[Key West, Florida (July 2022)]
The once lively streets of Key West were now a relative ghost town beneath the brutal winds of an oncoming storm. Sidewalks that were usually filled with sunburnt tourists and street performers now lay submerged beneath dark, rising floodwaters. And heavy rains lashed sideways against every building as they tore through the streets of southern Florida like a thousand daggers being hurled from the skies.
In the skies above the near-abandoned city, three individuals could be seen amidst the heavy downpour. All of whom were racing towards the coastline atop their metallic disks as streams of electricity arced beneath their feet.
The first that could be seen among them was Davante Owens, a young man with a chestnut skin, a handsome face, a slim build, and a wicked smile that most couldn't help but find to be a bit unsettling. The young 'lightning magic' user had a wide scar on the bottom portion of his jaw that extended all the way down to the lower half of his neck. Something that undoubtedly added to his rugged appearance.
The second individual, the sole woman of the group, was Cassandra Owens. A woman who appeared to be in her early twenties with a pretty face, athletic physique, shoulder-length dreadlocks atop her head, and an ever-present scowl that seemed to display her dissatisfaction toward the current situation.
Finally, there was a man by the name of Khalil Owens, the oldest and unofficial leader of the group. He was a bit on the taller side, with a stocky build, a clean low-fade haircut, and a calm poise that radiated off of his very person.
The trio was currently en route to their target destination. And judging by the looks on their faces, they were all well aware of the trouble that they were about to get into. Then again, things like this were par for the course when it came to their particular line of work.
"Man, don't you guys just love hurricane season!" Davante shouted with a smile as he held his arms out away from his body to allow the heavy rainwater to hit his jacket.
"I'll admit, this weather does make our jobs a lot easier." Khalil replied in a calm tone as he looked at the scanner he was currently holding in his hands.
"Can you guys focus!" Cassandra immediately admonished her two cousins. "I'm already pissed that I gotta be out here in this damn weather, I don't need you losers making it any worse!"
"Geez, who pissed in your coffee?"
"That dumbass boyfriend of hers, probably!" Davante declared with a smirk on his face. "Or maybe the little Cuban girl he got caught cheating on her with!"
"Fuck you!"
The three members of the DPA's Miami station had just arrived in the area after four hours of travelling through all the chaos in order to deal with a sudden cryptid appearance that popped up on their radar. Situations like this were annoyingly normal for agents like them, especially during this time of the year. And naturally, it was their job to put the beast down before it could cause any more trouble for the city and its few remaining residents.
"Look, all I'm saying is that we don't get many chances like this." Davante then said while waving his hands dismissively. "The whole city's been evacuated on account of the storm. Which means that we actually get to cut loose for once!"
Khalil was quick to remind the younger agent of their circumstances. "There are still people around here, though."
"Exactly!" The lone woman of the group replied with a scowl. "We can't go too crazy out here. There's still a chance that someone could get caught up in this mess."
"Eh, who cares?" The younger man shrugged and smirked. "They're just a bunch of useless normies. If they're dumb enough to stay out here in all this mess, then they're dumb enough to die. Not my problem if a bunch of mana-less bozos bite the dust."
"Don't let Mary-Anne hear you talking like that." The other man said with a chuckle. "If she were out here, she'd tell you that you sound like an Iznana operative."
"Speaking of which, did she even tell you guys what kind of cryptid we're facing?"
"Nope!" Khalil replied in his typically nonchalant manner as the rain suddenly picked up. "We weren't able to figure it out before we left. All we know is that it's big and it's heading this way!"
"Great...." Cassandra couldn't help but roll her eyes after hearing that. She hated it whenever they were sent out on missions with barely any useful information. Stuff like this never happened when her father was in charge.
Not even five minutes later, the trio of 'lightning magic' users came upon their desired destination. And sure enough, as soon as they arrived, they immediately spotted their prey for today's hunt.
Sitting on the beach, right where the roaring waters crashed against the coastline, was a massive cryptid that was slowly making its way toward the nearby boardwalk. One that was roughly three times the size of an average school bus in width and twice as long. The creature looked like a combination of an alligator and a snapping turtle. And from where they were, the trio could see that it was a particularly viscous-looking thing.
"Is that a turtle-gator?" The woman asked rhetorically.
"Sure is." Khalil nodded. "I've never seen one with my own eyes before. I didn't know they came this far out of the Bermuda Triangle."
Davante couldn't help the wide grin that suddenly appeared on his face. "The thing's A-rank judging by the mana it's putting off. Which means that we're in for a pretty good fight!"
"So, what's the plan?"
"What do you mean 'What's the plan?'? We're gonna blast the hell out of that thing, what do you think?"
"I don't know, man. I've read that their shells are pretty tough."
"Then we'll just aim for its body." The youngest of the group looked at Khalil. "Seriously, aren't you supposed to be smart?"
"Whatever...." The woman said with a sigh as electricity began sparking around her arms. "Let's just get this over with. All this rain is messing up my hair."
'God, I can't believe that I'm related to these two.' Khalil mentally groaned. This was the problem with having your family running an entire region of the country: you could never get away from them when you wanted to. Sure, they may have all been fantastic agents, but having to deal with them on a daily basis like this was really starting to get old.
Without any further need for deliberation, the trio flew down to the coastline while prepping their attacks.
As soon as they came within range, the turtle-gator looked up at them. It didn't take long for the beast to figure out what was going on, and the cryptid immediately let out a loud roar as it got ready to defend itself.
The first to arrive on the scene was Davante. And as per usual, the trigger-happy sorcerer didn't waste a second before getting the party started. The young man, albeit a bit brazenly, hopped off his electro-disc* and landed on the beach with a soft thud only moments before releasing a large stream of lightning from his right hand directed right at the turtle-gator's face.
"Lightning Spear!" The man shouted with a smile as a massive bolt of lightning soared through the air before making contact with the cryptid's head.
In response, the cryptid let out another loud roar. However, it didn't even get the chance to try and counter before a volley of even more lightning blasts hit it on the left side of its body.
"Lightning Javelin!" Cassandra said while still maintaining her dissatisfied expression as she released five more attacks on the beast.
The two agents proceeded to unload even more attacks on the turtle-gator as the beast tried its best to close the distance between them. Unfortunately for the cryptid, it was simply too big and too slow. Every time it got even halfway close to one of the two sorcerers attacking it, both of them would just use their electro-discs to put even more distance between them.
After a solid thirty seconds of continuous attack, the turtle-gator decided that its best option was to simply flee by going back in the water. However, that proved to be an ineffective plan, seeing as Khalil used his powers to erect a large mana barrier directly behind it. Effectively trapping the creature right in the middle of the beach with nowhere to run.
'It's too bad we didn't bring any 'beast magic' users with us.' Khalil thought to himself after pulling out one of his pistols. 'I'm sure some of the guys back at the station would've loved to have something like this in their collection.'
There was also the possibility of capturing the cryptid and selling it to the Conley family for a bit of extra cash. Unfortunately, their group didn't come out here with any of the necessary equipment to do something like that. So, even though a creature like this would fetch them a nice reward, it simply wasn't in the cards today.
Just as Khalil was about to unload a few magically-charged rounds into the turtle-gator's head, he sensed a large presence suddenly appear directly above him. The man didn't even get a chance to look up and see who the new arrival was before a massive bolt of light-blue mana came shooting out of the sky and hit the turtle-gator directly in the center of its hardened shell.
"Spear of Judgement!"
The aforementioned blast was so powerful that it pierced right through the turtle-gator's shell upon impact, leaving a massive, car-sized hole in the middle of its body. As a result of the attack, the creature was only able to let out one final and pathetic whimper before falling dead onto the ground. And its body instantly began to turn to dust as it fell apart on top of the sand.
"Julian!" The three DPA agents shouted in unison upon seeing the newcomer.
There, casually floating in the sky directly above where the now-dead cryptid lay, was Julian Owens. A tall man with caramel skin, a muscular build, dark eyes, and a complex series of cornrows surrounding his head. Unlike the other three sorcerers, who were properly dressed for the inclement weather, he was in nothing but a simple hoodie and gym shorts. And all over his body, sparks of red electricity danced around him.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Davante was the first to speak to the new arrival.
"Helping!" Julian replied with a smile as he slowly descended back down to the Earth. "Mary-Anne texted me and said that you guys might need some help! I wanted to refuse, but I was already close by and thought that I could use the exercise. Unfortunately...that cryptid seemed like it wasn't really worth my time!"
Davante was noticeably upset about this sudden intrusion. And the young man made no attempt to hide his discontent. "Hey, man! We had that thing handled! Where do you get off interfering in our hunts!"
"Shut up, pipsqueak!" The eldest of the four 'lightning magic' users casually waved off while still floating in the air. "You guys were taking too long. If I didn't kill that turtle-gator, you'd probably still be fighting it."
"Asshole..." The young man then muttered under his breath.
"Seriously." Cassandra nodded in agreement.
-(o)-
With the situation now resolved, the four DPA agents took a moment to get themselves under some cover before continuing their earlier conversation. Luckily, one of the nearby drink shops had its doors blown open by the storm, so they all decided to hold up there for the time being.
"Thanks for helping out." Khalil said to Julian in an honest tone. Unlike his other two cousins, he was glad to have a bit of extra help dealing with cryptids. After all, the less time they spent fighting monsters, the less time they had to spend outside in this absolutely dreadful weather.
"No problem." The man replied with a smile.
"How long have you been able to fly?" Were the first words out of Cassandra's mouth. "You weren't able to do that the last time we saw you six months ago."
"Commissioner MacNamara gave it to me as a gift for helping him out with some important business. It's a part of the reason why I've been away for so long."
"Must be nice..." Davante folded his across his chest. Obviously, the young man was jealous, but he wasn't going to say so out loud.
Julian shot the young man a playful smirk before responding. "Hey, don't worry. Maybe you'll be able to get the enchantment one day if you ever get your act together. Then again, you'll have to stop getting your face sliced up by cryptids if you ever want to prove yourself worthy enough for it."
Before Davante could respond with what was sure to be a curse-filled tirade, Khalil quickly interjected. "So, are you going to be in town for long? Or are you going straight back to Tallahassee?"
"I was actually on the way back home before coming out here." Julian then said. "My brother's birthday is a couple of days and you know how my mom's temper gets when I don't make time to come back and see her."
Images of the woman in question then flashed across the minds of the three younger members of the Owens family. If there was one person everyone in their family was afraid of, it was, without a doubt, Julian's mother. Not only was the woman one of the few S-rank sorcerers in their entire family, but she was also an absolute monster to deal with whenever she got upset. All three of them had been on the receiving end of a personalized ass-whooping from her in the past. And neither one of them wanted to deal with the potential fallout of her not being able to spend time with one of her kids.
"Well, have fun. It was nice seeing you, I guess." Cassandra said in a much softer tone than before. She was in a much better mood now that she knew she would be able to go home early.
"Yeah!" Khalil then added. "And tell your dad and Tyrah I said hello. I haven't seen them in forever."
"No problem!" Julian said before he began levitating off the ground and making his way out of the building. However, the man took a moment to pause at the door before turning back at around pointing at Davante. "Try not to look so glum, pipsqueak! I'm sure you'll have another chance to prove yourself next time you get sent out. But until then, stick to dealing with C-rank cryptids. I don't want you getting yourself hurt again."
"Fuck off!" Was the last thing the brash young man was able to let out before his cousin disappeared into the stormy sky.
With the party now over, the three DPA agents hopped back onto their electro-discs and began making the long journey back home. It was going to be another few hours before they were finally back in Miami, especially with the hurricane now in full swing. And neither one of them wanted to be out here for any longer than they had to be. Not that any sane person would want to be in such terrible conditions.
'I better be getting an extra day off for this.' Cassandra thought to herself as she and her two cousins followed Julian's lead and flew off into the distance while the wind and rain furiously swirled around them.
-(o)-
Electro-Discs: A metallic disc made up of a proprietary alloy that allows 'lightning magic' users to carry themselves through the air. This device can be used by any skilled 'lightning magic' user so long as they have the appropriate level of training and mana control to do so. It can also be used in any climate; however, operating it in wet and/or humid conditions can be potentially hazardous for those who do.
Members of the Owens family receive one as a gift upon awakening their powers.