Chapter 27: More Revelations and a Way Back

~Cray, RP Main Square~

"Wow, this place is huge!" Ren gasped as he looked around at main square.

Elves, humans, animals and even giants filled the main city square. A fountain sat in the middle of the square, and in the middle of town, and stalls sat all around the square. There were a large variety of stall selling all sorts of knick knacks. Children toys, food stuff, grocery stuff and even a stall selling weaponry. There was a lively buzz in the square and everyone seemed friendly. Seemed.

"Erm, excuse me?" Aichi tried asking a passing merchant for directions. He, or it, grunted disapprovingly, ignoring Aichi and continuing on his, or its, way.

"Lemme try Aichi." Misaki smiled and asked a passing group of 'children', "Hey, little kids, can I?…"

"Little kids?" The small group turned towards Misaki, "Who you calling 'little kids'?"

"Erm, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it." Misaki muttered a soft apology.

"Hey, you don't have to get crabby about it!" Aichi interjected at their aggressive and somewhat violent reaction.

"Oh, we scaring your girlfriend punk?" The smallest of the group thundered, hands resting on his stowed blade.

"Y-yeah, back off. We don't mean any offense." Aichi stuttered a little at the outburst.

Each of the four in the group of 'little' people drew their weapons. The air turned cold with hostility. Patrons and merchants felt this chill in the atmosphere and turned to the unfolding conflict. An immediate dispersal of crowds around the two conflicting groups formed.

"Aichi," Ren whispered to Aichi, his voice getting higher with each word, "We might not want to get into a fight here."

"I know Ren, but if they want a fight, we give them one." Aichi said firmly, staring coldly at the smallest 'person' in the front of the group.

"Hmm. You've got backbone, I'll give you that much kid." The smallest figure spoke up as he charged forward with his blade.

"Hyaah!" Aichi roared as he drew his blades into a defensive stance.

Now, you must understand that this gang of mercenaries go around picking fights with anyone and everyone. Their leader, the smallest, ironically, is Samson. His right-hand man is named Gergo (pronounced Jer-go). He joined after he nearly died at Samson's hands after a duel. Though he joined at first to save his life, he is now a loyal right-hand man to Samson. Samson's left -hand man is Ricky. Ricky joined up when he messed with the duo. He could have and would have beaten Samson and Gergo, but decided to join up for 'thrills'. And the last member, whose name is a little out of place with this gang, Bobsy. He only joined up because he thought the trio were a group of samaritans when he mistook them terrorizing someone as helping that person. And even up till now, he's still dumb enough to think that fighting was to help others improve on their 'self-defense', as he calls it. Anyway, these four went around the Royal Paladin territory picking fights and terrorizing people they beat.

Clang! Sparks flew as the blades collided fiercely. Aichi pushed his blades forward, pushing Samson to stumble backwards.

"Hmph! Lucky. I'll get you this time kid!" Samson spat and charged again.

"No way!" Aichi growled through gritted teeth and help up his blades in a defensive position once again.

As Samson came up to Aichi, Aichi kept his position, right until the last moment…

~Earth, Aichi's Room~

Unbeknownst to Emi and Kamui, Kourin watched them from the doorway, worry for Aichi clearly written on her face.

As Emi calmed down slightly, she detached herself from Kamui and he let go a little reluctantly.

"Eh, thanks Kamui." Emi's voice a bare whisper as her turned burned bright red.

"Well. er, you're welcome Emi!" Kamui smiled awkwardly, a little disappointed that the moment ended so quickly.

"I can't lose Aichi, Kamui. He's my only brother a-and…" Emi started, slowly sniffling, on the verge tears.

"Hey. Listen Emi. Aichi will be fine! He's my Big Bro too and I wouldn't want anything to happen to him, so nothing will! We just have to believe and trust in Aichi, okay?" Kamui said reassuringly, placing both hands on Emi shoulders and holding her firmly.

"Where's Aichi?" Kourin finally spoke up and revealed herself.

"Huh?" Emi and Kamui gasped in unison as they turned to see Kourin standing in the doorway.

~Cray, RP Main Square~

"Hah!" Aichi shouted and sidestepped, causing Samson to stumble.

"Why I oughta…" Samson growled and raised two fingers.

The rest of the mercenaries nodded to each other and rushed towards Aichi. Ricky led the arrowhead formation with Gergo to his right and Bobsy to his left. Side stepping Ricky, Aichi grabbed his right arm and flipped him into Gergo.

"Oomph!" Ricky and Gergo grunted as Ricky flew head-first into Gergo's abdomen.

Sticking out his leg in front of Bobsy, he tripped as he turned to see Ricky and Gergo.

"Argh!" Bobsy grumbled as he rolled along the ground.

"Wow…" Ren gaped as he looked wide-eyed at Aichi before turning to Misaki and staring more wide-eyed at Aichi again.

Wow, he stood up for me without hesitation. He does like me a lot huh? Misaki thought to herself as she blushed unconsciously.

"You guys okay?" Aichi asked as soon as he caught his breath.

"Yeah, but dude… Woah… Just like woah…" Ren said, voice soft and laced with amazement.

"Yeah Aichi, thanks." Misaki uttered as she looked to the ground, embarrassed her face was so red for no apparent reason.

"Are you okay Misaki? You don't seem okay." Aichi inquired, raising his eyebrows.

"Argh…" The band of mercenaries sat up groaning, one by one.

"Back up guys!" Aichi ordered as he heard their groans and whirled around.

"Ergh…" They all moaned in unison as they got on to their feet.

Aichi breathed heavily, filling his lungs with air. Settling into a defensive stance, Aichi readied his blades in front of him. The four mercenaries stood up, breathless, arms dangling weakly. Bobsy tried to bring up his weapon but Samson slapped him down.

"I have never met anyone out of the Royal Paladin forces as skillful as you. I'm surprised that someone like you isn't in their forces. But you three don't seem like mercenaries for hire either." Samson speculated, thoughts floating around his head, "But whatever your group is, I want in. You three seem to have a goal, a drive, a direction. I'm tired of living life aimlessly and meaninglessly. But I never had a reason to find my drive in life. So, would you accept us as members of your group?"

"Give me a moment." Aichi replied suspiciously and he turned his backs to them.

There was a buzz in the spectating crowd, with this revelation.

"So, do we want to accept them guys?" Aichi asked Misaki and Ren, unsure of why they would need these mercenaries.

"Why do we need to?" Ren asked back, sharing the same uncertainty as Aichi.

"Well, we could just accept them so they'd stop terrorizing others." Misaki suggested seriously, "Or you could also strike a deal with them to leave here."

Just like Misaki to put others before herself, Aichi thought to himself. I guess one thing I like about her is her selflessness.

"Wait, what has them terrorizing others have to do with us?" Ren reasoned, breaking Aichi's train of thought, "I mean, we'll be out of here soon, hopefully, so why do we need to bother about them?"

"Misaki's right Ren, we should help the Royal Paladins as much as we can while we're here!" Aichi agreed wholly with Misaki's plan, but still unsure what they would need the mercenaries for.

"You're just siding with her 'cos you like her!" Ren whinnied and complained.

"H-hey! Stop that will you? Can you not tell the whole world about us?" Aichi retorted, peeved.

"Yeah Ren. We want some privacy till we sort everything out so stop announcing it to the world would you?" Misaki glared at Ren, sending a chill down his spine.

"Eh… Okay, I won't say a word about this anymore." Ren agreed timidly.

"And definitely do not tell anyone when we go back! Got it?" Misaki continued, hands on her hips, ice-cold glare staring into Ren's soul.

Ren nodded stiffly and turned to Aichi, eyes pleading for Aichi to do something.

Aichi turned around to face the mercenaries, scratched his head nervously before saying, "We eh… We accept you guys as allies. But we probably would not be getting into tussles often so…" Aichi's voice trailed off as he found himself at a lost for words.

"So there won't be more action? We get it. We look forward to working with you when some action arises." Samson nodded as the mercenaries bowed slightly to show their respect and gratitude.

~Earth, Aichi's Room~

"Erm, the thing is we don't exactly know where Big Bro went, Kourin." Kamui spoke up after a moment of silence.

"Shall I go get the others to go out and look for him? As well as Ren and Misaki?" Kourin asked, worry written on the creases on her forehead.

"N-no, that wouldn't be necessary Kourin, but thanks anyway." Emi quickly spoke up before she blew this matter up. And Shizuka does not have to know that her sick son, Aichi, went missing right in his own room.

"Well, we better get back down and cook up an excuse if they asked us why we were here for so sound." Kamui quickly suggested before Kourin could say anything else.

"Yeah, let's." Emi agreed and the two sauntered out of the room.

~Cray, RP Main Square~

"Though we could use your help now." Aichi mumbled incoherently as he remembered the Royal Beacon.

"What was that?" Samson asked, wearing a quizzical look on his face.

"Erm, I was asking, if you guys know where the Royal Beacon was." Aichi said, unsure if they would refuse to help them because Akane and Jonathan are part of the Royal Paladin forces.

"Follow me!" Bobsy said cheerily as the rest of the mercenaries stared wide-eyed at them.

"How do you even know of such a place?" Ricky asked him, words laced with suspicion.

"Truth to be told, I'm and undercover Royal Paladin agent. I was supposed to stop you guys if you went out of hand, but seeing as how you guys are helping these guys, and they don't seem bad, I don't see why I can't reveal my identity. Plus, I have to pick up my partner I left there with Akane." Bobsy said solemnly, "And my name is actually Oropher, not Bobsy."

The rest of the mercenaries stood speechless as Oropher started to the Royal Beacon. Aichi and the gang followed in stunned silence as the mercenaries lagged behind.

~Cray, Royal Beacon~

After a 5-earth-minutes, they reached the Royal Beacon.

"Here we are! The Royal Beacon!" Oropher declared, opening the shop door.

~Cray, Royal Beacon (Duh!)~

"Hey, Akane?" Oropher asked into the shop.

"Hey, she's er, unavailable right now." A male's voice replied.

"Jonathan?" Aichi asked, recognizing the voice.

"Oh, is that you Aichi, come in!" Jonathan called out, as the trio and Oropher entered the shop.

"What happened to Akane?" Oropher questioned as soon as he saw her in his arms.

"She just passed out after shouting at Gallatin and Domhnall." Jonathan blurted, still in somewhat shock.

"Oh." Oropher said monotonously.

Everyone else just stood wordlessly in awkward silence.

After about ten minutes of silence, Aichi finally spoke up, "Jonathan, how can my friends and I get back to earth?"

"Oh. Well, there might be a mage in the High Towers who can help you. If you don't mind, I'll bring you guys there after Akane regains consciousness?" Jonathan said, suddenly realizing that Aichi was on Cray, and he had not noticed that when they first walked in.

"Sure, we got time!" Aichi gratefully accepted Jonathan's proposal.

"But, er, how much time has passed on earth? Do you know Jonathan?" Misaki asked, wanting that out of the way as soon as possible.

"I don't think you guys have been gone for long, but we'd better get you to the High Towers as soon as we can." Jonathan replied, his voice laced uncertainty.

~Earth, Aichi's House~

"Emi, where are Aichi, Misaki and Ren?" Kourin persisted as they went down the stairs.

"I really don't know Kourin!" Emi struggled to keep her voice level and calm.

"Yeah Kourin, we went up there and they were already gone!" Kamui stepped in to defend Emi again.

"Are you saying they've been 'missing' from half an hour ago?" Kourin kept persisting.

"I really don't know!" Emi's voice climbed as the words came out and her hands started trembling.

"Hey, Emi already said she doesn't know so leave her alone would you, Kourin?" Kamui growled as he held Emi's hand tightly.

~Cray, Royal Beacon~

"Ehh?" Akane's eyes stirred as she slowly regained consciousness.

"Oh, you okay Akane?" Jonathan asked as Oropher wanted to say the same thing.

"Huh? What happened?" Akane mumbled incoherently as she rubbed her eyes.

"You don't recall?" Jonathan asked quizzically, raising an eyebrow.

"Erm, well… OMIGOSH MY STORE! I have to clean up! Please leave until I'm done, thanks!" Akane freaked out as she remembered the damage Gallatin and Domhnall did to her store.

"We could help…?" Oropher offered, but Jonathan interjected, "Let's leave her to her work guys. I'll bring you guys to the mage now, I guess."

A/N: And that concludes another (exciting) chapter! Sorry again for the slow update. This is a very long chapter and I sincerely apologise for not getting this up sooner. Anyways I have a bit of a new segment I wish to add at the end or beginning of every chapter, and that is to have same extra interactions between the characters in the Fic, outside the Fic. I guess I'll call this segment #YOLOright? So basically I'll just let the characters chat with one another outside the Fic and with me. And if you wish to be part of this segment, like talk to the characters, you can too! Just drop me a review or PM and you can look forward to being featured in this new segment! So now, #YOLOright?

#YOLOright?

Aichi: So erm, hi? I really don't know why he wanted to put this segment here? So I don't know what to say.

Emi: Hi! Pardon my brother, he's a little slow at times.

Aichi: H-hey!

Emi: Don't deny it Aichi! You are slower at times!

Misaki: Don't tease him Emi!

Emi: Oh hi Misaki! You're here too?

Misaki: Mmhmm. Wonder what'll happen here from now on?

Emi: Yeah, I mean I'm getting bored already.

Aichi: Erm, so goodbye then?

Emi: Hey! Don't you think this is a little TOO short?

Aichi: But what else can we say? I mean, really.

Kai: Well you could always talk about what's going on in the Fic? Or your opinions and views about what's going on? And why am I even here?

Kourin: Yeah Kai's got a point there.

Aichi: Woah woah. Why is everyone here all of a sudden?

Emi: The more the merrier Aichi!

Kourin: Hey Aichi, when do you intend on coming back, to earth, that is?

Aichi: Erm, hopefully by the next chapter? I don't know… Why do you want to know?

Kourin: I'm kinda missing you.

Misaki: *glare*

Aichi: Erm, can we stop the segment now?

Me(author): And that's it! See you guys next time! Characters and reader alike… Erm… Yeah… LOL!