Dear god somebody help me! I recently managed to get Ryzada onto ultimate
difficulty, I somehow fluked my way through the forest (where mothverts
were beating me up and stealing my lunch money) then I got past the sil
dragon (after panicking and screaming) and met my very first ob lily in the
caves, now I've stopped playing for a while so I can write damn I hate
ultimate mode.
Crimson awoke to the sounds of shrill beeping, he rolled over and hit his alarm clock. The beeping didn't stop and Crimson suddenly realized that it was his pager. What was it doing beeping at this ungodly hour in the morning? Crimson looked at the clock, 1am? This page had better be important. He grabbed the pager and silenced it also taking the time to read the message scrolling across its dimly lit screen.
ARENA 4, 6AM, YATSURA, NO TECHNIQUES
Arena 4, but wasn't that the gladiator arena? Fantastic a wide open area, Crimson HATED wide open areas, it meant he lost almost all his ranged advantage. The ban on techniques wasn't too heavy a blow as Crimson rarely used them. But whoever Yatsura happened to be, they would receive hell for causing Crimson to be awake at 1am.
Crimson slipped out of his tee-shirt and donned his armor, fumbling with several of the clasps as a result of the darkness and the fact that he wasn't awake yet.
Once fully awake and ready for battle Crimson sat at the table shoveling a bowl of cereal down his throat, no time to eat properly, he had to finish this weapon.
And so it was that Alice found him at 5:30 in the morning, slumped over the table with a screwdriver in his right hand and an odd box in his left. She shook him gently by the shoulder
"Whut?" Crimson said sleepily raising his head from the table
"Umm sorry to wake you Crimson, but it can't be doing you any good to sleep like that." Alice apologized
"I fell asleep!" Crimson was instantly alert "What time is it?"
"umm 27 minutes to 6"
"Oh crap! My match!" Crimson threw the screwdriver and the strange box into his cupboard and grabbed his rifle and Madhu from where they rested near the door, Madhu chirped in annoyance, Crimson's MAG didn't really like mornings either.
"Hey don't you want any breakfast" Alice called as Crimson hurried out of the door.
"No! that's okay! I already ate!" Crimson yelled as he raced down the corridor, narrowly avoiding a collision with a cleaner.
Tatsu looked up from his breakfast and swallowed the mouthful of bacon he had been chewing on. "Crimson seemed to be in an awful hurry this morning." He said speculatively
"Yup, I think he almost overslept and missed a match, and at this stage in the tournament, that would be bad." Alice called cheerily from the kitchen. Unlike Crimson and his MAG, Alice was a morning person, somehow she could awaken and feel fully refreshed and full of energy.
"Well he musht have been ruhnnin really late." Tatsu said through a mouthful of mushrooms.
"Tatsu, don't talk with your mouth full" Alice scolded "Not only is it bad manners but its disgusting."
Tatsu swallowed "Sorry" he grinned "But as I was saying, Crimson must have had no time at all, he didn't lock that cupboard of his"
"So?"
"Aren't you curious at all?" Tatsu asked "I've been dying to know what he's been doing in there."
Alice entered the room and sat at the table with her breakfast, hers had taken longer because she liked to have eggs in the morning. "Well I must admit I am kinda curious" she confessed "But it's obviously private, so we should respect that and leave it alone."
"You're no fun at all" Tatsu said pointing his fork at her "What harm would one little look do? It's not like Crimson would know."
"Fine, you look if you want to" Alice said picking up her knife and fork "But I doubt you'll even know what it is anyway." With that she tucked into her breakfast
Tatsu stood up and took his plate into the kitchen, then he walked purposefully to the now unlocked cupboard door, he placed his hand firmly on the handle and pulled the door ajar. He was greeted by a mess of wires and blinking lights. Okay fine, Alice was right, he didn't have a clue what this stuff was. He walked into the room and picked up a random object. Upon recognizing it he flinched instinctively. When nothing happened he placed it carefully back on the table, Handguns were a source of fear for Tatsu, at least when Crimson had been "improving" them.
One of the lights blinked from green to red. Tatsu leaned in to look closer, there were characters on the device, they were changing Z, E, D, G, huh? What did these mean? B, okay there wasn't even a pattern here , A. and then it stopped changing, the light blinked yellow, Tatsu paled and ran out of the cupboard. A tongue of flame licked out after him.
"Zeta, Epsilon, Delta." Tatsu muttered.
Alice sipped her tea calmly "Sorry Tatsu? What was that?"
"Nothing, its just Crimsons own little way of having a countdown"
Alice took another sip "Well I did try to tell you not to go looking in there."
"Well I'm not going to do it again, happy now?"
Alice finished her tea and set the cup down "Yup"
"What is it with forces and herbal teas anyway?" Tatsu said suspiciously "No-one else ever drinks them"
"I don't know, but you should try it Tatsu, it calms you down. You look a little jumpy and tense, had a bit of a shock?" Alice smiled
"Okay when are you going to stop laughing at me about this?" Tatsu demanded
"Until I don't find it funny anymore, so quite a long while." Alice cleared her breakfast tray away.
"I'm going back to bed" Tatsu declared grouchily
"It might be the safest place for you" Alice said brightly "You never know what dangerous things could be just lying around"
"Could you please stop it?"
"Nope" Alice turned the TV on and sat down, still smiling, there was nothing on except chat shows, and Alice felt these to be an insult to her intelligence, so she watched the early morning cartoons instead.
It turned out that Yatsura was a female android, and so was also unbothered by the ban on techniques for this match. She was however extremely quick and Crimson was hard pressed to keep avoiding her attacks. She swung at his head, narrowly missing as Crimson sidestepped.
"You do know that this is in violation of Asimov's first law of robotics?
Yatsura answered by launching another attack that missed Crimson by scant inches, obviously she was too serious for idle banter during combat. She pressed the attack and Crimson began to struggle, his dodges becoming less graceful and his blocks more hasty, and still the android did not relent.
Finally she got inside his guard, opening a wound across his cheek. There was no blood as it was a photon inflicted injury and was cauterized the instant it was caused. Crimson also felt no pain, as the nerve endings were burned instantaneously.
Crimson stumbled backwards, the blow had caused him to lose his footing. Another flash of blue and his body armor was scored. Crimson winced at the thought of having to pay for repair to it. Yatsura drew her arm back for another blow, but in doing so she raised her center of gravity. Seeing his chance Crimson crouched and lashed out with one foot, tripping Yatsura so that she landed flat on her back. Crimson leapt forwards, intending to land on Yatsura and de-activate her. Unfortunately she was ready for him, being an android she did not experience the momentary shock that a human would have done had they been swept off their feet. Bringing a knee up she grabbed Crimsons arms and extended her leg, flinging him several feet behind her.
Crimson rolled as he landed, springing quickly to his feet. His breathing was slightly heavy, the fight was taking its toll on him, whereas his opponent, unaffected by the human condition of fatigue was as fresh as ever. But that was it! All this time Crimson had been fighting as if he faced another human, It hadn't occurred to him up until now that his opponent was fundamentally different to him. Crimson thought of everyone as equals, but equal or not Yatsura was a machine, and machines had certain weaknesses
Madhu picked up on Crimsons thoughts immediately and dropped a metallic cylinder into his hand. Crimson smiled and Madhu chirped happily, his master was pleased with him. Crimson held the cylinder at arms length, It wasn't a perfectly cylindrical shape, there was a lump at one end, a button.
Yatsura was back on her feet and circling Crimson warily, she had no idea what the canister was. But Crimson was smiling. Even an android knew that this was a sign of confidence, and therefore did not bode well for her. She assumed a defensive stance.
"That's really not going to help you know" Crimson said in almost conversational tones "I don't know if you've heard of these things, but the military have." His smile widened and his voice grew cocky "They call them a "Pinch" and here's what they do." He pressed the button and dropped the tube to the floor, It landed with a dull thump. Crimson began to count under his breath "Gamma, Beta, Alpha." There was a bright light and a buzz filled the air. Yatsura froze in place.
The EMP had temporarily deadened Crimsons Photon weapons as well, but that didn't matter. He jumped at Yatsura and cracked her round the side of the head with the butt of his sniper. The android fell to the floor, even after her internal systems countered the EMP's effect she didn't move.
She was carried away by a pair of technicians and Crimson was declared the official victor of the match. The crowd went wild cheering and chanting Crimsons name. Crimson felt that the victory was cheapened slightly by underhand tactics, but it was all within legal parameters and he was still pleased with himself. Ryzada had nothing to worry about, but it was a shame she couldn't watch anymore. Even though she didn't like the tournaments themselves, Crimson knew she would have been proud of him for winning.
Ryzada's thoughts were far from dwelling upon Crimson. Right now she feared for her own safety, Block 11, it was the farthest away from enforcer headquarters and as such was rarely patrolled, it was a haven for the criminal population of pioneer. It saddened Ryzada to know that even in this great age of technology, there was still violence and crime.
The trio approached the entrance to the Shattered Shield, and Ryzada was forced to wonder, exactly how many hookers and drug dealers were on pioneer anyway?
The air inside the Tavern was positively revolting. It reeked of smoke alcohol and blood. Ryzada was right, the Shattered Shield was a very unfriendly place, this was emphasized by the trend of wearing cloaks and hoods. Despite the lack of visible eyes it was obvious that the party was being stared at.
Psilo wasn't fazed at all by this reception as she stepped forwards and said boldly "We aren't hookers so you can all put your eyes back where they belong."
"I don't care if ya'll are whores or not! I'm just looking at yer tits!"
Ryzada was acutely aware of exactly how short her shorts really were.
"Ignore these idiots, the one we want to talk to is that one by the bar" Psilo whispered to her, pointing towards a black robed patron, even in this tavern full of people in black robes, this one stood out. Ryzada could feel the hairs on the back of her neck rising, she was scared, but she didn't know why.
They approached the person, even the usually fiery and hot tempered Kilili was being cautious. It wasn't just Ryzada who could sense something from the person beneath the robes.
Psilo was the first to speak. "A friend of mine came here to trade with you, don't deny it because I know all about the deal. They are now missing, what did you do with them." You really had to admire Psilo's bravery.
"What makes you think I know anything about their disappearance?" The voice was silky and somehow had a menacing edge to it. Kilili shifted her weight, she really was uncomfortable.
"You were the last person to see her, this was her last known whereabouts."
"What about her last unknown whereabouts? You may want to check there."
"If its unknown then we don't know where it is. So maybe you should tell us." Psilo said through gritted teeth
"I think it would be more fun if you tried to find out yourself."
"TELL US!" Psilo yelled. Ryzada took a step backwards and Kilili looked around nervously, this wasn't a good place to get angry.
"My, aren't we touchy? The black robed stranger said "This place is only the middle, you need to find the place where your friend began and ended."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean." Psilo was still angry
"Have fun finding out." The figure rose to her feet "I have somewhere else to be." She began to walk out "And Psilo?"
"What?" Psilo snarled
"Keep your temper." A cut opened across Psilo's face, it was deep and bleeding freely. Psilo made to attack the black robed individual but was restrained by Kilili.
The stranger brushed close by Ryzada on her way out, she stopped briefly.
Ryzada tensed as a pair of lips brushed against her cheek and a voice in her ear whispered "We'll meet again Ryzada Ermintine, sooner than you think."
There was a slight breeze and when Ryzada turned, the stranger was gone.
"Well that went better than expected" Kilili said darkly "last time I spoke to her it ended in a visit to the hospital."
Ryzada touched her hand to her cheek "I hope we don't have to come here again." She shivered "That was scary."
Psilo nodded "We're done, now all we need to do is solve this stupid riddle we've been set, we have to "Find where Skyla began and ended" but she was born on pioneer 1, how are we supposed to find that?"
"No point in thinking about it right now." Said Kilili "We should be leaving here."
They walked towards the door, but as they neared the exit a large man got to his feet and grabbed Ryzada by the wrist
"Yer pretty, how about you and me go somewhere more private." He leered at her
Ryzada tried to pull her arm free, but the mans grip was too tight "LET GO OF ME!" she screamed "SOMEONE HELP" none of the other patrons of the bar even acknowledged her plea for help, but Kilili had. She was currently angling the point of a dagger at the mans ribs
"I suggest you let my friend go" She said, summoning a surprising amount of menace for such a small person.
The man grabbed Kilili by the throat and threw her backwards before she could knife him. "Shut up, I ain't scared of you midget.
Kilili got up, her eyes blazing In a flash the man was suddenly looking down the barrels of a pair of mechguns "Call me that again fat man and your brain is going to be ventilated."
The threat took a moment to register with the dimwitted oaf, but then realization dawn and he swung Ryzada sideways knocking her and Kilili to the floor. "I said I ain't scared of yer, yer bloody dwarf!" Kilili was back on her feet and was glowering with rage. She was done with threats "DON'T CALL ME SHORT! YOU STUPID! FAT ARSED! MONO-SYNAPTIC CRETIN!"
Psilo grabbed Ryzada by the arm and dragged her out of the door "I think its time for us to make a quick escape" She said after she had pulled Ryzada to a spot approximately 20 feet away from the tavern.
"But what about Kilili?" Ryzada worried "We can't just leave her there!"
"I think its best we stayed out here, we're going to have to run in a while." As Psilo finished her sentence the was a loud crash and a robed drunk landed amongst the broken glass of the window he had just been thrown through.
The once oppressively silent bar was now a cacophony of noise as tables were broken, bottles smashed and weapons were swung. Amongst the chaos was a diminutive ranger pummeling a lecherous and obese man into unconsciousness. A chair flew past her head and she ran towards the door, when weapons were getting involved it was time to leave.
Ryzada and Psilo were waiting for her as she left the bar and the 3 of them were soon sprinting down the gigantic corridors stooped low to avoid being hit by any stray photon fire.
Soon they were back at block 8, all three were heavily out of breath. It was entirely unnecessary for them to have run for the entire 2 miles back home, but none of them wished to admit to exhaustion before the others. So now they were recuperating in Psilo's apartment. It was quite a nice place, a little larger than Crimsons home, a lot less cluttered and much better decorated. Though Ryzada wasn't entirely sure about the magenta cushions.
"Well that was really pointless." Psilo sat back in her chair "We found out precisely nothing and YOU!" She pointed at Kilili "felt that you had to start a bar fight."
Kilili grinned "What? You wanted me to leave Ryzada with that guy?"
"You could have solved it diplomatically."
"Well I'm very grateful to you Kilili, I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't stepped in." Ryzada said
"nah forget about it, you'd probably have done the same thing I did." Kilili seemed much more relaxed and cheerful after the events at the bar.
"Well whatever, now we have a stupid riddle to figure out, and I don't have a clue, can you two think of anything?" Psilo was not relaxed and cheerful
"Nope" Kilili lay across the couch "What's on TV?"
"Well can't think of anything." Ryzada said, looking thoughtful "But I might know someone who does."
"Really?" Psilo showed immediate interest "Who?"
"A friend of mine, Aurora. She's a force, it's amazing some of the things she knows."
"Well it's worth a try." Psilo got to her feet "Kilili? Are you coming to see this Aurora person?"
"Umm I'd love to, really I would, but I'm spending time with the TV, can't you see how good this show is?"
Psilo glanced at the TV, It was a documentary on the life cycle of Rag Rappies, right now they seemed to be explaining the "reproduction" part of the cycle.
"And now we see the male rappy displaying his plumage to attract a mate, and look, here comes one now." A remarkably British accent was providing the voice over.
"Okay! Ryzada we're leaving now!" Psilo walked out of the door as quickly as possible, shortly followed by Ryzada. Kilili stretched across the couch and continued watching the TV.
Psilo's thoughts were with her missing friend, why was nobody really helping out? How hard could it have been for that robed stranger to just tell her where Skyla was? Why the riddles?
Ryzada's thoughts were similar, but she was thinking more about the stranger "We'll meet again Ryzada Ermintine, sooner than you think." How did she know her name? Why would they be meeting again? It was a meeting Ryzada was not looking forwards to. In fact she was hoping it would never happen at all. But there was something about that voice that made it very hard to believe it was telling a lie.
Damn, more mysterious mystery. Ah well this fic is going to end up pretty long, but don't worry people! I have the plot totally figured out, I'm only improvising here and there, this is not going to be a fic that goes on forever and has no real point. Its just turning out to be a novel that's all hmm maybe I sell this concept to sonic team and we could have phantasy star books, or graphic novels! Damn I wish I had a friend who could draw really well.
Crimson awoke to the sounds of shrill beeping, he rolled over and hit his alarm clock. The beeping didn't stop and Crimson suddenly realized that it was his pager. What was it doing beeping at this ungodly hour in the morning? Crimson looked at the clock, 1am? This page had better be important. He grabbed the pager and silenced it also taking the time to read the message scrolling across its dimly lit screen.
ARENA 4, 6AM, YATSURA, NO TECHNIQUES
Arena 4, but wasn't that the gladiator arena? Fantastic a wide open area, Crimson HATED wide open areas, it meant he lost almost all his ranged advantage. The ban on techniques wasn't too heavy a blow as Crimson rarely used them. But whoever Yatsura happened to be, they would receive hell for causing Crimson to be awake at 1am.
Crimson slipped out of his tee-shirt and donned his armor, fumbling with several of the clasps as a result of the darkness and the fact that he wasn't awake yet.
Once fully awake and ready for battle Crimson sat at the table shoveling a bowl of cereal down his throat, no time to eat properly, he had to finish this weapon.
And so it was that Alice found him at 5:30 in the morning, slumped over the table with a screwdriver in his right hand and an odd box in his left. She shook him gently by the shoulder
"Whut?" Crimson said sleepily raising his head from the table
"Umm sorry to wake you Crimson, but it can't be doing you any good to sleep like that." Alice apologized
"I fell asleep!" Crimson was instantly alert "What time is it?"
"umm 27 minutes to 6"
"Oh crap! My match!" Crimson threw the screwdriver and the strange box into his cupboard and grabbed his rifle and Madhu from where they rested near the door, Madhu chirped in annoyance, Crimson's MAG didn't really like mornings either.
"Hey don't you want any breakfast" Alice called as Crimson hurried out of the door.
"No! that's okay! I already ate!" Crimson yelled as he raced down the corridor, narrowly avoiding a collision with a cleaner.
Tatsu looked up from his breakfast and swallowed the mouthful of bacon he had been chewing on. "Crimson seemed to be in an awful hurry this morning." He said speculatively
"Yup, I think he almost overslept and missed a match, and at this stage in the tournament, that would be bad." Alice called cheerily from the kitchen. Unlike Crimson and his MAG, Alice was a morning person, somehow she could awaken and feel fully refreshed and full of energy.
"Well he musht have been ruhnnin really late." Tatsu said through a mouthful of mushrooms.
"Tatsu, don't talk with your mouth full" Alice scolded "Not only is it bad manners but its disgusting."
Tatsu swallowed "Sorry" he grinned "But as I was saying, Crimson must have had no time at all, he didn't lock that cupboard of his"
"So?"
"Aren't you curious at all?" Tatsu asked "I've been dying to know what he's been doing in there."
Alice entered the room and sat at the table with her breakfast, hers had taken longer because she liked to have eggs in the morning. "Well I must admit I am kinda curious" she confessed "But it's obviously private, so we should respect that and leave it alone."
"You're no fun at all" Tatsu said pointing his fork at her "What harm would one little look do? It's not like Crimson would know."
"Fine, you look if you want to" Alice said picking up her knife and fork "But I doubt you'll even know what it is anyway." With that she tucked into her breakfast
Tatsu stood up and took his plate into the kitchen, then he walked purposefully to the now unlocked cupboard door, he placed his hand firmly on the handle and pulled the door ajar. He was greeted by a mess of wires and blinking lights. Okay fine, Alice was right, he didn't have a clue what this stuff was. He walked into the room and picked up a random object. Upon recognizing it he flinched instinctively. When nothing happened he placed it carefully back on the table, Handguns were a source of fear for Tatsu, at least when Crimson had been "improving" them.
One of the lights blinked from green to red. Tatsu leaned in to look closer, there were characters on the device, they were changing Z, E, D, G, huh? What did these mean? B, okay there wasn't even a pattern here , A. and then it stopped changing, the light blinked yellow, Tatsu paled and ran out of the cupboard. A tongue of flame licked out after him.
"Zeta, Epsilon, Delta." Tatsu muttered.
Alice sipped her tea calmly "Sorry Tatsu? What was that?"
"Nothing, its just Crimsons own little way of having a countdown"
Alice took another sip "Well I did try to tell you not to go looking in there."
"Well I'm not going to do it again, happy now?"
Alice finished her tea and set the cup down "Yup"
"What is it with forces and herbal teas anyway?" Tatsu said suspiciously "No-one else ever drinks them"
"I don't know, but you should try it Tatsu, it calms you down. You look a little jumpy and tense, had a bit of a shock?" Alice smiled
"Okay when are you going to stop laughing at me about this?" Tatsu demanded
"Until I don't find it funny anymore, so quite a long while." Alice cleared her breakfast tray away.
"I'm going back to bed" Tatsu declared grouchily
"It might be the safest place for you" Alice said brightly "You never know what dangerous things could be just lying around"
"Could you please stop it?"
"Nope" Alice turned the TV on and sat down, still smiling, there was nothing on except chat shows, and Alice felt these to be an insult to her intelligence, so she watched the early morning cartoons instead.
It turned out that Yatsura was a female android, and so was also unbothered by the ban on techniques for this match. She was however extremely quick and Crimson was hard pressed to keep avoiding her attacks. She swung at his head, narrowly missing as Crimson sidestepped.
"You do know that this is in violation of Asimov's first law of robotics?
Yatsura answered by launching another attack that missed Crimson by scant inches, obviously she was too serious for idle banter during combat. She pressed the attack and Crimson began to struggle, his dodges becoming less graceful and his blocks more hasty, and still the android did not relent.
Finally she got inside his guard, opening a wound across his cheek. There was no blood as it was a photon inflicted injury and was cauterized the instant it was caused. Crimson also felt no pain, as the nerve endings were burned instantaneously.
Crimson stumbled backwards, the blow had caused him to lose his footing. Another flash of blue and his body armor was scored. Crimson winced at the thought of having to pay for repair to it. Yatsura drew her arm back for another blow, but in doing so she raised her center of gravity. Seeing his chance Crimson crouched and lashed out with one foot, tripping Yatsura so that she landed flat on her back. Crimson leapt forwards, intending to land on Yatsura and de-activate her. Unfortunately she was ready for him, being an android she did not experience the momentary shock that a human would have done had they been swept off their feet. Bringing a knee up she grabbed Crimsons arms and extended her leg, flinging him several feet behind her.
Crimson rolled as he landed, springing quickly to his feet. His breathing was slightly heavy, the fight was taking its toll on him, whereas his opponent, unaffected by the human condition of fatigue was as fresh as ever. But that was it! All this time Crimson had been fighting as if he faced another human, It hadn't occurred to him up until now that his opponent was fundamentally different to him. Crimson thought of everyone as equals, but equal or not Yatsura was a machine, and machines had certain weaknesses
Madhu picked up on Crimsons thoughts immediately and dropped a metallic cylinder into his hand. Crimson smiled and Madhu chirped happily, his master was pleased with him. Crimson held the cylinder at arms length, It wasn't a perfectly cylindrical shape, there was a lump at one end, a button.
Yatsura was back on her feet and circling Crimson warily, she had no idea what the canister was. But Crimson was smiling. Even an android knew that this was a sign of confidence, and therefore did not bode well for her. She assumed a defensive stance.
"That's really not going to help you know" Crimson said in almost conversational tones "I don't know if you've heard of these things, but the military have." His smile widened and his voice grew cocky "They call them a "Pinch" and here's what they do." He pressed the button and dropped the tube to the floor, It landed with a dull thump. Crimson began to count under his breath "Gamma, Beta, Alpha." There was a bright light and a buzz filled the air. Yatsura froze in place.
The EMP had temporarily deadened Crimsons Photon weapons as well, but that didn't matter. He jumped at Yatsura and cracked her round the side of the head with the butt of his sniper. The android fell to the floor, even after her internal systems countered the EMP's effect she didn't move.
She was carried away by a pair of technicians and Crimson was declared the official victor of the match. The crowd went wild cheering and chanting Crimsons name. Crimson felt that the victory was cheapened slightly by underhand tactics, but it was all within legal parameters and he was still pleased with himself. Ryzada had nothing to worry about, but it was a shame she couldn't watch anymore. Even though she didn't like the tournaments themselves, Crimson knew she would have been proud of him for winning.
Ryzada's thoughts were far from dwelling upon Crimson. Right now she feared for her own safety, Block 11, it was the farthest away from enforcer headquarters and as such was rarely patrolled, it was a haven for the criminal population of pioneer. It saddened Ryzada to know that even in this great age of technology, there was still violence and crime.
The trio approached the entrance to the Shattered Shield, and Ryzada was forced to wonder, exactly how many hookers and drug dealers were on pioneer anyway?
The air inside the Tavern was positively revolting. It reeked of smoke alcohol and blood. Ryzada was right, the Shattered Shield was a very unfriendly place, this was emphasized by the trend of wearing cloaks and hoods. Despite the lack of visible eyes it was obvious that the party was being stared at.
Psilo wasn't fazed at all by this reception as she stepped forwards and said boldly "We aren't hookers so you can all put your eyes back where they belong."
"I don't care if ya'll are whores or not! I'm just looking at yer tits!"
Ryzada was acutely aware of exactly how short her shorts really were.
"Ignore these idiots, the one we want to talk to is that one by the bar" Psilo whispered to her, pointing towards a black robed patron, even in this tavern full of people in black robes, this one stood out. Ryzada could feel the hairs on the back of her neck rising, she was scared, but she didn't know why.
They approached the person, even the usually fiery and hot tempered Kilili was being cautious. It wasn't just Ryzada who could sense something from the person beneath the robes.
Psilo was the first to speak. "A friend of mine came here to trade with you, don't deny it because I know all about the deal. They are now missing, what did you do with them." You really had to admire Psilo's bravery.
"What makes you think I know anything about their disappearance?" The voice was silky and somehow had a menacing edge to it. Kilili shifted her weight, she really was uncomfortable.
"You were the last person to see her, this was her last known whereabouts."
"What about her last unknown whereabouts? You may want to check there."
"If its unknown then we don't know where it is. So maybe you should tell us." Psilo said through gritted teeth
"I think it would be more fun if you tried to find out yourself."
"TELL US!" Psilo yelled. Ryzada took a step backwards and Kilili looked around nervously, this wasn't a good place to get angry.
"My, aren't we touchy? The black robed stranger said "This place is only the middle, you need to find the place where your friend began and ended."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean." Psilo was still angry
"Have fun finding out." The figure rose to her feet "I have somewhere else to be." She began to walk out "And Psilo?"
"What?" Psilo snarled
"Keep your temper." A cut opened across Psilo's face, it was deep and bleeding freely. Psilo made to attack the black robed individual but was restrained by Kilili.
The stranger brushed close by Ryzada on her way out, she stopped briefly.
Ryzada tensed as a pair of lips brushed against her cheek and a voice in her ear whispered "We'll meet again Ryzada Ermintine, sooner than you think."
There was a slight breeze and when Ryzada turned, the stranger was gone.
"Well that went better than expected" Kilili said darkly "last time I spoke to her it ended in a visit to the hospital."
Ryzada touched her hand to her cheek "I hope we don't have to come here again." She shivered "That was scary."
Psilo nodded "We're done, now all we need to do is solve this stupid riddle we've been set, we have to "Find where Skyla began and ended" but she was born on pioneer 1, how are we supposed to find that?"
"No point in thinking about it right now." Said Kilili "We should be leaving here."
They walked towards the door, but as they neared the exit a large man got to his feet and grabbed Ryzada by the wrist
"Yer pretty, how about you and me go somewhere more private." He leered at her
Ryzada tried to pull her arm free, but the mans grip was too tight "LET GO OF ME!" she screamed "SOMEONE HELP" none of the other patrons of the bar even acknowledged her plea for help, but Kilili had. She was currently angling the point of a dagger at the mans ribs
"I suggest you let my friend go" She said, summoning a surprising amount of menace for such a small person.
The man grabbed Kilili by the throat and threw her backwards before she could knife him. "Shut up, I ain't scared of you midget.
Kilili got up, her eyes blazing In a flash the man was suddenly looking down the barrels of a pair of mechguns "Call me that again fat man and your brain is going to be ventilated."
The threat took a moment to register with the dimwitted oaf, but then realization dawn and he swung Ryzada sideways knocking her and Kilili to the floor. "I said I ain't scared of yer, yer bloody dwarf!" Kilili was back on her feet and was glowering with rage. She was done with threats "DON'T CALL ME SHORT! YOU STUPID! FAT ARSED! MONO-SYNAPTIC CRETIN!"
Psilo grabbed Ryzada by the arm and dragged her out of the door "I think its time for us to make a quick escape" She said after she had pulled Ryzada to a spot approximately 20 feet away from the tavern.
"But what about Kilili?" Ryzada worried "We can't just leave her there!"
"I think its best we stayed out here, we're going to have to run in a while." As Psilo finished her sentence the was a loud crash and a robed drunk landed amongst the broken glass of the window he had just been thrown through.
The once oppressively silent bar was now a cacophony of noise as tables were broken, bottles smashed and weapons were swung. Amongst the chaos was a diminutive ranger pummeling a lecherous and obese man into unconsciousness. A chair flew past her head and she ran towards the door, when weapons were getting involved it was time to leave.
Ryzada and Psilo were waiting for her as she left the bar and the 3 of them were soon sprinting down the gigantic corridors stooped low to avoid being hit by any stray photon fire.
Soon they were back at block 8, all three were heavily out of breath. It was entirely unnecessary for them to have run for the entire 2 miles back home, but none of them wished to admit to exhaustion before the others. So now they were recuperating in Psilo's apartment. It was quite a nice place, a little larger than Crimsons home, a lot less cluttered and much better decorated. Though Ryzada wasn't entirely sure about the magenta cushions.
"Well that was really pointless." Psilo sat back in her chair "We found out precisely nothing and YOU!" She pointed at Kilili "felt that you had to start a bar fight."
Kilili grinned "What? You wanted me to leave Ryzada with that guy?"
"You could have solved it diplomatically."
"Well I'm very grateful to you Kilili, I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't stepped in." Ryzada said
"nah forget about it, you'd probably have done the same thing I did." Kilili seemed much more relaxed and cheerful after the events at the bar.
"Well whatever, now we have a stupid riddle to figure out, and I don't have a clue, can you two think of anything?" Psilo was not relaxed and cheerful
"Nope" Kilili lay across the couch "What's on TV?"
"Well can't think of anything." Ryzada said, looking thoughtful "But I might know someone who does."
"Really?" Psilo showed immediate interest "Who?"
"A friend of mine, Aurora. She's a force, it's amazing some of the things she knows."
"Well it's worth a try." Psilo got to her feet "Kilili? Are you coming to see this Aurora person?"
"Umm I'd love to, really I would, but I'm spending time with the TV, can't you see how good this show is?"
Psilo glanced at the TV, It was a documentary on the life cycle of Rag Rappies, right now they seemed to be explaining the "reproduction" part of the cycle.
"And now we see the male rappy displaying his plumage to attract a mate, and look, here comes one now." A remarkably British accent was providing the voice over.
"Okay! Ryzada we're leaving now!" Psilo walked out of the door as quickly as possible, shortly followed by Ryzada. Kilili stretched across the couch and continued watching the TV.
Psilo's thoughts were with her missing friend, why was nobody really helping out? How hard could it have been for that robed stranger to just tell her where Skyla was? Why the riddles?
Ryzada's thoughts were similar, but she was thinking more about the stranger "We'll meet again Ryzada Ermintine, sooner than you think." How did she know her name? Why would they be meeting again? It was a meeting Ryzada was not looking forwards to. In fact she was hoping it would never happen at all. But there was something about that voice that made it very hard to believe it was telling a lie.
Damn, more mysterious mystery. Ah well this fic is going to end up pretty long, but don't worry people! I have the plot totally figured out, I'm only improvising here and there, this is not going to be a fic that goes on forever and has no real point. Its just turning out to be a novel that's all hmm maybe I sell this concept to sonic team and we could have phantasy star books, or graphic novels! Damn I wish I had a friend who could draw really well.