Ariel's School for People with Abnormal Abilities
A/N: Hey, guys! Yes, I'm actually updating twice in one day. I felt so awful for not updating in six freaking months, I decided to make it up to you guys by updating twice. Plus, I really like this story, and I'm excited for a lot of crap to happen in Part II. I encountered so many writers blocks, I almost gave up on this story. But then my friend helped me through most of them, and now I have a LOT of ideas. Anyway, I know you're excited for the story, so here it is in all its glory! *cue angel choir*
Ch. 10
Elsword's POV
"Welcome to the village of Altera," a Ponggo gestured to Altera. "You must be student from Ariel's School for People with Abnormal Abilities."
I laughed. This guy actually says the full name of our school? Ha! "We just call it 'Ariel's' since the name is so long. You don't have to be so formal, okay?" I ruffled the Ponggo's hair.
"O-okay," the Ponggo was at a loss for words.
"Could we speak to the leader of this village, please? We're looking for our friend who got kidnapped by demons," Rena said, bending down to the Ponggo's height.
"Oh, dear! Kidnapped by demons? This is terrible, indeed!" the Ponggo rushed off. "Follow me!"
He led us to a big house with a big gold amulet with sapphires outlining the center of it. He knocked on the door, and soon a large Ponggo opened it and let us in.
He looked us up and down, then said, "You look like you're from-"
"Yes, Ariel's, we know what school we go to, thank you very much!" Why does it seem like everyone's trying to delay me rescuing Aisha!
Rena looked at me in shock. "Elsword, this is the leader. We want him to help us, not hate us!" she whispered.
I ignored her. "Our friend has been kidnapped by demons, and I would like to get to her as fast as I can. We've heard that some weird stuff's been happening around here, so we came here to see if she's around. Any ideas?"
"You sure he didn't kidnap her?"
We followed his gaze, leading to Raven.
"Mr. Ponggo leader, we know for a fact he didn't kidnap her. Actually, we know for a fact he would never do anything even remotely similar to something like that. So please don't accuse our friends unless you have conclusive evidence. And people's pasts don't count as conclusive evidence. I rest my case." Rena finished with a glare at the Ponggo leader, telling him to talk about something else or shut up.
Raven looked at Rena. "You didn't have to defend me. I understand why he-"
"Yes, I did have to defend you. But we'll talk about this later. Right now, we should focus on getting to Aisha as fast as possible."
"Yay! Someone else who understands!" I grinned. "Let's get on with it. Is there anything weird that might have magic involved with it?"
"Let's see... Nasods have been coming back to life, but they aren't... alive like they used to be. They attack anyone who comes near the Return Plains, and when they're not attacking, they're mining. I don't know what they're mining for -none of us got close enough to see before we were attacked- but whatever it is, it must be important because there are a lot of them."
"Thanks for your cooperation. If one of your scouts could show us the way to the Return Plains, we'll gladly find out more information, since it benefits both of us." Rena smiled, quickly changing from being angry to being happy. Is she bipolar? Like Chung?
"Thank you for helping." the Ponggo leader replied. "Good luck." He turned to the Ponggo that showed us here. "Go get a scout, and tell them to lead these students to the Return Plains."
"Right away." the Ponggo ran off.
"My name is Adel, by the way. The scout's building is down the road, third building on the right."
We made our way to the scout's building, and there was Ponggo waiting for us just outside the door.
"When do you want to leave?" the spy asked.
"Right now." I replied quickly.
"Right this way," he spoke quietly, most likely so as to not alarm any other Ponggo. He ran out of the cave, with us right on his heels. We soon reached a forest, and soon after that, a big grassland with a bunch of Nasods that were mining. "I can't go any further. There's a path on the other side of this plain that should lead you straight back to the cave. If the path has been destroyed for some reason, light this flare, and I'll come get you." The spy put an unlit flare in my hand and ran off.
"So, shall we start?" Chung asked.
"Yes," I responded, putting the flare in my bag.
-10 minutes later-
"Man, their mining tools hurt." My arm was bleeding from getting hit by a drill.
"They do!" Chung (for once) agreed with me.
"I guess we should try to avoid their hits as much as possible," Raven added, also injured by a drill.
"We're almost there! I can see more trees in the distance!" Rena exclaimed, pointing to a faint line of trees.
"Let's go!" I started running to the next mining Nasod.
"Don't these Nasods seem a bit... weird to you?" Chung asked hesitantly, smashing a drone to the ground.
"They seem a bit robotic and mindless. I thought Eve said all Nasods had intelligence." Rena grunted, throwing a Nasod gardener off balance.
"They sure aren't like Eve at all, I can tell you that!" I shouted, trying to be heard over all the drills revving up.
"Look! What's that?" Raven yelled, staring right behind us. We turned around to see a huge Nasod with a gigantic drill coming our way. "Aim for the joints! If you hit the joints enough, it'll fall apart!"
We did as he told us to, and it eventually did fall apart.
"Rena, can you sense any demons?" Chung asked.
"Hmm... I don't sense demons, but I do sense dark magic coming from inside it. It must be what's bringing the Nasods to life."
"There's nothing under the ground. I think they're mining and gardening when they're in standby mode because that's what they were built to do." I called, looking into the hole the miners made.
"Let's go report this to Adel." Raven started walking on the path leading to the cave.
"Well, at least the path isn't ruined." Chung smiled, trying to lighten the mood. It didn't work.
We eventually made it back to the cave, and the spy had come with us took us to Adel.
"Did you find anything?" He asked us, looking hopeful.
"The Nasods are being controlled by dark magic, and they aren't mining for anything. That's just what they do when they don't have anything to attack." Rena gave a quick report on our findings.
"Well, that's something, at least," Adel was lost in thought. "Our scouts have found many other places filled with the mining Nasods. One place in particular has weird plants that attack people, also. Could you check that out next? If the Nasods don't have much more clues to give, maybe the plants do."
"Sure thing! We'll get right on it-" I was cut off by Chung.
"Elsword, I know you want to save Aisha quickly, but it's almost the middle of the night, and some of us aren't as energetic as you. We need to sleep."
"But-"
"Chung's right. Raven's exhausted; he went fighting with you before we left, remember? Same with Chung; and he has all that heavy armor and that cannon that's twice the size of him. I know you're really determined, but our exhaustion will only slow us down. I promise we'll set off first thing in the morning."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"... Fine."
"He'll show you to the inn," Adel gestured towards the spy.
As soon as we got to the inn, Rena made sure I was actually going to go to sleep (*cough cough* blackmail *cough cough*).
"Goodnight, everyone!" Rena smiled as she finished with her threats to me.
"Goodnight," we responded. I hadn't realized how tired I was until I fell asleep even before my head hit the pillow.
-End-