The Band of Evolution: Part I [Snowy Division]

[Requiem]

A semi-strong snowfall paired with a breeze was clearly seen and felt throughout the forest, cloaking several parts of the area with a visibility barrier that was, quite literally, snowy white. Such weather would more than likely indicate the coming of a blizzard; be it mere minutes from the present time, or an hour or two from it. Either way, one thing was apparent by the way that the wind strength and snowfall was gradually increasing:

The storm would be one Hell of a menace as soon as it settled in.

Regardless of the brewing blizzard, however, a certain, monochrome-haired crossbreed sat high within one of the many trees streaking across the frontal area of the Snowy Forest. Contrasting greatly from the type of heavy and warm clothing that one would wear in the current climate and weather, he wore a white, graphic tank top, alongside his long, sleeveless and hooded cloak on the upper body. The lower body was simply clad with a pair of grey jeans and a pair of black and white athletic shoes. So, in short...he was wearing the secondary version of the type of clothing that he normally wore, as well as his initial attire before he began expanding with his wardrobe.

He sat up high upon one of the more sturdy branches of a particular tree; this one somewhat taller than all the rest in the clearing. Growing winds seemed to threaten the scene lightly, rustling the other frail branches some bit and sending sheets of snow and sleet across the air. Despite this, however, the hybrid swordsman didn't quite seem to mind; in fact, he seemed to welcome the increasing, chilled activity around him. Much like how he greatly preferred winter over summer (or basically any other season, for that matter), he preferred the more chilly and slightly raging weather over a hot, blistering day.

...Kind of ironic considering that he was a bit of a pyromaniac with a fire-based semblance.

Heaving a long, yet silent sigh, the boy tilted his head a bit, enabling his eyes to catch a glance earthbound from the corner of his eye, through all of the rushing snow around him. They would scan the terrain beneath him, and would close lightly as they caught no sense of movement from below. Really doubt that anyone would actually come out here... he began thinking to himself while tilting his head up a bit. His hands lifted, intertwining behind his hand and laying their backsides against the trunk behind him, similar to how his shoulders and the back of his neck were. I mean...I'm going regardless of if anyone's appear. But it doesn't hurt to see if anyone's interested in this...of...all things...

Shaking his head, he parted his hands once more. He took his mp3 player out to both shift the song playing through his headphones and the time, pulling his hood over his head before tucking it back within his pocket.

Just a few more minutes to wait, then I'll head out...

[Drae]

As the boy sat in the tree, a rather peculiar-looking girl was trudging through the forest, her pink staff sinking into the snow as she walked. The girl had chosen to not summon up her customary 'ally' due to the obvious fact of the coming storm, and as such she was feeling slightly alone as she continued walking towards the meeting point dressed in a rather heavy, watermelon pink winter jacket. Her hat still firmly placed on her head.

Well... at least it isn't a full-on blizzard yet, Mizu thought, taking yet another step as she slowly approached the tree she was looking for. Upon arriving at the bottom, she summoned up her 'ally', the watermelon materializing in the air in front of her head and staying there for the second it took gravity to finally take hold of it. Catching the watermelon with her free hand, Mizu slowly looked around in search of the boy that should've been here.

"Am I late?" She thought out loud, her hair being tossed around by the wind as she looked around a bit more before sinking to the ground with her back against the tree. "I really hope I'm not late."

[Requiem]

After slipping his device within the safety of his pocket yet again, the crossbreed had allowed his clear, frosty gaze to scan the terrain beneath him yet again. Despite the growing storm, it took him only a few seconds for him to notice a light snese of movement afar, as well as to notice a minor line that said movement was creating within the snow. Blinking, he shifted himself a bit, hanging his legs over the branch in which he was secured upon to fully sit up while narrowing his eyes through the winds. After a moment or so, he simply stared at the figure nearing, his ears flickering slowly in curiosity and confusion Is...is that... Is that a melon...? he thought to himself, his expression visually uncertain as he saw what he saw. For a moment more, he would continue glancing down at the lass before shaking his head and muttering under his breath. Rubbing his face with one hand, he raised the other while beginning to crouch onto the branch, waving it around to try and catch the other's attention.

"Yo, there...!" he called through the brewing weather. "Are you here for the search, by any chance?"

[Drae]

Mizu snapped her gaze skyward at the sound of the voice, her eyes darting between the branches before she found Haven in among them. Quickly realizing that this was quite possibly the person she was looking for, she cradled her watermelon with both hands- her staff was lodged in the earth to her right- and nodded.

"Yes! I'm here for the search," She said, choosing to forego her normal speech, which was often littered with words from most of the large amounts of Anime she had watched.

[Requiem]

Haven just stared at the witch for a moment more.

...Jesus Christ, that really is a melon...

As if he hadn't even thought such a statement, the crossbreed gave a stern nod. Without hesitation, he jumped off of the branch, landing on the floor and disappearing into the snow for a couple of moments as he tucked into a ball and rolled across for a little bit. After a moment or so, he would be standing back up once more, brushing whatever snow had clung to his clothing as he neared the girl. Once he was satisfied with the lack of frost upon his figure, he held his right hand out while the left slid within his pocket. "Cool, cool. I'm Haven; the guy that left that note for everyone. Thanks for coming out to help."

[Empoleon_Blownaparte]

"That's good to hear..." a feminine voice came from behind a nearby tree, suddenly a much-too-feminine looking assassin came out "Sicarius Puella, pleased to meet both of you." he said calmly...

[Requiem]

At the new tone, Haven blinked once before looking up and over his shoulder, scanning the trees for a couple of moments. He seemed to spy Sicarius rather easily despite the brewing storm, and opened his mouth to say something in reply.  However, nothing seemed to come out as another figure seemed to appear, who took the role of greeting the assassin, instead.

"Yooooooo, there!" she spoke in a rather sudden and cheerful tone, a wide grin stretching across her face. From the same tree in which the boy had emerged from, a certain Red Panda hung upside down from a couple of branches up, finding herself staring at the other from a topsy-turvy angle. "I'm here too! ...Just...kinda got lost in the trees there, for a moment. Heh."

"Well, it's about damn time that you made a freakin' appearance, Sianna..." Haven grumbled, grinning mockingly as he gazed up at the lass above. "Here I thought you ditched me."

"Pffffft, I would never!"

"The club incidents?"

"...Those were different."

Chuckling in an amused fashion, the Tasmanian Devil shook his head while waving a hand in a dismissive way. The moment he was done doing so, he simply kept it up to shield his vision from the growing sheets of snow flying throughout the gale as it increased in ferocity. A cold breath left his lips as he looked around. "Aaaaalright, well, we'd best get moving and all that good stuff. I'd like to get down to the search while not getting buried in some snowy tomb or something," he called through the winds, beckoning over while beginning to walk deeper into the forest. Upon seeing this, Sianna simply gave Sicarius another quick grin before swinging off and rolling across the frosty floors below before joining her brother by his flank.

[Empoleon_Blownaparte]

Sic was slightly confused at Sianna's sudden entrance, but he merely shrugged it off and followed the others "Uh... Nice to meet all of you I guess?..." he said awkwardly, not really happy that his arrival wasn't given the reaction he expected...

[Requiem]

"And the same to youuuu~!" Sianna called through the winds while shifting heel and beginning to walk backwards. She raised one of her hands behind her head while the other one shot up in a rather energetic wave, and she giggled in a rather hyper fashion while doing this. This behavior would be brought to an abrupt end as Haven reached his hand out, smacking his sister over the head yet again. This earned him a mass of whines, which caused him to chuckle.

"Dooooon't pay that much attention to her; she's just a bit crazy, and-"

"Haaaaaaaveeeeeeeeeen...!"

"-AAAAAAAAAAND, we don't have time to deal with crazy right now. Not with the weather kicking up here, anyways." Another laugh escaped his lips as he noted Sianna beginning to make a pouting face at him, though made it seem like he was either oblivious or ignoring her as he continued onwards. A sigh soon left his lips afterwards before he shook his head, pulling his hood back over it and slipping his hands into his pockets. "I'd say that we have plenty of time, but I'd be lying because of the storm. So, we have to be quick about it. North of here should be the be the base of a mountain or hill - hard to see right know because of the snow, I know - where there should be an entrance to a base or some shit like that. We shouldn't be too far from it, so keep your eyes peeled and all that good jazz."

[Drae]

Mizu nodded in reply to Haven's words, walking over to Sianna before jumping up and placing the watermelon in her arms on the girl's head before another one materialized in her hands. She stared up at the melon for a few seconds before nodding and trotting after Haven, gleefully humming what sounding like a rap song absently as she tilted her head side to side in time with the beat.

[Empoleon_Blownaparte]

"So..... The details didn't mention any pay... Will there be a payment for this or will my reward be a sense of pride and whatever I can scavenge with a good conscience?" Sic said half-jokingly...

[Requiem]

Although confused for a moment, Sianna simply stared down at the newfound melon that was within her grasp. Curiously, her tail gave a light flicker before she quietly stared after the witch. ”…Sugoi~! …” seemed to be the only thing to escape her lips as a somewhat pleased, amused, and childish grin tugged at her lips. Seemingly satisfied with the piece of food within her hands, she simply whipped around happily before walking after the others and purposely placing herself at the back to cover any potential threats that could appear.

Meanwhile, at the inquiry regarding a form of compensation, the azure swordsman blinked, his ears flickering lightly beneath the sheets of wind as he glanced over his shoulder at the assassin. His footsteps continued on despite this, however. ”Aside from the whole free dinner thing that’s gonna happen when we all group up tomorrow, I was planning for this thing to be some sort of volunteer thing. I could whip something up to pay all of you for doing this when everything’s said and done, though… It seems like the right thing to do, anyways.”

[Empoleon_Blownaparte]

Sic shrugged "I'll just take whatever I can from them that I can sell. I assume they're the kind of people who deserve to wiped off the face of Remnant... Like Fascists or Hipsters or Feminazis... Not at all mutually exclusive... So I should be able to sell whatever I can carry without it being a weight on my conscience..."

[Drae]

Mizu blinked as she recognized the girl's speech, and her eyes widened slightly with a slight realization. No way... she thought in awe before taking a quick glance around and quickly padding up to catch up to everyone.

"In all honesty I don't really care who they are, so long as I can create more watermelons," Mizu said, looking down at the watermelon in her arms before she quietly added, "I think this one is getting a bit lonely already..."

[Requiem]

In reaction to Mizu’s words, Sianna gave a couple of amused, upbeat laughs before shrugging and holding her own melon up against the blizzard, seemingly referencing a particular movie while doing so. ”No worries, you’ll be able to make as maaaaaaaaany melons as you’d like, friend!” the auburn-haired dancer spoke gleefully while casually moving her little fruit around in circles in front of her as she walked along.

While his sister did this, Haven just awkwardly sighed, knowing what was happening despite not actually glancing back at the others. His ears flickered once before pinning to his head slowly. ”Yeaaaaaaaah… That’s really nice there, guys… Totally relevant to the situation, too, so good job~! Kudos; you all deserve a gold star!” he said nonchalantly, his voice his overwhelmingly dripping with sarcasm. Sighing once more, he shook his head before rubbing the back of his head and continuing on, narrowing his eyes as he appeared to glare through the building sheets of blowing winds and snow. ”Anyways… I purposely chose that place back there for the meeting location because it isn’t too far from where the facilities should be… We just gotta head north a bit, and, if it’s really there, we should just suddenly see some, like… I dunno, a big-ass fortress or building in a clearing or something, even with the storm… Keep your guard up over the winds, though; if we actually are close, then there’s a possibility that there’s some form of security or patrols, or maybe other things we should be careful of…so…yeah…”

[Empoleon_Blownaparte]

Sic raised an eyebrow at this statement "A fortress or building?... If they don't want to be found, you think they'd be less.... Energetic about their bases' exteriors..." he said, rather unimpressed "Like... Say... Built into the base of a plateau and built horizontally with snipers watching over from the surface of the natural structure.... Y'know, something like that...." Sic suggested, speaking from experience with how well his own people have gotten along with just that...

[Drae]

Mizu blinked for a few moments before a large cannon made of watermelons appeared behind her, and it seemed like she was holding a rope made out of cherry stems. "Does this mean that I'm gonna need this?" She asked innocently before she turned around and stared at the cannon for a few seconds before taking a step closer to it and gently petting one of the watermelons that comprised it.

[Requiem]

"Need wha- Holy mother of dicks..."

This was really all that Haven had in reaction to the sudden, fruit-composed cannon upon looking over his shoulder. For a little bit, he actually froze in his tracks from the sheer amount of confusion and surprise that he held as a result of seeing the object, his ears flickering constantly to emphasize the feeling. "I-I... Er...I guess, yeah. ...You know what, yeah. Totally. You'll totally need it." Rubbing the back of his neck a bit, the crossbreed gave the piece of 'weaponry' another look before shaking his head and sighing, slowly turning around to continue his stride in the prior direction. "...But...maybe...just... ....Make it again. Later. When or if we get to the place, that way you don't have to haul that thing around..."

[Empoleon_Blownaparte]

Sicarius stared at Mizu's odd creation "...How would that thing even work?..." he said, less shocked by it's sudden existence and more just confused...

[Drae]

"Very~ carefully~," Mizu mused, drawing out the words as the cannon vanished. She turned around and continued to follow the group as she informed Sicarius further, "Actually it's really, really complicated. I know how it fires, but not entirely how I create it in the first place. I sort of just... imagine it being there and POOF!" She said, making a big motion with her arms for emphasis as she spoke.

[Requiem]

"That's...just...peachy..." spoke the ashen crossbreed with an awkward, yet defeated sigh. "I...guess...I'll just leave the heavy defenses to you, then...? Er..."

He continued to stare at Mizu for a couple of moments, even after she caused her grand cannon to vanish. It took him a little while to seem to recuperate before shaking his head with a quiet groan and slowly turning back around to face the direction that the group was set to travel in. "...I...just...can't even..."

From a slight distance, Sianna would be seen with the melon she was gifted upon her head, and she casually strode up to the others, catching a glimpse of the cannon before it disappeared. Her head tilted and her ears flickered in the faintest spark of amusement and curiosity, and she glanced up before quickly shuffling back to the others and continued to remain in the back of the group, though stopped not too far from the witch as she walked along. "Duuuuuuude, your Semblance is so coooool~! ...It's your Semblance, right? The melon thing?"

"It's kinda cool, but it's also weird, man..."

"Pfffft, weirdly amazing!"

[Empoleon_Blownaparte]

Sic looked at the cannon silently for multiple seconds "I..... I don't trust that thing...." he said, eyeing the cannon warily "I feel like it'll either backfire at the worst time or come to life and join the villains.... I don't know why the latter, I just get the feeling... Both are probably baseless paranoia, but.... It always helps to prepare for any situation... Even the most improbable...."

[Drae]

"Oh stop worrying!" Mizu said, giggling softly as she trailed besides Sicarius. "I have complete control over it. In the event that it does turn against you, it's because I lost interest in the fight and wanted to splatter a watermelon on someone," She added, sticking her tongue out as she kicked away a snow-covered rock before looking back to the messiah besides her.

"Y'know... for some reason I can't help but think that you worry about everything."

[Requiem]

"Uh...well... If I found out that there was someone traveling with me that would fire a melon cannonball at me because she suddenly got bored, I'd...be...worried, too..." Haven remarked awkwardly while walking along, laughing nervously as he progressed on. In order to catch his course, he stopped for a moment, groaning as the wind suddenly gusted furiously for the next few seconds or so. He lifted one of his hands to shield the incoming waves of snow from hitting his face. "Oh, God... Yeah, thanks, Mother Nature! It's cool of you to do that! Totally cool; keep throwing the storm in our faces!"

"...Heh... Yeah, it was cool of her to do that."

"Oh my God, this isn't the time."

"Pfft, it's always the time! You're just to snarky and serious someti-"

Before that statement could be completed, a sudden, loud, and ear-piercing screech echoed through the snow-filled woods, its sound heard loud and clear despite the roaring and growing winds around the grip. To the normal ear, such a noise would have been mildly annoying and shocking, and perhaps just a little bit painful. Because of the siblings' unnatural crossbred genetics, however, they instantly stopped in their tracks, leaning over a bit. Their animal ears pinned against their heads almost instantly as their hands shot up to cover their humanoid ones. As Sianna attempted to endure the sounds as quietly as she could, Haven groaned in annoyance and pain as he clenched his teeth a little bit, furrowing his brows.

"Why, Mother Nature, whyyyyy?"

[Empoleon_Blownaparte]

Sicarius' breath stopped as he froze in response to the sound, just on instinct "You heard that too, I see... Should we be worried or this the worst time to do that..?" he said calmly, waiting for the source of the noise to appear, just in case...

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