Chapter 13: "The Coast is NOT Clear!"

Alaylle hums as she finishes sewing the fabric. She cuts the thread from her needle and carefully ties the end in a knot. "Perfect! Now to try it on!"

Alaylle quickly changes into the clothing, which looks identical to her old clothing. "Whaaa... this cloth feels so wonderful! It feels so smooth and soft! I should use more of that bolt and remake my wardrobe!" She quietly walks out of her room and into the living room of her house. Her father is sitting comfortably on a chair, with his cart by his chair.

"Hmm... it looks good on you, Alaylle!" Corin smiles happily at his daughter. "But you know... that cloth you have ain't normal cloth, you know! I recognized it the moment you came in!" He quickly pulls out a two by four out of his cart and swings it at Alaylle.

Alaylle has no time to scream as the wood hits her hakama and breaks... without any pain. She looks over at her father, seeming confused and shocked. "Huh?" Alaylle inquires intelligently.

"Bwhahahaha! Oh, that look... Alaylle, your reaction was priceless!" Corin laughs as he drops the two by four. He manages to control his levity once he notices the confused look on Alaylle's face. "I dunno how Father Renauld got that stuff, but it's steel curtain thread with silk woven in! Very resistant to pounding, cutting, stabbing... you name it." He glances significantly at the cloth. "It's blessed too... it's high-quality premium, dreadfully expensive stuff! To have normal clothing that covers your entire body like that... I could hit you with this all day and you wouldn't feel a thing!" He lifts up the two by four. "But... I have a job to go to." He chuckles as he waggles his pointer finger. "Your mother left already... She seems busier than usual ever since you became an acolyte... I wonder... Yikes! I gotta get going!" Corin quickly picks up the two by four, stashes it in his cart and runs out the door. "Love-you-hun, see-you-later!"

Alaylle blinks her eyes once as her father leaves the house quickly, and then looks down at her clothes. "Gosh..." Her gaze quickly moves to the floor, which has wood splinters on it. "Daddy... silly goofball head..." She quietly goes to get a broom to clean up the splinters.

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"Heh heh heh... yes yes... oh no, it wasn't my doing! It was more of a combined effort from the countless people you've delivered packages to, Alaylle." Father Renauld smiles gently at Alaylle. "Oh, believe me... you've earned it! No need to repay me at all!"

"Well, okay Father Renauld... I know! I'll keep helping out around here!" Alaylle smiles happily at Father Renauld.

"No no no... you should go out there, experience the world!" Father Renauld gestures dramatically, and then notices how Alaylle isn't buying it. "Alright, alright... a compromise... you may come here whenever you have free time and help out... alright?" He glances at Alaylle. "Usually we simply turn the Acolytes loose to find their own path. And... the cleaning and such is usually a test to see how determined they are." He mutters, "Never met someone who actually wanted to do it before..."

"Yay! How about now?" Alaylle smiles happily.

"No no no! You should be outside!" Father Renauld quickly ushers Alaylle out the door. He chuckles lightly and shakes his head once Alaylle is outside. "That girl..."

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Alaylle hums as she walks west from Prontera's west gate. 'Well... as long as I'm forced to be outside... I might as well visit Mr. Metaller and see how he's doing.' She watches the ground as walks, and carefully looking at each Poring she comes across, looking for one with a bandage on it's head. 'No... no... no... I wonder where Mr. Poring went...' She quietly enters Rocker Coast, only to be greeted by a horrifying racket.

"Kyaaaaahh! So noisy!" Alaylle covers her ears and looks over at the source of the noise.

A large group of Rockers is huddled in a circle; the outer Rockers are playing their violins horribly, while the inner Rockers are pounding on something. Meanwhile, a Rocker holding a blue leaf is watching the group, seeming satisfied and laughing in loud chirps. It has a large group of Rockers behind it, who are also chirping in laughter.

Alaylle looks carefully at the group of Rockers, and notices a tan leaf sticking out of the hoodlum's group in the middle. "Oh no! Mr. Metaller!"

At the sound of her voice, Mr. Metaller shoves his way through the circle. The Rockers quickly reorient themselves to chase after him. Mr. Metaller seems to have been disarmed of his violin, and is desperately dodging the Rockers strikes.

"So that's how it is!" Alaylle quickly grabs her chain and whips the metal links at a Rocker that is chasing Mr. Metaller.

The struck Rocker quickly turns towards Alaylle and strikes back... only to find it's violin strikes aren't doing anything.

Alaylle quickly continues striking the Rocker until it drops it's violin, a jellopy, and runs away in fear. Alaylle picks up the violin and throws it to Mr. Metaller. "Mr. Metaller! Here!"

Mr. Metaller neatly catches the violin and glares back at the Rockers. The Rockers back off for a moment, but then charge back into the fight. Mr. Metaller quickly sends several fleeing without their violins and knocks several more Rockers out.

Alaylle continues striking any Rockers that Mr. Metaller misses with her chain. Many quickly run away after taking a few chain strikes.

The Rocker with the blue leaf chirps quickly and points at Alaylle and Mr. Metaller. It's gang of Rockers quickly jump towards the pointed at targets.

Alaylle and Mr. Metaller make short work of them, either knocking them out or sending them fleeing. A large pile of jellopies and violins seems to have collected by them.

Mr. Metaller turns towards the Rocker with the blue leaf once the last Rocker flees.

The Rocker with the blue leaf shakes it's arm at Mr. Metaller, does a snarling chirp and jumps into the water of the coast, swimming away.

Mr. Metaller quickly hugs Alaylle once the Rocker is out of sight.

Alaylle giggles and hugs Mr. Metaller back. "It's nice to see you again, Mr. Metaller! ...What was that all about?" She glances towards the water.

Mr. Metaller quickly makes a gesture with his hands indicating flipping pages.

"Oh!... My book!" Alaylle sits down, takes the book out of a pouch and opens it.

Mr. Metaller quickly flips the pages until he stops at an entry and points at it.

Alaylle looks at the indicated entry. "Umm... Vocal... The self-proclaimed ruler of Rockers, yet maintains its rule with terror and gang tactics. It seems to be more of a title than an actual variant of a Rocker, yet only very strong Rockers ever become Vocals. There is usually only one Vocal at a time, though reports say that sometimes there are two. When this occurs, the two factions often fight until there is only one Vocal. The current Vocal of Rocker Field is one that carries a blue leaf. It is recently attempting to expand it's influence to Rocker Coast, but has run into resistance there." Alaylle looks up at Mr. Metaller. "Aahh... so that's a Vocal, huh?"

Mr. Metaller nods quickly as it collects the dropped jellopies.

"That's... money you Rockers use, huh?" Alaylle watches Mr. Metaller collect the large amount of jellopies. Mr. Metaller nods again. Alaylle looks back at the book. "Say... is it just me or is this book talking about us?" Mr. Metaller hops over to Alaylle and reads over her shoulder.

Alaylle reads from the bottom of the page. "The Vocal has recently been pushed back to Rocker Field, after having confronted a Metaller and a unknown human." Alaylle looks up at Mr. Metaller. "I guess this book's kinda magical, huh?"

Mr. Metaller shrugs and nods.

"Uhmm... anyway..." Alaylle puts away her book. "You don't have a tuned violin anymore..." She looks back at the pile of violins. "Say... with this many... how about I teach you how to tune a violin?"

Mr. Metaller sits down next to Alaylle and nods quickly.

Alaylle giggles and starts teaching Mr. Metaller about the tuning knobs and the sounds each string should make.

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Several broken violins later...

"Perfect! You've learned how to do it wonderfully!" Alaylle smiles happily at Mr. Metaller.

Mr. Metaller hops to his feet and plays his violin happily.

"Aahh! It's getting late! I'd better head back to Prontera!" Alaylle gets to her feet. "See you later, Mr. Metaller!" She waves goodbye happily and runs off east.

Mr. Metaller waves goodbye back. He looks towards the pile of violins... trying to figure out what to do with them.

Some Rockers from before hesitantly approach him, glancing at the violins.

Mr. Metaller watches them warily, but then notices them not attacking him. He thinks for a moment, and then starts tuning violins and giving them to the Rockers. Once the last Rocker gets a violin, he taps his foot on the ground to set a beat. Mr. Metaller and all of the Rockers start playing, making wonderful music.

The Vocal of the tan leaf was created...

End of Chapter 13
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Chapter 14 Preview!

Alaylle: "This can't be good..."

Mr. Vocal plays a charging theme on his violin.

Alaylle: "This music..."

In the Next Chapter: "The West-Side of Prontera Field Story!"

Alaylle: "N-no!... Th... they're really fighting!"
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