A/N: Just wanted to say thanks again to the people who get past the first chapter and continue to read this as well as for the patience at how slow I release these chapters. I'm trying my best at keeping up with the schedule I gave myself. Please continue reading and reviewing my chapters and if you have any advice please feel free to drop a comment down.
Chapter 8: New Recruit/Rival
They struggle in the air pushing against each other; hovering in the air motionless before they fall back down gracefully. They keep their weapons held against the other as they land on the ground, exerting more force with their feet firmly planted in the ground. Ridley gets the upper hand for a second pushing Alicia back, but what Ridley had in strength over her; Alicia had in speed, and quickly backed away from her before she fell to a knee, causing Ridley to stumble forward a bit. Alicia takes this chance to lunge back in at her, but Ridley regains her balance in just enough time to block the attack. Knowing she is at a disadvantage up close, Alicia again backs up again to look for a better opening. She circles her while Ridley stays in the same spot watching her like a hawk. She dares not to even blink for in the split second Alicia can swoop in and deal the final blow. Though this is only supposed to be a sparring type match neither one suppose to be going for the kill, both Ridley and Alicia feels just as nervous as if this was for blood. Jack and Elwen are leaning back on a wall watching these two girls give it their all.
"Whoa!" Jack exclaims, standing up from the wall for a second. "I don't remember Alicia being this tough before. She's crazy fast."
Elwen chuckles a bit. "She worked very hard to get to where she is now. She would sometimes look down on herself thinking that if she was born a man she would be stronger, but a few swings from my sword showed her otherwise. How you were born, the circumstances of your birth, neither of these things is important. What is important is deciding what goal, what path your life must take in order to be happy, and not letting anything get in-between you and that goal. Sometimes you are your own worst enemy as Alicia was for herself." She stops speaking to admire her student battling valiantly against a tough opponent. "Though any person would have been proud to carry the blood she has in her."
Jack looks away from the fight and to Elwen with a face of confusion for a second. "What do you mean by that? What is so special about her blood?"
"Well" Elwen starts to say, "I didn't mean that her blood in particular is something special, but that she is the descendent of a great warrior. You could say being a warrior is in her blood."
"Descendent of a great warrior you say? Is it someone famous?" Jack asked with his curiosity now peaked. Elwen didn't answer him right away. She was watching Alicia wide eyed beneath her helmet. She felt a certain nostalgic feeling watching Alicia fight. A feeling she hadn't felt in awhile. Her quick movements and her technique in using her sword brought back very nice memories that were long ago, but felt so fresh and recent.
"She is the descendent of the great warrior Alfred." Elwen said calmly.
"I thought he died saving you. How did he find the time to have a child?" Jack asked curiously.
"I was pregnant that day he saved me. To make a long story short I gave birth to a wonderful son. The thing about living an unnatural long time though, you outlive the people you love the most. No parent should outlive their child, grandchildren, or great grandchildren. I eventually left and over time came to found the warriors guild. That Alicia made it here and found me is kind of funny, though she likes to call it fate."
"Well I don't know much about fate or anything like that, but Alicia is definitely lucky to have been born in a family of two great warriors." Jack said this as he set his eyes back on the battle. Elwen simply smiled at his comment. With all her strength and victories in battle, she never really considered herself a great warrior. Especially when she compared herself to Alfred she never thought of herself in that way as to not fill her ego up. She looked down at Jack and for some reason saw a little bit of Alfred in him. She couldn't put her finger on why she felt this, but something about Jack since the day they first met reminded her of him…if even slightly.
Both of them turned their full focus back to the girls battling. It looked like a mini war had started. There were slashes and gouges in the ground and cut up dummy pieces scattered everywhere. The two warriors were panting slightly as sweat fell slightly from their faces. Both of their armors looked a little dinked up from a couple too close encounters with the others weapons, but besides that not a scratch appeared on their flawless skin. Ridley decided it was her time to take charge as Alicia was backed into a wall. She lunged at her with a giant swing, but Alicia dodged just in time again, as Ridley's ax smashed through the wall. She tried to pull it out, but it was stuck on something and Alicia used this time to make her own counterattack at Ridley. As the sword came inching towards her she lifted her foot in the air and smashed down on the sword with all her strength causing it to get knocked out of Alicia's hand. As she went down to grab it her face came in full contact with Ridley's foot and she skidded back onto the ground. As Alicia lay out on the floor she looked up and saw Ridley swinging down from above with her ax she managed to get out of the wall. She quickly rolled out of the way and picked up her sword and Ridley pulled her ax out of the broken up floor. Alicia rubbed her cheek gently on the spot that Ridley kicked. It felt slightly bruised, but she didn't want to be distracted by the pain so she pushed it to the back of her mind. Alicia wanted to finish this quickly so she decided to use the new move she had been working on with Elwen.
"You…finally…decide…to give up" Ridley said between breaths.
"Not...on… your life" Alicia said in return. She picked up a little rock and gave it a little toss in the air. She relaxed her breathing and then looked at Ridley with fiery eyes who returned the look with just as much ferocity. "This match will be over by the time this rock hits the floor." Ridley looked at her confused.
Elwen jumped up, "Alicia you know that technique is not suppose to be used lightly, especially in a sparring match against someone who is an ally."
"Don't worry I know how to use this technique without killing her it will be fine."
"Look" Ridley started to say, "I don't know what you are talking about and I don't care. All I know, is you better throw that rock up really high if you expect to beat me before it hits the ground." Alicia smiled as her front foot slid across behind her as she put her weight on the other foot. She held her sword in a back hand style and put a tight grip on it. She whispered to herself "Multi Aero Strike" as she through the rock high in the sky and ran straight at Ridley at a speed almost too fast to see. Ridley picked her ax up in an effort to block, but had it knocked out of her hand as a long scratched appeared across her chest. It was a light slash, but enough to sting Ridley causing her to wince. Alicia re-appeared behind Ridley and jumped into the air slashing her sword repeatedly in the air causing multiple air type slashed to be launched at Ridley. She gets barraged from the back as Alicia then rushes her from the air for the final blow. Just as she is about to hit, Ridley's eyes light up golden as do the rest of her body unleashing a powerful aura that pushes Alicia back. Ridley looks back and flashes at an incredible speed right before Alicia in a prepared ax swing. Jack is fumbling in his pack for an orb. As soon as he saw Ridley's eyes light up he knew Alicia was in trouble. If he wasn't so sore still he might have just rushed in, but he didn't have the required speed. As his fingertips finally find an orb, Ridley is already in mid strike and Jack fears it is too late. A flash a light erupts from Ridley's ax as it makes contact and Jack is yelling for Ridley to stop.
As the light fades, Alicia appears to be on the floor unharmed. Though she looks quite shocked she does not appear to have any injuries which are good. What did Ridley hit than Jack wondered? He looks at what is connected to Ridley's ax and sees it is Elwen who he didn't notice until now had left his side and was able to fully block Ridley's attack. The rock that Alicia threw in the air finally drops.
"You shouldn't use powers that you don't know how to control yet." Elwen says calmly. At those words, Ridley falls to her knees with a hand on her head dropping her ax. Jack runs to her side saying her name as he catches her just before she falls.
"I'm sorry…I let the heat of battle get to me…" Ridley says in low shameful type of way.
"Ridley…you could have killed her…you have to gain better control over this." Jack says to her in a very stern matter. Ridley just nods her head as Jack helps her stand up. Elwen does the same for Alicia asking if she is alright and nods her head as she comes back to reality after confirming what she saw just happened.
"I'm sorry Alicia; I really didn't mean to hurt you." Ridley says in a very apologetic matter.
"It's okay" Alicia says with a half smile. "We can finish this match another time." Ridley returns the smile and nods her head.
"In any case you have more than proved yourself." Jack says to Alicia. "If you don't want to join our team anymore we understand, but we'd be grateful if you did."
Alicia's smile comes back to normal as she nods. "As long as Ridley approves of me then I'll gladly join"
Ridley nods, "How can I say no after that incredible performance?"
"Very well" Elwen says to the group. "Alicia is the only one from this guild I would recommend for the team. I know you were looking towards Gerald too, but I believe you would find more suitable recruits elsewhere." Jack nods as she says this and she leaves the training area then he walks up to Alicia.
"From how fast you were and the way you were able to do those really cool air slashes. I think it would be best if you had the purple orb holding the wind dragon's power." He pulls out the purple orb and hands it to her. "You will need to modify your swords hilt to be able to hold the orb safely, but I wouldn't suggest you using it until we gather the rest of the recruits and are all able to practice together. Plus when first using it almost guarantees you will not be able to move the next day." As he said that Alicia's eyes went a little wide, but Jack reassured her that she would be fine. As they continue talking they hear a thump coming from behind Jack and see that Ridley fell to the ground.
"What's wrong with her?" Alicia asks as Jack rushed to her side lifting her up onto his back.
"That was only her second time using that power and just like with the orbs it really tires your body out. She will be fine though as soon as she gets some rest." They head down to the infirmary of Theater Vancoor and lay her down in one of the beds. Jack looks at her with a somber expression knowing how it feels to be worn out the way she must feel, but then he remembers that with the Gold dragon actually apart of her soul she will heal faster like she did before so she will only be like this temporarily while Jack is still battling the fatigue from using the other orbs. Alicia notices Jacks expression and tries to cheer him up.
"Hey, don't be sad. Like you said she will come out of this in no time and she is tough I should know." This comforts Jack who feels a lot better about this situation already. It is definitely a lot less scary when you know what is going on. "I'm kind of curious about something though if you don't mind me asking."
"Sure go ahead and ask what's on your mind." Jack says to her curious at her own curiosity.
"Are you two…you know…dating?" Jack jumps up out of his chair at this question and his fast turns beat red as he starts to stutter.
"N-n-no, what makes you ask such a weird question."
Alicia starts to giggle a bit. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about. I just noticed the way you were looking at her during our battle and as you rushed to her side and figured there was something between you."
"Well there isn't" Jack said with a little disappointment in his tone. "We are just friends."
"Ordinary friends don't abandon their own race for someone if they aren't incredibly important to them. So even if you guys are just friends right now. You are kind of hoping for more aren't you?"
Jack is really embarrassed at this point his face feeling hot and looking redder than ever. "Well…to be honest I really love Ridley…I don't know if it's the type of love I would feel towards a sibling or the type of love a normal guy would feel towards a girl, but to answer your question she is really important to me. I'm just not sure in which way since I don't have much experience in this type of thing."
Alicia stands up and gets closer to Jack. "Do you think I'm pretty?" Jack looks confused as Alicia repeats the question just as calmly as before with a slight blush in her cheeks. Jack never really thought about that towards her. He hardly saw her around the guild when he joined since she seem to disappear into the sewers for most of the day and came in late when he was usually on a mission. From what he heard about her though, she wasn't that much older than he was and besides him, she was the youngest sergeant to enter the guild. Seeing her up close the way she was now he saw she was incredibly beautiful. Her pink hair seemed so light and delicate and though from the front seemed short she wore a long tight pony tail in the back. She had very big brown eyes that brought Jack lots of warmth by staring into them. Her face was very slim and being a little older she looked more womanly than Ridley did. Beautiful in a more adult way compared to Ridley yet he wouldn't dare pick who was more beautiful between them. Her lips were nice and full and seemed to draw him in as if they were calling him. He started to back up a bit as she drew closer to him until he couldn't back up anymore because the wall behind him.
Ridley awoke opening her eyes very slowly as her vision came to and went. She felt incredibly stiff and sore and was in a place she wasn't use to. She tried to move each part of her body separately, but to no avail. It took her a few hours the last time this happened to her so the only thing she could think to do was wait it out until it subdued. She noticed two shadows on the wall and when she looked towards the source of the shadows her eyes shot open. Alicia had Jack against the wall planting a kiss upon his lips. She shot straight up from the bed which caused her a lot of pain yet the fury she had at the sight was taking over her pain. Jack and Alicia jumped back when she did that startling them.
"What are you doing Jack?!" Ridley said in an angry and loud way that hurt her very much.
"What's the problem?" Alicia asks with a smile. "From what Jack has told me, you guys are not dating or anything so this shouldn't be a big deal right?" Ridley opened her mouth to say something. She paused though because she was right. She couldn't claim Jack as much as she wanted to, but that didn't mean seeing that didn't hurt her.
"I…I just don't like that you two didn't have the decency to do that in a different room in privacy. It is rude to just…to do what you two were doing in front of others…" Her cheeks were flushed red from anger and embarrassment along with a bit of jealousy that Alicia stole Jack's first kiss.
"I'm sorry Ridley I didn't mean to offend you. Anyways I will let you get your rest, and Jack" she planted a kiss on his cheek before turning her back to leave, "I really hope I see you later." Jack couldn't believe what had just happened. His eyes followed her out of the room and when he returned to Ridley she looked like she wanted to kill him she was so mad.
"Listen Ridley I swear she was the one that kissed me out of nowhere!" Jack said in a panic like voice.
Ridley lay back down in the bed and turned away from him, "Oh so she overpowered you and held your lips hostage huh? Whatever, like you told her, we aren't dating so there is no need to explain anything to me. Now if you excuse me I need my rest so just leave while I recover, it shouldn't take that long" Jack wanted to say something to try to fix it, but he knew he would only make matters worse. He slowly left the room looking back once and then closed the door behind him. Ridley laid there just frustrated. She felt like crying, but didn't want to give Alicia the satisfactory so she sucked it up. She knew Jack would be way to nice to refuse a beautiful girl like her so from now on she would have to be on her game around her if she wanted to stop her from stealing the only guy she knew she would ever love. The only problem would be getting Jack to refuse Alicia.
Jack went up to Elwen's room to ask her about which guild he should try to go to next to help get his mind off what had just happened.
"Well, considering you only have two orbs left, and there are three guilds to choose from I think that the priest guild and the thieves' guild would be your best bet." Elwen said
"Why not the Mage guild?" Jack asked curiously.
"Don't get me wrong, the mage guild has some powerful warriors, but I doubt any of them would be ready in time for what you are trying to accomplish. Curtis would be the only one of them I would recommend, but I don't think his old body would be able to handle the orbs power for long." Jack thought about it and she was right. In the end they were more of a researching and science type guild than a warrior type guild. Though a lot of them could beat the best of what the knights had to offer. It would be better to look towards a different guild. With this info Jack nodded and left Elwen's room thanking her. As Jack left, Elwen thought to herself, "Although if HE weren't in that ridiculous form, he would be the best and possibly strongest ally that team could have…what a shame. I wonder how long it's been...and if he will ever gain his true form again." She pulls out an old looking photo of her and a respectable looking man with both green and blue colored eyes in front of the mage guild.