Hey guys,
Here's the next update :)
Mikan woke up early for a change. She couldn't sleep very well after the encounter with the assassin she now knows as kuro-neko.
Since she couldn't sleep, she decides to get out of bed and get an early start today.
After she finishes getting ready and had breakfast, she heads over to Hotaru's home hoping that she's back by now.
Knock knock
Mrs. Imai opens the door, "Good morning Mikan, are you looking for Hotaru?" she asks.
"Good morning Mrs. Imai, yes I am looking for Hotaru. Is she back yet?"
"Yes she is. Come in, she's eating breakfast in the kitchen right now." She replied while motioning Mikan to come into the house.
Mikan goes in and finds Hotaru in the kitchen.
"Good morning Hotaru! I miss you!" Mikan exclaimed as tries to hug Hotaru.
"Napalm beat" Hotaru casts her spell creating invisible balls that hits Mikan and sends her flying away from Hotaru.
"Wahhhhh, Hotaru is so mean." Mikan wails as she sits on the ground crying.
"Stop crying Mikan, crying makes you 9 times uglier." Hotaru said to her and she stopped crying.
"So what brings you here today, baka?" Hotaru asks.
"Stop calling me baka. I came here today because I missed you. I wanted to see if you wanted to go training together. It's been a long time since we've gone training together."
Hotaru thinks about Mikan's offer, "well, training with you means I can use less potions and you can cast support spells on me to make me stronger. Less potions means I spend less money, support spells means I can kill faster and get more loot. Hum, I guess that could work. I was supposed to go train with another mage today but you can tag along. "
"Oh, can I invite a friend too?" Mikan asks.
"What class is he? We're going to Glast Heim sewers to fight stings. You need to fight them in a distance because they hit very hard so not all classes will be able to come and train there efficiently."
"He's an archer."
"I guess that would work."
"Ok let me give him a call." Mikan said before looking up his information on her communicator.
"Hey Ruka, are you awake yet?" Mikan speaks into her communicator.
"Hi Mikan, I just got up. What's up?" Ruka replied.
"I wanted to ask if you wanted to come training with us today?"
"With Tsubasa and Misaki-senpai?" Ruka asks.
"Nope with my best friend Hotaru and her classmate. They're both mages and we're going to Glast Heim sewers."
"Hum, that would be interesting. But I heard Glast Heim is very dangerous."
"If you're too chicken to come you don't have to." Hotaru spoke into Mikan's communicator.
"That's not nice Hotaru." Mikan said to Hotaru while the communicator is still transmitting.
"It's true." Hotaru replied.
"I'll come. Where should we meet up?" He asks.
"Meet us in Geffen at the benches around the fountian." Hotaru replies.
"Okay, I'll see you there." Ruka replies.
In Geffen
"YAY I'm so happy. I finally get to go training with Hotaru." Mikan said excitedly while skipping along beside Hotaru.
"Stop being so loud. You're attracting too much attention." Hotaru chided her.
"Sorry, I'm just so excited. I haven't seen you in so long. I miss you, you know."
"Yeah yeah, I know. You've only told me 47 times this morning."
"Oh, I see Ruka." Mikan said as she spotted Ruka sitting on a bench up ahead. "Hi Ruka," she waved and shouted to get Ruka's attention.
Ruka smiled at Mikan and responded with a hi.
"Great, they're both here then." Hotaru said.
"Oh, where's your friend?" Mikan asked.
"He's the mage sitting at the other end of the bench."
"Great, let's get introductions going."
"Hey Ruka, this is my best friend Hotaru and her friend." Mikan said as she introduced them to Ruka.
"And this is my friend Ruka, we meet when I was on an assignment in Payon." Mikan told the two.
Ruka gives a polite smile and shook hands with the two of them.
He slightly blushed when he shook hands with Hotaru. Ruka mentally scolded himself for being effected like this by Mikan's friend when he already likes Mikan. But it's really hard to blame Ruka. Hotaru is already quite eye catching with her pure black hair neatly cut at shoulder length, deep violet eyes that seem to be able to look into your soul and soft porcelain skin. Being dressed in her Mage uniform attracts even more attention then she normally gets. The mage's uniform is very revealing exposing her abdominal area and her legs as she walks. Even though she's very attractive, the icy aura she gives off keeps most of the guys at bay. Only the courageous and stupid will try and go hit on Hotaru and it never ends well for them. She's not the ice princess of the Mage Academy for nothing.
"Hi, I'm Yuu, Hotaru's classmate." Yuu introduced himself.
"Nice to meet you Yuu." Mikan replied with her trademark smile that causes a small blush to appear on Yuu's face.
Yuu is dressed in the traditional male mage uniform which is quite the opposite to the female uniform. The huge cloak that is a part of the male uniform covers everything else he is wearing. For all we know, he may not even be wearing the rest of his uniform under that cloak because it's so well hidden. Yuu has light sandy hair and blue eyes that are hidden behind glasses.
"Yuu, did you find someone to warp us?" Hotaru asked.
"Yup, just let me call the priest to tell him that we're all here and ready to go." Yuu replied and started to message someone on his communicator.
"Ok, he's coming now to warp us." Yuu informed the group, "Have you two been to Glast Heim before?"
Both Ruka and Mikan shook their heads.
"Ah, Glast Heim is quite dangerous; it's very big with lots of different monsters. Most of the monsters are either undead or demon but that's not the same when you go underground. The undead and demons seem to rule the castle ruins while the underground sewers are full of other monsters. We'll be heading into the sewers because there's a monster there all stings that is good for range attacks. They're quite slow moving so you can attack them from a distance." Yuu explained.
"I think I've heard of the monster you are referring to from an upper classman. They're called Stings right?" Ruka asked.
"Yup, that's them. However on the same map there are gargoyles that attack us from a distance. Mikan, have you learnt Pneuma yet?" Yuu asked.
"Yes I have." She responded.
"Great, cast that on us whenever a gargoyle comes to attack us."
"Will do." She said while giving him a thumbs up.
"Hi Guys, ready to go?" A Priest came up to them and asked.
"Yeah, thanks for coming to warp us." Yuu replied.
"No problem. Be careful guys, make sure you have butterfly wings on you in case you run into something you can't handle." He reminded the group as he casted the portal to go Glast Heim. "Have fun guys. Good luck." He said as the group went into the portal.
At Glast Heim
Mikan looks around the place.
Glast Heim had a creepy feel to it. It was covered in this thick mist that let minimum amount of sunlight through. It was just bright enough so you can see the place. Glast Heim would have been a magnificent sight to behold in the past. The castle area is enormous and well built. The castles of the past are quite amazing. Glast Heim is not just made up of one building but multiple buildings. It's almost like a miniature town when you think about it. There is a wall surrounding the huge castle area. This wall acted as a defense mechanism back then. Today, it seems to be the only thing that keeps the monsters of Glast Heim from escaping the area. It also seems like none of the monsters outside of the walls want to step into the area. (A/N: Much like some castles I visited in Europe, the castle really is a miniature town. So cool)
A shiver is sent down Mikan's spine as she took in her surrounding. It still is very impressive but at the same time it gives a feeling of uneasiness. Mikan noted that all that is left here is a shadow of the glorious past.
"Come on guys, we need to run through different parts of the castle before we get to the sewers. Once we enter through this door we'll be in the church Abbey, the entrance to the sewers is through the church yard. The Dark Lord is said to be found in the church yard so we have to be really careful when we go through it." Hotaru said snapping Mikan out of her thoughts.
Mikan quickly casted Bless and Agility Up on everyone and they step into the Abbey silently.
Inside the Abbey
Yuu was leading the way once they stepped inside the Abbey. The place was bigger than expected. Good thing the church yard is only a short distance away from the entrance into the Abbey.
"Wow, this place is so big that they had a church here." Mikan said while looking around in amazement.
"Baka, stay close to the group. We can't really take on any of the monsters here properly so we need to run through this place fast." Hotaru chided Mikan's behaviour. "You still haven't changed one bit. You can't afford to be so easily distracted when exploring new places. You're not a novice anymore, you're an acolyte and you are expected to support the group."
"I know, I'm sorry. I just haven't seen you in so long that I'm overly excited today. I'm very good at supporting you know! Right Ruka?" Mikan refuted.
"Don't worry Mikan, you're good at supporting, just try to concentrate." Ruka responded while smiling at her encouragingly.
Hotaru raises an eyebrow while looking at Ruka and Mikan. Then she smirks at the sight as she suspects that Ruka has feelings for her dense friend. "This will be fun." Hotaru thought in her head as they continue to walk to the church yard.
They killed off any ghouls that approached them while walking to the church yard and ran away from the druids as they have more magic resistant making them harder to kill.
When they were almost there at the yard, they heard very fast thumps on the ground. They look and found a mimic trying to chase after them. Ruka quickly notched an arrow and used his arrow repel skill to knock the mimic back several meters. Then Yuu quickly casted a firewall in between them and shouted "Run!"
They made a mad dash for the church yard and slammed the door shut behind them. They can hear scratching against the door as the mimic claws the door for several moments before it decides to go away to look for new victims.
"I hate mimics. They break through firewalls so fast and hit so hard." Yuu said as they catch their breath.
"Yeah, on top of that it's so hard to hit them because they're so fast and agile." Ruka said nodding in agreement.
"Stop your whining. The faster we get out of the yard the faster we'll get away from all these monsters and get to our destination." Hotaru said unemotionally.
Once again, Mikan casted her support spells on the group and off they went to find the entrance into the Glast Heim sewers.
Inside the sewers
(A/N yes...sorry I'm not about to walk through every map. It's only 2 maps away to get there but there really isn't a lot to say about the trip to get there...unless they bump into Dark Lord and i'm not that mean)
"Ok guys, remember, don't get hit by the Stings. They hit really hard and can probably knock you unconscious in 1 hit if you're not strong enough yet." Hotaru reminded the group.
They walked to the left side of the entrance and started going down that path. Slightly further down they could make out a figure of something there. Not sure if it was human or a monster they decided to approach it slowly. Once they were closer they were able to see what it was more clearly.
"Oh my God, what is that!" Mikan exclaimed pointing to something that look like a giant arm made of mud with a glove covering it's hand at the top.
"That is a sting." Hotaru stated in a matter of fact sort of fashion.
"Oh, so that's what a sting looks like." Mikan replied.
Hotaru went closer to the sting and casted a firewall beside her and then walked back behind the firewall. So instead of the firewall being horizontal to her, it is now vertical. "Stings are stupid. They will just run head first into the firewall like that so if you cast it the right way, it'll take longer to reach us." She explained while Yuu and her started to cast fire bolt spells on the Sting.
Ruka started to shoot at it with normal arrows but found that it wasn't doing as much damage as he could be. It seems like the layer of mud stops the arrow from penetrating deeply into the monster.
Hotaru and Yuu finished casting their spells and a rain of fire came down and killed the sting as it was trapped by the firewall.
"Use fire arrows, it'll get through the mud and penetrate the monster better." Yuu told Ruka.
"Thanks," Ruka replied as he dug into his backpack to find the red blood gem to create arrows that are enchanted with the fire element.
While they were waiting for Ruka to create his arrows, something started to shoot at them. One arrow managed to hit Hotaru in the thigh and she gave a small cry of pain. Her normally calm face that shows no emotion now showed pain as her leg twitched in pain from being shot at.
"Hotaru!" Mikan exclaimed as she looked at Hotaru.
"Cast pneuma on us and worry about this later." Hotaru told her hastily.
"Pneuma" she quickly casted the spell on Hotaru and the rest of the party members. The arrows aimed at them bounced off of the green mist that surrounded them.
Yuu and Ruka started their attack on the Gargoyle that was shooting at them while Mikan kept up the Pneumas.
Once the Gargoyle died Mikan rushed to Hotaru's side.
She kneeled next to where Hotaru was sitting and started to examine her wound.
"Hotaru, I need to pull that out." Mikan told her as she pointed to the arrow.
"Hn." Hotaru grunted in pain.
"It'll hurt. Here, bite on this." Mikan handed Hotaru a leather strap to bite on.
Once Hotaru put that into her mouth, Mikan's hand went to the arrow and she pulled it out in one swift motion.
Hotaru groaned and bit down hard on the leather.
Mikan started to cast heal spells on her wound to stop the bleeding and close the wound.
"There, good as new." Mikan said proudly looking at her handy work.
"Thanks," Hotaru replied with a small smile.
"Are you still able to continue?" Ruka asked.
"Of course I am. Who do you take me for?" Hotaru snapped at Ruka as she got up and started to walk off.
Yuu patted Ruka on his back and follow her.
Mikan gives him a sheepish smile and quickly cast some support spells and pulled him along to catch up with Hotaru and Yuu.
As time passed, they got better at killing the monsters found here. They were able to take on several monsters at once and come out victorious.
However, it drains much more of their spiritual energy when they attack several monsters at once rather than concentrating on 1.
Fighting here was very good experience and they were learning fast.
"I think we're doing really well here guys." Yuu said to the group.
"Yeah, this is awesome experience. We make a great team." Ruka said in agreement.
Just as they were happily talking and being proud of their effort so far, a sting pop out of nowhere and knocked Ruka off his feet.
"RUKA!!" Mikan screamed and casted a quick heal.
Hotaru quickly summon a firewall in between them and the Sting.
Mikan worked on tending to Ruka while Yuu and Hotaru took care of the Sting.
"Damn that hurt." Ruka said once he was feeling well enough to talk.
"You were really badly hurt. You were on the verge of being unconscious. That would be really dangerous since I don't have the skill resurrect yet and I won't be able to bring you back to consciousness." Mikan replied. (A/N Since this is a story, I can't very well have dead being coming back to life b/c of a skill/item, so lets just say resurrect/ygg leaf can bring a person back from near death/unconsciousness )
"Lets head back guys. I think we're all tired and that will just put us to a disadvantage here." Hotaru suggested.
"I agree, even though you got healed by Mikan, that hit was quite fatal. We should go back and take a better look at it." Yuu said in agreement.
Mikan nods and starts casting her spell to open a warp.
Once she finishes her spell everyone went in and they were instantly warped back to Prontera.
In Prontera
"Thanks for the party guys, we should do it again sometime. I should be going back home now. See you guys later." Yuu said as he went to the Karfa for a warp back to Geffen.
"I'm tired. I'm going back home now. Baka don't over work yourself." Hotaru said to Mikan before walking towards her home.
"Bye Yuu, bye Ho-chan." Mikan said while waving at them.
"Now Ruka, let's take another look at you to make sure you're ok." Mikan said as she turned to Ruka.
Ruka started to blush because he was so close to Mikan.
"Ano, should we be doing this in the middle of the street?" Ruka asks while blushing.
"Opps," Mikan replies while giggling, "I guess we should get off the road so we're not in people's way."
Then Mikan drags Ruka off to a bench somewhere close to the south Prontera gates.
"Hum, it looks like the damage done has been minimized by the heals. You should be ok. But since it hit you in the head I'm a little worried about concussions. If you feel any headaches, dizziness, vomiting, nausea or have problems with vision you should see a priest right away." Mikan told Ruka once she was finished with her examination.
"I'll be fine. Don't worry, ok?" Ruka told Mikan.
"Ok, just remember to go to a priest if you don't feel very well for the next several days!" Mikan reminded him one last time.
Ruka chuckles, "I should head home now. See you later Mikan."
"Say hi to your mom for me." Mikan requested as Ruka walks off to the Karfa lady for a warp.
"I will," he responded before he disappeared right in front of her.
"Well, now that everyone is gone, I think I'll go to my garden before I head home." Mikan said to herself as she walked out the gates to her garden.
In the garden
Mikan sits under her favourite tree and took out a book from her knapsack.
She opens it and starts writing about the adventure she just had today.
After half an hour of writing, the sun started to set.
She looks up from her book to watch the sunset.
"Wow, we were out for a really long time today." She commented.
"Hum, it's getting dark, I better hurry up and finish writing this then go home." Mikan thought out loud.
Then she casted Ruwach to help provide better lighting so she can continue to write.
Once she casted the spell, the ball of light seemed to have hit someone and he was revealed.
"Oh my God." Mikan screamed.
"Don't pop out of no where like that. You scared me half to death." Mikan yelled at him.
"It's not like I wanted you to see me. I can't help it if you cast that spell. If I knew you were going to do that, I would have moved out of range so I wouldn't be revealed."
Mikan stared wide-eyed at him, "That was the longest sentence you ever said to me."
"Hn." He replied.
"How long were you there for?" Mikan asks.
"Long enough. I was having a nice rest before you came in." He replied.
"You know, I don't think anyone else really knows about this place. This is my secret spot I come to so I can relax. I like it here, it's very pretty and peaceful. Don't you think so?"
"Hn." He replied not looking at her.
"Well, since you seem to come here often as well, I guess this can be our secret spot. So you don't have to hide from me." Mikan said smiling at him.
He stared at Mikan to find her smiling at him with that innocent smile of hers. "I don't need your company." He said coldly.
"Humf, so rude. Well I should get going now. Bye Neko-Chan." Mikan said as she left the garden to go back into Prontera.
"What a stupid girl." The assassin said as he once again cloaked and blended into the shadows.
Thanks for the reviews
XxblackwingsxX, Ja-chan94, HyuugaYingLang
I need your opinion guys.
Would you rather I update more often with shorter chapters or less often with long chapters like this one?
This one is about 3.6k words...i think around 7-8 pages
Please review :) I need to know how i'm doing
thanks alot guys