(http://uc.exteenblog.com/saintzoul/images/seinarukana/character/ruptna.jpg)<br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;">Ralena Tharin</span><br/><strong>Location:</strong>Shadow Crow Forest<br/><strong>With:</strong>Luca, Alice<br/><br/>Ralena ginned in excitement when Alice voiced how they just had to 'go in' to explore this forest and find the shadow crow headquarters. Nodding, Ralena took the first step forward towards the small gap between the trees, the closest thing that the Fairy Tail mages would be getting to a legitimate 'path' through the forest. "Yeah! We'll show them that we've got no reason to be afraid of them, let's take 'em on headfirst!" When she heard Luca ask about who wanted to take point, Ralena glanced back towards him and gave him a confident smile while she spoke."All three of us are gonna be pretty close together in here, so there's really no reason to worry about who's in front, or whatever, while we're doing this."<br/><br/>That being said, Ralena would still lead the way into the forest unless Luca did something to stop her. At least at first, it seemed like a perfectly normal forest, though navigation was somewhat difficult thanks to the fact that there was no legitimate trail going through it, so they'd have to navigate around the trees as they progressed in deeper and deeper. After a couple minutes of walking, the trio would come out into a small clearing, Ralena humming gently under her breath before she came to a halt and stuck her hand out. "Whoa. Didgya hear that?" The other two might have heard it as well, but there was a bit of unnatural rustling in the trees above them, rustling from creatures that carried humanlike weight to them rather then just the native forest creatures or the wind.<br/><br/>That was about the only warning that the trio got before a group of about five or six suddenly jumped out of the trees, each of them swinging some form of large, heavy object at the three Fairy Tail mages. Ralena had to dodge out of the way of a huge baseball bat and a log from the forest, while Luca and Alice would have their own hands full unless they wanted to go face first into the forest floor this early into the mission. Ralena countered by summoning her gauntlets, swinging her fist at the thug with the log before his friend with the bat stepped in to protect him, pushing Ralena back.<br/><br/>In about a single second of peace, the Fairy Tail mages would be able to tell that this group was nothing exceptional. They were mages, to be sure, but they couldn't be any better then C or low B rank at the best. They had numbers though, that was one clear cut advantage. While the Fairy Tail mages were sizing up their opponents, the ringleader, a seventh mage, stepped up and pointed at the three of them. He looked like he was easily the most competent of the mob, coming in at a mid B rank mage, though his powers were still a mystery at this point. "Remember the plan, boys! Have these Fairies eat a dirt nap and we're allowed to join Unreal Image!"