Me: STORY FINALLY UPDATED!
Mario: So how's the fight.
Me: Interesting, I know you'll love it.
Mario: :D
Raven: That still doesn't answer my question.
Me: ?
Raven: Who's the girl Fire?
Aisha: *gleaming dark eyes*
Me: *sigh* I'll try to make her just a friend. I PROMISE!
Aisha: :D!
Eve: Chapter 6, start.
Chapter 6: Mysterious Girl
Mario's POV
If only the Benny Hill theme played at this moment. Banthus and I traded slash after slash during this whole ordeal, and this little sword (in comparison to Banthus' huge freaking one) is starting to wear out from the power struggles, fencing, and unorthodox swordplay I placed it in. I cut through his chest and left a mark, he responded by grazing my left shoulder, forcing it to bleed out. Damn, this sword's too heavy for one hand...
I tossed the sword aside and raised my fists up, shaking them from the weight of the weapon. Now this is much better! Compared to my speed now Banthus is just a snail. I'm not Sonic fast, but more than enough to dodge literally every attack and retaliate with punches and kicks. A jumping right hook at his face, a low leg sweep to knock him off balance, and another "SONIC BOOM!" right at his lumbering body. I side stepped past him towards the back and swept the girl off her feet...
...At least that's what I thought.
*SMACK*
I lay on the ground trying to soften the pain on my cheek. The girl slapped me as I tried to pick her up (she's quite light for her age) and loomed over me with a pissed off expression. I gulped.
"How dare you try and lift me human!" Her voice echoed throughout the cave. Meanwhile Banthus stood there confused.
"I was trying to save you idiot!" I reasoned with her grudgingly. "Who knows what that brute could do-"
"I." She brought me up back on my feet. "Can handle myself!" Banthus seized the opportunity and charged right at us.
"Dammit. Watch out!" I prepared another Sonic Boom until she pointed her open palm at him trying to jump slash us.
"ICICLE SPEAR!" I felt as if time slowed down as the girl commanded her attack, like a special move. About a hundred icicles shot out of her hand and pelted the bandit, drilling him with holes all over which he bled from. Banthus dropped his sword and with a chattering grunt plummeted to the ground with a large thud, blood surrounding his body.
I shuddered at this. I'll never argue with women again... The girl stared at me. "What?"
"Since when did-" "you just-" I tried my best to form my words together but this is just...amazing.
"I have always been able to do this." She inspected her hand then glanced right back at me. "Ever since I first came to this world through my mother's womb. This blue substance, what you humans call 'Ice', is such a power that I wield daily." Her eyes lowered for a bit. "Mother always yelled at me not to play with it in the house until we got separated."
"How did you two get separated?" Suddenly her eyes shot up as if she just noticed I was here.
Her brief moment of interest dulled out into a blank expression. "You do not need to know that right now." She pointed at...something. I had to move my head out of the way so she didn't accidentally poke me and flare up again. "We need to release the three travelers from their cages." I stared at her with a quizzical look and turned around.
...So now we know what happened. Elsword, Aisha, and Rena are all inside the same cage atop some platforms. The two of us did some platforming and reached the cage, me finding with a tug that it's made out of something hard (steel maybe?).
"If only I had my staff with me here..." Aisha complained after we couldn't tug away the bars.
"YOU! What about my sword!" Elsword sneered at her.
"Look my bow's gone too you two." ...Oh no. I covered the ice girl's eyes for what's about to come. "STOP COMPLAINING!" That demonic face of hers...I will never forget it.
I put my hand down from the girl's eyes and contemplated on how to get them out. Unfortunately for me, the girl didn't wait and I felt the air around me feel colder for some reason.
"ICE SCREAM!" What? Did the girl want some ice cream? I turned around to tell her there's no ice cream. A huge ice ball on a solid cone greeted me as the girl effortlessly wielded the cone and swung across the cage's bars.
"WHAT THE-" Was all I said before quickly jumping away at the last second.
*CRASH*
The force was enough to split the bars evenly in half in such a radius that the trio had to scoot all the way to the back to avoid getting metal splinters. The broken pieces all littered to the cave floor below us clanging in sync like rain drops. The three Elgang members walked out of the cage then we all took a step back from the girl.
"What?" The girl tilted her head in confusion (I wonder how many times we have to do this routine).
I took up some courage and walked up to her. "Can you just...warn us next time you commit something so reckless?"
The girl smiled for the first time and nodded. "Understood...master."
I blushed at that. "WAIT WH-"
*SMACK*
Right back to her old self...with another slap to the face. "Don't misinterpret me. If I can catch you off guard, then I most certainly can with this goofball." She pointed right back at Banthus.
"So what the hell do we do with him?" Elsword, who along with the other Elgang jumped down to search for their weapons, asked.
"I have no idea." I answered him, thankfully after they all retrieved their weapons from the unnamed bandit. The girl and I jumped down to meet them and we all circled the still downed but breathing Banthus.
"I will handle this." She pointed her open palm at him and...oh no. "ICICLE SPE-"
"NO!" I had to grab hold of her arm and raise it to avoid her giving Banthus another Hail of ice, too bad she already initiated the attack and hit the ceiling. The icicles caused it to rumble a bit and-
Wait is the ceiling getting closer? It only took us about 5 seconds to know we had to get the hell out of here, and the exit just happens to be on the other side (perfect, just freaking perfect).
"Hold on to me guys!" Aisha chimed in. "I can probably teleport us outta here!"
"Are you sure that's even going to work!?" Rena questioned her logic.
"I'd rather just sprint out." Elsword put his two cents in.
"Ok Ok!" Of course I gotta play Straight Man here. "Let's just go with Aisha's idea and see how it takes us. Agreed?" I learned long ago to never doubt video game logic. Everyone nodded.
"Good, now just hold on tight." The four of us held onto her shoulders and closed our eyes. Aisha gathered some mana and yelled straight towards the air, "TELEPORT!"
Suddenly I felt as if I sprinted through a long distance in a short time without actually going anywhere. The air feels crispier and more natural now than before. So did we make it? I opened my eyes and glanced skyward to witness the night sky of Ruben Forest (that's what I'm calling it ok). I sighed a breath of relief. Looks like we did make it after all. Aisha seemed exhausted after transporting all of us out of that cave. That reminds me, is the cave still there? I glanced towards the Tree of El, standing tall and proud.
The base, however, left no hole to be found. Only stone rubble of the ceiling closed it off now, I can only imagine what happened for those two stuck in there as they got crushed.
"Why are you caring a storage device designated for traveling Mario?" The girl pointed behind me.
Oh right...the potions. I set the backpack down and felt a sting, instantly grabbing it. Damn the cut. So it laid low until acting up now. I flipped open the pouch containing the five hp potions and passed them around. "I got this before we left. Some of our classmates got this for us, um..."
"Call me whatever you like. Mother never gave me a consistent name to call with, its always one today and the next tomorrow." Again the girl seemed upset about her mom. We all drank the potions (the girl did because it tastes good for some reason) and all felt refreshed. Only then did I get back to her statement.
"Let's see..." I thought up a name for her. How about- no that that. Maybe...no she'd slap me whenever I talk to her. She might like- wait I regret it. What about something that fits her personality? A cold robotic person who can get angry at times? So I'm dealing with a total tsundere here. Oh god this one's generic, but I gotta try anyway.
"How about Crystal?" I came up with a name. "Y'know, since you appear cold to strangers but only friends can find the beauty within you." Man I'm so getting slapped.
"Crystal..." She thought. "It sounds...natural. Mother never came up with a name quite like that. I like it." Crystal decided.
"Sure...Crystal." I nervously answered back. This is going to take a while to get used to. "We need to get back to Ruben, it's under attack by bandits and-"
"WHAT!" Elsword exploded. "Why didn't you say so idiot?! Come on we have to get there fast!" The five of us rushed through the forest hoping the students fended off the bandits successfully. If not, we're always backup (not to mention the backlash I'll get for running away).
Well that's certainly a close call. Remember the 15 students I explained earlier along with the 20 bandits that were left standing? Yeah all of them managed to fend off the bandits while we were gone and noticed us. Most looked at me funny, an angry kind of funny, while some seemed surprised (and for the boys, blushing) about the arrival of the Elsword trio. The two who I conversed with earlier came up to me with wide eyes.
"So you actually managed to save her?" The two asked in sync.
I scratched the back of my head. "Well I only found out where she went, we all came back in one piece."
"Psh, yeah. This chick here," Elsword pointed at Crystal, "is the one that defeated that joke Banthus."
Aisha gleamed. "Oh ho ho! You mean the same joke who got you on a surprise attack?"
Elsword got furious. "Hey shut up! How am I supposed to know that other guy wouldn't come and-"
"Enough Elsword." Someone with a familiar voice called out from inside the Dojang. Lowe stepped out with that grin of his and paced towards us. He took one glance at the two girls behind Elsword and chuckled. "So it seems you gained two girls to fall in love with you Elboy?" He teased.
Elsword got angry and blushed. "Yeah well screw you too Captain." Everyone including the students laughed at this, even more if you count the fact that Aisha also blushed.
Lowe calmed down. "So, what happened to that Banthus character?"
I answered that question. "Well his hideout in the base of the El Tree? It collapsed."
Everyone had shocked expressions on their faces. "What!?" Lowe, who seemed the least shocked about the news, said. "What about the Tree?"
"Don't worry," I reassured, "The Tree is still up and growing Lowe. Only the hideout has piles of rubble on top of it. But...Banthus was still inside when it collapsed."
"Well," Lowe raised an eyebrow, "At least he doesn't have to bother anyone now."
"Yeah, damn bandit." Elsword cussed.
"Say..." One of the students asked Lowe. "Captain. Why did you leave earlier with those other two?"
Lowe darted his eyes for a second and glanced right back at the boy. "Oh you don't need to worry. We only filed a report that Elsword was missing. I almost submitted it until I heard all the ruckus outside. So has my lessons taught you about attacking these bandits?" They all glanced at the downed bodies.
"Sure did Captain!" Another one answered, this time a girl. "We all handled them right away...even though we didn't use the proper techniques. This boy here left in the middle of it to rescue that girl over there." Oh no...she pointed to me and Crystal.
"So you did Mario? Why did you do it then?"
"Well Lowe-" He smacked me in the head.
"Stop calling me that and say Captain."
"Well Captain..." I rubbed my aching head. "I couldn't just let them take her. I mean she is one of us here in the Red Knights-"
"Wait what the hell?" Elsword interrupted. "When did you join the Red Knights?"
"Since I needed to find a way back home." I digressed from the topic thanks to the red headed idiot and got back to my point, turning back to Lowe. "Plus she's a girl going into a hideout of male bandits so who knows what might have happ-"
*SMACK*
I'm getting sick of this slap routine with Crystal now. "THE POINT IS!" I yelled this time. "She's a friend and friends don't leave each other."
"Ok I accept your response, Page Mario." He nodded (for a second there I thought he said paper). "With all this happening, class is canceled for a week for repairs."
Everyone agreed and we all headed back inside the camp. This grand table with about 100 or so chairs greeted us in this freakishly long dining hall. You can hear all the chatter as we all sat and ate our food. But that's not important right now. I stood up from my chair and headed outside claiming to be full from my dinner as everyone else is still devouring theirs.
Lowe rested on a nearby chair in front of the camp. He noticed me and beckoned me over. "Sorry about the no class for a week. Guess now you can't really train now Mario?"
I sighed. "No Lowe not really. However I experienced something strange."
He raised an eyebrow. "How so?"
"Well you could say I can manipulate some sort of magical power in this world, perhaps the El, and summon some skills to aid me in battle." I placed my arms in an X-crossed position to demonstrate a Sonic Boom to him.
"SONIC BOOM!" I quickly moved my arms away from each other to form a faintly visible slice of air decapitating a poor wooden dummy in it's way.
"I see. I think you need to get to the next village now instead of a week." Lowe advised. "It's always best to start training sooner rather than later."
"Alright Lowe." I said, thinking in my head the name of the next town. "What that be Elder Village?"
"Yes. The town isn't very far from here, maybe half a day's journey at most. Tomorrow you can head over there to discover a way back to your own place."
"Thanks, but I'm not traveling alone." I blurted out, hoping it to be the truth later.
"Why not?"
"Well that quiet brown haired girl in the ponytail? She wants me to call her Crystal and may need something in her past corrected." I reasoned. "I think its best if she also came with me to find some answers."
"Ok then. But what about Elsword and those two other girls?"
"I don't know. If I'm lucky, the five of us can travel together."
"Yes I remember when I used to travel with others." He closed his eyes and chuckled. "Penensio and I always argued with each other about who loved Noah more. Right now Pen's in Hamel and Noah's in Velder. If you ever travel to those places, give them a shout out for me."
"Sure I guess Lowe." I yawned, walking back indoors trying to find a bed. Thankfully Crystal, who seems more acquainted with this place way more than I am, offered to lead me to a bedroom (again with the robotic tone of hers). She lead me to one on the second floor: a room with a bed, a table with an unlit candle on top, a closet, some windows, and a chair. I thanked her and plopped right onto the soft bed.
Good news is I found some a way back home with that demon's proposal earlier morning. Bad news is this is gonna be a long journey to get back to... I yawned, cowering underneath the blankets. Well this might not be so bad. I'll just ask the others if they want to go along with me back home. I'm certain Crystal will say yes, but the original trio I'm cautious about. I mean, it's gonna be freaking awesome to go venturing with the Elgang, but at the same time I highly doubt they would accept.
Oh well, the Journey is the Destination right? I didn't even bother to light the candle while I lay there on the bed. I closed my eyes and slept through the night.
Raven: Ah, so her name's Crystal now Fire?
Me: ...I get it haha. Fire and Ice. ZIP IT!
Mario: ...I'm the one who's gonna be with her.
Crystal: Hello you homo sapiens. Mario's my betch now.
Mario: Wait...WHAT.
Me: Mhm, Crystal's gonna be an OC now folks! (Oh god now I have to update my profile with her.)
Mario: Oh no D:!
Crystal: Oh yes!
Eve: *high fives* We need more of your kind with us Crystal.
Me: Yep here's Chapter 6. Long wait huh xD. Leave a review for any comments so I can help improve my writing, this story, and my other stories (current or future).