Boy oh boy, this one has been a long time coming hasn't it? I guess I should apologize for this one taking a while, but I was distracted by other writing endeavors for a bit and before I knew it, March had come and gone. But hey! Better late than never right?.
New Universe Returns: I don't know if you're still around, but I feel like I should address your comment some more. The reason I don't think I'd be making any other stories like Favor Trade but with someone who was a Fire Emblem pro instead of a Final Fantasy is mostly because all those series you listed, I haven't really touched any of the series you mentioned at all. I've played maybe one Secret of Mana game but that was well over 10 years ago And I don't think I'd do those other series justice if I tried writing about them.
Anyway, enough talk I'll leave you to enjoy the chapter.
It was early morning and John was still nervous. He didn't really get a good night's sleep what with having the prospect of helping infiltrate a vampire's mansion sitting in the back of his mind. Sure, according to Marisa, said vampire would not be making an appearance at all, especially if he just hung around outside and did all the fighting, but even so he couldn't help but feel somewhat anxious about the whole ordeal. Still eventually Marisa came knocking at his door, ready to get going.
"Yo, I'm here!" She called once John opened the door "You ready to do this ze?"
"Uh sure..." John replied not all that excited
"Come on, what's with that look? You aren't scared are ya?"
"Well it's not everyday someone rolls up and says "Hey, let's break into a vampire's house."
Marisa let out a sigh before draping an arm around John's shoulder "Come on, I got your back here. Like I said before, all you gotta do is act as a distraction; I'll be handling the hard part."
"Yeah...yeah you're right, I already accepted, so I can't go backing out now." John said with renewed determination "Besides, this gate guard can't be that tough right?"
"That's what I want to hear! Now let's go!"
After bidding farewell to Kogasa, who promised to keep the office running while he was out, John and Marisa walked to the entrance of the village before Marisa began flying off on the broomstick she was carrying, While John was in awe at first, but he quickly got over it and yelled for Marisa to wait. Thankfully, the black and white witch heard him and came back down.
"You can't fly?" She said incredulously
"I'm afraid not, most humans can't do that you know."
"Fine, I get it ze, hop on." She said patting the back of her broom
Without missing a beat, John got on, he was a bit taller than Marisa, so he took up some more room but it didn't seem to be too much of a problem.
"Now hold on tight!"
"Wait whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!"
Before he could really get his question Marisa zoomed into the sky, going ridiculously fast as John nearly fell off the thing before he grabbed onto Marisa's waist to keep himself steady. He took several short breathes before he could finally get his words out.
"What the hell is wrong with you, I could have died!"
"Oh you'll be fine." Marisa said laughing loudly "Oh and make sure to keep your hands in the proper place, I ain't afraid to drop you if you try getting frisky got that!"
"Yeah I got it." John muttered
It's not like you really have much to grab anyway he thought while grabbing just a bit more tightly
As the two continued flying, John had to admit one thing: Gensokyo was positively beautiful from this viewpoint. There weren't any buildings or lights from city buildings like back home in his world, so he could see quite a bit from where he was. Not far off he could see a beautiful sunflower field and to his left there was a temple. Further out to the west, there was a mountain too. In fact there were quite a few things he couldn't quite make out entirely, but even so the beauty of Gensokyo wasn't lost on him.
"Man flying like this is cool..." He muttered
"Don't get to comfortable, we'll be setting down soon!" Marisa called back
The two were now flying over a massive lake at break neck speeds still, but as they did John saw something slowly come up on the horizon. A large mansion, completely red with a large clock tower on it, it was actually pretty beautiful looking from the outside, and the distinct European look it had really made it stand out from the usual Japanese style buildings he saw in the human village.
Marisa began to slow down as the two of them got closer to the mansion, eventually heading off to the side and landing in the bushes nearby. They had a clear view of the front gate which was quite large up close and there was a woman in a green dress that had red hair, with a beret on her head that was decorated with a bright gold star.
"There's your target." Marisa whispered to him
"That's the gate guard?" He asked with a raised eyebrow
"That's her alright, now get out there!"
"Wait...so how does she fight?"
"What do you mean?"
"What does she do her usual fighting style I mean?"
"Oh...well she usually mixes martial arts with her attacks and things like that. It shouldn't be a problem though; you've got armor you wear right? Speaking of where is your knight stuff? Don't tell me we came all this way and you forgot!"
Marisa had been so excited about getting into the mansion she'd completely overlooked that John wasn't wearing the armor she'd seen him in the day prior, how the heck was he going to help her if he didn't bring anything?
"Don't worry; I think I got a much better way to handle this girl. A knight won't get her attention, so instead..." John murmured messing with the bracelet until a yellow stone with what looked like a claw design was face up on it "Let's see how she handles a monk!"
In a flash of light, John was no longer wearing his normal black shirt and blue jeans, instead now he was wearing a yellow outfit with armor on the shoulders, knees, and legs with a small feather on his head to top everything off. On his waist were two gauntlets that had the shape of lion's heads.
"That's an interesting trick you got there..." Marisa muttered in awe
"You wait till I've got her distracted, and then slip in while you can." John said walking out of his hiding spot
"You got it ze, give her hell!"
John sure hoped that this idea of his worked; he walked up to the woman who upon closer inspection was sleeping soundly, now he had to figure out how to wake her up. He tried tapping her shoulder, but that didn't work, he then proceeded to shake her rather violently but that didn't work either...
"What is with this girl?" He said leaning against the gate before jumping out of the way as the girl had suddenly lunged for him.
"Who are you?" She said looking fierce and already assuming a stance
John didn't know what happened, but at least she was awake now.
"Oh uh...well I was looking for you actually."
"Me...?" She said not dropping her stance while looking at him with a raised eyebrow
"Yeah, I heard there was a mighty martial artist here, so I came to challenge you to a map!" John exclaimed trying to look intimidating himself
"A duel...?" The girl repeated "A danmaku duel?"
"Uh no...? I was thinking more of a straight kung-fu fight ya know?"
At this the girl's aqua colored eyes went wide as she dashed over to John with a smile, "This is great! I didn't think there was anyone else around who practiced martial arts, my name is Hong Meiling, who are you?"
"Name's John Graham, a monk of Rhalgr." John said "So would you care for a duel then?"
"Of course, I'd be honored to! Be careful though, I'm pretty good." She smirked
"So am I." He replied while smirking back while putting on his gauntlets
The two walked a small distance apart, the world seeming to stop as they both assumed fighting stances, Marisa watching from her hiding spot as the two began to go at it. In a shocking display of speed the two practically flew at one another as their punches collided with one another. John felt a slight tingle of pain jolt through his body but it was nothing he couldn't take.
Meiling began throwing a barrage of kicks and punches as she tried to hit John, barely missing with most of them, while he'd black any others that'd come his way.
"Guess this is my time to sneak in ze..." Marisa whispered to herself as she moved out. She'd have to climb the wall; she couldn't risk Meiling spotting her flying in. So she'd have to do her best to get over the walls without causing too much of a ruckus.
Back with John and Meiling the two clashed once more, their fists meeting one another before Meiling came around for a hook with her left hand that John managed to dodge. He came in for a kick which Meiling moved to block, but this was just what he'd wanted. He stopped short with his kick and then procced to jab Meiling right in the face, breaking her guard and making her stumble backwards. This was the opening he needed, as he moved in with more kicks and punches each getting faster as he attacked. It was one of the key features of the Monk job from XIV. After completing combo attacks they'd get a stacking buff known as Greased Lightning (No, not the car) which increases not only their attack speed, but also their attack power too!
With a one last punch John sent Meiling skidding back against the gate to the mansion falling to her feet as she began breathing heavily
"Tch...What's that aura around him...some sort of chakra control?" Meiling muttered as she got back to her feet looking him over as John remained in his stance, whatever he was doing she'd have to counter it.
"I don't know what kind of chakra powers you've got, but if you really want it to be like that..." Meiling took a deep breath as she began to control the chi within her, a beautiful rainbow colored aura surrounded her body as she did this. John had to admit, it was beautiful to look at, so much so that he nearly wanted to stop fighting and just admire its beauty. That thought was interrupted though when Meilng flew at John much faster than before. This time it was too fast for him to dodge as she hit him straight in the chest, causing him to fly back and hit a tree.
"Ugh..." John groaned getting back to his feet. "Damn that hurt."
"You're a lot stronger than I expected!" Meiling said with a smirk "Any normal human would have at least been knocked out from that attack, or probably near death."
Was she bragging now? It totally felt like she was bragging.
"I'm not finished yet!" John exclaimed getting back to his feet
"That's good; I don't want the match to be over so soon!"
"Get read then, I'm giving you all I got! Fists of Fire!" John howled as flames wreathed around John's wrists.
"E-eh...?" Meiling muttered
"Internal Release!" he yelled again, as he made a small pose
"W-what are you doing...?"
"Blood for Blood!"
"That one's just scary sounding! Are these spell cards?!"
"Bloodbath!"
"That's just as scary!"
"And finally, Perfect Balance!" John yelled again before dashing at Meiling, she was caught off guard by the sudden yelling of those...whatever they were before, so all she could manage to do was block as John landing a sickeningly powerful punch on her, enough to knock her back just like she'd done to him.
"Not slowing down, Fists of Wind!"
He dashed at Meiling again, this time far faster than before, the gate guard, barely standing up before she was hit with numerous blows to the face, stomach and legs, she couldn't get any blocking in and ending up slumping over in pain, admitting defeat.
"Huh...maybe I overdid it...?" John murmured as Meiling lay groaning on the ground, he moved to pick the warrior up and prop her against the wall of the mansion...well at least his part of the plan was done. All he could do now was wait for Marisa to get him out of here; there was no way he could get over or around the lake fast enough without her.
Marisa had managed to get into the mansion while all this was going on. Once she 'd successfully gotten over the wall, she quietly hovered her way up to the clock tower, a perfect entry point for her plan. She looked back and saw John and Meiling going at it. She actually felt a little bit bad about what she was going to. Not enough to stop of course, but still, just a little bit bad nonetheless. She slowly opened the door that lead to the mansion from clock tower and the second she saw no one around, she gave the old trademark calling card of hopping on her broom and soaring down the halls at breakneck speeds. Zooming throughout the mansion, it wasn't long before the fairy maids were on high alert doing their best to try and stop her.
Of course, these are fairy maids we're talking about, so Marisa cut through the swathes of them all like a hot knife through butter.
Soon enough, she'd reached her destination: The Great Library, the dwelling of her friend and fellow magician Patchouli Knowledge.
"I should have known Meiling wouldn't be able to keep you out forever." came the voice of a girl clad in what could only be described as a purple nightgown complete with a purple cap with a crescent moon shape on it.
"Heh, I had a secret weapon that was able to take care of her, now get on the floor and gimme the books ze!" Marisa chortled
"Astronomer's Magical Stone!" Patchouli yelled suddenly, holding a card in her hand, what followed next were four stones hovering around Patchouli as she began firing off a large wave of danmaku, each stone firing some off as well.
"Jeez, not even willing to banter before you get down to tossing? Fine with me, Love Sign, Non-directional laser!" Marisa yelled out
What followed was a clash of lasers and magic as the library shook from the attacks that were fired off. Thankfully for Patchouli, all of her books were enchanted to protect from danmaku as well as being dropped in water or whatever else could do grievous harm to an innocent book, the fight continued on with Patchouli throwing out some of her better spells, she wasn't as sickly anemic as usual, so she was able to throw out some royal flares, giant ice javelins, exploding rocks, even large vines, but despite Patchouli's best efforts, she was defeated by Marisa's trademark (and I use that term loosely) master spark.
"M-mukyu..." Patchouli groaned in pain, her pajama-like outfit was now in tatters and the pain was too strong for her to get up off the ground, so all she could do was helplessly watch as Marisa pilfered a wide array of books, stuffing them haphazardly into a magic sack she carried on her person at all times whenever she found something that caught her interest...like that bracelet John had, now that was an interesting treasure, but she'd have to save trying to get that off of him some other time. She'd think about that later though, it wouldn't be long before the maid showed up or even worse, Flandre would appear. She did not want to stick around and 'play' with the younger vampire, so she made sure her sack was secure and grasping tightly to her broom she flew out of the hole that her master spark had created in the roof , cackling to herself all the while.
Back on the ground, John saw Marisa flying over him with the sack. "Looks like she did it!" he said smiling to himself, "Hey Marisa, down here!" he shouted as loud as he could to try and get her attention, but she just kept on flying.
"Wait, don't leave me!" He called out even louder, but she kept on going, he could swear he saw her shift her head back a bit before flying off even faster.
"What the hell, did she just leave me out to dry?!" He exclaimed in anger, why the hell would she do that? Maybe this was why Kogasa wasn't too thrilled to have Marisa around. But that didn't matter; he had to get out of here, the best chance he had of getting back to the village would be circling around the lake, even if that would take hours. He looked down at Meiling who was still knocked out; at least she'd be okay, she was still breathing and all that after all.
He went to take a step forward when suddenly he bumped into a woman wearing a silver-haired woman wearing a dark blue maid's outfit with a small white apron on the skirt and a matching white headpiece, her eyes were a stunning blue, and she'd be pretty cute if it weren't for the scowl on her face as she stared at John.
"Um...hello I'm-"
His words were cut short when she grabbed his shoulder swiftly, he could feel himself...slowing? The world was becoming black and white, and while he could barely move, the maid woman was moving easily and without problem. The next thing he knew he was in a room, his arms and legs were restrained as he sat in a chair.
"W-what the hell, where am I? What happened, why am I stuck in this chair?!" he turned his head to see the maid staring at him.
"The mistress shall speak with you later tonight." She said plainly
"Wait wha-"
THWACK
The maid delivered a sickening blow to John's head with a skillet she'd picked up after tying him up. She was irritated beyond belief and she didn't want to listen to the young man wailing all day while he was in here, especially since she had so much to clean up now that Marisa had come through and gone about her usual business of recklessly destroying parts of the mansion.
Hours passed before John regained consciousness. When he opened his eyes, he had a splitting headache. Looking down at himself, he could see that he was still in his monk attire, but that meant little if he didn't find a way out. As he began to struggle against his restraints, the maid from before entered the room, sighing as she saw him struggling, she walked over and began undoing his bindings.
"Listen well. The mistress has tasked me with informing you that she has graciously invited you to dinner...or well breakfast in her case. Now then, you will follow me to where she is, and do not try to harm me or escape. It will not end well."
"And why should I trust you?" John spat back
"Well, to be blunt, you don't have a choice. You don't know how to navigate the halls of the mansion and I'm sure you would not be able to withstand an assault from the forces that reside here."
Damn, she had him there, he had no idea who or what was in this place aside from the vampire (Which he guessed was the mistress) and this maid. She had some weird power that managed to freeze everything but him...it sort of reminded him of that one show that a lot of people talk about, Jojo or something like that.
"Fine, whatever I guess." He said rather rudely as the last of his restraints were released. "Well then lead the way uh..."
"Sakuya Izayoi, head maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion." She said with a bow "Now come."
She walked out of the room, having John follow behind her as he gawked at the size of the mansion. The halls were huge, with there being enough room to fit at least a dozen or so trucks inside. He had trouble keeping up with Sakuya since he was so enthralled. The red carpet was lavish looking and what few windows they passed by had some rather nice stained glass artwork on them. As the two walked, numerous fairies in maid outfits flew about doing nothing of importance, some simply talking and joking, while others were sleeping in midair.
"Quite the work force you got here..." John muttered
"Don't remind me please." Sakuya sighed
The two walked together for a bit longer until they were taken to a dining room with a rather long table. At the table sat a girl in purple sleepwear, she was glaring daggers at John and it looked like she was ready to punch him or choke him or inflict some form of bodily harm to him. Across from her sat Meiling, who was cheerfully humming to herself, though she raised an eyebrow when John entered. At the head of the table was a small girl, who looked no older than 10 years old at the very least. She wore a pink dress with a pink mob cap to match, her eyes were a red and John couldn't help but feel an aura of danger from her. The most notable thing about her though, had to be the two bat wings protruding from her back, and the two fangs that peeked out from her lips. No doubt about it, this girl was the vampire that Marisa had talked about, although she was a bit more...cute than he had originally expected.
"Milady the...guest is here as you ordered." She said with a bow putting a particular strain on her voice with the word 'guest'.
"Well done Sakuya, that will be all, please begin serving the food."
"At once milady."
John just stood there, he was expecting to be tortured or something, maybe chained to a chair in here and beaten by Meiling? He did kind of beat her pretty badly earlier, but everyone here just seemed to be going about their usual business
"Well, aren't you going to take a seat?" The vampire child asked motioning for him to sit in a spot close to her.
"Uh...sure?" he replied still completely bewildered at everything that was going, he took his seat as Sakuya set a plate down before him. It was surprisingly delicious looking, with a healthy mix of meats and vegetables and there was even a nice drink set before him as well.
"Wow...I don't think I've ever seen something this good before." John muttered
"By all means, do enjoy yourself; Sakuya's cooking is by far much better than what the humans of that village ever eat. Oh silly me, I forgot to introduce myself, I am Remilia Scarlet, master of this mansion...and you are?"
"John Graham...uh, not really a master of anything I guess." He said picking up his fork and digging into the meat, stuffing some in his mouth.
"...Charmed, I must ask you Mr. Graham, just how...or rather why did you aid Marisa in infiltrating my mansion? And at that you were able to best Meiling, something that no normal human would be able to do at all."
John swallowed his food hard at that. This girl wasn't wasting any time; he didn't expect her to cut to the chase like that. But maybe he could use this time to try and get some more information on Remilia and the mansion inhabitants?
"I dunno if I should tell you, where are your parents anyway? You seem a bit young to be running a mansion all on your own."
"Answer the question!" the purple clad girl said suddenly "That thief made off with at least 30 of my books and I want them back!"
"Oh my, I've never seen Patchouli react like that." Sakuya said with a giggle
"This isn't funny!"
"Wait...you're books? I was told that you stole books from Marisa and that she was having a hard time getting them back."
John's words were met with silence as Remilia and Meiling began laughing rather loudly, even Sakuya had to do her best to stifle her laughter so as to not tarnish the regal aura she perpetually emitted, while Patchouli just seemed even more annoyed than before.
"What's so funny? What did I say?" John asked innocently, now he was just starting to feel embarrassed at all the laughter, which he felt was at his expense
"That black-white witch always comes here to try and raid my library. Meiling was doing a good job keeping her at bay in recent months...until someone came and ruined that." Patchouli said glaring at John
"O-oh...well uh, I'm sorry?" He said sheepishly
"Sorry? SORRY?! Sorry is not going to cut it, I want my books back and you are going to get them!"
"What, why me?!"
"Because you're the reason they were stolen in the first place!"
"Patchouli please calm down." Remilia said with a giggle "that is indeed a reason I had you brought here, while I do not normally tolerate people coming into my mansion uninvited, you are an interesting person, and I do so enjoy interesting things!" She gave John a rather unsettling stare, which made him turn away.
"Uh...well I guess that is a fair reason, that and well, I fancy myself a bit of a mage as well and I would probably be pissed too if someone stole my books."
At this Meiling spoke up "You're a mage? I don't mean to be rude, but I'm not really sensing any magic from you. That chakra control was something I've never seen before though, who taught you that?"
"Just an old friend of mine, he taught me the ways of the Fist of Rhalgr." John replied
"Fist of Rhalgr...? I don't think I've ever heard of that." Meiling murmured
"That aside, I don't sense much magical capabilities from you." Patchouli said "So I find it a bit difficult to believe that you have any idea what the life of magician could be like."
At this, John smirked widely "Alright then...to that I have but only one word to say."
"And that would be?" Patchouli said as her eyebrow rose
"Scholar."
A flash of light engulfed John, when it dissipated; he was now wearing a green jacket with a yellow shirt and brown leggings, he also now had a pair of glasses and a mortarboard on his head, he couldn't help but smile at Patchouli "Now then, do you feel any different?"
Patchouli (as well as everyone else present) were left awestruck by what happened. They'd never seen something like this before and Patchouli took several moments to compose herself.
"What...did you do? The magic I feel from you is through the roof!" she exclaimed
"As I said, I fancy myself somewhat of a mage myself. To that end, I would be quite happy to help you, however there is but one stipulation I have."
"What, you actually have the gall to demand something after what you did?" Remilia growled
"And what's with your language, you weren't speaking like that before..." Meiling chimed in rubbing her chin
"It matters not; I only make the demand so that I may better help you in obtaining your stolen goods."
"Fine, what is this stipulation?" Patchouli asked
"The lake is too vast, and it would take hours for me to cross on foot, as such I would like be instructed on how to properly achieve aviation functions."
"Uh...what did he say?" Remilia asked peering towards Sakuya
"I believe he is saying he wishes to learn how to fly mistress."
"That would be the gist of it. Now would miss...I'm sorry, I've not learned your name."
"Patchouli"
"Ah yes, Miss Patchouli seems like she'd be a perfect instructor for this endeavor, I would like to begin practicing tomorrow, once I return."
"Return?" Remilia scoffs "Don't be foolish, you aren't leaving here until you fulfill your end of the bargain."
John's eyes went wide "B-but I must! I run a business, and I cannot leave my secretary to deal with the office all alone while I am out!"
"Frankly, I don't care...however; I know the problems that can occur when one leaves their place of work while busy with other matters. To that end, I shall have Sakuya deliver a message to this secretary of yours."
"Well, that's good. Tell her that I will be gone for a week."
"A week?!" everyone exclaimed at the same time
"Why would it take so long to get my books back?" Patchouli sighed
"Simple, if we were to try and make a move now, Marisa would no doubt be ready for us. Given that she is a witch, I would no doubt expect her to have wards of a sort around her dwelling, and she'd probably reinforce them if I or anyone else she knows that resides here were to appear at her home."
"A solid point...but why a week's wait?" Remilia asked
"We let her grow complacent, let her revel in her supposed victory, then when the time is right, we move in and steal the books back, simple no?"
"That...makes some sense actually. It could actually work." Patchouli nodded
"There is but one problem, we would need something to draw her out in case she's home when we make our move. I'm sure I'll have no problem sneaking into her home, but if she's actually in there, then that would be problematic."
"Then...I suppose I will be the distraction then." Patchouli said with finality "I should be able to keep her distracted long enough while you do what you have to."
"Sounds like we have a plan then, I hope we work well together." John said taking a swig of his drink
"Likewise, besides, you've gained my interest John." Patchouli said eyeing him over
"With this transformation, you went from giving off very little magical energy to practically bursting with it; I'd love to learn more about how you were able to cause something like that to happen."
John thought on that for a moment. The soul stones were his trump card right now, he had to be cautious about who he let know about it, if anyone at all, especially here of all places. Not too long ago Sakuya had cracked him over the head and just moments ago Remilia threatened him as well only but a few moments ago.
"Sorry, but that is a...personal matter. Perhaps some time in the future I will share that knowledge with you, but for now, I believe we should focus on the task at hand, as well as helping me learn to fly."
"Very well, we begin tomorrow then." Patchouli sighed, her eyes showing a hint of sadness at not being able to get her hands on the information she wanted
And so the night came and went, John having been herded back to the room that Sakuya had thrown him into. It'd act as his lodgings for now until next week when he'd undergo the mission.
The next day, Sakuya had departed to deliver John's message that he'd be staying at the mansion, and according to the maid she'd begged to come along to see him and make sure he was really okay. Unfortunately for her, Sakuya would have to ask her mistress if that was okay, and since she was a vampire, that meant that she wouldn't be waking up until nightfall. So the umbrella girl would at most have to wait another full day, however she was able to send John's bag with Sakuya once she had been brought up to speed on the situation.
John was thankful for Sakuya being so helpful once he'd heard that the message had been delivered, but he had to meet Patchouli to get his flight training underway. As such, Sakuya led him to the library, which he stopped and marveled at. He was completely floored by how huge the bookshelves were. They were large enough to walk on and John couldn't even see the top of some of them.
"I see you're here. Let's start without delay." Patchouli said walking over to him
"Right, I can't wait to fly on my own, let's do this Patchouli!"
What followed was hours of John trying his best to fly, since he was human, he had to go through some spell books, a simple spell (at least simple for Patchy) would grant him wings, and the ability to fly for as long as his mana would hold out. John, having returned to Scholar during all this spent hours casting the spell, he'd messed up quite a few times, as he couldn't maintain flight for more than a few moments at the least, or about a minute at best.
"One more time, I think you'll have it this time." Patchouli said sternly
"R-right." John muttered, feeling tired from all the spell-casting "Flight!" He exclaimed as a pair of white feathery wings appeared on his back. He gave them a few test flaps, before trying once again to lift of.
"Remember, just keep your focus, and don't worry about falling or anything like that." Patchouli instructed
John nodded, lifting off again, this time doing some laps around one of the bookcases, things seemed okay! He wasn't falling at all, and the spell itself didn't seem to be giving out, finally he'd done it!
"Hey Patchouli, I did it! I'm flying, I'm really flying, this great-ugh!"
In his excitement, John hadn't paid attention where he was going and flew straight into a bookshelf. Patchouli couldn't help but laugh silently as she walked over to John to help him up. "Well, you still need to work on staying aware of your surroundings, but otherwise, not bad, I didn't expect you to actually progress so well in one day."
"Thanks." John said taking her hand and getting to his feet. "With that done, all we've got to do is wait for a few days until we put the plan in action."
"Quite...now then, about that bracelet you're wearing...do you mind if I...?"
"No."
Patchouli could only let out small sigh of annoyance. There was something about that thing...or rather the stones inside it. She could feel something was odd about them, but she didn't know what it was exactly. She'd have to push her curiosity to the side for now, what mattered most was preparing to get her books back.
You know this chapter felt pretty long as I wrote it. I always feel like I'm writing too little whenever I get a chapter going, but I always thought anywhere from 4-5k would be big enough to constitute a good length for a chapter. If anyone has any input on that, please do let me know.