Chapter 2

I tumble thru the door of the El Troop drill hall as I pant for breathe.

"14 minutes and 58 seconds rookie. Looks like you evaded latrine detail for the month" I heard Lowe comment, walking in from behind me.

"Well, I aim to please sir" as I stood up and saluted groggily.

"Riiiiiiight" responded Lowe in a long drawn out reply, as accepted his salute. "Well you may have evaded a month's worth of shit, you still have today's shit to deal with" as he pointed to a portly troop member in formation who kept passing gas. "Excuse me" he said as he was struggling to stand at attention.

I looked at the poor troop members struggling to hold their breath, then back a Lowe who had a smile on his face, then back at the formation whom a few had fainted from the stench, then back to Lowe who had a devilish grin plastered on his face.

"Awww come on man!" I protested.

"Don't you mean SIR, rookie?" Lowe scolded. "I need this rancid stench removed from the latrines before Hagus comes by for his weekly inspection. Now get moving, not another word!" he ordered as he turned to face the formation. "Ok, now that one problem is dealt with lets deal with the real issue at present."

I walk off over to the utility closet as I grab the air freshener and cleaning supplies as I head to the latrines. "I wonder what the big mission is today? Raiding Ann's shop for candy and snacks?" I mutter to myself. Before I leave the drill hall I overhear Lowe.

"What?! When was this?!" Lowe demanded from a squad leader. "W-well one of my men reported this to me 2 days ago at 0900 hours." Responded the squad leader. "We saw a suspicious character roaming around the perimeter of the Tree of El-"

"And no one saw fit to tell me about it!?" yelled Lowe.

"Well he wasn't doing anything so we didn't think it was such a big deal… also we did see the same guy repeatedly during the past couple of days but that can't possibly mean anything" smiled the squad leader with a bead of sweat rolling down his face.

"So not only did you notice suspicious activity from 2 days ago, you also concluded that it was the same perp that not once, not twice… BUT MULTIPLE TIMES, REVISITED THE SAME LOCATION!? AND YET IM JUST KNOWING ABOUT THIS NOW?!"

"RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE" went the ground beneath me as it silenced everyone in the room, not to mention the town itself. After about 30 seconds, the shaking has stopped . "W-wat the hell was that Lowe?!" I shouted, dropping the mop and running over.

"How the hell should I know rookie?!" yelled Lowe. "You there, take those four and go scour the town to check for any damages. You two get up and go inform Hagus of this at once." Lowe barked amongst the confusion. "What should I do Lowe?" I asked. "Just stay here and make sure the latrines are clean for when Hagus arrives! Besides, a rookie like you would just get in the way!"Shouted Lowe. "What?!" I yelled back, baffled that he even had the nerve to spout that nonsense again.

"Sir theres a dark cloud over the tree of el!" one troop member alerted Lowe. "Grrrrr damn it! I bet it was that bastard you pin heads let wander around there! Come on you bastards, let's go! To the tree of el!" shouted Lowe as he and five others stormed out and headed towards the village exit to the suburbs. I stood there for a few minutes after they left the drill hall, looking at the mop, then my sword, then smirked. "Screw the latrines Lowe, Im an El explorer too and I'll be damned if I don't check this out too!" I said as I grabbed my sword too and headed out towards the village exit as well.

?'s POV:

"W-whoa what the heck was that? An earthquake?" I wondered as the ground shook beneath me. "And here I thought this was supposed to be a quiet village.." I said as I looked around for an inkling as to what cause the earthquake since it wasn't native in this part of elrios. I was about to forget it and head on into the village but then I notice what seem to be soilders running towards the forest I just came out of.

" Wait for us captain!" one of them yelled. "Just hurry the hell up slow poke, who knows what that stranger you left alone is doing to the El shard as we speak!

"El shard? Something happened to the el shard in this region?" I said to myself. "So that's why grandfather told me to head to Ruben village. Maybe the El shard can reverse the effects of that stupid ring and I can finally end this stupid quest. " I said to myself as I hopped on my staff and started flying towards the tree of el, only to fall forward on the ground. " Ow ow ow ow owch" I said as I panted. "I must be low on mana" I thought to myself as I picked myself up and dusted myself off my purple dress as pulled up and tightened my stockings, which had slid down after the fall. They're such a nice comfortable brand too. I'm glad grand father taught me how to enchant my clothing so it could last longer. "Well I better get going." I think to myself as I run off into the woods after them.

Elsword's POV:

I run thru the wood towards the direction of the tree of el trying to find Lowe and the others but they're nowhere to be seen. "pant, pant. They must be really far ahead" I say as I climb up some old ruins in the forest. Once I get over the wall I over hear some people talking.

"Man those guards were dumb" said the man, a scruffy looking individual. "I know right? " laughed the other man, shorter but buffer than the first man, just as scruffy. "Hmm, must be bandits…" I thought to myself as a watched them from my postion. "Hehe, who would've thought that it would be this easy to swipe the el shard from that tree." As he held the shard in his hand. "I know right? Even after they saw us days multiple times they did nothing about it, not even any security at the shard either" the shorter bandit bellowed. "And they call me a rookie…" I thought to myself as I chucked a rock at the bandits that hit the shorter one in his head.

"Yarrrh! What the hell was that!?" yelled the short bandit while holding his forehead. I took my chance and jumped down from my position and kicked the surprised taller bandit, kicking him away from the shorter one and breaking my fall at the same time. "Aargh, who the hell is this !? " the taller bandit said while on his back. "The name's Elsword, part of the El Explorers. And If you bastards don't hand that El shard over now you'll be some extra poor bastards when I'm thru with ya!" as I hold my hand out motioning for them to hand it over. " Hey we're not bastards, our fathers still love us" cried the taller bandit. "And besides we don't take no orders from no stinking kids!" as the short one pulled out his short sword. "Fine, have it your way." As a twirl my great sword one handed and rest it on my back. "Its more fun this way!" as I wink at them. "DAMN YOU, YOU BRAT!" yelled the short bandit as he charged towards me.

?'s POV:

I tried my best to keep up with the soldiers but I managed to lose them in the forest. "damn it, pant-pant" as I held my chest as I caught my breath. "I wonder where they could be …" I thought to myself. "DAMN YOU, YOU BRAT!" I jumped at the sound of that yell. "Who could that be?" I thought as I headed in the direction of that yell. I reached a wall that was climbable and began climbing it. "Gasp" I let out as I was amazed at the sight I saw. I saw two bandits attacking a kid, who looked like he was my age, with red hair. It was rather impressive, watching him hold his own, or actually, more than that. It was as if he was playing with the bandits. The short bandit charged at the boy, but the boy just dodge rolled right past him, stunning the bandit in the process. "What the?!" yelled the bandit as he turned around to the red-haired boy was on the offensive. "Hup! Hap! Yup! Haah!" Yelled the boy as he connected on the bandit a 4-hit combo with his sword (Elsword's zzzz combo). "Daaaargh!" yelled the short bandit as he fell over' flinging the his sword along with a glowing rock behind him, further into the forest.

"Yaaaaaaah!" yelled the taller bandit as he rushed towards the red-haired boy with his short sword overhead. But instead of dodging the attack completely the boy hid behind his sword and deflected the strike; spinning around the bandits initial strike and countering himself. "yaah!" yelled the red-haired boy as his counter attack launched the bandit head over heels into the air as I heard the boy yell "Its Over!" as he dashed forward and jumped to meet the bandits flying body and swung 2 over head strikes, both hitting the bandit , the 2nd one causing him to crash to the ground as the red-haired boy landed , rather coolly I might add, holding his sword and staring down his prey. "Aww damn it that hurts!" I heard the short one say and he hobbled over to his partner, helping up the dazed bandit. "That's it! You're on our shit list! You're gonna rule the day you messed with the Banthus mercenaries. But right now we don't have time to deal with you!" as the tall bandit pulled out a pouch. "Look out!" I cried unconsciously as I saw the red haired boy say "huh?!" as he looked around for my voice, just as the pouch dropped at his feet releasing a smoke bomb, clouding the area. All I could hear was the sound of us coughing as I could barely make out the two bandits escaping in the direction of the el shard they threw away. "Damn it, you wont get away!" yelled the red haired boy as he darted off in the direction they ran off. " I'd better hurry too" I thought to myself as I followed after the boy." He might need my –" "ROOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAARRRRR !" I was paralyzed by a blood curdling roar unbeknownst to anything I've ever heard. "What on earth was that?" I thought worriedly as I tailed the red haired boy to something I'd rather not have met.

End of Chapter 2

I hope you guys enjoy it ^_^

Digi~