"What do you mean, you carried all three of us?!" I repeat in disbelief. "That's just absurd!"

At this moment, I was standing outside of Druca's inn and talking to the mystery girl. Sapphy and Rosie enthusiastically went around exploring the town, due to never having seen it before.

"I know it's ridiculous, but it's true," The girl counters. "Believe what you will, but I did carry you all. Not that it was easy, though."

"W-Well, yeah... I guess without you, we would have been monster food... So, thanks. Who are you, by the way?"

"My name's Esther. My goal is to become a luminary!"

"Luminary? You mean like a legendary hero?"

"No, that's a different kind of Luminary. In fact, I don't even think there are any legends revolving around Luminaries. But the luminary I'm aiming to be is basically a street performer. I've been practicing day in and day out to get my moves right. Watch this!"

Esther stepped back a little, and started dancing. I had to say, her moves were absolutely graceful! Who knew even a little kid could master such art? Not me, that's for sure. She stopped and took a bow.

"You're really good!" I gasped. "How'd you get it all right?"

"It wasn't easy, you know," Esther replied. "It took blood, sweat, and tears to get to where I am now. Right now I'm only dancing at the inn, but one of these days I'll get out there and travel the world. By the way, you're a traveler, right? Where are you headed now?"

"We're headed to-" But I'm interrupted by a booming sound coming from the town exit. When I turned to look, I could see monsters incoming, just like how monsters invaded Resed. Now they were attacking Druca?!

"Not on my watch!" I yelled. "C'mon, Sapphy! Esther, you better stay back!"

"But I-!" She was already out of earshot.

Sapphy and Rosie immediately heeded my call, and we assaulted the enemy together. We took on a wave of a bewarewolf and a skeleton, like the ones that knocked us out back in the Cryptic Woods. We may have lost to these guys once, but not again! The three of us, remembering what hurt that bewarewolf could bring, unleash a simultaneous attack on it.

But it doesn't even flinch. Dammit! These bewarewolves are just damage sponges! Thankfully, the bewarewolf was a little less aggressive this time, as it attacked me without assuming its Feel the Burn stance. The skeleton landed another attack on me, which hurt slightly more than the bewarewolf's strike, but I was fine.

"Let's wipe them out quick," I say to Rosie. "Rosie, cast Frizzle NOW!"

Rosie casts the spell, and I use the same spell too. Both of our spells hit the bewarewolf. The combined spell deals massive damage! In desperation, the bewarewolf assumes its Feel the Burn stance, but I knew this would be useless, as one more hit would be sure to take it out. But the skeleton uses Helm Splitter on Sapphy. Shoot! Sapphy's already weak to attacks as she is, and now she's even more vulnerable...

But we can work around that! I slash at the bewarewolf hastily, which takes it down. Sapphy turns to the Skeleton and casts Swoosh on it. Before it can react, I land a Falcon Slash on it, also killing it.

"Watch out!" Rosie warns us. "More monsters are coming!"

True to her word, another wave of monsters draw near! Another bewarewolf and skeleton... It looks like unlike in Druca, these monsters weren't gonna give up so easily. Sapphy, miffed at this, commands Rosie to cast Kerfrizz. Two fireballs hit the bewarewolf, while the last one hits the skeleton. I assault the skeleton with a Flame Slash. A critical hit! Nice!

The monsters make their move. The bewarewolf immediately assumes its the Feel the Burn stance, while the skeleton uses a basic attack on Sapphy. She looks fine, though. Maybe these skeletons were weaker than I thought?

But there's no time to think about that! The bewarewolf already entered its dangerous stance, so I had to take it out before it became a threat. I psyched myself up to deal more damage with my next attack. Sapphy bounces off her slimy steed to land an attack on the bewarewolf. But she barely makes a dent, and the bewarewolf's tension increases. It smirks as it lands a free, powered-up hit. She jumps back onto Rosie.

"What are you doing?!" I scream. "You're overestimating your own strength!"

"Well, sorry," She replies.

The bewarewolf turned to me and slashed, making me wince a little. Since the skeleton almost looked like it was about to crumble, I faced it and slashed it in its skull, causing it to collapse. I keep going by suddenly casting Frizzle on the bewarewolf, and Sapphy finally finishes it off.

"Phew!" Sapphy sighs. "That was a little tough, but we pulled through."

"Don't celebrate yet!" Rosie yells. "There's more where that came from!"

Of course, Sapphy just had to jinx things. The usual bewarewolf and skeleton appeared, but this time they were accompanied by a lunatick. I remember that lunaticks are pretty strong...!

"Gah! Me and my big mouth!"

"There's no end to them!" I exclaim. "What the heck do we do?! We're almost out of energy!"

Suddenly, someone runs in front of us and attacks them all at once. It's... Esther?! And she's using a whip! She could fight like us?

"Esther!" I gasp. "You came to back us up!"

"Esther?" Sapphy repeats.

"Introductions later," She says. "It's beatdown time! Kerspark!"

Esther calls upon the power of light, which damages all the enemies with holy power. The skeleton, being the undead corpse it is, takes massive damage from the divine attack and almost perishes. That was really strong! Probably the strongest I've ever seen... She'd be a great addition to our team.

But I should really get back to the task on hand. I singled out the skeleton, and it turns to bone dust. Sapphy casts Swoosh on the bewarewolf. But she looks discouraged.

"What's wrong?" I say.

"I'm almost out of magic. And you were right, my physical attacks are really weak. What should I do?"

"Even though your attacks are weak, you should keep fighting! Every bit of help counts, you know."

"Right. Thanks!"

Esther glares at the bewarewolf with intense eyes, and gives it a taste of her whip. The lunatick, however, rushes at Sapphy and starts tickling her. She bursts out laughing. This... was a rather unusual strategy for a monster, I had to say. But it then quickly fires a laser at her, which paralyzes her!

"That was Paralaser!" Esther exclaims. "She can't move after being hit by that!"

"Then we gotta protect her!" I reply. I step in front of Sapphy to take any blows she might take. Just as I thought, the bewarewolf goes in to land an attack on her, but I shield her entirely and take the whole blow.

Esther swings her whip to attack the bewarewolf and the lunatick at the same time, and the former dies from the blow. Before the lunatick has a chance to strike, I counterattack, taking it down.

"Is that all of them this time?" I ask Rosie.

"Yup," She says. "Splatted every last one of 'em!"

"Thanks, Esther. We wouldn't have held them off if we didn't have your help."

"Haha, it's nothing," She shrugs. "But you're welcome."

"I never got to tell you where we're going. We're headed to Arkano. Wanna come with?"

"Oh, yeah! I've been meaning to leave Druca for a long time. Hopefully my parents don't go crazy over this. Take care of me, alright?"

We bid Druca farewell as we got closer to our objective: Arkano.


The one in which David and Sapphy get another party member: Esther from Druca!

I was actually able to write this in one shot. Who knows, maybe my knack for fanfic writing is coming back.