"We'll get there in the next ten minutes. The wind is stronger near the shore so stay alert." Mr Fumio who was one of Chachamaru's trainers, reminded everyone on both ships. He noticed a few troops stumbling when the boat swayed in the direction of the vengeful wind.
The fog slowly disappeared which made way for the incoming storm. Looking up at the dark sky made Chachamaru a little worried, the weather had to go haywire after they just left Dice and Roll Valley for the mission.
"It's a good thing I'm not afraid of water." Stepping up, Chachamaru squinted his eyes at the island ahead.
Douma was devastated about the outcome of this trip, Shinobu and Yushiro had to be left behind and they didn't get to spend a lot of time together as planned. If only such problems weren't always getting in the way, but this involved the lives of others and once this mission was accomplished, nobody at Dice and Roll Valley would have to suffer in fear anymore, they can have all the fun they ever dreamed of.
"Mr Fumio, is Atlas going to evacuate everyone from Dice and Roll Valley? Or will activities resume while they patrol the areas as stated by Mr Oshiro?" Chachamaru asked the man who was sitting on the boat in silence. "We're worried about our friends, they don't know what's going on, we didn't even get the chance to explain the situation to them."
"This was supposed to be a well-deserved break." Douma added with much emphasis on how disappointing these turn of events were.
Even though the blonde was right, Chachamaru felt a little ticked off by Douma's insinuating tone, this way of convincing others isn't going to work, and it certainly won't on someone like Mr Fumio. Chachamaru had enough to deal with during training.
Surprisingly, Mr Fumio didn't say anything. Perhaps he could tell what kind of person Douma is so there wasn't any need for him to start a confrontation on the boat.
"Let's get this mission done and over with. You guys wanna leave it in progress forever? It's been years!"
Douma found this hilarious, the man who was quite old was showing his grumpy side. Meanwhile Chachamaru was nudging him repeatedly, trying to get the blonde to stop his mocking.
How did we end up with such a blasphemous person in-charge, especially for a mission like this? Biting his lip, Chachamaru snorted and walked away, clearly tired of having to deal with Mr Fumio's unawareness. The number of times he had to explain to Mr Fumio what he shouldn't be doing during the exploration on the island whenever he brought up something absurd during their discussions.
The two boats came to a stop by the shore. The troops got out and led Mr Fumio, Douma and Chachamaru to the forest in front of them.
"I hope Shinobu's alright." Douma spoke while staring at the vague outline of the island they were supposed to go to.
"Ugh your mind is all about Shinobu! Just wake up already this is no time to be lovesick!" Chachamaru yelled.
Mr Fumio spun around and glared at the both of them. "Quit rambling and start moving!" He shouted at them.
"Alright relax." Chachamaru replied, wondering if Mr Fumio was aware that the other troops were still setting up their base by the shore.
"We're on a tedious mission here. This case has been open for years and I'm sure you know the reason for that. Whatever you do, don't stray from the group, even if we have to split up at some point. When it comes to that, we'll try to stick in the same location, don't underestimate the surroundings here. Got it?" Mr Fumio watched everyone nod and chat among themselves. Since this mission wasn't really planned beforehand, there wasn't much to say.
A while later, Mr Fumio started walking towards the dense forest without checking on the group. His mind was occupied with concerns that he shouldn't even be pondering about since they he already made it clear that tasks will be carried out as a group at all times.
Chachamaru muttered to himself and caught up with Mr Fumio who started walking faster when he heard the feline getting closer. The sudden shift was obvious that Chachamaru knew his trainer was doing that on purpose.
The other troops noticed Mr Fumio, Douma and Chachamaru walking into the forest. They caught up with Douma who didn't disappear into the dark forest yet, surprised that Mr Fumio carried on without a clear briefing.
"Douma!" A voice called out to the blonde as he turned around and saw his teammates running towards him urgently.
"We weren't expecting to see you here. Apparently you're that shrine leader from those tales who's been helping people at the Hasu Mountains? Regardless, we're glad to have you on our team, you'll be of great help." The man standing in front of the other troops heard about Douma and Shinobu's help with the recent investigations from Mr Oshiro, everyone at Atlas knew about it.
"It's hard to believe that Mr Oshiro worked with an entity that's thought to be a tale, his explanations sounded a little far-fetched at first, but after a while they were starting to make sense." Akagi went on, the others nodding their heads in agreement.
"Well, Mr Oshiro is very welcoming when it comes to cooperative efforts," Douma replied feeling flattered by Atlas' acknowledgement. "Don't you guys think so? Without him you wouldn't be meeting all kinds of superstars." Douma said proudly without taking into account of first impressions.
And as unaware as he was about that, Akagi and the others were kind of put off by his stuck-up behavior. The five of them were blabbering among themselves about this attitude that they had to deal with for the entirety of the mission. Douma could hear what they were saying but he didn't bother, they'll get over it.
"This guy is full of himself!" Kurai, the bulky man rasped.
"So he's an actual celestial being huh? Can't he be more humble?" Bunta who was almost the same height as the towering Akagi went on about the state of the group.
Akagi narrowed his eyes at Douma who was calm despite their remarks. The man found it off-putting, especially since this mission had possibilities of the unforeseen happening which required a sense of understanding and respect.
This is just going to be another tough survival course. We can't even rely on our own teammates, they only care about themselves. The wind blew Akagi's silver locks, Mr Oshiro's trust towards Douma whom Atlas barely knew anything about left Akagi bitter. But there was nothing he could do but cooperate with the team he's been assigned to.
"Yo Akagi maybe it's not a good idea to leave your hair dancing around like that. There's probably some vicious bugs out there ready to take a bite out of that annoying hair of yours."
Even at a time like this, Kurai was still being annoying. Akagi felt the urge to rip the band around his head but that won't make the situation any better.
Then Akagi realized he forgot something important. If only Kurai and Bunta took the initiative as well.
"Oh I almost forgot, Ime and Banri are one of Dice and Roll Valley's event organizers. They'll be assisting us with the investigations during this mission." Akagi told Douma who glanced at the two organizers and nodded. Some of the staff were wearing those uniforms so Douma already knew about that.
"There's a lot of secrets to uncover here and we know all about them." Ime said with enthusiasm.
Banri chuckled and stepped forward. "But we can't let our guard down, I'm sure you've heard about the incidents that occurred here."
"Yeah we did, those bandits back there were responsible for those tragedies." Douma replied, remembering the disappointment he and Chachamaru felt when they had to depart from Shinobu and Yushiro because of these problems.
"It's really unfortunate! I wanna ride on the rollercoasters without having to worry about some bandits chasing me!" Kurai cried grabbing onto Akagi's arm, the man waited impatiently for him to stop wailing about not being able to have fun at Dice and Roll Valley.
Once they got to the heart of the forest, the entire group looked up when they saw the streaks of the sun's rays casted on the ground and the sound of birds chirping in the tall trees. It was relaxing, however the silence after that was unsettling.
"Listen up everyone! We'll start our search here, don't wander away from the group!" Mr Fumio's croaky startled most of the troops. Chachamaru took a deep breath, he wasn't sure if Mr Fumio himself was even prepared for this. The feline hoped for the best.
While Mr Fumio was rambling about the same exact thing he reminded them about during the briefing, Douma sat on a log and thought about Shinobu. She must be worried sick about them. Unless the group who took them back to Dice and Roll Valley explained to she and Yushiro, they had no idea what was going on around here.
"Alright Ime and Banri is there anything else that we need to know about this island besides the bandits?" Mr Fumio waited for the organizers' response regarding the safety of the group.
Chachamaru approached Douma with a glare while Ime and Banri were sharing the details with Mr Fumio. "Are you seriously sitting here daydreaming? This is no ordinary expedition."
Douma hummed, ignoring Chachamaru's nagging which made the feline irritated that he decided to leave Douma alone, explaining to him about the concerns that came along with the mission was pointless anyway. He didn't care and was very much prepared, he didn't need to show it, the entire group was very much aware about that.
Mr Fumio cleared his throat after the two organizers were done explaining everything the group needed to know about the island and the meteorite that's still believed to be around. "Everyone let's split up." He began assigning each member to one of the two groups formed, making sure the arrangement was even so he could monitor the group's progress carefully in these grounds.