Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters.
-The Enchanter of Fairy Tail-
Chapter 67: A Speeding Rematch
Year: X759. 25 years till Canon begins.
Cade POV:
'So this next train should take me to Claymore Village then.' I thought as I headed towards the train station.
In the distance I could see the train station that would take me to Claymore Village. It was along the pathway that led me to the checkpoint, except this time I was going in the opposite direction.
The train station wasn't that big compared to the ones that I had seen in elsewhere in Fiore. There were also no houses around it, so it really seemed like this was more of a pit stop for any traveler's, instead of a busy station.
As I was coming up on the station, I could see a train pulled up and was getting some quick maintenance done to it. After that, I assumed that the train would resume its journey for the day.
From what Jameson had told me back at the prison, it would be nightfall by the time I arrived at Claymore Village. When I got there, I planned to rest for the night before moving to the abandoned house.
'I'll have to do some asking around about this house. I'm curious as to why Trillo chose not to elaborate on it back in the prison.'
I suppose what mattered was that I knew where I was looking when it came time for me to find this album. Trillo better not have been lying to me when he said that it was in his old bedroom. All I had to do was find a lamp and press the button on it apparently.
It was as this thought exited my mind, another important one came to me.
'Wait. How does Trillo know that the house is still standing and not destroyed? Most abandoned buildings tend to be destroyed by the local council a few days after they are taken down. There's no way that he knows that it's still there!'
'Is he basing this whole job of mine on assumption and speculation? Or does he have one of his men on the outside tell him whether it is still standing or not.'
'Tch, there's a lot he hasn't told me. I'd go crazy if this was all a waste of time in the end.' I rubbed my face as I was now coming to the train station.
It seemed like the path I was on split off from the train station, and I could see a few people coming off those branching paths and entering the station to board the train.
As I entered the station, I saw many people entering the train and taking seats next to the window. Despite the number of people that were entering the station, I saw some carriages that were nearly empty.
I moved over to purchase a ticket from the conductor who was at a booth near me. The price of tickets weren't all that expensive which was nice, and I was able to hold all my money in my Requip storage which was a bonus when travelling.
After purchasing my ticket, I moved to board the nearest train carriage, which was the last carriage connected to the train. Upon boarding it, I found that my carriage was completely empty.
It was a rather open carriage with some seats to left and right of the windows. There was quite a bit of space to move around in, and there were some bars on some of the seats that connected up to the ceiling of the carridge.
I made sure to get a good seat next to the window and relaxed back in it. Outside the window, I could see a few of the people working on the train's maintenance move back and forth from different areas of it. Hopefully we would get going soon.
My eyes spied a newspaper on the char across from me so I picked it up and began to skim it. I barely read the news anyway.
The paper was from Fiore's Branch the most popular newspaper in all of Fiore. One article, caught my eye. It was listing the top people in Fiore with the highest net worth.
—
-Annual Net Worth?-
Who in Fiore makes the top 5 with the highest net worth? Find out below!
1) Daryl Soul: Occupation, Boxer. Net Worth - 68 Million.
2) Penelope Quinn: Occupation, Model. Net Worth - 55 Million.
3) Christopher O' Conner: Occupation, Author. Net Worth - 47 Million.
4) Lyra Heartfelia: Occupation, Landowner. Net Worth - 45 Million.
5) Oscar Winn: Occupation, Singer. Net Worth - 40 Million.
—
I recognised some of the names written on the article. Christopher was number three, while I was surprised to see Lyra on the list. I didn't think she was that rich.
I put the paper back down on the chair and opened a window as I felt like the air was a bit stuffy here. Also it meant that I would be able to hear whether we would be moving again from the people outside.
As I took in some of the outside air, I smiled at the idea of getting a relaxing journey after the stressful time I had at the prison talking Trillo.
No POV, One Step Ahead Jones:
One Step Ahead Jones moved forwards through the trees towards the train station.
He had just finished his conversation with his latest client. Well, that would be if that was ever considered a conversation in the first place.
His client had barely even explained what it was that he wanted Jones to do. All he had to do was head to an old, abandoned building outside of Claymore Village and retrieve a book for him.
That was it.
'An infant could have completed this job.' Jones thought as he continued to press forwards. 'A part of me feels embarrassed that I took such an easy mission. But the money was too tempting to pass.'
It was a total of three million jewels. Only a mad man would pass on such an offer.
With such a large reward, Jones would be able to relax a little bit in the coming weeks. But he would be back for hire not long after. He wouldn't earn by lazing around.
The only thing that had caught Jones attention was that whoever had asked him to do this job, made sure that they weren't seen by him.
Of all the clients that Jones had taken jobs for, the ones that stayed hidden did so as revealing themselves would only damage their reputation. It wouldn't be very upstanding if someone like a Guild Master hired a mercenary, would it?
While Jones had figured that out quite quickly with this client, the amount of money that was being offered was… suspicious.
This client was either a fool for throwing away so much money, or they were knees deep in money, to the point where a simple million jewels would be mere pocket money.
That being said, this book they wanted must be of extreme importance to him if that much money was being offered for the job's completion.
Jones smirked to himself as he leapt over a tree truck. 'This will be a walk in the park. By tomorrow I'll be millions richer.'
All he had to do was get to Claymore Village, enter the abandoned house, head to a fireplace, pull some lever hidden in it and the book would show itself through some sort of secret compartment.
Jones was also instructed not to open the book when he recovers it. This did not bother Jones one bit. He did not care what was in this book. It could be some new spell, or maybe even a new magic; but mastering his Gun Magic was hard enough as it was.
Besides, focusing squarely on the one magic would be much more efficient than learning multiple more magics. He would advance it quicker and be more… precise with it in his future. He had messed up before years ago by that brat. Never again.
As Jones was thinking about the job some more, he later exited the trees and found himself at his destination.
He had came out into a small clearing, where he could see a train station in the distance.
The plan was to board the next train and take it to Claymore Village. This would have to be done discreetly of course.
As a mercenary, Jones couldn't risk someone seeing him while he was boarding the train. If they saw him, they would probably report him and Jones would find dozens of armed wizards ready to take him out when the train next stops.
When the train would begin to exit the station, Jones would grab onto the nearest carriage and board the train from there. When the train would begin to slow down as they were approaching Claymore Village, Jones would just jump off.
With this plan in mind, Jones made his way to hide next to the tracks that led out from the station. He would still have to pass by the front entrance of the station, but he couldn't see anyone on the outside of it, so it was unlikely he would be seen.
As he was carefully making his way past the front entrance of the station, something caught Jones eye.
Or rather someone.
Jones could see a boy around 16 years of age paying for a ticket. But what was more shocking to Jones was that he recognised the boy.
It was him.
The smart young upstart that had foiled his mission two years ago! It was him! He was right behind that glass paying for a ticket with a smile on his face!
Jones knew that it was him, as he saw the very scar that he had given the boy when he tried to stab his neck!
What was he doing here!? Was the brat really getting the same train that he was getting!?
Jones quickly realised that he was out in the open, so he quickly darted by the front entrance without being seen. He slid himself against the wall and began to think about this new development.
Now that the shock of meeting that boy again had somewhat worn off, Jones was replaced with a different feeling.
Anger.
Anger at better remembering that the boy had caused him to lose his perfect reputation streak of never failing a mission.
He had been sent back quite a bit on the most wanted mercenary board due to his intervention all those years ago. It took quite a few missions to get back up to where he was.
Jones clenched his fist as he quickly whipped around to see where they boy was going through the window that was near him.
He saw that they boy was going into one of the train carriages. It was hard to tell what one due to the distance between the two.
'This train's first stop will be Claymore Village. What are the odds that'll be the stop he'll get off at?' Jones wondered as he pulled his head back from the window.
'As much as I would love to kill that upstart, my mission comes first.' Jones thought as he began to move around to the train tracks.
'If he gets in my way though, I WILL kill him.' Jones decided.
Cade POV:
1 Hour Later:
'I've been here for a whole hour now. How long is it gonna take for the train to finish the maintenance?' I thought as I sat back in my seat.
As I was thinking this, I saw that many of the men that were working on the train outside were beginning to move away from it.
As this happened, I heard a voice from the train's loudspeaker.
—
Attention. The train's maintenance has been finished. We thank you for your patience. The next stop is Claymore Village.
—
'Finally. Now I can get to the village and rest for the night. After that it's up to the abandoned building.'
I smiled at the thought of finally getting out of here and making some progress on this job.
I was still the only person in this carriage, but some other people had gotten on the train since I had got here.
Just then, I saw the train begin to slowly pull out of the station that we were in. We began to pick up speed as we exited the station and came out onto the outside world again.
The train had now begun the few hours journey to Claymore Village.
As I sat back and let my thoughts wander a bit. However, I was interrupted from this due to something from the corner of my eye.
I swore that I saw a quick blur move from my right.
I quickly turned to my right and looked out the window. 'Hm? Was it an animal of some sort?' I wondered. 'Well it must have been as that would be the only thing that could possibly move as fast as this train.'
I sat back again and tried to think about the job some more.
But then I heard a very concerning noise.
*thump* *thump*
'W-What the-!? That came from above!' I thought with surprise.
I could hear some strange noises coming from above me. It sounded like something was leaning down on the roof of the carriage!
Or… could it be someone?
I quickly stood up and made my way to the back door of the carriage that I was in. I opened it and the rush of wind and the sound of the train speeding along the tracks hit my face and ears. Thankfully there was a railing to stop people from blindly falling off the train; it came up to my chest.
I closed the door behind me and saw a ladder to my right.
'If someone's up there they might fall off and get hurt!' I thought with fear at the idea.
I got a grip on the ladder and began to climb up it to investigate and see if anyone was actually up there or not.
It only took a few seconds to climb up, and when my head pocked up to see the top of the carriage, I could see someone (a man I think) crouched down on the carriages roof.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing up here!? You have to get down now in case you fall off!" I shouted as I finished climbing the ladder and stood on the carriages roof.
The individual seemed to stiffen and turn his head a little to the left when he heard my voice. He then stood up fully and turned to face me.
I gave a light gasp and nearly lost my balance when I saw who he was.
I-It was that mercenary that had kidnapped Fea from Lavender Village! The same man that had given me that scar on the left side of my face!
"N-No way… It's you!" I shouted with disbelief.
"Jones!" I yelled with anger as my face turned to that of rage.
Jones himself didn't look that happy to see me. He gave a scowl after I had said that. "What are the odds that I meet the cocky upstart that foiled my perfect reputation again?"
"What the hell are you doing here?!" I shouted as I pointed a finger at the man.
Jones raised his head a little. "That's none of your business. I actually saw you heading into the train station just there. I was planning on leaving you alone, as my mission will always come first."
Jones moved his fingers up his face a little as he turned his head from me a little. "But you just had to come up here and get in my way again, didn't you?" He grunted as he faced me with a scowl.
"Surrender! If you don't stand down I'll have to fight you, and there's a risk that I'll end up knocking you off the train!" I yelled as I powered up my magic.
"You'll knock me off the train? I'LL be the one to send you plummeting down to your death!" Jones shouted as he pulled out two magical pistols with his magic. "Your rides over!"
"Gun Magic: Twister Shot!" Jones cried as he fired off bursts of air from his gun towards me.
I quickly ducked under them to avoid being blasted off the train.
'This is bad. If this fight were anywhere else then it would be much safer. But I were to get blasted off the train carriages roof then I'd be killed instantly hitting the ground.' I thought as I gritted my teeth.
'It's worse that there's hardly any room to move around up here. I can't risk bring the fight here into any of the carriages that have people in them. They might get hurt in the crossfire.'
"Too afraid to fight back? Well that doesn't mean that I'll be holding back in any way!" Jones announced as he fired off his guns again. "Gun Magic: Lighting Shot!"
As shots of lighting were fired off from Jones guns, I was forced to roll to the side to dodge them. Doing so nearly made me slip and fall of the trains roof.
'What can I do?! I can only dodge for so long before I make a mistake and fall to my death!' I tried to think of a plan desperately.
It was then I thought of a solution to my issue here. 'That's it! If I get back into the carriage that was empty, then I could fight with hardly any problems! Ah, but how to do it…?!'
"I'll wrap you up and throw you off this train! Gun Magic: String Shot!" Jones shouted as he fired off several strings from his guns that were fired my way.
"Not happening, Stone Slicer!" I yelled as I fired off a slice of stone that cut right through the strings and kept going towards Jones.
Jones quickly swapped out his pistols for some sort of automatic rifle that he used to destroy my slice of stone by gunning it to pieces.
While Jones was doing this, I had quickly moved backwards and had made it back to the ladder that I used to get up here. Jones did see this however and rushed towards me when he had finished dealing with my attack.
"You're not getting away!" He cried as he brought back his pistols and shot several more blasts of magic at me.
"Stone Wall!" I shouted as I quickly created a stone wall that covered my front side from being hit by the bullets.
This did push me backwards and I fell off the roof of the train and hit the guard rail that was connected to the door to the carriage that I had exited from.
Barely able to think straight with the situation I was in, I frantically pushed my weight forward and fell forwards next to the door that led into the carriage.
Breathing a quick sigh of relief, immediately opened the door and ran forwards into the carriage.
'Good. There's still no one in here.' I realised as I darted my eyes across the seats that were here.
*thump* *thump*
My eyes widened as I looked up and heard the sounds of someone moving above me on the ceiling of the carriage.
'Jones! He's… still up there? I thought that he would have come down to try and finish the fight. Why is he still up there?'
As I was thinking about this, I decided to Requip into my armour while I was alone and safe. When my clothing had been replaced with my armour, I tried to think of a plan to deal with Jones.
'I'm safe down here, but I don't like Jones being up there and not being able to see him. At least I know that he is still above me and not moving to any of the other carriages.'
'Should I try to bring him down here? It'd be a lot safer to fight him that way, but how would I go about that?' I thought quickly.
Unfortunately only one plan came to mind about how to get Jones down from the roof. To hell with public transport damage!
"Stone Rain!" I shouted as I held up my hands and summoned a hail of stone from the sky. I could hear the stone hitting the top of the carriages with a clattering sound and small lumps were being left as they landed on them.
'That should snuff out Jones. He'll be forced to come down here.' I thought as my spell continued.
A few minutes passed and the hail of stones continued to fall on the roof of the carriage. I then grew a bit concerned as to why Jones had not came down from the carriages roof like I had expected him to.
I had looked to both carriage doors expecting to see Jones jump down, but that didn't happen at all.
'What? Is… Jones still up there?' My eyes were still glued to the carriages roof. 'He can't still be up there. I've thrown countless stones down from the sky towards him.'
I then ended my spell and listened to hear Jones was still moving around up there.
…
…
…
'Did… I get him?' I thought with hesitation.
I then looked to the side to see if Jones had actually came down or not.
Instead I saw a strange sight.
It looked like… the train carriage I was in was getting further and further away from the one connecting to it.
'Wait… No!'
I sprinted across to the door and opened it as fast as I could.
To my horror I saw that the rigging device that connected the train together had been smashed and we were losing the train ahead of us.
"No!" I yelled as I used my magic to create some thick stone that connected the carriage I was on with the one that we were getting separated from.
This did hold, and the two carriages were connected yet again, albeit with more distance between the two.
"I knew that you would do that. You wouldn't risk losing the train." Came a voice from above me.
Suddenly two pairs of legs came down and kicked me in the stomach sending me flying backwards, into the carriage that I was originally in.
I landed on my back and let out a groan of pain. I looked up and saw Jones walk into the carriage.
He looked quite damaged and his clothing was out of shape due to all the attacks Jones had taken when he was on the carriages roof.
"I would have probably been down and unconscious if it wasn't for some quick thinking of mine. When that hail came I took the risk and dangled myself over the edge of the train carriage. When it stopped, I knew that you wouldn't know if I was still conscious or not, so I made moves to destroy the lock connecting the carriages together." Jones stated as he pulled out a knife from his pocket.
'! T-That knife!'
"Now that I'm down here though, I can give back what you made me go through!" Jones screamed as he jumped down towards me with that knife in his hand.
"Damn it!" I yelled as leapt up on my feet and quickly blocked the knife that Jones had slashed towards me.
I was able to block it with my arm. The knife had struck one of the many leather plates that were on the arm piece of my armour.
I failed to see that Jones then used his other free hand to summon a magic shotgun that he shot me with. This sent me backwards with some pain running throughout my chest.
Jones then got into a fighting stance and prepared to use his knife and gun to attack me.
He quickly moved towards me and fired off his pistol. "Gun Magic: Mud Shot!" He cried as he sent some shots of mud towards my feet.
"Not happening! Stone Beam!" I cried as I fired a beam of stone that lightly grazed the floor of the carriage and destroyed the mud that Jones had intended to trap me in.
As I closed the distance between the both of us, I fired off another spell. "Stone Slicer!" I cried as I fried off a slice of stone towards Jones.
Jones ducked out of the way of the spell, and grabbed onto one of the railings that were near him. He then used the railing to swing himself around and kick me in the chest.
Right when I saw him do this, I did a forwards roll to dodge the kick and immediately spun around to fire off a spell at Jones.
"Stone Beam!" I shouted as I sent a beam of stone that was meant to hit Jones in the chest. Due to my positioning, I did miss Jones, and my attack instead hit the window which caused it to be completely destroyed.
The sound of the train running along the tracks and the cold rush of air hit the both of us now as we continued the fight.
As Jones let go of the rail and landed on his feet again, he threw the knife that he was holding towards me.
I was barely able to dodge the knife by quickly moving my head to the left. I did feel the knife graze my skin, and I felt the sickening feeling of blood coming down my face.
"Gah! Five-Layered Stoneflake!" I shouted as fired off several shards of stone towards Jones.
Jones immediately summoned another pistol and used both his guns to destroy my shards of stone before they could reach him.
When he finished this, he pulled one of the sheets that was on the seats and threw it at me. This took me by surprise and I immediately casted a spell to destroy the sheet to regain my vision of Jones.
Upon doing so I saw that Jones had gotten another knife and had leapt towards me. "This time I'll make sure to aim for your neck!" He yelled as he forced himself upon me.
I was forced down to the floor with Jones on top of me. He immediately brought up the knife and tried to force it down on my neck.
I was able to block this by bringing my arms into an x-shaped formation to stop Jones hand that was holding the knife.
The knife was only a few centimetres away from my neck. I had blocked it just in time.
"Not. Happening." I growled as I kicked Jones using my legs which sent him off me.
I scrambled backwards and fired off another spell towards him. "Sacred Slashing!" I yelled as I fired off my recently learned attack.
Several slashes of magic were sent outwards from my hands towards Jones. He was able to dodge some of them by moving to the left, but he did get hit by a few of the smaller ones that made contact with his right leg.
Jones let out a cry of pain as he looked down to see his leg after he was hit by my attacks.
I wasted no time and leapt towards Jones. "Stone Fist!" I yelled as I covered my fist with thick stone and punched Jones square in the face.
This sent Jones backwards, with him hitting the carriage door that led out to the end of the train. He let out a loud cry as he tried to get back up on his feet.
I did not allow him to do this, as I had ran forwards and grabbed him by his collar and brought him up to my face.
"Who hired you!?" I demanded.
Jones gave a cough as he glared at me. "Like hell I'd tell a good for nothing kid like you. I honour the trust that my client asks for me."
I gave a tsk of annoyance as I tightened the grip I had on Jones collar. "Did you sell out Lavender Village?! Did you reveal the secret of the village being hidden in the mountain range outside of Crocus?!"
Jones gave a small smirk. "Maybe. Why does it matter to you?" He asked smartly as he raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes a little.
Before I could cast a spell to defeat Jones, he headbutted me, and caused me to drop my hold on him.
While I did hold my head in pain and move backwards a bit due to it, I did spot that Jones had pulled out another knife and was ready to slash me with it.
I gasped in surprise as I was being pushed back with Jones slashing his knife at me as he kept up his attack. What was more concerning was that Jones was aiming for vital points like my neck and face.
'What's with him?! He never used a knife as the main way to fight when he first fought me. Did he change his fighting style since I last saw him?' I wondered with fear.
I let out a grunt of annoyance and anger as I kicked Jones by swinging my right leg upwards. My boot made contact with his chin and caused him to stagger backwards somewhat.
Jones quickly readjusted himself as he threw that knife he was holding towards my head in a rather expert way.
I frantically summoned one of my swords from my Requip storage to stop the knife before it cut into my head and killed me. My sword was summoned into my hands and I raised it to block the knife.
When the blades met, my sword was broken into pieces with the knife being flung out of the hole that we had made in the wall.
Jones immediately took this moment of hesitation from me and brought his pistols back out. "Gun Magic: Shockwave Shot!" He yelled as he cried shockwaves of air towards me.
These shockwaves sent me flying backwards into some of the seats on this carriage which hurt quite a bit. I was just able to get back on my feet to see Jones sending more bullets my way.
"Gun Magic: Firebomb Shot!" He cried as he sent bullets out from his guns.
I had a feeling I knew what the spell would do, so I grabbed one of the broken seats that I was next to and threw it with all my might towards the bullets and hopefully Jones.
As the seat made contact with the bullets, there as an explosion of fire which caused the seat to be burned to cinders; the seats remains falling to the floor.
'Guess I made the right chose there.' I thought as I had to wave away some of the smoke that was formed.
Jones had not wasted any time and had began to run towards me again with another knife in his hand.
I let out a cry as I powered up a spell to punch Jones square in the face again. I only hoped that he would stay down for the count again.
"Just stay down already! Stone Fist!" I cried with desperation as I moved to punch Jones with my right fist.
This time, Jones lowered his body and his head to dodge my fist. He then brought the knife he was holding upwards to try and slab me.
Noticing this, I moved my fist to block the knife as it was being sent upwards to me.
Jones knife made contact with my fist and the knife went straight through my stone. As soon as it broke through the stone, I could feel a sharp pain from my right hand.
I then saw a thin streak of blood come out the fist of stone and down Jones knife.
Dammit! He actually grazed my hand there!
I let out a scream of both pain and anger as I broke Jones knife using my fist and casted another spell at him. "I've had enough of this! Stone Buster!" I cried as I used my free hand to send a powerful close-range blast to Jones.
Jones showed a look of surprise and fear at seeing the move that defeated him the last time that we fought each other. He quickly grabbed and twisted my hand, which redirected the attack upwards.
The caused the roof of the carriage to explode and cause a gaping hole to open up.
Jones gave me a smirk as he jumped away from me and leapt up, using the seats near him as a booster of sorts to climb up and through the hole in the roof.
I let out a scoff when Jones did this. I was about to cast my Stone Rain spell and use it to attack Jones from above, while also ensuring that I would stay safe here.
But something stopped me.
There was now this feeling that was coursing through my body.
It was the same sort of feeling that I felt when I fought Ivan in the S-Class trial. It wasn't one of pure unadulterated anger, nor was it a rage to kill.
Instead, it was a feeling of determination and resolve. A feeling to make sure I defeat whoever it was that I was fighting.
Not only that… but this felt personal between me and Jones.
My face gave a serious and committed look, as I casted Soft on myself and used it to jump up and onto the roof of the carriage yet again.
I saw that the train was now crossing over a bridge that had a large lake beneath it. The bridge came and curved around the whole lake, so we would be over it for a while. In the far distance I could see the sun on the horizon, and a small cluster of houses in the distance.
Claymore Village. I was close now.
Jones was ahead of me when I landed. "I thought you would have stayed down there and casted more cheap shots at me. You would have been safer down there."
"Here you face the hell of falling into speeds over 100 miles per hour. You were a fool to come up here you ignorant brat." Jones said as he summoned out his magic guns.
"I still owe you payback for that scar you gave me." I narrowed my eyes as I prepared my magic.
As we both stared each other down, I could feel the high tension that was in the air.
Despite the pain I felt in my right hand, the resolve I felt was enough to push to finish this fight. I felt the blood trickle down my hand and drip onto the roof beneath me.
While this apprehension was intoxicating to deal with, both me and Jones acted at the same time.
"Scared Slashing!"
"Gun Magic: Firebomb Shot!"
As my slashes of magic were sent flying towards Jones, he ducked and rolled out of the way, dodging them all. I on the other hand was barely able to dodge his Firebomb Shots which caused an explosion of fire that sent me nearly tumbling over the roof of the train.
"Die already!" Jones yelled as he dematerialised his pistols and pulled out the automatic rifle that he showed to me earlier.
As he fired dozens of bullets at me from the rifle he had, I quickly prepared a shield for myself.
"Stone Wall!" I cried as I summoned a wall of stone that took the brunt of the bullets. I then sent the wall forwards towards where Jones was previously standing.
I was able to spot Jones dodging to the left of my wall, which then fell of the train and hit the ground.
Using this small amount of time, I stood back up and casted some more spells while Jones was distracted.
"Six-Layered Stoneflake!" I cried as I summoned shards of stone that fell downwards towards where Jones was.
Jones looked up and saw these attacks coming down to him. He gritted his teeth as he rolled to the side and brought back out his two pistols.
"Gun Magic: Shockwave Shot!" Jones shouted as he sent shockwaves of air towards me. The shockwaves of air caught me off guard and I was sent backwards.
Thankfully I was able to grab the edge of the hole that I jumped out of. This caused the metal to bend while I was holding it as I was sent backwards.
Not only did this make the entrance into the carriage bigger, but it also ended up making our space up here even smaller.
Jones smirked as he brought out another knife and threw it towards me. I used the bent plate of metal that I had grabbed onto as a shield of sorts to block the knife.
I heard the knife hit the plate with a clanging sound, showing that it was lodged in there quite easily. Knowing that it was secure in there, I used my magic to cast Stone Slicer on the metal plate, which cut it clean off the roof of the train carriage.
I then spun the plate and sent it skidding across the roof of the train carriage towards Jones. Jones was forced to jump up in the air to dodge the metal plate.
As he was in the air, he pulled out his pistols and began to fire off more bullets in my direction. "Gun Magic: Bombardment Blast!" He shouted as small orange bullets were sent towards me.
'This is risky, but it might help end this fight quicker.'
"Disappear!" I yelled as I caused an explosion that ended up completely engulfing Jones attack and sent both me and Jones backwards.
We both hit the edge of the train carriage and we were hanging on to whatever we could grasp our hands onto to stop us from falling off the train.
I saw that Jones was able to pull himself up, while I was still stuck and struggling to climb back up onto the roof.
I was able to raise my body slightly and put my arms onto the trains roof. As I did so, I saw something that made me halt my struggle back up on the carriages roof.
However, I felt a sharp pain rush through my arms as I felt a hard surface be pressed on them.
I looked up and saw Jones standing above me, his shoes on my arms which was stopping me from climbing up some more.
Jones let out a laugh as he loomed over me. "How do you feel? The fact that you are inches away from death itself must be bone chilling to experience." He said with a sneer.
"I've been wanting to do this ever since you bested me back in that forest years ago. You should have just stayed back with your pathetic guild!" He yelled. "Die you worthless piece of scum!"
"No, Jones. You've lost." I declared as I hardened my gaze.
Jones just laughed. "Resorting to bluffing are you? Well too bad! I can kill you by dropping you right now!" He cried as he was about to kick my arms off the train.
But then Jones noticed it.
He noticed what had caused me to halt my climb back up the carriage.
We were approaching a tunnel. And we were approaching it fast.
"A-A tunnel!?" Jones shouted in horror. He had been struck with shock and had loosened the grip he had on my arms.
This allowed me to get one of my arms free, which caused Jones even more surprise. Using all my strength, I pulled myself upwards and punched Jones back and landed back on the top of the carriage.
"Say goodbye Jones! Stone Buster!" I yelled with rage as I fired the beam at Jones chest and sent him flying backwards off the train as well as falling of the bridge the train was on.
"YOU INSIGNIFICANT BRAAAAAAAAAAAT!" He shouted as he eventually left my earshot and crashed into the lake below.
I gave a few sighs of relief at the fight being over before I remembered that we were approaching the tunnel in just a few seconds.
I moved as fast as I could and practically fell down the hole that I had came out of. Just as my feet entered the train carriage, darkness overtook the train carriage with us entering the tunnel.
Only a few lights were still operational after that fight me and Jones had in here. There were wreaked seats, holes everywhere as well as a few scorch marks here and there.
'This place is a mess… I can't imagine how much this would cost to fix…' I thought.
I then felt pain soar throughout my right hand again. Right, it was still bleeding.
I brought out some bandage from my Requip storage and tightly wrapped it around my hand to stop the bleeding. After that was done, I used it to wipe the blood that was on my face. Using a reflection in a nearby window, I was lucky to see that I didn't have another scar.
When my injuries were patched up, I collapsed on a nearby seat and took a few deep breaths.
'Thank god it's over. That was a rather brutal fight, and dangerous considering the fact that I could have died several times over.' I thought with relief.
'Why's Jones always appearing when I really don't need him to? Ugh, and who is hiring the guy?! Is it the same person?'
It was funny that I thought that, as fate seemed to answer my question for me.
I noticed a small, folded piece of paper that was one the floor just beneath me. Curious, I picked it up and saw what it was.
—
One Step Ahead Jones, I am requesting your services for a reward of three million jewels. A man of your caliber and reputation should have no worries with such a mission. You are to meet me at the forest just to the east of the wasteland that surrounds northeast Fiore. Find me in a small run-down house and you will receive the job details then. Burn this letter after you have completed this job.
—
'No way! Jones must have dropped this when he was fighting me! This is the way that his client contacted him!'
I immediately read the message again in more detail.
'A run-down house in a forest… That might be worth checking out after I do this job. It's back the way that I came, so it should be that much of an issue.' I decided as I put the piece of paper in my Requip storage.
If I could meet Jones' client, then I might be able to arrest them and take them to the H.M.C. A nice bonus after this job.
As I was thinking if this important information, another startling thought crossed my mind.
'Now… how do I deal with all this damage that I caused… ugh… I better not be caught for this. Will they even believe me if I said that I fought a mercenary here?'
Phew, that's the end of that chapter. Feel free to leave a review if you enjoyed it!
University starts for me tomorrow. Wish me luck… I'll do my best to keep up with this story as I go.
Cade and Jones has had their second fight in this story. I found it interesting and fun to have Jones change things up a little by using different ways of fighting with knifes this time as well as his guns. I also liked writing the fight on the train. Made for an interesting change.
Cade is now on his way to Claymore Village. There he'll see whether Trillo was lying or not when he said that he wanted a photo album from the house. Perhaps we'll even get to see who it was that hired Jones.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope to see you in the next. Toodles!