A Ghostly Teacher Indeed...

Undertaker chuckled at her glare. "Oh, come on Elly, he's not that bad." Even though he knew he actually was, he was simply teasing. It was always such a good laugh to visit the good lad. Oh, how he loved his small moments of humor, especially at others' expense. "Okay...where do we find this 'Caretaker' person exactly?" Sanguis asked, dismissing the series of looks between his master and the Undertaker. He'd figure out what all this meant in due time (after months worth of fillers XDD) He silently wondered what she meant by 'interesting character'. Undertaker seemed like he liked this person... Etoielle, not so much.

"Not bad? Not bad?!?! Are you insane- oh. Nevermind..." Etoielle turned to her trainee. "Seventy miles due North. We should head there immediately..." She looked down at the pile of bones around her. Although... I wish we could bury Faolan first... She bit her lip slightly. Her pride was too stubborn to let her ask, though...

Undertaker held up a finger, as if telling a child to be patient, "Ah wait, but first, we must simply do something about what's left of poor Faolan here. It's much to disgraceful to leave him like this. In addition, we don't want strangers stumbling upon his remains and discovering the existence of Aneiyajuu." He made it sound as if it were a logical, practical thing to do, but he knew she wanted to, and he knew she wouldn't admit it. He had been her teacher long enough to know at least this and he decided to be decent to her this once and let her save a bit of face. "We really have no choice but to bury his bones."

Etoielle nodded, summoning her scythe once again to collapse the dirt beneath Faolan. (How that happens I have no idea, but that's what happened.) When the deed was done she snuck a glance at her teacher and nodded. She flashed him one of her rare half-smiles and mouthed a thank you before her scowl returned. "Alright. Now that the deed is done, I need to ride with one of you." She walked over to Grecion. "Undies, as much as I love you I know for a FACT that Sanguis and Grecion will have a harder time flying since they're still pretty new to this sooooooo... yeah."

(all the magics)

Undertaker nodded and did a mock bow, "Well done, my young padawan apprentice. Also, as it were, Shinohime doesn't like passengers other than myself. You're stuck with Guissy whether you like it or not." Sanguis sighed, he sensed the back seat driver his teacher would be. "this is going to be a long seventy miles" He muttered almost inaudibly to himself.

Etoielle smirked. "Indeed. Shall we?" She asked, hopping on Grecion's back. "You're driving. Lead the way!"

As Undertaker mounter Shinohime, Sanguis awkwardly climbed up on Grecion's back,not nearly as gracefully as either of his companions as he mumbled that he knew. Shinohime took off quickly and was already at flying altitude by the time Grecion left the crowd and followed suit, both behemoths flying straight North. Despite Etoielle's command for Sanguis to 'lead the way,' Undertaker and Shinohime led, as Sanguis still didn't actually know where they were going.

Etoielle spotted a cave high in the mountains. She pointed. "That's where he lives." She called over the rushing air. "That cave over there."

Shinohime, at Undertakers prompting, turned towards the mountain and landed well before the other two . Sanguis, now pale and with very twitchy motions had Grecion fly at the cave. The past seventy miles were worse than Sanguis had ever imagined. As they landed, Sanguis fell to the ground in a cartoon like fashion from utter exhaustion. Undertaker looked back at Sanguis's rather poor condition, "Hehe, what did you do to him?" He asked as the poor shinigami struggled back to his feet and had to lean on his sword's sheath to stay standing.

(heh, hope you don't mind that i included implied events into the time skip XDD)

(Not at all! )

Etoielle huffed with a cigarette in her mouth to calm her nerves. "I merely told him where to go. It's his fault that he couldn't direct Grecion correctly!" In reality Etoielle had been barking directional orders ever since they started flying. Of course when she barked these orders she barked them too fast which gave Sanguis no time to actually orient himself. Surely Undertaker must have seen them flying like drunkards. Just the fact that Etoielle was smoking showed just how on edge the ride had been. She stopped beside Undertaker. "...Never ... again..." She whispered sharply.

Undertaker grinned deviously as he stood next to Etoielle facing the opposite direction, "Tehe, oh it's happening again." Sanguis scowled at Undertaker, "No! That was awful! It's not happening again, if I can help it!" "Except on the way to Kronox, and back and for awhile until Elly here can find... other arrangements, heheh." He may have been serious, as Shinohime really did have issues with other people besides her partner, Undertaker was cracking up on the inside. And on the outside as well.

"I REFUSE!" Etoielle smacked her teacher on the arm and mumbled something along the lines of 'idiotic git.' "As much as I hate him, Caretaker is useful for some things..."

"Hahaha! Like bed, right Ellie, luv?" Called a rather deep, loud, and extremely annoying voice.

Etoielle's face fell instantly into an extreme scowl. "Caretaker." She said in a monotone voice.

"Ellie! What a pleashant shuprize! How ish ma girl?" A man in his late 40's came out. He had an extremely bushy beard and hair growing only on half of his head. He was wearing rather hobo-ish clothes. Caretaker slung an arm around Etoielle's shoulders as he took a swig of his beer bottle. "My, you've grown shince ah lasht shaw ya!"

Etoielle's eyebrow twitched with annoyance. "If you want to keep your balls I suggest you remove your arm from my person immediately!"

"Ped, it's so good to see you, you're looking well." Undertaker exclaimed, sadly speaking, this probably was well by his standards.
Sanguis just kind of stared, this man looked NOTHING even remotely close to 'well.' "You're is the Caretaker...?" He asked rather bluntly.

"Ah've been fiiiiiiiiine! Yeah ssshurieee!" Caretaker squinted and leaned over "Who ish thish here man?" He stumbled over to Sanguis and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"That is my apprentice, Sanguis." Etoielle said, brushing off her jacket with a rather repulsed face.

"Apprentisssh? You two togetha'?" He slurred.

The cigarette almost fell out of Etoielle's mouth before she quickly composed herself and answered in an extremely even voice. "Ahem... ah... no, Mr.Obear. He's my student." Of course, she was rather a hypocrite since she herself wasrather interested in her own teacher, Undertaker, but she had graduated. He wasn't her instructor anymore by any standards. And she would never make a move on her teacher anyhow. She had morals.

Sanguis looked at the man with a mix of disgust and confusion. "What in the hell...?! Get offa me." he growled while attempting to shove the Caretaker, also known as Ped Obear, off of him, the dating comment flying over his head. The thought was too fare fetched for him to figure that's what he had meant by 'togetha' After letting the two suffer for a bit, Undertaker stepped in, "Now now my friend, as much as I wish this were a social visit, we have matters that require attending and these attendence requiring matters also require your assistance."

Caretaker's face darkened for a mere moment before returning to his usual drunk self. "Hahahaha! Sh'at sho? C'mon laddiesh an' lash! (Laddies and lass in case you can't figure it out. XDD) Let'sh getcha summm ale!" The middle-aged man waddled over to Etoielle and slung his arm around her waist, directing her into the cave.

Etoielle's eyebrow twitched. "Ped Whitevan Obear, remove your hands from my person or God so help me I will cut off both of your arms and use them to beat you to vacation(s)!" Her voice was even with a venom rivaling a cobra.

Undertaker chuckled, he noticed the short change of expression on his face, "Come on Sanguis, we're going too." He motioned for Sanguis to follow Caretaker and Etoielle into the cave and Sanguis complied, if a bit hesitantly. Sanguis found the man rather creepy and his continuous drunken slur rather irritated the young shinigami.

"Ssssshoooooooooooo..." Caretaker said as he led Etoielle's party down a long dark hallway. "If yer aprentish thar ain't yer boyfriend... doesh that mean you an-"

"No. It does not." Etoielle said shortly. "And no, I will not date you... ACK! MY BACK IS UP HERE, STUPID!" Even in the darkness it was clear that Caretaker's hand was slowly traveling down her back towards her butt.

Undertaker had his hands to his face and block his barks of laughter, not succeeding. Sanguis looked annoyed. They didn't have much time, and this guy was their only link to their last hope. He wondered how this guy even qualified as a hope at all. Between giggles, Undertaker whispered to Sanguis, "Oh trust me, he's unique, but he'll come through, he's just having his kicks and giggles with Elly." seemingly in response to Sanguis's thoughts.

As if on que, Caretaker suddenly straightened with a determined look on his face as they entered a large cavern where many birds or different shades of black, grey, white, and blue perched in gold-colored cages. "Alright, enough idiocy." He said completely sober. "What is going on which would require my assistance?"

Sanguis stopped in his tracks, "Wait... what? You... weren't actually drunk?" "heheh, told ya so" Undertaker added in, "anyway" turning back to Caretaker while also interlocking his fingers, "We need to contact the Queen."

Caretaker raised a bushy eyebrow and smirked. "Merely buzzed... The Queen? Now why on earth would you need to do that?" He asked, turning towards Etoielle.

"Kronox has somehow gained the power of the Resurmancers and they have created creatures from the bones of fallen Aneiyajuu... They attacked us a day ago and..." Etoielle paused. "Faolan is dead. He was Queen Shalbiri's hundredth son. You know what that means, I trust."

Caretaker's eyes widened. "The Runt is dead?! ...Damnit!" His voice was cold. "You need a messenger bird to contact her, then?"

Etoielle nodded. "To warn her of the Resurmancers and ask for her power." She turned to her apprentice, sensing possible confusion on the matter. "The Runt is a term used for every hundredth hatchling from Queen Shalbiri. These Aneiyajuu are usually born from a smaller egg but grow to enormous sizes and are far more powerful than it's older siblings... but only in one skill area."

Sanguis's mouth formed a small o. "...What was Faolon's special skill area?"