After Lann and Kai went through the tunnels and adjusted them for Karok and his impressive muscles (that sometimes made Lann want to be a giant), the three climbed back to the caved-in area where a large hole opened up to the outside world.
"That wasn't there before," Lann noted, staring up at the hole. "You're right though. Evie did a good job clearing it out."
It was still high up but the mountain of rocks and boulders beside it acted as their ladder and it wasn't long before they made it back. Karok watched as awe took over Lann's face as he stared at the night sky. It seemed as if the man lost track of the time and was genuinely surprised at the darkness.
"Where do we go now?" Kai asked Karok. "Do we go find the others or meet up at a rendevous spot?"
It was Lann's turn to examine Karok's face. Kai's sudden talkative manner caught Karok off guard, but then again, many things caught Karok off guard. Especially the different human concepts and traditions. Lann snickered at the memory of a rookie Karok staring at the forks and spoons, as if questioning their use.
Over time, however, Karok was able to recover fairly quickly, and so his surprise washed away and he said, "Fiona said we'd meet up at the entrance in an hour."
"How long has it been now?" Lann asked.
A moment passed in silence and Karok answered uncertainly, "Almost an hour?"
"Where was the sun when she first said this?" Kai asked.
"It was a little after it set below the horizon," Karok said, giving Kai and interested look. "Why? Can you figure it out?"
Kai frowned and glanced around, examining the moon and the stars. "Honestly? It's hard to say at this point. But it's probably past an hour by now. Just a little bit past."
Karok sighed. "Well...Fiona said that if we didn't meet up at the entrance in time, she'd leave without you."
Lann gaped at Karok. "What? She said that? Fiona? Are you sure Evie didn't say that? Because of all people, Fiona would never say that!"
The edged of Karok's lips curved upwards into a grin. "That's okay," he mused. "She said she was joking."
Though Kai's face remained indifferent, Lann's eyes widened and he started to grin widely. "Fiona made a joke?" he questioned. "A joke? Fiona?"
"That's exactly what I thought too!" Karok exclaimed, and he and Lann clapped each other on the back, roaring their heads off. After all these years, even Fiona couldn't help but play around occasionally. The concept of this sudden behavior pattern threw them off, but it was hilarious just thinking about it.
They finally sobered when Kai cleared his throat impatiently. "Should we go to the entrance then?" he asked.
"Let's just go see if the boat's still there," Lann snickered. "If it is, then why don't we just leave without her?"
"And Evie?" Karok asked.
Lann considered this for a while. Evie had her share of jokes and pranks, and sometimes, the pranks were enough to actually make Lann yell. Of course, Evie was never affected by his rage, which made him even more furious. This, she knew and used it to her advantage.
"Let's leave her too."
Karok gave Kai a weary smile and then he reached over to pick Lann up, draping his body over his shoulder.
"Karok!" Lann yelled. "What have I told you about throwing people over your shoulder?"
"Just making sure you won't actually leave without them," Karok said casually. He beckoned for Kai to follow him back towards the entrance while Lann, not even attempting to struggle, locked eyes with an uncomfortable Kai.
"Just to let you know," Lann said under his breath to the archer, "I would never leave my teammates behind, or any other comrades. If you're ever with me, which you have been, then you would know I play around in non-serious situations.
"If you're with Fiona, she's usually serious. Actually, she's like you. Now, if you're with Evie, she's worse than me. Trust me, I know," Lann said, restraining himself from rolling his eyes. "Karok here is a good mix between serious and laid-back. He's pretty reliable and he's the best prank buddy around-"
"Thank you," Karok said.
"You're welcome!" Lann responded back over his shoulder. He cleared his throat and added to Kai, "But don't worry. We all know when to behave. In the middle of a fight, we're completely different. I already told you this but it's true. You've never seen us fight as a team before yet so you wouldn't know. But when you do see us, you'll understand."
Minutes later, when they trampled into the 'low-level areas', according to Lann's nonsense talk, they ran into Evie who was greatly relieved that Lann and Kai weren't constantly run over by rolling spiky traps.
"Evie, we'd have the common sense to get out of the traps if we ever came across one," Lann said pointedly.
Evie poked Lann's face with a heavy sigh. "Unfortunately," she said, "common sense isn't so common anymore."
She hopped away and out of Lann's reach, grinning as he thrashed over Karok's shoulder while demanding she repeat herself.
"Where's Fiona?" EVie asked, ignoring Lann who tired himself immediately when he saw she wasn't paying attention anymore.
Karok frowned. "She didn't pass through here?"
"No. And she should have if she was heading towards the entrance," Evie said, suddenly worried.
Lann lifted his head wearily and frowned. "Maybe she's heading our way now."
"Should we continue or back up and find her?" Karok asked.
The four stood in silence, exchanging looks with each other. Evie stretched and yawned as Karok and Kai stared up at the night sky. Lann faced the ground, dangling like a rag doll from the giant's broad shoulders. He sighed and thought that if Fiona was really heading their way, she'd catch up to them by now.
He knew her longer and he was certain she wouldn't keep them waiting unnecessarily longer than they ahd to. Unless if it was a prank, but he ultimately decided that Fiona wouldn't go that far. Evie and Karok might, but not Fiona.
"Let's go back," Lann said.
"I was thinking the same as well," Evie said. She wheeled on her heels and marched back, retracing their steps. The other three followed suit, with Karok mentioning that Fiona could most likely be found in the harder areas.
"But at this point, all of us except Kai are nearly level forty," Lann said reassuringly. "If Fiona happens to be found in a super high-level dungeon, she can stall for enough time for us to get her. I mean, with that shield of hers, she can heavy-stand anything. But then again, the only super high-;eve dungeon around here is 'Trampled Plains'. Well, until some random update appeared and changed that."
Lann paused, narrowing his eyes. "Dammit Nexon," he scowled, "if you just randomly created a new dungeon in this nightmare of a maze, I'm sure to get lost again!"
"What are you talking about? Level forty? Dungeon? Nexon? Update? Kai, did Lann hit his head?" Evie asked in concern.
Kai shrugged and Karok sighed. "He fell down and I accidentally landed on him," Karok said meekly.
Evie stared at Lann. "That explains it."
"He was like this before that though," Kai murmured.
Lann glanced at him. "Oi. I thought you were supposed to be the silent type."
"Not anymore, apparently," Evie beamed.
On the outside, Lann rolled his eyes dismissively. On the inside, he was glad Kai was finally warming up to them. And how that he thought about it, five people in a team was a fairly good number.
Of course, they still have to find Fiona, and then the team would be reunited. Until then, they followed Evie as they backtracked towards the cave-in and then past it and into the harder areas of the ruins.
