Summary: Seven heroes are off to save the world of Rune-Midgard from the evil that is afoot! However, before they can do that, they have to find a way to get along with each other, since they are… well… insane.
Pairings: Find out for yourself!!! We're evil.
Disclaimer: We don't own the MMORPG that is Ragnarok Online and anything actually related to it. That's all owned by Gravity. What we do own, however, are the characters that appear here and the plot itself. Don't steal since we're not!
Ragnarok: The Awakening
Chapter Two
Trees were everywhere. Ancient evergreens towered above the ground, blocking most sunlight from hitting the forest floor, winding paths created by the hunters the only places with decent visibility in the gigantic woodlands outside of Payon. A small party of three young teens, two thieves and an acolyte, had, for one reason or another, ended up wandering around in the magnificent forests, and were now completely and utterly lost. As per usual.
"And whose fault is that?!" grumbled Nadyell, a scowl evident on her features as she glared pointedly at the back of her current party leader: the fraudulent acolyte, Miyuki. Apparently the purple haired girl was ignoring the thief, though, for she continued to hum to herself, studying the ancient map with confidence.
"We'll probably have to set up camp soon," remarked Locke, shielding his eyes as he glanced upwards. "The sun's beginning to set, and there's no way we can navigate this forest at night."
Miyuki smirked, azure eyes sparkling as she glanced up from the map. "I'm sure I know where we are now! We won't have to rest for the night, since I found us a shortcut to Payon."
Nadyell eyed Miyuki with suspicion. "The last 'shortcut' you led us down got us closer to Morroc, not Payon! Are you sure it's the right way this time?"
"Of course I'm sure!" assured the Acolyte, hurriedly shoving the map back into her pack. "Don't you trust me?" Ignoring the incredulous look she received from the other female, Miyuki smiled at Locke as she straightened up. "Shall we go?"
"Yes, girls…" Locke replied, with a sigh. How on Earth did he end up partying with the likes of this pair? Still, even though they had their quirks, they were good people deep down. Way down.
---
The flutter of wings rustled overhead as some sort of feathered creature swooped above the trio's heads. Crickets chirped in the bushes, and yet again, the thieves and acolyte had paused in their journey to check the map as the last rays of sunlight filtered through the trees. While Locke was his usual calm self, Nadyell was almost at the point of exploding. The annoyance she felt was so obvious in the way she moved, forced and robotic, and the pained smile on her face. Occasionally you could notice the corner of her eye twitch. Forcefully bustling in front of Miyuki, she glared, again, at her.
"Where in the nine Hells are we?!" she demanded, pissed off that they had wasted so much time. Miyuki was silent, though her expression was pained as she poured over the map. "Well?!" badgered Nadyell, covering the map with her hand so Miyuki had to look up. The purple-haired girl did so, a wry smile on her face.
"To tell the truth.."
"Yes?"
"We are.."
"Yes?!"
"…completely and utterly lost."
Many miles away in Payon, many people stopped their tasks for a few moments as a scream echoed across the woods, enraged and exasperated at the same time. A flock of birds scattered from the trees where the screech had exploded from, squawking in protest as their sleep had been interrupted. Most Payon residents merely looked at each other with arched eyebrows; whatever happened had obviously been a push over the edge for some poor soul…
---
Locke sighed as he stared at the orangey glow of the fire, his arms crossed. He chose to sit in between the two females in their party, making sure that they wouldn't harm each other. Miyuki was miffed because Nadyell managed to get her face scratched, though Locke said it was deliberately missed, for someone who was trying to become an Assassin anyway. On the other hand, Nadyell was glaring daggers at the acolyte for getting them lost… again. Locke sighed again. It would be a long trip to the Payon Dungeon, a very long trip.
"I'm going to go find some food. Make sure that acolyte doesn't follow me or anything," hissed Nadyell as she stood up, grabbing a basket in the process, stomping towards a nearby creek.
"Like I would ever want to follow you!" screeched Miyuki as she pointed an accusing finger at Nadyell. "You're too barbaric!" Locke sighed again; he had been doing that more often than usual ever since he joined the party.
"That's one less fish for you Miyuki!" shouted Nadyell as she turned around, her hands acting like a megaphone. Turning around, she continued stomping towards the said creek.
Nadyell stood waiting patiently in the creek, her onyx eyes watching a rather lively fish. Her boots were near the river back, as she waded barefoot into the creek. She managed to spear two fish with her trusty old Cutter which had been reduced to a mere cooking tool. Slightly hunching forward, Nadyell readied her hand in order to strike at the fish. Seconds later, trails of red were being carried off by the creek to some unknown direction as Nadyell threw the third fish into the basket. She had two more fish to catch and she fully intended to carry out her threat to the acolyte.
"Bah. Why did she have to go and get us lost again?!" growled Nadyell as she began looking for the fourth fish. "The first thing we're going to do once we get into Payon is get a reliable map!" Gripping the short hilt of her Cutter tighter, she kept an eagle eye out for another fish. "Gotcha!" said Nadyell in a satisfied tone as she stabbed another fish, the creature dying instantly as the metal forced its way into its slimy body.
---
Miyuki scrunched her nose in distaste as she began digging for Sweet Potatoes under the forest ground. Not that she minded being sent out to gather Sweet Potatoes by Locke, a much better job than actually having to cook food, an idea which she detested, but she didn't want to do manual labor! Sighing, she wiped her forehead with her sleeve and began digging for Sweet Potatoes again. She managed to find a good number of them but she liked Sweet Potatoes so she decided to find some more.
"At least I'm not going to cook," she mumbled, trying to cheer herself up. Holding the handle of the small shovel tighter, she began to unearth some more ground in order to hopefully reveal another Sweet Potato. Her azure eyes sparkled slightly and her face brightened significantly as she eyed what she had unearthed. In front of her was a patch orangey skin of a Sweet Potato! Speeding up her pace, she dug some more ground in order to pick up the root crop. She'd clean it later. Right now, her mind was focused on the singular goal of getting more of the Sweet Potatoes.
The time really seemed to fly by. Soon enough, the acolyte had unearthed more than enough sweet potatoes to feed them for the night, as well as having a couple left over to take with them to Payon. Standing up and stretching her back slightly, Miyuki dusted her hands off after gathering up the bundle of potatoes she'd collected. With a smile, she turned around and headed back to camp.
---
"Righty, girls, dinner's ready!" Locke's cheerful voice announced, breaking the uncomfortable silence around their campfire. He coughed slightly to himself, though, after having no reply. It seemed both girls were so immensely irritated with each other that they refused to talk at all! Quietly he set to dealing out the dishes, though gave Miyuki an extra helping of potatoes to make up for the fish Nadyell had purposely withheld. After his cooking duties had officially finished, Locke plopped back down on his log, not liking the tension in the air at all. He sighed for the nth time that night, before slowly starting on his dinner.
Nadyell played with her food, eyes looking anywhere but her party members. Her pride stopped her from apologising, but she still felt somewhat guilty. She was an impulsive kind of person, but now that they were mildly calm and quiet, she could see that what she did was probably not the best thing to do. Yeah… it was easy to guilt-trip this thief. She frowned slightly; some things, though, Miyuki did deserve! She stabbed into one of the pieces of fish at that thought, trying to mentally cheer up, even though the remorse was still obviously there.
It didn't take long for the three to finish dinner, in relative silence. After that, they pulled out their bedrolls and settled off to sleep. Perhaps tomorrow would fix things up between the two females – and let Locke have a little sanity for once?
---
"Since you think I suck so much at navigation, why don't you try it, then, Nadyell?" said Miyuki, miffed, tying her purple locks into their usual style: straight and flat, but with a ponytail at the back, tied up with a red ribbon. Now that the sun had risen, the two were at least speaking to each other again, if not curtly and harshly. But it was an improvement… right?
Nadyell rolled her eyes, grabbing the old map roughly as she cast her gaze over it. "I'm sure even a Poring could navigate better than you. Look, see? We must be about here," she jabbed at the map with her index finger, "because of the creek and that hill we climbed back yesterday afternoon. So… if we go north-east for a while, we should hit Payon."
Locke shrugged his backpack onto his shoulders, glancing at the map over Nadyell's shoulders. "We could also be here, or here," he gestured twice, "or maybe even here," he pointed again, "so don't jump to conclusions so quickly. But I suppose if we go north-east, eventually we'll come to somewhere we can navigate from." Nadyell looked at Locke in exasperation. Even if she did like the silvery haired Thief, he was against her too?!
---
"We're hopelessly lost!" cried Nadyell as she somehow wound up crying on Locke's shoulders. Of course, they were more of tears of exasperation over anything else. Locke, feeling very awkward, managed to fight down the reddish hue that threatened to appear on his cheeks as he patted her back, trying to stop her from crying.
"Well, I guess you're not a genius navigator yourself," mumbled Miyuki as she turned around, her azure eyes glancing at the trees in front of her. Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked upwards. She had seen a few wisps of smoke in the sky up north of here but she said nothing of it. It could be a camp fire or it could be from Payon. Locke noticed it too, despite the fact that his dampening jacket and shirt beneath was pretty uncomfortable.
"There there Nadyell. I see smoke in the sky, north of here. If we follow that, we could meet up with a person who could lead us to Payon. Or we could eventually be in front of Payon's gates. Or we could get ourselves even more lost. The probability for the first two actually happening is higher than the last," said Locke as his eyes looked downwards at the Thief.
"Really?! Let's follow it then! Better than getting ourselves even more lost without hopes of finding our way back to civilization!" said Nadyell, cheering up instantly at the prospect of losing themselves from their lost state and finding a way to get into town. Locke sighed slightly as he watched Nadyell run a bit forward, in hopes of getting to town. This girl was an extremist. She was easily pleased, pissed off, guilt-tripped. You name it; it would be easy for her to be like that.
---
Nadyell screamed as she began kicking and stabbing a nearby tree. Poor thing. When they arrived at the source of the smoke, all they saw was a camp fire and no one around. "Why do the navigation gods curse me?! What did I do to them?!"
"Maybe because you're a Thief?" supplied Miyuki, an annoyed tone to her voice. Locke coughed slightly, trying to make the acolyte remember he was one too and he wasn't as accursed as Nadyell when it came to the map. "Oh, right. Sorry about that." Suddenly, they heard foot steps behind them. Turning her head around, Miyuki tried to see who it was.
"Oh. You guys lost or something?" asked the person, a female Archer, as she looked at the wailing Nadyell who nodded slowly. "Ah. No worries, people often seem to get lost in this part of southern Payon. I can get you there if you want. I know this place like the back of my hand since I spent quite some time exploring the place for Willows in order to pass my test."
"Really?!" said Nadyell as she ran towards the Archer, her eyes bright and shiny at her offer.
"Sure, why not? I don't see any harm in it. And anyway, I've gathered enough items so I can get a new bow and some arrows. That Crossbow back home looks mighty useful." The Archer smiled as she tucked a stray strand of her dark red hair behind her ear, her bright hazel eyes twinkling slightly. "What are your names?" As she asked that, she pulled at her ponytail, making sure it was tight enough.
"I'm Nadyell, a Thief of course, trying to become an Assassin."
"I'm Locke, a Thief like her. I'm not sure what I want to become but I'll probably become a Rogue."
"I'm Miyuki, an Acolyte. I'm going to become a Priest. Those two are my bodyguards, by the way." A scowl formed on Nadyell's face.
"Ah. I'm Ruiko, an Archer. I'm trying to become a Hunter."
By this time, Nadyell was basically squirming in delight. "Whatever the case… you can get us out of this damn forest! YAY!" And with that, she leapt at the archer, dissolving their new companion in a giant hug. In the background, Miyuki and Locke simultaneously sighed, shaking their heads sadly. That girl was an odd one…
---
In comparison to how many hours they had spent trudging around the depths of Payon Forest, the trek to the main city took absolutely no time whatsoever. Actually, the campsite where Ruiko had been staying was less than a half-hour walk to the gates of town, much to the chagrin of the three unlucky adventurers, not to mention it seemed that they had taken but one wrong turn right close to their proper destination which had set them off course. Ah, irony. You have to love it. But once they were out of the forest, to say that Nadyell was ecstatic would be an understatement.
"We're finally here!" She cheered, doing a small victory dance outside the massive arches that marked the entrance to Payon. Ruiko folded her arms, observing the thief with amusement beside Locke, who could only stare with an arched eyebrow. Miyuki, however, was far ahead of them all, already starting to sneak towards the city centre. Can't have a city visit without a quick perusal of the merchants, can we?
Careful eyes scrutinized the tables of goods she could see about her. Plenty of top-quality goods were available, but none of it really seemed to appeal to the acolyte. After all… she had decent gear for now, and found no need to splurge on upgrades just yet.
"I wonder if Nadyell and Locke need some new equipment?" She mused to herself, idly checking the quality of some stones one merchant was vending. Apparently, with the allurement of some fancy new goods, she had completely forgotten to stick with her party members.
After Nadyell had completed her victory dance, Ruiko nodded her head slightly to the two thieves. "Like I mentioned earlier, I want to buy a new Crossbow before I go training. Why don't we go together? Payon dungeon is better when you have some friends to watch your back." She smiled, eyes sparkling. "Just sit around here for a while, enjoy the scenery and some time alone till I – and your acolyte – get back!"
Nadyell watched slightly helplessly as she watched their new Archer friend blend into the crowd, in search of some townsperson who could sell her a brand new Crossbow, possibly with Card Slots, and some arrows for her quiver. Sighing, she turned around to face the companion she was left with. Locke was okay, being alone with Nadyell but the femme was blushing furiously as she looked down at her boots.
"So, where do you want to go, Nadyell?" asked Locke as he looked at her, his face softening slightly. For some reason or another, he felt closer to Nadyell than he did with Miyuki. Maybe it was because like he, she was a Thief. And maybe, also because she had tales to tell about the life and work of a Rogue, seeing as her older brother was one.
"Howaboutgettingsomeapplesandsomewater?" squeaked Nadyell, saying it too fast for anyone to comprehend. Locke looked at her curiously. All he managed to hear was the word 'how'. Besides that, he was absolutely clueless as to what she said. Gulping her nervousness down, she repeated what she had said, much slower this time. "How about getting some apples and some water?" She had no reason to be nervous around Locke, right? After all, he was just a friend. Yeah, he was a friend who was really cute and unwittingly stole her heart.
"Okay then, my treat. I know how you hate to spend." Locke gave her one of his warm smiles as he turned around, grabbing her hand in the process, walking towards one of the nearby stalls. Nadyell's heart stopped beating for a split second, her cheeks burning red, at the sudden contact. Locke only dropped his hold on her wrist when he began choosing a couple of apples and a couple of bottles of cold water. Nadyell had her back facing him as she watched the folk of Payon go about their daily business. Most of them were Archers, the occasional Hunter with his or her falcon perched on the shoulder walking buy. "Here you go," said Locke, snapping her out of her reverie.
"Oh! Thank you," murmured Nadyell softly as she took the apple and the water from her fellow Thief's hands. Locke merely nodded as he began walking back towards the spot Ruiko and Miyuki had left them in, Nadyell following at his heels. Sitting down, they began to eat their snack.
"So tell me more about Rogues," asked Locke, making up an excuse for having a conversation. Nadyell looked at him, chewing at the apple bits thoughtfully before replying. Swallowing the fruit, she downed a bit of the water before speaking.
"Well, my brother keeps saying they're much better at human combat but I don't want to do that. I prefer the speedy style of the Assassin anyway over the stealthy style of the Rogue." Locke nodded as he listened to her speak. "My brother gets pretty rich though. He manages to haggle a lot with the sales people, even with Merchants who are supposed to be a lot better. He also manages to get a lot of loot and sell most of them off, which is why he never really runs out of money." Locke nodded again, various thoughts swimming in his head. If Nadyell were to become an Assassin, it would be better for him to become a Rogue. An Assassin was also a pretty good choice but for some reason or another, the wild style of fighting of a Rogue appealed to him more.
---
"Okay, I'm back!" Ruiko seemed to appear out of nowhere, popping up behind the pair of thieves as they quietly ate the apples Locke had bought for them. Nadyell didn't particularly trust the teasing tone in the archer's voice, but could do nothing more than narrow her eyes at her. Locke didn't seem to have noticed anything, though, because he stood up immediately, more than ready to go. Ruiko pirouetted on one foot, grinning as she showed off the new bow slung on her back.
"Nice!" exclaimed the only male of the party, and Nadyell conceded, admiring the craftsmanship. The crossbow had obviously been created by an experienced smith, with special carvings made in the soft wood, as well as looking classy in general. Ruiko winked, spinning back around to face her new companions. However, she paused, glancing about.
"Where's Miyuki?" She queried more than sure the girl would have returned by now.
"Good question," Nadyell responded with a sigh, "she's been gone since we got here. Probably off spending all of that zeny she hoards… stupid little--"
"Who's stupid now, hmm?" A vexed voice came from behind Nadyell, and she jumped slightly, turning to face a somewhat incensed acolyte, glaring down at her. "I dare you to continue that sentence!"
"You're a stupid little bi--"
"Now, now, girls," Locke stood between them, cutting the insult off midway, "don't start fighting. Again."
"Why don't we just head up to the Archer Village? That's where the entrance to the dungeon is…" Smartly, Ruiko changed the topic, something that would at least get the girls' minds off strangling each other. And, without waiting for a response, both of the calmer members of the party grabbed one of the crazier pair and started to drag them up the slope to their future destination. As they went, Locke sighed in relief; finally, he wasn't the only sane one in their party…
---
"Here comes another lot!" Locke shouted, back-to-back with Nadyell as they fought off the mobs of monsters attacking them: zombies, spores, snakes and familiars. Ruiko stood slightly off to the side, firing a rapid flurry of arrows, and Miyuki stood close by, aiding as much she could with her restorative magic. Their fight had been going on for a long while, for even as they killed a couple of enemies, a few more would respawn; it was a vicious, never-ending cycle.
"Will they never end?!" Nadyell grumbled, hacking at the annoying bat creature in front of her. Slicing once across its left wing, she stabbed quickly forward again through its torso, effectively killing it. But even after it fell, another flew in to take its place, swooping and screeching and scratching. Locke was trying to take on a pair of spores, stabbing the mushroom monsters in as many places as he could, though they refused to die. Ruiko had concentrated on the zombies, with help from Miyuki, aiming for the weak parts in their physique: the eyes, the neck, and the mouth. Surely the waves of enemies would let down sometime soon!
Miyuki paused after heal-bombing another zombie, wiping the sweat from her brow as she did. "We need to get away from this place, or they're going to overrun us!" Even though the lot of them could more than handle the creatures in this level of Payon dungeon, with no rest breaks, it was certainly a pain. She personally didn't know how much longer she could stand of these legions of monsters… her SP was running low what with a continuous stream of heals for her party members.
Locke and Nadyell nodded, grunting as they felled a Snake together. Ruiko lowered her bow for a moment, piercing the darkness with her sharp eyes. "Let's run, now, before they respawn again!" None needed anything more to incite them. Lowering their weapons, the party of four bolted, not caring where they were going – just that it was away from the swarm. Anywhere else would be better, right?
---
"WHERE IN BLUE BLAZES ARE WE?!" screamed Nadyell as she pointed an accusing finger at the path they had taken, "DAMN YOU PATH YOU! WHY MUST YOU LEAD US TO SOME GODFORSAKEN PLACE?!" Locke and Ruiko stared at her, wondering if her brain managed to sneak off and laugh at its former home. Miyuki shivered slightly, mentally telling herself to never get the female Thief this vexed. It would do no one good.
"Err, Nadyell? Could you calm down? If we can think calmly enough, maybe, we can get ourselves out of this mess," said Ruiko, trying to calm the hysterical thief down. Getting lost in the span of two days was not her idea of a joyride. Hell, ever since she met Miyuki, they've been getting lost every time they left the city, the only place Miyuki couldn't get them lost! Nadyell whimpered as she slumped down to the ground, pulling her knees closer.
Locke rubbed his temples as he closed his eyes, trying to remember where to go. He had been here a couple of times before. Then again, when he was, he was with an experienced Archer then, nearing his way to becoming a Bard. If they went north for ten minutes then went east, they could possibly get out of this cave. Or was it west? All he remembered was that going north for ten minutes was the right direction.
"I think I remember the way to get out of here. I was here before, while training with an experienced Archer who's now a Bard, I believe. We got stuck in the same place and I remember going north for ten minutes. Then, I don't know if we had to go east or west," supplied Locke as he eyed the three female in the party warily. "It's a start but I'm not quite sure about the next direction we'll need to take."
"It's better than nothing. Come on!" said Ruiko optimistically. She was a pretty good navigator, as long as she had a decent map with her. At the moment, she didn't have one. Their walk was pretty uneventful. The occasional spore attacked them, or a zombie, but nothing either Locke, Nadyell, Ruiko, or all three of them, couldn't handle. Soon enough, they reached the end of the path and luckily, there was only one direction to take.
"I'm getting tired, isn't there a faster way to get out of here?" whined Nadyell as she crossed her arms, trudging along the path she had earlier accused of getting them lost. She had a pretty good reason to be tired, besides the long path they were taking. Since they entered the dungeon, she didn't really have much of a chance to get to rest because of all the monsters that decided that they were the best choice to attack, even if there were others as well.
"Is little Nady getting tired?" came the sharp, cutting voice of the acolyte as she peered over Locke's shoulder, tiptoeing in the process. The silvery haired male was taller, after all. Nadyell shot Miyuki a scathing look. Miyuki winced slightly, noticing the slightly bloody patches on the thief's cheeks, torso, and shins. Suddenly, a little light bulb went off in her head. "Oh yeah! I just remembered! I bought some Butterfly Wings earlier and we can use them to get out of this cave!"
"Really?!" said Nadyell, scurrying over towards the acolyte, a shining look in her eyes.
"Yeah," mumbled Miyuki sheepishly as she began to dig in her bag for the Wings.
---
"No! We are not going out in the world with that pitiful excuse for a map as our guide! We might be mauled to death!"
"But it's the only map we have!!!"
Sigh.
"Can I have two rooms please? Both with two separate beds?" Never, would Nadyell and Miyuki share the room. Miyuki-Locke and Ruiko-Nadyell or Miyuki-Ruiko and Locke-Nadyell room assignments were okay but not Miyuki-Nadyell and Locke-Ruiko room assignments. It would be mass destruction.
To Be Continued
Nadyell: Poor poor Nady. She keeps getting lost… Well, with Miyuki anyway. She was even driven to the point of insanity that she accuses the path for getting them lost! XD
Tanuki: Nobody ever trusts Miyuki and her map. .-. Admittedly, she has the same amount of skill in navigation as me - next to naught. Ah well.
Zoom. I have nothing to say… ¬¬
Nadyell: Me too. ANYWAY. Here's this chapter's Guessing Time!
Guessing Time: What dungeon are they going to next?