Ember had her eyes trained up, then she looked to Aoi. Glancing about, in hopes to find a better place for her and Aoi to hide, she caught sight of another person in the water as well.

The girl peered curiously at Ember through the bubble of air.

Ember blinked at the random girl, kicking a little to swim closer to Aoi.

The girl waved to Ember, trying to get her to come over to where she was...

Ember cocked an eyebrow, giving one of her 'I think not' type of looks. She planned to remain close to Aoi.

The girl looked up at the surface of the water and she saw Ardais. Her eyes grew wide and she waved franticly to Ember. She didn't seem to want to be seen by the people who were hunting Ember and Aoi...

Ember still gave the girl a look of utter confusion. She wasn't about to trust some randomly appearing girl in a bubble.

The girl had a pleading look in her eyes, the girl looked much younger then Ember and Aoi... She bit her lip slightly, looking very worried as the bubble slowly sank deeper, trying to stay out of sight of the people above. The girl took a deep breath, trying to motion to Ember that there was air inside the bubble....

Ember cocked an eyebrow, then tugged on Aoi's leg, motioning to the girl in the bubble. The redhead then turned, diving down deeper towards the girl in the bubble, but continued to keep her distance. Her lungs burned with the need for oxygen, but she wasn't about to trust some random person.

The girl untied a kerchief from her head, revealing her hair which was short and red. She gestured to Ember again, telling her to come. She glanced to the surface again with a worried expression on her face as she quickly retied the kerchief...

Ember blinked.. even though her instincts screamed to not go towards the bubble, she did. Air was needed, and the girl.. oddly had red hair like herself.

The girl kept gesturing to Ember, trying to tell her to swim through the bubble...

Ember did, taking in a deep breath of air, ignoring the fact she was soaked. Heh, shouldn't have worn the white shirt. Oh well, she had air. Standing in the bubble, and not saying a word, she looked to Aoi.

"Hurry... Get your friend... We have to get out of here quickly..." said the girl, she sounded very young, no older than 13.

"I would, if she'd get her ass over her," Ember replied. She hoped Aoi had seen what she had tried to show her and would come over to also escape their enemies above.

"Undoubtedly since he said he wanted them alive." Ardais rumbled, unable to believe Kankei had already forgotten their orders. "Spread the air out and force it down into the water, that should trap them. After that we go down and look for them. If Ashi shows up we'll have her take the water out of the shield keeping them in."

The Imp appeared before Ashi. "Now that the princess is secure did you wish to go and join the other two?"

"Oops. Forgot that little detail." Kankei said easily, quickly averting the winds from their spiral pattern and instead forcing them to blow straight down onto the water, making it impossible for anything to rise above the surface.

"Let me rephrase that, since I still have yet to get my point across. Use the wind and force it into the water. Creating a wall of air between the then captive body of water and ocean." Ardais instructed wondering if they had escaped by now or if Kankei was just trying to aggravate him.

"Guess you should be more specific, shouldn't you?" Kankei said in a light tone of voice, finally doing what Ardais had instructed him to do. "There. Happy now? I did my part, you do yours."

Aoi gave Ember a look like she was crazy and shook her head stubbornly. Refusing to go into the bubble where she would almost be surely trapped. Then the sound of something cutting through the water quickly caused Aoi to rethink her decision. With almost a sigh, Aoi quickly swam into the bubble. As she passed into it, she started to choke on the water in her lungs. A few wracking coughs quickly cleared the liquid from her body as she looked at Ember and the new girl, "Who is this?"

"My name's K--umm, Ippi, I'm here to help you get away before they get you," said Ippi, as she gestured to the people above the water. "I can get you away from here and teach you to control the magic you have," said the young girl quietly.

Metal wings returned to being a normal cloak and the golem dropped from the sky like a stone into the water. Bubbles foamed around the magically water tight golem as he sank to the bottom, searching for the water witch and her friend.

Aoi flinched as she heard the loud splashing sound, although it was deluded by the water depth. "If you really do have a plan on getting us out of here, now would definitely be a good time," she said, looking over her shoulder she could just barely make out a gray dot sinking to the bottom. The golem was still a ways away from the bubble, but taking chances was not something that sounded very good to her right now.

Ippi nodded and pulled out a small crystal ball, it shimmered slightly as a forest appeared inside it. "I have a plan," said the girl quietly as she closed her eyes. "Deliquesco..." whispered the girl quietly as light formed around the bubble the three and exploded outwards. When the light faded away, the bubble with the tree was gone...

Ember had closed her eyes during the light, not actually ready to be going blind. When she opened her eyes, and after a few blinks to clear them, she saw trees.. and a lot of them, "Where the hell are we now?"

"A forest," said Ippi simply.

Aoi was about to define the question more, when the thought struck that even if she knew exactly where the place was, it wouldn't help since Aoi didn't know north from south in this world.
"Gomen nasai for being suspicious... Demo why did you save us? Who are you?"

"I told you who I was. My name is Ippi. If I told you more, we would all end up dead," said the girl calmly, her voice lacked all emotion.
"And why do I need a reason to save you? You apparently don't understand where you are. Maybe it was just to get back at the person who was trying to catch you. Here, an enemy of your enemy is your friend," said Ippi. "What village are you from, I don't recognize your accents and you seem rather lost..."

"You need a reason because we have no clue where the hell we are, and every person we've ran into has had the sudden urge to skewer us. And we're not from whatever the hell this place is," Ember retorted, her voice revealing the anger she had in her. The redhead crossed her arms over her soaked blouse, not really caring how she looked.
"Besides, K-Ippi," Ember said, remembering the girl's slip up from earlier, "An enemy of an enemy, could still end up being your enemy in the process. I won't trust you, until I know what the hell is going on. And I have a feeling you have some answers."

Ashi looked to the Imp, "Sure. Playing watch dog isn't quite as fun as playing the predator."

"Ah, you're one of those that they talk about... The children from another world?" asked Ippi. "That would explain a lot."

"Oh, you mean how we've been hunted down?" Ember asked sarcastically, arching an eyebrow, "Not our fault really. The girl who warned us has disappeared on us."

"I meant it would explain why are your so different... And why you stand out so much," said Ippi.

"Nani?" Ember asked, blinking, "Hey.. we had good costumes, until someone soaked them.." The redhead glanced to Aoi.

"That's just it... They're costumes.... The fabric... It isn't right..." said Ippi softly. "It's... foreign... I've never seen anything like it before... What is your clothing made of anyway?" asked Ippi.

"Cotton.. polyester.. spandex in some cases.." Ember listed quietly.

"Cotton we have..." said Ippi, "but the other two... I've never heard of them before.... And... Your seams... They're done so well... Only royalty can afford clothing with seams that well done..."

"Well.. we never even thought of that," Ember replied with a sigh, flicking a wet strand of hair out of her eyes, "Then again, how the hell did you randomly appear there?"

"Magic," said Ippi.

"Hai, but your timing.. and the K-Ippi? I'm sorry, but I have to be suspicious."

"I was watching you," said Ippi, "You needed help, so I helped you."

Ember sighed, "Fine, fine.." Ember uncrossed her arms from in front of her chest, stretching them out in front of her, "Those dorks going to be able to find us here?"

"Probably, but it will take them some time. I scrambled the spell before I enacted the spell. It will take them a while to trace it... If they even can. And this forest is full of magic.... A little bit more magic won't be noticed," said Ippi.

"Alright," Ember replied, "Just as long as we have enough time to gain some usage of our powers, then get ready to help our friend."

"You mean Irina?" asked Ippi.

"Hai! You know her?" Ember asked quickly.

"A little......." said Ippi quietly. "She's in the Palace now.... And she's guarded..."

"Kuso.." Ember cursed under her breath, "Been there, done that," the redhead sat down on the ground, staring at the grass. It was obvious she wasn't happy about the whole mess, but she didn't say anything towards it, "How well guarded?"

"Very well... Even I couldn't get her out..." said Ippi.

"..you tried?" Ember asked, looking up at Ippi.

"Hai... As much as I could without getting caught..." said Ippi.

"Um.... Ippi? You said that you could teach us about our powers. We had better get going on it because as you said, who knows when those people will be back," Aoi said, eyeing Ippi with the same suspicion that Ember had voiced.

"Hai..." said Ippi, she was rather sad the two didn't trust her but understood why they didn't. "What have you two tried so far with your powers? I need to know where to start from... Have you had any training at all, books or studies?" asked Ippi.

Ember laughed, "Yeah, right. If you count fantasy books or games as studying, then we're superb with our powers. We're 'sorceresses' here, but in our home, we're common-placed kids. The most we've done is freaked out psycho Prince and singe the tin bucket, and then we worked on our powers this morning. I incinerated a forest and Aoi drowned us and the shoreline.
"Oh!" Ember added, "And we managed to also get cut up and see another kid lose his life to some 'pet'. So if that helps at all, or just makes us a laughing-stock, then please, give us some instruction."

Ippi blinked. "You're using magic... With no training...?" asked the girl, her voice was full of disbelief. "Do you have ANY idea how dangerous that is...?"

"No, and it's not like we had much of a choice," Ember retorted. The girl stretched her legs out in front of her, leaning back on her hands. She closed her eyes briefly, somewhat tired, her temper starting to calm down.
"Gomen nasai again, Ippi. I know you're trying to help, but speaking for Aoi-chan and myself, we're both tired.. mentally and physically."

"Hai, things haven't been very accommodating since we came here. It's more been like 'well either use strange, randomly appearing powers, or have very psychopathic Prince kill you.' Ember and I both chose option A," Aoi said.

Ippi winced visibly at the mention of the psychopathic Prince. "Ahh.... Um... I'm just going to take a wild guess and say that the psychopathic Prince is after you," said Ippi, "I have a little cottage near here that you can stay in for a little bit... It's not much... But there's food and stuff," said Ippi with a shrug.

"Gomen nasai, demo," Aoi said, putting her hand up to stop the girl, "I think Ember and I would like to learn about our powers first. We've been attacked twice, another attack is just a matter of time. Putting off the training just makes things more dangerous. There will be plenty of time for relaxing later."

"All right," said Ippi, "I'll probably have to start you at the basics... Is there anything else you have done?" asked Ippi.

After several very long minutes of searching Ardais began to wonder if they were down here any more. A rod of burning magnesium lit most of the area the golem was searching and after circling it several times had still found nothing.
In a puff of brimstone and sulfur Ashi and the floating Imp appeared on the strangely vacant beach.

Ember sighed, "Uh.. gomen ne, Ippi, but we already said what our 'vast' knowledge was and what we've done."

Ashi looked around, seeing absolutely no one. She noticed the charred trees, and the still somewhat soaked ground. She crossed her arms, looking out to the water, seeing some form of light moving about underneath its surface. Ashi had a feeling that the light belonged to Kankei and Ardais, or at least one of them. But where the children could be... was a different deal in itself.

Ippi sighed, “Well… We had better start your training. I’ll start with teaching you a little bit of control…”