Author's Note: I know I said two or three chapters ago that I had a girlfriend... that I just started going out with. Well, we've broken up. Didn't really last long either. Three weeks. Well, that's typical for my relationships. Breakup was last week and I totally forgot about it when I put the author's notes of last chapter.

I'm somehow getting involved with another girl I know already... god, I feel like Leonardo from Radiant Dawn. I swear I do... I just wish I could actually hold the relationship. Maybe this time will different.

... and I swear, I'll introduce more male characters to the company. Just... I have more trouble writing them than I do with female characters. Lol, same with my role-play characters.

Chapter 25

Another Day Off; Another Member

Well, there comes a time in a person's life where you get warned enough times not do to something and you do it anyway. There comes a time where you do that, get hurt... and still do it anyway. That's what they call addiction.

I have found myself addicted to the arena. The next morning came, I asked a few of the mercenaries if they wanted to come to the arena with me so we could rack up some money for the company. Well, for ourselves, but anything we didn't need we could give to Ike for the company. A few of them agreed to either come participate or to watch.

So, my merry group of friends going to the arena were myself, Selena and her new glasses, Ilyana, Jill, Zihark, Elincia, Titania, Mist, and Joshua. Karla respectfully declined my invitation, as well as Boyd and Oscar.

I have to say that the Begnion scientists work quick. I guess some time after we got back from Oliver's place, one of the mercenaries grabbed my glasses and gave it to a researcher. When I woke up, I found my glasses had been fixed and that Selena had her own pair as well. Elincia had a day off from meetings as Oliver would discuss with the Apostle today about the mercenaries. I already knew Joshua would take me up on going to the arena. We both were getting light in our gold bags, though for very different reasons.

So, we entered the arena, which coincidentally had another tournament. Somehow, I have the feeling they do that when we're here just to make us fight each other.

Or maybe they always do it.

Elincia and Titania chose not to participate but to watch. Titania said she'd like to watch us battle and see us at our fullest potential so she could accurately measure us. Elincia merely said that she wanted to see how well we battle while not being distracted herself by enemies.

So, here I sit in the same waiting room as the last time. Joshua and I get cheerful greetings from the group in there. Most of them didn't think either one of us would return. It seemed that, even though, most of them might fall to us easily, they were just as ready as the audience to be entertained by a spectacular fight.

The first few fights were pretty spectacular. Not that the fighters were highly skilled, but they were equally skilled fighters, and we enjoyed seeing them work hard for their victories. Soon, it was Ilyana's turn, and I could almost hear Joshua's flirting in his voice as he cheered her on.

One hit.

That was all it took for Ilyana to win. One thunderbolt straight to the head. I have to say the guy wasn't expecting it and wasn't even prepared for it.

I hope I don't go against Ilyana. I have such low magic resistance for a mage. Sorta makes me think of Knoll and Luck. John is to Resistance as Knoll is to Luck. More analogies from my SAT studies before they changed the damn test.

Yeah, for those people that think Luck isn't that important, I dare you to use Knoll.

My turn, my turn!

... damn...

They had to give me a hard match early in the tournament. I might as well forfeit. There was no way I was winning this.

Standing on the other side of the battlefield was Selena. I nervously smiled and waved to her.

"Stand up straight!" she called out to me. I quickly snapped to attention.

"Look alive!" she called out. Easy for you to say.

"But..." I began.

"But nothing. Show me what you've learned," she said in a forceful, commanding voice.

"... very well teacher. This will be my test," I said aloud.

"Sound alive! You're not at a funeral. I won't kill you. I just won't hold back," she stated.

"Begin!" the judge called out. I quickly cast my first and only stored spell.

"Amaterasu!" I called out. Again, the black flames flew forward, smacking straight into the unsuspecting Selena. I wanted to let up to make sure she was okay, but I knew she wouldn't let up on me.

I heard her call out a spell, but I couldn't tell what it was. Instinctively I looked up to see a huge as hell fireball flying toward me from the sky. I redirected my Amaterasu spell at the fireball. I didn't have much dark energy for the spell, so I prayed that it would stop the fireball or consume it or something. The spell hit the fireball and stopped it. Within a few seconds, it became a ball of black fire.

"Thunder!" I heard Selena shout out. Before I even had the chance to look down, I felt a powerful surge of electricity hit me. It felt like someone smashed me in the chest with a huge hammer that was electrified. I flew backward through the air, spiraling and spinning, and smashed into the wall of the arena. I could feel my right shoulder pop and I had a very uncomfortable feeling. I also felt my nose get smashed, and a felt a few ribs crack. I stuck to the wall, unable to move and for some reason, unable to come off. Ow, fuck! Pain, pain, pain, painful pain! I twitched in pain and felt something pierce my skin through my chest. Next thing I knew, I had a pain overload and I fell unconscious.

I woke up to loud cheering. My whole body was healed, and I could see there were two healers standing around me.

"He's conscious," one of them said.

"That was a pretty nasty beating you took. You really should try to work on your magic resistance a bit more," the other one said.

"Yeah... thanks," I replied.

"The tournament's nearly over. We're at our semi-finals," the first said.

"Can I watch?" I asked them.

"Yes. Just go out this door, and at the top of the stairs is the waiting room," he replied.

"Thanks for healing me," I said.

"It's our job. Those were still nasty injuries," the other said.

I nodded and bolted out the room and up the stairs. About three-quarters of the way up, my asthma caught up and I had to slow down. I got to the top to be greeted by Selena and Ilyana.

"... you sure got the shit beat out of you," one of the people commented.

"Still, an excellent fight. I remember your last time here," another commented.

"Here comes the first semi-finals fight!" most of them cheered. I was mostly oblivious to the comments as I looked toward Ilyana and Selena.

"I'm not upset," I said to Selena as I walked toward her.

"I didn't mean to do that to you. I didn't know how low your magic resistance is," she said.

"... is there a way to work on that?" I asked.

"It'll be painful," she said.

"... I don't want a repeat of that experience in an actual battlefield, you know," I said.

"Later, then," she said to me.

"What happened to you?" I asked both Ilyana and Selena.

"We knocked each other out," Ilyana said faintly.

"Oh, I see," I replied. I looked down to the arena to see Mist standing out there with a sword. Jill was also down there with an axe. Neither one of them were riding their mounts and both of them smiled at each other. Ah, I guess those two are quickly becoming fast friends.

The judge looked at the two for a second before calling out, "Begin!"

As soon as it was called, I saw Mist run forward with a weird looking green sword. Somehow that looks familiar. I can't place my finger on it. Jill crashed her axe into Mist's sword, thunderbolts flying around. I could see small gusts of wind flying from Mist's sword, canceling out the thunderbolts and a few even striking Jill herself

Wait, Jill has a thunder axe? Mist has a Sonic Sword?

Allow me to explain the elemental weapons, as it is different from the game. In the game, the magic weapons based their powers based upon a character's magic stat. It's different in this world. Normal melee attacks are still based upon your strength. It's the strength of the magic that comes from the weapon itself that derives it from a person's magic.

In that sense, Jill has the strength advantage, but she's not a magic user like Mist... so the magic of Mist's sword will overpower Jill's magic from her thunder axe.

Jill was pushing Mist into the ground, but having trouble keeping Mist down... due to the fact that even with thunderbolts flying from her axe, Mist's sword was shooting wind blasts to both neutralize the thunderbolts and smack Jill a couple times. It was only a question of how strong Mist is, and will her magic advantage be enough to counter her strength disadvantage.

It just seemed to be a stalemate, neither one of them seemingly ready to give up. Quite an accomplishment for Mist, I have to say. She's so determined to improve herself ever since Greil's death. I guess she's just scared of dying and needed a way to defend herself. I can't blame her, to be honest.

The two broke away from each other, Mist tired from her lack of strength in combat and Jill tired from all the blasts of wind she took to the body from Mist's sword. The two stared each other down for a few seconds before Jill charged at Mist again. Mist swung her sword a few times in the air to send out scathing wind blasts, but Jill was able to sidestep most of them. A few hit but they made a little clinking sound on her armor like metal on metal. Jill swung her axe vertically downward, aiming at Mist's shoulder. You could see her concentration as she attacked with what seemed to be all her might.

Mist put up her sword to block.

... except Jill pulled the blow at the last second and attacked from a different direction, this time a vertical attack coming from the bottom, intending to slash Mist in the leg. She expected Mist to be surprised by the sneak attack. Mist, however, was not fooled and hopped backward. As she landed on the ground from the hop, she swung her sword and a blast of wind smacked Jill in the face, knocking her back pretty hard and causing her to drop her axe both in surprise and in sheer power.

Mist picked up the axe and said, "Give up now."

Jill nodded and raised a hand and said, "I give."

"Well, it seems that our lovely Jill has been defeated by the equally charming Mist. Give it up for those two courageous fighters!" the announcer called out. A burst of cheering came from the whole audience... and even though I couldn't see it, I knew Titania was somewhere in the audience, smiling in pride and admiration. She truly was Greil's daughter.

"John... I need to talk to you," a voice came from behind me. I turned around, half knowing who that was. I started to learn everyone's voices to identify them because I was always getting spoken to from behind.

"Where shall we go?" I asked Titania. Yeah, I was right. It was her.

"Follow me," she said, walking out of the waiting room. As I got up, she left the room. I followed her out, down the stairs, and to the entrance of the arena.

"The next fight will be Joshua versus Zihark. Two masters of the sword going at it with each other. Who will win?"

I heard the announcer's voice, though it was rather faraway and distant. Damn it, I can't believe I'm missing this fight. I hope it's important.

"Commander Ike wishes to speak with you about the Black Fang and your connection with them. He needs your ability to see in the future to see if there's a possible way to continue our missions without their interference," Titania said.

"Deputy... I... I can't tell anymore," I said solemnly, putting my head down.

"What do you mean?" she asked me peculiarly.

"Everything is so different from how the events were in the game," I said.

"What... what do you mean?" she asked again.

"I can't predict the future anymore. The Black Fang never existed in Tellius, we never were supposed to protect Oliver, a few members of our company didn't exist. This is all so wrong and different. I'm no different than the rest of you with what lies in store in the future. This war may even take more unexpected turns," I said.

"Our history as you know it... has been changed because of some things that weren't here when you saw it..." she said, trying to make sense of things.

"You all have experience and knowledge of this world. I had my future-prediction to keep up. Now that I don't have that, I'm at a double-disadvantage. Not only can I not predict the future and try to prevent further casualties, but in my mind, I still have the basic layout of the history... and I will partially expect something to happen. When it doesn't happen, I'll be unprepared for it... whereas the rest of you will always be prepared for the worst and the unexpected. I expect something and it doesn't happen, and I'm in deeper trouble. I've become quite useless in that regard," I said solemnly. Quite the foil to the mood, the audience in the arena all collectively gasped and cheered.

"Then... I guess the best we can do is train you. Teach you our ways and customs. That way, you can at least be somewhat as prepared as we are," Titania said.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be such a drag on this company," I said.

"You're not. You'll be fine. Perhaps the Goddess Ashera will smile upon you still," Titania said.

"Perhaps... I hope," I replied in a dejected voice.

"Chin up, kid," she said to me encouragingly.

"I'll try..." I said.

"And the winner is Joshua! A close and intense fight... where Joshua managed to pull a miracle. Ladies and gentlemen, that was a fight to never forget," the announcer called out. Looks like Zihark lost barely.

"Oh, I'm too late!"

Titania and I both turned to the voice. A girl in white boots and a rather skimpy blue top stood there. Once again, I have to wonder why do an overwhelming portion of video game and anime girls dress like that? She was carrying a short sword in her right hand and a round, pink shield in her left hand. Her blonde hair was held in a ponytail.

Somehow she looked familiar, but I couldn't place my finger on it.

"Ne, Titania... is it fashionable to dress as... openly... as that? I mean, it's not like every single person who dresses like that is poor and can't afford material... is it?" I asked.

"No... it just seems to be the fashion to dress in various outfits with as little covered as possible. It just seems to be a way to attract attention to themselves from guys they want to get together with," Titania said.

"... that explains why you don't do it," I said thoughtfully.

"What does that mean?" Titania asked.

"Well... you're a down-to-earth person. You're not overwhelmingly obsessed with guys. You realize the needs of other people... and are very modest and helpful in all you do. Besides... I can't imagine you dressed in that outfit," I said to Titania. We both looked at the girl, looked at each other, and just burst out laughing.

"Oi, you two laughing people. Is the tournament over yet?" the girl asked as she walked over.

"N-no!" I exclaimed in between small bouts of laughter, trying to hold my breath.

"Are either of you warriors?" she asked us.

"Both of us are. John here entered and lost to his teacher, and I simply watched the fighters to see if there's anyone who is worthy enough for us to consider hiring," Titania said.

"Hiring?" she asked me.

"We're part of a mercenary company, and we're always looking for good, strong, able fighters to join," Titania said.

"Who do I talk to?" she asked.

"You thinkin' of joining us? You sure about that?" I asked her.

"Are you trying to say I'm not good enough?" she asked me dangerously.

"No, no, not at all!" I hastily replied in slight fear, taking a step back and putting my arms up in apology. I could see Titania smirk at me out of the corner of my eye.

"Whipped..." I heard her comment.

"What?!" I snapped back to Titania.

"Oh, nothing," she replied, a taunting grin plastered on her face.

"Do I have to talk to the leader?" she asked us. Damn, she's determined.

"Titania, John... there you are. I've been looking for you."

The girl turned around and saw Ike coming toward us with a sword in hand.

"Oh, you're a sword fighter?" Ike asked her.

"Yeah, what about it?" she asked.

"If you're interested, you could join my company," he said.

"... you're definitely not my type," she replied in slight disgust.

"What?" he asked her in a confused tone.

"I don't deal with harems, orgies, brothels... whatever you call them," the girl replied.

"No, no, I run a mercenary company," he explained.

"Wait..."

She turned to me and Titania and we both nodded.

"Oh, I'm so sorry sir! I didn't mean that," she apologized in an embarrassed, flustered tone.

"You interested in joining?" he asked her.

"Sure. What do I have to do?" she asked in reply.

"Battle me and let me test your strength," Ike said.

"Okay... now?" she asked.

"Sure, why not?" Ike replied.

"Then, let's go into one of their sparring rooms this arena has," she said.

"Very well," Ike said.

Titania and I followed them to a hallway in the arena. Turns out that every arena has rooms that people can practice before their matches or before their turn in the tournament. It was a simple, medium sized room. This one was for non-mages, so the size of the room didn't matter too much. It was big enough for a nice spar. Ike and the girl stood a few paces from each other as Titania and I watched.

The both of them got into battle positions. I have to say I have never seen anyone really use a shield in this world before. She didn't have armor on, so she wasn't a general. She didn't seem to be the myrmidon type either. I wonder what class she would've been if she was in the game. Maybe a hero?

"Prepare yourself!" Ike said.

"I'm going all out!" she replied to Ike.

"Good," Ike replied.

With that exchange of words, the two rushed at each other and met in their first clash of blades. The girl, as I saw, easily had the strength and weapon disadvantage, both being weaker than Ike and having a smaller sword. However, she also had speed on her side.

The two swords caught each other, and they were in somewhat of a deadlock. Ike was slowly overpowering her. However, she surprised everyone by bashing Ike in the face with her shield that was in her other hand. Ike stumbled back, holding his nose for a second. Not wasting her advantage, the girl ran forward with some pretty decent speed and did something like Link's jump attack at Ike. Ike swung his sword at her to block the attack.

Unfortunately, this was countered by her spinning just a bit in the air and blocking the swing with her shield. The power of the attack, though, threw her off course and she barely missed slashing Ike on the shoulder.

"Creative," Ike commented.

"You're pretty strong," she replied.

"Okay... that's enough," Ike said.

"But I didn't do that well!" she replied in protest.

"What's your name?" he asked her, ignoring her protests.

"Ca...rin," she said with a slight pause.

"How would you spell that?" Ike asked.

"C... A... R... I... N," she said, spelling out her name.

"Okay. I'm Ike, that's Titania... the deputy commander, and that's John... one of our mages," Ike said, pointing to Titania and I as he introduced us.

"Nice to meet you!" she said carefully but with a smile.

"Likewise," I replied to her. Great, another female in the company. Let's have a few males... please?

"And now the final fight of the tournament's getting ready to begin. Both fighters have been healed and rested. Get ready for the battle between the cute and charming Mist and the adoring amoretto Joshua," the announcer called out.

"Amoretto?" the other three asked in unison.

"Eh, it means... oh, I can't explain it. Where I'm from, it means 'little cupid'," I said.

"Oh, Cupid! We had those stories too!" Carin exclaimed. Ike and Titania both turned to her a bit.

"I wasn't raised around stories in my childhood," Ike said.

"As neither was I," Titania said.

"Oh, Cupid's the story of this little tiny angel that was also an archer. Anyone he shot with his arrows would fall in love... or something like that," Carin said enthusiastically before scratching the back of her head at not being sure.

"Sounds... about... right..." I said a bit suspiciously.

"Let's go see the finals of the tournament!" Carin exclaimed as she hurried out of the room.

"Something about her is... funny," Ike said in a low voice to me and Titania.

"A story from back where I am from... in this world through that girl? I'm already suspicious about her," I said back to Ike.

"Wait, so she wasn't making it up?" Titania asked.

"No, she was mostly dead on about Cupid. I didn't grow up too much around stories either, but from what I know, that's about right," I said.

"Could... it be that... she's from your world as well?" Ike asked.

"You saw her skill with a blade. Do you think that is easily learned and picked up? Even if she was from my world, there's not much sword fighting anymore in my world. It was more of a refined hobby than an actual way to fight wars," I explained.

"Her style is rather different compared to anything I've seen before," Ike commented.

"Maybe she's self-taught?" I asked Ike.

"Not many sword fighters use a shield either," Titania said.

"And the fighters approach the center of the ring! We'll be starting as soon as the judges are ready!"

"Hurry!" I quickly said to Ike and Titania and bolted out of the room. I ran through the staircase and a minute or so later, I was back in the room with Zihark and Ilyana and the others. My asthma was starting to catch up with my running, so I just plopped down in an empty spectator's chair and watched the ring breathlessly... literally.

"Are you okay?" Ilyana asked me.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," I replied in between gasps of breath.

"Are you hungry?" she asked me.

"... no," I replied.

"I am... hey... uh... Bill?"

"Zihark."

"Yes, Zihark... can I have something to eat?" Ilyana asked him.

"Here's half of my loaf of bread," Zihark said.

"Thank you!" Ilyana exclaimed.

"Just don't eat it--"

"What?" Ilyana asked. I turned to her and all that remained of the bread was a few crumbs near her mouth.

"Nevermind," Zihark replied with a sigh and a little smile. Ilyana sat down next to Zihark and soon the judges gave a signal to the announcer.

"The final match is about to begin! Ready? Fight!"

Wasting no time, Joshua rushed forward toward Mist with speed comparable to Karla's. Oh, Karla... why aren't you here to watch this?

Before Joshua could even reach Mist, she swung her sword, releasing a huge blast of wind energy at Joshua. It smacked into him, nearly throwing him off balance and slowing him down significantly. I could see that his clothes were beginning to rip a bit... it was probably a scathing wind.

That must've taken a lot out of Mist, because she took a knee on the ground and began panting a bit.

Joshua stood his ground until the wind was gone. As soon as it was done, he rushed forward at Mist again and slashed at her. Mist, still on her knee, put her sword up and blocked the blow. She could've easily been overpowered by Joshua's superior strength, but little bursts of wind kept flying from her sword and smacking Joshua all over. As with the fight with Jill, Mist was using her magic to counter her strength weakness.

Joshua probably realized putting distance between the two of them would be a bad idea, so he stepped back, pulled his sword back, and stabbed at Mist's shoulder. Mist fell to her side onto the ground to dodge the attack. From the ground she tried to slash her sword through the air. The blast of wind that came out wasn't as effective or as powerful as some of the others she sent. It was enough to knock Joshua back a few feet and give Mist enough time to get up.

Mist took the offensive this time, running at Joshua and hacking and slashing at the air, sending blasts of wind continually at Joshua. Joshua, trying to get in a defensive position to block Mist's assault, found himself battered a couple times by the sword's magical blasts. I could tell, though, that each blast was draining Mist's magic and I could tell she was really tired.

One blow.

Mist swung her sword at Joshua and he blocked it. The resulting clash caused another blast of magic to fly from the sword and smack Joshua on the chin. He was lifted a few feet in the air. Mist took advantage of his weakness and thrust her sword at him. She winced as she stabbed her sword through his left thigh. Quickly she pulled it out as Joshua landed hard on both legs. He gave a quick yelp of pain from his new wound and fell to the ground.

"Give in," Mist said.

"Me? Yield?" Joshua asked. Mist put the tip of her sword to Joshua's neck, her hand shaking badly.

"Please yield," she asked him.

"The match is over. As contestant Joshua has been put into a position that would have lead to his defeat, he is now disqualified. Mist is the champion! Congratulate her with your warm, thunderous applause!" the announcer called in a bright voice. As he did so, the healers with their physic staves healed Joshua.

Twenty minutes later, our group was sitting in an all-you-can-eat buffet that had recently re-opened. It was next to the arena. It seems the company had to close down for a short time to re-stock their supplies. I think this was the one Ilyana demolished last time we were at the arena.

Poor company...

Ilyana was with us again.

"So... good job, Mist..." Joshua said.

"Thank you!" she said excitably in reply.

"Your technique has improved quite a bit, Mist. I'm genuinely impressed," Ike complimented.

"Not only that, but it seems you incorporated the elements of the magical sword into the technique to make your own style," Titania added.

"It sure was enough to beat us," Jill said with a smile.

"I... I really don't deserve all this praise," Mist said, her face turning red with embarrassment from all the attention she was getting.

We ate fast, hoping to fill ourselves before Ilyana demolished the buffet. Once again, the feeling of family, the feeling of acceptance, the feeling of togetherness was felt. A company of people of all walks of life and from all places gathered together as one group. It was a feeling of acceptance and perhaps even love... a feeling I didn't feel at home that I felt lucky to experience. I could see even our new member Carin was starting to participate. I still can't trust her, though. There's something about here that irks me and probably will. She seems so familiar and at the same time she seems so out of place here.

I also can't help but sensing that there's some kind of foreboding, ominous, evil presence about her. Not Carin herself, but just something around her... maybe her weapons or her clothes or something, but I can't shake that doom and gloom feeling.

Oh well... that's a thought for another day.

Author's Note: New character. I'm still working on the profile of a male OC to put into this fic. I realized that Carin resembles my RP character Karen a lot in terms of personality... and even name. It was a coincidence (there's a reason she's named what she is), but I find it a bit of irony.

Also, Nightwish owns your soul.

Also... I have to ask... being critical about my writing and my writing style... has my character shown any kind of character development throughout the story? I mean, it is supposed to be based on myself... correction... the character IS myself... but I have to wonder about his characterization. Is he static or is he developing?

Same with the canon characters. Am I portraying them properly (with a few exceptions... like Karla... whose personality I really... didn't care for too much... and she didn't really have much IMO, so I molded her into something else)? Am I being faithful to the canon?

Speak out in your reviews for this chapter about the characterization. As I said before, I'm bringing in some male characters to counteract all the females in the story... I'm just a bit wary because male characters are always harder to play as (irony being that I'm a guy).