Well after much procrastination and much ideas from my friend Blademster, i got this chapter ready.
Chapter 13: Athenian Welcome
I slashed my sword as Cervantes blocked with his, when I saw he was about to fire that gun blade of his I got out of the way and shot a lightning bolt at him, then a flame blast to accompany it. Cervantes managed to dodge the lightning bolt but got burnt a little from the fire blast, not to mention setting his moustache on fire and his hat into ashes.
"Arr, that was my best hat too," Cervantes said as he fired another shot at me. This one whizzed past my fast and hit my shoulder. I held my shoulder in pain and tried to stop the bleeding, all the while dodging Cervantes's attacks.
"Hey, any help here guys?" I yelled to the others. A bolt of yellow lightning from Sosuke was a welcoming sign, followed by Talim helping me away from the fight and treating my wound.
"This is going to hurt a lot so bear with me," Talim said and dug her fingers to get the bullet. I couldn't help but yell in pain from this, and then stopped, sweating bullets as Talim held the bullet in her fingers.
"Easy, just rest," Talim said softly as she softly chanted and my wound closed up. Well least that was over. I just sat and watched the fight with Cervantes and Sosuke, wow, he's really good. I watched as Sosuke attacked Cervantes with a mix of sword attacks and lightning bolts. Man, I gotta try that tactic sometime…hmm, maybe a fire and lightning combo would be good.
I watched some more and saw Sosuke disarm Cervantes and hold his sword at his neck.
"Gah…you fight well…" the pirate chuckled lightly.
"I take that as a compliment; now let me ask you something: Do you know of a man named Malgreed?" Sosuke asked.
"Malgreed…hmm…I think I heard about him somewhere….yeah now I remember! Rumor's spreading that he's gathering some outlaws and other guys as evil as me for some big announcement, says his plan, if successful, will reshape the world," Cervantes said.
"Then why did you attack us?" Sosuke asked.
"I couldn't resist the plundering," Cervantes said.
*insert sweat-drop here*
"So…will ye let me go?" Cervantes asked Sosuke. Sosuke sighed and lowered his sword, that's when I saw Cervantes sneer and pulled out a pistol from his pocket.
"Sosuke! Get out of the way!" I yelled and snapped my fingers. Sosuke saw the pistol and dodged the bullet and watched as Cervantes was burnt by the flames and tried to jump into the sea to douse them. All we saw was the sliver of smoke from where Cervantes landed into the ocean.
"That…was close…thanks for the save Mark," Sosuke said and patted my back.
"Glad I could be of service…now just gotta wait until I can move my arm again…" I muttered and looked at my right arm. There was a loud snap and I felt both my arm move again and pain.
"Never mind!" I yelled and cringed in pain...
Well asides from the burn areas and a few chipped places, the ship to somehow managed to hold once we got into port in the city of Athens. I was glad too; I was tired of puking up my food overboard on the ship. I did like the atmosphere here in Greece, it was peaceful.
"So we're here, anyone up for some training?" I asked them.
"Good idea, it would give us a chance to train after what happened," Joseph said.
"Yeah…but we'll need to find a place to stay for a bit," Zach replied.
"Wait! I remembered that Cassandra lives here, we can ask her if we can stay with her," Talim realized.
Thank god for Cassandra…wait, doesn't she have a sister? Hmm…well we followed Talim to a large house somewhere outside the city…looks more like a Temple than a house. Talim knocked on the door and it opened.
"Talim? Is that you?" Cassandra asked as she looked at her friend and saw us.
"Oh seems you brought some friends…who are they?" Cassandra asked when she saw us.
"It's a long story," Talim said. Cassandra brought us into her temple-like home and Talim explained about what had happened and we had explained what was going on so far.
"Hmm…sounds like you guys had it made," Cassandra said.
"Yeah, so we need to train a bit and we kinda need a place to stay…" I chuckled nervously. Cassandra smirked and looked at us….well Me, Sosuke, Joseph, Frankie, and Zach to be precise. Uh…is that a seductive look in her eyes…oh god, please don't tell me…
"Alright, you guys can stay," Cassandra said. Just as we high-fived each other, she held up a hand.
"But! You gotta let me join your group," she finished.
"Let me guess, this is about your sister Sophitia?" Kilik asked.
"Yes…" Cassandra said solemnly.
"Don't worry; we'll help you find her," I told Cassandra, causing the others to look at me funny.
"What? I can't reassure her?" I asked them.
"Thanks for the concern, and I'm kinda glad for joining," Cassandra said.
"Thanks, so you'll let us use your place for now?" I asked her.
"Sure, follow me," Cassandra said and began to show us around. Wow, this place was fancy. Cassandra showed us some more of her house, and I was amazed it had a courtyard for practice. Cassandra showed us our rooms and let us be.
I had to admit, this place was rather nice, mm…I did like this place. I heard a knock on my door and let the person come in. It was Talim, and she was armed.
"Uh…what up with the tonfas?" I asked her.
"You said you wanted training right? Come on," Talim said and I followed her. She lead me to some sort of shrine…wait a minute I recognize this place! This was the main background for the Character creation in IV! I saw Talim twirl one of her tonfas then turn to me and took her stance.
I did the same with my katana, "Alright, you go," I told her. I made a HUGE mistake with that move, since in a span of…five…maybe thirty seconds, I got my ass beat…HARD. I am so thankful the others didn't see that, my reputation would've been crushed…
"Mark?" Talim asked as she looked at me, tilting her head in a cute way.
"I'm fine, my self-esteem however is bruised," I joked and got up.
Talim giggled from that little bit and smiled, "Sorry about ruining your self esteem," she said with a smile.
God damn it…I couldn't be mad at her, I mean, look at her! She's so innocent…heh, must be rubbing off on her a bit, but just look at her, she's my age too, plus she's attractive…I didn't realize I was looking over her body until Talim poked me with the butt of her tonfa.
"If you're done looking at me," Talim said with a blush on her face. I couldn't help but blush with embarrassment from that.
"Uh…sorry…I was….well…" I began, trying to say something. Talim giggled cutely from my attempts at trying to apologize and patted my head playfully.
"Its fine, so wanna continue?" Talim asked.
"Alright, but I won't hold back this time!" I said and charged at her, the two of us grinning as I swung my katana at her.
Meanwhile, Ranvitchkus was still reeling over the loss of Altair, while Thanatos was recovering from the attack back at Azad, but he still wore the helmet he always wore.
"Why do you even wear that thing anyway?" Ranvitchkus asked Thanatos.
"Why are you asking now?" Thanatos asked.
"No but ever since I met you a while back you never take it off, why is that?" Ranvitchkus asked.
"Long story, but I never take it off; I want the surprise to be…epic…" Thanatos said with what Ranvitchkus thought was a grin under the helmet.
"…right…but we're down one guy because of that old man, unless Malgreed comes with a replacement in the next ten seconds (if he does, I'll pay you $10 Thanatos), I don't think we'll stand a chance against those guys next time," Ranvitchkus said.
As if on cue or by some super hearing, Malgreed entered the room with a hooded figure with its head down, but the two of them saw…or felt something emanating from the figure. It was cold…like ice, and there was a glow in the figure's eyes.
"Gentlemen, I'd like to present your newest ally," Malgreed said with his hand on the figure's shoulders. The figure just lifted its head slowly, letting out a long drown out moan.
"…okay…what the hell is this…thing?" Ranvitchkus asked.
"A new recruit I found and had patched up," Malgreed said and looked at the figure. "Don't be shy, say something," he said to it like a father to son.
"…..The…Game…." the figure rasped. Ranvitchkus and Thanatos immediately realized what…or rather, who it was before them.
"You didn't…" They both said.
"Oh I did…I think this shall be the beginning of a very…extraordinary…adventure for all of us," Malgreed said with a grin.
"Ran, pay up," Thanatos said and extended his hand.
"It's Ranvitchkus!" Ranvitchkus said as he gave him the money from the bet.
"Alright you two, come, we must get ready, we'll be having guests over for a little….meeting…" Malgreed said as he took his new subject with him.
"Oh this outta be good," Thanatos said as he pocketed the $10.
yep, I brought back an old frenemy from the dead, but what powers does he have now? Also, what will happen now with Cassandra in the group? Find out next time, and R&R plz!