[CLOSED] Lost in the Forest of Forever Fall

Lucius could finally felt the wound he got from the Beowolf earlier, though it wasn't bleeding it was still really painful. Bearing with it he stood up then he heard Mike telling him.

"We need to find the others. Come on, I'll race you there!" and started running off somewhere then yelling, "MARKUS! TERRY! WHERE ARE YOU?"

He immediately stood up and tried to follow him while enduring the pain from the wound.

Hmm. What an odd thing to come across. Not that it was overly important, he supposed, but it was interesting at the very least. He closed his eyes, focusing his mind, and he felt his awareness begin to sharpen. They were there, just on the edge of his hearing, causing all manner of unseemly noise pollution. It wasn't just extremely annoying, it was liable to bring down more Grimm on top of them. While Nathaniel wasn't entirely sure that he wouldn't enjoy more fighting, it would still be a waste of time they really couldn't afford. He opened his eyes again and the noise cut off once more. He took a bearing from the sun and decided that Markus had been more or less correct on both distance and direction. He set off walking.

"HEEEEEY! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS??!!!" Mike yelled as he ran through the undergrowth.
"Hey Lucius! Catch up!" He called back to his injured teammate. Then he saw that Lucius was obviously in pain.
"Are you alright? Did the Beowolves get you?" He asked, trying to see where it was he was injured.

At around the area of his stomach, his clothes were torn and three large red marks were there. It was from the attack of the Beowolf earlier. Though enduring the pain, he decided to try and pick up the pace.

"Are you alright? Did the Beowolves get you?"

"I'm fine, its literally just a scratch. What happened earlier... was a sign that I still have much to learn. Anyway, go on ahead. Actually, can you carry one of the shields for me? I have some of my aura inside these shields so I'll know where you are in case I lose sight of you."

Markus and Nathaniel clambered through he dense trees and eventually heard "Are you alright? Did the Beowolves get you?"

Markus' ears pricked up and he turned to Nathaniel, "Hey! D'ya hear that?"

By now the sun was setting and the golden glow illuminated the petal piles to create a pink glow to the forest. Through this lightish-red shine, the two pairs spotted each other and swapped stories. After the initial squabble Markus pointed out "We're still lost. I think if we head south-east or so we should get close to the cliffs, if my memory serves me correctly. However, the Grimm are more dangerous at night. What do you guys think, stay here overnight and move in the morning, or go now and face the Grimm?"

Mike looked at Lucius, not wanting to leave him on his own. Who knows what could attack his injured comrade?
"I think it would be better if we all stick together!" He said chirpily. He took his shield though.
"I'll take this, it will be easier for you if I carry it." He said. "Come on, we need to find Markus and Nathaniel." He said, setting off, although at a slower pace this time. Then he turned and saw them.
"Markus! Terry!" Mike called to the others. "Fancy seeing you here!" He said, pleased with the fact that he had managed to find his two best friends.

As everyone had exchanged stories, Markus asked a question;

"What do you guys think, stay here overnight and move in the morning, or go now and face the Grimm?"

"I think we should stay for the night, it's a lot safer to stay on one place and defend while its dark. And you guys can sleep in peace, I can set up a defensive barrier if ever things go wrong", he said with confidence.

"Move now. Urgency." Nathaniel hadn't seen it as a question really, it had seemed so obvious. They had better things to do than play boy scouts, him especially. If the others had enough time to sit around a campfire telling ghost stories then he was fine with that- after all, all that would happen would be the Guard having a little more time to prepare and investigate. For him the stakes were a little more serious- if the Guard had enough time to find the contents of the chest it was as good as a death sentence. Literally, if they found out who he really was he'd be surprised if the local authorities didn't have him executed. He was still trying to figure out why he had the right to still be alive and he figured death would be a rather abrupt way to end things, let alone that it would leave the question unanswered. Besides, regardless of what Markus had said he was still doubtful as to the danger of moving at night. Any protection it would offer Grimm it would also confer to them, and while he was sure that some must exist he had yet to find any Grimm he would consider a legitimate threat.

"I guess Nathaniel is right, we are in trouble, and the guards will come looking for us. We either face the consequences now, or prolong the punishment and probably make it worse. So, off we go, then."

Markus turned around and started walking. He knew that if he wanted to be a good leader, he should probably give some sort of motivational speech, like they do in films. Patriotic music, a montage or two, and a plan of action that is completely illogical but will succeed because the plot demands it. However, this is real life, there will be no music nor montages, and any plan of his would most likely fail. And besides, there is no plot to life; or if there is, there are no main characters, no protagonists.

No happy endings.

Mike watched as Markus turned and began to walk away.
"But what happens when we get back? And do you even know the way back?" He asked doubtfully. He swung up into the trees to swing just above Markus, as per his normal method of travel.
"What if we just wait here for everything to die down? Or we could live here forever! That would be so cool! Four best friends, team Mockingbird, surviving together in the wilderness, occasionally saving random people who happen to be attacked by Grimm!" He prattled on, stuck in his own world, still wondering in his mind how they were supposed to know their way back.

Though taking notice of Mike's suggestion but resisting to give a comment about it, Lucius simply stood up and sighed. He had to agree that prolonging the punishment any further would indeed make things rather worse for them. So he put his shields down and went to a nearby bush and had gathered some dried branches.

"We at least need some source of light... anyone have some Burn Dust?"

Markus heard this dust request and turned round.
"Burn Dust? For a torch? Don't bother.
Markus lifted his gauntlet, fiddled around with it for a moment, then fetched a handful of crystals from his pocket. He sorted through them, producing a yellow gem with a red tint. Inserting this into his gauntlet triggered a whirring sound, then a bright light shone through the ravines in the metal, this dust replacing the usual flow of Markus' blood. The gauntlet normally acted as a filter, removing the Grimm-poisoned blood from reaching the rest of his body, however it can still do this while being used as a lamp.

Markus lifted his gauntlet to eye level, and started walking once more. I should tell them about my hand... In a team, we should share no secrets. Maybe when we get back to Beacon, I'll tell them and that might trigger Nathaniel to be less secretive. It's worth a shot, I guess. If we don't get kicked out of Beacon, that is.

Interesting as Markus' gauntlet was, Nathaniel was still surprised that neither he nor Lucius had seen the inherent flaw in their plan. Using a source of light in dense terrain like this was a sure way to attract unwanted attention, and they were much better off relying on their night vision. Carrying around a torch, or any substitute for one, was simply lighting a beacon to display their whereabouts to any passing monsters. They would lose all the advantage of stealth but for any predators it would have next to no effect- rather than creeping up on them they'd simply have to lie in wait. On top of all of that the yellow light would have already burned away most of their night vision in the short amount of time it had been active. He knew his teammates weren't all that experienced but to him this seemed more like common sense. "Stop. Cut the light."

Mike "ooh"ed as markus' gauntlet began to glow. Then Nathaniel told him to turn it off. To be quite fair he couldn't care less whether they had light or not. It wasn't like having light was going to help a lot. Nevertheless, he felt the need to question.
"Why? You think it will attract Grimm? Pfft. They'll be no problem. They'll stand no chance against TEAM MOCKINGBIRD!" He shouted, striking a pose at his last two words.

Lucius pondered for a bit as he carefully put down the branches he had been carrying and then re-equipped his shields. They were in the middle of the forest filled with Grimm. It was getting dark and a source of light is much needed. But as Nathaniel had pointed out, the light source would indeed attract the Creatures of Grimm. But traversing the forest through night vision alone could also be very dangerous since they won't be able to see the places they could be stepping on and may cause some noise which could also attract the Grimm...

"But walking through the darkness is also dangerous if we were to encounter the Grimm or a Grimm had spotted us... especially two very dangerous Creatures of Grimm that are very active at night... A Deathstalker... and a King Taijutsu"

then he had an idea...

"What if we make this source of light look like something that the other Grimm would ward themselves from... Like a Deathstalker's tail?"

Though he noticed how ridiculous his suggestion was so he decided to add a following statement.

"Or... Does anyone have some equipment that can be used as a temporary flare gun? That way, not only do we have a source but we could also create a distraction for the Grimm"

Markus turned to Nathaniel and deactivated his Gauntlet. He could see fine in the dark forest, a side-effect of his Grimm blood, but he wasn't sure abut his companions. "I can sorta see well in the dark once my eyes adjust, but what about you guys?"
Suddenly, Markus had a brainstorm and began muttering calculations and equations to himself. Bending dow to pick up a twig, he cleared away some petals to write down something on the ground. "Okay, I have an idea, but it's a long shot. If this doesn't work, I'm out of ideas."

Markus opened a panel on his gauntlet and spent a couple of minutes rewiring the systems, and then lifted it up to the sky, and fired an energy pulse. This one was different. Brighter. It flew up high in the sky and illuminated the forest, like a mini-sun. Markus was just about to fist-pump and celebrate his success, when the light frizzled out and left the forest pitch black.

As the light went up the sky and illuminated the dark forest, Lucius could only smile but it turned into a frown when the light had quickly died. Though a thought raised to his head. The Grimm would have definitely noticed where the light came from...

"This can't be good..."

Nathaniel shook his head and sighed. His teammates clearly weren't used to thinking their way around a problem and if they were up against anything actually threatening he would have happily taken them to one side and beaten the idea through their thick skulls. As it was he figured it wasn't worth the effort, although it did tell him that his teammates were in even worse shape than he'd thought. Seriously? Firing a flare in the middle of enemy territory? Perhaps the documents he'd had forged had been a little too generous in the abilities they'd credited him with- he'd thought people coming here had to already be competent warriors by the time they arrived but perhaps that wasn't the case. He unslung Teres-Aris from his back. He did consider firing it in the air just to make a point but he decided it would be a waste of ammunition. He set off walking again.

"Okay, well for lack of other things, we will just have to make do with very low-light conditions. We'll go in a line, hang on," Markus said, walking over to an ancient-looking tree, and pulled off a thick, long vine. Tying one end around his waist, he passed the vine to Nathaniel.
"Hold this. I'll lead up, followed by Nathaniel, Lucius then Mike. I can see quite well in the dark, so just follow my lead and keep hold of the vine."

Markus then proceeded to wander off back into the thick, grimm-infested, thick-treed night.

((OOC: Sorry for crappy post, I just didn't have much time. I'll fix it/ make it better tomorrow, but concept stays the same.))

Lucius simply followed what Markus had suggested. Though everything was set up already, he still couldn't calm down since they are in a very dangerous place. As usual, he readied himself for what could happen.

Markus was irritated that Mike had disregarded his plan so quickly. Sure, there's room for improvement but it's the best I can do at the time! And, I'm team leader! I guess I'm becoming a bit like a control freak...
"Fine! But keep close, don't wander too far!" Markus softly called up to him, unaware that he had already gone ahead. Turning back to the remaining team, he said, Okay, step carefully and - I'm sure I don't need to remind you - don't talk above a whisper! The Grimm can hear better than humans. Okay, let's go. With Lucius and Nathaniel trailing behind him, Markus set off into the forest.

The sun was rising by the time team Mockingbird emerged from the forest, hungry, thirsty, clothes torn and dirty. Mike's arms gave out about 20 minutes before, so they all had to wait for his legs to regain feeling before continuing on their journey. Out of all of them, Nathaniel seemed the least phased, his face still masked by his blank stare.

"Ugh... So, back to Beacon then?"

Lucius was tired from the journey. He wasn't even capable of setting up a defensive aura anymore and he had already hid his two shields under his cloak since equipping them was more tiring than just carrying them around. All he wants now is to get back to the dorms and just face whatever punishment is waiting for them.

"Yeah. This has been quiet... eventful.", he said as he gave out sign of relief that they were already out of the forest.

Nathaniel followed them out, his mind racing. He had a lot of work to do to get this team into shape- perhaps he could lead some kind regular lesson on "how to not act like a bunch of children who've never even experienced combat before." Then again, he hated teaching. Maybe he could run regular sparring sessions and he could give them pointers as he beat them to the ground. That didn't seem like a particularly good idea either, though. He wasn't very good with friendly sparring, and anyone he went up against stood a fairly high chance of death, or at the very least permanent injury. He was having a very hard time stopping himself from just taking Markus to one side and telling him exactly where he'd gone wrong. Only the knowledge that doing so would simply make things worse was preventing him. It appeared there was no easy solution to this.
That last comment had almost done it, when Markus had essentially told them to whisper. Whispering might be quieter in terms of decibels but on a night like this, with such a distinct lack of background noise, the sound would travel almost as far as if they were speaking normally. Nathaniel shook his head and kept walking. He thought he might have finally figured out the problem- his teammates seemed to have been trained well enough in fighting, but when it came to things like moving through enemy territory, and probably all the other peripheral skills, they seemed to be complete newcomers. Maybe, he decided, nobody had decided to teach them. If so, wherever they'd gone to school before now had a lot to answer for.

The four stumbled their way to Vale, where they got a cab back to beacon using the money from Markus' dust gems. As they all stood outside the entrance to Beacon, Markus sighed,


And pushed open the gate.

((Transition to soon-to be created thread in Beacon, I'll edit when I have a talk with whoever is head of the Guards The guards will come after us another day, but for now, kick back and relax.))