Thanks to all of you readers for your words of kindness and… good… stuff. A few things I'd like to bring up now:
First of all, my new Nintendo Wii is being shipped to my homeland as we speak, and will be arriving on Wednesday. I'll try to update again before that, since I will be very busy with a certain master-sword wielding hero for a few days. Also, Christmas is coming up soon, so there'll be a shortage of chapters during that time as well.
Second, I just saw "Déjà vu" in theaters… it rocks the house, big time. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes a good action/mystery/adventure/suspense movie.
And finally: enjoy the following piece of writing that I will now provide for you.
The product of slacking off
Rinn hid behind a large slab of granite stuck in the soft ground. Just as he dove into the protection of the sturdy material, a thick, flaming mass of napalm rushed by him, burning the heel of his shoe. Rinn immediately began to cast water on the blaze stuck to his heel, but stopped and decided it was better to put it out by jamming it into the sand surrounding him.
Smoke rose from the extinguishing of the flame, rising until it went above the blocked view of the granite slab. Too late, Rinn figured out that the creature would see that smoke; he sprinted away just as the slap was flicked behind Bahamut. Having no cover, Rinn looked up into the looming face of his attacker: Bahamut.
Bahamut inhaled deeply, ready to lob another burst of searing hot napalm at Rinn, who now was defenseless. Rinn utilized his only hope left: running. He sprinted to the left, knowing the technique would be next to useless in the columned circular room. Light streamed through the oval windows on the first and second story wall; the ceiling of the first floor completely obliterated, therefore leaving no floor for the second story, either. Rinn was cut off by Bahamut's claw slamming into the ground directly in front of him; he turned around to see the other had been set down at the same time.
As Bahamut reared his great, black head back, light reflected off of the durable, metallic shielding that covered his face. The light went directly into Rinn's light sensitive eyes, blinding him. As Rinn heard the sound of the napalm being hurled towards him, he knew it was game over.
--
Trent shook his head clear after behind tail-whipped into the stone wall of the large, circular clearing. He ran his hand's through the sandy flooring and picked himself up, now angry. He could clearly see Bahamut about 50 or so yards in front of him. Just barely in his line of sight, Trent could see Rinn dive behind one of the stone slabs that had fallen from the wall behind him during the fight. Trent picked up his broadsword and rushed to the back of the dragon. After covering about half of the distance, the granite chunk was flung behind Bahamut, heading directly for Trent.
Trent thought quickly and dove forward into a front flip, sword in front of him. The downward slash that resulted cut the stone in half, ready to fly apart. With lighting-fast reflexes, Trent landed his dive and dropped his blade, spreading out both arms to catch the two halves of the granite before they could go very far. He managed to catch then and flung the right half at the back of Bahamut's head.
Bahamut was nearly ready to crush Rinn with his claw, but the slab smacked the dragon just in time. Bahamut temporarily lost his focus and overshot the distance, claw landing just in front of Rinn, cutting off Rinn's escape. Trent looked back to the hulking black monster after dealing with the recoil of his throw, seeing that Bahamut was ready to shoot another ball of napalm at Rinn. Trent panicked and took the sword in his right hand, the other half of the granite still in his left; Trent made a mad dash to the one-on-one fight on the other side of the room.
--
Stealthily leaping across the top edge of the fully curved wall with his natural cat-like mithran reflexes, Aran surveyed the fight going on beneath him with unparalleled scrutiny. Searching for even the smallest lapse in Bahamut's defense, Aran soon found what he was looking for. He noticed that Bahamut's two shoulder-blades doubled as a section of outer armor; when Bahamut was hunched over, the shoulder-blades would be pulled up a bit in reaction, therefore exposing a softer patch of dragon skin underneath his hard blackened exterior.
Once Bahamut had once more attempted to intimidate Rinn by hulking over him, the patch was revealed and Aran utilized his mithran eyes to study the material. From his high perch, he could only see enough to make a brief assumption, but Bahamut's movement made it even harder. Before Aran could identify the substance, a broad chunk of granite came crashing on the black dragon's back; part of it getting stuck in between the sections of armor, covering up the patch.
For the love of god, Trent… Aran though, sighing. He was pulled out of his discouragement, however, when he saw the dragon pull back slightly, though less than usual, to chuck another flaming horror at his black mage friend. Aran thought the only way he could: like a white mage would.
"Protect!"
--
In one combined swoop of swift movement and judgment, the three heroes acted as one. Trent leapt at the beast from behind while Aran jumped down from his perch, protecting Rinn from Bahamut's attack as he fell. Trent used the granite slab jammed in Bahamut's back as a platform to jump forward from, still armed with another stone sheet and his sword. As Aran began to cast a wide-spread cure spell to heal the three, Trent front-flipped in his dragon-jump, crushing Bahamut's chest armor with a thunderous crack as granite connected with dragon; sending the monstrous form flying backwards, catching itself mere feet before colliding with the wall that Trent had been flung into.
Staggering backwards, Bahamut clutched his injured chest with his claw, now presenting himself with a "mad-dog" look in his eyes. The creature was going berserk, and the heroes knew this fight wouldn't last much longer. Aran looked to Trent, Trent looked to Rinn, and Rinn nodded solemnly to confirm that the opportune moment had come.
Rinn took on a stalwart stance and stomped towards the monster, bringing his arms up and down accordingly to his heavy steps. The crusty earth shook and crack as he neared the dragon, which reacted predictably: with rage and force. Rinn punched the air with a right hook, still a good way away from the charging beast. After about a second's delay, a massive coil of stone and sand burst from the ground and right-hooked Bahamut accordingly, toppling him to the ground. Bahamut got back on his feet, once again charging at Rinn, only to be smacked the other way. As his rage built, Bahamut lost his focus, forgetting to guard his damaged center. Rinn continued to push back the raging beast with his assault of earth until Bahamut's back was literally against the wall.
Rinn turned back to his partners and shouted. "Take formation, now!"
Bahamut, now completely lost to his anger, spread his massive wings and flapped them in great strokes, creating heavy waves of wind that smashed against the heroes as they attempted to destroy him. Rinn used his earth attunement to create a stone brace at Aran's feet, keeping him from moving. Aran now stood firmly behind Trent, whom had Rinn standing in front of him. "Ready, Rinn?" Aran shouted to his friend over the roar of Bahamut's shockwaves.
"Go for it!"
Right then… Aran thought, gripping the pauldrons of Trent's armor to keep him from being blown away. "Transmute: Solar Alloy!" shouted Aran once more, concentrating with all of his might on the steel of presented in front of him. In another second's delay, Trent's armor flashed into a bright yellow from its normal crimson. The sun shined in from the gaping hole in the wall and lack of ceiling; at first glaring off of the new metal, then disappearing into it. Slowly the color changed from canary yellow to an intense white light as the solar alloy collected the sun energy.
Bahamut furiously rampaged towards Rinn, Trent, and Aran as soon as he noticed the wind wasn't working. Drawing ever closer as the beast dashed across the land, Rinn squinted his eyes against the flying sand, standing solemnly in front of Trent. Wait for it… Rinn thought as Bahamut sprinted across another fourth of the land. Wait for it… just a bit closer… his thoughts continued; the black dragon, still oblivious to lack of chest protection, was not too far from his prey, covering yards in single steps.
Now.
Rinn utilized his channeling skill and placed a hand over Trent's chest-plate, instantly gaining use of the massive amounts of energy stores in it. With his left side to Trent and Aran, left arm on the power source, and right arm and staff point aiming directly at Bahamut's weakened chest, Rinn could only hope that Aran's new stone bracers could hold out against the recoil of their attack.
"Team Maneuver: Solar Beam!"
The massive kick from the shot washed over the three, first traveling through Rinn's arms, to Trent's upper body, on to Aran's entire form, carrying down through the stone bracers and emptying into the earth beneath them. Sight was no longer an option as the sound of a rushing hurricane paired with the screeches of Bahamut filled the air, all vision blocked out by the brilliant white light of the beam.
It hit not only Bahamut's weak area, but completely overran him, covering the beast in the force of the powerful attack. Suddenly, though, everything went back to how it was. There was no more sand, no more dragon, and no more solar beam. The wind had gone, the sounds forgotten, and the pain had left. Back on the center floor of Mr. King's coliseum-like room, Rinn, Trent, and Aran brushed themselves off a bit and awaited a verdict.
Mr. King looked them over briefly and spoke. "Well, that wasn't half a bad job in the simulation, boys… It's good to see some initiative being taken in these projects nowadays… most of the time; everyone just leaves it until the last day to think up a team move."
At this, of course, the three flinched internally, knowing that that was exactly what they had done. Mr. King continued, though; "The attack was certainly good enough to take out Bahamut at that level… good teamwork… not too flashy… I'll give your project 94 out of 100 points, congratulations."
"Heck yes!"
"Aww yeah!"
"Jubilations!"
--
After class had finished, Rinn turned to Trent in the hallway while walking back to the dorm. He simply chuckled and shook his head before looking up. "Jubilations, eh?"
"It seemed like an appropriate thing to say."
--
That about wraps it up, peoples… sorry about the how long it's been since the last update; I blame… uh…
Hell, I'm just lazy. I also got a Wii, sooo… Zelda has a great deal to do with my absence. Anyways, I'll see you guys later.
Cheers, Jiece.