Chapter 7: Temple town.
CyberActors15: Greetings mortals and viewers alike. Welcome back to Phantom in another World. However before we begin, I need to give you a brief recap. Alright so last time, Danny and Jade were on their way to their job, which was to get rid of a monster, which made travel through the forest difficult. While on their way they encountered a black blur and chased after it only to lose it. They encountered the monster and as the battle continued the black blur was revealed to be Shadow, a Faunus and member of the guild which Danny and Jade had joined. The three worked together and killed the beast. Shadow retried the Chaos Emerald from its head and explained that there was something going on which connected Danny and Jade to the gem, the monster and the location.
Dani: You know I am actually excited for what is to come next.
CyberActors15: That is good. By the way it's worth saying. Sorry this chapter is coming out almost two weeks after the last one. University has started back up which means time is not a thing I have a whole lot of. So thanks for being patient.
Dani: Ahh so now you begin the whole two months before each update thing.
CyberActors15: Quiet you.
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It had been a little over 30 minutes after they had beaten the Lynel as the trio continued to walk towards the temple site. By this point in time Danny had healed a bit and was no longer in massive pain, but he probably wouldn't be able to take on any more platinum enemies any time soon.
During their walk Jade the forever curious had attempted to learn a little more about Shadow, but the older guild member hardly said a word in response. Either he didn't care to answer or he was flat out ignoring the girl and her questions. By this point in time Jade had given up on trying to learn about Shadow and had returned to conversing with Danny, however even that conversation wouldn't last long. Eventually the trio reached their destination and their reactions varied, Shadow remained neutral, Jade became curious and Danny's jaw dropped.
The temple, well it wasn't just a temple. In retrospect it wouldn't make sense for a temple to simply sit in the middle of a forest. And it didn't. It sat in the middle of an old and abandoned town. Vines and roots grew over the old buildings. Some trees and plants even grew through the former buildings. Danny could tell that the building had similar architecture to some of the buildings in Bellfell, only these were much older. And in the centre of the town was the temple, but damn it wasn't what Danny expected either. The temple was practically a large cathedral. The imposing structure, unlike the rest of the buildings, seemed to withstand the test of time as it wasn't as badly damaged or eroded by the plants. The plants did wrap around it but for the most part it was still a strong and steady building. At the centre tower of the cathedral was a large golden bell which looked like it had a relatively sized dent in it.
"Incredible." Jade spoke first. "We are in Bellfell, the original town."
She materialized her sketch book and began to draw the cathedral.
"According to the stories I have heard, this cathedral was built first before the town around it was constructed. But there was an error in the construction and the bell fell from the tower." She said in awe. "The bell landed but it was so sturdy that it didn't break. It's how the town got its name."
"Really?" Danny asked.
"Yes but that isn't the full story." Shadow added. Seems he hadn't forget how to speak after all. "The town flourished for a while before an unknown plant magic created the forest that was hear. The town was engulfed so the people moved and rebuilt the town."
The three then continued to walk into the remains of the town while keeping an eye out for anyone or thing that might be living here. To their luck no one seemed to jump out of from the buildings and attack them. So it was just a quiet walk, which had begun driving Danny insane. However to his luck Shadow decided to speak again.
"Since you two insist on following me, and you already spent most of your afternoon and energy tracking and hunting that Lynel. I would suggest camping in one of these buildings and entering the temple tomorrow." Shadow said.
Neither Danny nor Jade objected. Danny however did chuckle and rub the back of his neck nervously. The older member of their trio did have a point. And truth be told he didn't have to make that suggestion as it was Jade and him that had decided to follow Shadow, possibly impeaching on his personal goal. At the same time the argument could be made that Shadow wouldn't have found this place if he didn't impeach on Danny and Jade's job. It was just a circle of butting in others business.
It didn't take long to find a suitable building to rest in. There was one which seemed to be in pretty good shape which gave them a good view of the town and the cathedral. The view was courtesy of the fact that they were on the top floor of what must have been an in as well as the lack of a complete roof giving them partial view of the sky, trees and town. If anyone was here and did try to attack them then they'd either be able to see them coming or have an easy escape route.
By the time that they had built a small camp fire, which wouldn't burn down the room they were in, the sun had just set. Danny sat furthest from the fire preferring to be in the colder part of the room. When Jade asked about that he explained that after the larger fireball which he had taken to the face… and body, he simply preferred to stay in a cooler environment for the time being. It was actually that comment that inspired Shadow to speak again. The Faunus of few words decided to impart his wisdom on the duo one more time.
"It's clear the two of you are new to this." He said with a chuckle. "Or partially new to this."
"What's that supposed to mean." Danny asked dryly.
"The fact that you two got into gold and platinum rank respectively, means that you have experience in combat, which is better than most new guild members that usually begin in bronze or in rare cases silver rank." Shadow explained. "Despite that you still made some mistakes. For example you didn't consider the class systems which were on your card." Shadow pointed at Danny, "offence," and then to Jade, "and defence."
Danny thought back and actually remembered the guild cards saying those classes for them. He never actually considered what they might mean but simply glanced over them, having decided to focus on those particular words at a later date.
"You class is determined on your abilities and experiences. Now that's not say that you are entirely limited to those roles." Shadow explained. "Even though I am a Flank I could easily be considered as part of the offence class, but because of my faster mobility I am considered a flank. You were granted the rank of offense, meaning you can deal a large amount of damage, but that doesn't mean you can take that much damage."
Danny immediately paled at the look with Shadow gave him. He seemed to understand where he was going with this.
"Your mistake was immediately jumping in without as much as a plan. Even though you didn't know what you were facing it would have been smarter to stay back and attack from a distance before you learned what it was capable of." Shadow said. "In addition you flew in without giving thought to your partner." Shadow then turned to face Jade, the same dark expression in his eyes. Jade could only gulp in response. "Speaking of which. You were smarter in how you attacked, playing more like your class entails, but you still made mistakes. Just because you are defence that doesn't mean that you have to be rooted in place. You don't have to move around as much as me or him, but acting in support and making yourself a harder target is what can make you a good defence class."
Both Danny and Jade didn't know what to say. Both of them were both recovering from the verbal lashing that Shadow had given them while they considered what he had said.
"However." Shadow said, his eyes were closed and he was a lot more relaxed this time. "I have to say that I am impressed. Phantom, you may jump in blindly but your improvisation skills are impressive. You saw how we worked and worked around that. That's no small feat. And Jade, you accounted for your partner's actions and allowed him easy travel through your spatial trap. Based on what I saw this is your first time fighting together so I'd say you two did pretty well."
The two stared at him for a moment.
"Thanks, I guess." Danny said with a chuckle.
Danny had a feeling that this was some high praise from Shadow and that he and Jade would never hear this kind of praise from the Faunus for a long time to come. Danny didn't realize that he was correct to think like this.
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The next morning the three continued on their journey to the temple. By this point in time Danny had healed most of his injuries however his ghost form hazmat suit was beyond ruined so he probably wouldn't be changing into his ghost form until he got a solid pair of clothes.
It didn't take particularly long for them to reach the imposing structure of the cathedral, however upon reaching it all three came to a stop, the conversation they had been having ending. All three of them could detect in in some manner. Danny's enhanced senses alerted him to the fact that hiding somewhere inside the temple were quite a few people. He couldn't pick up what they were saying or doing but he could hear that there was a group of people inside. Jade detected a magic that was familiar to her. It reminded of the magic she felt around a month ago before she had met Danny. Shadow also detected magic, however what he could tell was that something was being channelled and focused.
"There are a few people in there." Danny commented quietly.
"Whoever's in there is also focusing a lot of magic energy." Shadow added.
"I can tell you who's in there and what they are doing." Jade said. "Just before meeting Danny, I was part of a group that tried to breach the spatial barrier between worlds. Based on the fact that Danny is here means that they were successful."
"You mean those three guys we beat up?" Danny asked as he remembered the day he had met Jade. "So there's more?"
"Yes." Jade responded. "I never knew how many more but I guess we know now that there are quite a few. And I have a feeling their goal hasn't changed."
"And their goal is?" Shadow asked.
"They want to conquer the capital using beings that they summon through the gate." Jade elaborated.
That was all Shadow needed to hear. Although he didn't consider himself as a good person who fought against injustice and the sort, he did still have his objectives and promises. And if the capital was conquered then his plans would be a lot harder to achieve. He grabbed his sword as he immediately looked for a good flank route. However his thinking was interrupted when Danny placed his arm in front of him.
Shadow looked at the younger teen and was surprised. There was something different in his stance and in his eyes, which he hadn't seen in the battle against the Lynel. It's not to say that Danny was a different person but he could see the gears turning.
"Jade." He began. "You were integral to their first plan. You were surprised when you heard that they had opened the portal. And I recall that one guy saying that if you had been there then they would have been able to place me under your control. Am I correct?"
"Yes." Jade responded. "I was a big piece of the plan."
"And the fact that it has been just over a month means that either they had summoned a lot of beings from other worlds or at this point in time they are finally able to start again." Danny deduced. "They probably spent the past month looking for a backup plan but the backup is never as good as the original plan."
Jade gulped.
"What exactly do you want me to do?"
Danny's eye sparkled as he grinned deviously. It was that kind of grin that Jade didn't like to see.
"You are going to go inside and distract them." Danny said. "As if you reconsidered and what back in on the project. There will be some who don't like that and others who do which should create a good enough distraction for a few minutes."
Danny then turned to Shadow.
"And while she does that we sneak in. Your speed and my stealth skills will allow us to see what we're dealing with and launch an attack." Danny said.
Shadow had to admit he liked the plan. It was simple and would be effective. He agreed to it immediately. Jade didn't like the plan but had to admit that it was a good idea. Reluctantly she agreed to the plan but at the same time she decided that Danny was going to pay after this. She had left these guys for a reason, and that was only when there were a few of them. A whole temple full of these people was going to be a torture.
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CyberActors15: And that's it for this chapter.
Dani: Alright so next chapter we get a totally awesome plan or pretty epic failure. I think I'm ready.
CyberActors15: I think we are all ready for the next chapter.
Dani: Yes.
CyberActors15: Also I just wanted to ask for a bit more patience guys. With university breathing down my neck finding time to write can be hard. I am trying to update as much as I can by making shorter chapters and so on and so forth so yeah just bear with it.
Dani: So what will happen next? Read, Review, Favourite and Follow to find out.