This is chapter 2, my precious readers! In this, we discuss travelling, flying boats, and Karen! Enjoy
Disclaimer:...
Chapter 2
Mission ho! Onward, to Einbroch
Recap:
The gang of merry ninjas met in their battle gear and skipped off from Glast heim and towards the fields that would lead them to Al de Baraan, and from there, Juno, where they could take the airship toward Einbroch and from there ride the train to the mines. There were sure to be dangerous monsters on the way, and so they prepared for the worst and took extra orange and blue potions with them along with Fly and Butterfly wings.
It would be a long journey fraught with monsters and mazes, but readied with their best ninjutsu and weapon skills, the ninja were prepared.
And thus, the first mission of the guild of ninjas began.
End Recap:
The group had been traveling in the forests of mjolnir for several hours now and a few have them have become…jumpy…to say the least, in anticipation of finally arriving at Al de Baran and finally being able to teleport themselves to Juno, where they would finally take the airship to Einbroch.
"That reminds me," Karen asked, ever the voice of reason, "Why didn't we just teleport ourselves to Al de Baran in the first place?"
The rest of them stopped and turned so fast that Karen swore all of them got whiplash (except Fabio, he was just too awesome to get whiplash in her eyes). Their eyes were so wide that their irises were practically drowned out (meaning it just looked like a sea of white). Needless to say, this really creeped Karen out. Wanting them to stop, stepped over to them, she waved her hand in front of their faces, "Hey, guys? Guuuuyysss?"
It didn't work, they were completely out of it, horrified at how stupid they were, even though that wasn't too much of a surprise. Unfortunately, this left an opening for the orc hero waiting in the vegetation to spring out and attack.
Of course, ninjas, in all their glory, are never surprised for long, and they quickly mounted an effective counterattack. Sheena, Karen, and Fabio set to work hitting the thing. Fabio melted into the shadows, continuing to appear and slash the hero in critical places before disappearing again. Sheena pulled and assortment of bladed throwing weapons ranging from kunai, shuriken, to even small forked tridents out of places both mentionable and not, throwing them with deadly accuracy at everywhere that wasn't armored.
While Sheena was being a human warehouse and Fabio assassinating like the godfather, Karen, well, wigged out. Screaming obscenities that no human should know, she reached into her pockets and in an amazing combination, disappeared into thin air, reappearing near a tree in the air, chucking all manner of…things at it. Stones that she picked up, shards of bark from the nearby tree, dirt, precious follicles of Fabio's hair that she had been collecting from the shower drain for years, water bottles, combs, and, well, you get it. Although the occasional kunai and shuriken made it through, mostly it was just annoyance. Whether for the orc or the ninjas, it's impossible to tell.
What were Melkin, Skein, and Shino doing, then? They were hiding amongst the tree branches, like good little boys, sealing. Having finished, all three launched their heaviest attacks.
"Ninpou: Kamaitachi!" Shino called out mentally.
Melkin's voice rang through the air, clear as a bell, causing others to sweatdrop (he was a showy type, no?), "Ninpou: Raging Dragon Fire!"
Skein, also being showy (as well as being a secret admirer of Melkin), yelled out after Melkin, "Ninpou: Fallen Frozen Crystal!"
These jutsu came just in time, too, for Karen was starting to fall (and run out of things to throw), and the orc was preparing to dissect her. Melkin, a stream of fire with a dragon's head billowing out of his mouth, blew the orc of its feet, causing severe third degree burns around his stomach area, all but melting the skin off its bones at the heat of the concentrated beam of fire.
Next, Shino's jutsu conjured a tornado around the orc, sweeping him into the air and cutting gashes into its armor, completely getting rid of what was left of the orc's armor.
Lastly, Skein's spell caused a huge icicle to fall from nowhere and impale the orc through its painfully exposed stomach. Skein was overjoyed at this, because striking the killing blow meant that he got the first pick of the spoils! "Hoorah! I call the cool hat!" He ran up and plucked the hat neatly of the dead orc's head and put it on his head, "I am Vlad the Impaler! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Sheena was the only one obviously annoyed (Melkin doesn't count. He's always annoyed), "I hate it when I'm the bait." She muttered under her breath.
Skein, still high on success, put his arm around her shoulder and said, "Hey, don't fell down. Maybe next time, you'll kill'em! You know, stick one through the eye or something."
By now, a vein was seen clearly on her forehead, "Would you like that to be YOUR forehead?" She asked in a forced calm tone.
Brought out of his high by the dangerous vibes she was sending off, Skein finally got the hint and backed off with a squeak, resigned to hiding in the back of the group for the next few hours.
The group had finally, after an almost ridiculous amount of battles, made it to Al de Baran. Normally, this wouldn't be considered much of an abnormality. However, after that orc hero, there were almost no monsters worth killing. Just porings, drops, lunatics, fabres, chonchons, and those violin-wielding cricket things that no one really cares about.
Now, thoroughly annoyed and not even the slightest bit wounded after what must have been around 200 battles, the six ninja trudged into the city with the sun high above them. Of course, it was highly unusual for a ninja to actually show oneself in broad daylight, let alone a hunting party of six. In fact, it was so unusual that people doubted they were really ninja.
"Hey, are those really ninja?" A crusader 'whispered' to his partner, a knight.
"No way those are ninja, I can see them!" Some random thief whispered in awe.
"Heh, are you kidding? Those are definitely ninja. Failures at everything they are. Even stealth, their 'specialty'." A pompous assassin ghosted out behind the thief that spoke, causing said criminal (Why hasn't she been arrested for noobness yet?) to faint dead away.
Of course, none of the ninja took kindly to any of that talk, especially the assassin's, that cheap Arabian knockoff…
However, before some of the more hotheaded ninja could ahem give that assassin his 'passport' out of Rune-Midgard, they were rushed out by…none other than Karen! Apparently, that assassin's jeweled katars reminded her of the jewel they were supposed to obtain, and consequently the money they would get, which meant she could buy some jewelry and clothes and beautifying products, which she concluded would get her closer to Fabio, and thus end her days of having to secretly collect hairs (both from his head and not) to complete her shrine to him! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
All was for naught, though, as they neared the kafra representative, they discovered they had no money or tickets to teleport around with! That wouldn't stop them, though, for without even stopping, they drew their weapons and made their seals and 'coerced' the representative into teleporting them for free.
So, from Juno they made a beeline for the airport, and…well…paid the lady and went inside. In the hallway, all the ninja sweatdropped, "Wow," Skein said, "that was a bit…disappointing."
"I know," agreed Melkin, "I was totally thinking that they'd have this huge ridiculously intricate process of security."
"Yeah, yeah," Karen joined in, "like, one that would lead you around for miles, going through various lines and making you wait for like 3 hours just to make sure you won't do something potentially dangerous."
Then, all in unison, all of them said, "Huh." Just then, they all turned and stared at a fixed point on the wall. It was like in that moment, they all had one big notion of consensus, where they would all stare at that one point, like there was a camera there…or something.
Eventually (the airport had apparently built some kind of ridiculously long hallway just for fun), they came upon the door and exited the building to get to the…docks? Everyone just kind of stared at the airships (this being their first time seeing one), rather dumbfounded at what they saw.
Skein, being eloquent for a second, voiced their thoughts, "It's a boat."
A nearby crewmate, dressed in standard sailor clothing, who was carrying a large crate into said boat, stopped when he heard them, replying, "Yeah, what about it?"
Melkin, following Skein's lead, said, "It's a boat that flies."
By now, the sailor (noticing the implied insult), had the beginnings of a vein on his forehead. Nodding, he said once again, "Yeah, so?"
This time, it was Shino who spoke, "Why is a boat of all things flying? Rather, how can it fly?"
By now, another sailor, looking exactly like the first one excluding hair and eye color, came out to see what was up, "Are you blind or something? Can't you see the wings?"
"A boat does not fly because you stick two wings on it!" They all yelled in unison.
This caused the two sailors (who have, by the looks of it, been on that airship most of their working lives) to look at each other silently, as if they were holding a telepathic counsel. Finally, after three whole awkward moments, the two sailors said, "You have a point." Before walking off with whatever they were carrying, calling back out to them when they didn't follow, "Are you guys coming on or not?"
Of course, the ninjas, their faith in technology totally shaken by now, were at the very least extremely hesitant to even set foot on that dangerous thing, but did it anyway because Karen started going on about money, which scared them even more.
Thankfully, they arrived at Einbroch safely, only to get lost. After what should have been hours asking directions from people they couldn't understand because of the flu masks they wore (and they refused to take them off, too), they finally found the train just as it pulled in for its last run of the day.
From there, they took a short walk to the mines and camped out in front of the entrance, spending a night of fitful sleep there.
In the morning, the six ninja could be seen, staring at the entrance, trying to build up their courage (hey, this is their first guild mission, cut them some slack!)
"Well, this is it." Karen stated.
"Yeah." Replied Fabio
"Let's go for it all at once. No regrets, eh?" said Sheena, stretching her arms in preparation.
"Ah." Muttered Shino in assent.
"What are we waiting for! Let's go!" Shouted Melkin, full of gusto.
"Bleughhhh! Blach Bleouniughh!"
"WHAT THE HELL, SKEIN! STOP DRINKING ALL OUR POTIONS! YOU'RE NOT EVEN WOUNDED YET!"
"BLEAGH! BLEUCH BLOCH BLEUEEEEEEE!"
Sheena sighed, "Why do they have to start this so early in the morning?"
"I dunno," said Karen, "Those potions are pretty tasty, you know? I kind of sympathize with Skein."
Fabio joined in, "Yeah, I know what you mean. I just wish they'd have more variety."
"What do you mean?" Sheena asked.
"Well, you know how red potions are ALWAYS cherry flavored? Why don't they get strawberry or watermelon flavored ones too?"
"Ah, I see." Sheena said, putting her fist into her palm in realization, "Maybe it's to standardize things?"
"Nah," Karen shook her head, "Cuz then they would have standardized the texture too, right? I mean, red potions are thick and syrupy like cough medicine, while orange potions are like juice, yellow potions are much like milkshakes, while white potions are about the same as melted ice cream."
"Oh?" Sheena said in wonder, "What are blue potions then?"
"Carbonated soda."
"Huh."
Their conversation continued as the trio (plus Shino) followed Skein as he was chased by Melkin into the Einbroch mines. Really, a rather anticlimactic end after all that buildup, no?
Once again, I ask my readers to review and contribute a character to be recruited after this mission.
While I'm still here, I feel like y'all might wanna know the build I made for my characters:
shino age, 18:
level: 42
job level:38
skills: reverse tatami lv 1
shadow teleportation lv5
cicada skin shedding lv 4
illusionary shadow lv 3
way of the blade lv 1
bright crimson fire lv. 3
lightning spear of ice lv. 3
wind blade lv. 6
lightning strike lv. 5
kamaitachi lv. 1
vanishy slash lv 5
shadow slash lv. 1
sheena, age: 19
level:44
job level:36
skills: assassination training lv. 3
shuriken throw lv. 10
throw kunai lv. 10
throw wind shuriken lv 5
way of the blade lv. 2
bright crimson fire lv. 3
wind blade lv.3
karen, age: 20
level: 36
job level:32
skills: assassination training lv. 8
final strike lv. 3
reverse tatami lv. 1
shadow teleportation lv. 2
shuriken throw level 5
vanishy slash lv 5
shadow slash lv 5
throw kunai lv. 3
Fabio age, 21
level: 40
job level:40
skills: reverse tatami lv. 5
shadow teleportation lv. 5
vanishy slash lv. 5
shadow slash lv. 5
assassination training lv. 3
final strike lvl. 3
shuriken throw lv. 5
cicada skin shedding lv. 5
throw kunai lv. 3
illusionary shadow lv. 1
Melkin age, 20
level:39
job level:40
skills: way of the blade lv. 10
bright crimson fire lv. 5
lightning spear of ice lv. 5
wind blade lv. 5
crimson fire formation lv. 5
raging dragon fire lv. 10
skein, age 18:
level:38
job level:38
skills: way of the blade lv. 5
lightning spear of ice lv. 10
wind blade lv. 5
hidden water lv. 10
fallen frozen crystal lv. 5
soul lv. 3
Like it? Hate it? once again, please review!