Rebellion the Twelfth: Playing Hero
"When you said that you'd take me to the nicest restaurant in town, this isn't quite what I had in mind," May said as she glanced around the restaurant floor of The Journey Man's Reprieve Inn. The place was exactly the same as when she'd visited it in times past, only now there was a giant snake head on display above the main fireplace and it seemed more crowded and noisier than usual. "Don't get me wrong, I like this place and have eaten here before, but I was expecting somewhere a little more… exotic. Our head chef at the governor's manor was an exemplary student at the capital's Chef's Academy, so I've had my share of high-end food."
"I'm sure… but the food they serve here is better," Yu stated, not as a slight but as pure fact. "Besides, the chef you're talking about wouldn't be available tonight anyways."
"How could you possibly know-?"
"IDIOT!" came Ragna's shouting from inside the kitchens. "The way you're putting spices on is completely wasteful and the dish is going to lose half of the flavor before you finish cooking it! I told you, save them for partway through and apply them where I told you to!"
"…I might've overheard him asking my team leader for a couple of pointers," the persona wielder noted with a smile. "Trust me when I say that Ragna's cooking is probably going to be some of the best you've ever had. I recommend his stew; it looks basic but it's one of his best dishes… that he's shown us."
"If he's half as good as you're making him out to be, that would explain the giant surge of crowds here," she said analytically as she glanced around. "And he keeps the prices the same?"
"Right, Ragna doesn't want anyone to be robbed of a chance for a meal because they're penniless. He even managed to make a couple of decent meals from just food scraps and handed them out to those that couldn't afford to pay. No exaggeration, he's a master in the kitchen," Yu summarized. "Of course, there's another reason that this place is even more packed than usual."
"I've noticed." Her gaze was now at Ruby who was standing on one of the smaller tables in front of the fire and massive snake head, regaling the children (and some of the adults) of stories of how they slayed the beast. She seemed to be hyping Ragna up a lot in particular, but considering he was their leader at it made some sense. "So that's three of your group, what about the fourth? Hyde, was it?"
"…Present," she heard a rather reluctant voice sigh from a table over. The boy with blonde highlights had become a bus boy as evident with his apron and hair cloth and it didn't seem like he was the slightest bit happy with the situation as he cleared the tables away for waiting customers.
"Did Ragna force you to help out?" Yu guessed.
"…Something like that."
Earlier
'Okay, this is probably going to be the best and only chance I'm going to get for a date. Yu managed to get one, so it's only fair that I ask Liza out. Besides, with everything she's done to help us out it's only right that I show her a good time. Right. This is more for her than it is for me.' With his self-convincing done, Hyde headed downstairs to the main dining area. There weren't any customers currently and Liza was busy cleaning tables for the upcoming dinner shift. "Heya. Do you have a second?"
"For one of loyal celebrities that's helped give our inn the most business it's had in years? Maybe I can do better and give you a few minutes." Hyde was a little relieved that she was already so flirty, made his part a little easier. "What did you need?"
"Just wanted a chance to talk; most of that to say thanks for all that you've done for us since we've gotten here," Hyde told her earnestly. "It's really obvious how much you care about this place, and it shows."
"Aw, that's so nice of you to say," Liza told him, smiling brightly at the compliment. "It's great to be acknowledged, especially when things have been keeping me so busy lately. But it's a good kind of busy; I'm not complaining or anything."
"I don't even think you're capable of complaining when it comes to the inn," he told her honestly. "But you can't run yourself ragged working, even when it comes to something as important as this. Be sure to take the time to do something for you."
"Something for me?" she repeated with a tilt of her head. Hyde could practically see the gears turning in her head.
"I can help you with that. Maybe together, you and I can-"
"Oh! That's perfect! I have just the thing and it's been in my closet for the longest time! Wait here!" With that, Liza rushed up the stairs to her room. She passed by a fairly stern looking Ragna who raised an eyebrow as she rushed past before going to his teammate for answers.
"Mind telling me what the hell that was?" he demanded.
"Not much, I just scored a date." Hyde was fighting so damn hard not to look proud with himself. He expected Ragna to look, well not angry but at least annoyed after the discussion he'd had once Yu had revealed his own dating plans. Right now though, he looked doubtful. "You don't believe me?"
"Not in this instance." Too bad bluntness wasn't a skill, the Reaper would have probably maxed it out by now. "She was running up to get ready for a date? When the dinner rush is about to begin and she'll be needed the most?"
"We're… probably not leaving just yet," Hyde tried to reason. "She said something about her closet, so she's probably just showing me the dress she wants to wear later. Yeah, that's-"
"I found them!" came Liza's excited call from upstairs. The boys didn't have to wait long as she quickly returned downstairs to reveal 'them" was referring to…
"An apron and a hair scarf," Hyde realized, a pit starting to form in his stomach.
"It's so nice of you to offer to help! This will really help to take the load off while I wait tables!" she said as she thrust the items into Hyde's arms. "Oh! I need to go and let my parents know, they'll be just as happy to hear we're getting an extra person tonight!"
"Liza! Wait! I-!" Hyde tried to say, but it wasn't enough as Liza had already headed into the back of the inn. Feeling Ragna's hand on his shoulder, he looked up at the man and was now face to face with the most shit eating smile he'd ever scene.
"Thanks for stepping up."
It was then Hyde realized that he might actually hate his leader.
Back to the Present
'At least it hasn't been all bad. I've at least managed to get my Sex Appeal skill up by being charming with all of the customers. With a little more work, I might actually be able to get a better chance if I ask her again later.' Hyde thought before glancing to the rest of his group. Yu on his own date, Ruby regaling listeners with tales of their adventure thus far, and Ragna… while Hyde couldn't see him, he still knew that Ragna was giving the best chef in town a lecture filled lesson in cooking. Opposed to them, his own role bussing tables felt… insignificant. 'Next chance I get, I need to do whatever I can to make sure I stand out. I can't let the rest of these guys outdo me.'
"Hyde! You mind clearing those three tables over there?" Liza called to him. "People are still trying to get in and it'll be a whole crowd waiting before long."
"On it," he told her as he started lugging the tub of dishes around that was becoming dangerously full of plates and beer mugs. 'I know firsthand that Ragna's cooking's good, but how is it bringing in people like this? Was it the reputation that he managed to get by healing people with it?'
"Excuse me?" The guy talking to Hyde was wearing am official uniform that was familiar to the one May had been wearing the day prior. He had slim glasses and looked rather professional, but he had an air of grimness around him. "I'm looking for your leader; I'm afraid it's urgent."
"In the back, go ahead and hurry. I think your chef's getting an earful so you might as well bail them while you're at it." Hyde small attempt at humor did nothing to ease the man's mood as they rushed into the back. Quickly finishing with the set of tables, Ragna soon emerged from the kitchen without his apron with his own dark look on his face. "Liza, I think I'm going to need to step out for the night."
"Your leader's scowl makes that pretty apparent. Thanks for your help though, and make sure you make it back safe."
"I will; that's a promise."
"Yu, date's over. Ruby, off the table; people eat there. Hyde…" Ragna actually paused as he looked over the tables. "…Good work, now get your ass in gear. We got work to do."
'He's being nicer to me at least,' the blond thought as he was finally able to take his apron off while Yu said his quick goodbyes and apologized to May (they hadn't even ordered yet), Ruby leaped off the table and spouted something about being victorious, and Ragna's grim expression hadn't faded. 'People's lives are probably on the line here. Proving myself by saving them is probably the most effective path, but I can't let myself get caught up in pride seeking if it ends up getting them killed.'
The Front Gates
"We had a Dwarven civilian stumble to the front gates; badly injured and also poisoned by what we can safely assume was spider venom. He was apparently riding in on a pony before it gave into the poison itself. We couldn't get much from the Dwarf before he tragically succumbed to his wounds, but I think it's clear that the mountain town of Brinkstone has been attacked."
"Was it well fortified?" Rojo asked as he and his daughter had been summoned to this meeting as well.
"I've never been inside the city personally, but I have seen the giant walls that had protected it. And they're a prideful people; they wouldn't be asking for help unless those walls had been truly breached and the town itself was at threat. What doesn't make sense is why they would attack the city when there's plenty of easier prey left in our woods."
"Someone could be controlling them; in fact, it could be that they're the ones that brought the spiders here in the first place," Ragna suspected. "Either way, it's not worth questioning until we see it for ourselves. What is it that you want us to do?"
"The dwarves have been gracious allies and traders for our town, so anyone wiping them off the map would be a horrid loss. We can't afford to let that happen and that's only from a strictly business perspective. Our governor has ordered that we save as many as we can, which is why he's reaching out to both of your teams and offering an elite troop of his guard in order to aid your efforts. Past that, any planning is yours to make and follow through on. Our governor also hopes that you understand that time is of the essence and payment will be negotiated after the job is finished."
"Of course," Rojo readily agreed before turning to Ragna. "We should head out as soon as we're ready."
"No. My team will leave, but I need you to stick around and guard this town," the Reaper refuted.
"You can't be serious," Azula grumbled at the idea of being left out of this important fight.
"For all we know if someone has taken control of these things, the attack on the Dwarves could have also been a distraction to leave this city defenseless for an even larger force of spiders. We can't risk that and aside from me, you're the strongest fighter here."
"…No offense intended for the rest of you, I'm sure," Rojo said half apologetically to the standing elite guards. "But you're sure you want to head into that unknowable hellhole with a team that doesn't seem that strong themselves?"
"Hey! This is far from my first trial by fire!" Ruby protested. "Ragna himself could probably wreck an army all on his own! And he'll have all of us backing him up!"
'She's been singing his praises a lot since she watched his match in town,' Hyde noted. "They're both right. It's a bad situation and if anyone's going to survive this then we're going to need to move both smart and fast. And that means that we're going to have to take some risks too."
"Not only that, but if the four of us are going to have anything to go off of for identifying who's behind this, then it's important that we move before they have any chance of cleaning up their crime scene," Yu added, using his experience as an investigator and a few of the tips he'd learn from Naoto Shirogane back home. "Time is of the essence, so do you have any horses that we can barrow?"
"None that have been bred for fast travel I'm afraid," the guard leader said with a shake of their head. "The only other kind at our disposal have been bred for combat and we'll need those for our own town defense."
"Then that means we're running and killing any of those damn spiders that we come across," Ragna ordered. It didn't seem like either Rojo or the commanding officer liked the idea of staying back, but Ragna's words were stern enough to make them clear as the last word. The two nodded before their groups headed off to prepare the town for its defense. With that done, Ragna turned to his own group and gestured for them to follow him. "I'm going to push the hell out of all of you tonight. We don't know what's waiting for us on the other side and every second that we waste could be another second that someone else has to die. I'd say if you slow the team down you're getting sent back, but I don't think any of us have that choice."
"And none of us are going to slow you down," Ruby promised seriously. (Easy to do when you have the highest speed stat). "Let's go do our hero work!"
"Before we do, are we sure that our healing spells are going to be able to cure the spider's venom?" Hyde asked, still eager to apply himself. "We haven't gotten hit with it yet, but it's better that we're ready especially if we need to heal someone else that's hanging on."
"We'll check in with the elves before we leave and see if they know a spell that can heal the poison," Yu said to back his teammate up. "Even if the spell is weaker, we can keep them alive with our healing spells until we cure the poison with however long that will take. The only issue is if the fighting to get there would leave us too weakened to heal the people we're fighting to rescue."
"We can't waste time worrying about that if we don't even know what we're in for," Ragna instructed as he started to go into a run just to get to the elves' tent. "Come on, it's going to be a marathon just to get to the fighting."
Turns out Ragna was far from right with that assessment, for the roads between the town and Dwarven city were completely infested with spiders. It was nothing the group couldn't handle as they were all the same fodder that they'd dealt with previously, but there were so many of them it was alarming and they'd had some close calls in getting bitten.
It still may have been to their advantage as along the way Yu, Hyde, and Ruby each scored three level ups bringing them up to level 13. With Ragna's solo fighting two days prior in his bounty hunting and the match with Rojo he'd managed to get four level ups himself to reach level 16.
The group now found themselves in front of the cave entrance that contained the Dwarven city of Brinkstone. Hyde and Yu were catching their breath after their most recent fight while Ruby (begrudgingly) handled her duty of dismantling the spider corpses. She'd gotten quite good at it with all of the work she'd had to do… and now she even had help. Without so much as an attempted bluff with her crocodile tears, Ragna had finally caved and put a single of his own skill points into survival to help make the disassembly process that much quicker with a knife he'd picked up in town. It was certainly needed because although the spiders were the same weaklings that they'd encountered so far, it was still their heaviest concentration of the creatures by far.
"This many… and we're heading into their lair," Ragna realized as he finished packing the last of the spider parts. "Before we head inside, we need to align all of our stats and make those damn level ups we fought for worth it. We should also apply any leftover skills we still have… and no hanging onto points for Sex Appeal."
"Don't need them," Yu said with much bravado. For some odd reason, Hyde had the feeling that if he were wearing glasses, he'd take the moment to adjust them with style. "But how would we apply them? Sorry to inform you of this so late, but I'm more of a Town Person. Deal making and the like. I only have the single skill point that I earned on the road."
"You should still have some points saved for when we need to go exploring like this," Ruby commentated before looking to Ragna. "I saw earlier that we have a Medic skill that's a method of treating injuries and ailments outside of healing magic. I'm not great with the spells or magic as a whole, but I can get around faster than any of us to get to whoever needs help. Want me to give that skill all the points I have while I count on you to cover me?"
"Go ahead; you'd also be good for getting wounded friendlies out of a combat zone," the Reaper agreed. "As for me I've only got two points left to assign, so I'll put them into this Perception skill that will help to detect ambushes and traps. Yu, put a point in that yourself as back up if mine doesn't pick up on the enemy."
"Got it," Yu said as he assigned his final point.
"And last up is Hyde... what have you worked on since that whole Sex Appeal mess back when we made dinner?"
"I haven't invested any points since then, so I'm sitting on six points," Hyde told him, not bothering to address the call out and instead eager at the idea of proving himself. "I noticed another skill for Dungeon Exploration, that might be worth investing in. Since I'll be able to have a better internal map of the place in addition to being able to find hidden paths."
"Does this place even count as a dungeon? It's supposed to be a city, isn't it?" Ruby brought up.
"Given what the spiders have likely already done to it, it might as well be considered a dungeon," Yu reasoned. "It's only a question if the skill will treat it that way. Given our occupations it's likely we'll be dungeon exploring eventually, so Hyde might as well make the investment now."
"So for now, I'll just put three points in and hope that the skill gains levels while we're in there," Hyde agreed and did just that. "Three spent, three left… Huh, alchemy's still an investment option. It's not useful now, but when we get back I can make sure that the people in town will be well stocked with antidotes for their poison. And in general, I can make healing potions for the rest of us in case casting healing spells just isn't an option."
"It's going to mean a lot of work when you get back, but if you're willing to take on that burden you'd be doing a fair share to save lives," Ragna agreed. His tone was respectful, but his complexion was as grim and serious as ever. "In order to get there, first we all need to survive whatever the hell is in there. To have any chance of that, we need to align our stat points."
"Do you mind if I stick with a balanced build for now? I've always preferred the master-of-none approach," Yu requested.
"Go with that then," the Reaper agreed as Yu set his points.
Strength: 23
Dexterity: 23
Constitution: 23
Magic: 23
Spirit: 23
Luck: 23
"I'll go next," Hyde insisted as he looked over his own information. It was more than a little tempting to put everything he currently had into Strength and become a one-shotting badass, but he knew that part of proving himself meant being a team player (also Ragna would still outclass him even if he did put everything into attacking). "I'll do some investing in my Dexterity, Constitution, and Spirit. The latter two will help take some hits and boost my healing, but my big bonus will be for Dexterity. The more slashes I can get in with the Insulator, the more I can open up the tougher enemies for real damage."
"It was hard to cut into that snake without your sword's effect, so I think you have the right idea," Yu agreed. With no objections, his partner invested the points.
Strength: 24
Dexterity: 31
Constitution: 22
Magic: 25
Spirit: 20
Luck:16
"That just leaves us, partner," Ruby said as she looked to Ragna. "Probably close quarters in there so I won't be able to run easily, and I don't have my Aura to protect me here… I guess I'll have to make an investment into my Constitution to be safe, and since I'll be working with you, I should improve my Luck stat so that we can balance your abysmal one out."
"I don't think you'd be able to balance that book no matter how many points you put in," Ragna grumbled (not just at his Luck in the system).
"I won't know until I try!" Ruby called confidently as she set her points, putting 9 each into Constitution and Luck.
Strength: 15
Dexterity: 56
Constitution: 22
Magic: 10
Spirit: 12
Luck: 23
"And finally we have our leader; a guy with stats so high and are only balanced out by his luck that's… is there a word for something worse than abysmal?" Hyde noticed his leaders glare and decided to lay off his commentary (and wondered how high Ragna's Intimidate skill had gotten) "Anyways, might want to stay away from Spirit since your healing sends your targets into agony for some reason."
"It still heals them better than anyone else here; so if it's either agony or death you know what I'm picking," Ragna reminded bluntly as he observed his own screen. "With all of the points left to spend and without any real spells to use, I'll go for a physical build."
Strength: 56
Dexterity: 56
Constitution: 56
Magic: 44
Spirit: 44
Luck: -100
"So we're tied in speed now," Ruby noted. To the three gentlemen, it almost sounded like she was disappointed. "Wait, I still have my speed semblance to get around! The advantage is still mine!"
"…Good for you then," Ragna commended (though he was more confused than anything). He shot both Hyde and Yu glares as they chuckled at his awkwardness. "Get serious; we're heading in."
"Don't worry, I won't forget what's at stake…" Hyde tried to reassure him before looking to the entrance of the cave and... admittedly losing a touch of confidence. "I just hope that there's someone in there to save."
"Even if there isn't we'll be taking out the threat here and now. And we won't truly know until we see it for ourselves." Ragna then started making his way forward. "All of you stay close, there's no telling what we're in for."
What awaited the group in the cave was a long and wide tunnel leading them deeper into the mountain. Their path was thankfully alit by strange glowing amber crystals on the wall. While there was plenty of light, a few of said crystals were absolutely caked in spider webs and the group had to move carefully not to get caught.
"This is gonna hurt our options moving around," Ruby noted as she hopped over a particularly sticky section. "No spiders yet?"
"No, they must be further in the city," Yu guessed. "They're likely taking the time to set up nests now that they have the city… or feeding."
"Again, we'll worry about it later. For now, we just have to find and clear out any damn spiders that we… find."
The source of Ragna's own hesitation was the giant gates just ahead of the group, part of a large wall that covered all of the way forward save for a gap between the top and ceiling and was absolutely covered in spider webs. There were still no signs of the spiders, but there were arrows and other rubble littering the ground around them while the spider webs looked like they were trying to seal the barrier shut. In short…
"They're trying to keep their prey in," Ruby realized with a cold tone. "That dwarf that made it to the city… it must have been a miracle to make it through this."
'Or they were hoping we'd send a rescue force making it all the easier to take down the Heavenscliff,' Ragna had to consider, glad he'd told Rojo to stay behind.
"In most of the fantasy settings that I heard back from my world, Dwarves were usually a hardy race with strong bodies that would make them unlikely to fall to poison," Yu noted. "That must have been what kept that one alive long enough to get to the city for help."
"Mixed with a bit of the man's own sheer willpower no doubt," Hyde guess as he spotted a part of the wall where the webbing was especially thick.
He realized that it might've been that way to cover up an escape route that the spiders had created upon breaking in. An odd summary to come to, but he felt that his Dungeon Exploration skill may have been helping him out there. It was their way through at the very least and he brought the Insulator out and made a cut through the thick webbing. None of it was stuck on his own weapon, though there was still quite a bit of the barrier to cut through. Now that he'd cut through most if it through, he could hear the spiders scuttling on the other side.
"Looks like they're going to be ready for us," he noted as he turned back to group. "We should-"
"MOVE!"
Wham!
(Cue Crisis Core No Honor Remains)
Hyde grunted as Ragna backhanded him to the side. He wasn't even sure if the Reaper had been trying to hurt him or if his stat was just too high because of how hard it had felt. Before he'd stopped lurching from the attack and could yell his complaints at the Reaper, Ragna's right arm was already glowing with dark flames.
"DEAD SPIKE!"
The Black Beast head erupted from the ground right where Hyde had been standing and launched up at an angle. Colliding with a group of spiders that had leaped from the top the wall, it blasted the arachnids to pieces as Ruby swapped her weapon to rifle for and sniped several more. There was one spider that she couldn't pierce with her bullets, leaving Yu to summon Izanagi to cleave the monster in half. The webbed hole that Hyde had partially cut burst open as hordes of spiders made their way to surround the group rather than charge them all at once. Looking up at the top wall, Hyde saw that there were still plenty of spiders preparing to leap down on them.
'Dammit, I got us all flanked,' Hyde thought irately.
"At least any dwarves still alive in the city will have a much better chance if the spiders' attention is on us," Yu seemed to confide in his partner though his eyes didn't wander from the enemies in front of them.
"Hyde, you and I are taking the front on opposite sides. Ruby and Yu will stay in the center and back us both up. Keep those damn jumpers off of us while you're at it," Ragna ordered, glancing his eyes around at the spiders and waiting for the first one to make their move. "Yu you're on healing spells if we need 'em. Ruby-"
"Keep the spiders off of Yu if they try to attack while he's healing," she interrupted… also finishing Ragna's sentence.
"…Right," he muttered, knowing it was hardly the time to address this.
"The ones on the roof are jumping!" Yu alerted. As he did, several of the spiders circling them on the ground level took that moment to charge while they were hopefully distracted. Acting quickly, Yu had Izanagi throw a powerful blast of Zio and struck one of the spiders cleanly out of the air. While Ruby managed to blast two of her own with Crescent Rose, two others would have landed on top of the group had it not been for Izanagi's expertly aimed slash which split both cleanly in half. The other jumpers fell in rank with the other spiders so Yu could focus on supporting his allies.
On the front lines, Ragna let loose another Dead Spike in order to shatter the spiders ranks, though the arachnids had caught onto this attack and most of them instinctively fled to sides, leaving only those in the center to get destroyed. While the Reaper fully intended to keep playing defensively until his party managed to thin out the group, Ruby instead charged forward using her semblance and broke rank to cleave through three of the spiders with a wide scythe swing. She struck three, but only killed one while inflicting deep gashes on the other two. The spiders tried to leap at her with their venomous fangs, but a gun blast carried her back into her team position while leaving several spiders at just the right spot for Ragna to destroy them with yet another Dead Spike.
'I didn't try to coordinate any of that with her,' Ragna thought before absolutely decking the three spiders with two punches into a roundhouse kick. 'Guess she's the most used to fighting as a team out of all of us.'
Meanwhile, Hyde was having a heck of a time trying to prove himself (and now redeem himself for getting the group caught in the trap). With so many enemies to fight at once he could only safely strike down one or two spiders at a time and those were quickly replaced. He was at least taking each of them down in a single slash, but even this safer strategy was getting him dangerously close to being exposed to the spiders' venom.
'This is going to take forever and we can't stay stuck here,' he grunted before glancing to the ceiling. It didn't appear that any spiders were about to leap, so he knew he could count on Yu for support. "Get ready on healing, I'm going in."
Yu gave him a solid nod and had Izanagi go for a wide swing, getting the spiders to step back and allowing his partner the chance to rush forward. Catching two of them with a well-placed wide swing, he managed to cleave them both in half. Cleaving through another to his left, he barely managed to dodge the bite on his right as he brought his sword down and managed to split that one in half. Another series of slashes later and he managed to bring down three of them. Even if he wasn't getting hit yet, it was still slow progress.
"How are we looking!?" he shouted as he had to block a leaping and held them back with his sword before cutting it down.
"More leaping down from above!" Yu called as Izanagi was a blur of swings and Zio blasts.
"And they just keep pouring out of the wall," Ragna noted. "Just keep cutting them down, we'll have to deal with all of them eventually."
'At least Ragna can help me take these things apart when we're done,' Ruby thought as she assisted Yu in shooting down the spiders that were leaping down from above. Between her rapid fire and Izanagi's blade cutting in a complete blur they were bringing several of them down easily, but there were still plenty of jumpers. "ONE GOT THROUGH!"
"BLACK ORBITER!" Hyde shouted, firing off the swirling mass of red energy. The projectile cut through the spider in question just before it landed on his partner. Turning back to the spiders around him, he barely had enough time to cleave on of the leaping spiders in the air… only to feel a fierce burning on his right leg as one of the ground crawlers viciously bit into it.
"I'M ALRIGHT FOR NOW! FOCUS ON THE JUMPERS!" Hyde shouted as he stabbed into the spider before making another wide swing at the other three that were approaching him, only managing to cut through one. While he'd been hit by some rather significant attacks in the past, this bite still hurt like all hell. Not only that, but he grimaced as his body seemed to start going numb. Thankfully the feeling dissipated as Yu cast the Minor Antitoxin spell, despite Hyde telling him otherwise. Still having the fight through the wound dealt to him, he unleashed a spinning swing and managed to catch four whole spiders in the single attack before swinging behind him and slashing through another two. Taking a chance while the other spiders were trying to look for an opening, he hastily cast a Minor Heal spell on his wound. Immediately feeling better, he cut down two of the spiders before backing into the formation his teammates had created (unaware that the spell had also repaired his clothes).
'Guess we can't rush this fight after all,' he thought bitterly.
(End theme)
Half an Hour later
"If I see… another spider… before the day's out…" Ruby panted, only keeping herself off the floor with Crescent Rose supporting her. "I'm gonna flip out."
"Well get ready to flip out then," Ragna said coolly as he looked to the hole in the way. "The job's not over yet. You all have two minutes to catch your breath; there's no telling how long any survivors in there still have."
"And the spiders?" his partner asked worriedly as she looked the piles and piles of the arachnids they'd slayed.
"If they have carts inside, we'll pile them up and bring them in. I doubt they'd offer too big of a reward if we're bringing in this many at once," Ragna told her. "And… I'll take them apart myself later; I'll have more energy than any of you."
'So he can be nice after all,' Hyde thought with a roll of his eyes as Ruby's own seemed to sparkle in gratitude. He then looked back to the hole in the wall that the spiders had come out of. "We're still in for a fight. The dwarves are proud architects and even still something managed to blast through that wall and leave that big of a hole. We're in trouble."
"And not only that," Yu realized as he looked over his screen. "Assuming Hyde, Ruby, and I are still leveling at the same rate, we only received one level-up from that encounter."
"I guess that's not too surprising; all of them went down in one hit even if there were a ton of them," Ruby realized.
"Yu, go ahead and even out your points like we've been doing. The rest of you need to put all six into Constitution. Something tells me we're in for trouble up ahead and I need to make sure we can all take a hit from whatever the hell managed to do that," Ragna said as he gestured to the hole before heading over. "And stay close to me; there's no telling how many more of these things are out there."
Not nearly as many as they'd found outside, the few spiders that they were still coming across were trying ambush tactics and Ragna and Yu were ready for them with their Perception skills since Hyde's Dungeon Exploration told them where to look. Each spider was dealt with quickly and without much difficulty… but the survivors and town were a different story.
With the absurd amount of spidering webbing covering the front wall it had been difficult to tell just how much damage the fortification had sustained past the giant hole in its base, but the rest of Brinkstone had without question been hit hard. Parts of buildings looked like they'd been blasted apart by whatever had put the hole in the front wall. Other buildings looked like they'd had the front doors torn to shreds by the spiders as they attacked those who sought shelter in their abodes. The group had come across more than a few spider corpses inside the city showing the dwarves' fight to survive, but the crushed and carved bodies were far more numerous.
More plentiful still were the Dwarves wrapped up in cocoons to preserve them for later consumption by the arachnids. Their leader took it upon himself to check each and every one while his team watched his back. While anyone could have done this (and Hyde could have cut through the webbing much more cleanly than Ragna and his knife) and there were other ideal healers, Ragna was still playing a bit of a protective leader type to keep the rest of his team from seeing the dried husks that had once been living people. Eventually though, he found something that proved it was still worth it.
"Live one! Guys!"
"On it!" Yu said as he quickly channeled an antidote spell while the others spammed healing spells. Eventually the Dwarf finally gave a raspy cough and the Persona user sighed of relief. The briefest bit of color came back to his targets feature, though the short, bearded man could barely open his eyes.
"Main… house…" they whispered with exerted efforts. "Spiders… heading…" He went limp once more, much to the concern of the others.
"He's fine. Just passed out," Ragna informed before looking to the giant building in the back of the city. "I'm guessing that whatever blasted the hole in the wall is in there. We should head through the rest of the town first and make sure we've saved everyone that we can. Best to find somewhere safe to keep this guy while we're at it."
Their plan made, the group scoured the rest of the city and uncovered more destruction, dead dwarves, and a few more of the small dead spiders. After finding a damaged but easily fortifiable house, they put their found survivors inside until they dealt with whatever was waiting for them at the Manor in the back. A grand total of… seven dwarves. Out of the nearly two hundred corpses they'd come across.
'This is just plain sick,' Hyde thought to himself through grit teeth as his team stood in front of the massive entry way that led into the manor. It certainly had the look of a door leading into a boss fight, but it wasn't just the looks that gave the group pause.
"I'm… not the only one that feels that, right?" Ruby asked cautiously. "If anything, it should be Ragna and Yu picking up the whole this door is the point of no return and there's no going back vibe this place is giving off. I can even tell it's there."
"Same here," Hyde agreed. "And if all four of us can tell; then it's a clear warning that we're going to find the thing that put the hole in the wall. The question is if we can beat it."
"We have to; it's too dangerous to be left alive. And to do that we need to come up with a plan. It's looking more and more like we'll be taking on at least one giant enemy and the last time we did that was the snake we fought and almost got our asses handed to us. We've gotten stronger since then, but I want us all with some idea of what we're doing."
"I'll be with you on the front line; with the snake I was the only person able to put openings in its hide…" Hyde offered before grimacing. "Dammit, please tell me that's not going to be a pun."
"Focus."
"Sorry. I'll assist you up front and get in as many attacks as I can, maybe even a few of my ranged Black Orbiter attacks to keep it on the defensive. Can the rest of you make sure I'm able to do that?"
"My persona should be able to take a hit in an emergency, so I'll be able to support you both on the front lines using that and relying on my Zio attacks as well," Yu offered.
"You should probably hold off on that if you can; every time Izanagi takes a hit it looks like you're put in some pretty bad pain as well," Ruby noted. "Besides, with how fast I can get around I can probably get to just about anyone and pull them out of the way for a last-second save."
"Right. Meanwhile I'll stick up front with Hyde. For the first bit I'll keep its attention while he weakens its defenses with that sword of his. Once it's vulnerable, I'll go in for the kill," Ragna finished. "Anything changes while we're fighting, just listen for my signal. Got it?"
"You can count on us," Hyde promised. Yu gave a nod to show he was ready while Ruby got Crescent Rose out in rifle mode. The four heroes stood ready in front of the massive door, tensing until Ragna kicked it in. "Here we go."
While there were a few lighting crystals inside, the massive foyer was barely illuminated giving the place an eerie aura. There was no sign of their main target, though the feeling of dread seemed to only grow for the group as they glanced around the room while slowly proceeding in. Dozens upon dozens of wrapped victims decorated the room and there was hardly a spot without webbing to be found anywhere. They didn't make it too far inside before the heard a low growl coming from above as well as a few drops of venomous saliva. Quickly looking to the ceiling, they caught sight of their target just as it let go of its hold and fell to the floor.
(Cue SMT IV Boss Theme)
While it was still a spider, this one was the size of a double decker bus. Its sheer bulk would have already caused a sizable impact, but added to that was the exoskeleton made completely of hard steel with barely a gap in it. In addition to its giant mandibles, it also had two rows of wickedly jagged teeth as they dripped venom like saliva, perhaps closer to acid as its drops caused the floor beneath to melt. Letting out a shrill shriek caused Yu, Hyde, and Ruby to flinch at the force while Ragna stared the thing down.
"That steel's going to take forever to get through," Hyde warned.
"Then we better get started," Ragna retorted as the two charged forward to follow the plan. The spider spat a glob of its acid at the Reaper, but he didn't even have to dodge as it was struck by a lightning bolt. "Nice aim!"
"Thanks, but that's about all I can do with Zio!" Yu called as he fired a bolt off and purposely only hit right in front of the creature to blind it with debris. "If that armor can conduct lightning there's no telling what it could do if I charged them!"
"Maybe we can still immobilize it if we cut off a few of those legs!" Ruby yelled as she fired off a sniper shot which only bounced harmlessly off the carapace. "That thing's gotta be heavy! Even if it's always wearing all of that metal, the monster probably needs all of their legs to support itself!"
"Worth a shot!" Ragna shouted as he leaped into the air. While the spider readied itself to chomp down on him once he got close, he instead performed a powerful overheard ax kick that forced its mouth closed. 'Damn! I was trying cave its head in, but there's barely a dent!'
Ragna had at least succeeded in getting the monster's attention on him as Hyde came in slightly to the side and swung the Insulator with everything he had. He scored a clean blow on one of the monster's legs, but even with his sword's amazing power and all of his strength put into the attack the leg remained. Hyde muttered a curse under his breath (probably due Ragna's foul mouth) as he leaped back to avoid the monsters leg swipe, then noticing that the area that spot he'd attacked now had thinner metal than the rest of the body.
'It's gonna take me more than one attack to get through, but maybe-!' "Ragna! Second leg to our right! Halfway up!"
After shouting out the warning, Hyde fired off a Black Orbiter that struck the main body. It didn't do much and the metal thinning effect was far less than his direct attack, but a surprise dive from Yu's Persona on that exact spot caused the metal exoskeleton to crack. Even if the creature was still smart enough to keep its eye on the biggest threat, the attack still caused it to flinch long enough for Ragna to get to Hyde's created weak point. Yelling as he scored a vicious uppercut at just the right spot, he blasted off the spider's metal encased leg. Shooting his arm out to catch it before it flew out of range, Ragna slammed the severed appendage down onto the main body causing the crack Yu and Hyde had caused to spread. The leg also shattered, so any hope of using it as a weapon was lost. Ragna could hardly mourn the destruction of yet another piece of equipment as one of the surviving legs swung hard to his side and though he guarded against it, the attack still launched him off his feet and caused him to struggle from the sheer force at the attack.
Continuing to target Ragna as it saw him as the largest threat here, the spider spat out a spray of it acid venom while he was still airborne. Ragna didn't want to know what the stuff was going to do to him, and luckily he didn't have to as Ruby grabbed him and moved them both out of the way with her speed semblance. Instead on backing off though, she instead used a blank gunblast to launch them both above the monster. The creature continued to keep all of its eight eyes on Ragna… and that action cost it one of them as Izanagi's blade pieced one of the outer eyes. The creature let out a shrill scream as Hyde came in with a downward leaping slash to cut it across its face as the attack actually managed to draw blood this time.
Hyde smirked at his new contribution, but his confidence didn't last long as the spider was now focused on him and tearing him to shreds in its jaw. As the mix-haired youth stumbled back to avoid the first bite by mere millimeters, Izanagi came in once more and forced its blade between the creature's maws to keep it from chowing down. The way the Persona was struggling and Yu's own pained expression made it obvious that he was harshly losing this battle of strength. Picking himself up, Hyde went for another of the creature's legs and managed to cut one off with a hefty three strike combo.
While Izanagi gave him the time to take that advantage by holding the spider back, its efforts were not rewarded as the spider than managed to shoot a deadly spray of venom through its mouth and coated the persona in the point-blank blast. The acid-like poison did its work quickly and nearly destroyed the persona upon contact; completely obliterating several parts of it before it faded. Yu let out a pained shout as he gripped his head at the mental damage of having his other self destroyed. Now that the Persona was out of the picture, the spider focused on its user and lunged forward to kill them in one gruesome bite. Hyde stood ready to guard his partner and even got another slash in on the creature's face that took out another of its eyes, but it didn't even slow the creature down… that would come from above.
While she and her partner were about the creature, Ruby had utilized both a blank gunblast and her Speed Semblance for movement. Said movement was spinning around in the air to dizzying speed with Ragna before throwing him down at the creature, creating a sonic boom at release. The Reaper let out a roar that would make a lion jealous as he struck down on the creature's cracked metal hide, shattering the protective armor and thankfully stopping it before it could harm Hyde or Yu, the former of which took the advantage to reel back before plunging the blade straight into the creature's head. Instead of finally killing it though, a massive release of power and the shockwave that followed blasted both of the boys back and launched Ragna off its back. He was caught by Ruby who brought him back to the others.
"You okay?" Hyde asked as he helped his partner up.
"I'll be fine, but I won't be able to use Izanagi for a while… which is going to be a problem," Yu said as he glanced at the spider. The thing was shuddering as its metal armor started to peel off, revealing a second exoskeleton of much more natural materials beneath. "It's shedding its armor to get faster."
"Doesn't matter; it can't out-speed us all," Ruby said confidently as she fired off a shot and took out a third eye. "Besides, it's already down two legs. It'll have an even harder time moving around if we cut off anymore."
"Then go for those while I hold it-"
Ragna couldn't finish; the spider had just finished its molting in the middle of a battle. The team had discussed their plan for an increase of speed, but the giant boss-esque monster had another surprise for the heroes. Giving another hiss, sharp spikes sprouted out of the exoskeleton that covered its main body, legs, and even head. The only obvious area that wasn't covered was the creatures jagged jaws which were now drenched in its own acidic venom.
"…Off."
With a single leap the thing bounded from them far faster than the team had been expecting, even when they'd known it would be moving quicker without the armor. With Ragna at the front of the group he knew he had to react, and his action of choice was a wicked left hook to the monster's jaws. Even merely touching the acid seemed to damage his glove, but at least the managed to stop the creature its place. Using the one metal piece that he still had in his possession, he delivered an upwards kick to the underside of its head using his metal tipped shoes. His attack managed to cause the creature to stagger at the attack, but not for long enough as it swung one of its spiked legs right for the group. Yu, Hyde, and Ruby dodged out of the way as expected but Ragna stood his ground. Catching the leg with both hands the spikes pierced his hands, but he held it steady without so much as wincing.
"CUT IT OFF!"
1 Rank gained for Leadership
While all three were a touch unnerved at the strategy, Hyde recovered the quickest and managed to deliver a clean cut to the leg and cleaved it off in one swing. He expected that the spider would've acted in the way that most animals would by letting out a scream and shirking back. But this wasn't most animals; it was monster. Standing its ground and gathering up its corrosive bile in its mouth, the creature's evil seemed to gleam with intelligent massive as it expelled the corrosive spit at the ill prepared blond. Ruby charged forward with her semblance and even readied a gunblast, but it wasn't fast enough to pull Hyde out of the way.
"…Bring the asshole down."
Just like had happened with Yu when they fought the spider, Ragna used his own body as a shield, taking all of the acid point blank. Hyde was aghast as the corrosive steam blasted off his leader's face and melted his very flesh… but it was now do or die.
"HEAL HIM!" he shouted to Yu and Ruby as he charged past Ragna, not daring to look back at his leader as he charged the spider head on.
With a single swing he took out two more of its eyes, before leaping over one of the spiked legs to cut it off as he went over and swing viciously behind him to sever another. As he landed the spider slammed its own head on the floor causing a shockwave strong enough Hyde flailing into the air above. Charging another bile shot to put an end to the helpless target, it wasn't prepared for its remaining severed and still metal covered leg to slam into it from the side, sending the bile off course and flipping the spider over to reveal its vulnerable underside. Landing and beating the spider in climbing to his feet, Hyde charged forward and finally decapitated the monster.
(End theme)
The echo of the spider's severed head hitting the floor seemed to fill the entire cave as the group looked onto what they had done, the monster that they'd beaten. Hyde couldn't stay too proud as he turned his attention to his leader who'd still managed to come in with the severed leg swing.
Ragna was… fine. His skin was a rather disturbing shade of red after the attack, but aside from some still peeling skin it was clear that the Reaper was healing smoothly from the constant barrage of healing spells from Ruby and Yu.
"That's enough. Save some for the rest of the survivors," he ordered as both of the spell casters finally slumped over from the released tension.
"Seriously, who just takes an attack like that?" Ruby asked with a scowl.
"I've been through worse; and besides I can take that kind of abuse better with my higher constitution. Anyone else might've been a puddle by now," he reasoned (which did little to help her attitude) as he headed over to the webbed victims. Turns out he was right on the money as this set of victims were more sacs of mush than poisoned dwarfs… save for one. "Guys! Live one!"
Cutting out and healing up the dwarven woman inside, she gave a pained cough as color returned to her face. She had red hair that looked like it had become wild and unkempt in the chaos. She wasn't much taller than Ruby, but fairly stockier. Her dress looked formal but far from dainty. Her eyes slower came into focus as she looked at the four… before glancing over to the dead corpse of the massive spider.
"Holy…" Her voice was corse as it hadn't been breathing properly for some time, leading to more coughing. "How many…?"
"Seven others, but we'll do another sweep for more now that the spiders have been dealt with," Ragna promised.
"Only eight of us," the woman muttered as she worked her way to her feet, a strained effort but she managed.
"You seem to be in better condition than anyone else we've found," Yu noted.
"Being at the back of my city, we were able to prepare and take potions to that would help us fight off the poison beforehand. They would have allowed us to stave off far more of their bites, but…" She looked at the puddles of still steaming acid. "They wouldn't work against that. I was attacked from behind and poisoned by one of the smaller ones. An embarrassing loss, but no doubt the reason I'm still alive."
"Speaking of alive, there could be more of them in the city and the manor," Ruby reminded. "We should go around and check anywhere else we can, Miss…es?"
"Miss Garnet Brinkstone. Governess of this city… as much as that's worth after today," she said as a darker introduction. "While the rest of you search for survivors, I need at least one of you to follow me. I have treasures invaluable to my people that I need to secure, some of which may prove useful and a suitable reward for yourselves."
"We'd do this without a reward, but I'll go with," Hyde volunteered to the rest of the group. Ragna gave him a strong nod before running of in one direction with Yu and Ruby while Hyde followed the slower Garnet down a different hallway. "Can you remember anything before they attacked you?"
"Just what sounded like an explosion from my city wall, and then screaming," she answered, staying strong in the face of such a loss. The two shortly came to a giant vault, blasted off its hinges with any empty room behind it. "Damn."
"What was in there?" Hyde asked, though remaining on guard for more spiders.
"Jewels, gold, and some of our greatest smithing works," she explained before heading into the room. She appeared less bothered at the loss than Hyde would have thought… before she noticed a hole blown away in one of the further walls. "Oh no…"
An empty room that looked like it had been completely sealed (Hyde's Dungeon Exploration told him that there had been a secret passage through some puzzle in the vault room) and what lay inside were dozens of empty shelves and a desk that looked like it had been completely cleared out.
"You hid the real treasure behind a literal treasure vault," Hyde realized. "What was all of the gold and jewelry protecting?"
"…Nearly all of our pride as Dwarves."
Meanwhile
"It's all here; just as promised," an elderly man in extravagant clothes said as he excitedly looked over the book in his hands. "My, you certainly work quickly. I requested you for this job less than a week ago and here you are with the full results. Was it really that easy that easy to steal from the Dwarves?"
"Steal? I'm hurt."
It was the same figure who had first approached the Dwarven city and led the spiders with them. They were still dressed in their hooded brown cloak, arcane marked gloves, and blood red mask to remain a complete mystery even to the man they'd done business with sitting across from them. They weren't alone this time however, as a lovely lady was draping their voluptuous body on each side of them. These weren't human either, as evident by their horns and whip-like black tails. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum; unlike the target of their affection, their almost wire-thin outfits left next to nothing to the imagination.
"Stealing is for rouge fools with an air for the dramatic at best. Beggars clinging to their non-consequential lives at worst. If anything, I did you another favor. So much easier for the smithing guild to sell their wares when they don't need to worry about those blasted dwarves. And I'm sure the rest of the kingdom would agree as well; those backwater things are hardly easy on the eyes."
"Truer words have seldom been spoken," the old man agreed, practically licking his lips as he read over the documents in front of him. The girls on either side of the hooded figure merely giggled, just the way they preferred. "To think, the dwarves had such a secret. With these ore refinement methods, we'd increase our production two-fold and pay almost a quarter less. This will save us a fortune."
"I'm sure it will…" 'Short sited fool. I made off with more than you could possibly imagine. Even if I didn't rob the initial vault for all its worth, I took designs of quality that will serve my faction far more than your cheap blades and armors ever could. Ours will be far superior to anything you could ever produce and…' "I'm leaving."
At their command, the women seemed to disappear into black flames. The old man clicked his tongue in disappointment as the expensive couch they had been sitting on was charred, though the figure seemed unaffected by the exposure to the element.
"Remember what I said for the next time you want my services."
"Yes yes, don't contact you for at least a month and make sure to have payment up front as always," the old man acknowledged as he looked over the documents. "Needless to say, I think I have enough to keep me busy until then."
'Must be nice having a mind that single tracked,' the figured thought as they left the study. 'Hmmm… I wasn't imagining it. Someone just killed my spider. That thing took years of selective breeding and altering magic to create and someone managed to finish it off. The dwarves could barely scratch its self-repairing armor… could the other town's defenses have overpowered it? They might've just collapsed the cave with my creation inside… I'd investigate this, but I suppose I haven't the chance now.'
Still unsatisfied with answers, they moved on.
Back to Brinkstone's Ruins
"Amazing that we managed to find a few horses in the stables that the spiders hadn't gotten around to; I guess they were just being saved for later meals," Garnet noted as she wiped her brow.
"One might even say we were lucky," Ruby said with a smirk to Ragna.
"Keep saying that and it's bound to sour soon," Ragna told her, trying to remain realistic. 'We didn't even get a single level up from that; if that's what we're expected to fight on a regular basis at this strength, we need to look over our options when we get back… or in the morning.' "How close are we to being ready to head out?"
"Just finished the first cart thanks to everyone chipping in," the governess explained as she looked over the crude wagon that they'd made. "It'll do for getting my people back; I had to save the stronger materials for bringing back those spiders, the massive metal one especially."
"Let's not worry about that; it's more important that we get your people back to our town," Ragna said.
"And you need a reward for saving us all; Dwarven honor demands it," Garnet argued back with a stern look. Ragna didn't look like he was in any mood to argue with her. "Besides, two of you can head back to keep my people safe while the rest stay here and gather the spider husks up, I'd rather that then allow them to fall into the hands of thieves or bandits."
"I… guess we might as well start dismantling them," Ruby said to Ragna, though it didn't seem like she was all that eager to proceed. "We should get that giant metal one out of the manor first."
"Hold on just a second," Ragna said as he stepped over to the two boys, stopping right in front of Hyde and staring him down. The blond-brunet couldn't help but feel nervous under Ragna's scowl, unable to tell if his leader was using their Intimidate skill. When he finally spoke, it wasn't to address him though his scowl hadn't moved an inch. "Ruby?"
"Y-yeah?" his own partner asked with a tilt of her head.
"Make sure you save some energy for tomorrow. If you can, I'd like you to wait tables tomorrow; Liza's been good to us and I think she could use a break for a day."
"I… think I can do that?" Her answer was more of a question oddly enough.
"Hold up," Hyde started. "Are you-?"
"Don't know what you're about to say, too tired to care, wouldn't be interested if I wasn't, and no," Ragna shot off quickly as he turned and started walking off with Ruby following after giving both of the boys a shrug.
"…So does this make him a Tsundere?"
"Only to you, but it might."
"Oh, so you do know that term," Hyde said, rather impressed. Garnet just seemed confused. "As for her…"
"I'm starting to pick up on a couple of signals myself," the persona user admitted, taking his seat at the front of the wagon, grabbing the reins, and hoping he knew what he was doing. "But we can talk about that tomorrow. Let's get these guys home first."
"Right…" Hyde said, getting on the wagon himself.
Once he had though, a message popped up in front of him.
Major Quest complete
Ruins of Brinkestone
Reward: Shadow Scare
The look on Yu's face made it clear that he'd obtained his own message as well. Ignoring it for now and making a mental note to discuss this later, both young men realized that their work saving this kingdom had barely begun.
Author's Note before the Omake
Hey all! It's been a while since I updated, let alone this story in particular. Since the last update I've even managed to start my channel (Storm VII) with a few Let's Plays. I finished Final Fantasy VII: Remake as well as Super Mario Galaxy. Right now I'm working on Persona 4: Golden, so come in to drop a like, comment, and sub. It'd mean a lot if you did since I need to focus on these early stages.
All of that plugging aside, let's get to those review responses and then give you your Omake.
ArmantusCumPinnae: Plans for Ragna coming up next chapter, but it's a bit of a different development for now.
Wlyman2009: I mean… he kinda treated him like Jubei here.
Lovnag: Not much revealed about them, which is sort of the point for right now. LET THE THEORIES FLOW!
The Unplanner: Thanks for the lengthy review. And for me it wasn't just the bluies… it was the six hit combos I kept getting hit with in first before falling off the track and placing in 8th.
Reclusive Dork: No real plans for those two, but maybe down the line.
Sonicdude8: I was still watching Gintama last chapter? Holy shit this is old.
Althea Sirius: And that's the idea for now.
Picwill: Your comment helped cemment the idea that I needed a more Hyde centered chapter. He didn't get TOO big of a focus here, but he was at least able to show his stuff.
Netto567: Hoo boy… No comment.
Pally111: Yeah, Yu had to carry over his natural swag. God I loved that anime.
Just a Penguin: …Wrong story?
Az-Bebere: Again, Hyde's sort of just fitting into whatever role is still needed. So far he seems to excel at weakening hard armors.
Guest: I think I updated that since the last posting… maybe?
Guest: I see what you did there. Sadly, low.
P3R504A: Or maybe just try to include them in the Omakes down the line, ones that kinda take place in the story universe but not really.
Pyrojack25: Now?
777: Annnnnnnnnd, we've officially reach the waiting for an update section of the comments.
Rouro79: Like I said.
Reb Rebel: Love the enthusiasm, but not what I'm going for.
HERE'S THE OMAKE! CIAO AND ENJOY!
Cross Tag… Apartment?: Part 5
"Oof… I don't think I could eat another bite," Chie sighed with satisfaction as she patted her stomach.
"Let me check, nope! Don't believe you," Yosuke quickly bit back, earning a glare from the kicker.
"Probably a safe bet," Hyde guessed, leaving Yukiko to laugh.
"Honestly, why on earth would you eat so much more than any of us?" Weiss scolded with her arms crossed.
"Says the runner up of portions herself," Kanji muttered, earning his own glare from the Ice Queen. Yu promptly used a book to shield his kouhai from the searing scowl, earning the distaste for himself.
"I don't think that we should worry much about that, right Linee?" Orie (third place) asked nervously. She was ignored by the smaller girl who had yet to stop texting. Sitting next to her, Naoto had to fight the urge to finally pull the phone away for two minutes.
"Thanks for treating us, Ragna!" Ruby tried to say nicely.
"At least one of you has manners," the owner of the flat said gruffly. He had gotten about as much as he expected (which didn't end up being too great a portion) and looked to the dishes he'd need to clean afterwards. "Before you guys get back to studying, I want to talk to you all about summer."
"Summer? That's still almost a month off," Yosuke noted, with a hint of dreading finals. "What's so important about it?"
"It's important because I managed to take the third week of your summer vacation off," he informed. With the silence that followed, it was like he'd announced that he'd won the lottery.
"You're… serious?" Hyde asked, knowing how busy work had been keeping his caretaker. "How did you manage that with your boss? Wouldn't you guys be busy?"
"I had a co-worker put in a good word for me, but most of that was because he owed me one. Said co-worker also a had connection that let me rent out an RV for cheap. There's enough room in there for all of us, Rise too so let her know when she gets out of her shoot."
"That's awesome!" Ruby exclaimed. "You finally got time off and you're willing to spend it with all of us!?"
"Don't know what I'd do otherwise, if I'm not working or taking care of the flat then I'm mostly sleeping. Might as well have something else to do."
"Aw yeah! Camping trip for a week!" Kanji said victoriously. Weiss was already trying to come up with a method of protest.
"Are you guys forgetting someone!?" Yosuke shouted. "I'm gonna have to work this summer! I've already missed a ton of shifts from all the pressure school put on us so I'll have to make that up as it is! I'd never be able to get a full week off! One day would be a miracle! Two is a near impossibility."
"I'll take pictures," Linne offered, though lacking interest.
"THAT'S NOT MY PROBLEM!"
"Most of us probably have a busy summer ahead of us already," Ragna considered. "Here's what I'm thinking; let's just set two days aside and head out for a day long activity on each. That way absolutely everyone should get at least a day out."
"That would work, but we'd have to commit on dates soon," Naoto said and everyone nodded at her analytic thinking. "What would we even do?"
"Maybe we could go to a museum?" Yukiko suggested.
"Last thing I want to do after all of this studying is learn more, and I don't want to blow a special day off on that," Kanji insisted.
"Wouldn't be at risk either way," Linne said again.
"WHAT WAS THAT!?"
"Yeesh, Kanji… curb the testosterone already," Ragna groaned (unintentionally giving the blond a compliment).
"If we're going anywhere it's gotta be the beach!" Chie said.
"Beach?" Ruby repeated with worry. "Listen… I-"
"Oh finally, I've been wanting to try out my new swimsuit," Yukiko told excitedly.
"Tanning on the beach. Fun," Linne said without looking up from her phone.
"Finally. I only hope the waves are big enough to crash into," Kanji agreed as if that were a challenge.
"Hold on," Hyde tried. "I-"
"Someone has to keep the rest of you in line," Orie noted.
"Two someones with how they act," Weiss agreed, though neither lady seemed against the idea. Even Naoto of all people didn't seem to be protesting.
"Beach…" Yosuke could only repeat dreamily. "This year, we gotta make it count!"
"…" Yu wasn't sure if he should even bother trying, instead looking to his current guardian.
"Is that really what all of you want to do?" Ragna asked seriously.
"For one day, yeah," Chie noted as she'd brought the idea up. "But what about day two?"
"I think that week they're doing a promotion for large groups at the local theme park Titan Land," Weiss noted, being the most business savvy there. "With a group this size, everyone should be able to chip in if they offer a high enough discount."
"And everyone's okay with that plan?" Ragna asked again. No objections were heard, though it looked like his flat mates wanted to say something. He ignored that. "Good, let Rise know what's going on. I'll get back to you all later with the final dates… and stay the hell outta summer school."
"Right, time to get back to studying!" Yosuke said with genuine excitement. "Soft sandy beach and lovely ladies in swimsuits, here I come!"
"…Did he mean to say that last part out loud?" Kanji whispered to Yu as all of the girls had a least a small sign of disgust on their face.
"Just let him have this one."
Later after everyone had left, the flat mate crew was exhausted after the day's events and about to settle in for the night… just about.
"You're sure you're okay going to the beach?" Ruby asked worriedly. "You still wear long sleeves and gloves even when it's over 100 Fahrenheit."
"I'm not planning on swimming, besides you heard how excited everyone was," Ragna answered back from where he was prepping everyone's lunches for the next day. "I'll just be on the beach doing barbecue which is good enough for me."
"Still that's a really big thing for you to do for us," Hyde said himself, knowing Ragna's situation. "What is your plan then?"
"He has a beach jacket that will work for now; he used it when he went on a clamming trip for his job a while back," Yu remembered, having lived with Ragna the longest. "Is that enough?"
"It'll have to be, but don't worry about me. Just focus on getting through school," he ordered.
"Alright," he heard Ruby say before getting quick hug from behind. "Night!" As the girl jogged off, he glanced to the two boys.
"…I'm not hugging you,' Hyde denied.
"Never asked you to," Ragna gruffly shot back.
"I will if you want."
Both spiky haired men had to wonder if Yu was purposefully doing this to mess with them.