Story time! Ah I'm happy to write more of this! Those first two chapters make me cringe, so I'll probably edit those eventually, if I haven't by the time I post this chapter. Also, if you guys spot any bumps or parts not making sense in the story, TELL ME! I will tell you if they are supposed to be there or not, but I would appreciate the help. And don't worry if you don't want to, I'm not gonna sass you guys out or anything….heh. Also, if anyone has any 'class' of fighter they would like to see for Kris, please tell me, I'm a bit conflicted on what I'm gonna do there... Anyways, let's get going!
"This is my first time being in ruins…" Estelle muses. I look around in a mixture of wonder and relief. Wonder, over the fact that, like Estelle, I've never seen ruins, relieved, because it's a wide and open cavern, not narrow tunnels, that would make fighting way harder!.
"Be careful, the rock is slippery." Rita says sharply, and I raise an eyebrow in surprise. She already seems pretty concerned for Estelle already, something I distinctly remember happening later in the gameplay.
"What are you looking at?" She snaps at Yuri, and I chuckle, earning a glare myself.
"I was just surprised, you're actually a nice person." Yuri drawls, and I hold back a snort. Rita sighs in irritation.
"I knew it would be a pain to bring you along." Just wait till I start speaking Rita. "I knew I should've just come by myself." Wait...how long has she been doing this alone?
"Do you always come to research the ruins alone?" Estelle inquires point blank. I use the slippery rocks to my advantage, sliding down the slope, arms out to keep my balance.
"Yeah." Rita says, following after me in a similar style. I raise an eyebrow at her.
"You must be pretty skilled with taking down traps." I muse. Rita glares at me, a hand on her hip.
"Stop trying to sweeten me up, I'm here to clear my name." I step out of the way as she stomps by.
"Nice kid." Yuri sighs, stumbling slightly on the rocks. I smirk in response.
"So you're willing to go through so much danger just to reach your goal?" Estelle asked. Rita scoffs.
"No danger and you still made accomplishments, you must have had an easy life." Estelle's face falls, and I open my mouth to end the conversation, only to have Estelle's face brighten.
"Rita's amazing! she just comes out and says just what she wants to say!" Estelle muses to herself.
"She's knows exactly what's important to her." I smack Yuri lightly at his sassy tone. Estelle, bless her heart, doesn't even notice.
"I wish I knew what was important to me..." I chuckle, causing her to glance up at me.
"It takes time you know." She tilts her head, and I grin at her. "The only thing important to me so far is my brother, but that's my obligation as the older twin." I grin wider as I feel a tinge of annoyance. He knows exactly whenever I mention that. "Dreams exist as a path for learning about yourself. Are you willing to sacrifice this or that to accomplish something? That is finding out what's important to you, and what isn't." Estelle slips on the rock, her focus completely on me, and I catch her with a chuckle. "The only way for you to find out your goals is to dream and learn and experience. You've had your fair share of the first two, now you need to get the third." The group is silent, staring at me, and I blush. Who am I to speak so much nonsense I mean I was rambling for so long and-
"Wow Tina!" I look up in surprise as Estelle hugs me! "Thank you! You really helped!" I won't deny that I'm panicking. Neither my brother nor myself liked physical contact, but...it was warm? The hug ends, and to be honest I'm shaken. I want more of that warmth, and it scares me. Kris has faded out again, so I'm all alone in this mess of my mind. I force a smile on my face.
"No problem Estelle!" And with that conversation leaving me with some new thoughts to chew on, we go on our way. Damn, we're only just starting…
Skit : Searching the Ruins
Estelle: These ruins are very different once you're inside them.
Tina: I'm just glad there's light so we can see!
Karol: Yeah, if it was super dark we wouldn't be able to see all this cool stuff!
Yuri: What, is this your first time too Karol?
Karol: Well yeah, my specialty is monster hunting.
Tina: There's gotta be some cool monsters in the cave though…
Karol: Hey, what do you think this is?
Rita: You shouldn't be fooling around over there. This place is loaded with traps.
Tina: Yes! Danger!
Estelle: Tina don- did anyone just hear a click?
Yuri: Karol! Watch out!
Karol: Waaaaaah!
Yuri: Sorry. I thought you were about to be killed. I overdid it.
Karol: I think I would have been better getting caught in the trap….
End of Skit
Skit: Monster Stories
Tina: No….they don't have a tail, there's no muscle. It's just long fur.
Karol: You sure? It flinched badly when I attacked it there.
Tina: Then maybe the extra fur is hiding a soft spot?
Karol: Huh, cool! You're good at drawing monsters Tina! This book will be full in no time!
Tina: Yeah! You're better at descriptions though, it's so hard to write…
Karol: Heh! Don't worry about it, you could practise writing out the descriptions if you want!
Tina: Hmmm, not a bad idea buddy…anyways, what about this part here?
Yuri: Huh, they're really into that Monster book
Estelle: Oh! I've never seen this monster before! Karol, what is this?
Karol: Glad you asked!
Yuri: And we've lost another, Repede, am I surrounded by bookworms?
Repede: woof!
Yuri: Yeah, I'm doomed.
End of Skit
Skit: Rita's Calm Mind
Estelle: Rita, you seem very used to fighting for someone who's been doing research in Aspio for so long.
Rita: I'm just used to using magic, and I've been working to cultivate a calm mind.
Tina: Interesting...
Yuri: A calm mind huh…?
Estelle: Is there something wrong with that?
Karol: Boo! …..Ouch!
Rita: Sorry, I thought you were a monster.
Karol: Argh...I'll startle you someday, you just wait….
End of Skit
"Guillotine!" I cry out, watching in satisfaction as the merman's head is removed from it's body. I look over to see Karol finishing off the last of the monsters.
"Hey, you!" Rita calls out to me.
"The name's Tina. What's up?" I ask, mentally sweating as Rita's eyes rove over me. She's a genius after all, so maybe she found out my origins?! Crap!
"Your artes...they feel weird…hmm…" And she walks off without even glancing at my face again. My artes feel weird? Is it because I'm not from here? I shake off my worries. If Rita finds out, I doubt she will blurt it out...maybe. Also, I can always just play dumb, she'll probably buy it. Luckily for me, Rita has crouched down beside a old piece of stone.
"Looks like this little one is no good…" She muses. I crouch down beside her, taking in the cracked and dusty stone. To think this used to be used for so many amazing things in the past…
"Wow, so this is what blastia look like before they're excavated." Karol says, in awe.
"I wonder why ancient people buried blastia here in the first place?" Estelle muses.
"I wish I could tell you, that's something else being researched." Rita sighs, obviously annoyed at her lack of knowledge for the subject. I look at the blastia carefully, before glancing around the cavern walls.
"With all these blastia lying here. I don't suppose there are any aque blastia lying around too…" Yuri mutters, crouching down beside Rita as I step away.
"None of them have cores in them." Estelle points out, and I glance down at the empty hole.
"Really, then they don't work do they?" I shrug at Karol, I don't remember much about the details of blastia, well, except for more important things later on.
"Blastia aren't excavated with the cores and the bodies together." Rita drawls, stepping away from the blastia in thought. I decide ignore the rest of the conversation around me quite blatantly in favour of examining the ruins.
"Tina? You're zoning out again." I gaze around at the walls of the ruins, before my eyes are glued to a symbol in pieces on the ceiling.
"The sun…" I mutter in English. Rita looks up at me in interest, and I wince.
"What language is that?! what did you just say?!" She demands. I turn my head back up towards the ceiling. There's a warmth in the back of my mind, slowly trickling around my temples in a faint tickling sensation. This isn't Kris. This is something else.
"Um...I said 'the sun.'" I gesture upwards towards the symbol on the ceiling.
"The sun? What about it?" Estelle asks. I bite my lip, the warmth is back in my mind.
"It's just, everything else has moons on it, and stars as their carvings, but the roof is the sun, it just seems a bit out of place..." I fumble, trying to grasp why the symbol seems so...fascinating. Rita is giving me a look of disbelief, and I shrug. Luckily, Yuri is here as my saviour.
"Let's move on, we can talk about this later." He gives me a look and I shudder as the warmth finally leaves my head. We keep walking through the ruins, and I push the puzzle of the past two minutes into the back corners of my mind, I can worry about that later.
"What was that you said Tina?" Karol questions, fumbling horribly while he attempted to speak English. I can't help it. I laugh. I laugh hard. When Estelle joined in I was almost choking I was laughing so hard.
"Nononononononono!" I hurry out, trying to calm my laughter. "T-that's not how you say it!" I exclaim, grinning. Yuri snorts, a smirk on his face.
"It's…" He pauses. "Sun? Right?" I let out a horribly loud and ugly snort. I mean, he said it right...but his accent!
"It's pronounced sun ,Yuri got the closest." I exclaim, trying to regain my breath. Rita just rolls her eyes at us, but curiosity burns in her gaze.
"Hey! This one's still got a core in it!" Karol exclaims, as we walk up to said blastia. Rita pulls a familiar ring out of her pocket.
"Here, try shooting this at the core." I snatch the ring out of her hand.
"Dibs!" I cheer, before looking down to examine the ring. "Hey is this a mini blastia…?" I question, examining the plain silver ring with a small red blastia core imbedded in it.
"Glyph Crystallization allows this blasita to emit aer as needed." Estelle recites. Wait...what?
"That's not the best way to put it…" Please, an explanation in simple Japanese, I'm not that advanced yet… "It's actually used to charge other blastia with aer." Ok, there we go, that makes sense. "...but wait how did you know that?" Rita asks.
"In the castle I read that the ring acts as a kind of key in ancient ruins." A key?
"Castle?" Rita asks, and I finally can't resist.
"So I just point and shoot?" I say excitedly, bouncing on my heels. Yuri gives me an exasperated look, while Karol looks just as curious.
"Pretty much." Rita relents, dragging her gaze away from Estelle. I giggle evilly, and Estelle and Karol back up behind me. I point the ring at the blastia, and feel a small tug. I notice with slight alarm that my blastia is glowing brightly! "What is your blastia-" Before Rita can finish, the small ball of orange condensed aer fires towards the blastia, and a crest glows as the core is brought to life.
"That's a strihm crest. it's a mark that indicates movement." Estelle says in wonder as she looks around, I look around as well searching for whatever should be moving. If I'm right some floor pieces should rise...there's the stairs!
"Hey! Wh-what's that?" Karol yelps. And there's the golem monsters. How could I forget large golems with cement blocks on their arms?!
"A sentinel for taking care of unwanted guests." Rita drawls, looking pretty unfazed. I mentally gulp. Unlike her, I fight hand to hand….or fist to stone, ouch.
"Okay then, keep your eyes let's keep moving." Yuri says firmly. He turns to me, his eyes digging into mine. "You might not like it Tina, but I doubt you can do much against solid stone, so If we have to fight one, stya as support okay?" Wait, what?
"But…" I pause. there really is nothing I can do to fight these guys. So, I'll hold myself back, even if I don't like it. "Ok." I nod. "but I'm at the front for the monsters." Yuri gives me a smirk, and I fight back a blush.
"Wouldn't have expected anything else." I give everyone a wide grin.
"Are you sure? What if I'm just luring you deeper into the ruins so I can 'zap' you?" Rita mocks. Yuri scoffs at her, and I giggle.
"I'm starting to think I'd take my chances with the golems." He says, turning away. I hold out the ring to her, and she gives me a flat look.
"Keep it." Huh? Isn't this valuable? She seems to read my mind, as she sighs. "We'll need to use it a few more times while we're here, and you're pretty enthusiastic with it." I raise an eyebrow at her, before jumping and cheering.
"YEAH!" I run forwards, the ring now firmly on my finger. "I got a cool ring~ Yeah~" I sing merrily, twirling. I mean, who wouldn't be happy? I got a super cool laser ring!
Then I was bored. I'm essentially useless against these golems until I get some proper arm braces, which I sadly haven't bought yet. So I would distract and dodge and assist with items, but it was weird not being on the front lines.
Skit: the Sorcerer's Ring
Yuri: I wonder if people a long time ago used little rings like this to move things around.
Tina: Well there is so little you can access without it, so probably.
Rita: Items like this have been found in other ruins as well.
Karol: It sure is useful for something so small!
Rita: Yeah, unlike some people I could name.
Tina: Hey, keep the insults at a minimum child.
Rita: I'm not a child!
Estelle: It's impressive that you've been entrusted with a sorcerer's ring Rita. I've heard they're only given to a very small number of people.
Yuri: Hmm...guess someone trusts you.
Rita: You're the only one who doesn't.
End of Skit
"OHHHHHHHHHHH!" I scream in excitement.
"Tina? Something wrong?" I faintly hear Karol ask, I hold up my prize in triumph. Thank god for chests!
"Look!" I cheer! The others look on in confusion, before Yuri gives that usually smirk of his.
"Getting tired of not being on the front lines eh?" I clutch my pair of gauntlets protectively. Yes, you got that right! I found some gauntlets! I slip them on, before frowning down at the plain grey metal.
"I'll need to get some good quality ones soon. These ones have rusted a bit from the condensation in the ruins, so I won't be able to do artes without them shattering." I mutter, flexing my fingers. Rita turns away, letting out a huff. Is she still mad at me for calling her a child?
"Let's go." Well then...
Skit: Did you say 'Castle'?
Rita: Hey, didn't you say something about the castle not too long ago?
Estelle: Oh? Well, yes you see…
Yuri: Yeah, I was in the castle a while back. I used to be a knight.
Rita: You? A knight? Please, how gullible do you think I am?
Estelle;:Believe it or not, it's true.
Rita: ...will wonders never cease?
Yuri: Is it really so hard for everyone to believe that?! The only one who believes me is Tina.
Rita: Oh yeah, your girlfriend, of course she would believe you.
Yuri: She's not...come on, let's go.
Estelle: Yuri?
Rita: hey, they changed the subject on me…
End of skit
"Rita I don't think you should…" She rushes by me, towards what I distantly remember being the first boss of the gameplay. "Never mind, run towards what is obviously a giant version of the golems trying to kill us earlier." I huff. Karol looks up at me, worry in his eyes. I plant a hand on his head, ruffling his hair.
"I'm looking for the aque blastia, not this...this puppet." Yuri seems uneasy at the sight of the golem, and I can't blame him. Somehow, knowing we're inevitably going to fight this goliath of stone has put me into a kind of numb form of acceptance and dread.
"Woof?" I smile softly down at Repede, who is nudging my leg.
"I feel something...dangerous." I admit to him quietly, he nudges me, before raising his head and observing our surroundings. Huh, so he feels the same.
"What are you doing?! Don't just go poking him like that!" Rita barks, and I scowl. I clench my eyes shut. I would rather feel terror than dread. Repede growls, and I raise my head towards the startled thief up in the far corner. Ignoring the banter I face what will soon be our opponent, only looking up at the goliath as it glows, it's blastia now in place. It raises its arm, and I dash forwards, as the warmth from before slowly trickles back into my neck. I'm not gonna let someone die that easily, I can't risk any change in the story! I wrap my arms around Rita's slightly smaller frame, bracing myself. But there is no bracing against something like this, and I let out a cry as we're launched to the side. I feel the crack of what is most likely multiple ribs. I abruptly turn, softening the landing for Rita, and inhaling as a sharper pain erupts in my side. Definitely feeling fear now….and pain, and that goddamn warmth!
"Tina!" the others shout, and Rita shuffles off me, panic in her eyes.
"Broke a rib of two….definitely." I mutter. I turn my head to see Estelle kneeling beside me, her healing already draining away the pain, but not the warmth, no, that's just spreading down the back of my neck. Rita takes a sharp breath, snatching Estelle's wrist, and I know exactly what she just saw.
"Wait a minute…" She says in disbelief, and Estelle lets out a yelp of surprise. I push myself up, ignoring the numb pain in my side. "How did you…" Rita trails off as Estelle turns to me, worry in her eyes.
"Tina don't sit up! Broken bones are brittle after such little healing!" She exclaims. I choke on a breath as the warmth in my neck sudden floods my entire body, warmth tickling my toes. I notice my blastia glowing faintly. Rita opens her mouth, obviously to ask what the hell is up with me, when Karol yells across the room.
"Hey you guys! Stop playing around and come help us!" I sit up, grinning as a familiar mixture of adrenaline and anticipation fills my system.
"Taste my fist!" I roar, the familiar blue light of Ginrei Kojaku erupting from my hand as I punch forwards. It hits the goliath in the side, causing it to stumble slightly, missing Repede by mere inches. " I swear when I get that thief I'm gonna whip his ass!" I shout, but I can feel a grin tugging on my face. For the first time since Aspio, I feel normal again. I run beside Yuri, dodging a stone fist to pop up beside him.
"Finally back to normal huh?" Yuri drawls casually, and I pause in slight surprise. He noticed? The warmth leaves abruptly, but my happiness lingers. Shaking my head, I dodge underneath the stone giant. Now isn't the time to wonder about strange feelings, now's the time to act! I grab the goliath's glowing ankle tightly, and with a yell, I pull. My hands almost slip off the smooth stone, and I can feel the sweat pouring down my face. Finally, the giant falls over, giving room for the others to act.
"Wolf strike!" Yuri yells, stabbing into the thinner section of the Goliath's arm, before punching the same spot, and grimacing slightly. As the Goliath tries to stand back up, I glance at Karol, who's near it's head. I catch his eye, and he nods, determination in his eyes. He raises his axe, slamming it down hard on the goliath's head.
"Destroying rock!" I grin as the goliath stumbles as it stands, a large crack running through it's head. We continue to hit and run, dodging the stone fists as they hurtle towards us.
"Stone blast!" Rita cries, and while it's pelleted with rocks, Yuri dashes behind it, and aims an azure edge at it's blastia.
Finally, it collapses, and doesn't get up. Rita walks up breathing harshly. "All that's left is to cut off it's power supply…" She pauses, a grim expression on her face. "I'm sorry…" I see Rita in a new light then. An orphan, genius and outcast, with nothing but hunks of rocks filled with secrets surrounding her...no wonder she's obsessed.
"Rita…" I call as the others start to leave.
"Hurry!" Karol yells, and Rita snaps out of her daze.
"All right, all right!' She snaps, but her eyes are still sad, and her shoulder slightly drooped. I turn to Estelle, who has that familiar look in her eyes.
"Flynn isn't here. I doubt someone as amateur as that rat could walk around with knights around." She looks up at me, and I sigh slightly when I see her so upset.
"I don't think Flynn's here anymore. Come on." Thank you Yuri! I run ahead, ruffling Karol's hair as I pass.
"Go! Go! Go!" I cheer. Ignoring Rita's angry mutterings. I usher them as they continue to stall, and Yuri just gives me an exasperated look. "Kids these days.." I groan dramatically. He snorts, and we both start running, letting the others catch up.
There are a whole bunch of skits in the ruins, so I did skip a few and add one of my own! I managed to finish this just before finals thankfully. Again, if anyone has recommendations for artes for Tina, tell me! I might not use them, but I'll sure as hell read and consider them! As usual, if you see any parts I missed that are crucial to the plot or things I mixed up, please feel free to tell me same with grammatical errors!
Thank you for reading, and to those in high school, don't die from finals!
From: Dragon S.W.K.