The Guardian Blade
Chapter 3: Old Friends
Okay, big problem here...I have writer's block. Dammit...
Dark Side: Ooh, fun. Sounds painful.
Shut up, you...anyway, I can't decide what's going to happen next to the crew...so, I decided to make this chapter about some old friends we haven't seen for years! Whee.
Dark Side: "Whee"? Is someone running out of things to say?
You just never know when to shut up...you're starting to remind me of Sean.
Dark Side: Huh?
Wait, no, not even Sean is as sadistic and thick-headed as you...
Dark Side: You know, I DO have the power to set things on fire.
You wouldn't dare burn me. The whole yin and yang thing, right?
Dark Side: I wasn't talking about you. (Holds up Knight's Yu-Gi-Oh deck)
HEY! PUT THAT DOWN! DON'T YOU DARE HURT MY HYOZANRYU!
Dark Side: Ha ha...I love getting the better of you. (Carelessly tosses deck aside, sending the cards flying everywhere)
You evil person, you...
Dark Side: Thank you for that compliment. *whistles softly as he slides Knight's Hyozanryu up his sleeve, intending to use it for more blackmail later...*
...Right. (Cleans up cards, doesn't check to see if his favorite card Hyozanryu is still there, *coughnaivecough* then gets back to work) Another thing: I got Wild Arms 3. I've been playing it a lot. I've beaten it and completed almost all the sidequests except for the Ariochs and the dreaded Abyss. So, I read the story you can read to Clive's daughter, and realized that Anastasia's in that too. Someone on a message board also said that the meteor in Chapter 10 was Lord Blazer, which is why Marivel told Jack to contact Anastasia, and apparently, in the seven years between chapters 10 and 11, that was when the battle against the Blaze of Disaster was fought. So, uh...though I don't agree with it, if he's right, that kinda completely negates this story, right? But I don't want to give it up...so, uh, I'll pretend that story in WA3 never happened. Okay? A/U, if you will.
Dark Side: See, the thing is, this guy's a respected veteran on the GameFAQs message board, so if you disagreed with him, you'd probably be jumped by him and every other veteran on that board.
What happened to freedom of speech?
Dark Side: It went up your ass and to the left.
That's just wrong...One last thing. I'm looking over the list of Wild Arms fanfics, and I notice something peculiar. This fanfic, at this time, only has seven reviews. Quite a few decent ones dealing with WA1 and 2 have zero to ten reviews. Now take a look at the ones about Wild Arms 3. Many of them are decent, some are worse than others, some are better than others, but they have much more reviews than the ones about WA1 and 2. So, I assume this means everyone's reading only the WA3 stories (or just the Jet/Virginia's...), and almost no one is paying attention to the older ones. I'm not saying Wild Arms 3 is bad-hell, it's my favorite PS2 game-but don't forget about the classics, please!
Dark Side: ''Don't forget about the classics, please"? That's just weird...
Well, the classics are what led up to the current game, you know...Anyway, what I really mean is, read and review OR DIE!
Dark Side: Sounds like something I would say. I'm rubbing off on you.
No you're not. Never mind that last part. Just read and review.
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Somewhere in the plains of Filgaia, a small monster treaded along silently, hunting for prey. Sensing something in the distance, it raised its almost-invisible head. More food, perhaps?
The monster, a small Pillbug, shuffled along the desolate wasteland, hoping that it would find some hapless Dream Chaser to feast on.
After a few minutes, it stopped and sniffed the air once more. Sending out invisible sonar waves, it attempted to realize what the giant object in front of it was.
No...it wasn't food. It was the gates of an enormous castle. Enormous to the small Pillbug, at least. Letting out what sounded like a sigh, the Pillbug turned and shuffled away from the portal, resigning to its endless hunt once more.
Inside the castle, two machines sat on a table, having been deactivated millennia ago. These two round machines, one red and white, the other blue and white, existed only to serve a master. But when their master fell into a sleep, so did they.
Minutes after we realize this, however, one of them suddenly jerked. Its small eyes began to glow, and its tiny jet engine kicked in. Hob slowly rose from the surface of the table, taking in its surroundings.
The next second, its brother, Gob, also followed the same process. As Gob flew into the air to join its brother, they looked at each other with a certain expression, and at the same time they realized the same thing.
Their master had awoken at last.
Down in the basement, a large object sat in the center of an altar, almost as though it was a holy object in a church. Shaped just a bit too much like a coffin, this container has sat dormant for thousands of years.
Until now, of course. How convenient.
The lid, making a loud noise, so loud one would've though lightning had struck, slid to the southern side of the coffin, finally coming off and falling to the hard stone floor with a clatter that both Hob and Gob could hear, from floors above.
The figure inside slowly opened her eyes, carefully bringing up a hand to shield herself from the light of the torches surrounding her. Moving bones that had been stiff for years, she eventually managed to sit up and take a sense of the world around her.
She realized, though slowly, like any normal person who has just woken up, that she had awoken for her destiny...or one of them, at least. It was time for her to aid one who needed it, for she would not have come out of her sleep unless it was so.
Coming to this conclusion, and managing to stand up out of the coffin, Marivel Armitage, the Master of the Crimson Castle and the last of the Crimson Nobles, grinned.
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In some old ruins, forgotten by time and everyone on the planet, nothing moved. Long-toppled pillars decorated the area, doors hung off their hinges by a hair, and monsters had long since abandoned the building. All in all, it was a pretty run-down place.
The last time anyone had visited the area, Rudy Roughnight and Jack Van Burace, the most powerful Dream Chasers of their day, had cleansed the area of monsters, destroying a large rock-like monster that commanded the others and had long since been terrorizing a newly-built village.
Rumor had it that the ruin was the long-since shut down Ancient Arena, but no one could really remember why it was shut down or why it had been overrun with monsters.
There was another rumor that a Guardian was almost slain there, and destroyed the place so it could hibernate and recover in peace. No one believed the rumor-almost no one around here even believed in the Guardians, so why would they believe that one was hibernating right next to them?
Until now, of course. Sound familiar?
For the first time in ten years, a pebble dropped, sending louder-than-normal cracking noises throughout the huge chamber as it impacted with the ground. Then another, and another. Soon an entire boulder collapsed, and a figure slowly padded out, after years of hibernation. Footprints left in the sand suggested that of a large wolf.
Stopping and turning slowly for one last gaze at the collapsed ruins, the wolf let out a small howl for the now-permanent death of a good friend.
If Rudy or Jack had seen this wolf, they would have recognized it, but would also notice the almost-too-subtle-to-notice difference.
Luceid, the female-Guardian companion of the Metal Demon Boomerang of ages long past, had become Lucied, the male counterpart.
Though wolves are not known to smile, Lucied slowly bared his teeth in a small, yet sad, smile.
*Good-bye...my good friend...Now I must leave to accompany another one who will be filled with great desire, like you were...*
Lucied turned around and left the ruins at a small trot, slowly turning into a jog, then an all-out sprint, all the while heading towards the thriving kingdom of Adlehyde.
*'Til we meet again, Boomerang...*
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Rudy's eyes shot open, and he himself shot up in bed. His breathing was quick and ragged, and his sheets were soaked with sweat.
Why did he feel so nervous?
He groaned silently and laid back into his bed, throwing his sheets back over him with his one arm. Maybe he was just being paranoid, but he felt like those things were going to attack again...and he felt like he wouldn't like the results.
Of course, Jack would probably just write it off as his natural paranoia. Being rejected by everyone except his grandfather in his childhood and being exiled from his only home in his teenage years brought on a little voice that always hid in the corner of his mind, silently whispering:
"Don't let your guard down. Something bad will happen. Something will go wrong. There will always be people who reject you."
Over the years, he had learned to ignore that annoying little voice, but it had just returned, in full force. Sighing heavily, groaning that he was getting too old for this, he laid his head back and closed his eyes in an attempt to fall asleep.
And just before he did, he felt a...wait, no, two waves of reassurance hit from nowhere.
Did that mean help was on its way?
End of Chapter 3
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(is muttering angrily)
Dark Side: Is this about the uploading process?
You bet...Everything was just fine a year or two ago, but with this document manager thing, it's taking me hours to upload this lousy thing correctly...I like the Preview option, but that's it...Back then, we could write stuff in Word, save it as an HTML, and upload it with NO problems...except maybe one or two, but they weren't nearly as noticeable as the uploading problems now...
Dark Side: I don't think I was around at that time...
That's true, you weren't. Too bad for you. The good ol' days... Anyway...what gets me about this chapter is that it's another sort of filler! No action whatsoever! And I like action! Oh well...at least it's something. More than I had. Right?
Dark Side: (hits Knight with a pillow) That's no excuse.
Okay, fine, it's not a good excuse. And what's with the pillow? Are you running short on weapons?
Dark Side: Well, I'd use my powers to burn you to death painfully, or decapitate you in a really painful way with my sword, but the whole balance thing means that I'd die too. (grumble grumble)
Heh...wait, when did you get a sword?
Dark Side: Picked it up off some sleazy-looking drunk guy in a bar.
Figures...(to reader) Sorry about it not being so good and for it being so short...and stuff. Yeah. So, uh, review, I guess.
Also, can someone confirm whether Marivel's two little assistants are Hob and Gob, or Hob and Nob? I don't have access to Wild Arms 2 right now for...certain reasons...okay, actually, it's the whole I'm-behind-on-my-damned-homework. Homework sucks.
Dark Side: That's one of the few things I agree with you about...I'm glad I don't have to do it.
Rub it in, why don't you...anyway, I'm not grounded or anything, I just have zero time for PS2. Plus I started playing a whole bunch of RPGs recently, both old and new, so, uh...yeah, Wild Arms 2 has been lost in the shuffle.
Dark Side: That's because you're damn lazy. You can't make time for WA2? It's one of the few games that you like that I like too. And you can't make time for it?
Pretty much, yeah...(to readers) Hang on a second. (smacks dark side hard, knocking out a few teeth)
Dark Side: OW! Jeez, what was that for?!
For being a smartass. Now shut up.
Dark Side: (curses while rubbing bloody jaw)
Fun. (Grabs his Yu-Gi-Oh deck and starts absentmindedly shuffling, then realizes something.) What the...okay, dark side...
Dark Side (grinning not-so-innocently, as well as he can with an almost-broken jaw): Yes? (mutters something under his breath along the lines of ''Took you long enough...")
Where's Hyozanryu?
Dark Side: Hm, have you checked up your-
Don't even finish that sentence. I repeat: Where's Hyozanryu?
Dark Side (relenting, for some odd reason): Oh, it's in my sleeve! (pulls it out and holds it up, grinning maliciously) However did it get there?
(makes a swipe for the card, Dark Side dodges easily, of course.) Okay, fine. What do I have to do to get it back?
Dark Side: Let's see...ah, I know. First, you must actually attempt to finish this story.
Possible...
Dark Side: Second, you must write a really, really, REALLY sappy Jet/Virginia romance.
WHAT?!
Dark Side: And I'm talking Midnight C or Triad Orion sappy...(Look over in the Golden Sun section for those two)
(growls very audibly) You are an evil person...
Dark Side: Mwa ha ha...I love torturing you like this. So, will you do it?
Oh, look, Derek Jeter's playing again!
Dark Side: REALLY?! (spins around, and obviously drops Hyozanryu, which is then grabbed by Knight) Hey...how dare you use my Yankee-fanboy-ness against me!
Sucker. (Slides Hyozanryu back in and resumes shuffling, whistling the Lord Blazer battle theme)
(By the way, Dark Side just let slip a not-so-subtle hint...I'm not sure I'm actually going to do it, though. Probably not)
Chapter 3: Old Friends
Okay, big problem here...I have writer's block. Dammit...
Dark Side: Ooh, fun. Sounds painful.
Shut up, you...anyway, I can't decide what's going to happen next to the crew...so, I decided to make this chapter about some old friends we haven't seen for years! Whee.
Dark Side: "Whee"? Is someone running out of things to say?
You just never know when to shut up...you're starting to remind me of Sean.
Dark Side: Huh?
Wait, no, not even Sean is as sadistic and thick-headed as you...
Dark Side: You know, I DO have the power to set things on fire.
You wouldn't dare burn me. The whole yin and yang thing, right?
Dark Side: I wasn't talking about you. (Holds up Knight's Yu-Gi-Oh deck)
HEY! PUT THAT DOWN! DON'T YOU DARE HURT MY HYOZANRYU!
Dark Side: Ha ha...I love getting the better of you. (Carelessly tosses deck aside, sending the cards flying everywhere)
You evil person, you...
Dark Side: Thank you for that compliment. *whistles softly as he slides Knight's Hyozanryu up his sleeve, intending to use it for more blackmail later...*
...Right. (Cleans up cards, doesn't check to see if his favorite card Hyozanryu is still there, *coughnaivecough* then gets back to work) Another thing: I got Wild Arms 3. I've been playing it a lot. I've beaten it and completed almost all the sidequests except for the Ariochs and the dreaded Abyss. So, I read the story you can read to Clive's daughter, and realized that Anastasia's in that too. Someone on a message board also said that the meteor in Chapter 10 was Lord Blazer, which is why Marivel told Jack to contact Anastasia, and apparently, in the seven years between chapters 10 and 11, that was when the battle against the Blaze of Disaster was fought. So, uh...though I don't agree with it, if he's right, that kinda completely negates this story, right? But I don't want to give it up...so, uh, I'll pretend that story in WA3 never happened. Okay? A/U, if you will.
Dark Side: See, the thing is, this guy's a respected veteran on the GameFAQs message board, so if you disagreed with him, you'd probably be jumped by him and every other veteran on that board.
What happened to freedom of speech?
Dark Side: It went up your ass and to the left.
That's just wrong...One last thing. I'm looking over the list of Wild Arms fanfics, and I notice something peculiar. This fanfic, at this time, only has seven reviews. Quite a few decent ones dealing with WA1 and 2 have zero to ten reviews. Now take a look at the ones about Wild Arms 3. Many of them are decent, some are worse than others, some are better than others, but they have much more reviews than the ones about WA1 and 2. So, I assume this means everyone's reading only the WA3 stories (or just the Jet/Virginia's...), and almost no one is paying attention to the older ones. I'm not saying Wild Arms 3 is bad-hell, it's my favorite PS2 game-but don't forget about the classics, please!
Dark Side: ''Don't forget about the classics, please"? That's just weird...
Well, the classics are what led up to the current game, you know...Anyway, what I really mean is, read and review OR DIE!
Dark Side: Sounds like something I would say. I'm rubbing off on you.
No you're not. Never mind that last part. Just read and review.
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Somewhere in the plains of Filgaia, a small monster treaded along silently, hunting for prey. Sensing something in the distance, it raised its almost-invisible head. More food, perhaps?
The monster, a small Pillbug, shuffled along the desolate wasteland, hoping that it would find some hapless Dream Chaser to feast on.
After a few minutes, it stopped and sniffed the air once more. Sending out invisible sonar waves, it attempted to realize what the giant object in front of it was.
No...it wasn't food. It was the gates of an enormous castle. Enormous to the small Pillbug, at least. Letting out what sounded like a sigh, the Pillbug turned and shuffled away from the portal, resigning to its endless hunt once more.
Inside the castle, two machines sat on a table, having been deactivated millennia ago. These two round machines, one red and white, the other blue and white, existed only to serve a master. But when their master fell into a sleep, so did they.
Minutes after we realize this, however, one of them suddenly jerked. Its small eyes began to glow, and its tiny jet engine kicked in. Hob slowly rose from the surface of the table, taking in its surroundings.
The next second, its brother, Gob, also followed the same process. As Gob flew into the air to join its brother, they looked at each other with a certain expression, and at the same time they realized the same thing.
Their master had awoken at last.
Down in the basement, a large object sat in the center of an altar, almost as though it was a holy object in a church. Shaped just a bit too much like a coffin, this container has sat dormant for thousands of years.
Until now, of course. How convenient.
The lid, making a loud noise, so loud one would've though lightning had struck, slid to the southern side of the coffin, finally coming off and falling to the hard stone floor with a clatter that both Hob and Gob could hear, from floors above.
The figure inside slowly opened her eyes, carefully bringing up a hand to shield herself from the light of the torches surrounding her. Moving bones that had been stiff for years, she eventually managed to sit up and take a sense of the world around her.
She realized, though slowly, like any normal person who has just woken up, that she had awoken for her destiny...or one of them, at least. It was time for her to aid one who needed it, for she would not have come out of her sleep unless it was so.
Coming to this conclusion, and managing to stand up out of the coffin, Marivel Armitage, the Master of the Crimson Castle and the last of the Crimson Nobles, grinned.
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In some old ruins, forgotten by time and everyone on the planet, nothing moved. Long-toppled pillars decorated the area, doors hung off their hinges by a hair, and monsters had long since abandoned the building. All in all, it was a pretty run-down place.
The last time anyone had visited the area, Rudy Roughnight and Jack Van Burace, the most powerful Dream Chasers of their day, had cleansed the area of monsters, destroying a large rock-like monster that commanded the others and had long since been terrorizing a newly-built village.
Rumor had it that the ruin was the long-since shut down Ancient Arena, but no one could really remember why it was shut down or why it had been overrun with monsters.
There was another rumor that a Guardian was almost slain there, and destroyed the place so it could hibernate and recover in peace. No one believed the rumor-almost no one around here even believed in the Guardians, so why would they believe that one was hibernating right next to them?
Until now, of course. Sound familiar?
For the first time in ten years, a pebble dropped, sending louder-than-normal cracking noises throughout the huge chamber as it impacted with the ground. Then another, and another. Soon an entire boulder collapsed, and a figure slowly padded out, after years of hibernation. Footprints left in the sand suggested that of a large wolf.
Stopping and turning slowly for one last gaze at the collapsed ruins, the wolf let out a small howl for the now-permanent death of a good friend.
If Rudy or Jack had seen this wolf, they would have recognized it, but would also notice the almost-too-subtle-to-notice difference.
Luceid, the female-Guardian companion of the Metal Demon Boomerang of ages long past, had become Lucied, the male counterpart.
Though wolves are not known to smile, Lucied slowly bared his teeth in a small, yet sad, smile.
*Good-bye...my good friend...Now I must leave to accompany another one who will be filled with great desire, like you were...*
Lucied turned around and left the ruins at a small trot, slowly turning into a jog, then an all-out sprint, all the while heading towards the thriving kingdom of Adlehyde.
*'Til we meet again, Boomerang...*
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Rudy's eyes shot open, and he himself shot up in bed. His breathing was quick and ragged, and his sheets were soaked with sweat.
Why did he feel so nervous?
He groaned silently and laid back into his bed, throwing his sheets back over him with his one arm. Maybe he was just being paranoid, but he felt like those things were going to attack again...and he felt like he wouldn't like the results.
Of course, Jack would probably just write it off as his natural paranoia. Being rejected by everyone except his grandfather in his childhood and being exiled from his only home in his teenage years brought on a little voice that always hid in the corner of his mind, silently whispering:
"Don't let your guard down. Something bad will happen. Something will go wrong. There will always be people who reject you."
Over the years, he had learned to ignore that annoying little voice, but it had just returned, in full force. Sighing heavily, groaning that he was getting too old for this, he laid his head back and closed his eyes in an attempt to fall asleep.
And just before he did, he felt a...wait, no, two waves of reassurance hit from nowhere.
Did that mean help was on its way?
End of Chapter 3
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(is muttering angrily)
Dark Side: Is this about the uploading process?
You bet...Everything was just fine a year or two ago, but with this document manager thing, it's taking me hours to upload this lousy thing correctly...I like the Preview option, but that's it...Back then, we could write stuff in Word, save it as an HTML, and upload it with NO problems...except maybe one or two, but they weren't nearly as noticeable as the uploading problems now...
Dark Side: I don't think I was around at that time...
That's true, you weren't. Too bad for you. The good ol' days... Anyway...what gets me about this chapter is that it's another sort of filler! No action whatsoever! And I like action! Oh well...at least it's something. More than I had. Right?
Dark Side: (hits Knight with a pillow) That's no excuse.
Okay, fine, it's not a good excuse. And what's with the pillow? Are you running short on weapons?
Dark Side: Well, I'd use my powers to burn you to death painfully, or decapitate you in a really painful way with my sword, but the whole balance thing means that I'd die too. (grumble grumble)
Heh...wait, when did you get a sword?
Dark Side: Picked it up off some sleazy-looking drunk guy in a bar.
Figures...(to reader) Sorry about it not being so good and for it being so short...and stuff. Yeah. So, uh, review, I guess.
Also, can someone confirm whether Marivel's two little assistants are Hob and Gob, or Hob and Nob? I don't have access to Wild Arms 2 right now for...certain reasons...okay, actually, it's the whole I'm-behind-on-my-damned-homework. Homework sucks.
Dark Side: That's one of the few things I agree with you about...I'm glad I don't have to do it.
Rub it in, why don't you...anyway, I'm not grounded or anything, I just have zero time for PS2. Plus I started playing a whole bunch of RPGs recently, both old and new, so, uh...yeah, Wild Arms 2 has been lost in the shuffle.
Dark Side: That's because you're damn lazy. You can't make time for WA2? It's one of the few games that you like that I like too. And you can't make time for it?
Pretty much, yeah...(to readers) Hang on a second. (smacks dark side hard, knocking out a few teeth)
Dark Side: OW! Jeez, what was that for?!
For being a smartass. Now shut up.
Dark Side: (curses while rubbing bloody jaw)
Fun. (Grabs his Yu-Gi-Oh deck and starts absentmindedly shuffling, then realizes something.) What the...okay, dark side...
Dark Side (grinning not-so-innocently, as well as he can with an almost-broken jaw): Yes? (mutters something under his breath along the lines of ''Took you long enough...")
Where's Hyozanryu?
Dark Side: Hm, have you checked up your-
Don't even finish that sentence. I repeat: Where's Hyozanryu?
Dark Side (relenting, for some odd reason): Oh, it's in my sleeve! (pulls it out and holds it up, grinning maliciously) However did it get there?
(makes a swipe for the card, Dark Side dodges easily, of course.) Okay, fine. What do I have to do to get it back?
Dark Side: Let's see...ah, I know. First, you must actually attempt to finish this story.
Possible...
Dark Side: Second, you must write a really, really, REALLY sappy Jet/Virginia romance.
WHAT?!
Dark Side: And I'm talking Midnight C or Triad Orion sappy...(Look over in the Golden Sun section for those two)
(growls very audibly) You are an evil person...
Dark Side: Mwa ha ha...I love torturing you like this. So, will you do it?
Oh, look, Derek Jeter's playing again!
Dark Side: REALLY?! (spins around, and obviously drops Hyozanryu, which is then grabbed by Knight) Hey...how dare you use my Yankee-fanboy-ness against me!
Sucker. (Slides Hyozanryu back in and resumes shuffling, whistling the Lord Blazer battle theme)
(By the way, Dark Side just let slip a not-so-subtle hint...I'm not sure I'm actually going to do it, though. Probably not)