Return of the Abysswalker
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story Thank you pen and paper for reviewing and I never specified which arm he is using but since his left arm is broken he is using his right arm. I see a knight like Artorias training for a situation in which one of his arms is injured. Healing a broken arm takes time even for someone insanely powerful like him, instantaneously healing it can cause problems with the bone. Dauf says as much when claire goes to save jean. Sorry guys had to clamp down on school cause it was the end of the semester and had to rewatch some claymore episodes so that I could write the dialogue correctly.
Chapter 5: First Impressions
Underneath his armor Smough stared at the woman in disbelief, not wanting to see the woman standing on top of his hammer, smiling despite the current events.
"Wha! You should...urgh?!" Smough was cut off by Teresa's armored knee planting itself on his armored face, she spun backwards and kicked him sending him reeling towards the ground. She landed before he did and charged underneath the fat giant towards Ornstein, who brought his lance up to block her sword. The blow however sent him backwards from her strength. Ornstein then used the backward momentum to launch himself at the his opponent.
third person P.O.V.
Five minutes and relations between the present claymores were already tense. Between Helen's incesant teasing of the new arrival, and said arrivals quick attempt at retribution and Deneve's indifferent attitude, Artorias was almost certainly wishing he had some darkwraith's to slay right now. Clare's sword was drawn in an attempt to attack Helen for her jab at the young boys relationship with newest arrival, whatever it might be. But while Clare was fast, Artorias was much faster easily stopping her sword with his right arm. The sword just stood there unmoving against his armor, Clare staring at it in awe and shock. Helen was staring with wide eyes, switching between the sword and his hooded face. Her hand was also on her sword ready to draw it at a moments notice.
"How in the hell is your armor not in pieces?!" Helen shouted at him. However before he could answer Miria said "Helen and Clare put them away now, Deneve don't even think about it." she quickly added giving the third claymore a stern look. "We can't afford to be at each others throats, not with a yoma only a few leagues from this city." she concluded and with that Clare and Helen put their swords away and Artorias resumed his leaning on the wall. Clare stood by the young boy, un-moving, whereas the lad had been looking at the other warriors with much curiosity. When he laid eyes on Artorias however his eyes seemed glued to him wide with awe.
"I'm sure the rest of us are a little on edge because we had to wait for an entire week for you to get here." Miria said calmly her eyes never wavering from the girl.
"No matter, for now we need to get the mission started, the voracious eater we will be hunting is on Mt. Pablo just south of here we'll head out in the morning, for right now I want everyone to introduce themselves and tell us your rank, it would also be helpful to know if you have had any previous experience in hunting a voracious eater before." Miria declared with the authority of a well seasoned officer.
"I am known as Miria, I will be your commanding officer for the duration of this mission, I hold a ranking of 6th within the Organization and this will be my 7th hunt." she began flawlessly.
The next to speak was the one she had called Helen. "My name is Helen, my ranking is 22 and I have no experience with these creatures." she said in an almost monotone one sitting across from her followed suit.
"My name is Deneve, my ranking is 15 and I have been on two other hunts before." she replied her tone even and unchanging. Artorias expected the new arrival to go next, but from the way the other three were looking at him, they wanted him to go next. Sighing he answered their silent stares.
"I am Artorias, I hold the 12th rank within the organization, I have no previous experience with these voracious eaters." he replied quickly and expertly. "Only 12th?" Miria looked at him with genuine curiosity.
"Another time." he said in reply not wanting to explain himself. Turning to the last one he listened intently, he had been secretly scaling each of their power levels, and while Miria, Helen and Deneve were powerful in their own right, something about Clare felt off. Her power felt like her own and someone else's at the same time. At that point she began to speak.
"My name's Clare, I have never encountered a voracious eater before, I am ranked 47th within the Organization." she said in monotone. "So she's the lowest?" he questioned in his mind. "That's not what her power feels like, it feels like she could be in 14th at the least." he contemplated. His concentration was broken by Helen's laughter.
"Oh my god Deneve! Did you hear what she said, she's only a 47, what were they thinking sending a rookie along!" Helen shouted, a sardonic laugh following soon after. Artorias noted movement from her side, no doubt the boy would defend her but he decided to intervene on his behalf. Putting his right hand on the boys shoulder he stopped him from speaking.
"Enough Helen, her ranking is not an issue at present, right now we have much more pressing concerns." he said giving Helen a small glare from under his cowl. Helen shrank back slightly deflated as well, the young boy looked at him gratefully before returning to Clare's side.
Brief Time Skip
Artorias looked up at the sky as he exited the dingy meeting spot and sighed. That had been far more irritating than he had expected, honestly Helen was like a child, indignant, loud, and clearly did not like being put in her place, Deneve was quiet and reserved so he really couldn't place her in a category, but she evidently did not like weak allies or enemies. Miria was the only one (aside from him) with any common sense, at least in his opinion.
Clare was quick to attack when insulted and, judging from the emotionless look on her face, had been through one or more very traumatizing events in her lifetime. What interested him about her however was how she had taken the boy under her wing. Most claymores would have ditched him at the next town and left, but she hadn't. "Excuse us." A voice from behind him caught his attention. Turning around he found Clare and her young charge standing behind him. "Raki would like to talk to you." Clare said in her same monotone voice.
Looking down at the boy Artorias gave a small smile and said "Of course, I would like to have a word with him as well."
The Next Morning
Rain poured heavily as Artorias and Clare walked to the town entrance. "Well, well what a surprise you kept us waiting again." Helen said sardonically. Miria simply said "Let's move."
Less than an hour on their way to the mountain and Helen was already trying to incite Clare's anger again. "You've been awfully quiet today Clare, what's the matter are you having trouble functioning without your boy to keep you warm?" her remark had the intended effect, Clare moved to make another attack on Helen but was stopped by Artorias again. He had chosen to stay with these three for that specific reason, knowing full well that Helen would not let her 47 rank go un-insulted.
"Don't bother, you'd only encourage her, then again I' m sure you'd encourage her even by ignoring her, but you'd be wasting your energy at small remarks." Artorias said holding her arm from her sword. "And Helen, you would better spend your energy preparing for the oncoming battle not rousting your allies with flippant remarks." he finished and with that continued on.
Miria gave him a look that said "We need to have a talk and I won't let you squirm out of this one." as he walked by. Artorias let out another sigh as he walked past. He didn't know how much time had passed before they came to a cave.
"We'll set up our camp here for tonight." Miria said as she stuck her claymore in the ground, we should be well within range of our target by tomorrow." she finished. At that the others began removing their armor, Helen stretched and said "Anyone else dying for some dinner I guess I'll go try to find something to eat." she said "It's amazing" Deneve replied "I don't think I know anyone who eats as much as you do." "Hey when you have as much yoki as I do you gotta keep eating" she said "Want anything?" she asked her fellow. "No I'm not hungry" was the reply "I'm going to rest for a while." Deneve finished. "Well suit yourself then." Helen said walking away.
Artorias was leaning near the entrance when he saw Miria pick up her sword and Clare's, tossing the latter towards its owner. "I want to see you outside, it'll only take a minute." she said monotonously before turning and exiting the cave, Clare soon followed. The rain only seemed to intensify after they exited, blocking out their words to him. Soon enough though the two began to attack each other furiously, parrying, attacking and trading blows with a fair amount of speed.
To the untrained (probably even a well trained one) eye, Miria was clearly the better swordswoman, her technique exquisite, graceful, refined, whereas Clare's style seemed sloppy, unrefined, and undisciplined. However to his enhanced senses he could tell what she was trying to do. What her physical skills lacked she made up for with excellent sensory capabilities.
Deneve had joined him at the edge of the cave watching the spar with little interest. Helen soon returned with a large gathering of apples. "They're really going at it aren't they?" she said with mirth as she dug into her apple with uninhibited gusto. After only a few seconds of watching she soon made another sardonic comment. "Wow she's really amazing isn't she." Deneve answered with practiced sarcasm.
"Your right I can't believe how amazing she is, how amazingly bad." Ignoring their remarks Artorias refocused on the match, which soon ended in Miria's favor as she sent Clare's claymore flying. After speaking to her she returned to the cave. Disappointment was etched into Miria's eyes as she walked past them.
"So what are we going to do now Miria? It looks like she's not going to be of much help to us tomorrow, in fact it would take a miracle for her to survive the first encounter." Helen prompted her once again in preventing Clare from continuing.
"It's glaringly obvious we're going too be doing all of the fighting tomorrow you now that right? Do you really want take a chance on such an important mission?" Deneve chimed in.
"I thought I made myself clear on this subject, our superiors made the call and we are going to follow orders." Miria said with finality.
"Talk about excess baggage, what a pain in the ass." Helen said with indignation. A splash brought their attention back to Clare. She had collapsed into the water soaked ground face first. "Oh well I've seen enough even if she were to die of exposure to night it wouldn't make a difference to the job." she said as she and Deneve walked away.
Artorias stood there right hand clenched in anger, which soon lashed out at the wall. The crash reverberated through the cave startling the others and leaving a spiderweb of cracks in the rock. "Whats his problem?" Helen asked as he walked out the cave entrance towards Clare. Picking up her sword he placed it on his back before picking up the unconscious warrior and walking back to the cave.