It was hot out, unbearably so. It was so hot out in fact that even the Panthers stayed in their den. The only living thing not in the shade was a gray haired man, wearing what appeared to be a giant suit of armor, stood at edge of a pit, mumbling to himself, about the heat, his woes and his plan. He was waiting for the hired hands to come, to help with his “raid”.

He had been planning this for years and his plan had finally come realization. He was finally going to get revenge on “mother nature” for nearly ending his life.

With surprising abruptness, a massive orb of water splashed against the ground, coating everything within about fifty feet in water. Out of this splash popped a handsome boy with black hair and blue eyes.

"One of my less dramatic entrances... hey there! Are you Gennai?"

"Yes. yes I am."

As he said this, Gennai looked around the immediate area and saw no monsters had been disturbed by the splash of water.

"We are still waiting for a couple of people to come, while we wait, tell me a little bit about yourself"
"Oh and for future reference, don't make such a big entrance, it could disturb the monsters" he added hastily

"Mm. I'm the Water Elemental from another world. This," he drew a large blue sword off of his back in a smooth motion, "is my Elemental weapon, the Tidal Edge. I enjoy the company of women. My other titles aren't worth mentioning."

"That is... interesting" replied Gennai, who looked at the sword in awe.
"I have a question, just about how pacifistic are you?"
"We are probably are going to kill some monsters and it won't be enjoyable slaughtering all of these monster if we have a party pooper."

"I don't kill needlessly, but they pose a threat to nearby towns. The treasure'll be a bonus."

After hearing this, Gennai thought to himself "And people think I'm crazy".

"So... how long do you think it will be until the other three get here?"

"I'm not sure. A while yet. I find that people involved in VCAD and the Archipelago are usually a little slow in getting places unless they really, really need to be there."

"Out of simple curiosity, what is VCAD and where is the Archipelago?"

"Don't get out much, do you? VCAD's a big clan with quite a few famous people. And the Archipelago is the Zaxton Archipelago. It's an island nation controlled by the CoJ, or College of Judges."

Rekato was by now swirling an orb of water in the air, making it change shape. Abruptly, he snapped his wrist forward towards Gennai. The water, looking more like an arrow as it flashed by, hit something behind the man; should he turn, Gennai would see an antlion with a hole through its head the size of a gil coin tumbling off the rocks.

"Nasty creatures, always trying to get the jump on honest folk."

Upon seeing the water shoot out, Gennai turned his head and saw the antlion's carcass lying on the ground.
"Yes. antlions are quite nasty"
While saying this, Gennai adjusted the dial on the his suit to the "Antlion" setting.

With a sudden roar, an airship flew over head, with three people jumping out of it.

The first out, and first to land, was dressed in black pants and a close-fitting red sweater. Both the pant-legs and and the shirt had some sort of leather harness over them, supporting large panels of some sort of black material. A handgun rested under his arm in it's holster, a whip hung coiled-up from his belt, and a knife was tucked into a pocket at the back of his belt. He was a little taller than some, blond, and blue eyed. Even as he stood back up, someone else landed beside him.

The other newcomer was smaller, much more slender, and dressed in a track suit. He seemed to be unarmed. A third newcomer, just a child, landed between the pair of them, carrying a large metal box, Pandora.

"Sorry we're late." the blond answered, "There was an issue with the airship in Balamb."

"Ah, well. Can we get to clearing out the antlion pit, now?"

"Let's descend into the pit." shouted Gennai as he jumped into the Pit.

The three followed, the taller of the two, apparently the leader, drawing his handgun.

Rekato jumped in as well, careful to keep his sword where it wouldn't accidentally kill an ally.

The Bottom of the pit was a long dark hallway, with the walls lined with Antlion eggs.

“Onward!” shouted Gennai, runing down the dark hallway to who knows where…

The trio continued to follow him, with the shorter, blue-haired man, grabbing the kid with the puzzle box by the shoulder.

"Don't touch the eggs, kiddo."
"Dad-"
"And don't step in any of the puddles."
"Dad, relax, I got it."

Rekato was much less susceptible to these warnings, however, for he nudged the mysterious puddles in question with the toe of his boot. "Eugh. It's... gunky. Impure."

(Sorry, the amount of time it has taken me to reply is inexcusable)

Upon seeing that the others weren't following with the same maniac excuberance
that he was, Gennai turned around and shouted "Pick up the pace ladies!"

((OOC: You're excused. :P))

At this, the purple-haired one chuckled, which earned a similar noise from the blond man, "Well, that would be you, Jamie."
"Stop, stop!"
Rodney, in the meanwhile, was up with Gennai, "When you two country hens are done clucking, we have work to do!"
"... He is definitely your son, Lukav."
"... Whatever you say." the blond replied, before running to catch up.

Rekato caught up as well, and uncorked the large waterskin on his hip.

"So, anybody got spooky campfire tales to tell?"

Gennai stopped right before a clearing of sorts. He lowered his voice and started to explain his battle plan to the others, “So men… and child here is the plan, I throw in a couple of bomb shells, then you guys charge in and raise hell.”
Genna took a deep breath and then asked “Any questions?”

"Ooh, ooh, me." said Rekato, throwing a hand into the air. "Do you know if there's any water in there, or will I have to use the blood of our fallen foes and this waterskin?"

Rodney made another adjustment to his puzzle box, "Quite ready, thank you."
James, the one with the purple hair, smiled a bit, "You got it closed again?"
"Yep. Let's go blow stuff up."
The blond man took no real action.

(Sorry, Redd.)

(Sorry for what)
"Meh, I guess its your choice"
Upon saying this Gennai fired off a bombshell into the cavern and shouted
"LET THE CARNAGE BEGIN!!!" Loud enough to awake the Antlions)

(Ah, I thought you'd left because you were disappointed >_>)

Rekato charged in headlong, and immediately met Antlion. Rather, they met, but it died due to suspicious loss of head.