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Thunder roared as the group of five drew closer and closer to the Terra District. Junhui had fallen asleep minutes, leaning against Minghao's back for support. Seungkwan did the same too, but Joshua would stop every so often to make sure he didn't slide off the phoenix. Seungcheol was somewhere in front of them, trying his hardest to lead them towards their destination. However, Minghao could tell he was getting tired and needed a rest.

Yet dark clouds were slowly rolling towards them, bringing the angry thunder with them. They must be trying to beat the storm coming to them, as the phoenixes would struggle thanks to their flaming bodies in the rain. Minghao thought they should take a quick stop to rest and get out of the rain, but there was nowhere to even land. Everything below them was all lake water and that wouldn't help them at all.

In a desperate attempt to keep everyone awake for just a little longer, Minghao flew his phoenix a little closer to Seungcheol's. A conversation will keep everyone up for just a little bit longer right...? He glanced to the side to see Seungcheol bobbing between the dream world and reality, his grip tightening on the reins of the phoenix. "Cheol?" Minghao called to him, and the said boy snapped to attention almost immediately. "I've got questions, mind answering them?"

He nodded in response, relaxing when he realized it was just him flying near him. Minghao genuinely didn't think he was going to get this far though, so he didn't really have questions on hand. "Oh uh... well what was the Terra District like?" He questioned, fumbling with the reins. "It is going to be our first time going to a totally new district. And I'm pretty sure I can assume it's not like the mountainous, phoenix filled skies of the Aero District."

"It's... different. I'll tell you that." Seungcheol began, at loss for things to say. "A lot greener than the Aero District for sure, and instead of the whole place being one giant city, there's multiple little towns and forests before you get to the big bad. I lived in the biggest city in the district, Gaea City. That city... sure is something." Seungcheol explained, unable to pull his expression into a smile.

Minghao raised an eyebrow, leaning in just a bit more towards the boy. "What do you mean? Is there something wrong with it?" He questioned. Seungcheol didn't answer immediately, slowly drifting ahead of everyone subconsciously. "Seungcheol?" The Aeroan called again, getting the boy's attention once more. He seemed to be zoning out a lot as they got closer and closer to his home district.

"I don't know!" He exclaimed, frustration clawing at him as he tried to explain himself. "It's just... I don't know. It's just different. That's all, sorry." Seungcheol told him, trying to reclaim his collectiveness. Without a second thought, the boy dipped down near the lake below them and practically disappeared in thin air. Minghao instinctively tried to go after him but stopped as soon as he nosediving towards the water. His sudden movements must have awakened Junhui, who suddenly started clinging to him in desperation.

He glanced back at him, spotting Joshua following behind him in confusion. "What happened? I thought I was falling to my death for a second." Junhui spoke, holding onto the Aeroan's arm as he adjusted himself. Minghao flashed them an awkward smile, realizing the mistake he had made. He alerted everyone no reason, but Seungcheol just left them like they weren't the ones following him. Losing him would mean they had no idea where they were going (and Minghao wanted to apologize for possibly hitting a touchy subject)."

"Uh... guys?" Seungkwan began, his eyes staring up above them. "Please tell me we didn't fly right into the storm?" Everyone gave the boy confused stares, before looking up as well. Above them was the dark ominous clouds that brought rain, thunder rumbling throughout the area. Minghao resisted an annoyed sigh, getting ready to fly his phoenix right into the clouds to get above them.

"Bad idea." Joshua spoke, flying towards Minghao to stop him. "That storm is going to pour down anything minute now. Get that phoenix too wet and you'll be falling towards the ground with a dead phoenix on your hands. Check-In will be even more pissed off at me whenever we go back." He advised him, trying to keep his job and the phoenixes alive at the same time. Minghao nodded in response as he and Junhui stayed close to Joshua to find out what they should do next,

"Finding shelter for not only us, but the phoenixes as well should be our next steps. Waiting out the rainstorm so we'll be able to fly again with ease," Joshua explained, making up something on the spot, "I'll look for some nearby cave or island that we can land on until the storm passed. Junhui, Minghao, go find Seungcheol and tell him what's happening okay?" He asked them, followed by the two boys nodded their heads in agreement.

"You heard the guy." Junhui spoke, holding onto Minghao tightly so that he didn't fall off. "Time to go searching for the Terraean. Why did he fly off anyways? Isn't he supposed to be leading us to the Terra District?" He questioned and the boy gave him an awkward smile. He didn't know how to respond, did he want to lie and say he didn't know or tell the truth and say that it was sorta his fault for the boy disappearing in them?

Though he snapped out of his thoughts when the sky grew darker and the thunder roared loudly in his ears. "I don't know, but we better find him quick. This storm sounds like it's going to kill one of us if we stay out here any longer." Minghao mumbled as the two cruised the skies cautiously, trying their best to spot the flaming mythological bird and it's rider. Yet he could barely see anything, probably due to the fact that it was getting awfully dark as the time went by. The more light that disappeared from the area, the harder it got for Minghao to see. This must have been amplified thanks to his powers being associated with light, meaning his entire being depended on a light source if he couldn't produce one.

He felt as though his energy was being drained from him, a feeling he wish he hadn't felt before. Thankfully, the phoenix they were riding provided enough light for Minghao to not completely pass out while riding a top of it. "Wanna take a turn flying this thing? I'm getting sorta... tired now." Minghao tried to offer, but he noticed that Junhui's attention was elsewhere. His friend was staring deep into the dark clouds, his eyes lingering on one spot with a wary look.

"Someone is there." Junhui mumbled, holding in even tighter to Minghao than before. Minghao immediately tried to turn the phoenix around, not even daring to take the risk to check out what it is. He couldn't see anything, but he knew Junhui can. With his powers based on the shadows, it made sense that he could see better than Minghao could in the potential dangerous storm. So if the Aeroan said he saw something, it was not to be taken lightly.

"What is it? Seungcheol? A stranger?" Minghao questioned, looking up to his friend for answers. Yet when a loud roar boomed through the area, practically forcing the two have midair turbulence. Their eyes were glued to the figure moving within the clouds, prowling around them like a predator hunting down its prey. The phoenix sensed the danger hidden in the darkness, screeching at it as if it was trying to taunt it.

Which became the dumbest decision the phoenix could have made. "Manticore!" Junhui yelled as the creature broke through the clouds and charged at them. The two dodged out the way in time, barely missing the scorpion tail that tried to graze the body of the phoenix. Minghao gripped tightly onto the reins of the phoenix as the two tried to escape as quickly as possible.

Manticores were very rare, yet very dangerous creatures. The mere fact that they could run and fly at the same time was already scary enough for people, but the fact that they were used to hunt down phoenixes was even worse. It was rare to see a manticore but even rarer to see one hunt down a phoenix. Now Minghao and Junhui got to see it in action, and they were its prey. Just their luck, right?

Junhui grabbed onto Minghao's arm as tightly as possible to keep himself balanced on the phoenix, conjuring something up in his hands. "If it gets close enough to us, it'll try and strike with the tail. I'll try to keep a distance between us. You try to fly us somewhere safe." His friend spoke, his eyes locked into the scorpion tail that could take down a single phoenix in one blow. Minghao didn't even talk back, he sure  didn't feel like dying after all!

"Get ready for a bumpy ride." Minghao mumbled as he pulled up towards the thunderous clouds, rising up in the sky. Junhui scrambled to make sure he didn't fall off, his feet slipping off the phoenix as they  flew. The manticore roared in anger, following after them with wind breaking wings and out stretched claws. Water droplets splashed on his face from the clouds, signaling that rain was going to fall at any second. "Hang on!" He yelled as the phoenix turned right back around and nosedived towards the surface of the lake at incredible speeds, embers following its flight.

It confused the manticore for a second, only spotting a blur fly past it at a great speed. Junhui took the chance to attack, forming spears out of the darkness in his hands and throwing towards the manticore. He didn't get far, watching as the beast used it's gigantic batlike wings deflect the spears with just one wing beat. "Are you kidding me?" Junhui frowned as the manticore shook its huge mane and hunted after them again.

Minghao bit his lip he flew close to the water's surface, skimming the water with the phoenix's talons. The manticore followed after, creating huge waves as it flew after them. It's scorpion tail twitched as it readied itself for another attack and he felt Junhui tense up at the mere sight of the tail moving. "Uh, got a plan for avoiding that scorpion tails?" He asked as Minghao swerved with the phoenix, rising once more into the skies in attempt to gain distance between them and manticore.

The manticore persisted on its chase even as the rain began to beat down on the boys' skin. Minghao brushed his hair out of face knowing that it would block his sight once it got wet enough. "No matter how many quick turns I make, it's going to keep following us. I don't want to lead it towards Seungkwan and Joshua, but the phoenix can't stay in the rain for long." He told Junhui, hoping he had something useful to pitch into the conversation. "So I'm sorta out of options and hoping you have a suggestion?"

"Is killing it a suggestion?" Junhui questioned, his eyes wide as if he was genuinely thinking of taking on such a beast. Minghao opened his mouth to shoot something back, but was cut off when the manticore collided with the phoenix. The two boys screamed in panic as the beast dug it's claws into the phoenix, gripping into the flaming myth tightly as it flapped its wings to balance itself. Junhui tried to pry its claws off of the phoenix, even tried to damage the manticore now that it was close enough to them, but his attempts practically did nothing.

"We're stuck." Minghao mumbled as his eyes landed on the scorpion tail that raised over the manticore's head. However before the creature could strike, a person appeared from the back of the manticore. He raised his hand to signal it to stop its attack and the manticore obeyed their word. Minghao felt his hands burn with his panic and confusion, not understanding what was happening. Manticores aren't domesticated, they can't be domesticated. Attempts to make them obey orders from humans was simply impossible. The only people who were crazy enough to still seek the power of a manticore... we're people hunting other animals like phoenixes.

"This is one pretty phoenix you have here," the rider spoke, as lightning struck the waters below them. It illuminated the rider's appearance and Minghao caught the quick sight of a man dressed in all black with a serpent mask on his face to hide his face. Thunder cracked after the flash of lightning and the rider finished his sentence,"I'm sure this one will make me rich once I pick all it's little flaming feathers." The man was a Terraean phoenix poacher.

Before anything else could happen, another phoenix appeared from the clouds and latched itself onto the manticore. The beast let out a roar of pain as the phoenix wrestled with it, trying to wriggle the manticore's claws off of the phoenix Minghao and Junhui were on. The phoenixes combined fire seemed to throw off the phoenix poacher as he desperately tried to to slip himself and the manticore away from the two. The scorpion tail twitched and shot towards the second phoenix, stinging the mythical bird right in its side.

The bird wailed at the attack as the scorpion tail retracted from its body and let it falling to its doom. "That was Seungcheol's phoenix." Minghao realized, his breath hitching at the thought. "That was Seungcheol!" The phoenix the boys were riding let out a cry as it kicked the manticore away from it, though claw marks on its skin were oozing with blood and pulsing red with irritation. Minghao held onto the reins of the phoenix and dived down after the

It caught his friend off guard with his sudden movements, looking back at the manticore and the poacher that watched the two silently. "You're not going to make it Ming, they've probably all crashed into the water by now! The phoenixes can't go down there." Junhui tried to tell them as the two of them rapidly approached the lake's surface. He wasn't listening though, as he was hyper fixated on saving Seungcheol.

Without warning Junhui grabbed the reins of the phoenix and pulled them up before they could crash. Minghao wrestled for control of the reins before the two stopped in their tracks, noticing the growing numbers of manticores and phoenix poacher around them. Junhui snapped his fingers and a shadow beast slowly began to form beside him, but it wouldn't be enough to fight off all of the manticores and poachers surrounding them. The man with the serpent mask flew in front of them as his manticore roared, watching them carefully for every move they'd make.

"Hand over the phoenix. Or we'll take it from you, dead or alive." He demanded, lightning flashing and thunder cracking behind them. Minghao frowned, his head tangled with frustration as he tried to figure out what to do. They couldn't fight back, the manticores would kill them as soon as they tried. Handing over the phoenix would be mean no transportation to or from the Terra District anymore as well. They didn't have many options.

"You better catch us first," Minghao hissed was the phoenix let out an earsplitting screech. The two boys covered their ears as the shadow beast charged towards the leading phoenix poacher. It gave them a small distraction as the manticores fixated on it and dashed away as quickly as they possibly could, knowing that if they caught up they'd probably end up dead. Minghao grabbed onto Junhui as the phoenix flew faster, knowing the dangers of being slow, and yelled,"hold on! I think we're in for a really rough landing!"

"Seungkwan!" Joshua yelled, skimming the water surface carefully in the thunderstorm. They were being chased by phoenix hunters earlier and Seungkwan had slipped off into the lake. He didn't know if the boy could swim or not, so he was worried about what could possibly happen to him. It was hard getting the manticores off his tail thanks to the phoenix being a nature light source, but he managed to do it. Now he just hoped they struggled hard enough to give him enough time to find Seungkwan.

Though, he had thought about it for awhile. The phoenix poachers came out of literally nowhere. All he could remember before the sudden assault was rain pouring down and the phoenix becoming alert that something was wrong. But Joshua was sure that he avoided leading the group to the Terra District airway, they shouldn't have been able to find them like that. Maybe it was because they had those ruthless manticores on their side, that's probably how they found them out,

"Seungkwan! Where are you?!" He called once more, peering into the water to try and spot Seungkwan. Yet thunder clapped loudly in his ears and lightning flashed in the sky, forcing him to pull back into the skies instead of near the lake surface. If he was near the water when lightning struck it, they'd be overwhelmed by a powerful wave and pulled right under. He didn't want to deal with not just himself drowning, but a dying phoenix as well.

Though, as he peered into the water again, he noticed a shadow over him. The shadow of a manticore looming behind him to be exactly. Joshua watched as he saw the scorpion tail slowly reveal itself from the shadow and dart towards him at an incredible speed. Though, lucky for him, he was experienced in riding phoenixes and was able to zoom out of the way before he could get hurt. He turned to spot one of the poachers on the back of the manticore, the animal mask on his face gleaming in the rain.

"I don't really need to focused on that right now." Joshua mumbled before the phoenix was shoved into the lake water. He yelped at the sudden action and turned around to spot a manticore without a rider pushing the two further into the water, watching as the phoenix helplessly tried to fly away from it. Joshua scrambles towards the manticore, his eyes focused on the dangerous weapon it called a tail and placed his hands on the paws of the manticore.

"Stop— Ack!" Joshua yelled when someone suddenly forced him off of the manticore, restraining his hands and placing a knife to his neck. His breathing hitched at the sight of the blade, turning to look up at who had stopped him. Though it was just another phoenix poacher, sneering at him from under the animal mask. Without warning he threw the boy into the waters, letting him plunge into the anger waves below them. He held his breath as he tried to climb to the surface.

When he did break the surface and take a breath of air, he was face to face with a scorpion tail. He lowered himself deeper into the water, trying to not accidentally prick himself with the deadly tail. "Where is the last phoenix?" The poacher asked atop of the manticore. In its claws was his phoenix that he was riding, writhing around in its grasp in a weak attempt to escape. "Tell us, now. Or you'll face the wrath of not just our manticores, but our leader as well."

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im literally sitting in
front of my biology so
I can't even TRY and
check for typos lmao