in these smaller groups he wiouldn't be in a crowd of people. He still didn't know any of them. Though, it didn't matter now. They weren't there to get aquainted. They needed to finish the mission. Following Shinu, Archer saw what would be a short climb. From there, he saw nothing.

kairi felt confused but she walked over to raven waiting for orders

"i still dont understand fully whats going on." kairi whispered to him looking around

"but im following you." she said waiting patiently until a rain drop hit her and she let a smile creep onto her face. she enjoyed the rain.