A/N: Harro! ^^ Well, not much to say, just... here's the next chapter, which will be Fish Hunting! Yaaay *shot*
Anyway, yeah, let's start!
Warning and Disclaimer... *shot*
Enjoy~!
Chronicles of the Drowned City
C.19: Fish Madness!
After handing the Amber Bee honey to Missy and completing the request, Rudollf took a look at the only quest they haven't accepted.
It says a fish hunting festival is currently going on and explorers are free to participate, they can come by whenever they want within this month.
Well, it's nearing the end of the month, so why not?
"Oi you two, sure yer ready f'r this?" Both Guad and Ribu nodded.
"Missy! We'll be takin' this quest now, then!"
"Oh, goodie! I'll be able to see how good you've gotten with fighting, then~!"
"Uh... since when has she been the judge of that?" wondered Guad. Ribu merely shrugged.
"Well, here you go! The guard in town will exlpain the rest to you. Good luck!" Rudollf nodded in thanks and urged the others to start walking.
A few hours went by as they searched the town for said-guard, but he was nowhere in sight. Giving up, they decided to just head down to the Labyrinth's 4th floor. Maybe there's another guard there?
As they neared the Forest's entrance, they spotted a peculliar looking guard. No, not peculliar because of his attire, but because of his presence there alone.
Well. Looks like they've found who they're looking for.
Guad walked up to the man. "Um, excuse me!" he said.
The guard turned to him, expression as stern as ever under that mask he wore. "Hm? Are you another contest participant?" The group nodded. Yep, they've found the right person.
"Alright, good. You might want to hear the rules first."
"Alright, out with it. What're th'rules?" asked Rudollf.
"Well, ahem, the rules are: You must stay on the fourth floor until you've attained at least 15 points." The guard then proceeded to explain the points system for this contest. After he's finished, the three stood there, letting it all sink in.
"So... do you want to start now or do you want to go at it later and prepare first?"
"Ya... I think we should prep first." Rudollf then grabbed both of the younger ones' hands,"be back in a minute!" He then dragged them off to the Firm.
After buying some medicine and a few other things (since Cia won't be joining them, that's for sure), they went back, and as expected, the guard is still standing there, his posture and position unchanged.
"We're ready," said Guad. The guard nodded.
"Alright. Head down to the 4th floor. Once you touch down on that floor, the contest will automatically start for you. And if you leave without attaining at least 15 points, you'll be disqualified." The group nodded, then went off into the entrance, starting their trek to the fourth floor.
As they touched down on the fourth floor, another guard, standing right next to the stairs greeted them.
"Ho! You must be the newest contestants?" Rudollf nodded.
"Good. You may spend as much time hunting as you want. In order to win the contest, you must attain at least 15 points."
'Yeah, we know that already...' thought Rudollf, tired of the constant reminders.
"However," the guard began,"in order for you to get to first place, you must attain a minimum of 50 points." The group gaped as the guard finished.
50?! No way...
"Well... uh... we'll try our best, I guess..." mused the Farmer. They then went off into the forest, beggining their hunt for fish.
Though it wasn't just fish that came at them. Steel-shelled crabs, Gigapedes, toads, giant shrimmp, heck, even hard skinned, poisonous giant cobras came at them!
But amongst all those monsters, they haven't seen a single fish yet...
Well, this is going to be a lot tougher than they thought.
"Oh man... where'd all th'fish go all 'f a sudden?" whined the Buccaneer.
It's true though. Ever since this contest started, they haven't seen any fish yet. And they certainly aren't getting any points.
Just then, an idea popped into Guad's head.
"Hey! Why not just head near rivers? We're sure to find lots of fish there!" Rudollf, at this, smacked himself on the face.
"Why didn't I think o'that...? I'm a man o'th'sea! I'm supposed t'know these things!" Both Guad and Ribu merely chuckled.
"Hehe, I guess the competition's really getting into your head!" Guad joked. Rudollf blinked for a moment, before he too chuckled. "Yeah, yeah, I guess yer right on that one!" said the man.
As they continued joking around, about an hour passed by, and then some fish finally decided to show themselves. Nothing too dagerous, just some Fanged Fish.
"Finally you've decided t'show yer face!" exclaimed the Buccaneer, cocking his gun. Guad and Ribu also readied their respective weapons.
The five fish that showed up didn't hesitate to charge at them, teeth barred, ready to bite into their prey's flesh.
A shot rang from Rudollf's gun, killing the fish in one go.
The other two charged at the four remaining fish, Guad smitting it with his hoe, while Ribu stabbed them with her spear.
One by one, the fish fell, sickening cracks and the sound of blades hitting flesh ringing in the air.
The last remaining fish came up behind Guad. Luckily, seeing as how Rudollf is standing behind the two, he readied his gun and shot the fist right at it's back, just as it was about to bite Guad's neck.
At the sound of the gunshot, Guad turned, noticing the now lying corpse of what could've been his death right behind him.
"Be more careful next time, lad. Ya could've died there." Said Rudollf. Guad nodded. "Thanks!" he said.
The group then pressed on, getting attacked by more and more fish, thus attaining more points.
They then came across a small clearing, right in front of a crystal clear river.
Inside though, Guad noticed, is a horde of fish. He kept on looking at it from a distance, wary.
The fishes seem to be too, as they turned to look at the group menacingly, the red ones surfacing first.
Oh god. It's a whole army of them.
Well. This can't be good.
"Oh god, what did I do?!" exclaimed the now slightly distressed Farmer. It's a small clearing, and there looks to be hordes upon hordes of fish right in front of them.
The fish are mostly the red variety. But there are 3 purple, more demonic looking ones in the back of the group, which looks to be the leaders.
Eh...
This could be the death of them.
"Me call animal!" Ribu then proceeded to mimic an animal's sound, calling out a giant bird. Some birds love fish, right?
Guad and Rudollf turned to look at each other. Nodding, the two made a silent agreement.
Go all out!
Running, whilst shouting a battle cry, Guad smitted at the fish, sickening cracks of what sounds like bones and joints breaking upon contact with the hoe ringing in the air.
Shots also rang in the air. Rudollf kept on firing, hitting each fish randomly, but dead on their heads, thus killing them.
The brid Ribu called dove in, looking as if it's hungry.
And oh did she call that bird just in time.
The bird grabbed one of the fish, it's beak piercing into the fish's body, blood running through the bird's mouth just before it swallowed the now dead fish. As it swallowed, it's hunger still not satisfied, the bird dove in again, grabbing, and eating more fish.
Ribu let out her own battle cry, stabbing the fish as they came.
Slowly, as the battle continues, they inch closer to the 3 purple fishes.
Rudollf reloaded his gun, shooting at thefish that managed to sneak behind Guad.
Guad's movements slowed down, fatigue starting to overtake him.
'I don't think I can keep this up much longer...' thought the Farmer, as he bashed another fish to death.
Even the bird Ribu called started slowing down, it's stomach, slowly becoming filled with fish. After a while, it just pecked at the fish, not neseccarily killing it, but it did wound it quite a bit.
Ribu kept on going, stabbing more, and more fish.
Hours went by, and this miniature war of a battle between man and demonic fish continued.
Finally, the last wave of the red fish died, and now their leaders, the purple ones are left.
By now, the group had suffered quite a few minor injuries. Small puncture wounds, cuts and all.
The purple fishes snarrled at them, before diving headfirst into the group. Jumping away and dodging the assault, Rudollf cocked his gun once again, shooting a flurry of bullet's at the fish. It hit two of them.
But wait. Where's the third one?
As the two shot fish crumbled onto the ground, Rudollf looked around, gun ready.
What he didn't know, is that the fish had snuck behind him. Turning, Rudollf realized it all too late. The fish is already just inches from his face, and it's jaw is open, getting closer by the second-
It then stopped, suddenly becoming motionless, a crack resounding in the air. It then dropped dead onto the river's floor, revealing Guad behind it, hoe still in the position as it was when it hit the fish's back.
"H...Hey, who told me to be careful, eh..?" Guad said, fatigue obvoius in his voice even though he tried to hide it. Rudollf smilled, patting the boy on the head.
"Yea, yer right, haha! Sorry there, lass." Guad smiled.
Ribu, on the other hand, staggered towards where the two are currently standing, looking at the scenery.
The once green forest is now painted in red, crimson blood, from both the fish and the group, the pools of blood slowly seeping into the lush, brown soil.
And the once shallow, crystal clear waters of the river is now tainted with blood, so much blood that the rivers now looked more like just another vein in the human body- a river of pure blood and nothing more, corpses of fish strewn about, either on the ground, or within the now blood-red waters, slowly being swept away as nature started taking it's course.
Noticing the distant, yet pained expression Ribu has, Rudollf walked towards the girl, boots splashing against the water.
"You ok there?" That's when he noticed the area Ribu is currently clutching, blood leaking from her hands as it steadily flowed through the space between her fingers, small streams forming droplets of red, mixing in an even bigger red river.
Suddenly, the Wildling felt everything around her go fuzzy, lightheadedness taking over, as she crumbled onto the ground, black suddenly overtaking her. Rudollf caught the girl just in time, grunting as pain suddenly erupted from most of the wounds he got-albeit not as bad as Ribu's.
"Oi, I need some help 'ere," said Rudollf, trying to keep his voice calm. Guad, coming back to reality, nodded, grabbing onto the girl's legs. They both hoisted the wounded Wildling up, leaning her against a nearby tree.
Rudollf ripped the sleeve of his clothes off (the clean part of it), and wrapped it around Ribu's waist, wincing at how bad the wound is as he slowly peeled her hand away.
It was a deep bite wound. Perhaps one of the fishes got to her?
Oh, if only he looked out more...
Noting that this isn't the time to beat himself up, Rudollf, after wrapping up the wound, fished out an Ariadne Thread.
"C'mon," said the man. Guad nodded, grabbing onto the thread as well, warping all three of them back to the Labyrinth's entrance, leaving the grotesque scene behind.
As they got back, both Rudollf and Guad ran towards the inn, despite their own wounds. Missy happened to see this, and was about to call out to them, but then she stopped. The girl is badly injured, and needs to be treated immediately.
As they barged right through the inn's doors, the clerk's attention turned fully to them.
"He-Oh-Oh my, what happened?! I'll go call my sister!" And without another word, the clerk ran towards the clinic, calling his sister's name.
His sister came out of the clinic soon after, gasping at the sight.
The cloth Rudollf used to cover Ribu's wound is now damp with blood, and a bit even seeped out of it, as Ribu's skin turned pale. But she's still breathing.
"C'mon!" the medic urged the others to move, quickly entering the clinic.
As they laid Ribu on the bed, the clerk's sister started treatment immediately. Her brother also treated the other two, bandaging and mending their wounds.
After a long, and excrusiating while of waiting, the medic came out of the room, a relieved expression on her face.
"She'll be ok. I managed to patch up the wound just fine!" A pause. "You... make your base here, in this inn right? So you stay for the night, too?"
"Yeah, why?" asked Rudollf.
"Then I'm handing her over to you. Make sure she doesn't move around, and make sure she eats a lot of greens too. The girl's lost a great deal of blood, but the greens should be able to help her recover some of it." Both boys nodded.
"Also, here," said the medic, handing them a piece of paper and a small tube.
"Inside is some salve for her wound. Apply it twice a day, at morning and at night, ok? And the paper's the list of recipies you need in order to make another one, just in case you run out of the one I gave you." The medic then smiled. "Also, you all should get some rest too. You look beat." Rudollf chuckled a bit, accepting the salve and paper.
"Thanks," said Rudollf.
"No problem~. I'll have someone transport her to your room, ok?" The girl then went back inside the clinic. Soon after she went, Missy came running at them.
"Oh, goodness, are you ok?"
"We're both alright," said Guad. He then paused a bit. "Ribu... not so much, though..."
"Yes, I know... But I overheard everything. I hope she gets better soon..."
"Thanks. So uh... why're ya here?" asked Rudollf.
"O-Oh, I wanted to check up on you three! I was worried..." admitted the bar owner. She then took out a bag, stuffed with what looks to be small bottles.
"Uh... I know this isn't the right time, but... you've apparently won first place in the contest. And, as compensation for what happened to you, here's your reward," said Missy, trying her best to keep the air as light as possible. Rudollf took it, confused. Compensation for their injury?
As he looked inside the bag, he found several medicinal bottles and preserved herbs, as well as 5 Amritas.
"Huh... Oi, Missy?" Said-girl turned to the two.
"Tell 'em I said thanks." Missy happily nodded.
"Sure do!" She then ran out of the inn, headed back towards the bistro.
Great... now they've got two sick people.
Well, at least they got everything they need to take care of Ribu's injury. Hopefully this won't be so bad...
-To Be Continued-
A/N: UH... WOW, OK, THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY OnO
Uh... anyway, yeah... I got absolutely no clue why I did that to Ribu. I was just typing, and then mid way through wrapping things up in this chapter, I just uh... kindda realised what I did O-O Weird...
Anyway, that aside, I FINISHED EO3 MAIN GAME, GUYS! WHOOOHOOOO! XDDD The power-grinding I did was SO well worth it, haha!
Anyway, I guess that's all! See ya!
And now I shall draw the cover art for this fic *about time* *sneaks into dad's laptop*