o.0.o.0.o
Chapter Six
"Okay, Kai," Jax stated in an annoyed manner, keeping a firm grip on the back of the other's sorrow's jacket. The flygon was holding Faye's hand, and she looked as confused and exhausted as her head moved between his voice and Kai's carefree laughter. "Keep heading west to get to the western territory."
"Righy-o!" Kai grinned, turning north.
"Idiot!" Jax hissed, clamping a hand on his shoulder. "That's north!"
"No, it's a shortcut!" Kai said happily.
"No, it's not." Jax said, running his hand down his face. "I swear, Faye could make it to the western territory easier than you, and she's not even from Uhssi!"
"You're not from Uhssi?" Kai asked, cocking his head as he turned to look at her. Faye smiled.
"Yeah."
"That's cool!"
"I... I guess."
"Kai," Jax sighed. "Just fly, okay? I don't need you to go and get lost with no one to show you the way back." he paused. "Especially with her."
"Fine." Kai sighed, placing a hand on Jax's shoulder. "Don't worry to much about us. I'll keep her safe."
"I said I could handle myself!" Faye insisted. She paused. "Wait, what about me?" she asked, pointing to herself. "I can't fly, so..."
"Simple!" Kai grinned, scooping her up like she was weightless. Faye squeaked in surprise, gripping her small suitcase in her hands. He grinned, flapping his wings and lifting a few inches off the ground. "I'll drop by again soon Jax!"
"You'll drop by when you need money again." Jax stated simply. Kai winked.
"You know it!"
"I'm keeping track of how much you owe me."
"I know!" Kai grinned. "Thanks for that!"
"Idiot, that's a bad thing!" Jax said, facepalming.
"Seriously, I'll see you soon, okay? Don't get lost on the paths!"
"Thats ironic, coming from you." Jax answered simply. Kai simply grinned, then flew off, thankfully, in the right direction.
Jax turned, opening his umbrella and planning to fly back, when a sudden shiver went up his spine. He slowly glanced around, taking in his surroundings, suddenly catching a glimpse of purple behind a tree.
"You." he said, making sure his voice was clear and deadly serious. "I know you're there."
Suddenly, a very creepy giggle came out from the trees, a pale, petite sixteen-year-old girl coming out from the shadows of the trees. The purple he caught sight of was her hair, straight and reaching her mid-back, the ends curled slightly. Red eyes glanced over him, as if studying him like a specimen in an experiment, a creepy, dare he say, insane, smile on her face. The witch-like hat that she wore, looking similar to that of a mismagius, shaded her face almost perfectly, increasing the creep factor.
She was wearing a layered strapless dress, the same shade of purple as her hair, a scarf tied around her waist like a belt, the ends falling past the skirt, fading to a pink color. One her feet were knee-high boots, purple, pink at the stop. Around her neck was a gem with three red gems and on the back of her left hand was her guildmark, colored blood red.
He narrowed his eyes. She grinned back.
"Serena." he stated simply, recognizing the mismagius sorrow from his guild. He crossed his arms. This girl always followed him around for no real reason, it seems. At first, she would talk without stopping for hours, and no matter how much he ignored her or yelled at her or anything, she kept coming back and talking and talking and talking. Suddenly, she stopped talking, and began watching from afar. Now he had no idea which was worse; this, or the incessant talking. "You're following me again."
"I saw you holding hands with that girl." she suddenly said. "Girlfriend?"
"I literally just met her under an hour ago." he said, voice clipped. "She's blind, so I had to lead her out of the guild."
"You could have dragged her out by her ears."
"That's sadistic."
"So?"
"What do you want, Serena?" he finally asked after a pause.
"To make sure I don't have a rival or anything." she grinned almost, dare he say, maliciously, staring at the spot where Kai flew off with Faye. A dark aura seemed to surround her for a moment as she began murmuring inaudible things under her breath. Jax took a step away from her for good measure.
"Go back to the guild." he said. He immediately regretted it, as Serena snapped her gaze to him.
"No." she stated simply, holding out a piece of paper. "Let's go on a mission together!"
Jax stared at the mission in hand. An simple C-class job wanting them to travel to the boarder between the southern and southeastern territory to check up on some 'suspicious characters'. A cheap job for cheap pay when both of them could easily take on A-class missions.
"Let's go on a mission together!" she insisted, though her grin seemed to falter for a moment before it came back in full force. Jax stared at her, then sighed in defeat, figuring that a happy Serena was better than an angry Serena.
After all, she kind of had a thing for violence.
o.0.o.0.o
Asher happily moved about the kitchen, overjoyed that Koli chose him to watch over her sister.
"Now let's see..." Asher hummed, looking in the fridge and grinning at the sight of honey. "We'll put some of this in the tea..." he trailed off, spotting a bottle of maple syrup. Happily walking over to the steaming cup of tea, he dumped the contents of both bottles into the mug. Happy with the sweet concoction, he picked it up. "Bottoms up!"
"Who are you?"
Asher turned and saw a young woman in a white nightgown with a light purple blanket around her shoulders, long, lavender colored hair falling to her lower back, face flushed with fever, light gray eyes staring at him quizzically and almost as though she was scared of him. Despite that, she tried to keep an upright posture with a hand on the doorframe.
"Hey, you're Giselle, right?" Asher grinned, setting the cup down. She continued staring at him, then mutely nodded. "I'm Asher, Koli's friend."
"Koli doesn't have friends." she murmured, taking a step back.
"Well, now she does!" Asher smiled. "She asked me to take care of you while she went out with my friends. Something must have happened." Giselle still seemed wary, refusing to take a step closer. "I'm a part of the Three Spirit Guild." he offered helpfully. Giselle snapped her head up at that.
"Three... Spirit...?"
"Yep!" Asher said, setting the untouched mug of tea down on the table. "I made some tea. You can have it if you want."
Giselle shuffled across the floor and sat down, staring curiously at the cup. While Asher prepared another for himself, Giselle took a sip, then immediately began coughing.
"You okay?!" Asher whirled around, staring at her.
"I'm fine." she wheezed. "It's just... really, really sweet."
"I know!" Asher grinned. "I put, like, fifteen sugar cubes in it, along with honey and maple syrup for good measure!"
Giselle momentarily gaped at him, trying to figure out how in the world he managed to get it all to dissolve in the tea. Realizing it was rude to gape, she moved her gaze back to the mug. Asher continued to hum happily, seemingly not noticing her rudeness or dislike for the tea.
"You sure you should be up?"
She blinked, turning her head to him. His worried look was plain on his face.
"Koli made it out like you were on your deathbed."
"That's just Koli. She always overreacts when it comes to me." Giselle said, folding her hands. "But... it was pretty bad at one point. Had I'd been a normal sorrow, I surely would have died." she paused. "I'm still pretty weak, too. I had to take a couple breaks coming down the stairs."
"Then why'd ya come in and talk to me? I could've been a bad person, you know!"
"Well... I just..." she trailed off, face going red from the attention. "I sensed your energy, and when I came down here... I was expecting a child, honestly."
"Must have been the surprise of your life!" Asher said, taking the comment with stride.
"I sensed a lot of different energies at once, including Moon's and Koli's. I... recognized three of them from a vision I had. Are they your friends?"
"Probably! I'm on one team and there's another team here too. The have a vaporeon sorrow named Cove." he sat across from her, not noticing her tea going untouched. "What'd these energies look like?"
"You don't see energies, you feel energies." Giselle quietly corrected. Asher grinned, correcting himself.
"What'd they feel like?"
"One was fiery and passionate, like a flame, almost. Yet at the same time, it was naturally a born leader, very responsible and careful." she trailed off, glancing to the side. "Maybe even gentle... motherly, perhaps?
"That sounds like Fina." Asher mused. "She's the leader of Team Evolution. It's funny you compared her to a flame, since she's a flareon and all."
"The second was very... very protective and reckless. This energy takes it upon itself to make sure others are safe. It's like... like..." she tapped her fingers on the table, brow furrowing as she tried explain it. "Regret? I'm not sure. It's a very complicated energy."
"Can you tell the gender by the energies?"
"This one was a female."
"Oh, that's Elysia then, El for short." Asher grinned. "She likes walking along the edge of crossing the line and danger." he laughed. "She describes it as 'Some people say there's a line to cross between sanity and insanity. I probably have a foot on each side.'"
"That sounds correct."
"Well, there seems to be a pattern." Asher laughed. "If we follow that pattern, I'd say the next one would be Cove, the newest recruit. What'd you sense off her?"
"Immense pain and sadness." Giselle stated immediately, ears folded against her head.
"Pain...? Fina and Coren got in a fight earlier. Did she get hit?"
"Not physical. Mental." Giselle trailed off, squeezing her eyes shut, face screwing up in concentration. "Something... something's really, really wrong. On the inside, very, very deep in her mind... there's this... this depression." she snapped her eyes open. "This is a very complicated energy. The most complicated I've ever come across."
"Don't force it. Maybe if you ask her-"
"No," Giselle shook her head. "This girl... This Cove, outside of the depression buried deep... She's like a blank slate." Giselle casted her glance down to her hands, only to see them shaking. "It's like... her previous energy was lost, only lingering... and now she has to-" she suddenly cut herself off as she snapped her head up, shoving her chair back and looking over her shoulder.
"Giselle?" Asher asked.
"Y-You said Koli asked you to watch me, right?"
Asher cocked his head for a moment, then grinned.
"Yep! I'll do anything for Koli!"
"Someone's coming." Giselle said fearfully. "And it's not a good person."
Asher stood, ears erect with alertness, trying to hear what Giselle sensed. There was a moment of silence. All he heard was the wind...
Suddenly, the wall behind them blew up. Asher practically threw himself over Giselle in order to protect her from flying debris. Giselle began coughing on the smoke, and Asher squinted through the smoke, trying to see what happened.
"Aaaaaw, you're both alive? Boo."
Asher blinked as a small girl, maybe fifteen years old, stood in the gaping hole in the wall, looking rather disappointed. She had black hair, cut in a pixie cut that framed her face gently and silver eyes that flashed between them curiously. Her skin was deathly pale, and she was wearing a loose flowing black and white dress. The sleeves were black, near skin tight, and go down to her wrists. Along these sleeves is a draping material, black on the outside and yellow on the inside, reminding him oddly of an emolga's gliders. He quickly realized why as he saw emolga ears on top her head. An emolga sorrow. After the sweetheart neckline she has a white corset, beginning just under her breasts. The skirt which bursts out from underneath the corset is a pure white, ending about halfway down her thighs, where he could just barely see the ends of a skirt hoop, broken to be short enough for the skirt. Beneath her skirt, she wears white tights. Her feet are covered by white, Mary-Jane style shoes, which finish off the almost doll-like outfit she sports.
"Now I'm going to have to chase you down." she sighed, pushing her bangs off her forehead, revealing a widow's peak. "Aw well. The more I chase you, the more fun I'll have killing you. After all, pain is hilarious!"
o.0.o.0.o
"Sorry, bucko." El said, twisting the old man's wrist in such a way that if he even flinched, it would break. "But I know a liar when I see one."
"Heh, perceptive, if not foolish." he responded, suddenly bringing his knee up and ramming her in the stomach. El grunted in pain, forced to let of his wrist to stumble back.
"Oh, you're a ballsy one." El grinned hand over her stomach. Something felt... off. She knew what it was like to get kneed in the stomach, and she knew that it wasn't supposed to burn. It was supposed to be a jolt, maybe followed by some nausea and a little trouble breathing. But this was like a burning sensation, spreading throughout her stomach and into her veins. She wanted to wince, but decided against that. She didn't like this guy, and she didn't want to show any weakness in front of him. So she continued speaking. "That could've broke your wrist."
Now her knees were shaking. No, something was definitely wrong.
Suddenly, her legs gave out, and she was lying on her stomach in the sand. El blinked in surprise. She wasn't this weak. She tried moving to stand up, but to no avail. She tried to move her hands, increasingly frustrated by total lack of movement. Had this guy attacked her with some sort of poison move when she wasn't looking? It was as if everything from the neck down was completely paralyzed...!
With much effort, she managed to lift her head to see Fina in the sam predicament. This was no attack. Then... it must have been...
"You poisoned the food."
"Guilty."
"And the villagers?"
"Guilty."
"Why?"
"If I told you, where would that get me?"
"Touché, you bastard. I take back what I said about you being ballsy. You're a coward. You won't even fight me head on."
"I'm not the fool who ate poisoned food."
"Who the hell disguises themselves as a trusted Elder and poisons the villagers? If I'm going down, I wanna see the bastard who did it."
"Silly girl, this is no disguise."
"Oooooh! The poison worked well, I see~." a new voice said. El saw a tall man, maybe seventeen or so, land in front of them.
He was wearing a white dress shirt with a purple tie. He had on black pants with black loafers, and purple suspenders dangling from the waistband. A dark violet-nearly black-trench coat was around his frame, and two purple belts wound in a criss-cross formation around his waist, over the trench coat. Several vile's hung from the belts, and what looked like a police hat sat atop his head, a silver bat-like image on the cap. Purple hair peeked out from under the cap, and bright red eyes flared at them from under the shadows of the brim of the hat. Four bat wings came from his back, holding him aloft in the air. El recognized what type of Sorrow he was. A crobat.
"Ri." the Elder said. Ri kneeled down, poking at Fina's forehead.
"So these are light guild members?" he asked. "If they weren't do Arceus-damned pathetic, I'd say they're pretty cute."
Fina's temper seemed to flare up at that, so El watched humorously as she snatched said finger in between her teeth and bit as hard as she could.
"Ow!" Ri cried out. "Ow, ow, ow, ow! You're going to bite it off! That's my Yahtzee finger! I need that!"
Fina didn't respond, instead grinding her teeth together even harder.
"Shit, I think she's actually gonna take it off!" Ri cried out, pounding his fist into Fina's head. "Let go, let go, let go!"
The Elder walked across the beach and yanked on Fina's hair, forcing her to let go.
"Dammit." Ri cursed, holding his now bloody finger. Fina glared at him, spitting out the blood.
"Serves you right, you stupid bastard!" El shouted at him. Ri glared at her.
"I'm going to whip up a concoction special for you, Sparky."
"So it was you."
There was a long dreaded silence as Ri whipped around, only to have Koli's dagger slash him across the chest. He winced at the wound, flapping his wings in order to get out of her way. Koli only looked up at him, the fiercest glare imaginable on her face.
"You're going to die for what you did to my sister."
o.0.o.0.o
"It's insane up there!" Launa exclaimed, coming back down. Cove widened her eyes. "There's a crobat and some sort of cloaked figure hunched over-maybe and old guy? Yeah, they're fighting an umbreon sorrow and there's a flareon and jolteon sorrow laying on the beach!"
"Koli..." Cove trailed off. "Fina and El! Those two are my teammates!"
"Crap..." Launa sighed, putting a hand to her forehead in exasperation. "We've gotta think of something."
"I'm a little worried." Cove murmured. "If Fina and El were attacked, and Koli isn't with Giselle, then where is she? Or the Emblem Brothers and Moon?"
"I'm going to guess the Emblem Brothers is another team." Launa said. "Crap, we need to think of a plan before someone gets killed!"
"We can't just waltz up onto the beach!" Cove exclaimed.
"I know the move Surf! Maybe if I do that we can wipe everyone out!"
"With my teammates?!" Cove panicked. "One of them's a fire type, that could be fatal!"
"You're right." Launa stated. "But we can't just sit here and do nothing!"
"Um..." Cove was wracking her brain for an idea, trying to think of something. An idea suddenly popped in her head as she glanced at Launa again. "Launa, what were you wearing before you jumped in the water?"
"Hm? Jeans and white sneakers." she responded. "That's what cool about being a water type. The clothes we wear will be fine when we go from having a fin to having legs. Pretty handy."
"I look a little more flashy, I'm afraid to say." Cove sighed, rubbing the back of her head bashfully. "So here's an idea. What if I create a distraction and you crawl out of the water and give one of these to El and Fina. Once they're healed up, they might pose a better chance at arresting them."
"That's pretty good." Launa grinned. "You sure about being a distraction though? These guys poisoned all these people. They're aiming for murder."
"I don't care." Cove said, passing the bag to her. "After curing them, ask for directions to Giselle's house. Giselle needs this really badly. She's the healer, and she'll be a huge help."
"Right!" Launa grinned, taking the bag. "Listen, don't get killed okay? You're a pretty cool person. I wanna see you at the next Central meeting so we can enjoy the festival, okay?"
Cove had no idea what that meant, exactly, but a festival couldn't be a bad thing. So she nodded and smiled to reassure her.
"Okay."
o.0.o.0.o
Asher skidded to a stop, Giselle on his back piggy-back style, gaping at the fight going on around him. He saw his fellow team members fighting two sorrows, one male and one female, each close to around twenty years old.
The male was tall, tallest of everyone in the group at the time, was wearing loose fitting clothing. A haori crossed over his chest, tied with a thick red obi. Sleeves reached his wrists, but were cut so that from his elbow down showed. The excess cloth hung loosely, almost like kimono sleeves, becoming a darker shade of green near the edges. Loose green pants were on his legs, tucked into dark green boots that reached his knees. A dark green vest hung loosely over his frame, the hem reaching his knees. Overtop the vest was a green ribbon, accenting greatly against the red sash under the vest.
His hair was dark green, and no doubt would reach his shoulders if not tied back into a high ponytail. Green bangs hung over his forehead almost covering his narrow, amber eyes, hair framing his stern-set face as he expertly wielded a katana. Asher struggled for a moment, trying to figure out what kind of sorrow he was. A grass type, judging from his attacks. Maybe a grovyle?
He expertly jumped out of the way as a blast of psychic energy crashed down near him.
Above them floated the young woman donned in black and white victorian clothes, a ruffled, layered back dress donned with white ribbons and big elaborate white ruffled sleeves around her wrist. On each layer of her dress was a big white bow, a black cape around her shoulders, tied with a white ribbon. Her skin was so pale it was almost gray, eyes the palest blue they could get before they went gray. She had long, dark gray hair done up in elaborate pigtails, the left one adorned with a white bow. Judging from her attacks, she was a gothitelle.
Asher found her particularly unsettling as when she looked at them, her eyes were entirely dead, like the lights were on, but no one was home.
"Coren!" Asher called out. "Where's Koli?!"
"She went down below to fight a crobat sorrow!" he shouted, cursing as the grovyle took another stab at him. "Dammit, give me an opening to go down there! I need to make sure she's okay!"
"Come back here~!" Asher heard Amelia sing out behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the Emolga drifting almost peacefully through the air, electricity crackling around her. "I'm not done plaaaaaaayinnnng~!"
"Target acquired." he heard the female above him say monotonously. Another blast of psychic energy. Asher let out a strong of childish curses as he dodged.
"Why would you bring her here?" Graves demanded, clamping a hand on his shoulder. "She's sick!"
"And leave her with that?!" Asher exclaimed, nodding to Amelia, who Clamor was trying to handle. "Koli would flip!"
"And you thought bringing her to an active battlefield was a better idea?!" Graves exclaimed, running a hand down his face. "Arceus, I know I'm the smartest guy here, but really?!"
"Dodge!" Asher exclaimed as a thunderbolt landed near him. He turned to Graves. "I have an idea!"
"Oh, this'll be good." Graves said, crossing his arms.
"Take Giselle onto the paths, and keep her there until the battle is done."
"Do you realize how dangerous the paths are for newcomers? I don't know if psychic types are more sensitive to it, but it's pretty mentally vexing on a new person, let alone a sick psychic type."
"But they're after her, right? They can't follow you onto the paths 'cause only ghost types can open a door to them. If we get rid of their target, maybe they'll leave."
Graves highly doubted that they'd leave, but he knew this was no place for Giselle to be. Plus he was a ghost type and Koli was a dark type. He didn't feel like dealing with her trying to slaughter him if Giselle got hurt.
So he unceremoniously took Giselle off of Asher's back, threw her over his shoulder, and allowed the darkness of the paths to engulf him.
o.0.o.0.o
Moon snuck down the steps, past the Emblem brothers battling the dark guild members, past the crobat fighting Koli, and practically crawling across the sand to reach Fina and El. Just as she reached Fina, she found herself staring into the eyes of a milotic sorrow with a bulging bag of berries over her shoulder, dragging El by under her arms next to Fina.
"Uh..."
"Duck!" she shouted as a blast of electricity hit them overhead. Had the fight moved down here?! She saw a gaping hole in the cliff above them.
"We need to move them." Moon insisted. "That might crumble then we'll all be screwed."
"Right!" the milotic nodded, slinging one of El's arms over her shoulder.
"Crap, sorry." El muttered as Moon helped with Fina. "I really, really can't move."
"Don't worry, I believe you." Moon said gently as she helped Fina, her legs dragging on the ground as she was taller than her.
"I'm Launa." the milotic said. Moon blinked at her friendliness in the midst of a battle.
"Moon." she said.
"Mermadian Song Guild."
"Amazee."
"I came to help!"
"It's good to have you, then."
The abrupt and sudden conversation was interrupted by a geiser of water suddenly burst from the ocean.
"And there's Cove." Launa grinned, taking the opportunity to stop to treat them. "Come on, lets flip them over."
Moon said nothing as the milotic flipped El over, barely conscious.
"Hey, Moon." Fina muttered. Moon took one of the berries from Launa, splitting it in half.
"Can you chew?"
"Good enough."
"Launa, treat them, I need to get the Elder...!"
"Don't." Moon blinked at the quiet voice, instantly recognizing the scratchiness that he hid behind it.
He was eighteen years old, pachirisu ears stuck out from pale blue hair, a big pachirusu tail peaking from behind loose white shorts. He had on a White sweatshirt with yellow trimmings over a light blu shirt. Blue fingerless gloves were on his hands, and white socks peaked from beneath off-white combat boots with blue trimmings. Dark blue-gray eyes flicked around the battlefield intently.
"Zap!" she exclaimed, calling him by his nickname. Apparently calling him by his actual name, Daniel, was 'detrimental to his work'. What was his work? An information broker. He often moved between her guild and the Warlord Crusaders with information on the other guild. He wasn't one to take sides, and will essentially sell any sort of information. At the right price, of course. The guildmaster of the two guilds were either extremely forgiving or extremely oblivious to what was going on around him, as Zap was still using them against each other to wrack up profit.
"You!" Moon snapped her head up in horror as she saw the village elder talking to a grovyle sorrow. It seems that, after all, the geiser caused the fight to move to the beach. She saw Clamor and Coren trying to fight off an emolga and a gothitelle sorrow. Graves was missing, and Asher was trying to help Koli against the crobat. "You promised that my debt would be paid off if I handed over the past oracle! I let you have her, now pay up!"
"E-Elder...?" Moon asked, staring at him. How... How could he betray all of them like this? And debt? What debt? How had he come into debt with criminals?!
Her thoughts were cut off by a startled scream of horror, only to realize it was hers. Why? Because the bloodied end of the grovyles katana was coming out of the middle of the Elders back.
"Your life will be enough payment." he said callously. Moon was, to say the least, freaking out. She may be a part of a guild, and she may have seen bodies before, but she's never, ever seen someone get killed right before her eyes. Despite the obvious betrayal, she still cared for the Elder. He was like a grandfather to all, and all she could think about was the times he would tell kids stories about Arceus and the great war, or stories about his adventures. She already knew that he was dead, no way he would survive that much blood loss, but still...
"You killed him!" she accused, feeling her hands come alight with fire. The grovyle looked across the beach at her. At his cold gaze, she flinched. There was nothing there. No remorse. No guilt. Nothing to indicate he felt bad about murdering an old man. In fact... he looked as if he was enjoying her reaction. She felt a comforting hand on her shoulder, and knew it was Zap. He always got his feelings across through small gestures like that.
"I did. He owed us money and he didn't pay up." He stated, as if trying to test how far he could push her. He sheathed the weapon, glancing around. "Seems the oracle got away."
"That Dusknoir took her onto the paths." Moon saw the emolga sorrow drift downwards with a gothitelle. She cast a sly glance to the others around her. "Can we keep fighting?"
"There's really no point." the gothitelle said. Moon took a shuffled hesitantly away from them. The way the the gothitelle seemed to have almost doll like eyes was beginning to scare her.
"Yeah, but think of the fun!" the crobat grinned. There was a moment of silence as the grovyle, obviously the leader, seemed to contemplate the idea.
"You're all fools." Koli scowled, coming up beside Moon. "Giselle isn't the oracle."
"What do you have to gain by poisoning an entire village?" Moon asked shakily. "We're peaceful people. We wouldn't have been able to fight even if you attacked us."
"I just wanted to see if I could concoct the perfect poison." the crobat shrugged. "Still not perfect though. Which sucks."
"You could also call it a test of loyalty." the emolga said with a grin. "The elder proved it."
"Despicable." Koli spat. The emolga grinned.
"Thank you!"
"Amelia, that's enough." the grovyle said, turning to the gothitelle. "There's nothing for us here, and we're outnumbered." he paused, noticing the crobats pouting. "I'd prefer not to get arrested, Ri."
"Ugh, fine!" Ri through his hands in the air. "Fine, fine, fine!"
"Elizabelle." he turned to the gothitelle. "Teleport us out of here."
"Wait!" El shouted as the gothitelle's hands glowed blue in preparation to teleport. She was struggling to stand, using Launa as support.
"You shouldn't be moving!" Launa exclaimed.
"Diaki!" she shouted. Moon glanced between her and the other team. Diaki was a guys name, right? Was she talking to the grovyle or the crobat? "What the hell, you coward?! Get back here!"
There was a drawn out pause, when Moon suddenly saw a green blur go past her. She blinked as she heard a startled scream. Slowly, she looked over her shoulder and saw the grovyle- Diaki?- with his sword through her chest. The jolteon had her hand on his shoulder, using him for balance while Launa essentially began freaking out.
Uncaringly, and perhaps a bit maliciously, he ripped the blade free, and El just collapsed, like a doll someone had stepped on.
"What happened in the past, Elysia, was in the past." he stated simply, calmly turning and walking away, crossing the beach and back to his companions. "Elizabelle, my work is done."
"Of course." Elizabelle nodded, bowing her head. While they all freaked over El, the team of dark guild members disappeared in a flash of psychic light.
o.0.o.0.o
"Did you see the look on her face?!" Amelia laughed as she glided above them
"I know! It was priceless." Ri grinned. "Almost as good as the look on that umbreon's face when she found out her twin go sick!"
"That was a good call, Elizabelle." Amelia said, swooping down and patting her on the back.
"I would have felt guilty had her friends not torn my dress." Elizabelle said, keeping her blank look but looking at the torn layer on her skirt distastefully.
"You know, you can drop the disguise now." Ri said offhandedly to the grovyle. Said grovyle smirked, his imaged flickering before a moment before an entirely different man appeared before them.
He seemed a few years older than his previous form, eyes electric blue instead of amber, hair almost entirely different from the simple green ponytail that the grovyle had donned. Most of his hair is tied in a loose ponytail, however he has a mane of bangs that hang off to the side. The tips of his hair curl up and turn ebony. It was blood-red; reaches a little past his knees. It's very messy and unkept, and extremely poofy.
He was wearing an unzipped, sleeveless black leather jacket, with fur outlining the collar and armholes. Underneath the jacket is a dark grey muscle shirt. He had on black leather pants and combat boots have red spikes on the soles. On his arms are clawed gauntlets that extend just past his elbows. The claws are red, and the gauntlet is black. The only thing the now revealed zoroark and grovyle that he disguised himself as was their overwhelmingly tall height, making them both intimidating and easy to spot.
"I'll have to admit, the pain on her face was rather entertaining." he said. "And not jus the physical pain of being stabbed."
"You kept her alive, Seth." Elizabelle stated. "Why?"
"She's an interesting subject." he mused. "That team was unbearably close. Almost sickeningly so. When they separated, it was a pretty big event."
"Well, we tracked down one." Amelia shrugged. "What happened to the other two?"
"I think one of them joined a different light guild." Seth said offhandedly. "As for Diaki Genjuu..."
"I once heard he go recruited by the Stalkers of the Night dark guild." Elizabelle said.
"Recruited or snatched?" Ri asked, wincing at the thought. "Congrats if recruited, but he's a poor, poor bastard if they snatched him."
"He's as good as dead." Amelia giggled. "Oh, we should throw that in her face next time!"
"No." Seth immediately said. "That's no fun. Besides, that was just for kicks. We need to get back to our own guild to discuss the next move."
"It's weird he took interest in some random espeon." Amelia said. "What's so special about her?"
Seth smirked, crossing his arms.
"She's a very, very special espeon."
o.0.o.0.o
Kaze jerked his head up to the sound of glass shattering. He had stayed in the house with Viridi and Saffron for a number of days, under the insistence of the younger sorrow. He was flicking through some of the books that Viridi had, some of them silly legends and romance novels, some books on concocting plant based potions and such, but mostly whimsical, mind-numbing books of love and adventure.
"Kaze, we've got trouble!" Viridi exclaimed, dragging Saffron behind her, the breloom kicking and screaming that she wanted to fight. The leafeon locked the door behind her, as if trying to block whomever was attacking them.
"Viridi Rosewood! You're under arrest for the murders of Kasai Blaze, Maya Angels, and Sandra Lee!"
"Murders?" Kaze demanded, looking at her.
"You guys need to hide." Viridi muttered. "I know I didn't do anything, but these guys will tag you in with it as accomplices."
"No way!" Saffron shook her head. "We're like the Swords of Justice! One for all and all for one!"
Kaze was going to point out that he never agreed to this, but this was interrupted by the furious pounding on the door.
"Crap." Viridi murmured, grabbing both of them and dragging them to a small closet. "It's a little small..." she trailed as she opened the door, revealing a small, cramped space. "But I'm sure you'll fit."
Another crash, then a splintering of wood. Viridi shoved the two of them inside. Kaze grunted in annoyance as his wings were forced to be shoved in a rather uncomfortable position due to the sheer size of the space.
"Viridi-!" Saffron exclaimed, only to have the door slam in her face, plunging them in darkness.
There was more pounding on the door, then the splintering of wood. Some crashes here and there, and a terrified shriek from Viridi. Kaze shoved his hand over Saffron's mouth to prevent her from revealing their location, hearing shouts of victory from whomever broke into the house.
The slam of a door, presumably the front, then silence.
o.0.o.0.o
"U-Um..." everyone snapped their head to Giselle.
Her hair was now combed and clean, tied with white ribbons at the end. Hair framed her face, ends also tied with white ribbons, bangs falling evenly across her forehead. she was dressed now, almost akin to a princess. A silver tiara with a red gem in the middle went across her forehead, over her bangs. She wore a dress colored purple with light violet, borderline white, ribbons, slits up her legs and shorts of a darker shade underneath the dress so that she would be able to move around easier. Her shoes were a darker shade of purple, showing her toes, with thick purple ribbons and thinner silver ribbons. A couple of purple, both dark and light shades, silver, and white bangles dangled from her wrists, moon, sun, and star charms clinking against the metal with each movement. Her forked tail quivered as if frightened by having all the attention on her.
"U-Um... The wound was s-superficial. She's healed now, but s-she needs to rest."
"Oh, what a relief." Fina sighed, running hand down her face. Moon fell back in the couch, practically on the verge of crying. If one of these people had gotten killed on a job she begged them for help for, she would have broke.
Launa, Clamor, and Coren had taken the berries into the village in order to feed and heal the villagers of the poison. Asher initially wanted to stay in the house, but after Koli asked- correction, ordered venomously- Asher happily pranced out of the house with a "Yes Koliiii~!". Graves stayed behind with Cove, Fina, Moon, and Zap.
"Anyways." Moon opened the inventory on her badge and began flicking through the items. "I have your reward right here, for both of you." she glanced at them. "I'll send it to the leaders and you can divvy it up among you."
"Sounds fine to me." Fina said, taking out her badge.
"You said you had information on another mission?" Cove asked.
"Hm?" Moon muttered, eyes suddenly coming to light with realization. "Oh yes! Zap picked up a little while ago." she waved her hand to the pachirisu sorrow in the corner, who said nary a word since he got here. He offered a small wave.
"You're an odd one." Koli stated clearly, looking at him. Everyone stared at her. Giselle was staring at Zap, confusion clear on his face. After Koli spoke, Giselle snapped her head to her.
"I-It's n-nothing!" Giselle said hastily. "I-I'm just not r-reading any of your thoughts, even if though I-I'm actually t-trying this time." she paused, swallowing. "Um, usually I always hear bits and pieces."
"I'm blocking you." Zap said softly, rubbing his mouth with the back of his fist, as if trying to further muffle his voice. "I know a lot, so I keep my mind clear as a defense to mind readers."
"Oh."
"Anyways, it's kind of urgent," Moon said, glancing between them. "Which is why I'm really happy you brought a path navigator-"
"Excuse me," Graves said, offended. "Pathmaster."
"You're a Pathmaster?" Giselle asked. Graves smirked arrogantly.
"Yes."
"You're so young!" she said in surprise.
"I can't say I'm not surprised as well." Koli said, crossing her arms. Graves smirked, happy he seemed to impress the unimpressible Koli. "I thought you were all talk." Graves arrogant smirk fell at that.
"What?! I am most certainly not-"
"Back to the information," Fina pressed. "What is it?"
Zap simply held up a mission. Cove recognized it immediately.
"That's the job Kai took." she said, glancing it over and seeing Viridi's face.
"You're associated with Kai?" Fina asked.
"On accident, honestly." Cove responded. "Is there information about where she is? Weaknesses or something?"
"It's actually much worse. Viridi Rosewood," Zap said, walking forward. "Is innocent."
o.0.o.0.o
So holy crap, sixty one reviews by the sixth chapter? That... might just be the greatest review turnout I've gotten thus far.
Now, if any of ya'll noticed the summery, I pretty much closed submissions for OCs at the moment. Once you see what we've got for characters, you'll probably understand.
Light Guilds- 14 OCs
Dark Guilds- 19 OCs
Unaffiliated Forces(aka, they work for themselves and/or are loyal to neither dark or light guilds)- 10 OCs.
So that gives us a grand total of forty three OCs(or roughly around that. Can't do math in my head for the life of me), not including my own personal OCs(this includes the main characters/teams, some villains, some guild members/S-class members, and the guild leaders). So as you can see, this is a pretty damn huge project I'ma taking on. This is also the first time I ever accepted OC's in a story, so this is whole new stomping grounds for me.
Now you're all probably asking "Amy, isn't it incredibly ballsy of you to go and accept forty three OCs for a single story with a crazy concept? Shouldn't you have set a limit?" Well to that I say, fuck limits. This is gonna be an all or nothing project.
Now onto happier things... Introducing Ri the crobat. He was an old filler villain OC in the last story, but I decided to give him a slightly bigger role this time around. He's mine, as well as a new OC, Elizabelle the gothitelle. I wanted to name her Elizabeth, but I thought that was to old-fashioned, so I pulled a Fire Emblem and combined two names. Elizabeth and Belle. Elizabelle.
The mismagius at the beginning is Serena Magia by Moonlights Glow. Apparently she had a 'thing' for Jax. I hope I wrote her in character. Also by Moonlights Glow was the devious Amelia Hartmen. For some reason, she really freaks me out. It's like you decided to take a haunted doll and an evil child and smash it together. Evil kids always freaked me out, and dolls are kind of creepy. In a good way of course, because I really like her as a character.
Also introducing Zap, aka, Daniel! This guy was created by W.R. Winters. He'll have a bigger role later on, but right now, I'll give him a reason to be around. ^.^
And finally, Seth Blodeuwedd by kinnaaan! I personally love villains who mess with the psyche over physically hurting them, so the plans I have for him. ^.^
I've expressed it before and I'll express it again, I'm seriously afraid of writing them out of character. Hopefully you all approve!
Amy47101 signing off! ^.^