Battle Hymn of the Republic

As the group made its way forward, Ruarc’s leg woke back up and he was able to once again make it on his own. He dismissed Miller’s aide with a polite thank you and picked up his pace. It wasn’t long though before Ruarc slowed down again, only this time it was to examine something that had caught his eye.
“These’re runes on the wall,” the druid noted as he made some quick observations and began searching his pockets for some paper and a pencil, but found only a scrap paper. “Perception runes if Ahm not mistaken.”

With no pencil to draw with Ruarc had to improvise. “Créatúr na tine, theilgthe breithiúnas,” he chanted quickly. It was his fire spell, however without his Tome, and with very little power put into it, the once large spell was simply a puff of fire directed at the rune. With the wall scorched and now black with soot, the young runologist placed the scrap of paper over the rune and put pressure on it. When he pulled the paper back there was the shape of the rune embossed on the scrap.
“Rough, but it’ll do for now,” Ruarc said as he carefully placed the paper back in his pocket and went to rejoin the group.

The group had already made its way out of the tunnels, but once he was in the shop, Ruarc made a quick stop and picked up the runes that had been used to bait him into the shop in the first place. Even after looking around he was unable to locate either his bag with more of his runes or his Tome in the shop. Despite his disappointment, he had a nagging feeling in his gut telling him to keep going and to catch up with the group quickly.

So without further delay Ruarc grabbed a small bag from the shop and put his runes inside, and then took off out the door to make up for lost ground. With nothing but his selection of runes to weigh him down while he was used to a heavy pack, the lean Irishman made quick time in catching up. As he rejoined the group he matched pace alongside Percy.
“Keep it up, Percy, you are doing well. Try and straighten your back a little, it’ll help ya take in more oxygen,” Ruarc coached.

Percival heaved a bit as he straightened his back out, hazarding a glance in Ruarc's direction. The Druid was much more athletic than himself, capable enduring a longer sprint than the rather standard to unimpressive Percy. "O-okay!" said the Welshboy, trying to keep up.

Luckily, the shopping district they had been in was not far from the Park, and they soon made their way there. Miyuki, with her lead, obviously arriving first. Next came, somewhat Surprisingly, Raiko, Kiki, and Ginga, though that was mostly because they had hopped in Raiko's car and made their way over via that method.

The park itself, however, was exhibiting strange behavior. There was nobody there, and when everyone crossed within its boundaries, the sudden urge to do something else, or a desire to finish one's laundry, dishes, or other chores nearly overcame them. However, it seemed that the suggestion just wasn't quite strong enough for this group, and after passing the threshold, the urges faded, and they found the park to be even brighter than it had looked from the outside. As far as they could see, it was mostly the same, except for a platform that had been erected in the middle of the lake. So far, however, nothing was on it.

Ruarc felt a slight bit of nostalgia as he entered the park that had served as his enclave for the first few weeks of his stay in Japan, yet despite his interest in taking another walk around the park he had the urge to go back to his shack and translate his Tome some more. This feeling however conflicted with the other feeling in his gut telling him to keep going the way he was. Being Irish and a man, he went with his gut on this one.

As the group passed with no harassment deeper into the park they came to the lake that had giving Ruarc a scenic view on many nights, and was also the sight of one of his first local encounters with a corrupted animal. As he looked out over the serene waters, a platform stuck out like a sore thumb.

”Well, that wasn’t here before,” Laoise said to Ruarc as the bird took up a lookout position high above the group.
“My thoughts exactly,” the Druid responded to the bird out loud. ”Do you see anything on the platform or on the other side of the lake, Laoise?”
”Nothing from what I can tell,” the bird said back as she continued to scan the area.

“Anyone know why there would be a platform way out there?” Ruarc asked the rest of the group. “Anyway, Laoise can’t spot anythin’ from up above yet. Ya sure we’re in the right place?” Despite asking it, the feeling in his gut told him that this was where he wanted to be, as for what he wanted to be here for he could only guess at.

The euphoria that had come and finally went, burned away by the short run. Duncan was back to normal again. The flood of energy that addled his mind had subsided, and he was thinking as hard as he could. They were in a Zone now, and a well prepared one at that. It would keep out normal folks by having them feel a sudden urge to do something mundane, as mundane people did. But that feeling, Duncan easily waved away with a single thought. Mind over matter after all. It didn't bother him again. On top of keeping the normal folk out, it also made sure they couldn't easily see or hear anything out of place either. And a mana containment fields was in place too. Whoever it was knew what they were doing.

"You guys better be ready. This isn't some run of the mill work by the looks of it." he spoke cautiously, seemingly out of character for him. Duncan cracked his knuckles as he continued after the leader of the group.

"Yes, but you don't want to know the answer," murmured a soft and mysterious voice to Ruarc's right. He wouldn't need to turn and face this new arrival, either, as she jogged toward the lake, a revolver in either hand. With her back to him, the Irishman could see only a great duster, a pair of boots occasionally flitting into sight beneath, brown hair pulled into a ponytail above, and a cowboy hat with a rough and worn brim.

A gentle breeze struck up, and a tumbleweed rolled from the right side of Ruarc's vision to the left, and quickly out of sight. The sky was looking awfully ominous all of a sudden, despite the clear skies just moments earlier. From the Druid's point of view, it was like something straight out of a movie, watching her move with stunning grace toward the waters. A forked bolt of lightning arced across the sky ahead of her. The thunder was no more than a second behind the flash and twice as foreboding.

The voice had snuck out of nowhere and was not a voice Ruarc was familiar with. Before he could react in any way to the statement the Druid found himself looking at an impressively dramatic scene. Despite the remote location of his home movies from Europe and America were often played at the local inn, and what Ruarc was seeing looked somewhat familiar.
“Ah think Ah’ve seen a movie like this once,” the Irishman mumbled to himself as he tried to take in the new information, when finally he found what he wanted to say. “An’ why exactly don’ Ah want ta know the answer, Miss Desperado?”

”Who knew Japan was filled with so many colorful individuals?,” Laoise commented upon seeing the cowgirl rush. However when there was the sudden and uncalled for bolt of lightning, the startled dove dropped a few feet in the air before regaining her balance. ”By Lugh! Where did that lightning come from?!”
Afraid of further strikes, the white bird quickly made her way down to her usual perch on Ruarc’s shoulder.

"Calamity" Jane Smith halted at the lake's shore, staring out at the platform and studying it as best she could from such a distance. After several moments of silence, ocean blue eyes settled on the Druid. "Because it's meant for a Dark Evil- a rite of demonic origin." Her gaze returned to the platform. "Or so I've been led to believe; nothing's ever certain these days." She spoke in an almost wistful manner, much like an adult remarking on the differences between then and now.

Percival heaved for air as they finally arrived at the park, after chasing wildly after Miyuki. It almost felt like his lungs were about to burst from his chest. His heart was beating faster than it had most times in his life, and he was dreadfully sweaty! For the first few moments they had arrived, he spent time hunched over, holding his knees as he tried to recuperate. Though first, his mind quietly combated the urge to turn away, going home and cleaning the lab, washing for dinner, avoiding his mother's wrath. Those desires got washed over by another undying urge, to find one of his first friends in this new, strange country. Hana was in this trouble because of magic, and likely because of them, the barrier and the strange happenings made that certain.

He looked around the group, seeing as they all had done much better than him, it made him feel somewhat weak for the stringiness of his physique. Though, he quickly pushed his own pity to the side, straightening his back, only to hunch back over again at the arcing lightning in the sky.

"Augh!" went Percy, nearly hitting the dirt, before regaining his balance. He looked at the newcomer that he had just taken the time to notice, Ruarc had already engaged her in conversation, but the young Welshman hadn't paid attention to what was said. There was the distinct possibility that this girl, Calamity as she called herself, was not an ally, or even the culprit herself. Though, she didn't seem to have any inclination of why they were there, so all that was left was the curious platform in the lake.

"Zulan, can you do anything about that water?" asked Percival, his fingers gripping around something inanimate in the air in front of him.

"You mean, to get to that platform thingy?" replied Zulan. "I can help! But ya gotta summon me right now!"

"What! Bu--!" yelped Percival.

"No buts! Modeka and Aurus have gotten to show their stuff off! It's my turn! Besides! I wanna find shy-girl so she can one day confess her love to study-boy!" went Zulan cheerily.

"I--... Yeah..." answered Percy, before his staff Unity formed in his hands. Zulan said she could do something about the water, and whatever allowed them to get Hana out of this business faster was better than anything else. It was hard to say it, but damn the cautions!

"Prota! O Madan O Aqua!" summoned the boy, a splash of blue energy washing from the staff and flushing onto the ground in front of him to solidify in a small, blond-haired, blue-armored Mini, charging straight for the lake.

"Wah!" went Zulan, throwing her little, shielded arms in the air, beckoning Percy along and even the others along. Her little armored body lept over the edge of the water, doing a little front-flip before sticking the landing on the lake's surface, but not sinking. Zulan was walking on water!

"So..." went Percy, a little surprised upon seeing this. "We wanted to see what that platform was about, right?"

Ruarc and Laoise both looked at the new arrival with an almost questioning gaze. Still unsure of her connection to things, or if she was even involved, the Druid proceeded cautiously as he tucked a Fire rune into the palm of his hand.

”Do you think we can trust her?” Laoise asked whimsically.
”I thought birds were excellent judges of character. Can’t you tell?” Ruarc replied back as he maintained a stern look on his face as he made eye contact with Jane.
”Well, she is looking in the eye. Other than that all I can tell is that she is somewhat odd.”
”Well alright, you tag along with the little sprite there to check on the platform. I will take care of things on this side.”

With that said, Laoise took off again and flew close to Zulan, meanwhile Ruarc didn’t take his eyes off of Jane. With another squeeze of the rune in his hand, the druid needed to check on this new girl. If she was a normal person she would need to get away from there, if she were friendly she could lend a hand, and if she was not friendly then he would need to deal with.
“Well, if ya don’t mind me askin’, how exactly were you led to believe what’chyu jus’ told me about a ‘Dark Evil’? Why’re ya here in the first place?” Ruarc asked the girl as he passed a quick glace passed Jane to check the platform one more time.