Kage Ryu's Continued Blueland Adventure

"Watch out!"

Moments after the cry, a shield crashed into Kage Ryu and shoved him far out of the way. Vera Playnes, the owner of the shield, then took the brunt of Klulerhorn's icy blast in Kage's stead. Despite having only slightly more resistance to magic than Kage, Vera was quite adept at taking hits. However, she was at her limit now.

"Vera! You all right!?" Kage called out. He rushed over to her as the overpowered goblin patriarch charged his Head of the Tribe's Wand for another attack.

"Heh, not really... I was being clumsy again, wasn't I?" Vera uttered with a pained smile.

Klulerhorn cared not for the drama, and swung his charged staff at the pair. However, his strike was interrupted as he was thrown to the wayside by a powerful Body Check, paralyzing his movement for a time. The assailant was a half-elven warrior clad in light blue leather armor, who then readied his blade for a follow-up attack. The lightning-surged Windy Blow tore through the mighty goblin, but wasn't enough to put him out. Klulerhorn responded by thrusting his still-charged staff into the warrior, knocking him back several meters.

"Raiken!" Vera called out to the warrior.

"I'm fine," Raiken V'Cazel grunted, staggering to his feet. He had taken a heavy hit, but his spirit always kept him going.

"Good, because it's time to finish this," Kage remarked. "Ready?"

"Go!"

The great goblin patriarch's power overflowed, but his body was in rags; he couldn't take much more. Kage leaped into the air as Klulerhorn readied yet another attack. The patriarch's attention shifted, however, as Raiken dashed into his peripheral, sword in hand.

"Blazing Sky!" Kage shouted, coming down from the air with his sword aflame. The distracted goblin turned just in time to see plumes of fire blasting into his face as Kage's sword slammed against the earth. Klulerhorn reeled in pain, then Raiken's electrically-charged blade ripped through his back.

Dark power erupted as Klulerhorn's body shredded into the abyss; but soon, that power would escape.

"Now!" shouted Raiken.

"Right!" Kage replied, racing towards the light in the middle of the dark aura.

This light was the third crystalloid of evil power that the group sought, as well as the source of Klulerhorn's power. Kage Ryu reached out, but it was too late. The crystalloid, as well as the dark aura, vanished as quickly as it had appeared. The mission had failed.

"Phew, it's over now, right?" Vera sighed with a hopeful smile.

"Tch, not in the least," responded Raiken distastefully. "It's gone. This is the third time we failed to grab the crystalloid, and now all of the giant goblins are slain."

"Well, this is entirely inconvenient," Kage added with a smile, sheathing his sword.

"Must you always be so cheerful about such nuisances?"

"Well, I just find it unproductive to get annoyed by it, 'tis all. Besides," Kage turned towards Vera, "I'm more concerned about how our tanker is doing after three boss fights in a row."

Kage had a point. Previously, the trio had taken on Kylmuris and Ras, two other giant goblins that had been corrupted by the dark energy. Vera Playnes, while covered in copper armor, had taken a great many hits from the goblins' sword and bow, and now her armor, custom-made by Raiken, had been compromised for the most part by Klulerhorn's magic. Even the clothes she wore underneath had become tattered.

"Oh, really, it's not that bad," Vera argued, getting up. "I'm used to taking this many hits, anyway. I'll be just fine."

She walked. She tripped. She fell.

"What are we going to do with you?" Raiken sighed, although he was really quite amused by the action.

"We're gonna head back to the Harbor, report to Wisy, and take a breather for the night; that's what!" Kage stated, helping Vera back to her feet. To Alker Harbor they went.


A bright, sunny morning welcomed Kage as he emerged from his tent after a great night's sleep. The sunlight sunk into his spiked, ebony hair and reflected off of the white glasses that perpetually hid his eyes, eyes which gazed upon the sea of clouds that hovered past the edge of the cliff of Alker Harbor.

After stretching out a bit, Kage sat down in the grass, noticing a bloodstain on his jeans left over from the previous day's battles. He then turned his head to see Raiken, asleep against a tree with a brand new set of red bronze armor next to him.

Raiken, seemingly the only half-elf in all of Blueland, was also quite the craftsman. Everything he wore - the leather iron-toed boots, the tan pants, the light blue cloak/tunic garment, the yellow bronze belt, the iron shoulder/chest guard, even down to the dark blue gloves, scarf cape and headband - were all constructed by Raiken. The calluses on Raiken's hands suggested that he had stayed up through the night in order to construct the armor that lay next to him. As Raiken himself never wore such an abundance of heavy metals (it would just slow him down), and Kage's armor was still in good condition, this new set was likely crafted for Vera.

Kage pondered the armor for a while. It seemed that such a project would take weeks, and Raiken must have been working on the armor for quite some time. As serious and blunt as Raiken appeared to be, deep down he strongly cared for any teammate that gained his trust, such as Vera.

Ah, Vera, Kage thought to himself.

Vera Playnes was another case altogether. Although heavy armor, such as the set made by Raiken, had an impact on her ability to take damage, her endurance stemmed mostly from her incredible stamina. The fact that Vera could assess tons of bodily damage and brush it off the next day made it hard for one to believe she was only human.

Another interesting fact was that Vera hardly ever used her shield to actually block. Instead, she would parry attacks with the sword wielded in her right hand. Stranger still was that she was a southpaw, who would, more often than not, attack with her shield.

As Kage was thinking about this, he heard a rustling from the other tent.

After a while, Vera emerged. "Good morning," she cheered softly, still slightly sleepy.

Kage nodded and responded, "And a good morning to you too." He turned to Raiken. "Hear that, Raiken? I think it's time to wake up."

"Yeah, I hear ya," muttered the barely audible Raiken, eyes still closed.

"Great then. After breakfast, we shall head for Zakandia," announced Kage.

According to Wisy, there were still two more sources of evil power left: Gyer, the giant black bear, and Heis, the grand iron golem. If Kage and his team could get a crystalloid from at least one of them, then they could find out how these oversized monstrosities came to be.

They continued onto Zakandia after breakfast, with Vera constantly thanking Raiken for the new armor. Raiken was clearly annoyed by this after a while, but out of courtesy, did not say anything.

After a few hours of hiking, the trio reached Zakandia. Zakandia, for the most part, was populated by goblins. It took yet another hour of wading through the masses of monsters before they reached the city.

"Alright," spoke Kage, "Let's go and ask some of these people where we can find the monsters."

"Let's! Let's!" agreed Vera. "I feel ready to take on the world with this awesome new armor that Raiken made me!"

Raiken ignored the praise. "I'm going to get some supplies from the local vendor. You two can ask around."

"Okay, Raiken, and thanks again!" Vera praised.

"Don't mention it," Raiken muttered, adding in thought, Ever.

He turned and walked away, rather eager to get away from the excessive gratitude.

After finishing shopping for various items, Raiken heard a voice. It was hard to make out the tone or the location, but the sudden voice was asking for a duel.

A duel, huh? Raiken wondered, then replied, "Alright, I accept."

He turned to face the voice for the first time, but there was no one there. Raiken readied his sword and studied the environment.

Show yourself, he thought, I know you're hiding somewhere. . .

Suddenly, Raiken felt it - a sharp blow to the head that sent him into a daze. He couldn't think, but he could see. What he saw was a purple-clothed man with a ponytail wielding a dagger, slashing at him with such speed that Raiken's eyes could not keep up. It was over as quickly as it started; Raiken hit the ground, hard.

"Unh..." grunted Raiken, struggling to his feet. He was in severe pain, and bleeding at that, but at least his life was not in danger. Being grateful for that, as well as being a good sportsman, Raiken congratulated the fighter.

"But," Raiken added, "just what... was that?"

"It's a skill," replied the rogue. "If you ever need help... just whisper me."

And just how does that work? retorted Raiken in his mind. "Wait, what is your name?"

"Windmill," he answered. As suddenly as he had come, Windmill vanished from sight.

A puzzled Raiken stood there, contemplating the duel he had lost. His moment of peace was soon interrupted by a familiar scream.

"RAIKEN! Goodness, are you alright!?" cried out Vera, as she and Kage hurried to his aid.

Kage gaped, "Whoa, what happened to you?"

"This is nothing," retorted Raiken. "I just need to rest for a bit."

"My goodness!" worried Vera, "Oh, if only you wore this armor instead, you wouldn't have gotten hurt, and -"

"It wouldn't have mattered. I was... too slow. And underprepared."

"Yeah, but -"

"Hold on, hold on," Kage cut in. "So, what exactly happened here?"

Raiken did not answer right away; he simply looked off into the direction Windmill had last gone. After a moment, he replied, "I lost. I lost a duel." He hardened his distant gaze, finishing with, "I was probably far out of my league anyway."

Vera gave a sigh of relief, "Phew... I thought you had gotten into trouble or something." She smiled, "I'm just glad you're okay!"

"Thanks," Raiken said, "but I won't be satisfied until I get stronger." I cannot lose again; I will challenge him again someday, and win.

"Well then, I think I have something that might cheer you up," Kage assured Raiken.

"Really? And that might be... ?" Raiken was curious now.

"The chance to defeat Gyer, of course! Vera and I found out where he tends to hang around. Surely capturing his crystalloid will restore a bit of your honor?"

"Restore my honor? Maybe. But I'll definitely feel better once we do that."

"Splendid!" Kage exclaimed. "Take five, then we shall get to the bear hunting."

"Back to adventure!" Vera interjected.

"All right then," said Raiken. Windmill... I know you're willing to help. But this is a battle I must fight alone, until we are equals in power.

After a period of rest, Kage Ryu and his team set out to destroy the beastly bear, Gyer, just as they destroyed the goblins.