OMG, update!
Begin Chapter
Two days after his "meeting" with his friends, Rock was trying anything to keep his mind off of the time that it took them to travel. He ended up, after running from Caitlin, in an old potion shop owned by a large Mage named "Doc." Rock and Doc soon became friends, and he started to spend more time at his shop. "Hey Doc," he said as he entered the shop.
"Rock, how are you today?" Doc asked.
"Fine. I've got a question."
"What is it m'boy?" Rock grinned inwardly at this nickname.
"Do you remember the dream that I told you about?"
"Yes I do. Would you like to try and send your mind in the aura again?" Rock nodded as Doc smiled. "I think that I have just the thing." He started to rummage through the drawers, and found a small vial. "Last time, you were hinting that you wanted to try and find that again, so I mad this potion that should work. The instructions for using this is this: lay down in bed and drink this potion. You should get that headache again, and wake up near them. It should work, and there should be no side affects, other than a headache."
"Arigato," he said as he took the vial.
"Remind me what that means, again," Doc smiled.
"It means 'thank-you' in my native tongue," Rock grinned as he left the shop. "Jaa nee!" He left the shop, but then poked his head back in. "That means goodbye."
"Jaa nee then Rock." He re-left the shop and started to laugh a little bit as he started back towards the castle.
"Enzan and Blues would probably freak if they heard that usage of Japanese," he thought. "Well, time to see if Doc's potion works."
"Will you need a ride to the top?" Orinda's voice suddenly rang out. Rock jumped a little bit, but was able to recover.
"Yeah, I'm entering the courtyard now." He heard the beating of wings, and felt a large clawed hand grasp him around the waist before he started to ascend. Orinda set him down gently, and Rock went inside. He ran to his room and locked the doors and windows. "I really don't want to be disturbed this time," he thought as he lay down and drank the vial.
---
Rock felt the sensation of flying quickly after he fell asleep, or passed out, and saw the plains around Windrust. "They made excellent time," he thought as he started towards the small dots that soon became his friends. He landed right between Roll and Netto. "Hey." Everyone jumped.
"What are you doing back?" asked Forte. "We're going as fast as we can."
"I just wanted to see where you were," Rock sighed as he rolled his eyes.
"So, how did you get here this time Rock-kun?" asked Roll.
"I drank a potion that allowed me to do this," he shrugged. "It's from one of the Royal potion masters."
"Who cares?" asked Blues. "So, is there an air ship to BMC?"
"Um, I don't think so, but there's one to Kazham, and then you only have to go through the Yuhtunga Jungle to get to BMC. It's between Yuhtunga Jungle and Yhoator Jungle, just south of Gemini Falls, but north of Norg," he finished with a smile
"Could you write that down?" asked Deako.
"I would, but I'm made of fire right now, and I would probably burn anything I touch." Roll quickly got out a pencil and paper, said a few magic words, and then threw them at Rock.
"Here, you should be able to use that," she smiled. Rock took the paper and wrote this.
Go to Windurst and get on an airship headed for Kazham.
Then travel down the path in Yuhtunga Jungle. When you come to the Hideen Valley, go East.
Keep going east until you hit BMC.
Ask the guards at the gate for 'Lucio'.
He handed the paper back as a wave of pain hit his head. He reached up and grabbed it as his face twisted into a mask of pain. "Rock, what's wrong?" Netto asked.
"I think the potion is wearing off, and I just got the biggest headache in the world. I need to wake up," he grunted through the pain.
"Netto, hit him with a water spell," Forte said, looking at the NetOp. Netto nodded and prepared the water. When he thought that he had enough water, he splashed his navi. The Fire went out, and Rock opened his eyes. He was back in his bed.
---
"Why do you think that he was in so much pain?" asked Laika.
"Well, if you send your consciousness somewhere else for a long time, you're likely to permanently injure yourself," Roll stated. "And the fact that he forced himself to do that may have something to do with it." Everyone started to talk about that as they walked, except for Netto. He fell to the back of the group, and Forte followed him.
"What's wrong kiddo?" Forte asked.
"Nothin, just thinking," Netto sighed. "Why did he have to get separated?"
"Because fate is a cruel mistress Netto," Forte replied as he looked at the mismatched team in front of them. "Like why am I stuck babysitting two fighters, two berserkers, and a black mage?"
"Hey!" Netto looked at Forte before he was stuck in a headlock, getting a noogie. "I don't need a babysitter."
"Of course you do," he smiled, releasing the younger boy. "What do you think Rock is? He's your babysitter." Netto just sent him a small glare as he shook his head.
"Whatever," he sighed as Forte smirked.
"Will you two hurry up? We want to get there before nightfall," Blues yelled.
"Shut-up fighter, we're not going to shop for swords when we get there. If anything we're getting the mage some new spells, because he needs them."
"Enzan needs a new sword," Blues sighed.
"Meiru needs some new spells as well as Netto," Roll said. "And since we can probably get some swords on the air ship, we'll get the scrolls here." Blues huffed as the walls of Windurst came into view. For those who hadn't been there before, they started at it open mouthed. "Come on," she said as she tried to get the Op's moving again.
"Wow," Meiru breathed as they entered the gates.
"Let's find a place to sleep tonight and find out when the next air-plane leaves for Kazham," Searchman said.
"Well, there's only about fifteen inns in Windurst, and there's Gin," Forte said as he looked around the group, and catching the sub-zero glare from Roll. "Or no Gin. How about we split into two groups and meet here around seven. It's four now."
"Fine," Laika replied as he, Searchman, Blues, Enzan, Gutsman, and Deako walked towards the Air-ship port. The rest of them walked towards the first inn they saw.
"Hello, we need two rooms for tonight," Roll told the man at the counter.
"What size?" he asked in an annoyed voice.
"One for two people, and one for eight." He rummaged through the drawers and pulled out the two keys. The small group bowed and left. "I know of this great little store where we can find you some spells Meiru. Forte, do you remember those black mages that Blues got into a fight with?"
"Yeah."
"They are the ones who found Rock, and so they should know of some good stores to buy Netto some scrolls. Or they might give you some."
"Ok. Come on Netto," Forte yawned as they started towards the mage's home. "We might as well talk to that black mage at the school thing as well. He knew your Navi."
"Wow." Forte smirked and led them towards the school.
---
"Owwww," Rock moaned as he tried to sit up for the fifth time since he woke up. "My head."
"Rock, are you in there?" asked Lykaios through the door.
"Yes," he growled. "My head hurts, what's wrong?"
"Well, I was going to tell you that lunch was ready, but if your head hurts too much you should just rest," he replied. Rock muttered a thanks and laid back down.
"So, what did he say?" asked Min as Lykaios re-entered the kitchen.
"He has a headache. I want food," he whined.
"So, what's up with him and migraines?" questioned Tabor.
"It's probably just stress," Min commented. "It probably got worse now that he found out that his family is here and he couldn't find them." They suddenly heard a moan of pain come from the door.
"Where are those painkillers?" Rock asked.
"Well, if you eat some stew, I'll give you the bottle," Min smiled.
"Fine," he sighed as he sat down and grabbed a bowl. Five minutes later he was finished. "Wow, what did you put in this stuff?"
"Meat, potatoes, and veggies, why?"
"My headache's gone."
"You were probably just hungry," Tabor laughed and Rock smiled.
"So, it looks like we're going to be on gate and wall duty," Lykaios said.
"What's with the sudden change of topic?" Min asked.
"I just remembered," he sighed as everyone laughed. "We get wall guarding duty with some regular guys, and Team 2 has gate duty with regs."
"Oh joy," Rock sighed. "But at least we can annoy them." Everyone smiled. "We can guard the walls above the gates, each sticking to our elements."
"Sounds good boss," Tabor said with a mock salute. Rock just rolled his eyes and walked out onto the balcony.
---
"So, are you the one who came right after the selection, am I correct?" Hideaki asked. Forte and Netto had entered the Academy and Hideaki had recognized him almost immediately. "I hardly ever forget a face," he smiled as he shook his hand. "And who's this young Mage?"
"Rock's, um, younger…brother," Forte said. Hideaki looked confused for a few seconds before he seemed to get it.
"So, Rock has a sibling, and he would like to learn some new spells, correct?" he asked. Netto shook his head. "Well, I think that I may have something for a level 10 mage." Hideaki walked into a back room and started rummaging through some scrolls.
"Level?" Netto whispered to Forte.
"It means how strong you are," Forte replied.
"Oh, ok," Netto replied. After a few minutes Hideaki returned with five scrolls.
"Here we are," he said as he put them in a bag for Netto to carry. "There are one lightning, one water, one earth, and two fire scrolls here. These are rather high level, so you should be able to use these for a while without having to change them out for new ones."
"Thank you," Netto bowed as he accepted the bag.
"How much would you like for these scrolls?" asked Forte, pulling out his bag of Gil.
"This is a gift," Hideaki smiled. "I trained Rock, so this is no trouble. These are actually his scrolls, the ones that he used. I can't sell his own scrolls to his brother."
"Thank you Hideaki-sama," Netto bowed again, and the teacher smiled and ruffled his hair.
"Why don't you show those stuck up brats down there what you can do right now?" he asked. Netto smiled and ran down to the open area. "Before you ask, I got him to go down there because I need to ask you something. Have you heard that the Bastok army is on the move?"
"Yes," Forte sighed. "I also know why they're on the move. Rock met with the king to return some spies, and the king got angry. He sicked his goons on Rock and his team. Rock fought back, and hi-tailed it to BMC. That's where we're headed." Hideaki shook his head in understanding.
"I also know about Rock's 'status' in your world. So Netto is his Operator?"
"Yep." Hideaki smiled as a scream of pain came from the field. Forte and Hideaki looked at the field, and saw Netto standing in the middle of a group of KOed Black Mages. "GOOD JOB SQUIRT," Forte yelled as Netto smiled. "We'd better get going."
"Be careful on your way there," Hideaki said as the two of them got ready to leave. "The Fighters have spies everywhere." Forte nodded and left. They arrived right a seven.
"And for a second there, I thought that you two wouldn't show," Blues smiled.
"Ha ha ha you're so funny Blues," Forte said sarcastically. "How do you do it?" Blues just shook his head and started to walk towards the inn. "And that's how you annoy Blues, and Enzan for that matter," he whispered to Netto.
"What are you two talking about back there?" asked Roll as she walked over to the two boys.
"Nothing," Forte replied in a sing-song voice as Netto and Meiru started snickering. "Just talking to Netto here, yep, about Mage stuff." As Roll started to chew Forte out, Meiru and Netto started walking towards the other group, which was almost at the inn, three blocks away.
"So, what did he tell you?" she asked.
"He just said that that's how you annoy Enzan and Blues," he replied truthfully. "So, what scrolls did you get?"
"Just some starter ones. Basic healing and stuff like that. You?"
"I got Rock's scrolls. Apparently he went to this Academy thing, and that's why he's at BMC now. The only thing that was a little weird was Forte called me Rock's little brother."
"That's probably just so that he would give them to you. These people probably have never heard of Navis." They had made it about halfway to the inn when someone grabbed the two and drug them into a dark alley. They both started to scream, but the people were able to silence them quickly with a spell before they threw them against the far wall.
"Hand over the scrolls and we'll let you live," the first one said. As Netto's eyes got adjusted to the light, he noticed that they were some Bastok fighters. "Well, it'll give us more incentive to let you live. Especially you, Black Mage."
"Hey boss, he looks like the one who escaped Bastok with those others. I think he's with the group that killed Ed," the second one said in a deep voice. "Let's kill him." Netto's eyes got wide, but then narrowed in determination. He put himself into a fighting stance. The two fighters started to laugh. "Looks like the twerp wants to fight us."
"Let him. That way we'll have a good excuse as to why we have two dead mages," the first one smiled. Netto growled, and thrust his hands into the ground as the fighters drew their swords. The started to charge as two large hands made out of wood appeared. They grabbed hold of the fighters, and disarmed them. The first one growled. "So, the little boy wants to play hard ball, eh? Fine with me!" He grabbed a second sword and cut through the wood as he charged at Netto. Netto gathered fire in his hands, and blasted the fighter as he started to swing his sword for the kill. The fire, coupled with the fact that the fighter was wearing metal armor, burned the fighter badly.
"Fine brat. You can defend yourself, but you can't defend both of you at once," the second one glared. He charged Meiru, but he was hit back by Meiru's white hammer. Meiru smirked, obviously proud of herself, and ran over to Netto. "Grrrr, you're going to pay for that one, believe me you will." He charged again. This time, Netto had time to create a ball of lightning. As the fighter swung, Netto zapped him. The fighter dropped his sword, which sliced Netto's shoulder, and fell over twitching. Meiru and Netto ran for it as the spell wore off.
"MEIRU, NETTO, WHERE ARE YOU!? THIS ISN'T FUNNY!" they heard Roll yelling from the inn. They heard a groan/growl from behind them. Netto spared a glance over his shoulder, and saw the first fighter chasing them. Netto started to fun faster, grabbing Meiru's hand as he passed her. They made it to the group, and hid behind the Navis.
"Sheesh kid, what's wrong with you?" asked Forte. He heard the strange growl, and turned around to find a half-dead fighter running straight for them.
"You're going to pay for that kid!" he snarled. Forte looked him over, and noticed that he had been barbequed. He started to laugh. "What the hell is so funny?"
"You got beat up by a low level Black Mage," he laughed. The fighter didn't think it was all that funny.
"Yeah, and now I want his head," the fighter snarled as he brandished his sword. He started to charge, but was blocked by Blues. "Back off, traitor."
"You can't call me a traitor if I never was for something in the first place," Blues said plainly.
"Are you the one who killed the guard at the gate?"
"No, that was me," Forte said as he ran his sword through the fighter's shoulder. "I'd suggest leaving before I let the lower levels use you for target practice." Forte pulled his blade out and the fighter ran off. "Coward." During the battle Searchman, and Gutsman had been defending the Ops, while Roll started to heal Netto's shoulder. "You ok kid?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine," he replied as he moved his shoulder around. "Thanks Roll."
"No problem, but have you learned something today?"
"Yeah, well, actually not really. I already knew that metal was a good conductor of heat and energy," he smiled and Forte gave him a thumbs up from behind Rolls back.
"-sigh- Well, I guess that can't be… wait, did you say energy? I only saw burn marks."
"Well yeah, that's because I only used a fire spell on him. I used an electric one on the other guy. The second one's the one that did this to me," he replied as he grabbed his shoulder. Searchman sighed.
"And here I thought that we'd be safer here in Windurst," he said. "I guess that the sooner we get to BMC, the better." Everyone nodded as they entered the inn.
---
Rock had been sitting on the railing of the balcony, staring at the city for an hour when Min exited the tower. "Sup?" Rock turned around.
"Nothing much, you?"
"Same. So, did you find out more about that thing we're supposed to be guarding?"
"You mean the wall?" Min rolled her eyes. "Well, I got it rigged so that I guard the wall above Maiju, you have it above Caitlin, Tabor has it above Shiro, and Lykaios above Alger."
"Fun fun stuff. So, any news on your family?"
"They're on their way. I heard that they're going to take an airship to Kazham and walk the rest of the way. I made sure that I got the wall above the gate to the Yuhtunga Jungle. That's where they're gonna be coming from."
"That's nice."
"Have you gotten over your 'crush' on Forte?"
"Yeah, pretty much. I mean he's hott, but not that hott. We have a battle coming up, and I think I freaked him out a little." Rock laughed.
"Well, from what I heard, you were very very hyper."
"Sorry, can't help it. But I've gotten something for ADD since then," she winked. Rock just rolled his eyes and continued to look at the jungle in the distance.
End Chapter
Yay, I finally updated. Please please please review. ::insert puppy dog face here:: I did update after all. ::smiley face:: oh, and if I mistook my elements for Shino and Alger, please don't flame. I did write something after all.