Of Riddles and Puzzles

It didn't take very long for the five of them to happen upon the far larger group that Sasha had seen from her airborne perch before she had locked up in teh sky and hand't been able to come down. As they arrived, there were several who were breakin goff from the main group and going their own way, a clear indication that they'd gotten whatever it was that they'd needed.

And if Wesley had to guess, he'd imagine that what they needed was the stamp on their Meal Ticket.

"You think this is for the Ticket?" Jay asked as he looked between the others, and both Wes and Theodore gave slow nods, which was enough for Jay to be satisfied as they made their way up toward the front.

Eventually, enough of the people left to let them see just what they were headed toward, and just as they had suspected, it was for one of the Meal Ticket stamps. "All right!" Jay called, the man very clearly enjoying his food as he came forward.

"Oh, it's you," a rather sour-sounding voice spoke, and Wes glanced to the Soldier running this whole thing, realizing only a second later that it was Shannon. "Thanks again for saving my skin back before," Shannon spoke, not showing a great deal of emotion, even as she gestured them forward to get their stamp.

Thankfully, healing up was not something that took a tremendous amount of time for anyone. The Life Frameworks that worked in the medical staff along with Dr. Tenor could fairly easily help someone get back to their best in a very short time.

Jay was already moving forward, and the woman couldn't help a small (albeit annoyed) smile at his eagerness to get his stamp and she pressed it on the second option, before following suit for the rest of them.

"So like, where are the other checkpoints, dude?" Jay asked as Shannon finished up with their team, but there were already more that had found her and were lining up behind them all.

Shannon fixed Jay with a cold look. "Even if I appreciate what you all did, I'm not going to cheat for you. Just look at the riddles on the back and figure it out. That's what everyone else is doing. Now get out of the way," she huffed, shooing the group from the path.

Evie grinned, waving merrily at the woman as they left before glancing to Theodore. "Teddy, any luck on the riddles yet?" she asked, looking at him, and to the paper he was holding.

"Mmm... not yet. I have a... few ideas," he spoke quietly, his tone conveying the thought that he was undergoing at the moment. Wes realized that Evie was quite accurate with her thought before on him.

There was no doubt that among them, Theodore was the most intelligent. But he processed things very slowly, and that could take too much time in order to think things through as a leader.

Wesley glanced from him back to Evie then, curious how her own scouting was doing. "What have you found out then? Have you seen any of the other large groups through your Summon Skill?" he asked the spritely girl.

At the question, Evie gave a shrug of her slim shoulders. "Not yet! I was hoping there would be more information but so far they haven't seen anything."

Sasha rolled her eyes then as she looked toward Wes. "So much for your plan. Now what?" she asked, glancing to their leader.

Wesley couldn't help a slight yawn from the exhaustion in his bones, but all the same he flipped his own ticket over, beginning to look at the riddles that were present. "Okay so we already got the second... wait."

The others fixed him with a curious glance as he looked up from the ticket toward Theodore. "These are all Elements, aren't they?" Wes asked, still staring at Ted.

"That was my...supposition. But I haven't... any certain proof." Theodore reached a hand up to adjust his glasses slightly as he met Wesley's look evenly. "Given our current location... we have done the... Space Framework option."

Sasha glanced around, realizing that while there was a rather large crowd of people here, there wasn't anything else within their vision. They were quite far away from the camp and the city both, leaving just a wide open space in all directions. "So the other three should relate to an Elemental Framework too?"

"That's my guess, yeah," Wesley responed as he glanced back down at the ticket he was holding onto. "If we don't have any intel yet, this is our next best option."

At the sudden switch to having to figure out the riddles, Jay frowned. "Well we don't have any way of knowing what these riddles are going to, dude. How are we going to come up with an answer before everyone else? We're starting late."

Wesley glanced back at his brother. "I've got another plan," Wes spoke simply, and Jay blinked in response, not sure what else to say.

"Plans on plans! Wesley is the plan-man!" Evie cheered, and Wesley began to focus on that Time Framework within him, before he started to do what he had done last night when he'd read through several parts of that book Gustave had given him.

He was utilizing the Acceleration Skill, making himself move, think and react to things far faster than he would otherwise. "I don't know how this will sound to you, but I'm going to work at it," he spoke, the temporal distortion between them causing his voice to sound as if it were being played at a fast forward speed.

Before any of them could react, he was already looking down at the paper, reading it aloud to himself. "You cannot touch me, but I will harm you. I must be fed and by one, I grant life to hundreds. But overfed, I take life from thousands."

Evie was currently doubled over laughing at the high-speed rendition from Wesley's reading, while the other three merely looked on with various levels of confusion on their faces. "What is he doing?" Jay asked aloud, not sure what his brother was doing.

"He is using...Accelerate," Theodore explained, glancing to the others. He was a little amazed that Jay didn't know what Wesley was doing, given how often Jay used Accelerate himself during their combats. "He is...simply moving faster."

Sasha opened her mouth to argue before she paused slightly. "Yeah I guess normally we're all under the effect of Accelerate. And Jay doesn't talk when he's using his very often," Sasha continued, glancing to the bulky fellow. "Although hearing you talk like that would be very funny," the girl spoke.

While the others were chatting in what sounded like slow motion to Wesley, the young man was puzzling over the words in the riddle itself, his brain working at an accelerated speed before his mind went through all the possibilities before arriving at a single conclusion.

He relaxed his focus on the Time Framework and allowed himself to slow back down and once more move normally before glancing at the others. "I think I know the answer to the riddle," Wes spoke, looking at them.

Sasha raised an eyebrow. "That was quick. I guess that's the benefit of the Accelerate Skill. I'm still trying to figure out what the hell you'd feed that would hurt you if you touch it. Like a porcupine?"

"No way," Jay spoke, shaking his head. "Besides, I don't know what sort of porcupine you're thinking of that could kill thousands of people, dude."

"Well excuse me for trying to figure it out," Sasha returned, glaring back at Jay, even as Evie leapt forward and wrapped her arms around Sasha's middle, immediately causing the young woman to calm down a little bit from the gesture.

Evie held her for another second before she pulled back slightly, peeking around the girl to look at Wesley. "So? What's the big monster? Is it a Beast?" she asked, her eyes getting a little wider.

"You guys are all thinking too literal," Wes responded, shaking his head. "I'd walk you through the logic but time's ticking," he spoke. Sasha rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything, waiting for him to continue. "It's Fire."

Theodore gave a singular, slow nod. "That had been... one of my... suppositions. But there were... others."

"So then... what does that mean? There's not a big fire here anywhere on the grounds for the Training Camp," Evie spoke, putting her fingers on the sides of her head in thought as she looked at Wes. "Where are we going to go to find the fire?"

Wesley glanced over at his brother. "Jay and I already ran across it before. Or rather, him. The Death Framework Instructor," he responded, and Jay's eyes widened slightly. "He's a Death Specialist who has a focus in Fire. What else could it possibly be?"