Chapter 5: Ghost hunt was a failure
Arni village, another world, 1020 A.D.
Serge awoke early the next morning. Sitting in bed, he winced at the pain that shot in his left arm. He pressed his palms against his eyes in an effort to push aside his sleepiness. Eyes still half-closed, he turned his head to the side. His eyes widened as he saw Kid peacefully asleep, one arm above her head, the other on her stomach.
Realizing he was trapped between her and the wall, he pushed aside the covers and tried to crawl out of bed without waking her, but not to avail. She slowly opened her eyes and looked around.
"Oi, 'morning, mate." She said, sitting up.
"Kid? Uh, what are you doing, here?"
"Oi, we agreed on teaming up for a while yesterday, don't ya remember?"
"I-yes, but, you know…"
"C'mon, mate this was the only bed in the house, ya wouldn't have wanted a lady like me to sleep on the floor, would ya?"
"No-but-it's just that…"
Kid looked at him for a few moments and then turned to bring her hands to her feet to stretch her legs.
"Oi, now I get it!" she said, slowly returning her hands to her knees. "You've never lied down next to a lady before, have you? She added, turning her face to him.
"Well-I-uh, no, but…"
"Well, admit that it wasn't that bad, in fact I'm sure you really liked it, didn't you?"
"What? I-uh…" he baffled, his cheeks turning a bright red.
"Sheesh! Don't take it like that, mate. I was just teasing ya."
"Uh?"
"In fact, if I lied down next to you, it was because I was sure someone like ya would never have touched a girl."
"What the?" he said, offended by the remark.
"Relax, mate, I was teasing again!" she said, giggling.
"So, you're always teasing people like that, or do I really like such a goody-two-shoes?"
"Let's say I like poking fun at people. Say, I'm starving, why don't we go and eat something?"
Both got out of bed and went down stairs to the kitchen. There, they saw Leena standing by the doorway. They both stopped and looked at her for a moment.
"Oi, mate, don't tell me this Sheila here is your sweetheart, cuz now I feel a bit bad for having lied next to ya."
Ignoring the remark, Leena just walked up to them, rubbing the palm of her left hand against the back of her right hand in a sheepish manner.
"Look, I just want to apologize for yesterday. I didn't mean to yell at you like at, but it's just that you… well… you reminded me of a bad memory.
"Uh, ok." Serge said, gazing at the floor and then to her.
"… and you know, you really look a lot like Serge, at least like what he would have probably looked now hadn't he drowned seven years ago.
"Drowned? You didn't tell me you died that way, mate." Kid said, in a teasing manner.
However, Neither Serge or Leena seemed to have heard her.
"Say, you two must be hungry. Here, I've baked you some fried fish. Maybe we can all eat breakfast and… you can tell me a little bit more about you and that something that happened to you yesterday?"
They all began eating while Serge was explaining his story.
"Wow…just wow! That tale's really awesome, you know." Leena said, trying hard to find appropriate words. "and… um, what are you going to do now?"
"I'm going to Viper manor to get an explanation as to why I was attacked."
"Then I'm going with you." Leena said, determination spread on her face.
"What?" Serge and Kid exclaimed, dropping their forks.
"You know, maybe Serge drowned seven years ago, or maybe that he's standing in front of me right now, and that's what I want to believe. I'm not going to lose you twice, so wherever you're going, I'm going with you."
"Oi, ya know, girl, we aren't exactly going there knocking on the door and asking if we could speak with the manager about his men trying to do us in." Kid said.
"Hey, what are you trying to say? I'm not damsel in distress. I can take care of myself and I've made the trip to Termina before. I'm perfectly able to take care of myself, do I make myself clear?"
"Sheesh, girl, take it easy! Serge here is getting way too excited at the idea of a catfight." Kid said, flashing an amused smile to Serge.
"You know, if we want to reach the place by sunset, we'd better start packing right now." Serge said.
"Right, mate!"
Serge and Kid began gathering their possessions while Leena headed home to full her backpack.
Several minutes later, they were standing by the gate of the village, bidding their good-byes to the fishing village.
Viper manor, another world, 1020 A.D.
In a room of the third floor was a young woman dressed like a harlequin. She was wearing a red and blue suit. As a head-dress she was wearing a red coxcomb with two golden bells dangling from it. Huge red gloves covered her hands and matching shoes. Red tights covered her slender legs and over them were translucent blue baggy pants. Her face was painted all white except for a lone black tear under her right. Two light pink pompons acted like earrings and a big sapphire was hanging from her neck to rest on her abdomen.
She was dancing gracefully, a soft smile on her lips, humming an air to herself. She stopped abruptly, turning around to see the feline demi-human leaning against the door frame.
"Oh la la, monsieur Lynx, have you no mannerz? No one ever told you to knock before entering a lady'z room."
"I think we both know this won't make much of a difference if the lady's you, Harle." He said, walking past her.
"But now here is something interesting. I didn't know you were such a good dancer." He said, his body facing the window, but turning his head to look at her.
"Oh, merci, monsieur Lynx, but zhere are many other thingz you don't know about moi."
"Really?" he said in an amused, but interested voice.
"Oui, but now, if you are 'ere it must be zhat you want to tell something to moi, non?
"Indeed Harle. It appears that the dragoon has failed the mission. He couldn't bring him here." He said, trailing a single sharp claw on the edge of the window.
"Oh, and what iz it that you want from moi, zen, monsieur Lynx?"
"For now, not much… They are coming here. Simply greet them properly."
"Bien sur, monsieur Lynx." She said, bowing deeply.
Termina, another world, 1020 A.D.
"That was awfullyly awfully embarrassing back there Peppor."
"For once, you shaking said something true. We can't just shake it back to the manor like that."
"But what are we gonna do?"
"I'm shaking gonna tell you what we're gonna do. We're going to kick their asses."
"But how? That girl, she was a reallyly really good fighter. She used two elements at the same time."
"Those were only weak elements. Shaking proof is that even the spaghetti with a mustache that you are survived it!"
"You know, I'm starting to think that maybe if we learned that trick we could" but he was cut off by the shorter dragoon.
"You shaking dimwit! We won't learn that stupid trick, we have to get shaking strong elements of the opposite color of their shaking innate. Now you just shaking follow me!"
Both soldiers entered a store with thousands of colored beads spread on several glass counters. The short soldier instantly began searching for weapons of choice. The tall one approached the main counter where a young woman clad in a blue outfit that matched her eyes and blonde hair was chatting with a friend. He stopped a few feet away from the counter and fixed his eyes on the blonde, a shy smile on his lips.
Seeing what was going on, the blonde-haired woman abruptly stopped the conversation and headed for Solt.
"May I help you sir?" she asked in a polite voice.
Solt quickly snapped out of his thought.
"Er, uh, yes, I mean, no, I was just staring-uh-looking at the… elements that is." He said, sweat forming on his forehead."
"Well, in this case, I'll just…"
Her voice was cut off by the short soldier.
"Excuse me, ma'am. Have you got any shakingly strong black elements here?"
"I'm afraid I don't sir. Black elements are very rare and only highly-specialized people have the right to sell them."
Disappointment then spread over the short soldier's face while the tall one just continued to gaze at the woman.
The woman walked back to her friend and started chatting again. A man who had been watching their conversation silently then approached the dragoons. He had had long purple hair tied up behind his head and was wearing a white outfit covered with golden laces. The upper-most portion of his face was also hidden under a mask.
"Excuse me noble sirs. I didn't mean to overhear anything, but it seems that you're in need of black elements?"
"Shake it we are." Said the short dragoon.
"Well then, I'm sure I can help you." He said, placing his arm around the dragoon's shoulder and directing him toward the exit.
Both men exited the shop. The masked man then produced a bracelet to which were attached several black glowing beads. Peppor's face enlightened.
"Seems like shaking good elements you got there!"
"Three Gravity Blows, three Gravitonnes, five Nostrums and a free fall. A pretty good set as you can see."
"How much you want for it? Said Peppor pulling out a bag of gold.
"For you… 2000 gold coins."
Peppor's smile quickly faded and he began pondering.
Shaking hell, this is a monthly salary worth… But I can't let those kids get away with this…
Finally, he came to a decision.
"Deal!" he said, handing the masked man 2000 gold coins.
"Glad we could do some business." Said the man, leaving with the gold.
Peppor entered the shop again to find his brother still gazing at the woman without making much effort to look busied with something else. The situation was clearly making her uncomfortable as she was often checking on the man to see what he was up to.
"Get your shaking ass here." Peppor said, grabbing his brother by the shoulder and dragging him outside.
"Hey, hey, what are you doing? Can't you see that she was all over me?"
"Yeah, that's right! And I've just been named leader of the devas."
"But I swear she was…"
"Oh will you shut the shake up! She wouldn't go on a date with you even if you were as popular as that drag-queen rockstar."
"Alright, alright, but admit I was doing prettily pretty well."
"Yeah, you wish. Now just follow me. We've got to find those brats and teach them a shaking lesson." He said, gripping the bracelet tightly.
"Um, Peppor… How did you get those?"
"While you were busy drooling enough to drown this town, I was doing business with a professional black element user. I got them from him."
The lanky soldier was staring at his brother incredulously.
"Ah, don't worry, I didn't steal them, nor sold your ass, even if was shaking tempted to."
"Sold my ass? I'd like to see who would sell who's ass?"
"Oh shut the shake up, will ya!"
Both soldiers left the town, still arguin