Too much water.

Kaleo tried to perch on what solid ground he could still find in the torrential flood. The rain pelted down like a hail of knives, and the push and pull of waves kept soaking his coat in spray.

In other words, this was a waking nightmare.

“Focus!” Shani called from somewhere to his left, Dasrah magic snapping through the air as she alighted on the roof of a flooded-out home. Ahead, Daylight’s Talik was sparking wildly off-target as the rain channeled the electricity every which way.

Kaleo gritted his teeth and focused his Reflect, watching the barrier re-solidify moments before one of Danuoc’s paws came down like a sledgehammer from the heavens. Just in time.

Normally the river goddess of the Messus plains was… all right, he guessed. They got along, even if he tended to avoid the rivers like the plague. Today was different. It was bad enough when the water stayed inside its banks…

Things were quiet. With an angry river goddess on their collective asses, that wasn't a good thing. Kaleo glanced around, but the stormy waters were churning in an iron grey that allowed no glimpse into their depths.

A splash-- Danuoc rising from below, her jaws closing only an inch from Daylight's tail as he jumped like a startled cat. He'd managed to evade the worst of it, but Danuoc's bulk still knocked him from his foothold and into the churning water. He flailed, glowing pelt dying the water around him bloodred.

Kaleo froze. The sounds around him faded to a distant whine. He felt like he'd swallowed ice, sharp and jagged and tearing at his throat as he tried to speak. Or at least swallow.

Yellow burst forth from the water, Brightside wrapping his jaws around Daylight's frill and struggling against the current.

Kaleo finally felt like he could breathe again. Now urgency spurred his paws as he leaped closer, spinning a barrier of air and gravity to land on over the water and helping pull Daylight aboard with his Greheli. "You okay?" he nudged the other toa's side with his nose.

To his relief, Daylight coughed and hacked but pulled himself readily to his feet. "Yeah. Don't worry, it'll take more than this to keep me down. Don't forget I've been doing this kind of thing for a while."

"Still, you should be more careful. You're good, not invincible. I'm the one who can harden my skin, remember?" Brightside chided, then leaped back into the water. "I'm going back to patrol. Try not to die, or at least don't do it somewhere where I can't drag you back."

"Thanks to you too, Brightside." Daylight drawled. "Let's get to higher ground. She's got the advantage here."

That was when an explosion sounded -- nearby. Simultaneously, Kaleo realized that he hadn't seen the Scarlet Lady in a few hot minutes.

A wall crashed down, making a bridge over to higher ground. A hill in what, on better days, was a park. "This way, hurry! We'll have the advantage on dry land." Shani called, "Before she tries to drag one of us down again."

"Thought you didn't like big entrances." Daylight was halfway up the makeshift bridge in a flash.

"Only when it doesn't make sense to draw attention to yourself. I make the entrances I need to." Shani replied primly.

Kaleo eagerly scampered up to the offered refuge. He felt like a drowned Yeru at this point. Looked like one, too. Maybe up here they could actually halfway make a stand.

Brightside was the last up, mud caked into his feathers. He'd kept his medic kit pristine, though, with careful uses of wax-sealed corks and other tricks. He'd taken it upon himself to look after them, and he wasn't going to let a little bad weather stop him.

For his count, Kaleo was feeling more confident with solid ground beneath his paws. Ketucari weren't made to be hopping from roof to roof. The rain hadn't let up, but at least he wasn't in obvious danger of getting swept out to sea. As long as he had that, it was fine.

"She's too wild to give us any mercy right now. Keep your wits about you." Shani warned. "There's too much debris -- there's only one way in here, and one way out. Well, two. The other is in her stomach."

"Think I know which I prefer, thanks." Kaleo muttered.

Shani ignored him and kept talking. "Kaleo, give me another barrier. Daylight, confuse her. I'm going to give it everything I've got once she's disoriented. Brightside, harden yourself and hang back."

"Aye-aye, captain." Daylight drawled.

"Yeah. We've got it." Kaleo grit his teeth. "Careful, I don't have too many more of these in me. Make them count." he warned, before weaving another shield, stretching it across the sole entrance to their retreat. It shone like gossamer.

He took a breath. "Here she comes."