"Good bye,sensei!" Hana exclaimed as she got off the ship she was on. Her master ran off the boat and hugged her.
Hana frowned,"Sensei, the ship is going to leave soon..."
Her teacher did not care at all for some reason."Hana, I'm going to miss you." She had a slight smile on her face. But, it slowly changed into a more serious expression."Hana, this is going to be your hardest trial yet. You will have to understand that there will be many have to properly lead not only five, but eleven other guild mates. And I know that the numbers will increase with this guild's popularity. Every member carries their own secrets..."
After Haruka finished it was silent. Until the ship's horn blew.
"Oh! Bye Hana!" Her master jumped on board the ship.
Hana flipped her hair and turned to where everyone else was supposed to be standing. Ryuu was the only one who was still in sight. Hana stared at him ,but instead of an answer Ryuu just stared back.
"What the heck? Where'd everyone go?"Hana looked uneasy,"This is a big town. I don't want to lose anyone before we get into the dang maze."Hana gave Ryuu a strange look."And why're you carrying everyone's luggage?"
Ryuu shrugged,"They told me they wanted to explore the town… So, I let them."
Hana swore under her breath; it was directed at her other guild mates though,not Ryuu."And they claim that I'm the one who pushes you around. Hey, while we're at it… Want to help me with the guild work?" Hana smiled for once. Ryuu nodded. Hana turned away from him.
"Okay… According to this map,the Explorer's Guild should be up this path." Hana sounded perplexed. Ryuu followed,as always. The streets here were very lively and covered in all sorts of flora and fauna. Hana didn't mind; her face was pretty much glued to the map. Ryuu,on the other hand, was sucking in the atmosphere just so he could adjust there smiled and asked how everyone else was doing. And that was something Ryuu and Hana didn't enjoy. Hana never admitted how she actually felt, unless it was on happy or not serious at all. She knew if she did,no one would like her. And that was only because she was clueless and somewhat insolent, but very shy with people she knew could overpower her. Ryuu was somewhat introverted ,and when the time came he could provoke the idiots the guild would run into.
"Ryuu,I think we're um… Lost."
"You're very hypocritical ."
"This city's too big Ryuu! And everyone's loud! And distracting!" Hana shouted.
"Hypocrite," Ryuu looked down at Hana's map,"Why are you holding the map upside down?" Ryuu moved his scarf slightly.
"We've been going the wrong way?!" Hana face palmed.
"Hana. You're far-sighted. So, why were you holding the map so close to your face?" Although Ryuu seemed angry, his voice was calm and somewhat quiet.
"Give me my glasses from my bag, please."
Ryuu dropped all of the bags at once, and began to stretch. Hana scowled at him and crossed her small arms.
"You're doing a great job getting my glasses,Ryuu."
Ryuu looked at her,"Hey, don't talk to me like I'm the one who got us lost."Ryuu slowly bent downward and opened Hana's suitcase. "Here." He handed her the red glasses.
"Thank you." Hana stood there with a slight frown on her face. She was kind of dazed and she looked up to the sky. Ryuu didn't care about this very much. He'd only care if he got a tan. And he wouldn't like it. So, they just stood still in the same spot, like complete idiots. Ryuu and Hana both noticed something tremendous at the same time.
"So… This is the Yggdrasil…?"Ryuu squinted.
Hana made an uncomfortable expression,"It's different from the one in Tharsis."Hana was native to Tharsis and thought that this Yggdrasil would remind her of home. Sadly, it didn't. Ryuu, however, was a different and more complicated story. When his parents were still alive he lived in the country Jotunheim ,but after they "died" he ended up in an orphanage in Tharsis. Speaking of Jotunheim, the country was always praised for its military strength. The symbol on its flag was seen as a sign of power,worldwide. The symbol was a sword entangled in vines. Many people wore it on shields or even fact, Meru had it on her chest plate. The country had the strongest military ever to exist. Period. But now, the country was quite friendly and showed no signs of going into a war.
"This Yggdrasil is fat. And stubby. I thought it'd be more like the other one I know. I thought it'd be bigger and taller." Hana pouted. Right then a purple-haired man stopped and stared at them. Mainly at Hana. Ryuu didn't really like his looks, but before Ryuu could speak against him… He spoke. His voice was commanding. Or it sounded much like it. Perhaps he was just a natural leader and was used to talking in that way…
"Hey,you two are going to get sunburn standing around like that."He seemed pretty calm,"I assume you're new adventurers, am I correct? And you're lost?" Ryuu and Hana exchanged almost frightened stares. They both were about say those exact words. It was like he was reading their minds,but that was impossible.
"Yes…"Ryuu replied.
The man grinned at the both of them,"Mind if I take you to the most important places an explorer can use?"
"Uh… I guess."
The man walked up the path some more and turned to a bistro. It was covered in blue butterflies.
"This is the Butterfly Bistro. You can order foods from this place, or take requests from the public."
Suddenly, a pink-haired bimbo came over to the man's side."Welcomes, Ezra! What can I do for you today?"
Hana rubbed her chest and glared at woman's "chest". Then she turned over to Ryuu. Ryuu was too oblivious and/or innocent to see them. Hana cringed deeply, very deeply at that.
"Did that woman just say 'Welcomes'?" Hana whispered to Ryuu.
"I dunno. I guess so." Ryuu wasn't thinking about that at all. He was most likely thinking how to organize his room when he got to it. He was systematic at times.
"Who are your new friends?" She asked.
"Oh,yeah. Missy, these two are just Ryuu and Hana."
Wait… Hana and Ryuu never introduced themselves. Ryuu looked terrified and Hana was biting her fingernails and her eyes were still on Missy's 'Chest'.
"Wait… I never-" Ryuu's speech was cut off by Ezra.
"Oops… You weren't supposed find out that quickly.."
"What…?"
Ezra laughed. "You're masters are very well known and they spoke of you two. Okay?" He sounded nervous. Most of all, it sounded like he was lying.
Ryuu gave him a dirty look.
"I'll explain later, okay? I'm not really allowed to say such in public." Ezra froze. "More importantly… We need to go to the Inver Port." Ezra waved to Missy before he left the bistro. And he began to power walk to the port.
"Hey, where we started…" Hana was obviously not paying the situation any attention before then. Ezra moved closer to the dock.
"This place is the Inver Port. This where you'll be able to come to explore the seas. However…"Ezra trailed off."Exploration there is very limited."
"Why?" Hana was getting with the program now. Ryuu still didn't like Ezra's ways, but he appeared to be eager about the answer. The purple-haired man twirled a finger around trying to think of a simple way he could put it. He still had a strange aura… An aura stupid people couldn't notice; the aura felt like it was strong… With knowledge or 's why Hana didn't feel it.
"You haven't heard? Why else would traveling the seas be dangerous? It's the reason why no one dares to head towards the local cities."
Hana and Ryuu gave him blank gazes in response.
"You really don't know…" He laughed at their faces,"It's the Dominion. The set of pirates that have taken over most of the seas. They guard it like it's their own. They are pretty much terrorist here.I'm surprised on how… 'Uninformed' you two are."
Hana looked down. Ryuu showed a lack of interest in the topic. Ezra examined the two again. Ryuu examined him back. He had an impatient expression on his face. He wanted the other answer. Ezra suddenly knew this. He gave them a shallow grin, but only he could tell it was shallow.
"You want to know?" Ezra studied his surroundings and sighed,"Here it is, Ryuu… Hana is the daughter of the strongest Zodiac of all time. Hanami Zeus Zaki. And you were-. I mean are the son the legendary warrior Obi. The fact that these powerful forces had children spread out ,and I am actually quite the fan." He was not lying-lying ,but he knew he was still not telling them the real reason yet. They weren't ready for it. He just had to earn their trust for the time being.
Hana and Ryuu stood still and nodded. Ezra smirked and clapped his was a bad habit he had. Hana fixed her glasses and began to play in her hair.
"You, two seem tired… Why don't you wait until tomorrow to do that paper work?"Ezra commented.
"I guess we can."Hana responded.
"Good. Here let me take you to the inn where all the explorers stay."
"Okay."
When they made it to the Aman's Inn; they opened the door to see the rest of the guild talking to what seemed to be another looked irate when she realized it was them.
"Thanks you guys!" Hana was being severely sarcastic.
" Hana. I thought you wouldn't get lost."Aoimi glanced back at them.
"Who are you talking to?" Ryuu asked.
"My guild, guild Gears…"Ezra suddenly spoke up.
"What~!? Shut up!" Hana was interested in Ezra. It just only happened at that moment. Before, Hana couldn't care less."You are the leader of Gears? The most powerful guild in Armoroad's history!?"That was why… Hana was rather excited now. She got to compete against her role models now. And the best part about them was the fact that they were so famous,but they, like the future Armoroad branch of the guild RAGNAROK, were just a bunch of teenagers.
"I'm sooo sorry.I didn't know. As you can see, Ryuu here can be quite the jerk."
"Don't mind it. I did say I was a fan of you guys."
Hana had some weird mental fangirling moment. Everyone else in the to be RAGNAROK didn't really care as much as Hana. Ezra gave her a weird smile before he put his hand on his forehead.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce my companions." Ezra stared at Aoimi and the others in her guild. "I'm pretty sure you guys know them already…"Ezra pointed to his guild mates. "But if you don't know me….I am Ezra. The Zodiac and leader of the Gears guild."
"Ezra stop being such a show off." a light blonde Gladiator girl remarked.
Ezra looked unaffected, "This is Zero. Our 'lovely' Gladiator." Hana presumed that Zero was the reason Ezra didn't declare Ryuu a jerk. Ezra pointed to a pink-haired Monk,"She is Mei Ling, our 'totally agreeable' eastern Monk."Ezra spoke with lots sharp comments.
Mei Ling glared at Ezra, "Why are you so disrespectful?" She had a eastern accent as she spoke. It was so strong most people couldn't understand her. Ezra didn't, you could tell by his features.
Ezra continued his introduction with a weird look in his eyes. Fear. But it wasn't any thing that bad; he just felt uncomfortable with Mei Ling. and that was an incredibly long story. He pointed to a Wilding boy with a blue mask. He had a distant look on his face."This is Kogageru. Our blind Wilding." Ezra then turned to an orange haired farmer with green eyes."This is our farmer, Himi. By the way, she's a germaphobe. " Ezra turned to a red-eyed princess. She was half-lidded and looked like she would fall asleep any time,"And, this is Isis or Isi. Whichever one you prefer-" Hana cut him off.
"You mean Princess Isis, the princess that is so strategic she can predict what's going to happen throughout the day?!"
"Yeah… She gets so bored she sleeps away. And doesn't talk to us unless we're in battle. Unless it's Ezra of course. She loves him."Zero scowled at Isis. Isis didn't move; she had fallen to sleep.
Hana and her guild had spoken to Gears all through the day. Until evening at least. Hana had propped herself on the hill the Yggdrasil was on and was staring at the tropical stars from her telescope. She moved back from it and turned to Ryuu and Ezra.
"So,"Hana pulled out a blank piece of paper from her pocket,"I just finished my Horoscope."She began to write on the paper.
"Well, what was it?" Ezra questioned with a grin.
"Hm… 'You will meet someone just like you.'"Hana laughed hysterically,"That's never going to happen."
Ryuu made a strange noise,"It's already happened, Hana. There's Tanaku."
"Sure."
Haruka walked on the cold and damp streets of Jotunheim. It was still raining there and the clouds covered the skies. Haruka needed to find Pandora before Pandora found Hana. She knew Pandora was here she was going to make a deal with the King, Victor Tori. She saw Pandora in front of the castle. She knew she had no choice but to try. And if she didn't Hana would most definitely die. Haruka ran up to her.
"Pandora!" she called out to her.
"Hm… Haruka?" She sounded slightly alarmed,"Why are you here?"
"Hey. I can I ask you something?"
"Yes?"Pandora looked nervous.
"Why are you planing to kill Hana?"
Pandora smiled an evil smile,"Haha…I thought you think that." Wait, Pandora never gave up that easily. There was usually some sort of mind game. Pandora was the strong leader of an assassin's guild called, Pandora's children. This might not be of any importance right now ,but Haruka failed comprehend the fact… The fact that Pandora was in guild and had four guild mates.
"I pose no threat to Hana, Haruka."Pandora tried to hold in her laughter.
Haruka gave her a funny look, but still trusted her long lost friend. She let that fool her. She waved to Pandora before she took her leave. She went back home and began to took Haruka that long to realize that she didn't know the other guild members… And that They might have played a part of Pandora's intentions to kill Hana. I could be anyone in the vast city of Armoroad…Haruka frowned. Why did she have to be so stupid?
This took forever ,but it's WAY better than the first chapter. I typed this while watching the youtuber RafiRaffe and while listening to Seventh Dragon songs. Not to mention Dynasty Warriors' Lubu's theme.
Well… We know Ezra lied, and Pandora has other guild mates… Could there be a connection? Next chapter will be named "Ryuu no Escape" the title mocks Ryuu's actual name. Haha. Kujura is going to be in it, but his being in there will have nothing to do with the story mode of the game. Ryuu no Escape will have two full parts. Mainly about ,you guessed it,Ryuu! Aoimi and Hana are the Protagonist of the story, but Ryuu is still a main character too. The chapters will have information about Meru's reason for exploring and why Ryuu and Hana don't like Kujura that much. By the way, I am not telling you which side I'm going to choose. That is where the massive plot twist takes place. Also the new chapters will add plenty of mystery to Niku's past.