Chapter 36-Team Noah vs Evil Rabbits

"Alright, there they are…"

Currently, it's the morning after we were introduced to Anemoi, who had led us to the outskirts of Queens Village, where we are hiding behind a giant sound mound overlooking the camp of the dangerous bandit group, Evil Rabbits.

"So what should we do now?" I whisper to Anemoi.

"Simple, we bash their heads in!" Anemoi smirks as she flashes me a thumbs up.

"Is…that all…?" Old-Man F asks.

"Yeah, why?" Anemoi asks.

"Your plan isn't well thought out…AT ALL," Old-Man F answers, "What if they're anticipating an attack, what if they're stronger than we think, what if-"

Anemoi cuts Old-Man F off.

"We win. That's all."

Old-Man F sighs.

"You guys ready?" Anemoi asks with a smirk.

"Yeah, but let Khione and I start things off," I answer as the two of us enter our Charge Stances. With my Bullet Rain and her Solid Hammer spells, we can take out the bandits without even being noticed."

"Nah, not necessary," Anemoi replies as she crouches down into a running stance, placing one hand on the scabbard of her katana and the other hand on its hilt.

Anemoi peers up at the bandits with a sinister smirk. Forest-green sparks of energy begin to burst and swirl around Anemoi's body.

"I feel like being flashy today."

"WIND CHARGE, LEVEL ONE: CRESCENT MOON SLASH!"

In the blink of an eye, Anemoi draws her katana and swings it outwards, firing off a crescent-moon shaped projectile of wind with her slash. Anemoi's swing is so strong that shockwaves of wind are sent flying everywhere, nearly sweeping the four of us off of our feet.

"WAAHHH!!!" Mary cries, and I turn to face Mary, seeing that she was IN FACT, swept off her feet.

Hearing the impact of her spell, the bandits turn to face our group, where they see Anemoi's attack flying towards them.

"LOOK OUT!" The bandits cry, but it's too late.

Before the bandits can do anything to defend, Anemoi's spell tears into them, blasting the bandits as well as their camp away from the shockwaves of wind caused by Anemoi's attack, but also carving them clean in half. The bandits cry in pain as they drop to the ground, crimson-red blood littering the camp.

The rest of us are silent.

The bandits writhe and moan on the ground in pain.

"That was…impressive…" Old-Man F softly comments.

"But…violent…" Mary sadly replies.

"That was…a bit much…" Khione adds.

"I should…be able to do that…" I say to myself.

"Whew…" Anemoi whistles as she sheaths her katana, "That should do it."

"Was that necessary?" I ask as I turn to face Anemoi.

"Well…I suppose not, BUT it was efficient," Anemoi answers.

"That much bloodshed wasn't necessary," I reply, "Team Noah tries our best NOT to kill. You could have just blown the bandits away with a gust of wind. You didn't have to…cut them in half…"

Mary looks away sadly.

Anemoi stares at me for a moment.

"Meh. What's done is done. Come on, let's get into disguise."

Anemoi then leads us over to the group of bandits.

"BLEGH, their clothes are covered in blood…" Anemoi gags as she kneels down next to a female bandit and begins stripping off her clothes.

"Wh-what are you doing?!" I cry as I cover my eyes.

"We're infiltrating the Gambino Crime Syndicate, remember? This is how we'll do it."

"Right…" I sigh as I begin looking around.

"Ah…that one will work…" I say as I lay eyes upon a bandit with roughly my build, and I jog over to it.

I then kneel down next to the bandit.

"Sorry…" I softly say as I begin stripping off the bandit's clothes, and I gag as I do so.

"IF YOU LOOK AT MARY OR I, I'LL KILL YOU, NOAH!" I hear Khione snap from behind me.

Mary yelps.

"I wasn't going to…"

Once the five of us have changed into our disguises, we stand back up to face one another.

"You know, I just realized that Gambino has no way of knowing what we look like, since we come from the Land of Water," I say as I turn to face Anemoi, "Did the four of us need to wear a disguise."

"Well Gambino knows my face, so I DO," Anemoi answers as she ties her green hair up and stuffs it underneath a hat, then pulls on a black face mask, "As for you guys…I guess not, but it'll help sell our infiltration if your clothes match mine."

"Right,."

"Alright, it'll be a bit of a walk until we reach Gambino's stronghold. Follow me," Anemoi orders as she begins marching deeper into the desert, and the four of us follow.

After leading us through the desert for a while, Anemoi stops before a particularly high sand mound.

"Here we are."

"THIS…is the stronghold of the Gambino Crime Syndicate?" I skeptically ask.

"Yes."

"Are you…sure…?"

"What do you mean?"

"This is just a sand mound, Anemoi…"

"No it's not, watch!"

Anemoi then turns around to face the sand mound and places a hand up to it.

"Let me in, dammit!"

Upon chanting…the secret password, (?) some of the sand at the front of the sand mode begins falling to the ground, revealing a hidden entrance way.

"Woah!" I exclaim, "It is the entrance!"

"Was that…the secret password?" Khione asks.

"Nope!" Anemoi answers as she turns around to face Khione, "It just felt right saying."

Khione sighs.

"Alright, let's go in."

The four of us enter the sand mound as well, finding ourselves standing in a pitch-black, cramped, stone dome that's completely barren other than the singular ladder leading into the ground, that's slightly illuminated by the sunlight filtering in through the entrance of the sand mound.

"What an odd secret passage…" Khione comments.

"Hence why it's good," Old-Man F replies, "It's a secret passage."

"This way, I'm assuming," Anemoi orders as she begins climbing down the ladder, and the rest of us follow.

The five of us climb down the ladder for…I don't know. But it feels like a long time! Especially because it should usually only take you a moment to climb a ladder.

"My arms hurt…" Mary wines.

"Mine too…" Khione sighs.

"Just keep climbing," Anemoi orders, "We should reach the end soon."

As we climb down the ladder, it gets darker and darker as the sunlight filtering in through the entrance to the sand mound grows out of sight.

But then, as we continue climbing…it becomes light again.

But unlike the natural sunlight before, this lighting is different. A strange blueish-white light begins to shine from below, dully, at first but growing brighter as we continue heading down.

"What…is this light…?" I ask.

"So you people from the Land of Water have never seen non-natural light sources before, huh?" Anemoi asks, "It's called a lightbulb, and it uses electricity to, well, light up a room."

"How does it do that?"

"Not sure," Anemoi answers, "But it's not that complicated."

And so, the five of us eventually reach the end of the ladder, and when we hope down, we find ourselves standing in a narrow hallway with concrete walls that are illuminated by strange white lights overhead.

"So these are those light bulb things, huh…?" I ask myself as I peer up at the overhead lights.

I then peer back down to face the upcoming hallway, seeing that the only direction…is forwards…