A/N: Now, I want to go on to say that you please read the bottom part after this specific chapter. It contains info on this character who is not mine and a possible hinting at a future project. Now, let's keep going! ^^
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"This kid is amazing...!" Tai thought as he kept dodging his attacks, but pulling out his bat and clashing with a few attacks.
Whoever this guy was, he was amazingly skilled with these two swords of his. The constant swings of this kid was amazingly timed, not letting him get a chance to go on the offensive. But instead, it let this teen get more shots at Tai, forcing him to constantly dodge. However, since the boy's physical appearance tricked him, he was unable to get the hooded teen at all with any strikes, despite the few clashes they did.
"Hold still!" he yelled as he forced Tai down towards some stacked crates.
"Hold still? While you're trying to cut me? You ever heard of the word 'please'?" Tai asked in disbelief.
Stopping for a brief second, the teen pondered and bit, before charging and yelling, "You're right... Please hold still!"
Swinging a few times, he missed as his target responded, "The hell, man? Do you not realize sarcasm when it slaps you in the face!?"
"Do you not realize that it's my way of telling you to shove your sarcasm where the sun don't shine?!" the boy yelled as he swung at him, but Tai was able to dodge roll underneath and jump back for some distance.
"Good gosh, please don't tell me you're one of these tough guys who always has to have a comeback for everything..." the hooded teen groaned as he got a breather.
Luckily, the girls and the old man had gotten there and appeared behind him. It caused the apparent attacker to be pretty taken back and become more cautious.
"Tai, are you all right? We heard fighting and came over here," Estelle said, worrying.
"I'm fine, but this guy won't be if he keeps attacking me," Tai said, glaring at this kid and threatening him.
"Heh, you expect me to be scared of you all? That's nothing for the likes of me!" The boy yelled as suddenly he made a magic circle... but it was a color that the group wasn't aware of.
"An orange spell castin' formula...? I never heard of an orange one," Raven said, serious as he readied to move.
"Rita, have you seen anything like it?" Estelle asked, looking at the mage who for once looked dumbfounded.
"No... this is an element I've never seen before..." Rita said, her face seeming like someone slapped her across the face.
The boy held his sword up in the air as he yelled, "Come on, zap 'em where they stand! Spark Wave!"
Suddenly, a ball of light surrounded Tai as he looked around at it. Gasping, he realized there was electricity steaming inside and if he didn't act fast, it would be shocked quite literally. He grunted as before anyone could see what defensive measures he did, a burst of surgical sounding light shocked their eyes, blinding them. A confident teen smirked, only to lose it as he saw a huge green and black energy ball dissolving, revealing Tai in protection.
"Tai!" Estelle said relieved.
"A... lightning spell...?" Rita managed to mutter in surprise, as she shook her head, then yelled at the boy, "How on earth do you know that kind of spell?!"
"I'm not telling you anything!" the boy yelled as he was dropping into his stance, left sword upside-down like a dagger and right sword held normally, "Especially anyone who stands with Leviathan's Claw!"
Suddenly, the posture of Tai just dropped as his head lowered and the energy finally dissolved. Despite the danger that loomed at him, he sighed, causing his predator to raise an eyebrow rather taken off guard.
"Second time... This is the second time someone thinks I'm from this claw of Leviathan or whatever it's called," he groaned as he stood up straight and rubbed his head.
"Huh? Wait, you're not?" the boy slowly stood up straight and blinked with a shocked face.
"No, I'm not. Seriously, does everyone think I'm apart of this whatever group because I wear a hood?" Tai said, irritatedly as he looked away upward.
"Well, you're definitely shady; not like Yuri or the old man, of course, but..." Rita said, folding her arms and then walking over to the boy casually, "You. Teach me how to do that spell just now."
"Huh? Wait, what?" the boy asked, still off his game from the confirmation and was utterly confused.
"Rita, at least let us introduce ourselves first," Estelle said, the girls somehow forgetting how Tai was a bit steamed (as in not angry, but peeved) of how they just let the fact he was nearly killed off in an alley go so easily.
"Right, fine," Rita folded her arms uninterested.
"Well, I better start; My name is Dayren Vyce! Nice to meet'cha!" He introduced prodding himself in the chest with his thumb, which for some reason Estelle stiffened slightly.
"Day... ren...? Um, pardon me intruding, but I think I might have seen or heard of you from a long time ago," the princess said, hope in her eyes.
"Huh? Doubt it, but still, what's your name?" He asked arching an eyebrow and cupping his chin with his hand.
"My name is Estellise, but I prefer to be called Estelle." She introduced politely.
Raven and Tai both thought they saw Dayren's hand twitch slightly, but the calm look on his face betrayed what that idea. Rita would've known, but she had gone into 'bookworm mode' and was waiting in a... well, patient yet impatient manner.
"I'm sorry, Estelle, but no go on that; I haven't met anybody yet with that name until today," Dayren said, shrugging with a smile.
"Oh, that's okay," Estelle said, though apparent for some reason, looked a bit upset, but hid it rather well.
"I guess I'm next! Raven the Great, at yer-wha!" Raven tried to say, but once the new boy had seen him, had gotten sparkles in his eyes and rushed over, grabbing his hand and shaking it incredibly fast.
"Oh my geee! It's General Schwann! I am one of your biggest fans, sir! It's an honor and a priviledge to be able to meet the coolest, most awesome sword-master ever!" he said, sort of in a fanboy way.
"Hehe! Well, thanks kid! Guess there's more kids in this ol' world that know how ta respect the greatness of Raven the Great!" Raven said, puffing out his chest.
"You're killing me..." Rita groaned, losing her patience.
"Huh? What do you mean 'Raven'? You're Schwann!" Dayren said, smiling.
"Ahh, I've giv'n up on that old name for a while now," Raven said, gently as he remember some of his old deeds, "I go by Raven now, okay?"
"You'll always be my hero, Schw- err, I mean, Raven," Dayren replied back, getting a warm smile from the old man and princess.
"Okay, okay, let's speed things up here," Rita said, walking over to the boy, "Teach me that spell you did."
"Okay, wait a minute, girlie-"
"What!?"
"Ooooookaaaayy, angry girlie; I need to know your name first," the boy responded.
Rita folded her arms and in a strict tone, introduced herself, "Rita Mordio, blastia researcher and mage."
Suddenly, Dayren blinked in confusion and began to ask, "Wait... you're a mage? Then how come you don't know this spell...?"
"It doesn't matter! Just because I'm a mage, doesn't mean I have researched everything!" Rita snapped a bit, getting very ticked about whatever he could possibly be hinting at.
"So, then, you're asking me?" Dayren's face lit up with a smile, "Me being able to teach a mage something? Wow, this is going to be so much fun!"
Something about how his face looked when he said that made Rita's face turn red... but not from anger. Usually, she'd just get upset and pound the person who irritated her, but with this Dyaren fellow, she didn't know why she was turning red. But apparently, the others knew as she happened to catch their faces. Estelle was looking with surprise, Tai was glaring at her with a face that screamed 'what the hell', and Raven... had one of his 'sexual hinting' smirks as he constantly raised his eyebrows in a manner of love. With a grunt, Rita looked away and got control of herself, the redness fading.
"Okay, so: Estelle, Raven, Rita... how about you?" Dayren turned to the hooded teen, who wasn't angry this time.
"...Tai," he simply said bluntly, then began to turn away and try to walk from them.
"Well, that wasn't exactly whatcha call 'social' and friendly', wassit?" Raven said, slightly shaking his head.
"Would you be willing to give your name after nearly getting killed?" Rita said, giving the old man a question he had to buckle into and nod.
"Still, it couldn't hurt to be a little less cold, so that way you could restore possible interaction," Estelle said, a bit loud for Tai to get the hint to be more outgoing and nice.
"True, but you know, for what just happened with the fact I tried to do you in, you're sure taking it well," Dayren said to the teen, slightly making a bit of a puzzled smile as he raised an eyebrow.
"Don't get me wrong; I'm ticked off at you," Tai said, stopping and looking back, "But you must've had good reasons, right?"
"Yeah, to be honest, that Leviathan's Claw guild have been on the imperial capital's bad guy list ever since Alexei's betrayal, right?" Dayren said, "And there have been some around here lately, so I thought you were one of them."
"Because of the hood, huh?" Tai said, a bit monotone there.
"Ya gotta make sure you're attackin' the right targets, Dayren, my boy," Raven said, shrugging, "Otherwise, you're pickin' unnecessary fights."
"Eheheh, sorry..." the teen said, bowing his head, "I really am. I hope maybe later you can all forgive me."
"Yeah, yeah, cute, whatever," Rita said, walking over, with a impatient face, "Now, let's see that formula on how you did that spell."
So, for about a good twenty minutes, Dayren lectured the mage in learning lightning spells. Through a series of yelling and threats of pounding, the other three waited it out until they finally finished exchanging information. It was very easy soon for the group to be able to finally end this and watch Dayren hurry. Something about the way he kept looking at the princess made the group a bit suspicious.
"Well, uh, anyways, I gotta get going; places to go, people to save!" Dayren waved.
"Is there any chance we can be able to talk to you again?" Estelle called out.
"If we ever cross paths again! Bye!" he said rather rushing out, leaving the group to just stare at each other.
"What... was that?" Tai said, unsure of what just happened... happened.
"I don't really know," Estelle said, looking down.
"Ahh, whatever, at least I got the magic spell I wanted, so meeting him worked out in the end for me," Rita shrugged and closed her eyes.
"Aww, Rita, ya can't mean that against poor Tai gettin' hurt. Besides, that blushin' of yers makes ol' Raven see somethin' more," the old man winked at her.
"Maybe you are starting to go blind, old man. Care for me to help you get whatever is in your eyes out?" Rita got that glare in her expression that encouraged the old man to rethink what he said.
"Wha!? No! NOO!" Raven yelled as he ran for it, leaving the teens to follow him calmly.
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During this whole time, Flynn had gone off to speak with the Aiheap twins about confidental matter involving the imperial knights, and Akihiro had gone to look around the port city, though really it was a lie to do some training. It left Yuri and Repede alone to roam the busy, cheerful streets of Nor Harbor. Deciding that there was really nothing to do right now, the man decided to go buy some fruit to eat and some food for Repede. Giving the dog his share, he wiped his apple against his shirt and bit into it. He sighed looking up into the sky, realizing how truly amazing the blue cloudy sky looked like without that Adephagos abomination looming overhead constantly.
"I seriously cannot believe it's been only a few months since that battle with Duke..." he said to himself, "Man, time flies by when you're bored, I guess. At least we know that the majority of everyone is doing okay, right, Repede?"
Repede giving him a few agreeing barks, he smiled and looked at him, "Yeah, I know. Akihiro and Tai are kind of unique individuals, aren't they? But, I want to know more about them. For the safety of the group."
You see, Yuri Lowell secretely hates secrets. He doesn't like how people keep things from him, although he does it himself sometimes. For the safety of every person on the team he travels with, he doesn't like it if people try to hold their own personal secrets in a fashion that screams distrusting. Like in the past, how Raven was so sly and sneaky about everything he did, how Rita at first learned about Estelle's power and thus wanted to test a theory out on her, how Judith was destroying blastia and wouldn't reveal the justification behind it.
But now, that feeling was back again. And it was more on Flynn and Tai. He knew the commandant from childhood days and they always depended on each other, but lately, it seemed the toll of accepting the fact that a lot of good knights died was really getting to Flynn. He tried to hide it but it seemed that it was really causing his anger to flare up sometimes. And then, Tai; this unknown teenager who just was the very definition of secretive; wouldn't talk to most of the group, avoids others, and only talks really with Estelle and the old man. And the glove that he desperately refuses anyone to see.
All of these things were flying around in his head, his urges to just let his curiosity go after the two struggled to be held back. He couldn't just go right up to them... or could he? But this thinking was actually cut short, from a certain voice calling out.
"Oh my gosh! I can't believe you're here!"
The similar female voice caught his eye as Repede suddenly panted and rushed over to a certain 14-year-old girl wearing a clothing set up of navy blue sea-going attire, but had this gigantic pirate hat on her head. His partner barked happily as he licked her in the face and she laughed and hugged Repede around the neck.
"Repede! I've missed you so much!" she said happily.
Yuri walked over and smiled at her, the eyes glistening with happy innocence as she hugged Yuri's leg. She still admired him for so long and it was very awkward how much she liked to hug him and say how she liked him, but at least she wasn't claiming they would marry anymore.
"Yuri! I'm so happy to see you!" she exclaimed loudly.
Yuri let out a breath out that sounded like a chuckle as he replied, "It's good to see you too, Patty."
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Okay, let's get this over with. :3 Dayren, the Wandering Saint, belongs to pen name DeMerio and his story Tales of Vesperia 2: The Duke of Zaphias (which is in my favorite story list, go check him out!). Why am I letting this guy on? Well, I won't go into specifics unless given the okay by Demerio himself, but we are thinking of doing a future TOV project together. (with the fact Tai will appear in his story too 8D). Also, My laptop as I post this JUST got some kind of virus or something on it, so please bare with me if I don't post in a while. Thank you, and keep reading!