Sigh. First RO fic. Second Chapter. Gotta keep it going, I suppose.

Chapter Two: Strength...or lack of it

"Y'know what? Y'all just suck at fighting."

"Shut up, Gull. You're the only one with a main gauche while the rest of us are stuck with maces!"

"Yeah, yeah..."

Among the three of them, Gulcasa was the only one still standing. Granado was lying flat on his back and Garouga was leaning on his mace, unable to stand on his own.
With what seemed to be an enormous amount of effort, Granado lifted his head off the ground and threw a glance at Gulcasa, who was still going strong against a rocker.
"Um...guys? I'm pretty much dead."

"Yeah, we know, Granny." Gulcasa finished off the last of the rocker and searched the spoils. "Nothing good today. Seriously man, I could eat a pecopeco right now."

Exhausted, Garouga arched his back forward and then backwards, stretching out his tired muscles. "Even if we had an egg, we'd need an incubator. You know how much those are. Ungh...I'm starving, but my stomach seems to say otherwise."

Gulcasa lazily scratched the ground. "You've been eating plants all day, Garouga. Including the dirt. Our stomachs aren't supposed to handle that kind of stuff."

"But it feels so weird," he responded. "It's like my stomach has suddenly shut down or something."

"That's dangerous...we should get it looked at--nng..." Granado tried to sit up so that he could look at them all properly, but his strength failed him and the back of his head hit the earth.

"You're in worse condition than both of us combined, Granado. Gimme a sec." Garouga searched through his backpack, looking for something. "I found it the other day while we were searching for dropped equipment. I think it was called a Yggdrasil Leaf, dunno what it is, but it gave me the equivalent of a punch in the face when I sniffed it. Got it!" He held up a large, green leaf that had what looked like yellow seeds in the middle.
"Try it out, Granado."

With a weary hand, Granado took the leaf and chewed it. "Ngg...how bitter. But there's a little sweetness to it, yes, just a tad though...hmm?!" He suddenly felt a lot stronger. His health replenished, he was ready to fight again. "Wow! That must've been really rare!"

Gulcasa held up his hands. "Dude...that's just so frickin' awesome."

Finally exhausted from standing up, Garouga sat down and bent his fingers back. "I think it was worth about 2,500 Zeny, but I guess the value outweighs the price."

Granado leapt to his feet with the mace in hand. "Alright, time for me to earn my share! I can't let you have all the glory, Gulcasa, no offense."

"None taken." He waited until Granado was out of earshot when he said "Not even if you tried, Granny." He turned towards Garouga and chuckled a bit. "100 Zeny says he won't last a minute."

"Come on, Gull, he's not that bad," Garouga replied as they watched Granado approach a poring from far away. " I'll bet he'll be able to pull this off nicely. I don't think he'll have any trouble against a poring, right?"

Granado strikes. Poring dodges. Poring strikes. Granado takes damage. Granado falls to the ground.

For a moment Gulcasa had a look of mingled amusement and surprise. Then he said "Okay...that took approximately two and a half seconds for Granado to be completely wiped out by the weakest monster in the world. Pay up, Garouga."

Garouga sighed as he stood up. "I don't owe you a thing. Come on, let's get Granado out of there. Chances are that poring's got a severe case of pillaging."

Moo!

"Uuuh..."

"Oh, you're awake. That poring did quite a number on you." The voice was very near him. Granado rubbed his eyes for a second before he recognized the voice to be Garouga's.

The first thing Granado noticed when he opened his eyes was Garouga sitting on the side of the bed. Then he noticed that he was lying on that bed. The next thing he saw was Gulcasa leaning on the wall opposite the bed. Then he realized where he was: the Inn.

Granado shut his eyes, wincing from the brightness of the room. "Owww...what happened?"

"Seriously, man, I didn't think a poring could pose such a threat to a new guy like you. You might have set a record." Granado forced his eyes open a crack and saw that the comment had come from Gulcasa.

"Oh, be quiet, Gulcasa...I just don't have any strength, that's all..."

It was Garouga who spoke this time. "What are your strengths, then?"

"Well," Granado sat up in the bed for a second before he continued, "I'm very dextrous and I'm quite good with a violin. I can hit things with rocks from far away...not like it matters, though."

"It does matter," Garouga said. " Your skills outline the most important qualities in an archer. Did you know that?"

His eyes widened. "An archer...?"

"Did you ever consider a career in archery?"

"Well, no, but right now It's sounding quite attractive."

Garouga smiled. "Hm. Well, we'll see."

Granado looked up at Garouga with somthing similar to admiration. "What about you, Garo?" At this point, Gulcasa pushed himself of the wall and walked towards the bed.

Garouga did a double take. He was not used to trying to describe himself. "Me? Well...I'm strong, fast, and more or less intelligent, but that's about it."

"Not nearly as fast or as strong as me though." Gulcasa came up on the other side of the bed, his hands in his pockets. "Strong as hell and fast as heaven!"

Garouga raised an eyebrow. "And smart as picky."

He scowled. "Shut up."

He smiled. "No."

Granado looked at them both, then fell back against the pillows.
"Guys," he said eventually, "when can we get our jobs?"

Garouga turned to look at him. "Hmm. Maybe tommorrow?"

Gulcasa leapt into the ceiling. "Tommorrow!?" he exclaimed, rubbing his head as he did so. "Damn, that's a low ceiling--tommorrow!? Are you serious? That's just awesome, man, totally awesome!"

"Hmph." Garouga frowned a bit as Granado looked questioningly at him. "But we might have to go separate ways, depending on the jobs we want."

"Oh-oh yeah..." Gulcasa's eyes dropped towards the floor and everyone was silent.

They'd never been away from eachother for more than a day since they'd met. Growing up they'd been brothers to eachother, managing without parents and looking after themselves.
But when they were separated for long periods of time, their morale took deep hits where they usually wouldn't care and their spirit would wane.
They did not know how the long the job changing process would take.

"It'll be okay." Granado smiled as the other two looked at him. "We'll be fine, right? Even though we're apart, we're still brothers."

Garouga smiled. "That's right. "

Gulcasa smirked. "Even though we're not really 'brothers,' right, Granny?"

"Right."

"Heh..." Garouga lifted himself off the bed and cricked his arms. "Wanna go get something to eat? I sold off all the junk we got from our hunting trip."

Granado got up and tested his legs on the floor. "Okay! Um--apples?"

Gulcasa panicked, crossing the room towards Garouga. "Uh, how about some meat for a change? We haven't had that in a while!"

Garouga opened the door for Granado, chuckling slightly. "Whatever you want, guys."

End chapter two.