[Plot Topic] Training Exodus (JC, Pine)

Jack Carver,Enoch Jensen,Eva Shepard



The cool wind of the sun struck sky blew quietly against the lush forest tree's with a light aroma of salt water that acted like a perfume to the tree's as small droplets of water fell from the many varieties of leaves of foliage that dressed there branchs. The birds that planted themselves on these tree's were all singing their own songs in a combined quiet, combined vocalized symphony of elegance.
In the thick of the forest, a woman by herself was walking through the forest with both her hands folded together. Her long black hair flowed freely in the wind and was only slightly uncooperative as some strands moved around her face. The fallen moss covered twigs and dried leaves crunched underneath her boots as she walked through the woods. The sun shined through the openings that the tree branches created in several dim rays of light. The rays that hit her hair let it shine ever so slightly.  She wore a desert colored sleeveless coat with black Kevlar shoulders. She wears an armband with a wolf design on it, she wears desert colored pants with black boots. She wears dark brown gloves with a big belt followed by a bag that carries her medical equipment.

She tried to keep her eye's closed to concentrate and she quietly mumbled an enchantment. However she hand to keep opening one eye to gain good footing in this ground that had roots sticking out, rocks, twigs, drops and raises in the dirt. It was a bit difficult to concentrate when she had to constantly mind her footing.

"Eva!" A baritone voice with a gruff tone that sounded slightly gravelly.
She opened her eye's and turned her body to the voice to see a big muscular man that looked like he came straight from the jungle stand a few feet away from her. The light blue eye's were the first thing she noticed, followed by the red beret on his head.
"Yes Carver?" She replied softly with a mature tone to her voice.
"The circle almost done?" He asked her sounding slightly impatient.
She nodded her head.
"Almost, just another 100 yards and you'll have your protective circle"
"Good, the boy will be coming shortly so soon as your done I want you far from here but in range of Laguna's call" He informed her as he pointed his gloved finger up to the sky.
"You got it" She acknowledged before turning around and placing her hands together to continue the enchantment.

The enchantment she was doing was a skill she learned as a Spirit bender. It was a circle that would surround the area it was around in a spiritual barrier that repels any spiritual inhabitants by blocking them as though they were hitting an invisible wall, and those that do get through will set off a silent alarm that warns everyone inside the circle. Since the circle almost surrounded the whole forest it would give the people inside plenty of time to escape. Anyone who has a soul will trigger the alarm.
It was being placed for protection for Carver and the new recruit into their squad.
The recruit had an...Odd presence about him that drew that sometimes drew the attention of more spirits than Eva liked.

Carver watched her as she walked ahead and her turned around and was about to leave when he thought about something that caused him to stop and think for a moment. He looked down at the ground for a moment before letting a short sigh leave his lungs.
"Hey uuhh..." He let out before hesitating.
Eva turned around again to Carver.
"Hm?"
"You ah..Think...He's ready?" He asked her through what sounded like a slightly forced question. Like he didn't really want to ask it.
"For what?"
"Ya know, for this life."
Eva nodded her head and looked up at one of the sun's rays that squeezed through the tree branches. Her attention then went to the shadow that one of the tree's was making.

"He's a lot like his father. However I can see he has far more potential then all of us. He's still trying to figure out what that is. This will be a good experience for him. He'll be alongside his father, and have all of us for support. I think he needs a bit more guidance, but other then that. I believe he is ready" She explained to Carver in a very supportive and sweet voice.

Carver listened and nodded his head when she finished. He was her commanding officer, yet after working with each other for years they were basically like family. Yet Carver always hesitated when showing signs of uncertainty in his judgement. The kid wanted to be in the squad, yet it was a very hard a difficult life, and someone just coming into it could be destroyed by it if not careful. She was right though, he would have Kye, his father, and the rest of the squad that already saw the boy as family long before they saw him as a squad member.

He would train the boy for today though, put these thoughts aside for now and focus and getting the kid ready.

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Now coming into the late after noon. Carver stood fairly casually in the center of the forest. His bow around his body and arrows. Carver wears a red beret on his head which cover's his blonde hair. On his body he wears an almost skin tight dark grey performance shirt that is meant for combat and to go with holsters and straps. On his body he wears a black harness that is fitted around him and formed for his bow and quiver. He has a large belt with his long custom built knife that his attached to the back of his waist followed by a few pouches and supplies on his belt. He wears hard knuckle Kevlar gloves with wrist supports for a hard and possibly deadly punch. He wears Kevlar elbow pads and knee pads. He wears a desert camo coated type of cargo pants that are fitted for performance and comfort. These pants were made for him shortly after he became a fully fledged hunter. He also wears black steel toe boots.

With all of this equipment, it was a wonder why he was so armed up and looking ready to go. Well the very reason why they were in a place called "Dragon Island" was about to be shown.
He appeared to move rather casually. Walking through the forest, looking around and minding his surroundings as he moved. His body language was rather out of place for where they were as anyone in this place would be at least a little on edge. Yet he didn't seem to show much of a care for how he moved through the forest.

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Taking in slow and steady breaths, the purple colored eye's of another stared intensely at Carver. Armed with nothing but a knife which he held tightly in his right hand. His other hand was used to steady himself as he was perched up on the fork of the center of a tree. He payed attention to Carver's movement's and saw he was just walking through the woods as though he didn't have a care in the world. The purple eye's that were on the man that watched him narrowed as he saw this. This was an insult, he wasn't even trying to hide. Was he going to leave himself this open for attack? Jack Carver, the Captain of the International Squadron of soldiers assigned on missions around the world. Experienced in all types of terrain and conditions, assigned to missions in all Nations, all lands with the danger of each mission being as high as any one squad mission could be. The Captain of this squad was just strolling through the woods like a fool? There was just no way.  

The man lept from the tree landed on the sturdy branch of another. Each step was as quiet as he could make it, only the tree's branch bobbing up and down from the weight of each foot as he moved forward. The noise itself should be drowned out by the chirping birds, the calls of the animals and the lake not too far off. He expertly free ran through the tree's like monkey. He lept from tree to tree, staying low and stalking his prey. He swung from a few branches and climbed up to tree's to get higher, and climbed to down to get lower and keep stalking. He observed Carver as he continued on the same pattern while doing his best to let himself be seen by the man he was hunting.
It didn't seem like this was going to change, he could even see that Carver was walking in what seemed to be just a very wide circle. This wasn't going anywhere, he had all the information he needed and wanted to do this now. He wanted to win, pierce the blade into his prey and steal the victory.

The man tightened his grip on his blade slightly, and followed for just a little longer until he saw Carver walk right over a thick branch attached to a strong tree. That was what he needed.
Beginning to feel his heart beat faster, he quickened his steps and began to slightly lose control of his breathing. Taking in slightly more agitated breaths. Yet his pace was much faster and in just seconds he made it to the branch with a mighty leap. Landed on it with both feet he took a moment to gain his balance on it.

This was it, the moment of truth...

With a small growl he extended his knee's out, and his strong legs propelled him straight towards Carver's upper back with the tip of the blade pointed at the back of his neck. He flew through the air for just a second before coming on his downward arc and straight down to his target.

Although the supposed "Hunter" wouldn't be able hear it. Carver let out a sigh from his lips upon the man's leap.

 
The knife now being just a foot shy of arms reach away from Carver's heck. The Captain of the International Squad's bright blue eye's shot to the right. He tucked his head down and even used to his foot to kick himself from the ground for a much faster turn. His body zipped to the right and with that he extended his right arm out and caught the wrist of the bladed hand of the attacker. He twisted the wrist and pulled the arm of the attacker towards the ground.

"Damn!!" Was the only word that the man could think of before he found the top of his chest ramming into the dirt ground. Carver then shot his other hand out to grab the man's shoulder and pin him to the floor.  
Logic would tell him to call it quit's there and admit defeat, however he felt a ping of anger spike in his emotional state at this result. No, no he was tired of this, he had trained for too long and worked for too long to just be stopped of easily.

In a freak attempt to try and fight back. the man turned his head to the side, kicked his backwards which from this currently angle ended up letting him flip his body forward from his chest. The momentum wouldn't normally allow this but with Carver's hand straightening out the man's arm this let him perform a shoulder roll, letting his arm roll in Carver's hand since he didn't quite get a strong grip just yet. It was all a quick succession of thoughts that took place in half a second. Yet the man as a result was able to roll forward and let his arm roll on the ground along with it and breaking the joint lock Carver just almost had.
Carver saw the man rolling forward and took a strong grip of the man's wrist, however as soon as the man got on his feet in a kneeling position he yanked his arm forward, causing his hand to slip free and for Carver to be holding a glove rather then a wrist.
Carver's body quickly shot forward and his hand grabbed the black hood that he was wearing and pulled him towards him while also stepping forward. The hood and pulled off as a result, revealing the chin length, spiky blonde hair underneath. The Captain went to wrap his other arm around the blonde haired attacker's neck but he sunk his weight down and used the knife that was still in his hand to try and stab Carver's leg.
Carver placed his other hand on the attacker's elbow to stop the blade and while the man sunk his weight down, Carver's arm was still around his head. He took a strong, almost crushing grip of the attacker's elbow and his other arm to wrap around the man's chin. With both of these Carver positioned his hip on the back of the waist of the attacker and performed what's known as a backwards hip throw.
The attacker went up and over Carver's body before heading straight for the ground. He pulled his knee's into his body so that when he slammed on the ground it was on his knee's rather then his chest. The impact was hard but he quickly wrapped one arm around Carver's leg, However Carver extended the leg, pulled the attacker forward, and pressed his full weight on the man's back, causing the attacker to be forced flat on the ground.
In no time at all did the Captain then pull the man's wrists back into what's called a "Box Lock" and yanked the knife away.

Like before, this would be the time call it quits, however the blonde haired man just felt more anger. The shadow that the man cast started to ripple and grow, as though the darkness of his very shadow was coming alive. Carver caught this and swiftly used the knife he pulled away from the man to place throat. He pressed the blade against his neck hard, even drawing a small drop of blood.

"You really wanna die huh?!" Carver growled out.
The man hesitated upon feeling the blade on his throat and the sting of the cut it made. His shadow however was still moving a bit from the frustration the man felt.
Carver still felt the resistance from him.
"You've lost Enoch, now stop" He ordered him under slightly faster then normal breaths.
It took him a couple seconds but he relaxed himself and nodded his head a little.
"Okay..." He said through his teeth before his shadow returned to normal.
Carver took the knife away from Enoch's throat and dropped on the ground beside him before getting up on his feet and dusting himself off.
"The hell were you trying to do coming at me like that?" He asked him.
Enoch's eye's narrowed.
"What do you mean?"
"Well for starter's you ain't even dressed right" He told him as he was addressing the long black jacket Enoch wore with the white strip along the edge of the hood and the design dark green strip on the end of the jacket as well. Followed by his form fitting black shirt underneath with his dark brown bracer's on his wrists and black gloves with star's on the back of the hand of the gloves.
This included the black slacks with the criss crossing brown belts and the black boots.
"You didn't even bother to wear any kind of camo, you didn't even mask your scent"
"But you didn't even see me" Enoch replied.
"I didn't need to, didn't even bother to look with all the noise you were making"
"Noise? But I thought I was..."
"Running around on tree's causes a disturbance that any animal could sense. The birds were the biggest tip off" He explained to him as he pointed his finger up to the tree's.
"That's also not to mention you're breathing was terrible, you gave yourself away at the moment of attack"
Enoch was quiet for a moment.
"I don't see how this is fair. No matter what I do you always spot me."
"Your father could run circles around me in this kinda place"
Enoch scoffed at the reply.
"Well I'm not my father"
Carver nodded his head.
"Yeah, yeah you're right. You're his son which is even better. Now quit complaining and just take the lesson will ya?" He told him sounding slightly annoyed.
"Alright...I guess we're gonna go again?"
"Yeah, unless you feel being the prey?"
Enoch gave out a small smile.
"No, no I'm good. I'll get ready" He replied before turning around and running off into the forest.

Carver turned around and went to lean on a tree for a moment.
Enoch...The kid had talent but he was still young. He had a lot to learn, he was practically starving for knowledge. It was likely that he would want to go all night doing this. Yet he was more then happy to teach if it meant the kid would be more ready for the squad.
He waited here for now and would begin moving again soon.

"Go look for the warrior they said. It'll be easy they said. My brood'll give you their location he said."

Marisa was lost. There was no other or simpler or better way of putting it. She was lost. In a forest. On an island. An island infested by dragons. Honestly things could probably get worse, but not by much. When Izanami, her spotter appointed by Owlan in the quest to find the warrior of darkness, had told her where her charge was currently hiding Marisa had been quite surprised. What sort of teenage kid lived on an island filled with dragons? The kind that didn't survive very long seemed like the most obvious answer to that question. Izanami had wanted to come along, Marisa had quite categorically refused, but given her current situation it was becoming harder and harder to remember why exactly she'd done that.

Her hand darted into one of the many pockets of the long but thin green overcoat she'd brought along. It provided adequate protection from the winds, and the heavy tunic beneath provided some much appreciated warmth with its fur lined interior and collar. Her errant hand eventually found the item it had been seeking as it came out of her pocket clutching a long folded map of the island. Years on the sea had taught her a thing or ten about reading maps and judging her position, and according to the map she was exactly where she was supposed to be. In the middle of nowhere. She titled her head, reading the map upside down, trying to see if she was misreading some part of it, or if she'd missed something, but apparently she was exactly where this kid was supposed to be found.

"Damn you Izanami, either you goofed or I've suddenly forgotten everything I know about amps," Marisa muttered, letting her hands drop and hit her side in frustration.

She was surrounded by trees, tall  pines that stretched several yards into the air, their branches beginning only at the tallest section of their mighty trunks and their needled members spanning out into a fairly dense canopy which still allowed in a fair amount of sunlight heavily dappled by dark shadowy clumps. The trees were numerous in all directions, but well spaced out. Given the size of them it wasn't surprising. The mighty pines probably required a lot of sunlight, preventing too many of them to sprout up to full maturity in any one area. That also explained why the undergrowth was so sparse, leaving the machete she'd brought to hang uselessly at her side, completely ignored. Marisa looked up, from the position of the sun it wasn't too far past midday, probably around one or two of the clock in the afternoon.

She took another, longer look at her surrounding, and she noticed a shallow dip in the ground. She walked up to it and squatted, taking off one of her gloves, placing a hand gently against the ground and testing its firmness. Her fingers dug into the evidently freshly turned ground easily and came in contact with something powdery that certainly wasn't dirt three phalanxes below the surface. She  used neighbouring shadows to move away some more earth, revealing the crushed remains of a campfire. It was cold by now, most of the wood had crumbled into dark ashes. Given its size she guessed it must have been used to cook food, meaning whoever was here probably had a smaller, more discreet campfire hidden around here. No one in their right mind cooked and camped by the same fire, especially not when in hostile territory. She wasn't interested in finding the actual camp though. This was confirmation enough that she wasn't as lost as she'd initially thought and the discovery of some sign of the kid brought a mix of satisfaction and reassurance, chasing away her growing frustration.

She moved away from the fire, sitting down on a tall, arched root that was protruding from the ground as she continued examining the map. This was where Izanami had said he'd be, but the kid had obviously moved since. The cooking fire looked like it had been used no later than a day ago, meaning the one she was looking was probably still in the forest. She had two options. Wait for nightfall, sit on a stump and search for him through the shadows, or actually try to track him down. Sundown was still many hours away though, and while she was confident in her ability to find the boy through the shadows in complete darkness she wasn't sure she'd be able to extend her perception far enough in the current light. Plus she was enjoying this game of 'track the future warrior' game, and any time she spent looking for him was time she didn't have to spend locked up on mount Valumai.

"Might as well look for tracks," she murmured to herself, gracefully pushing herself off the seat and patting the dust and dirt off the bottom of her black slacks, shaking her booted feet to shake away the pins and needles. The sudden upwards motion triggered her headache to return though. Marisa had tried to not be drunk since Owlan had summoned them. If she was to meet this kid she was going to do it sober. But yesterday night had been pretty bad, memories and dream drifting back to her mind hauntingly every tie she closed her eyes or when she left her mind to wander too much, and the inability to sleep had eventually broken her resolve and she'd drunken herself to sleep, and she was still paying for that now. It was just the tail end of the hangover thankfully, it had been much worse when she'd woken up this morning, still she was starting to have regrets about that last shot of liquor. Why was she even carrying a flask of liquor around when she'd promised to herself she wouldn't be drinking anyway?

After waiting a second for the pain to fade she folded and put away the map and started carefully scanning the fire's surroundings, slowly expanding the area she was scrutinising until she found what she was looking. Footprints. Faint in the spongy ground, but clear enough to be seen. They seemed to come from her right and continue on to her left for quite a distance. More importantly they were very fresh, laid down no more than a couple of hours ago at worse. For a while she followed them, until she realised the path never wavered. It was a perfectly circular perimeter of some description, though from her estimations it seemed a little wide to be meant for a camp. But it seemed sensible to assume the kid she was looking for would be within the perimeter, not along it.

Squatting again she pressed her open palm again the ground gently and the shadows around her began to waver ever so slightly. She couldn't see from them, she couldn't hear from them, but she could feel vibrations and movements from them. They were like a spider web, every time someone or something stepped on one she could locate those things and classify them by weight and speed. Her perception spread out rapidly to engulf the entire area within the perimeter, and soon enough she could feel a disturbance of shadows that was definitely human, and then immediately after, close by the first, another. Her guess was it was the kid and a parent or guardian of his. It wasn't a massive leap of logic. Few people dared to brave the wilds of Dragon Island and she knew her mark was supposed to be in the area.

Getting up and rubbing the dirt off her hand she headed towards her mark, walking casually, humming a jolly little tune under her breath. Outwardly she seemed very clam and nonchalant as usual. In truth she was very excited, and anxious. She was about to meet the kid she was supposed to train for the next few years. He was going to be a constant presence in her life for the foreseeable future. What if he was unbearably drab and awful? What if he was an ass? What if he hated her? What if he didn't want to come along? Owlan had answered her question, but he'd not alleviated her doubts. She had the letter with his seal in an inner pocket of her coat, it should be enough right?

Her mind abuzz with question, and unwary of any dangers she wouldn't often berate herself for not seeing the trap in the future. It was a pretty well hidden trap too, covered by fallen pine needles in a haphazardly gathered mess that was very convincing. She stepped right on top of it, her foot smashing the delicate mechanism to bits and the coil snapped around her ankle, jerking her up in the air violently. A small screamed "Whoooo!" of semi-surprise and semi-delight escaped from her lips as she was pulled up and left to hang upside down from her right ankle.

"Well, this is embarrassing," she remarked out loud as the hem of her coat fell in her face and her tunic pulled up, exposing her midriff. She pushed the coat's fabric out of her face with a few swats of her hand, clearing her vision, just as the headache pounded back to life, sounding like hammers in her head, forcing a light groan out of her as she pressed her wrist against her forehead in a futile attempt to mitigate the pain which departed on its own after a couple of seconds.

Out all of Carver's 5 sense's, it was his hearing that was probably the most sensitive. As a hunter in different types of terrain, against animals both predator and prey, of course all of your sense's must be sharp. However, in some environments, sight doesn't go very far and can sometimes be more of a hindrance then a help at times, smell can be easily taken over by the environments trademark smells and lastly touch and taste very mildly apply to hunting. It's hearing however that, when it comes down it, is the one sense that always lends a helping hand in hunting no matter the terrain or environment. So out all of Carver's trained, sharpened and enhanced sense's, it was his ears that twitched ever so slightly that caused him to stop in his tracks and focus on his hearing.
Carver had paid attention to all of the sounds that this forest made, the birds, the wind in the leaves, the couple bears roaming around, the lake, the dragon that was in the clouds flying over them and Enoch attempting the cleverly hide in some thick foliage just about 20 yards in front of him.

These were the sounds he was becoming accustomed to, that the occasional new sounds of maybe a fox, or a deer running into the forest, yet the presence he heard step into the forest was not a regular newcomer that this forest would welcome.
The sounds of the twigs breaking underneath it's feet, the way the pine needles and plants were pushed aside by it's legs. The unnatural clomp that bottom of it's foot made when stepping on a thick root.

The voice she had...

Carver turned his head to the bush the boy was hiding in.
"Enoch! Come outta there for a sec" He called out to the boy who currently trying to be as hidden as he could be.
He seemed to stick with it though as there was no response.
"Enoch! I know you're in there, come on" He ordered a bit louder.
Yet Enoch stayed true to the mission and didn't make a sound.
Carver rolled his eye's followed by a sigh leaving his nose.
He took a long step forward towards him then shot his hand upwards like he was pitching a ball with an underhand throw. A thick gust of was created from his hand and took the form of a thick trail of rippling and shimmering winds as they traveled from the ground and straight into the bush.
"Whoa!!" Enoch exclaimed as the now forest camouflage boy's body was suddenly shot straight up in the air like a wack-a-mole. His arm and legs flailed for a moment before he landed back into the bush with a less then comfortable landing on his front.
"Ah...Damn it" He mumbled as he pushed himself up and back onto his feet.
"What? What do ya want?" He said with a tone of frustration.
"Listen, someone's coming, I need you to hide...Better, and farther from here." He told him as Carver turned to face whoever it was that was still very far away.
Enoch's eye's narrowed in a puzzled expression.
"Why? Who cares it could be anybody" He protested.
"Just anybody in a place called Dragon Island? I don't think so. Just trust me alright?"
Enoch shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, clearly looking annoyed by this. To him Carver just seemed paranoid, while he had a right to be on Dragon Island, it still just didn't sound like they had to make all that big a deal out of it.
"Alright I guess, just hurry up" He said impatiently.
Enoch turned around and chose to climb up a rather short tree in order to free climb onto the other trees and be hidden in the branches. However while Carver would be focused on this stranger, he wouldn't pay attention to Enoch not moving quite far away enough for him to be at a safe distance.

Carver walked a few feet towards the noise so he could get more information. It wasn't long before he had the newcomers scent. It was...Heavy with...Alcohol. They didn't move like they were drunk, but clearly this was a person that frequented the tavern.
Moving his walk to a quick but very quiet jog he made his way to a particularly large bush that was covered with vines and pine needles. He reached his arm in there, took hold of a strap and pulled. The bush was pulled in as well from the tug and the pine needles trailed off as Carver rustled the bush around a little before pulled out a a fully made and ready underbrush ghillie suit. The person moving into the forest was still very far away so he had plenty of time to get this thing on and prepare himself.
Through his hearing and his sense of smell he was able to know just how far away the stranger was.
He eventually was able to hear breath, coming from what sounded like the voice of a woman.
He honestly couldn't figure out why she'd be here. In a place like this of all the things. From the sounds of it, he didn't hear the clinking of metal or a rustle of a blade against the foliage, it was likely she was even carrying any weapons aside from maybe a single blade. These were all odd things but what had him slip into the feeling of "Worry" was that he hadn't gotten any mental pings from the enchanted circle yet. She seemed to have passed it just recently and yet there was nothing. Eva was the squads spirit bender and healer and she was chosen because she was good at her job. He knew there wouldn't be anything wrong was the circle, it was this woman herself that brought caution.
Dragon Island was a dangerous place, and there was no reason for why this woman would be in a place like this.

Based on where she was going, he figured that he would be heading right for one of his traps. He knew he didn't need to set any of them up due to Eva's circle, but apparently his paranoia payed off this time as now it would be what would catch that new comer.
He moved closer to silently and quickly, letting his suit keep him concealed. Eventually he was coming up to one of his traps, it hadn't been disturbed yet. However he heard her coming up to it now. He took his bow off his shoulder and pulled an arrow out from the quiver on his back. He attached the back of the arrow to the wire and let it stay loose for now until she would either spring the trap, or just walk past it. He kept a fair distance from the trap so she herself wouldn't see his face or be able to identified him once she would see him. Yet the distance would be covered in an instant by his bow if need be.

The rustling of grass and pine needles on the floor grew louder as she made her right up to him. Carver laid flat on in an underbrush of thick grass. He was right in front of the trap just about 15 yards away. He double checked to make sure the brush of the ghillie suits hood was covering most of his face.
With the footsteps much more prominent now, she emerged from the cover of the forest and into sight.
It was in fact a woman, she seemed fairly dressed for the place but wasn't armed for it at all. Now why would that be unless she was a bender? That or she had an army of men as quiet as ghosts behind her. Carver was completely still either way, his breathing was as quiet as it could be, his muscles were perfectly still, yet his hands were on his bow and arrow and ready to spring up at a moments notice.

Her walk was very nonchalant, like she wasn't even in one of the deadliest pieces of the world this planet had to offer. Either she was bat shit crazy or extremely strong...Hell maybe both. They had a way to connecting sometimes.
Yet as good as she may or may not have been, she seemed to have not caught the well hidden trap that she was just a few steps away from. She had to have had experience in tracking in order to track them this far, yet clearly wasn't too familiar with forest and jungle terrain, at least not enough to watch her footing when she walked.
She didn't seem to be stopping. Carver got ready.

She stepped down on the trap, the mechanism clicked, and her body went flying up. Hitting her head on the way up he'd give half a second to get her bearings so his words would be just a dull haze.
She was just able to clear her face before Carver suddenly sprung up from the underbrush, pulled back on the wire of the bow and drew the arrow back completely with the tip pointed directly at heart.
He only got up only on one knee so both the ghille suit and the underbrush he was in would make his body appear more like a big bush with arms and a voice. She wouldn't be able to identify him by sight.

"Who are you?!" He barked out loudly with a growl in his tone. The arms of his bow fully bent and letting out the sound of tension in the composite materials and the wire.

"Hey-Hey there, Mr Bush. I'm Marisa. I-I don't... I don't usually make it a habit to, erm... converse with shrubbery if I'm perfectly honest. I find it a fool's errand to encourage the mind's hallucinations, especially after having hit my head, but you seem nice enough, and I happen to be in something of a pickle. Would you terribly mind letting me down from this wonderful little contraption? You see I'm looking for someone, and being upright and on the ground would be a fairly huge advantage. Now I would suspect you may be just who I'm looking for, but you're a plant, and I'm fairly sure I was looking for a kid. A teenager, and you sound a little old to be fresh out of puberty. You wouldn't happen to have seen anyone like that around would you?"

Her speech started off as hesitant and stumbling, unsurprising given that she'd just been accosted by what, to her, appeared to be a bush pointing a drawn bow right at her. She wasn't really afraid, but rather very confused, especially in the first few seconds when she was still too dizzy from hanging upside down and hitting her head to realise it wasn't a hallucination at all, but rather a man hiding, or even a woman, she couldn't discern many features about the bow wielder, but his voice definitely seemed masculine. Once she realised that her words picked up in confidence.

As for requesting his assistance, well she could have cut herself down, but she preferred to play her cards close to her chest. For now at least. If she had one policy regarding combat it was never to show a potential opponent what she could really do until it was too late for said opponent to react accordingly. A few moments ago that had not been a problem since she hadn't expected any form of trouble, now though the evidence seemed to point her to the conclusion that trouble had found her. For now she'd play the helpless maiden. It suited her purpose anyway, if she revealed herself to be a skilled bender being seen as trustworthy might be complicated.

"If you do happen to know who I'm talking about I have a letter for you," for a second or two she struggled with the dangling lower flap of her overcoat, looking for one of the middle pockets, and eventually pulling out a simple roll of parchment. "This should explain my presence and purpose here," if she'd truly known nothing this could have been construed as a profoundly stupid move. She was handing over the Spirit King's letter of explanation to a complete stranger. If she'd truly known nothing of the man that is, and what she knew, or rather had gleaned certainly was not nothing.

Firstly she knew there were only two humans other than her in the area, her quarry and some sort of parent or guardian made the most sense. The simple fact she couldn't tell the man with the bow apart from the surrounding foliage implied he was wearing some sort of advanced camouflage clothing. It seemed too well made to simply be a home made one, implying military grade equipment. And that explanation made too much sense to ignore. This was Dragon Island they were on, not some random tourist hotspot, access to this place was highly restricted, she'd had to use the Spirit King's influence to get here meaning this man and the boy she was looking for had to be part of some organisation or unit that had access to a similarly high level clearance. She'd heard of highly trained and skilled military units that operated as they saw fit, nothing concrete of course, only rumours and gossip she'd gleaned over her travels, but given the situation it was sounding more and more plausible. All of that of course meant that the kid she was supposed to train was probably the military type, raised by soldiers which pleased her none too much. She'd been hoping for a chilled kid, not a hard ass miniature drill sergeant...

Carver's patience wore thin real fast with this girl. Her sarcastic behavior about all this told him she either was really stupid, or had experience with this kind of thing. Either way she was interfering with training and he wanted her gone. In a place like Dragon Island she should know better. He just wanted her gone and get back to training. He listened to her though as she mentioned she was looking for someone, a kid.
The more he thought about it the more Carver was led to believe that this...Marisa was here for himself and Enoch. She knew exactly where they were, and the only people that knew were the squad, and interrogating them was like beating your head against a wall.
Even if she did get it out of them, why all the effort for a kid that was still just a student? Dragon Island was the most dangerous place in the world, and here was just a single woman, with no weapon, sent to get him? He didn't like this, he wanted her gone, or dead if the first one wasn't an option.

Meanwhile, Enoch, who should have been hiding far away, instead chose to very quietly and carefully approach them. He was able to hear a woman talking, yet by the time he arrived he only heard that she was looking for someone, and mentioned that Carver didn't seem to be the one. Now Enoch didn't put as much thought into it as Carver did, he was curious though as to who this might be.
He kept himself fairly well hidden, staying behind a tree for now while crouched and peering over it to see what was going on.

As Marisa reached in her pocket Carver's eye's narrowed and his grip loosed a little on the wire of his bow, just as a flinch rather then an action to take.

Enoch saw the letter and while he obviously couldn't read it, he saw it beared the Vermilion empire's family seal. She was hear on official business?

Carver saw it, and released the wire on his bow. The arrow was pushed by the wire and shot out at speeds that let it be registered as only a quick blur. The steel tip of the arrow rammed into the closed letter in her hand and destroyed it in an instant, leaving only shards of paper to fall to the ground. The arrow stabbing deep into a tree behind her.

"I asked who you were, I couldn't give two shits why you're here." He remarked as he pulled out another arrow from the quiver on his back, placed it on the wire, and fully drew it to point at Marisa.

Enoch flinched from Carver's sudden action, yet he peered his head out from the tree more. Was she really from the empire? Could she have been looking for...Him? Unfortunately Enoch's curiosity was taking over his instinct to stay hidden, and since he was not far from Carver and Marisa as he could hear them talking, he had no idea that either one of them would be able to spot him from this range if they just simply looked.

"Now I want you outta here now!" He demanded her in a very gruff and intimidating voice that, combined with the drawn bow and the shot he just made, would scare any normal person into leaving. Yet he was too focused on Marisa that he wasn't able to catch the very faint rustling of clothing that came with Enoch leaning farther out from his cover and within sight of the upside down newcomer.

She was not prepared for the loud twang as the taught bowstring was released, sending several inches of wood, steel and feathers flying at her. The metal arrowhead ripped into the fine vellum, tearing it to shreds and ripping it from her hand, carrying on unflinchingly several yards onwards before burying itself into the trunk of a massive tree behind her. All that was left of the Spirit King's letter of recommendation in her hand was a torn corner of parchment that couldn't serve as much more than kindling.

She had not been prepared for that first arrow. The next one that fool released would be his last. His words painted the picture clearly enough to her. He was the hard ass military type she so despised, and this would probably be more complicated than she'd initially anticipated. She didn't want to have to fight, but as was often the case whether she would have to or not wasn't up to her. Still there was yet a chance she could turn this around, she'd just have to swallow her pride, something she was very good at doing, and take this a little more seriously, something she wasn't so good at doing.

"So do you want me to get out or tell you who I am? I'm pretty sure I can't do both," inwardly she groaned at herself. Good work on the 'taking this seriously' front she mentally hissed at herself. "My name is Marisa," she added hurriedly, hoping her previous comment hadn't ruined all possibility of ending this peacefully. "I was sent here by the Spirit King in search of one of the fabled Warriors of the Elements whom we believe to be..." there she paused a second, she could swear she'd heard, no felt, something. The shadows were being disturbed, she could feel them rustling as one might hear leaves rustling. Her blue eyes moved away from the military man, but she took care to keep him in her peripheral vision. "You," she finished her sentence as her gaze fell on another figure, slightly shrouded in the shadows from the canopy, but still quite visible. It was a younger man who couldn't be too far away from his twentieth birthday. This was who she was looking for, she was sure of it both logically, after all there weren't a million teens running around Dragon Island, but also on another, strange level she couldn't explain, a slightly uncomfortable feeling in the back of her mind. Maybe this was the call of fate. Then again maybe it was the hangover.

"Hello there Enoch Jensen," she called out with a warm smile and a wave both directed at him. The wave served both as a simple greeting and as a bending motion. The noose around her ankle suddenly snapped seemingly of its own accord. In truth Marisa had simply used the shadow her foot cast on her leg to grind through the rope holding her. Instead of twisting to land on her feet though she let herself fall clumsily to the ground, her shoulder hitting the cold hard ground first. She was aware that tensions were running high and that too many sudden movements would probably be a terrible idea in this situation. Plus she was loath to show off what she could really do before she absolutely needed to. As she got up she put her hands up to demonstrate she was still unarmed.

"How have you been doing?" Marisa asked the boy, still looking at him while keeping the man with the bow in sight. "I would show you the letter explaining the situation but I appear to have misplaced it, maybe we could hold this discussion somewhere a little more comfortable?"

Introducing herself again? Was this panic or some sorta attempt at a joke? Her attitude pissed him off more and more either way. Maybe he should just shoot her. A death on Dragon Island wouldn't exactly be a shocker, and if hidden well, no one would even bother looking for her body in a place like this.
Of course Carver actually had no intention of killing anyone, but the thought still made it quiet call in the back of his mind. Like a kid sitting in the back of class waving his hand to try and get noticed.

Upon hearing the name of the Spirit King, Carver oddly didn't feel surprised. Partially because he didn't believe a word of it, and also because even if it was true it didn't matter whatsoever. He wasn't about to let one of his own go running off with some lady whose entire authority was dictated by a shattered piece of paper.

This Warrior stuff though...

Behind Carver, Enoch who was getting too curious for his own good suddenly made eye contact with the mysterious woman, to which he felt his heart skip a beat from shock and quickly zip back behind the tree. To which his cursed under his breath for being so stupid. Her words though, A Warrior of the Elements? What in the world was she talking about? Unlike Carver, Enoch wasn't so quick to dismiss that seal on the envelope. He doubted it at it at first, saying to himself there was no way in hell. However Carver had been training Enoch to train his senses, and while his sense were no where near as acute, there was no denying it. That was an envelope sealed by the Vermilion Empire's Emperor.

While Enoch was hiding behind the tree, he didn't see Marisa use the dark bending technique which let her cut the make shift rope around her ankle as she greeted him by his full name.

Carver turned his head to Enoch once she made eye contact with him and his eye's narrowed with a feint growl in his last breath.
"Damn it..." He mumbled to himself.
He told him to stay behind, what the hell was his doing?

He quickly turned his head back to Marisa only for her to say Enoch's full name.
Carver's eye's were able to catch the little details, he was watching her every movement and when he saw here wave, it was in no way a distraction from the movement of solidified darkness on the rope.
A Dark Bender?!
Upon her fall he could have used that moment to shoot her, instead however he realized that he was in the cover of darkness and that regardless of her skill level which had yet to be determined, she could hurt him. So as she fell, he quickly lunged himself backward with his strong legs and rolled on his back to a strong sun spot. At this point he'd rather have a clear view of the darkness around him rather then be submerged in it, and although he didn't like it, Enoch would have to do the same thing.

"Stay in the light!" Carver ordered Enoch with an undertone of panic in his voice.
His priority was Enoch, and keeping him safe.
The moment Carver's role was finished though the arrow was pointed right back at Marisa. He wasn't trusting her for a second. He stayed on one knee and kept his head down, of course now his lower jaw could be seen and some of his gear. Yet he didn't consider that a huge problem anymore.

Out of an instinct to listen to his superior Enoch quickly rushed to a spot of sun that was just a couple steps away from the tree he was in, of course now he was out in the open. Yet they didn't have much choice now.
The blonde haired boy looked towards Marisa with his purple eye's and didn't quite feel as protective or cautious as Carver did. Of course Enoch himself did not trust her either, he was a bit more curious then maybe he should have been.

"How have you been doing?" She asked him kindly. To which Enoch's confused, and slightly scared mind could only push out:
"I...uuhhh" In more a whisper then actual words.

Carver's anger in all of this only grew though.
He pulled his arrow back a little further, and with a little extra strength of she could hear the tension in the wire and in the arms of the arrow that held the wire.
"Hey, hey, eye's over here!" He told her in a slightly frustrated tone.
He stood up on his feet, and walked up a little closer to her and right in front of her vision of Enoch so she could see only Carver.
"You don't talk to him" He ordered her, his bright blue eye's honed in only on her.  
"Alright? You don't talk to him, and you don't look at him."

Enoch looked at the both of them and started to feel his heart beat faster, he was getting worried. He also wasn't as cautious as Carver was.
"Wait...Don't you think we should at least let her-"
"Not another word!!" He barked at Enoch, cutting him off while Carver kept his eye's straight on Marisa.
Hundreds of times Carver has encountered the most vile, wretched of people that wore kind faces and emitted innocent voices that would sound soothing and cause guards to be let down. Those were the same people that had done so much hard to others and didn't give a damn about the pain they caused.

Enoch was like Carver's blood. He was family, each member of the squad was, and Kye, Enoch's father, was like Carver's brother, and each squad member would be willing to lay there life down for there fellow man in a heart beat. Enoch was held very close to Carver's chest, not only as the son of his brother in arms, but also a brother in arms himself. So those were two very strong bonds that were held by something that no one in the world could break.
If Carver let this woman get anywhere near him, Carver would fail in his duty to protect Enoch. At least that was the way he saw it.

Out of all the Order of the Elements that was assigned to there Warriors, Marisa was dealt the unfortunate hand of being given the Warrior that was in the International Squad of Soldiers. Led by a man that was hard in all area's of his life, a man who not even death could stop. A man who from his sheer force of will, tenacity, intuition, and ruthless ability, made him the most deadly of a squad of elite soldier's that would in a world without benders, would be considered Gods. The man who led these soldiers now had an arrow pointed right in her face. Jack Carver, The Captain that even gave the middle finger to death himself, and lived to tell the tale.


"Now, your leaving this forest, either with your own legs or over my shoulder. So you keep those hands up, turn around, and walk away." He told her in a slightly more quiet, yet far more serious tone, making it seem more personal, just between him and her, so Enoch couldn't hear them.

"Consider that your last warning, Marisa"

In the end, orders from the Spirit King, orders from the Empire, it didn't matter, Carver saw Enoch as his own family, and when a man who lost his actual family comes to this belief about someone, you better believe there's no convincing him otherwise. Not just with the words from a suspicious stranger anyway.

"Put the bow down, you're going to end up hurting someone," she drawled condescendingly, purposefully ignoring his demand for her to look at him, keeping her eyes locked onto the teens' as her hands dropped to her side lazily. Despite her relaxed pose she was taught as the Bush-man's bowstring, her legs were ready to burst into motion and her hands were ready to leap into action. The situation was getting more and more precarious and she wasn't going to get caught by surprise again. If anything happened she'd be ready for it.

This man was getting on her nerves, which was unusual. Anger wasn't something she was used to feeling in the past few years. She didn't know if it was his incessant barking, his 'look at me I'm a hard ass' attitude, his refusal to let the kid get a word in edgewise or simply the fact he was a soldier that got her panties in a twist but something about him was making her want to swiftly lodge her fist into his face. Thankfully she had enough self-control to resist her base impulses. She hadn't come all this way just to pick a fight with a mouthy soldier and she certainly wasn't going to throw the first hit, she knew better than that. She also knew better than to expect him to remain peaceful even if she hoped he would.

"You are no longer a part of this conversation, the kid's legally old enough to make his own decision from what I've been told," she added, knowing at the back of her mind that her words were rushing them towards a violent confrontation. Her tone still didn't betray any of her anger though, the only sign of emotion on her face being a slight smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "This is his call, his life, his purpose. Not yours. Now stand down soldier before you do something we'll both regret."

Trying to think about it amidst all this tension, Enoch wasn't really sure what he wanted. He was confused, and didn't know if Carver was making the right call or not. As Carver being his superior and mentor, he didn't question the Captain's orders. So that by itself would be enough to quell any doubts he might have, but he just couldn't shake his feelings off completely. She knew his name, knew who he was, said he was some kind of Warrior, and had a seal from the Vermilion Empire itself. It was all just something that...Didn't it warrant a bit of an explanation? Couldn't the Captain maybe just hear her out at least and then kick her out. If she just bore a message then he could just say that they would think about it right? He wasn't sure though, that's what he felt made sense. However Carver wasn't stupid, and despite what seemed to be the man overreacting, he knew the Captain, and he wouldn't be this hostile without a reason.
Overall Enoch felt a confliction, yet he trusted Carver, he trusted him enough to let him so what he was doing for now.

_________________________________________

Carver's arm remained strong as the tension on the bow was still and steady. Years upon years of experience with this bow, Terra, his bow, was ever faithful to him, never breaking under his strength, never making anymore noise than she had to. She was loyal, she was strong, and made just for Carver himself. This custom bow was a mass driver, the maker taking in account Carver's great strength as she made it. The arrows had strong, serrated and harpoon like tips with immense stopping power that was more like a shotgun close range or a 50. Cal Sniper Rifle when fired. It range was equally amazing. 200 yards in a straight line the arrows could go before beginning a descent. Combined of course with Carver's eye's, it was safe to say this bow could fire these heavy arrows at range beyond most weapons that as of this time were considered modern.

Terra was a deadly woman, a bow like no other, that was perfect for Carver, and a nightmare to the one's she laid her eye's on.
Carver's eye's narrowed the moment she opened her mouth, the fact that it even opened and was intending to draw breath was an insult to him by itself.
Although Enoch didn't know it yet, Carver knew this woman was not to be trusted as she was. She passed through Eva's barrier unnoticed, and was alone in the most dangerous place in the world with no weapons other than a machete, she held that parchment that could have very well been fake, even if it wasn't it would still mean putting Enoch in the hands of some stranger without knowing anything about her, and her having nothing to prove herself other then some letter. If she believed Enoch was who she said he was, then all the more reason to make the effort for some imposter to try and claim him.
There was also one very basic fact.

Kye wasn't here, and Carver swore to protect Enoch.

Carver wouldn't let anyone do anything to Enoch with Kye's say so. The father always deserved to know, and to make the decisions. So with all this in mind, and Carver's overall sheer nerves being rustled by this woman's attitude in the subject of just nonchalantly acting as though this was a casual thing all added together to him not giving her any footholds in this situation.

So, by opening her mouth, and performing an action that was not leaving this moment he boldly and clearly told her that this was her last warning from what was a man that had little patience to begin with. He performed an action, a very simple action that would cause a chain reaction of events that would all lead up a very fast change of tone in this situation.

His fingers that held the wire of the bow back, and the arrow in between, extended, letting the wire push the arrow forward, so that all of the benefits of what this bow so special, would be experienced first hand by Marisa's chest.

Before the twang of the rope, before the twitch in his forearms as his tendons drew back to pull his fingers away from the string she knew what was going to happen. Every experienced fighter could quite literally sense the building tension shatter just before the fight. More than that she'd caught a glimmer in his eyes, the look of a man resigned to killing.

With all of that forewarning you'd think she'd have dodged the arrow with considerable ease. You would be wrong. She hadn't accounted for the sheer power of that bow. The speed at which the shaft was propelled at her was surprising to say the least and she barely had time to form and execute a counter plan.

Shaking her mind out of its lazy shroud of inactivity she released the tension built up in her legs , her entire body bursting into motion just in time to allow her to crouch and spin out of the way of the deadly projectile, the arrowhead tearing through her coat's collar. Given the height and angle of the shot the guy had just tried to stick an arrow into her chest, and she had to admit she was not cool with that. What sort of self-respecting human male allowed himself to jeopardise funbags? This guy was rapidly making it to the top of her shit list.

Not stopping her motion for a second she cartwheeled out of the way of any more projectiles all the while making the shadows around the soldier erupt into spiky death traps that would either wound him or at least force him to move. Taking shelter behind a tree she used her bending to launch herself into the foliage without breaking her stride. She still hadn't completely cut loose, and she knew he wouldn't either. For one the kid was in between them and neither of them wanted to hurt him. Furthermore Marisa wasn't trying to kill the guy, just to incapacitate him long enough to talk some sense into his thick skull. Pressing her back against the bark she couldn't actually physically see her opponent, but she could still sense his smallest movement through the shadows around him.