Chapter 8
Malac froze on the lip of the cliff, body stiffening. Below, Blight grinned, seeing her chance, but the rogue whirled around and tackled her to the ground, yelling, "Get down!"
He covered her body with his own as the world exploded around them.
"YO! UNK!" Shawn burst into the master's office, shouting at the top of his lungs, flanked by the rest of his team.
Torack yelped and nearly tumbled off his chair. "WHAT THE HELL, BRATS?!" He roared, lobbing a paperweight at Shawn's head. The blunette ducked, but the projectile thumped Dan in the middle of the forehead. The redhead tumbled backward, nearly taking out Alyannie. Luckily, Raid grabbed the blind girl under the arms and lifted her out of danger. Unhindered, Dan fell head-over-heels down the flight of stairs to the first floor, flattening Veronica as she passed by. They landed in a heap of red and purple hair and fruit from the plate the woman was holding.
The woman punched him in the stomach.
"S-sorry Ronny." Dan wheezed. She gave him another wallop, projecting her displeasure with the nickname into his head.
Dan grinned slightly, pulling her down into a hug. "Aw! You know you love my nicknames!"
'No I don't, Titan.'
"Grumpy-pants." He pouted, ruffling her hair.
Matty groaned, trying to hide his face in his bowl of cereal (forgetting it was full). "Can you guys desist with your disgustingly fluffy romantic interactions? You're making me SICK!" He scowled, milk and Cheerios dripping off his face comically.
'Just because you aren't brave enough to ask Jackie out, doesn't mean the rest of us should stop showing affection to our significant others!'
Matt spluttered wordlessly, a Cheerio stuck to the tip of his nose. His normally tan cheeks were an unhealthy red. Hatsumi handed him a wad of napkins. "Calm down, Matthew."
"I AM CALM!" He bawled, pounding his fist on the table and upsetting his bowl all over Kitty's head.
The pink-haired girl let out a distressed shriek, and launched her breakfast (pancakes) at Kashi, who splashed orange juice all over Jade, who, in turn, tripped over Veronica and poured syrup all over Jackie who had just entered the guild.
Swearing softly, Dan fled up the steps to his team, leaving the Shade Demon Tribe and the Blood King Clan to deal with the resulting uproar.
Team Rock Storm and the master seemed in quite a tizzy. Shawn was screaming and making huge gestures, Torack was banging his fists on the desk, Echo was waving her phone in the master's face, Alyannie was crushed under a pile of papers, and Raid was frantically trying to save her.
Jade popped her head around the doorjamb, her violet eyes widening as Alyannie shot out of the papers with a yelp. "Did… Did Raid just unearth Alyannie from a pile of papers?"
Dan gave her a calm look. "Yes. Yes he did."
The brunette coughed softly. "I guess I'll come back later, then?"
"That would probably be best."
She nodded, giving one last look at the chaos, and returned to the slightly less crazy guild hall.
Dan slammed his fist against the door with a resounding 'BANG!' Everyone froze, turning to stare at him.
"Can you guys calm down?"
Everyone snapped to attention, saluting the re-equip mage, even Torack. Dan frowned, feeling embarrassed. "Torack-san, you shouldn't really be saluting me when you're the guild master."
"Hmm, yes." Torack said, attempting to be adult-like. He gave his hand a dirty look, then turned to the others. "What do you guys want, anyway?"
Shawn replied with another question. "What job did Axel and his team take?"
"Uh, why?"
"BECAUSE THEY ARE IN TROUBLE!"
The whole team began explaining rapidly, talking over each other, even Dan.
"Maverick called—."
"Sounded like fighting-!"
"—said they were in trouble!"
"—heard a shout—"
"—phone line went dead!"
"HOLD UP! HOLD UP!" The master bellowed over the clamor. "ONE AT A TIME, GODS ABOVE!"
Everyone shut up. Torack took a deep, fortifying breath, praying to whatever god was listening to give him the patience. "Echo. Tell me the story."
The blonde related the tale. Torack nodded once and a while to show he was listening, busily stuffing tobacco into his pipe.
"That does sound suspicious." He mumbled around the stem of the pipe. "The job they went on was an ordinary job. They simply had to get rid of some bandits." He leaned back in his chair, propping his booted feet on his desk and blowing a smoke ring. "I'm not sure how a dark guild would factor into this mess." There was a moment of silence, in which Torack seemed to make up his mind.
"Alrighty!" He exclaimed, feet hitting the floor with a thump. "You guys are gonna have to go get them, as you are the people that know them the best." He rifled through a pile of papers. "This is the request they took. If you leave in the next, say…" He glanced at his wristwatch. "Ooh… 30 minutes. You can catch the 4 o'clock train and be in Ford by around 6. Take a cab to Harrison."
The five nodded eagerly. Torack chuckled. "What are you waiting for? Go get them. Shoo!"
"How sweet." A woman's voice rang out from the dust. "A rogue mage protecting a guild affiliated mage."
Malac rolled off Blight, coughing from the dust. "Are ye alright?"
"I…yeah." The Green Dominance mage was a little confused.
Malac seemed to understand. "Ah jus' want my freedom. Ah've no real quarrel with you."
"Blight!" Emer and Callie burst out of the dust cloud. "Are you okay?!"
She nodded.
"Seriously, Chrome." The woman admonished. "Enough of this dust."
"Yes, ma'am." The dust cloud seemed to fold in on itself, revealing four people.
The woman who had spoken brushed back glossy black curls. "Well, my friends." She called to Blight and company. "It appears this is the end of the line for you. We can't have you telling tales. Why, you nearly discovered us! Lethe Immortales will have to take care of you." She turned to her companions. "Chrome, the elf. Jadis, the Arcanism mage, Ambrose the last one. I'll take the girl."
Ani shuddered. "I don't like this. I don't like this one bit."
"It's as if everything has been muted." Mal whispered. It seemed appropriate to whisper.
Axel was examining the walls. "The magic barriers are still up." He informed them. "So no busting out of here."
"Doesn't your Endowment store up magic?" Maverick asked.
"What's an Endowment?" Lenore and Ani inquired.
Axel tapped the pendant glowing pendant around his neck. "This is an Endowment. It's basically my angel powers."
He was met by blank stares. He sighed. "It's a second storage place for magic. I need it because my magic is very strong and if I have too much in me, I'll die."
"Like a second origin." Mal put in.
Ani shook her head. "I still don't get it, but whatever."
"No, Maverick." Axel answered. "My Endowment's being drained, too."
"Sooooo… We're stuck…"
"Yeah."
Blight ducked an explosion of vines from overhead, landing on a tree branch. Zephira was a strong opponent. The Lunar Haven mage was pushed to her limit.
"What are you hiding for, little girl?" The other mocked. "Too afraid to face me?"
Blight rolled her eyes. "You wish." She lobbed a packet of seeds at the ground, grinning as it exploded. Zephira scoffed.
"Pathetic." With a flick of her wrist, she took control of the plants.
Emer wasn't faring much better. His opponent, a somewhat unassuming woman, was massively powerful.
"Arcanism Magic." She intoned, her voice uncomfortably flat. "A form of Kinetokinesis."
Emer frowned, "I know that."
Jadis nodded. "Good." She spread her hands apart, the space between them full of utter darkness. "I control anti-matter. How fitting." The orb of darkness whizzed past Emer's head, slamming in to a tree trunk, expanding, then crushing the tree in a vortex of black matter.
'Note to self: Don't get hit by one of those.' Emer thought. He launched a wave of energy at the antikinesis mage. He didn't intend to lose.
Callie dove out of the way of a wave of dust. At the rate her fight was going, it seemed to her that someone like Raid would be more suited to this sort of battle. Pity he wasn't here.
Using the dust as a cover, she slid behind a large tree, ducking out to fire an arrow at Chrome. He blocked them easily with waves of dust. Yep, Raid would be a much better opponent.
The arrow simply bounced off Ambrose's hardened skin. Malac muttered a bad word. Aiming his wrist mounted grappling hook at a tree branch, he whizzed upward to safety. Ambrose frowned, unsheathing a long knife from his belt. "Come and fight me, rogue."
Malac grinned. "Nothing doing, mate. I've no chance against that special ability of yours."
The other smiled back. "Let's make this fair, why don't we? A knife fight. No magic, no special abilities, just to warriors." The silvery quality of his skin faded away.
The rogue hopped off the branch. "I don't trust you." He flashed the knife in his hand.
"Good call."
"To Ford Village?" The man made a noise of surprise. "Y'all are the second group in as many days. Are you aware of the dark guild plaguin' that town?"
Dan nodded impatiently. "Yes. Our friends employed our help. Can you take us, or will we have to find some other form of transportation?"
The driver made a placating gesture. "No need to be hasty, folks. I'll take you, but it'll be extra."
"Get us there fast, and you'll have no complaints."
"I wonder when Team Rock Storm will arrive." Maverick mused, absently shuffling his cards.
Mal gave him a strange look. "Why would they come?"
"Didn't you know? I called them during the fight."
Everyone stared at him, before bursting out yelling.
"NO, WE DID NOT KNOW!"
"WHEN DID YOU HAVE TIME TO EVEN CALL ANYONE?!"
"Who the hell are 'Team Rock Storm'?" Ani muttered to Lenore. The exceed shrugged.
"Someone from their guild, I suppose."
A/N: Ending the chapter here because of reasons. Also, the longest chapter yet! YAY! I need just a couple more characters for the light guilds. Sorry they didn't turn up in this chapter! If you've already turned in a character, you can send me another!
Don't forget to leave a review!
P.S: I apologize for the slow building plot... It's bad, I know, but I'm trying to get chapters out as quick as I can, and the plot has suffered. After the next couple chapters, it should pick up the pace...