Lost & Found
By: Aubrie1234
Dougal didn't know what he was supposed to expect when he had to break up a streetfight between two human men and an amani man. He was even more surprised when the humans accused the amani of trying to take an elf woman's purse. It went down like this:
"Hey, hey! Break it up, no fighting!" Dougal had to push through the crowd that had gathered around three men, two humans and an amani. The two humans were several years younger than himself, about 17 or 18, and looked drastically different from each other. One was blond with blue eyes and the other had black hair with brown eyes. But the way they stuck close together and moved, he guessed they were either good partners or brothers. They were both glaring at a red-scaled amani with horns that swept backward from the back of his head.
"Okay, just what was going on here?!" Dougal asked, eyes flicking between the three. The blond looked like he wanted to say something, but the brunette silenced him with a small nudge.
"Sir, we have reason to believe that this man tried to steal a purse." the brunette said.
"We saw it with our own eyes." the blond nodded.
"How could I have done that? You don't have proof except your own words. Besides, where's the purse now if I stole it?" shot back the amani, holding open his hands.
"The humans are right." An elf woman stepped out of the crowd, also glaring at the amani, "He stole my purse and the boys fought him to get my bag back." She showed the purse, where the strap was torn, "He tore it when he grabbed it."
"Well then, guards, arrest him!" With the crowd surrounding them, there was no place for the amani to go, and he was caught. Once the crowd was dispersed and the thief led away, Dougal saw the two men talking with the elf.
"Thank you for getting it back. I never though I would have been able to fight him, let alone catch him."
"It's fine. We were just helping out." said the brunette.
"But it looks like you're going to need a new one." the blond pointed at the torn strap.
"It's alright, it can be sewed back on. By the way, I never learned your names. I'm Alya."
"I'm Joe, and this is my older brother, Frank." said the blond, "We're happy to help, and lucky to be in the right place at the right time."
"You boys must have been quick on your feet and your wits to stop this. By the way, I'm Dougal." he shook hands with the brothers once coming over, "It was more of a petty crime, but you still stopped it."
"And they did it like soldiers." Alya added, "Are you two in the Federation, by any chance?" The brothers glanced at each other.
"Sorry, but we're not from around here, and we've never heard of the Federation." said Frank. This surprised Alya and Dougal.
"Then you must have had an impressive upbringing. Anyway, I must be going." Alya gave them a nod, "Thank you for your help once again."
"Glad to be of service, m'lady." Joe nodded back with a smile while Frank rolled his eyes and Alya giggled. She then left, allowing the three to be alone.
"I may not have seen what happened myself, but from what I gather, you two could become soldiers if you wanted."
"Well, we're just travellers. We don't really like violence." Frank said.
"The Federation, with the full name of the Valkyon Federation, isn't like that. I'm a consul for the force, and we have a variety of jobs you can do." He gave them a quick once over, hiding his surprise at the seeming fact that they had no weapons. Or armor, for that matter. And their clothes didn't look like they fit them well. Had the boys actually stolen them? But then why would they stop a thief if they had stolen something themselves?
People have weird morals sometimes, but I better not let them on, in case they really are thieves. "So, do either of you have a class?"
"Again, we're not from around here, so..."
"You two can't be serious." Dougal massaged his forehead, "I guess I'll have to give you all the details on this place, won't I?" The brothers nodded sheepishly.
It's also possible they could be spies. I'll have to be careful what I tell them. "To get you started, I'll give you a quick tour of the city, then take you to the training grounds. I can tell you about classes there."
"And what about races?" Frank asked, "I recognize humans and elves here, but I don't recognize the other five."
Observant. But if they don't know about elins, poporis, barakas... Maybe they really are clueless travellers after all.
"Look, dude, we may be a bit ignorant on a lot of things here, but we're not stupid." Joe added, "This place is obviously at war and everyone's on edge. We don't want to cause any more trouble for you, since it seems you're stretched thin, but we don't really want to go to war, either. However, I'm guessing your classes are different types of battle styles or weapons, possibly both. Since we're going to go back out into the world, we're going to need to learn about those classes, become one of them so we can get our weapons, and get some armor, which probably won't be free. We'll have to do a job for you so we can get that stuff. Am I right?"
...Definitely smarter than they look. "...And you got all that just from observations and words?"
"We both did." Frank said, "We're detectives, actually. Our father, being a detective himself, raised us that way and we've gone on a lot of cases. We're not stupid, but we're not defenseless, either. It's how we took down that man."
"A trip here, a tackle there, and boom!" Joe pumped his fists into the air, "Touchdown!"
"So you really are nothing but travelling detectives? No spies or anything?"
"Nope." Frank shook his head, "We've had to go undercover as our enemies before, though. However, if we had the choice, we wouldn't be criminals." Slowly, Dougal nodded.
"Alright. Well, I'll keep my promise, and you can get your weapons and armor on one condition. You don't have to join and be in the records, but I would like to make you both honorary members of the Federation. You could go about your usually stuff, but when I need you, or another Federation soldier or officer does, you have to do that job for us. Of course it's optional, but if you want to keep your armor and weapons, you have to keep up a good reputation, which means doing those quests. Understood?" They both nodded.
"We get it. Now, give us a tour of this place!"
"Unlike him, I actually read things. This place is called Velika, right?"
"Right. It goes with a history lesson too. A long time ago, humans were once nomads in these lands..." Dougal then began to explain Velika's history and the different shops and stores around, and he even told them about the other cities and continents, along with the lore, races, and classes. They managed to finish most of it by the time they had gotten to the training grounds. And, as their occupations suggested, Joe and Frank were great listeners, Frank moreso than Joe.
"I can't believe you two knew almost nothing about this place, let alone the other continents."
"We come from a far away land, different that Arborea." Joe said, "It's a lot more advanced than this place and isn't infested with monsters or giant wars. We have some small ones here and there, but nothing on this big a scale in years."
"That explains your different clothes and why you don't have armor or weapons." Dougal surmised.
"Sort of. We don't like to carry weapons, but we can use a variety if we have to." Frank put in, "Now, this is where you're going to test us to see which class we fit in with the most?"
"Yep, but with your diversity, I doubt the first time will be able to pin you down." Joe grinned as Frank smiled.
"That's one of our specialties. Where are the weapons?"
"Joe, don't be so trigger happy. Or, in this case, weapon happy."
"Well, there are 12 classes in all, but some of them can only be used by one race or one gender, mostly a combination of both. Ninjas and Reapers are limited to elins, Gunners can only be high elf females or castanic females, and Brawlers can only be human women."
"Is there a way we can still try them out?" Joe asked excitedly.
"Go ahead, knock yourself out." Dougal smiled as Joe cheered and ran into the weapons house. Frank shook his head once again and followed his brother. Soon enough, they came out with their own weapons. Frank had a shield and lance, and Joe had an arcannon.
As the day went on, the brothers tried out different weapons on the dummies and even fought each other sometimes. So far, Dougal noted, Frank seemed to lean towards defense and long-range while Joe was more offensive and close-range. However, they could easily switch to the other's preferences. And they adapted well to the many weapons and different environments of the training grounds. They truly could be very diverse. It was at the end of the day they showed off their quick wits and reflexes by going into a one-on-one match without weapons. Other apprentices and officers had also gathered throughout the day to watch the brothers and were amazed at the same things Dougal had noticed.
"Alright, let's give them a taste of how well we can fight without weapons. What do you say, little brother?" Joe grinned at Frank's words.
"Bring it on, big bro!" Frank grinned back and they began to circle each other, looking for weaknesses and improvised weapons. They were going to fight in an open space for this, on the sandy field of the grounds so they wouldn't get hurt too much. Suddenly, they lunged for their improvised weapons: two dummies they had knocked down earlier with the regular weapons. They were battered, but still looked good enough to be weapons if needed. Still grinning, the two then began to fight with the dummies.
"Pretty impressive." Dougal jumped and spun around.
"Sagittarus! Don't scare me like that!" The elin shrugged.
"So are they new recruits?" The lancer turned back to the fight.
"No, they're travellers with amazing skills. I'm serious, Sagi!" he added when he saw her suspicious look, "I'm letting them be honorary members of the Federation. They can get the weapons and armor they need and still travel, but they have to do a few jobs here and there to keep up their reputation so they won't lose the armor and weapons."
"I see. But if they're so good, why didn't they join the Federation before?"
"They're not from here, or any place in Arborea. I think they might be from another place in Tera, but I can't fathom where. The only thing I really know about the two is that they and their father are detectives, and veterans at it." Sagi's ears twitched at that.
"Detectives?" Dougal nodded.
"Yeah, but I haven't seen them go at it yet. Are you planning on something?"
"...I need their help with something. I'll be in their hotel room, waiting with a gift."
"A gift? And how the h**l do you know where their hotel room is?" Sagi could give gifts, and she did it all the time, but most of that time they were pranks. And she had various ways of knowing things, some of them not good. It seemed she knew what he was thinking, so she smiled.
"Don't worry, this is a proper gift. The job I've got for them is going to be dangerous, so they're going to need something that can help them with it. It should also be able to help them with their armor and weapons problem. And that's easy; just look in all the hotels at their registries. See you!" She then skipped off happily and Dougal knew that when she did that, what followed it was never good to those who saw her next.
Oh gods. Be brave and lucky, Frank and Joe. You're going to need it when dealing with her.
"Now that was great!" Joe cheered as he and Frank went to join Dougal after their fight and meeting the other apprentices and officers who had gathered to see them. The officers had even asked if they were veterans with how well they fought and handled the weapons. Eventually, however, they had to disperse the crowd.
"I agree. We haven't done something like that in a long time." Frank nodded with a smile.
"Well, your day isn't over just yet. A friend of mine, Sagittarus, has a job for you. Don't ask how, but she said she'd meet you in your hotel room."
"How can she do that?" Joe asked, a hint of suspicion in his voice.
"She's not a criminal if that's what you're thinking. She's got a lot of influence, though, because she's one of the greatest heroes of this time."
"What has she done?" Frank asked, crossing his arms.
"I don't know everything, she'll have to tell you that, but she's taken down gods and argons, which aren't easy feats. But we shouldn't keep her waiting. And by the sound of it, she didn't seem to want me there, which means that what she wants to tell you, and possibly her gift, has to stay secret." They nodded.
"I guess we don't really have a choice. See you tomorrow, Doug!" Joe waved as he and Frank left.
Interesting nickname, to say the least...
"I wonder if what Dougal said about Sagittarus was legit."
"Well, he did say that she was his friend, and I trust him."
"Yes, but remember, we can't go trusting anyone here. With how war-like it seems, spies could be anywhere."
"And assassins." Frank nodded at Joe's words. They were walking down the hallway to their shared room, the only available one they could get in the city. Seeing as they could be overheard, they talked in low, soft tones.
"What do you think her gift is? Or what class and elin race?" Joe shrugged and placed his hand on the doorknob to their room.
"Well, we're about ti find out." With a quick turn, he threw the door open, there, sitting on their bed, was who they presumed was Sagittarus.
She was a fox elin with long red hair, blue eyes, and a purple/gold-orange/slightly blue full-body suit. Hanging from her back was a bow, so they guessed she was an archer. With the name, it now made sense with the class.
"Thank you both for coming. Dougal told me about how your guys were detectives, so I could use your help." She stood, where her ears barely came up to the middle of their chests, possibly a little taller than that. Glancing at each other, Frank nodded, where Joe closed the door behind them.
"What is it you need?" the brunette asked.
"You know about the gods, right?"
"Yeah, but without facts, Frank won't believe it." Joe jeered, where Frank rolled his eyes.
"Well, this has to do with the gods. I need your help in finding out where some of them might be because, I have reason to believe Velik and Mystel have been kidnapped."
Cliff Hanger, hanging from a cliff...That's why we call him Cliff Hanger! *giggle* Extra points to those who know where that's from! Anyway, here are the notes:
I reason that Arborea are the two continents the game is centered around, and Tera is what they call their world/earth.
Anyway, read and review!
