It had been almost 2 weeks since they had left Zhyunia. They had visited the legendary Swirl Rocks - a massive, natural, wonder. The kind only found in Ionia. The magical kind. A circle of floating boulders stretching out into the night sky. They had then found passage across the Ionian Channel, that separated the 2 main Islands that made up the continent of Ionia, and were again following the coastline northwards - towards the Placadium.
However, following this path, they had a rather unusual encounter.
It was nearing the middle of the day, the sisters were hiking along a mountainous path (They had been forced inland by a large, fast flowing, river that they needed to cross) when they heard the strange sounds. Some sounded like rocks, smashing together. Others like the howling of the wind. But the strangest amid this cacophony were the human voices, too low to properly understand.
With a gesture to Powder, who drew her gun from her back, Vi led the way up the next ridge. As they neared the top, they dropped low to the ground, crawling just far enough forward to see the source.
The land had been devastated. Trees had been stripped of their branches, and in some cases uprooted completely. Huge chunks of earth had been torn up and huge stones littered the ground. Amidst all of this destruction, two figures fought.
The first, a young looking female with shortish brown hair, was on the retreat. Standing atop a boulder that was carrying her away from her opponent, all the while hurling hurling rocks with a flick of her wrist.
Her opponent. A man with the most impressive, gravity defying, hair they had ever seen, clad in blue and with a lethal looking sword in his hands, was chasing after her. He moved like the wind, and dodged just as smoothly, never even breaking stride to avoid the projectiles. Until, with a wave of his sword, an actual tornado formed in front of him - shooting forwards and sending the fleeing girl tumbling to the ground.
Before she could recover or react, he had closed the distance and the lethal blade was hovering at her throat. They remained still for a few seconds, before the sword was sheathed and he pulled her to her feet. Clapping her on the back in a proud manner, they turned around, before the man froze - his eyes trained on the ridge, on them. With a few words to his partner, his sword was in his hand, and they were striding towards them.
The girls cursed under their breath, realising they had been seen by these… wizards? They had encountered enough magic in their time in Ionia, to both not doubt it's existence, and to be slightly wary of it. Deciding it would be best to face them directly, Vi stood up and walked down towards them while Powder hung back, her weapon in hand.
"Who are you?" The man demanded harshly as they neared each other, "Why are you here?"
"My name is Vi, that is my sister Powder. We were just passing by when we heard the noise of your… what? Training Match?" Vi explained calmingly.
He clearly didn't believe them. "What are you? Bounty Hunters?"
Vi just sighed, "Look, We don't know who you are or what you are running from. Can we just go on our way and pretend we never saw you?"
"Why should…" His words cut off as the sound of hoofbeats filled the air. Approaching up the hill was a large group of riders - mercenaries by the look of their assortment of weapons and armour. Their apparent leader, a fierce looking man with a nasty scar bisecting his face swung down from his mount and approached them.
"The infamous Yasuo, we have been following your trail for some time, your head will bring quite the bounty." He turned his attention to the others, and his grin turned (even more) unpleasant, "and we can have some fun with your two pretty friends here"
Vi realised two things, A - Powder had hidden herself before they saw her, and B - these people deserved to die. Raising her hands in the air, Vi did her best to appear meek and unthreatening as she slowly moved closer to him.
"Look man, I'm not with these people. I don't even know who they are. So, I'm just going to walk away." The man just laughed mockingly.
"You expect us to believe that." At this Vi's expression changed, as she lunged at him - driving a fist into his chest. And the fight was on.
Most of the attackers charged their mounts forwards at Yasuo, content to leave Vi to their leader. But they clearly hadn't heard what he was capable of. With a sweep of his blade, a gust of wind shot forward, sending them tumbling off.
"Taliyah, the archers" he called, before leaping into the midst of the downed men, his sword a blur of steel as he performed his deadly dance. Taliyah was lifted upwards by a rock rising beneath her, which quickly carried her away from the melee, towards the remaining mercenaries - who had pulled out bows and were circling the fight, waiting for an opportunity.
As they took aim at Taliyah, the sound of gunshots rang out over the fight, as Powder - who had snuck around to a large outcrop - opened fire, breaking their formation. Seeing this opening, Taliyah shot a salvo of rocks at the scattering men, before slamming her hands to the ground - causing a massive boulder to erupt from the earth, flinging many into the air.
The fight was over quickly, they had arrived expecting to find a single swordsman (and would have probably failed to kill him even then), but instead found 4 deadly fighters.
It also proved to be enough of a catalyst to make Yasuo trust them (or at least partially), as once the fight had ended and they talked again - he was far less hostile.
By then, the day was late, so they set up camp together - exchanging stories. They learned that the man, Yasuo had been falsely accused of murdering his teacher - and forced to flee, while the girl, Taliyah had been forced into the Noxian Military - and then thrown overboard when she refused to kill for them. She had floated ashore, and stumbled upon Yasuo, who had taken her under his wing - teaching her to better control her powers.
The following morning, they set off in opposite directions. Yasuo and Taliyah, further into the seclusion of the mountains. Vi and Powder, northward once more - towards the Placadium.