Volume 1 Chapter 9: An Unexpected Twist

Reaching what seems to be a vegetable farm boarding a large forest biome, Aldrich and the party stop to figure out what to do next before hearing a yell from inside the farm. The party looks to Hiram as they wonder what to do. Hiram looks to be looking for answers in his head before telling the party to check it out. Peter, obviously not waiting for Hiram, is already checking it out. Pickle's farm is a large farm, mostly wooden in nature. Several buildings dot the property, a chicken coop with Kiiroi foal roaming around, housing for the residents, and a few other. At the main part of the property is a huge field of vegetables of all sorts. Metal fencing covers all around the field and is especially reinforced by the border between the forest and the farm. Peter is currently trying to climb over the metal fencing in an attempt to get over and help the yelling person.

"Don't worry Mr. Farmer. Peter StoneSiegward is here to save you."

Looking at him going half way up the fence, the party look back down to see a gate. They open it and walk through and watch as Peter gets caught on the fence before slipping and falling onto the other side. Hiram sighs as he tells Leah to catch him with "slow fall". The party moves on towards the yelling as Peter lands on his face behind them.

In the fields the party can see an old brown Oni waving a well used stick at rabbits as they scatter. Hiram had ordered the party except for Leah to stay hidden. The two of them walk out and meet the farmer. The Oni farmer is busily yelling at the rabbits and attempting to chase them as they run away from him and did not notice Hiram or Leah walking up to him. Leah points this out saying,

"Do you think we wait for him or…"

"Umm… let's wai-"

They are cut short as the yelling oni comes charging at them only to stop right before them.

"Oh hello. Are y'all a part of the defense group?"

"Yes sir, we're here to clear out the rabbits."

"Great, it's about damn time y'all showed up. These vermin are too fast for me and my old legs. Y'all do me a great service and make sure they don't come back you hear me."

"Yes sir, we'll do the best we can. Our plan is to ambush them in their forest. We'll be heading out right away."

"Go get 'em kids."

Hiram and Leah quickly make their exit, but before they leave, Hiram spots a larger rabbit. While he initially thought of it as a large rabbit, it vanished before his very eyes. Heading back Hiram says to Aldrich,

"Aldrich take Peter and some of the others to flush them out of the fields and into the forest. I'm pretty sure I saw a leader in the group so they might actually know how to teleport."

Kaori replies,

"But you said there weren't any."

"No, that's what the farmers reported when they sent the notice to the town guards."

"So what now?"

"We follow the plan still. Nothing's really change, we just have to use "magic track" to find where they go. Their teleport range isn't very far and they can't use it forever so all we need to do is keep on its tail until it runs out of steam."

"We'll split into 2 groups of 9 and sandwich them in the forest when we set up the ambush. Sounds good?"

A blue oni child with them named Shun Aoki spoke up,

"What if more than just the leader escapes into the forest?"

"Depending on how many escape, we'll have you use "telephone" and call over the chase team. Then they'll track down remaining survivors while we look after the leader."

Peter chirps up after waiting for a very patient minute,

"So when do we go?"

"Right now, everyone follow your leader. That is all. Move out."

Leading his group out, consisting of his family, Yumi and Kaori, and 3 others Hiram sets out to set up an ambush. Aldrich leads his team consisting of Shun, Peter, and 6 others. Approaching the oni farmer Aldrich announces,

"Hello sir, we're h-"

"Oh hello there sir dragon. Here to help as well?"

"Yes, we are going to flush out the rabbits from your farm and into the forest."

"That's great. Am honored that a noble dragon has come to help this poor old farmer."

"Think nothing of it. It is our duty as the Volunteer Defense Group to help citizens when needed."

The old oni laughs then says,

"Right then y'all should get going."

The old oni farmer pulls back from his field and heads up to his house while Aldrich's party heads into the field. Aldrich gives his orders,

"Peter, take two and head to the far side of the field, I'll take the middle and Shun takes the close side. We'll push the rabbits out at the same time. Don't let them get pass you. It's not necessary to kill them right away, we need to just push them out."

The volunteers agree and acknowledge their orders and head out. Approaching the field from one side, Aldrich gives the order to begin pushing them back. As the rabbits spot them, they begin running all in one direction as Aldrich's group left them no room to run differently. This takes a while and during their lengthy push,

Hiram's team sets up in the forest. Hiram's team had split into groups of 2 except for Yumi who is alone. Yumi is extraordinary talented in combat and hunting. Her own skills rival that of her aunt Noriko, who is one of the best warriors in the village despite only being a caretaker and teacher. Noriko herself has been taught all sorts of physical and magical combat in the Dragon Academy and is gifted with speed and finesse, but Yumi often gives her a hard time when practicing due to her innate flexibility, speed, and physical and magical prowess despite being only taught mainly by Noriko. It is not strange to hear that Noriko would be defeated in a practice duel against Yumi.

Hiram's party is positioned all around the forest, setting up in positions that allows them to see the rabbits from any direction. They had also placed rabbit sized capture traps and magic traps all around the forest. Hiram's own squad, consisting of himself and Danjela, are positioned up high on a tree. The two of them will serve as the command and spotting team and will relay messages to the other volunteers. As they finish up with setting up, the rabbits are seen using "haste" and running towards them. "Haste" is a basic wind spell that pushes a being in a single direction. As the rabbits close the distance, Hiram holds fire until the rabbits are right in front of them before he declares,

"FIRE"

The 5 squads that were hidden in the nearby begin their ambush by unleashing ranged wind magic onto the rabbits. Many of the rabbits are taken out at the beginning but some scatter. The large rabbit leader that was slightly behind the main group manages to teleport behind Hiram's ambush and continues running away. Initially losing sight of him, Hiram looks around before Danjela points out,

"There it is."

The sneaky rabbit had teleported behind their traps that the group had made prior. It had witnessed other rabbits get caught by them and took a path out by using their bodies to clear the way. Hiram announces,

"We're splitting up. Danjela take command of the remaining volunteers and take out the remaining rabbits here while I take Yumi and Kaori and hunt down the big one. When Aldrich gets here, tell him to take his group and chase the group that scattered away from the leader. After you finish here, catch up with us."

Danjela protests this and says,

"I think shouldn't split though. We won't be able to back you up if something happens."

"Don't worry, Yumi is with us plus if we don't take out the leader now, the infestation will be even harder to get rid of next time."

Relenting, Danjela replies,

"Got it"

Hiram jumps down from his position and takes Yumi and Kaori to track down the leader. Danjela gathers up the squads into her own and clears out the trapped rabbits as they see Aldrich's group come by.

"Danjela, where's Hiram?"

"He went after the leader. He said to go after the group that scattered that way."

She points upward towards a hill in the forest. Aldrich takes his group and scales the hill, taking out any rabbit they find along the way. Danjela takes the remaining volunteers and head after Hiram. Taking out all of the rabbits in the hill, Aldrich's team gathers up before they hear a scream. Peter questions,

"What was that?"

Aldrich replies,

"A scream I think. Maybe someone got hurt. Shun, contact them."

Shun begins using the spell "telephone" but is interrupted as he begins receiving and open air communication from Danjela.

"ALDRICH, HIRAM, HELP. There's Rider Rats attacking us."

A sense of panic takes over the Aldrich's group briefly before Aldrich declares,

"Everyone group up, we'll go help them right now. Shun contact the town guard with "telephone" and tell them that Rider Rats are attacking Pickle's farm and that we need assistance."

Aldrich uses "magic track", a sound and earth spell that takes in information from the surroundings to locate a specific being, takes off with his group following him down the hill. A few moments later they locate Danjela's group.