Chapter 18: The merchant girl
"Yes! We're finally here!" Raditz yelled out stretching as the group finally arrived at the Port at Tropp. "I was getting so sick of that ship… if I was there any longer I would have gone seasick!"
"What a wimp." Albel sneered as the group walked out of the ship, making their way into the town. "Stop complaining and get moving. Anyhow, how much further do we have to go?"
"Well, We're at Tropp now," Raditz replied. "And we have to get to the Port at the Town of Otanim, which is on the other side of the Astral continent… from there we have to take ANOTHER ship that takes us to our Destination, Clatos, so… yeah, we got quite a way to go still… heh."
"How convenient." Albel answered sarcastically.
"Seriously… you people on Roak should have had at least couple transporters or cars or something like that…" Lancar whined. "Few of them wouldn't have hurt."
"Haha… let's just get moving as fast as we can, then." Clair told the rest of the group with a smile. "We've run out of some supplies for now… let's find a shop in the town so we can restock on our items before we can get going again."
"But Lady Clair… we don't have any money from this planet!" Farleen said.
"Dang…" Roger said in disappointment. "So what should we do then, guys? Should we steal them? You know, I can be a pretty good thief…" Roger told the group, as he took out his bandit's gloves.
"Nonono… Roger… we don't need to steal anything…" Raditz said with a sweatdrop. "Don't worry about it… I got plenty of money!… since my family is pretty rich. Anyways, it's all on me!"
"Hmph. Spoiled kid. It's no wonder that you're without a job, then." Albel said.
"Heh…" Raditz chuckled, little embarrassed. "Anyways, let's go find some shops."
The group headed towards the center of the Town of Tropp. Being a port town connecting the Astral Continent with the Van Continent, it was bustling with commerce and trade. After going through few shops to restock on their weapons and food, they looked for a place where they can buy armour as well as some items.
"Come shop here, everybody! Come here for some of the best outfits and armour you can find here on Roak!" A cute, cheery sky-blue haired girl in white T-shirt and bellbottom pants yelled out to many consumers walking down the road. "We got many new armours and items from many places around the galaxy! We carry the newest imported products from Planets Resonia, Expel, and others!"
"What the…" Farleen asked, staring at the pair of white wings attached to the merchant girl's back. "She has… wings?"
"She's a Featherfolk." Raditz explained. "There are lots of Featherfolks here on Roak."
"Really? Only Featherfolk I knew from Surferio was big sister Stanice…" Roger said.
"And also check out our new exotic armory from a planet that you've never even heard of!" The Featherfolk merchant girl continued. "We have rare, hard to find items from a far away Planet named Elicoor! Come check them out!"
"WHAT?" Lancar yelled in surprise. "Did I just hear what I think she said?"
"Hey, isn't that the planet that you guys said you come from?" Raditz asked.
"Isn't that what they call our world?" Clair asked. "But if that's true, how can they have things from our Planet?"
"There is something fishy going on here! They must be illegal traders!" Lancar said, walking towards the Featherfolk girl who was also working with another merchant.
"Hey everybody!" The Featherfolk girl greeted the group as they walked towards her. "What can I help you with? Feel free to look around! We have all the best stuff, guaranteed!"
"That's right!" The merchant man besides the girl, dressed in green and wearing a green hat, said. "You won't find items like these anywhere else!"
"Wait a minute…" Roger said looking at the man, pondering for a bit. "I've… I've seen you from somewhere before!" He yelled as he pointed towards the Merchant man.
"Really? Who might you be… Hey, you're!…" The man yelled back, also surprised.
"Aren't… aren't you that guy who got lost and sold stuff to us two years ago? With another girl?" Roger asked.
"Two years ago?… Oh… yes… that's right… I remember you!" The man recalled. "I remember you helped us find the way through to that Town called Kirlsa! Nice to see you again! Let me introduce myself once more, my name is Ruddle Crispin."
"…So he really WAS on Elicoor?" Lancar asked.
"Yeah!" Roger replied. "Me, Fayt, Cliff and Miss Nel all helped them with directions and stuff!"
"Ruddle, you got lost even back THEN, too?" The Featherfolk girl asked jokingly.
"Haha… it's embarrassing, isn't it, Miss Reen?" Ruddle replied, scratching his head in embarrassment.
"Hey… but she's not the girl you were traveling with back then!" Roger said. "So what happened to her? I remember she had a pretty nasty attitude!"
"Miss Rumina you mean? Oh… unfortunately, her parents happen to find out that we were doing business on an underdeveloped planet… so she had to go back home before she got caught by the Federation Authorities…" Ruddle answered.
"A little girl huh… oh yeah… haha, that's right." Lancar said. "It must be the daughter of the Casino King Goldburn… she's notorious within the Federation."
"That's right…" Ruddle said. "Since Miss Rumina had to return home, I was forced to operate our business alone. I came to Roak about two months ago, and met with Miss Reen at Portmis."
"AFTER I found out that he was lost, heehee." Reen said, giggling. "I had to help him with directions, then I found out that he was a Merchant, just like me. Soooo… after that, we decided to become business partners!"
"Beh… are you all finished with your useless conversation?" Albel butted in. "We're not here to chat about old times, you know. Let's just buy the stuff and get out of here!"
"That's rite! Sorry mister, sorry!" Reen apologized, smiling and walking to front of where Albel was standing, then examining him with great interest. "Just look around for anything you need! And since you're so cute, I'll give YOU a special discount! Heehee…"
"Um… we're going to need some Blueberries and Regeneration symbols… oh yeah, and we'll take those armours and shields that you've got over there, too!" Raditz said.
"Sure thing! Okay… that'll be… 5300 fol with the special discount!" Reen said after punching in some numbers in her pocket calculator, then smiling and looking to Albel.
"Oh… I'm paying by the way…" Raditz said.
"YOU'RE buying these?" Reen asked. "Oookay then… alright… so without discount, that'll be 14000 fol please!"
"WHAT?" Raditz yelled in surprise, with a sweatdrop from his head. "How come I don't get a discount?"
"Because it's only offered to this cutie right here!" Reen replied, wrapping her arm around Albel's.
"Bah… get off me…" Albel said as he tried to shake Reen off. "And I'll take whatever he's taking."
"That'll be 5300 fol, please!" Reen said with a smile.
"He has the money." Albel said, pointing to Raditz. "get it from him."
"Heh… but…" Raditz handed her the money, stunned that how he was completely neglected by Reen in favour of Albel just before.
"So… how did you guys end up here? Taking a vacation?" Ruddle asked. "I'm surprised you guys came here from Elicoor and all… since they're an underdeveloped planet."
"Now that would be one LOOONG story…" Farleen said.
"Well, let's just say that we ended up here by accident." Clair said. "We now have to go to this place called Clatos… to read the ancient memoirs from 400 years ago."
"Did you say… ancient?" Reen asked Albel. "ancient memoirs? That sound sooo rare… and it's from 400 years ago? Oh my gosh! Can we trade?"
"… It's his, not mine." Albel said, pointing at Raditz.
"Really?" Reen said, finally turning to Raditz, grabbing his hand. "Can I have it? Please please? I can trade you something for it!"
"Um… eh… but… it's not really for sale…" Raditz answered, blushing.
"Aw… common… please please? Pretty please?" Reen begged him.
"Um…" Raditz mumbled, still blushing.
"Enough of this. We're wasting our time." Albel said. "We leave, now."
"He's right…" Clair said. "We don't have much time to lose. We should get going. Ruddle, Reen, thank you for the discount." Clair said, turning to Ruddle and Reen to bow.
"You're going to Clatos, did you say…" Reen said, in deep thought. "Okay… Ruddle, I've decided… I'm going with them! Everybody, I'm gonna come with you"
"HUH?" Everybody blurted in surprise.
"But… Miss Reen!" Ruddle said, very surprised with what she had just said. "Why are you going with them? And what about our business?"
"They said they have something valuable and RARE… I just HAVE to see what this is for myself!" Reen said quietly to Ruddle's ear. "Think about how much money we can make for selling something that rare… omigosh… it can sell for millions! I'm going to try to convince them to give it to me! Besides, I wanna see if that hot guy there will ask me out…"
"Are you serious, Miss Reen?" Ruddle asked, with a sweatdrop.
"I'm serious! Don't worry… I'll haggle with them until I get it! And you can stay here in Tropp and take care of our business alone until I get back, so that you won't get lost again… It'll be okay; I won't be away for too long… I promise I'll be back soon!"
"Well… if that's so… then good luck, Miss Reen." Ruddle said. "See you soon."
"Heehee, don't go off anywhere while I'm gone!" Reen told Ruddle, giving him a hug, then turning towards the group.
"Okay everybody! I'm coming with you guys!" Reen said with a smile. "I have to see what this ancient memoir is! I'm coming whether you like it or not, heehee."
"Ah… but Reen…" Clair said, hesitating to accept her into the group.
"She's none of our concern." Albel said, walking away. "We act on our own. Let her do whatever she wants."
"Uh… I suppose you can travel with us for a while then…" Raditz said to Reen. "Welcome to the group!"
"So what's your name?" Reen ran off to ask Albel, ignoring everything Raditz had just said.
"Beh…" Albel didn't say anything, annoyed.
"His name is Albel." Farleen said. "I'm Farleen! The short boy is Roger, the big man is Lancar, and that's Lady Clair! Nice to meet you!"
"My name is Reen Silvermoon!" Reen said. "Nice to meet you all too! Alright then, everybody, let's get going!" she said, gliding in the air to chase after Albel.
"And my name is… Raditz…" Raditz mumbled, with everybody already walking towards the town exit.
Chapter 19: Path to Tartaroy
"So where are we going now?" Lancar asked, as the group was walking through a path in the middle of big, open forested grounds. "Will this lead us to Otanim or whatever the place is called?"
"Actually, it's still quite a long way." Raditz said. "We're probably going to have to stop by Tartaroy… which is another city we'll meet on the way. After that, we have to walk a bit more to reach Otanim."
"That's a long walk…" Lancar commented. "Well, at least it won't be boring with that girl traveling with us now."
"Yeah…" Raditz agreed, looking to where Reen was with his tail wagging. "Hey… she's pretty cute, huh?"
"Haha… yup, she seems like a cute girl. Pretty cheerful too." Lancar agreed. "Too bad that she's all over Albel and not you, huh?"
"Err…" Raditz mumbled in embarrassment.
"Hey Farleen!" Reen asked her a question. "Don't you think that Albel is really really Hot?"
"Ew! I can never ever like that man!" Farleen said. "thinking about all the rotten things he's said… the things he's done… grrrr…"
"I'm not sure about whatever he's done…" Reen said, admiring Albel with her sparkly blue eyes. "but I don't really care… look at him… look at those sharp wolf-like eyes that could kill… his lean, washboard abs… his cool hair… his great fashion sense… wow"
"Pshh… whatever you say." Farleen retorted. "Oh yeah, Reen, by the way, what are those ball things that's roaming around you?" Farleen asked, pointing to number of tennisball-sized orbs that were floating around Reen.
"Oh, these?" Reen said. "These are orbs. My mother taught me the secret art of the orb techniques that's been passed down from generations ago. They can help me with many things as I travel from place to place… I can even use it for self-defense when I have to, too."
"You mean you can fight with those?" Roger asked. "HAHA! That's so funny!"
"Hmmm! You just haven't seen it, Roger!" Reen replied, little offended. "I can actually kick some butt too, you know. You'd be pretty surprised!"
Meanwhile, Albel was walking along the path ahead of rest of the pack, Clair being the closest one behind. As Albel was walking, he looked out to examine the environment. The trees, the ground, the air, the smell… deep inside, there was something about these grounds that Albel was familiar with. Little tidbits of memories flashed in his mind, as his mind glitched out a little again.
"Bah…" Albel grunted in pain, as he was getting a minor but sharp headache.
"Albel?" Clair asked in concern, walking towards Albel's side. "What's wrong Albel, is everything all right?"
"Ack… I'm fine… you don't have to worry." Albel said, waving Clair off.
"…" Clair looked worried. "It seems like you've been getting headaches lately… are you sure you don't need to go see a doctor?" she asked.
"There is no time for that. There's nothing wrong with me. I don't need your concern." Albel said.
As Albel looked forward again, he saw that something was coming towards them from the distance. Six Dark bird-like creatures were heading their way, not looking particularly friendly.
"Looks like some birds want to be buried down in the ground." Albel said as everybody went into their battle stance. "I'll make sure they bite the dust, as they wish."
"Alright guys," Clair said, jumping into the air. "Let's take them out!"
Clair jumped into the air at the Dark bird, slashing twice at it with her Twin daggers. However, her slashes were easily evaded by the birds who quickly maneuvered backwards.
"They're… pretty fast…" Clair said.
"FIREBOLT!" Farleen yelled as the ball of fire homed in towards the dark bird. However, the bird flew further back, pulled back on its wings, and flapped them towards the firebolt creating a great gust of wind. The wind blast simply blew off the firebolt and hit the ground in front of where all the heroes were standing, blowing them off their feet and onto the ground.
"Ughh… take this…" Raditz grunted, unsheathing his sword, then jumping HIGH in the air. "HEAD SPLITTER!" He yelled as he held the sword back over his head upside down. He thrusted the tip of the sword downwards, piercing through the body of one of the birds and impaling it.
"Here I go!" Lancar yelled as he jumped high in the air. He jumped high in the sky above where the bird was flying, and came down feet first on with his body covered in Qigong aura. "AERIAL ASSULT!" He yelled as his body simply punctured right through the body of the bird, ripping it into pieces.
"Hah!" Roger yelled as he tossed one of his axes right where the bird was flying at. The axe flew towards the bird at a rapid speed, but just missed it as it quickly flew sideways to avoid it. However, as the bird flew aside, it was met with another sniping axe blow that which chopped through it like a piece of wood. "Tricked ya!" Roger taunted.
As everybody was battling the birds, the other three birds flew sharply towards where Reen was standing, who was just standing back there looking helpless. "…Reen!" Raditz yelled in concern as he was too out of range to help.
"Err… evil birds… take this!" Reen yelled. "RAVEN ORB!" the three orbs that were floating around Reen all reacted with energy as they flew up and towards the birds at a blazing speed. The orbs knocked each of the three birds squarely in the face, knocking them back.
"Time to get serious!" Reen said, as she flied up and gathered up her orbs again. She added two more orbs to the mix of three that was already out there, and arranged them into a cross-shaped formation in the air. "NORTHERN CROSS!" she yelled as the 5 orbs reacted with Ice energy then flew towards the 3 birds. The jet of ice blasts shot towards the birds, freezing them solid.
"KIYAAA!" Albel yelled as he flew up to deal the finishing blows. With three precise and smooth slashes from his katana, he cut through all of the frozen birds, shattering them in pieces.
"WOW! That was cool!" Reen shouted in admiration. "He's strong too!"
"I also killed one…" Raditz mumbled, feeling neglected again.
"Wow… you sure can fight with those!" Farleen complemented Reen.
"We better not drop our guards." Lancar said as the party gathered themselves and started walking again. "There's quite a few monsters here in this planet, too. And we never know when the demons will show up again. Let's be careful."
Chapter 20: A familiar face
"PHEW!" Raditz yelled, as the party stepped towards the entrance to the Town of Tartaroy. "That was one hell of a walk… let's rest here for couple hours, and get going again… we should be able to get to Otanim by nightfall!"
"Tartaroy… wow! I haven't been here in two months!" Reen said, running in full of excitement. "I wonder if the tournament is still going on at the Arena?"
"The tournament? Arena?" Clair asked.
"Yeah, this city has the biggest Arena… bigger then any other Arenas on this planet!" Raditz said. "Once a year… there's an Arms tournament that takes place here in the Arena, where the fighters from all over the world gather to test their skills. My great ancestors won this tournament many times. I'm going to enter it too, next year."
"You mean you haven't entered before?" Roger asked. "How come? This sounds like exactly your kind of thing! Mine too… but heh… how come you never entered?"
"Because right now I'm still too young to enter…" Raditz said. "You have to be at least 18 years old to enter it."
"You're not 18 yet?" Reen asked. "Wow, you're younger than me! But you don't look like it…"
"What?… wow… how old are you?" Raditz asked.
"I'm 19." Reen said, rushing over to Albel. "How old are you, Albel?"
"…" Albel didn't answer.
"The database says he's 26…" Lancar said, reading out his profile from his quad scanner.
"Wow… he's so mature!" Reen said in admiration. "Handsome good looks AND a mature personality… he's like a prince!"
"…" Clair just looked at Reen flirting with Albel, not doing or saying anything but little flustered inside, for some reason.
"Let's go into the arena!" Farleen said. "I want to check it out!"
The group walked towards the Large Arena that was located on the North side of the town. They entered through the door, into the hallway with a ticket booth standing in the middle of it.
"Hey everybody! You guys here for the show?" The worker in the ticket booth asked. "Show will be starting in about 2 hours! This performance is not to be missed… you guys should purchase the ticket now before it's sold out!"
"Show?" Farleen asked. "What show? Isn't there supposed to be an arms tournament?"
"Arms tournament ended a week ago." The worker replied. "But now there is better, more entertaining show in town! A circus!"
"A circus? Pshhh…" Roger sneered, disappointed that the arms tournament is over. "Who wants to see a stupid circus, anyway?"
"HEY! Watch your mouth!" A girl yelled from a distance. "That right! I heard all that! How dare you disrespect our show! Do you have any idea how much effort and time we put into… HUH?"
"Eh… that voice…" Roger mumbles, as he slowly turned around to face the girl.
"That's…" Farleen and Clair said simultaneously as they both looked at the girl.
"Hey, isn't that…" Lancar asked.
"Ugh… it can't be that annoying brat again…" Albel sighed.
"PEPPITA!" Roger yelled as Peppita walked towards the group in disbelief. She had the same bleach white hair and dark skin, but she was now noticeably taller, as tall as Clair and Farleen. Her hair was now long and straight, and her body had gotten much more mature.
"Is that… Roger? Albel? Farleen? Miss Clair? And Mr. Lancar?" Peppita said as she met up with the group with disbelief in her face. "Wow… I would have never thought that I'd run into you guys here!"
"Same here, Peppita." Lancar said. "And my…you've grown a lot! Could hardly recognize you."
"Heehee, we Verbeysians grow faster than most other races." Peppita answered. "It's so good to see you all again! You all haven't changed one bit… well, except for Roger…"
"Heh…" Roger twirled his thumb in embarrassment.
"So are you guys here to see my show?" Peppita asked.
"Your show?" Clair asked. "What might that be?"
"I don't think I told you this when I met you, Miss Clair!" Peppita said. "But I'm part of a Circus troupe!" She said pointing at the banner hanging high up on the wall that read 'TODAY'S PERFORMANCE: THE ROSSETTI TROUPE'
"Yeah, I remember you telling me the stories about your Troupe on the Diplo, hahaha." Lancar said. "It's good to see that your group has finally taken off!"
"Yeah, it's about dang time! Heehee… you can say that we're pretty famous now… we were just invited to Roak for a tour! But wait a minute… where's Fayt? Sophia? Mr. Cliff… Miss Nel and Maria… and the rest?" Peppita asked.
"…" Everybody except for Reen went silent, with Peppita also having no idea about what was going on.
"Yeah, I'd like to know too…" Reen asked. "Why do you guys need go read those ancient memoirs, anyway?"
"Alright… I'll tell you both the whole story…" Clair said, as the group entered the dressing room to all sit down for a while. Clair then began explaining the whole story.
"I… I can't believe it…" Peppita said quietly, stunned. "Fayt and Miss Nel… are captured? And Miss Maria is missing? And you guys were fighting Demons? Wow…"
"I didn't know they had your friends captive, too." Raditz said. "Now I see why you guys are so determined about this…"
"Wow… I can't believe that was what you guys were really doing." Reen said, also surprised. "I'm surprised… but I believe every word you said."
"Really?" Farleen asked.
"Yeah…" Reen said. "It's said that us Featherfolks were almost wiped off from this Planet about 700 years ago… by an evil spirit that was created by the Demons. Only few of us survived, but one of my ancestors is said to have helped to drive the demons off from our world. I thought it was only a made-up story, but I guess it's not."
"I've heard about that story too…" Raditz said looking at Reen. "So this in a way concerns all of us."
"Especially me!" Peppita said, getting up from her seat. "I'm coming with you guys!"
"Peppita, no!" Clair responded adamantly. "You don't need to be involved in this… we can take care of it… you shouldn't leave behind your parents and your other troupe members! We can't ask you to do that…"
"No, it's okay Miss Clair! Allow me to come with you!" Peppita begged. "Fayt, Miss Nel… and the rest… I learned so much from them two years ago, and I have so many fond memories, too… I can't just sit down still knowing that they're captured and in danger! They're really important to me… so I have to go help save them!"
"But… Peppita, what about your parents?" Farleen asked.
"She has our full permission." Dulcinea replied, as her and Piccolotto entered through the door, catching everybody in surprise. "We heard everything… sorry about that. But if this is something that concerns us, you guys need not to worry. We will allow Peppita to go."
"She's right." Piccolotto said. "What Peppita learned from the adventures two years ago was something of real value… and one of those things was helping out each other and having faith and trust in your comrades. Peppita knows what she wants to do, and we give her our permission. As a matter of fact, we order her to go with you all."
"Mother, Father!" Peppita said. "Thank you so much… the troupe will be okay, right?"
"I guess Gonnella and Ursus will just have to cover for your time while you're gone. But don't worry about it; it shouldn't be a big deal. The crowd loves them." Dulcinea said.
"Thank you mother… father…" Peppita said as she hugged her adopted mother and father. She then turned to the group to ask again. "So I hope it's okay with you guys… that I'm coming…"
"If that's the case, then we welcome you to the group, Peppita." Clair said with a smile, and looked back to the group who also accepted her the same way. "…I think we're all in agreement."
"Yay!" Peppita yelled in joy. "Then let's get going! It's time to rescue our friends and kick some demon butt!"
Chapter 21: Chaos in the Desert
The path to Otanim from Tartaroy was a pretty straight forward one, though long. There were few enemies far and between, but all small groups of enemies had no chance against the power of the eight heroes.
"This sure is taking heck of a long time…" Roger complained. "And this land is nothing but sand… is this a desert or something?"
"It's been pretty long, yeah." Raditz replied. "But we're almost there, don't worry."
As Roger walked ahead, there was something down below the sandy grounds that was waiting for him. A hand made purely of sand popped out from the ground, then the whole body shot out to attack Roger from behind.
"Roger!" Raditz yelled as his instincts caught the monsters first before anyone else.
"Huh.. Ah…AHHHH!" Roger yelled, scared and frozen solid, about to be hit with the Sandman's attack.
"MAGIC HOOK!" Peppita yelled as she pulled Roger out from harm's way by only fraction of a second. Roger fell down on the ground, sweating in fear.
"Roger!" Peppita called his name, rushing to his side to see if he was alright. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"
"I'm… I'm okay…" Roger answered, staring and Peppita's beautiful face and blushing a little.
The sandman shot out a jet of sand onto everybody, backing them all off. Albel and the rest got into their battle stance, ready to take on this sand monster.
"Take this, scum!" Albel yelled as he slashed at the Sandman rentlessly. Every one of his slashes went through the sand as how it should, but not damaging it as the Sandman regenerated itself very quickly.
"Damn, another one of THESE monsters?" Albel cursed.
"A sand monster…" Farleen said. "Water based spells would be the best… everybody, let's go for it!" Farleen began her spellcasting, then casted it towards the Sandman in few seconds. "ICE NEEDLES!"
"ICE DAGGERS!" Clair yelled and tossed her daggers at the same time Peppita did a similar move. "FROZEN DAGGERS!"
All the ice moves pierced through Sandman at the same time, damaging it but not preventing it from regenerating itself.
"Drats, ice spells won't do it…" Farleen said, backing off. "It's too solid… we need something with PURE liquid-form water… but I don't know any strong pure water-based spell! Acid Rain or Thunderstorm wouldn't be strong enough…"
"You can count on me for that." Clair said, as she began chanting one of her spells.
"Me too!" Reen yelled as she gathered up her orbs and began charging it in water energy.
"SEA GATE!" Clair yelled as a Tsunami of water swept over the Sandman. At the same time, Reen yelled "AQUA ORB!" as her orb's energy resonated with each other to turn into water, blasting at the Sandman.
"GWOOOO!" The Sandman cried as the water attacks blasted its structure into Billions of little sand particles.
"We got it!" Reen said in triumph.
However, the Sandman was more resilient than anybody expected. The sand particles, hardened from water, gathered one by one. Eventually, a small ball was gathered, and it then sucked in heat energy from the blazing sun shining from above. The heat dried off everything, and the Sandman regenerated into what he was before.
"How can it?…" Clair muttered in disbelief.
Lancar and Raditz dashed towards the monster to attack it again. All their attacks were futile, as they just punched through the sand. One of Lancar's punches went right through inside the sand, and got stuck. "Crap, my hand's stuck!" Lancar yelled. "What is this, like a quick sand?"
"BWAAA!" Sandman yelled as he then punched Lancar and Raditz away. Then, it raised both of his hands, to make another attack. "SAND BLASTER!" it yelled, as sharp jet of sand sprayed towards everybody. Albel, Reen, and Clair created barriers to block them, but it caught Lancar and Raditz who were just recovering, as well as Roger, Peppita and Farleen standing in the distance.
"Ahhhh!…" Roger, Peppita and Farleen screamed as they were put out of commission.
"Shit… Clair, heal them." Albel said, jumping back.
"SANDSTORM!" Sandman yelled as storm of sand swept across the field. Everybody got knocked down, gasping for breath.
"cough… damn…" Albel cursed, and then went into thought. 'That damned sand… it regenerates every time we take it apart… does that mean we have to disintegrate every single part of it?'
"Ugh… guys… I'm going to try a technique…." Raditz said, getting up, but struggling. "But I need it blasted in pieces first."
"I'll do the honours." Albel said, pointing his palm towards the Sandman. "You just make sure this move of yours work."
"Alright…" Raditz said, as he started to charge himself in mass energy.
"Take this, you worthless bag of sand," Albel taunted as his palm became charged with mass amount of energy. "PALM OF DESTRUCTION!"
Albel's mass ball of energy flew towards the Sandman, and exploded upon impact, blasting it into millions of pieces again. "Alright… here goes nothing!" Raditz then yelled as he jumped high up in the air charged in blue energy. "DRAGON HOWL!" the energy around Raditz formed into a shape of a massive dragon, as he jumped down towards the particles of the Sandman. This overwhelming dragon energy disintegrated each and every single grain of Sand that was part of the monster.
"So long, sandbag." Albel taunted as everybody got up and celebrated the victory.
"That move was amazing, Raditz!" Lancar said. "That's the real power of the Edarl style, huh?"
"Heh… tha…n…k…s" Raditz mumbled weakly as he dropped to his knees, and fell flat onto his face.
"Raditz!" Farleen and Peppita yelled as they both rushed over to his side, along with Clair and Reen.
"He's passed out…" Clair said. "That technique he used must have been too much for him."
"Hmph. Weakling." Albel sneered, but still impressed with the skill Raditz used.
"Can't somebody cast a healing spell?" Reen asked in concern.
"I can't…" Clair said. "Since he's not injured, and merely drained out physically, it won't work."
"Well, let's get to Otanim first then, and rest up for the night." Lancar said, as he picked unconscious Raditz up. "It'll be nighttime soon, anyway."
"Let's get going fast, then!" Peppita said, as everybody walked towards the port town of Otanim.
