Michael returned a moment after she arrived, toting more than looked healthy, his face red from carrying more then his own gear. "It took you long enough, rapscallion!" Abernathy cried, looking as though he'd beat the poor kid with a cane if he had one. "Bring my bag here," he continued, sounding as surly as Adara felt, "I have to make sure you didn't break anything." Michael struggled over to him, and Abernathy roughly dragged the pack from him, dropping it on the ground.

::If naething was broken before, it sure is now,:: Keren commented privately to Adara.

::I can't believe you signed us up with this senile old fart,:: Adara responded, disgusted and still a little upset.

Mood notwithstanding, however, Adara joined in when all of the cadets gave Michael sympathetic looks, Jed even patting his shoulder once, while he caught his breath and watched the scientist fumble through his things. The dragon approached while he was bent over, and peered around with an expression of amusement. He finally had to wave a hand in front of the man's face to get his attention. Abernathy stood up abruptly and the dragon smiled. Pointing to himself, he nodded and said, "Viatoro Nuntiumi." Then he turned his finger on the elder scientist, still smiling, and asked, "Abernathy?"

Abernathy looked flustered a moment, as if unable to figure out who this strange-looking young man was, but after a moment it dawned on him and he grunted something like a greeting. "Here to be our transport, right? Well, let's get going. The day is wasting and I have a lot to do once we get there!" He gave the dragon a thuroughly exasperated look as if for taking to long to teleport them, then glared around at the cadets and the one adult soldier who had signed up for this event-- and who, from the looks of him, was now regretting it.

Nuntiumi nodded to the old man, mild amusement tinting his concerned expression. Adara remembered hearing something about how Avengaean Dragons could understand most any language that wasn't their own--it was something to do with their magic she guessed-- and wondered why the hell no one had come up with something to give them some equality. They didn't even have translators on them, for goodness sakes.

It was too late to be worrying about such things. The Dragon made a gesture for everyone, the cadets, the scientist, and the one wary looking soldier, to gather closer together, and then closed his eyes in concentration. Adara looked at her friend, then at the others. Hopefully this wouldn't be like their arrival through the Portal...

It wasn't. Adara, eyeing Nuntiumi suspiciously, was aware of a dimming of the surroundings, as if someone were drawing a shade over a window. The world went dark--not frighteningly so, just as if they had been ushered into a quiet, calm room. She got a sense of movement like what she would experience in an elevator. It made her feel light-headed, but before she felt seriously disoriented, the world began to fade back into view. No longer in the familiar walled surroundings of the fort, Adara shifted her weight and was only a little surprised as she settled firmly into the dunes that the Dragon had set them on.

"Huh," she uttered, looking around. The others had various expressions as they discovered where they were: Michael was squinting through one eye as if he'd had them scrunched tightly together, Franco and Jason looked stoned, and the soldier looked a little bored. Abernathy immediately bent over his belongings again, ensuring that they had survived the trip. Adara grinned at Keren, glanced at the Dragon who looked suitably satisfied with his efforts, and then scanned the area around them.

The place had been marked as free from sentient habitation... though that didn't mean much, she was sure. Still, the dunes with their waving grasses shone brightly under the hot sun, the land stretched back in such a manner for quite a ways, finally blocking the horizon with Oak trees. The ocean, which had probably originally gone back all the way to the trees, but which now lapped serenly over sandbanks on its way to high-tide, glistened blue-green for as far as the eye could see to the south. It wasn't at all like the rocky cliffs and beaches that Adara was used to... everything was too clean, and too quiet.

"Where are the gulls?" She murmured, more to herself then to anyone else. Normally they'd be winging around, picking at crabs, mewling and generally crapping on the unwary... but here it was only the wind and the water.

The soldier, Briggs if she remembered correctly, clapped his hands together. "Alright, this isn't a vacation," he said, his tone hinting that if they thought it was, they were making a big mistake. Abernathy paused in his scrounging to give the man a look, decided that the words had nothing to do with him, and then went back to his belongings. Briggs continued, "we'll fan out along the beaches. You two," he picked Michael and Adara, "you head north, mark anything unusual and call it in to me." With a sudden flick of his hand, headsets flew in their direction. Adara caught hers deftly, and Michael, his face red again but this time with embarrasement, fumbled with his before clenching it to his chest.

"You and you." He tossed headsets to Keren and Jed, "you mark the water-line and watch for trouble from the south." He paused, giving them each a look-over, "you did hear about the incident with attacks from the sea? Yes? Good. Don't be taken off guard."

Lastly, he handed headsets to Jason and Franco. "You two spread out across the beach, watch the dunes for any signs."

"What about you?" Adara asked, settling the little head-set in her ear, the microphone still folded up. Why'd they have to do all the work?

"I'll stay here with Abernathy, as is required." The Dragon also nodded that he would be staying around.

The scientist straightened now, dusting sand off of his knees. "As it should be, God willing. Who ever let a bunch of kids interfere with my studies in the first place?" He gave them all a glaring before retrieving a stand to place various instruments.

Adara scowled at him. Who ever let senile old men do all of the important work? That was besides the point. Feeling a little better, now that she was out and actually going to accomplish something, she said, "I guess it's decided then." Shoving Keren in the shoulder, she added, "see ya around, huh? Don't let Jed pull any tricks on ya." She winked at the huge guy, unable to hide a grin. To Michael, she ordered, "Let's get moving, Squirt," to which he nodded vigorously, and they both set off towards the tree-line.