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 Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 10:52 am
I'm writing a small story right now and I'm coming up with blanks as to how to keep going with it. Anyway story in posts to follow. Anyway, I have the first bit of the next chapter working and it involves some powers, one of the characters going psycho and a few berserk button moments. Anyway, any help/comments would be appreciated.
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Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 11:27 am
"Twelve Years Ago."
It was dark, the boy couldn't see anything. He was running as fast as he could over the cold ground, led by someone he couldn't quite see. They turned left, then another left, and a right, his heart was racing, he looked back and saw a sea of torches, and soldiers with horrifying faces but he couldn't stop running, he could hear their thundering footsteps drawing ever closer to him but he didn't stop running. He knew if he stopped they would get him, and he didn't want that. he ran for what seemed to him like forever, then he noticed that he could no longer feel the hand of the person that was leading him, nor could he hear their footsteps. Alone, he stopped running and fell to his knees. The torches surrounded him, then the ground crumbled away and he fell, into a black abyss, he fell for what felt like an eternity.
Kilk Rochette awoke with a scream, when he finally noticed that he was in his bedroom he felt relieved and fell back to his bed. Wondering at first where that awful dream came from and why it was so horrible he slowly began to calm down. Just when he started to relax again a face appeared above him. Startled he almost jumped right out of his skin, then he noticed whose face it was. It was the face of a young girl with long dark brown hair, he didn't remember too much about her, only that she was his sister and she had been there every day when he woke up to check on him. She wore a yellow shirt and black pants, her long hair was tied back into a ponytail. She was about twelve years old, average height and had a worried look on her face.
"Are you okay?" Asked the brown haired girl in a concerned voice. "It sounded like you were having a nightmare, you were groaning, tossing and turning. It sounded pretty bad."
He just nodded, though immensely relieved that what he saw was only a dream though he still would not speak a word. He hadn't spoken at all since they had come home just about a week earlier and no one knew why. But his sister was starting to get worried.
A hint of sadness crept into her now forced smile as she realized that he wouldn't talk today either, she said. "So, still not talking huh Kilk?" Like always she kept trying to get him to say something to her. Even if it was simply 'go away' she would have been happy. But after several failed attempts at striking up conversation she turned away from the child's bed and said. "Okay then I'll just be go-."
She cut off when she heard a woman's voice call from downstairs. "Elise, I need your help for a minute." The voice echoed through the house. Kilk recognized that voice, it was the only other voice he remembered besides that of the girl that stood next to him. It was the voice of his mother, at least as far as he knew, or as far as he was concerned for that matter. He didn't have much (If any at all) memory of anything that had happened prior to a week ago. The first thing he remembered was bits of his mother's voice and an image of her standing over him, smiling. For some strange reason, though he couldn't quite place why. He had a feeling that it was the happiest he had ever felt in his life.
Elise stood there musing over what her mother could want from her. It was still early so there couldn't be too much that she wanted. "She must need help with breakfast or something." Elise thought turning toward the door of the little five year-old's room. There wasn't much else her mother Lexi could want at this time of day. "Yeah Mom, I'm comin'." Elise shouted down the stairs and after saying goodbye to her little brother that still lay there in the bed turned to leave.
After a few minutes of lying there in that bed, Kilk began to get restless. He threw the blanket off of his small frame and climbed down from the bed that was almost as tall as he was, and walked over to the dresser opposite the bed. Lexi hadn't had much of a chance to prepare a room for Kilk since they got back, she was kept busy On it set a small brown bear, after a long look at the stuffed animal that sat on the dresser he started to feel annoyed at the incessant itching feeling of the bandages against his arm. He reached for the bandages to undo them, and when he did he heard his mother say in his head. "Now I don't want you to take those bandages off until the cuts on your arms are all better, 'kay?" Still he wanted the bandages off, so he slowly unwound the bandage from the upper portion of his arm. He was happy when he saw that his cut was the color that she said that it would have to be before he could take the bandages off. Seeing this he quickly finished unwrapping the strip from his arm letting it fall in a heap on the floor of his room. Then he ran down the stairs to show his mother his arm.
Downstairs Elise and her mother were busy making breakfast. Hearing the sound of the now lively five year-old coming down the stairs, Elise came out from the families small kitchen to see what all the commotion was about. Stopping Kilk at the bottom of the stairs, Elise noticed that he had taken off the bandages that covered his arm. "Now what did you do here?" She asked turning the young boy to see his now un-bandaged right arm. "Holy, Mom come take a look at this."
From the door to the kitchen of the small household came a tall light-haired woman. She wore brown overalls with a green shirt, her light almost platinum blond hair was tied back into a tight ponytail, and her bright green eyes shone with a curious intrigue at what her daughter was calling her out to see.
"What is it dear? What do you want me to see?" She cut off her sentence when she gazed upon the bandages, or lack thereof on her son's right arm. "Now, what have we here?" She walked over and knelt down to get a better look. "Amazing." She thought. "I just treated those a few days ago and they're almost completely healed." She stood there puzzled, letting all of the amazement she felt sink in. Then straightening up she said. "Now isn't that great." She patted her five year-old son and continued. "I guess your arm's all better now huh little one?" Her son nodded, and she turned to get back to making the family's breakfast.
After taking only three steps toward the house's small kitchen a massive man burst through the front door. He stood about five foot eleven inches out of breath and looking like he had just seen a ghost. "Lexi!" The man finally said after a long run of panting. "You've gotta get to the North Gate now!"
"What is it Ralin?" Lexi replied. "Is something wrong?" The large man proceeded to tell Lexi that he and his guards had found a man collapsed just east of the village while they were gathering some firewood. They took the man out to the town square and now Aldon the new Village Chief and a large group of people are there talking with him. "Alright." Lexi said heading for the door. "Elise you and Kilk stay here."
"Yes Mom." Elise said as her mother ran out the door. She turned back to Kilk and reassured him that their mother would be back as soon as she could and proposed that the two of them indulge in that breakfast that their mother had been working at before they were all so rudely interrupted. He still didn't say anything, but she could tell from the way he moved that he understood and that he was wholeheartedly agreeing with her(though he still didn't say it).
After about two minutes of running they could see that out in the town square a crowd had gathered. Just as Ralin had told her earlier they seemed to be crowded around a person on the ground. Lexi and Ralin pushed through the group until the man sat at their feet. He was lying on his back with his head resting on the legs of Aldon, the Village Chief.
"How is he Aldon?" Lexi asked in a concerned tone common to the people of her profession when she finally pushed through the crowd.
"Not good." The man that was holding on to the head of the injured fellow said in a sad tone. "He's badly injured. I'm amazed that he was able to walk all the way here from Balir."
Aldon had just recently took over the position of village chief from his father who had passed away a few months sooner. Lexi remembered getting a letter from Aldon all the way in Fortuna telling her that his father had died after being sick for a few weeks. She also remembered how she was so angry at him for not telling her that his father was sick that she had planned to read him the riot act six ways from Sunday and back again. A plan that she never carried out, much to the relief of the target of her malcontent. He was barely more than 29, he stood about five foot ten inches and had short black hair. He wore a pair of round glasses that always seemed to slip from his face whenever he got nervous or too excited. He was not a very large man but when worse came to worse he could scrap with the best of them. She admired him for that, he was by no means quick to a fight but once he got involved he always made sure the other guy got more than he bargained for. She always laughed to herself when she saw the men that Aldon had fought with, and when she asked them what happened they usually looked away, too embarrassed to answer the question.
"He came all the way from Balir?" Lexi exclaimed in a combination of disbelief and curiosity. "with those injuries he should have been dead long before he even made it here."
"I said I was from Balir." The man on the ground strained. "And those injuries aren't as bad as they look." He said trying his damnedest to hide the pain with a large smile. "Anyway I got attacked when I ran into a patrol trying to find the hunting parties that were out at the time of the attack. I was about ten kilometers out from the town along the Haelin River."
This unnerved Lexi, they had passed very close to Balir on their way home from Solfan. This confirmed her suspicions about the group that the injured man spoke of. she could have sworn that she saw a group of people in the cliffs above the Haelin river, but she dismissed it at first as the light playing tricks on her. Now she was certain that what she believed that she saw was in fact real, and she was quite certain that it was this group that had injured Kilk and gave him those horrific nightmares. What scared Lexi the most, was that if the injuries this man had were of any indication of the terror they were going to likely face, they could be in for one hell of a ride. Balir's hunters were known for a insurmountable tenacity as well as a great deal of skill in hand to hand combat, augmented more so by the affinity they had for fighting anything and everything in the woods.
She flashed a look at Aldon that told him her concerns, and Aldon returned with one of reassurance. She could tell from the look that Aldon returned to her that he had pieced together the facts about what was likely to conspire there before long. He was the only one in the world, outside of Lexi and her daughter that knew the truth behind Kilk's injuries. She could see from the look in his eyes that he was just as concerned about Kilk, the people of the village, and everything else as she was. Then she turned her gaze to the space behind Aldon.
Behind Aldon stood two men equally as large as Ralin, one dark skinned with brown hair, the other had skin about half a shade lighter than the man on his right and had hair somewhere between a sandy brown and a light red. These men were Ralin's proteges, the rest of the group that stood watch at the gates day in and day out. There was a kind of unrest in their stance and stare, and Lexi couldn't tell whether it came from anxiety over the undoubtedly coming fight, or from fear of something coming that they might not be able to handle on their own.
"Attack!? Who would want to attack a backwoods town like Balir?" One of the massive gatekeepers exclaimed. "There's nothing out there for someone to attack them for."
"Quiet John!" Lexi snapped. It was amazing to see that Lexi could, with just one quick snap at the giant that stood before her make him stop him dead in his tracks and chill him through to the bone. "Now could you tell where the men were from?" She asked turning back to the man that lay on the ground before her.
"No. I couldn't. I only know that they fought like devils. I was barely able to escape with my life." The man took a long pause looking as if he was trying to catch breath that just wouldn't come to him, he continued. "I hid in a tree. Tried my best to dress my wounds enough so that I wouldn't bleed all the way here. I was able to stay in the trees for most of the way, I fell to the ground about two kilometers away. I think that I broke a few ribs."
"You broke quite a bit more than your ribs Mr.-" Lexi said to the injured man.
"Cade." The man said. "my name is Alastor Cade."
"Mr. Cade." Lexi continued "You're in luck, not only are you still alive, but you managed to make it to one of the best doctors on this continent."
"It is true. Miss Alexandra is probably the best doctor I've ever seen." Aldon reassured him. "Probably the best I ever will see."
"Aldon I told you not to call me that. It's Lexi, just Lexi." Lexi said to the man in glasses.
"Either way you got lucky today buddy." Ralin said with a massive smile that one wouldn't think possible, even from a man of his size.
"I wouldn't say that quite yet." Mr. Cade said in a grim tone. "Those men I mentioned, the ones that attacked Balir. I think that they are coming here." He winced in pain once he finished.
"How do you figure?" Lexi asked.
Mr. Cade looked up at the lithe frame of the doctor that would be treating his wounds, and reluctantly began. "Well after I lost the group that attacked me, I overheard one of the raiders talking to one of their higher-ups." Cade started. "The raider told him that they found me and had injured me pretty badly, and suggested that they comb the area to make sure that I didn't get away." Cade paused. "Well the Captain or whatever he was told him not to bother with it, because from the severity of the injuries that he saw them inflict he thought I wouldn't be able to get too far before dying. Little did he know that I had possess enough medical skill to perform a temporary patch job that would last hopefully long enough to get to another town." He paused again. "Anyway after that he told the raider to come back to the town and comb every inch of it to make sure they got all of the people there and that they would leave for here in two days."
"Two days!" Ralin said incredulously. "It must have taken you half a day to get here at least."
Cade cringed from the pain of a cracked rib. "A little more than that but yes." Cade replied.
That was all Ralin could take, his concern for the people that he'd been charged to protect had changed into panic and a small trace of fear. "How are we gonna be ready for an attack that's probably gonna happen tomorrow?" Ralin asked desperately as he found himself looking around for support.
"Ralin calm down." Lexi said to the veritable behemoth that stood shaking in front of her. "Alright I can't treat him here, take him to the infirmary please."
"Yes Ma'am." John said. "Come on Dorian." The other two gate keepers hefted the man up and started off toward the village's hospital. "Now." Lexi said turning to Aldon. "Are you gonna be alright preparing countermeasures Aldon?"
"Yes Lexi I can handle preparations while you take care of Mr. Cade." Aldon said with a smile. "So don't worry about anything."
Satisfied with the confidence in the gaze that came from Aldon's bespectacled eyes Lexi let go of the worry about the plan to defend their homes. "Okay then, come and talk to me once you have finished making a plan, there's something that I would like to discuss with you." Lexi said as she started off after Dorian and John.
Aldon was ready to get started, after seeing his friend off he turned back to the bewildered crowd and prepared for the shock and awe that was likely to follow his plan of attack.
"Okay, Let's get started." Aldon said to the crowd adjusting his glasses as they had started to slip down his face. "How do you think we should handle thes guys?" He asked the bewildered crowd.
Appalled that Aldon would even be considering standing up to these people a man burst in. "You must be crazy! You can't possibly expect us to fight these guys?" Clearly shaking and scared out of his mind the man continued. "From what that guy said they completely destroyed Balir. How can we possibly fight people like that?"
"Easily, we hit them until they aren't standing anymore." A man near him said slapping him on the back.
Once again adjusting his glasses Aldon interjected. "I personally wouldn't worry about that." He paused then giving the group a reassuring smile. "I have a plan."
"Now seriously Aldon this really isn't the time for jokes." Said the second man.
"Oh really, well then let's get down to business." Aldon said.
Back at the infirmary sitting in the waiting room after over six hours of surgery and treatment, Lexi was exhausted. She sat there waiting for Aldon to come and tell her what they had come up with. While she was waiting she had a lot of time to think. About what she would say to Elise and Kilk, about what possibly could happen tomorrow, "Alright that's enough of that." Lexi thought. "Start thinkin like that and we're definitely gonna lose. After about 5 minutes of waiting she heard that familiar voice say.
"So how is he?"
Turning around Lexi said in a relieved yet still noticeably concerned tone. "He'll be just fine, if he'd got here two hours later though, he'd probably be dead now. He was pretty beat up, all kinds of internal bleeding, one of his lungs collapsed before we could get him all the way into the OR, and I took care of the broken bones as best I could. He wont be doing very much for a while but he'll be fine." She smiled at the five foot seven inch man and joked. "Of all of the places he could end up in the condition he was in, he sure hit the jackpot when he ended up here."
"Lucky dog." Aldon replied smiling when he recognized that she was using her "joking to keep from being sad" tone.
They had a good laugh and then, sensing a need to get down to business Lexi dropped the pretenses and said. "You have a plan then?"
"More or less." Aldon replied adjusting his glasses. "You remember Mr. Howard?"
Lexi gave Aldon a "What are you thinking?" glare then having no idea where her childhood friend was going with this line of questioning, asked. "The schoolteacher?"
Aldon smiled when he realized that she hadn't caught on to what he was planning. "Yes, but more so the prank we pulled on him the first day we had him."
It had finally dawned on Lexi what her old friend had in mind, Mr. Howard was their teacher many years ago. During her teenage years Lexi had been known to be, for lack of a better term, pure evil. Mr. Howard also had a reputation as one of the most evil teachers in the history of their little town. She came up with a series of traps for that man that no one thought would work, this was mostly because some of the traps relied on him making specific attempts to avoid the previous ones. But the first day of class, it went off without a hitch, they humiliated the teacher got a good laugh and Lexi got a certain degree of respect out of the man known as "The Homeroom Teacher From Hell." In her opinion it was well worth the three weeks of detention and the vicious scolding her mother gave her. She chuckled at the idea and said. "So how exactly are we going to use that? I mean, I realize that I was an evil genius but. I don't exactly see how that is gonna help us at all."
Keeping his glasses from falling off of his face Aldon replied. "There will be some minor alterations, of course. But I always say 'You should show your visitors a good time.' Besides, you look like you're in need of a little fun."
"And I'm sure that our guests will appreciate your attention to every little detail." She said as seriously as possible. But when her old friend's glasses nearly fell off of his face, she couldn't help but break out into a fit of laughter.
"Oh yeah Lexi, That thing you asked me to take care of. It's done and here you are." He handed her an envelop of papers. "You don't have anything to worry about now. As far as anybody knows, Kilk is in fact your biological son."
"As far as I am concerned Aldon, he is my son." Returned Lexi in a concerned tone. "But thank you. Oh and Aldon."
"Yes Lexi, what is it?" Asked Aldon genuinely intrigued.
She took a short pause before answering. Then half-guilty and half-sad she said. "The more I think about it. The more I'm sure that Kilk is what these guys are after."
"Well don't worry about it too much." Aldon said. "They won't get a chance to do anything if I have anything to say about it."
Satisfied at his answer and thankful for what he did for her, Lexi said. "Alright I leave it to you then, I have to get home. Thanks again."
"Okay, I'll see you later." Aldon said as the two parted ways.
Lexi walked back through the door of her small house feeling extremely relieved. "Oh am I glad this day is coming to an end." She thought as she walked through the house looking for her children. Having a pretty good idea as to where they were at this particular time she called up to her son's room as she walked into her study. "Elise I'm home!" She walked to her desk and unlocked a drawer on the lower left side. Inside were various important things, spare family pictures, birth certificates, and things of the like. A feeling of nostalgia came over her as she pulled a slip of paper from the envelop she carried and placed it into the drawer. Then with a satisfied glance at the photos shut and locked it, putting the key back in its original hiding place.
Just then her daughter walked into the room with a look on her face that was something between joy and and pride. Before she could even ask what it was that made her so happy she told her.
"Kilk is finally talking." Elise said with a satisfied sigh as she let herself fall into the chair opposite the desk and her mother.
"Really?" Lexi asked her daughter incredulously. "When did this start?" This was a very big deal, Kilk hadn't spoken a single word since they had returned home less than a week earlier. Lexi and Elise both knew that he could talk as he could understand everything they said and could tell them (without speaking, of course) how he was feeling and what he wanted. Lexi knew that it was due to the trauma he suffered that he wouldn't speak, and she was surprised that he would come out of it so soon. "I wonder what started this." Lexi mused as her attention returned to the conversation with her daughter.
"A few hours ago. It wasn't a lot, but he said something." Then anticipating the next question, Elise answered it before it was spoken. "He said, 'where's my mommy?' then we had a short talk about where you went and if he'd want something to eat. He's asleep now." She said with a glance back in the direction of the five year old's room.
"You know." Her mother said to her quietly, as if she was telling her a secret. "His birthday is tomorrow. Maybe we should add that to the list of things to celebrate. What do you think?"
Lexi saw her daughter's eyes light up, she looked like a child walking into a candy store that was just told she could have whatever she wanted. "I think that's a great idea Mom. He seemed to miss you quite a bi-" Then before she could finish her sentence they both noticed the small figure of the five year old Kilk standing in the doorway. Lexi noticed that he was clutching the leg of the teddy bear that Lexi had snuck into his arms their first night back in the house when he was having a nightmare. She began thinking about how it had belonged to Lexi herself when she was younger, and seemed to be the only thing that would make the nightmares go away. "Well not the only thing." Lexi thought as she remembered a lullaby that she knew that helped as well, though not nearly as much as that old worn-out teddy bear did.
Lexi walked over to the noticeably terrified child. Then crouching down to be at eye level with him said. "What's wrong little one?" Lexi asked crouching down to be closer to the same level as the child. "You have a bad dream?"
"Uh huh." Came the weak, still sleep-laden voice of the five year-old.
"Okay then." Lexi said standing up. "How about I make us all some dinner seeing that you're already up?"
Kilk nodded at the idea and said in his noticeably weak voice said. "Okay Mommy."
Elise and Kilk walked out into the living room and as they did Lexi thought to herself. "How could I ever tell that kid how he really came to live here?" Then heaving a great sigh thought. "That's a conversation that I'll save for another time. Though hopefully the time for that conversation will never come." As far as she was concerned he was just as much her child as Elise was. Then with a satisfied sigh at the sight of her children waiting for dinner she called. "Come on, we're makin' a family dinner, why don't we make it as a family."
Hearing this Elise and Kilk were both in the kitchen so fast that Lexi was surprised that there wasn't a trail of fire following the both of them there, and she thought.
"Tomorrow can wait."
The next morning Lexi and Aldon rounded up everyone and got them to the town hall to discuss what was going to happen that night.
"I'm sure most of you are aware that yesterday a man collapsed outside of the village." Aldon said as he paced along the stage. "According to this man he was from the Town of Balir to the northeast of us. He also told us that the town was destroyed by a band of raiders." Aldon adjusted his glasses and continued. "Now these raiders are apparently going across the countryside from town to town looking for something, we have no idea what it is but according to what Mr. Cade heard from the raiders it is a person." Seeing the terror creeping onto the faces of the people in the crowded hall Aldon said. "We have come up with a plan to keep what happened in Balir from happening here, and I need to ask that anyone with the ability to fight step forward and help the rest of us protect this place that we all hold so dear." Aldon smiled and asked. "Now who's with me?"
Several of the men in the crowd stood up and one in particular said. "I'm in, I don't know how I would be able to live with myself if I didn't do all I could to protect my home."
Before the end of the meeting 42 people had volunteered, Aldon led these brave men and women to help finish the preparations for that night while Lexi finished evacuating everyone else to the safe house under the south end of town.
Once she had finished Lexi met up with Aldon by the North Gate to wait for the party to start.
"How long do you think we have?" Lexi asked as Aldon stared intently at the space in front of the gate.
"I sent a group of scouts out to see what they could find. According to them we've got about ten minutes until they're right on top of us." Aldon replied as if he'd been anticipating that question for the past few hours.
"Everything set for when our guests arrive?" Lexi asked.
"Yep." Aldon told her in an anxious tone. "It's all over but the cryin' Lex."
"Well then." She said as she heard a thunder of footsteps. "It looks like this party is about to get crazy." Lexi drew a Bo staff while Aldon brandished twin revolvers dubbed "Lucky Seven", these revolvers are known as "Caster Guns" as are all weapons that fire magic bullets. After the Cultural Reform 14 years ago these weapons have become highly regulated, with most of them only given to military officers (most of the standard infantry used bladed weapons and magic attacks to do all of their fighting). Aldon had been given these weapons by his father, the previous chief who had received them for the fighting he did in Alanis' war with Sylfaria more than 20 years ago. Ralin and his gatekeepers held massive clubs that looked to be limbs simply ripped from the branches of nearby trees. As the thunderous steps drew closer Ralin turned to Lexi and Aldon and said.
"Alright, showtime." Lexi and Aldon moved behind the gates and Ralin began his act. "Back to your posts you morons!" Ralin shouted as one of the figures came into view, Ralin turned as his sentries returned to their posts on either side of the gate. He turned to the man that stood before him and said. "Sorry about that. My men have a nasty tendency of being a little too impetuous." He said in a tone that he was sure Dorian and John could hear.
"Apology accepted." Said the armored man. "We're looking for a fugitive on the run from a prison off the coast. Anyone like that come through here?"
"Nope." Said Ralin crossing his gigantic arms. "I don't remember seeing anyone come through here new for, let me see, about 3 months." Ralin strained trying to recall. "No wait, there was one person."
"And whom might that be?" The man inquired.
"No one special. Just our doctor and her daughter, she'd been on a trip out west for some time now. Teachin' doctors in the back water towns out there I think." Replied the giant gatekeeper as he scratched his head in rememberance.
"Even so I hope you won't mind if my men and I have a look?" Said the armored man in a tone of feigned sincerity. He stepped forward as if to walk past Ralin and into the village.
"Actually I would mind." The giant man said as he slammed the end of his equally massive club into the ground in front of the man. "You see I make it a point not to do anything like that without the Chief's approval." Ralin said in a seemingly apologetic tone. "If you don't mind me asking, on who's authority are you searching?"
"Mine." The man said as a wave of soldiers burst through the trees.
"It's party time boys!!" Ralin shouted as he swung at the man that stood no more than 5 feet from him.
The man jumped back right into step with the wave of soldiers running toward the gates. When Aldon saw that all of them were in position he shot the rope above the gate, with a loud creak that would wake the dead the trunk of a tree swung down and plowed through the line of men, those that weren't mowed down by it jumped into the air to avoid it. When they did they met with the arrows of the town hunters who had positioned themselves on the roofs of houses in close proximity to the gate. With that first attack, most all of the wave were killed, those that remained ran forward in rage only to fall into a spike pit that had been set on the outside of the 12 foot wide main path into town.
"What? No more? And I was just beginning to have fun too". Ralin said with pity when all of the soldiers had fallen.
But his joking was cut short when everyone heard an ominous voice call from the forest. "And that Cedric is why the pawns go first." With that more than a thousand torches lit beyond the tree line. "Surrender." The voice called again as an army of men stepped out from the trees. "Give us the kid and maybe I forget about you killing several of my men."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Aldon said as he stepped out tapping his revolver on his shoulder.
"Somehow Aldon, I don't think they quite grasp what they have gotten themselves into." Lexi said stepping out from the gate.
"Neither do I old friend." He replied. "Care to show them how deep in the s**t they are?" He turned to Lexi completely ignoring the force that was staring them down.
"I'd be honored." Lexi said. "Let's Rock!" She shouted out the signal for the offensive to begin.
Almost at the exact moment that the signal had been given, Ralin and his men hit that sea of bodies in a staggered line and began rapidly clearing dozens of soldiers like they were threshing wheat. Lexi took off into the air with a leap that one would swear no human could pull off. She landed smack in the middle between the areas that Ralin and Dorian were clearing. Aldon stood behind, revolvers in-hand running crowd control. He would make sure that none of them got into the village alive while the rest made sure that the only way they left was in a box.
Bodies continued piling up and it seemed that nothing would be able to stop that small group from singlehandedly taking out each and every one of those soldiers. Then they heard one of the sentries shout. "They're attacking the eastern side!"
Instinctively they all knew what was coming next. Before Lexi even had a chance to tell him Ralin performed one last clearing motion then shouted for Ethan and Dorian to secure the other gates. Aldon drew a blade from his coat and hurled it up into the air above Lexi, then bringing his other revolver back up began providing cover for the gatekeepers' exit. Lexi vaulted off one of the soldiers by ramming her Bo staff into his abdomen, then in the air grabbed Aldon's sword and began dispatching as many as she could to make up for the absence of the massive men that once stood there. "Give 'em hell." Lexi thought as she came to the ground.
Without Ralin and the other gatekeepers more and more began bleeding through their line. Lexi shouted for Aldon only to hear a preemptive cry of "I've got it!" come from her old friend. "Looks like I'm gonna get a workout after all." Aldon said in a sarcastic tone.
Lexi wasn't surprised, everyone knew their parts perfectly. Almost as if they had been doing this forever, though they have been friends since they were children. Then resigning to simply rely on everyone to do their part Lexi returned her attention to the battle at hand."Sorry, if I had known you were getting bored I would have let a few more of them go." She replied with a matching hint of sarcasm. After twenty minutes of fighting the numbers at the north end dwindled down to about thirty and just when everyone started seeing a small glimmer of hope some news rang across the air that chilled the blood of everyone that heard it.
"They got Ethan!" Ralin's booming voice rang out from the eastern end. "They're starting to get through!"
She stood there stunned. Lexi couldn't believe that one of these beasts was strong enough to actually kill one of them. The shock faded away into anger as she was surrounded by the remaining men. But just as they raised their blades to strike, Lexi kicked one of them in the chest with such force that it bent in the armor of the brute, he dropped his blade which she took up and with the one she took from Aldon spun and cut the throat of every man that surrounded her. When she was done she shot a glare at Aldon that would freeze the blood of nearly any man in its veins. Aldon recognized that glare and as she told him to go back up Ralin on the eastern side he thought. "Oh s**t, they've gone and done it now. They've gone and pissed her off." He then ran off help Ralin on the east side.
"Too bad little girl, If you had listened to us and handed over the boy maybe your friend wouldn't be dead right now." Said the man shaking his head. He was wearing armor similar to his compatriots but his had sharper pauldrons and he had chosen to forgo the helmet that the others worn with their armor. His was also a different color than the rest of the invading force, his was red where the others wore blue. He was bald, about as tall as Ralin was but with a slim build. His eyes had a demonic sort of quality to them, like he would kill anyone without so much as batting an eye.
That quality in his eyes pissed Lexi off more than anything. It was for that reason she would make sure that he suffered for Ethan's death. "That is the least of your worries now." Lexi said. "What name sir, belongs to you?"
"My name? My name is Rath, though I highly doubt that you will live long enough for it to matter." He shouted as he drew his blade and charged.
"Funny, I was gonna say the same thing to you." Lexi said with a sneer as the two went at it.
For a while, Lexi seemed to have the upper hand. Rath looked to not be able to keep up with the speed of Lexi's blows and was being pushed back. But that didn't last long. Soon he began to move faster and faster, his blows began coming with more and more force. Lexi could no longer retain her advantage and was being pushed back into the village. Knowing that there was no other choice, Lexi decided to kick off the training wheels and put all of what she had left into her last gambit, a move that had never failed her before. She manipulates heat around her body so that she would appear to be attacking from every possible angle at once, she'd then react to her opponent blocking and go for the nearest lethal strike. It always worked, at least until today. Rath did something that she didn't believe to be possible, he moved faster than her. He stepped over to her so fast that she barely knew he was there before he knocked away her weapon and slammed her into the fountain in the center of town. But then, as her fate began to look bleak, just as he prepared to deliver the final blow, something caught his attention.
Back on the eastern end of the village Ralin was doing his best against a formidable adversary. Rath's second-in-command Cedric, was slowly but surely getting the better of the giant. Half enraged at him killing his friend and student Ethan, and struggling with an injury inflicted on him when he wasn't paying attention. It was starting to look bleak for the man known as "Hecatonchire Hammer." On the ground he sat, panting and hardly able to move. Moving to strike the finishing blow, Cedric said. "Seriously now, that can't be all you have." He walked around to be in front of Ralin. "Now if you don't mind I'm going to end this seeing as neither you nor your dead friend could put up a decent fight." He lept into the air, intending to strike the final blow when a shot diverted him from his target. "What the hell!"
"So you're looking for a fight huh?" Aldon said as he walked over. "Well then come on sugar show me what you've got."
"Alright then." Cedric said. "I'll show you a good time." With that he charged at Aldon, sword drawn and murder in his eyes.
Aldon reached for his blade as well, but only felt an empty sheath. "Oh yeah, I gave it to Lexi. Not good." Thought Aldon and feeling the need to change his battle plan Aldon dodged Cedric's downward slash with a roll toward a felled soldier and, picking up his weapon turned to face his adversary.
They rushed together and loosed blows on each other that for the life of him, Ralin couldn't follow. Twenty seconds into the exchange Aldon threw Cedric back about ten feet.
"How can you expect to beat me, when you came here without a blade to fight me with? How absurd, to think that you could ever beat me." Cedric said in a cocky and inflammatory tone.
"Actually mine's on loan." Aldon replied in a calm almost uncaring tone.
"To who?" Came a truly intrigued inquiry from the murderous man.
"The woman who right now." Aldon paused for dramatic effect. "Is probably driving it through the heart of that demon commander of yours."
Shocked and enraged at the remark of this shrimp of a man, he tightened his grip on his blade and made to charge. "I'll kill you for saying that!" He began his charge wildly with a horrific guttural roar.
Disappointed that his foe had been so easily goaded into making a hopeless attack, Aldon simply raised his revolver and said one thing. "You wanted a fight, well buddy you hit the jackpot." With one shot this enemy fell like all of the others before him.
Rath sheathed his weapon, turned away from Lexi and looked down the alleyway. Wondering what could have caught his attention like that she inched up from her resting place. She looked down the alley and saw what it was, her son, it was her son that he saw at the end of that alley pale as a sheet, his emerald eyes wide with fright and shaking worse than she'd ever seen. She tried to move but she couldn't, she could only sit there and watch. "No." She thought. "I can still do something."
"Run Kilk!! Run away!" Lexi shouted down the alley to her son but he couldn't hear her. He was scared out of his mind. He saw nothing, only the demon that moved ever closer to him. He curled up into a ball, closed his eyes and kept whispering for it to go away. Half-hoping that he would wake up in his bed and this will have all been a nightmare.
The man laughed as he reached out his hand to grab Kilk. He got to about 5 feet from Kilk when a bubble of red light covered him. "Ah so it is you after all." Rath said as he turned his head to call for his men. Once he turned away from Kilk, something amazing happened. All Lexi saw of it was a spray of blood from Rath's back. He fell backward and she saw it, a spike protruding from the barrier that surrounded her son.
She was stunned, Lexi could barely believe what she was seeing. Mentally she pinched herself to be sure she wasn't dreaming. "How could he have done that? How is this even possible?" Lexi mused as she sat there staring at the bubble of red light in the middle of the alleyway. After she got over the initial shock, Lexi said. "Amazing." She stood up and a sharp pain shot through her chest. "Three broken ribs." She thought. "He hits a lot harder than I thought." She shrugged off the pain and continued to Kilk, but the barrier around him didn't fall. She got as close as the barrier would allow and she said. "Now now little one. It's alright, no one is going to hurt you." Then she sang to him the lullaby she remembered from her childhood. As she sang the veil of red light retreated into nothingness, she picked him up and said quietly to the sleeping child.
"Happy birthday, little one."
Next Chapter - "The Departure"
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Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 12:33 pm
"The Departure"
"Again Kilk!" Lexi bellowed. "How do you expect to protect anything like that!?" She returned to her stance and said. "Again, with some feeling!"
Exhausted and barely able to stand, Kilk somehow brought forward the strength to pull himself back into his stance. He knew the round of training only continued until he could no longer stand, but he was determined to prove himself to his mother.
"So, you still want to go?" Lexi said. "Okay then Little One, let's rock." With that the new round of training started.
Lexi and Kilk ran toward each other, Lexi stopped and swung her arm at Kilk's face. Kilk dropped under the attack, rolled right and tried to kick her. Lexi jumped back, then launched forward with a straight kick. Kilk let the kick collide with his left arm, then grabbed her leg, yanked her forward and sweep kicked at her other leg. Lexi fell toward the ground, stopped her fall with her arms, and kicked at her son's head. Kilk rolled to the left to avoid the feared kick of his mother/trainer then jumped up and returned to his stance. Lexi did the same and they returned to the clash. They exchanged several punches then Kilk jumped slightly and spin kicked, Lexi ducked to dodge the first attack then rolled to avoid the second spinning kick that he performed when he returned to ground.
Lexi hit him open-palmed square in the chest and he slid back several feet. As he stood there half-slumped over trying to catch his breath, she said. "You leave far too many openings. Keep going like that, and those instructors will tear you apart."
Finally able to fill his lungs completely with air, Kilk coughed and answered. "Quit talking and let's keep going."
Again amazed at how much of a beating that her child could take she shrugged and smiled as she thought of how thick of a head her son had to keep going. Then returning to the matter at hand, shook her head then said. "If that's how you want it, I'll be happy to oblige!" Lexi sprang forward with speed unlike anything Kilk had ever seen. He had seen enough of her movements just before to anticipate a high sweep kick so he ducked just in time to feel the air displaced by his mother's fiercely strong kick buffet his face. What he didn't see coming was the second, more fearsome swing that awaited him after he had commited to dodging low. The second that he finished his move to dodge the first kick Kilk was blasted in the ribs by the second part of Lexi's attack. The next thing Kilk knew he was looking up at his mother from the flat of his back. "And that, my son is why." Lexi said as her form contorted to that of Rath, the horrifying soldier that he remembered from so long ago. "You will always lose!" The demonic voice howled as its horrifying form thrust a halberd at Kilk.
"Aaaaaah!" Kilk screamed as he awoke in a cold sweat. "Just a dream." He thought. "Boy is that a relief." This was the fourth time this week that he had a dream similar to that one in that all of them ended with a nightmare from so long ago.
Knowing that he would not be able to get back to sleep now that he was awake, Kilk resolved to get a little early morning training in before his test. He threw on his training gear and climbed out his window. He walked out onto the section of roof that separated his bedroom window from the ground below and jumped off. After making the twenty foot fall to the ground he landed bent legged and launched himself into a forward roll, disapating the force from the impact and keeping the bones in his legs from shattering. When he stood back up after the roll, a chill shot through him when he heard.
"Where are we off to so early Kilk?" Lexi's voice came in her "you're busted" tone. A tone that Kilk had become very familiar with over the years, and as it was often accompanied with extremely brutal training sessions Kilk had come to fear it. Almost instinctively Kilk dropped to the ground to pretend like he was sleepwalking and had just dropped back into sleep. But she wasn't fooled. Lexi walked over to him picked up a bucket of water that lay by the house and threw it on him. "Rise and shine sweetness! I know that wasn't what you went to bed with, and I know that you were heading out for a little early morning excercise. So get up, let's go."
Kilk stood there, in the middle of their semi-secluded training ground freezing cold from the dousing with twenty degree water that he got for playing dead. Teeth chattering, shaking like a leaf, his bright red hair still sopping wet, Kilk stood there. Waiting for what his mother/master had planned for his training today.
"Today's the day huh Kilk?" Lexi asked. "The day you've been working so hard for."
Still shivering from his impromptu shower Kilk stuttered out. "Yeah Mom. It is." He paused a moment trying to get the shaking to stop before continuing. "All of the time you spent beatin' me senseless is finally gonna pay off."
Over the years Kilk had picked up Lexi's sarcastic nature, and she knew why people always told her that she needed to take things more seriously but he was right. For going on five years now Lexi had been personally responsible for training him. Training him for the day he would try to join the High Guard of Alanis. She beat into him every little thing she could to prepare him for it. Just like she was going to do now, one final lesson before he left for his examination. "Are you ready Little One?"
All at once, like the heat of his fire had warmed him to from the core. Kilk stopped shaking and moved into his battle stance. "One last chance." He thought as he watched intently for the signs of his mother's first move. "To prove to both of us that once and for all, I'm ready to do this." Kilk took three steps in a semi-circle to his right. "Let's go!" Kilk called for the battle to begin, and no sooner had he called it Lexi was right on top of him. Punching, Kicking, hellbent on pushing him back. Kilk was overwhelmed at first and could barely keep from getting his a** kicked by her fierce onslaught. "Whollycrap, she's really going all out." He thought as he barely managed to dodge several kicks, punches and grapple attempts. "I'm gonna get my a** handed to me if I don't turn this around soon."
Just then he saw the perfect opening for a counterattack. But since he knew she was trying extremely hard to wax him, Kilk only took the opportunity to put some distance between himself and Lexi. "Smart, Kid. You didn't let me bait you into a trap."
Kilk scratched his head and said. "Really? I wanted to catch my breath." Now satisfyed that his joke was done, he returned to his stance and rushed Lexi. He threw three unsucessful punches, rolled right and sweep kicked. Lexi jumped to avoid the sweep kick, and Kilk followed up with an uppercut catching her in the stomach. Surprised but not completely caught off-guard, Lexi righted herself mid-air and landed 10 feet from him.
"Nice Kid, you managed to hit me. I didn't think you..." She cut off and completely vanished from view. The next thing Kilk knew it was lights out as he was put on the receiving end of her 'Storm of Hell' and Lexi finished. "...Had it in ya."
Kilk woke up a couple of hours later, sore, battered, and bruised in his bed with his mother standing over him. "What happened? I feel like I just got hit by a train."
Lexi smiled a devious smile and said. "Well not quite a train, but close enough." She stifled a small chuckle and continued. "You should have seen your face, it was priceless." She could no longer contain it and burst into a riotous uproar of laughter.
Kilk looked at his mother with a stare of amazement, very few times had his mother broken down into laughter like that which he heard now. After giving her a few minutes to get ahold of herself Kilk asked. "Now, why exactly did you feel the need to cut loose on me like that?"
On her face now sat a look of childlike glee, like they had seen their birthday present early or something of the like. A look that said that it had been a long time since she had that much fun. The semi-sinister twinkle in his mother's eyes betrayed her true feelings to Kilk as she answered simply that she had gotten caught up in the moment as a smile crept across her face.
Kilk knew enough to let the conversation drop as further pushing would end up degrading their conversation into a shouting match, then they would both burst out laughing and that would be the end of it. But Kilk didn't feel like taking it down that road as he had a sneaking suspicion that it was almost time for him to leave to catch his train with Megumi, so he changed the subject asking. "Hey, what time is it?"
"About half past ten." Lexi said with a hint of disappointment at not being able to ridicule her son anymore.
"It's that late already? How long was I out? I've gotta get going or I'm gonna miss the train!" Kilk said frantically as he scurried out of his bed trying to find his things. But this tumult was interrupted when Lext stopped him and told him that his things were already downstairs and that all he need do was get dressed in the clothes that he picked out the night before. There was a subtle "Thanks Mom." As the two exchanged reassuring looks and Lexi left to allow her son to finish getting ready.
Lexi and Elise stood waiting at the door, Elise was in her uniform getting ready to leave to head to the clinic for work. She had taken over for Lexi two years ago when Lexi felt that she wanted to do something different with her life for a little while. So she stopped working as a doctor at the clinic and opened up a small bar near the center of town called 'Merle's Haven'. Though she did enjoy saving lives Lexi felt that it would be better if her daughter took over for her.
There weren't many goodbyes exchanged and to the casual observer it didn't appear as though any of them cared that Kilk was leaving, but this wasn't the case. "Here you go." Elise said handing Kilk the small bag that he had packed with the things he would be taking with him. "You'll need this."
"Thanks. So you're not-" Kilk began to ask.
"No I've gotta get to the clinic." Elise cut in knowing what he was going to ask her.
"I wont be coming either." Lexi said semi apologetically. "My little bar and grille wont run itself you know."
"Yeah." Kilk said knowingly. He knew that neither of them would come because it would end up with them getting all emotional and probably would try to keep them from going, neither of them wanted that. So he reassured them that it was alright and that he would be fine with no one to see him off.
"Okay Kilk, take care of yourself." Lexi said as she stepped out the open door. After her mother had left Elise turned to follow suit, but before she could get all the way out the door she rushed over and hugged her brother.
"You're gonna do great Kilk." She said starting to cry slightly. Then his big sister wiped her tears, stood up straight, adjusted her uniform and turned to walk out. There was an almost inaudible "Be careful." as she trailed out the door after her mother.
Kilk stood there for a minute, thinking about everything that had led up to this day. He wondered if he would have the strength to pull it off, if he'd be able to succeed in joining the Alanis Guard. He had heard stories of the Knight's leader, Filianel. How hard he was on recruits, how almost no one that went into his training program made it in, and admittedly he was scared. Hell he was petrified, but then just as his thoughts began to turn toward forgetting the whole ordeal, he looked down. Tied around his bag, was a note from the two of them, tied to his bag by a chain. Kilk didn't recognize it at first but it was almost an exact replica of the one that his mother had always worn. It was a simple silver chain necklace, and from it hung a crystal. He remembered that crystal, he thought he lost it long ago. Kilk had found it on the banks of the Haelin River, a green crystal. He didn't quite remember the word his mother called it by, only that it meant something to the effect of "Beautiful Hope." Kilk's mother had taken it and made it into a necklace much like her own. Her gift to him on this special day. He opened the card the necklace was attached to. On it, were but four words.
"Happy Birthday, Little One."
Kilk replaced the card into its envelope, and placed the envelope in his bag. Then he put on the gift from his mother and sister, threw his bag over his shoulder and muttered into the empty air, "I'll be back soon, don't worry" as he walked out the door.
"Kazuto! Kazuto over here!" The cheeful voice of Megumi Inari called out as he locked the large house's door. She was a cheerful girl, with light brown hair and deep brown eyes. She wore an outfit consisting of grey pants, a white shirt, and a grey jacket.
Placing the key back into its usual hiding place, Kilk noticed that in her hair she wore what he recognized as an extremely special pink ribbon. He wore a similar ribbon, tied around his arm. One of the mementos given to him by his friends who couldn't be there in Lowengrin with him for the competition. Megumi had given him the ribbon, even though she would be there taking the test with him because she didn't know that she would be going at the time. She hadn't seen the letter saying that she had passed the preliminary test yet, so she gave him the ribbon when her brother gave him his gift. Of his friends, He wore Megumi's ribbon, kept a small plush doll half-sticking out of his pocket from Ester, wore a chain from Deacon on his pants, and brandished a patch from Megumi's brother Haruo on the back of his jacket. Small pieces of his friends to help him through the assuredly difficult test to come.
By now Kilk knew that it was useless to argue over his name with her. After nine years of being friends Megumi he knew that she, no matter how many times he said something Megu was going to keep calling him Kazuto. So he just resigned to letting her call him by whatever name she felt like, he also figured it was a quirk he could stand in someone that he considered family.
"Okay Megu, I'm ready, let's go." Kilk said as he ran down the path leading away from his house.
"You got it. Hey what's that?" Megu said with curiosity at the necklace Kilk now wore.
"I'll tell you on the way. We really have to go." Kilk replied as they head off to catch their train to Lowengrin.
It was well known throughout Aegir that Kilk planned on joining the Alanis Guard when he got older. Much to the dismay of his sister Elise, who secretly wished (though she never said it out loud) that her brother would have chosen something a little less dangerous. But in spite of all of this she couldn't be any more proud of what her little brother had chosen to do.
"Come on Kazuto! We're gonna miss the train!" Megumi said as they ran frantically toward the train station. "I can't believe that you got lost Kazu."
Kilk had run off from her to chase after a butterfly and next thing he knew, he was lost. "I'm sorry Megu." He said sadly. "I wanted to catch it too..."
"Jeez Kazu. We're late and I already ate my toast waiting for you at your house." She said in a disappointed tone.
"Wait, what are you talking about Megu?" Kilk asked with a puzzled look. Megu had a habit of saying things that made absolutely no sense, then expecting everyone else to know what she was talking about. Something that almost never happened and left her confused and somewhat annoyed at her friends "lack of a sense of humor" as she called it.
"Nothing Kazu nothing." She replied waving her hand side to side in front of her face. Having no reason to push the matter any further Kilk just let it drop and continued on their breakneck pace toward the train. Megu now had a fair lead on him, for good reason too. If there was one thing that no one could ever beat that girl at, it was running. Running at top speed, there wasn't anyone alive that could catch her. She was like dust in the wind.
"Okay Megu, Let's g-" His sentence was cut short when he hit someone on the corner with such force that both of them fell to the ground.
After a few seconds of not knowing which way was up, of lying there on the ground watching the world spin. Kilk was finally able to stand up, realizing that he had run into someone he reached down his hand in an offer to help up the mystery girl. What he got however was not an outstretched hand, but a fist to the face and he found himself again looking up at the overcast sky from the flat of his back.
"Jerk! You should have watched where you were going!" The girl said as she ran off in the direction of the Train Station.
"What was her problem?" Megu wondered as she reached down to help up her fallen friend. It was no good however, that punch from the mystery female had knocked him cold. Resigning to the situation, she grabbed Kilk by the collar of his jacket and preceeded to drag him toward the Station.
They finally reached thier destination, and right as they entered the door to the Station they heard the final boarding call for their train. Having been dragged all the way there, Kilk was awake, sore but awake. Luckily for them, the train hadn't left yet and they were able to get on just before it parted ways with the platform.
"Whew, that was close Kazuto. We almost didn't make it." Megumi said with a relieved sigh as the train pulled away from the Station.
"Yeah it was." Kilk replied returning an equally heavy sigh. "Let's go find us some seats." He adjusted the bag that he carried on his back and moved on to one of the passenger cars.
There weren't many people in the car, an old couple talking about their younger years and the crazy things he used to do to show his love. A small group of people talking, and one empty seat with someone's belongings in it toward the back of the train car.
After a great deal of searching the two settled on a set of seats toward the front of the car. Throwing his bag down in the seat, he fell into it like a ton of bricks. Kilk had this astounding ability to fall asleep almost instantly, and for that matter anywhere and true to form he was asleep before his body hit the bench. Megumi, still as always amazed by her friends astounding ability to fall asleep whenever the mood struck him threw her bag down where her friend had dropped his, and threw herself down in the seat opposite the sleeping Kilk.
After twenty minutes of riding Megumi was beginning to get bored, there was no one to talk to being that Kilk was sleeping and she didn't know anyone else on the train. She looked out the window, praying to see a landmark that would indicate that they were close to their destination. But alas, no such luck. Instead of seeing some indication that they were nearing their destination, she instead saw the reflection of the girl she met just a half hour earlier, when she put her fist in Kilk's face.
"What are you doing here!?" She shouted at Megumi. "You stalking me or something?"
Megumi was astounded, this girl had the nerve to punch out Kilk when he was only trying to help. Now she stood there yelling at her for taking the train, and she was getting ever closer to punching her out herself. "No." Megumi replied as politely as she could at the moment. "Just taking the train."
"Don't get smart with me." She said with more and more anger in her voice.
With all of the shouting that the girls were doing, Kilk woke up. "What's going on?" Kilk asked grogily, then when he realized who was standing there he curled up like he was expecting to get hit.
"What are you doing?" The mystery girl asked with a small amount of irritation.
Peeking out from his closed eyes Kilk answered. "Wait, you're not gonna hit me?"
"Hit you? Why would I hit you?" She said sort of confused.
"Well you did before, so I thought you were gonna hit me again." He answered still noticably scared.
"No, no I'm not gonna hurt you." She said shaking her head.
"Oh, okay." Kilk said almost instantly returning to a normal position. "You wanna sit down?"
Puzzled at the sudden offer by the person she laid out flat some time earlier all she could say was. "S-sure, just let me grab my stuff." She turned to go to the back of the car to collect her things.
Megumi laughed to herself while the mystery girl gathered up her things. Amazed as always by Kilk's remarkable ability to almost effortlessly make friends. "Then again." She thought. "He always did have that effect on people."
"Okay, now uh, where should I sit?" She asked when she returned to the group of seats.
"Right here is fine." Megumi said indicating the seat next to herself.
Kilk took her bags and sat them in the space next to him with all of the others. She sat down next to Megumi and they began talking. Not sure if she knew their names Kilk started.
"My name is Kilk Rochette." He introduced himself.
"And I'm Megumi Inari." Megumi followed.
"I'm Risa Kamiya, nice to meet you." The girl said with an embarrassed look.
"So Risa." Megumi said. "Was there something wrong this morning?"
"Yeah." Risa replied with a more noticable tinge of embarrassment. "I was having a bad day."
"I know the feeling." Kilk said rubbing the side of his face where Risa hit him.
As soon as he said this Risa started rapidly apologizing for hitting him. After about half a second of it Kilk cut in. "You do know I was kidding right?"
"Oh, you were joking?" Risa cut off then trying to hide the embarrassment at not noticing he was kidding, broke into a bout of laughter, to which all of them soon joined.
After an hour and a half of getting to know each other the group arrived at their destination, the Castle Town of Lowengrin. "Finally." Kilk thought. "Today's the day, the day I show them all what I'm made of." They all dismounted the train and stood looking at the imposing outline of the castle town against the horizon. After a few seconds of staring they all silently decided with a series of nods to start off.
"Let's go!!" They all shouted in unison as they rushed off the their grand stage.
"So." Megumi asked while continuing to run toward the stadium. "How long is this ceremony gonna last?"
"I don't know." Risa said. "This is my first time being here."
Kilk nodded in agreement. It was the first time that any of them were involved in this. "I hope it's not too long." He said after a short pause.
This event was what the advanced guard of the Kingdom of Alanis used to decide who they would accept into their training program. If what people said was true there would only be about forty recruits from this event. Each of them would fight fiercely to prove that they were worthy of being one of those forty.
Still lost in thought and not watching where he was going Kilk ran headlong into a woman carrying a pile of papers. This was the third time today that he looked up at the sky from the flat of his back. After shaking off the pain of the collision Kilk hopped up and preceeded to help the woman pick up her papers.
"I'm sorry." Kilk said as he grabbed a pile of papers. "I'm a little accident prone."
"It's alright." The woman replied. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?"
"The building over there." He answered. "For the Cross Guard selection exams."
"You're taking those today?" She asked incredulous tone.
"Yep." He said with a smile. "I'm sorry I ran into you. But I've got to go, or I'm gonna be late."
"Not a problem, good luck to you." She replied.
Kilk thanked her for her wishing him luck and turned to rejoin Risa and Megumi. As he ran off the woman pulled a small green lens which she inserted into her glasses. Then with a satisfyed "Hmm" as he continued on his way, returned it from whence it came. "I think, this year's exam is going to be the most excitement this town's seen in a while." She thought as she adjusted her stack of papers and continued on her way.
Kilk caught up with the others outside of the giant door that lead into the building. They hadn't noticed that he wasn't there because they were lost staring at the sheer size of the door.
"Are we going in?" Kilk said puzzled.
"Oh, yeah I forgot." Megumi said as they opened the smaller door inside of the massive entryway and continued inside.
As they made their way through the corridors toward the Grand Hall, a million thoughts raced through each one of their heads. Questions like, "Will I be good enough? What if I don't make it?" A million thoughts, questions, doubts, all leading up to their entrance into the great doors that held a massive. lecture hall style room. There were easily a hundred and fifty people in that tiny room, some talking, others preparing mentally for what could be one of the most challenging days of any of their lives.
The Alanis Guard selection exams were rumored to be one of the most difficult and grueling examinations ever devised. There have been people that have taken it ten times and failed all of them, but there were also people, that passed it on their first try. This was a sort of rarity now, as recruits have come under more and more scrutiny since they were forced to cut back on their numbers due to a small downsizing in their budget.
After a few minutes a man came through the door at the bottom of the lecture hall. He was a tall, about six foot four, had dark skin and brown hair. He had a scar on his face that ran from his cheek, across the bridge of his nose to his forehead.
"All right, cut the chatter!!" The man bellowed to the now hushed crowd. "So THIS is the selection we have this year? Damn, I can't believe this. You have got to be pullin' my leg, this can't be the test group. Aww well, nothing I can do about it. Anyway allow me to introduce myself, I'm Captain Jonathan Krieger. I'm the person that decides the fate of you potential recruits."
After he finished his sentence a group of four people came through the same door that he had marched out of a few seconds earlier.
"These people..." Krieger started. "...their job is going to be to make sure that none of you pass here." He clapped his hands together and flashed an evil smile that sent a chill through the spine of every person in that room. "Now, let's not waste anymore time. It's time to throw you little chicks into the air and see which of you can fly."
With that they all filed out of the lecture hall and preceeded out into the adjacent hallway. There the group of people was split into two groups for medical examinations. Kilk sat in the line waiting for his turn to come to go into the doctor's office. When it finally came to be his turn for examination and he walked through the door of the office he was shocked when he saw the person who would be performing the examination.
"We meet again." The doctor said as he walked in. It was the same woman that he had knocked over outside of the building. "I'm Dr. Illiana Marguelise, and I'll be conducting your medical exam."
Shocked and a little embarrassed Kilk walked over to the table. He removed his shirt and got ready for her to test his breathing. "Where did you get all of these scars?" Dr. Marguelise asked when she saw all of the marks all over his torso.
"Oh these?" Kilk replied. "I got them from training. My mother was kind of a hardcore drill instructor."
"And that one?" She said indicating the massive gash that covered most of his chest.
"I got that one when I was little." Kilk paused for a second. "I don't remember too much of it but they said I almost died from it. I was lucky though, I had the best doctor in the country." Then feeling the need to lighten the mood Kilk added. "...and the scariest."
"Who are you talking about?" Dr. Marguelise asked puzzled.
"My mother, her name was Alexandra Rochette." Kilk said with a proud tone.
Dr. Marguelise couldn't help but gasp. "Lexi Rochette, was your mother?" She asked in disbelief. "Damn, I still get a chill every time I hear that name. I didn't know she had a son."
"Yep." Kilk said with a smile. "She's back in Aegir with my sister."
Now over the initial shock of hearing the name of her old teacher. Dr. Marguelise pulled herself together and got ready to begin Kilk's medical exam.
"Wow, what's she doing these days?" Dr. Marguelise asked as she checked Kilk's breathing.
Kilk cringed at the initial touch of the cold stethoscope on his skin then took three breaths before answering. "She's running a bar and grille back in Aegir. A place called Merle's Heaven."
"Wow, I thought she'd still be running that old clinic back there." Dr. Marguelise replied somewhat astonished.
"No my sister's running the clinic, with her doing that she had too much free time on her hands so she decided to open up a bar. I don't know why, she always was a little weird." Kilk said as Dr. Marguelise moved him over to check his eyesight.
After checking Kilk's eyesight and reflexes she had him set back down on the table. "Now all that's left is for me to just give you a shot of this vacc-"
At the mere mention of the word 'shot' Kilk lost it. Flailing, kicking and screaming he tried to get away but was stopped when the Dr. Marguelise waved her hand and he found himself suddenly unable to move. A thin yellow aura had surrounded him and prevented even the slightest twitch. It lasted only a second but she walked over and gave him the shot then with a second wave of her hand, the yellow film of an aura that surrounded Kilk dissapated.
"Sorry about that, I really hate doing that to people." The doctor said after Kilk had been released.
"It's alright. On the bright side, I wasn't as scared of the shot as I would have been otherwise. I don't know why but I felt a lot calmer when you did that." Kilk replied in a sort of confused but reassuring voice.
"Well I've never gotten that reaction before. So I suppose you are a little afraid of needles?" She asked wanting desperately to change the subject.
"Yeah a little bit." The truth was Kilk had a monstrous fear of needles, just the mere mention or sight of a needle had him in tears and as far away as humanly possible from it. "It was so bad one time, that my Mom went and punched me out so she could stitch up my arm."
"She always was a bit more violent than she ought've been." She replied with a knowing nod. "Anyway, you're all done. You can get your shirt and head out now."
Almost before she even finished the sentence Kilk was halfway out the door. Doctor Marguelise could have sworn as she watched that she saw a trail of fire behind him as he left. She heard him shout "Bye Doc'." then he was gone.
Out in the hall Megumi was already waiting for him knowing full well that he didn't pay attention when they were explaining to them where they were to go after the checkup Megu had chosen to stand at the end of the hall and wait for him to get out while Risa went and saved them all some places.
"Hey Megu!" Kilk said as he ran down the hall. A mix of anxiety and excitement began to well up in him as they rounded the corner.
"That was quite a commotion you caused back there." She said with a glare as he stopped.
Kilk had a look on his face like a toddler that had just been caught stealing from the cookie jar before dinner. Looking as if he was about to start crying he grabbed his arm and said. "They gave me a shot." Once he finished his sentence he straightened up and asked Megu where Risa was.
"She's already in that arena there saving us a spot with a good view." She said pointing off to her right.
"Okay then, let's go." Kilk said as the two ran off to join their new friend. Down the hall they came to a small atrium that opened up into a massive arena that looked once they stepped inside like they had walked into a whole other world. "Woah." Kilk said as he looked up to see the whole room. He almost fell over because he looked too high.
"Jeez Kazu, you really are such a klutz." Megu said before dragging him off to join Risa one of the balconies overlooking the stage.
It was a large thirty foot square cement stage a few feet high. In the center of it stood Krieger and the four instructors that were responsible for the testing. They were three men and one woman, they looked as if they'd known each other for a long time but other than that Kilk couldn't tell much about them.
"Hey guys." Risa greeted them at the end of the balcony. "They're just waiting for the rest of the people to finish their medical exams then we'll be starting."
Kilk felt a strange mix of anxiety, fear and excitement as he waited for the test to start. He wanted just as much as anyone, not only to see who would be accepted into the training program. But to see what the tests would entail. As he stood there trying to calm the feelings in his gut he thought.
"The party's about to begin. Let's rock!"
Next Chapter - "Fight On! The First Round Begins."
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Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 12:36 pm
"Fight On! The First Round Begins."
One after the other, the rest of the trainee hopefuls filed into the hall. Still, in spite of all of the anticipation at what the instructors were planning, Kilk was asleep. He had climbed up onto one of the rafters and slept with his head on his bag. With a curious huff, Risa turned to the shorter girl standing next to her and asked. "How the hell can he fall asleep like that?"
Megu and Risa exchanged glances and after a few seconds, she shrugged and answered. "I don't know, he's been able to do that ever since I've known him."
"About that, how long have you known him?" Risa inquired seeing the opportunity to find out more about the carefree boy that slept but four feet above him.
"Kilk? I've known him about five years. Ever since my family moved to Aegir. Why do you ask?" Megumi replied with a hint of confusion.
"No special reason, just you two seem pretty close. Are you?" Risa started.
"NO!" Megu broke in anticipating where this question was heading. "Kazu is like a big brother. His family was so nice to me ever since I moved there. I didn't have many friends." Megu said with a curious mix of embarrassment and nostalgia.
At the mention of the fact that Megu didn't like Kilk, Risa perked up considerably. "Sorry, I was just asking." Risa said apologetically. "I didn't mean to."
"No it's alright."
"Okay. So, he's kind of a curious one isn't he?" Risa started trying to put that last embarrassing exchange behind her.
"Yeah, he is. I don't see how he does half of the stuff he does. I mean, he can fall asleep anywhere. He can take someone that was ready to kill him five seconds earlier, and turn them into a friend." Megumi said trying as best she could to accurately describe him. "I actually envy how effortlessly he can make friends."
"Yeah, I noticed that one. I don't know what it is." Risa agreed with the girl she was slowly bonding more and more with.
"Me either. But I will say this, he may be a little thick, kind of childish, and annoying as all hell sometimes. But his heart's in the right place, and he'll try with every last breath to keep his promises to anyone." Megumi said approvingly.
"Yeah, you're right." Risa replied with a satisfied sigh. As she stood there looking out over the arena that they would be competing in, she thought about how much she agreed with what Megu had told her. Finally after a few minutes she turned to Megumi and said. "Hey, Megu."
Hearing this, Megumi turned to the taller brown haired girl standing next to her and replied. "Yeah Risa, what is it?"
Then with only a look up in the direction of the sleeping boy in the rafters, she smiled and said. "Oh, nevermind, it was nothing."
Megu smiled slightly before saying okay and returning her attention to the empty arena before all of them.
About fifteen minutes later, Krieger returned to the room after a long absence. With him again he brought the four instructors. "Cut the chatter!" He bellowed out to the crowd, once they were all quiet he shouted. "I have here. The listings for the match ups for the first test. Which will be a three round, double elimination tournament to weed out just over half of you." A sinister smile crept across Krieger's face as he prepared to tell them the details of this first test. "It will be hand-to-hand combat to demonstrate your fighting skills to the instructors and myself who will be evaluating you. This arena." He continued. "Will magically seal once the fight starts, this seal will take the combatants to a specially prepared fighting area. Fighters will only be able to hear through the barrier, but the observers will see and hear everything as the barrier will function like a broadcast position and will display the fight. Anything is permitted and fights will be stopped if any of the five of us see fit to stop them, other than killing. Anyone intentionally trying to kill their opponent will be dealt with severely. Now." Krieger prepared to finish. "The match-ups for the first round are to be posted outside at the arena entrance after lunch. Until then you all have leave to do what you wish. Dismissed!"
At the booming sound of Krieger's dismiss order, Kilk fell from his spot in the rafters crashing to the ground with a loud thud. Startled, Megu and Risa turned around to find Kilk, face down on the floor and clearly in pain. "That looked like it hurt. You okay Kilk?"
He fell over on to his back, and groaned in pain before getting out a strained "yeah, I'm fine" before standing up and asking what happened to shake him out of a sound sleep.
"Yeah, you're right. I've never known you to wake up like that." Megumi said trying to stifle a chuckle. "So, anything broken?"
"Nope, my pride is a little bruised. But other than that I'm fine." Kilk answered rubbing his head. After about five minutes of picking on him about his falling from the rafters, Risa convinced Megu to quit. After that she walked off saying that she had to go do something.
Megu was leaning over the rail of the balcony. After a few minutes of silence she caught Kilk's attention and asked in a tone Kilk didn't recognize. "So, what do you think of Risa? She seems pretty nice right?"
Kilk walked over to the rail next to Megu. He leaned over too and looked out as if he was looking off into the never ending distance. "Yeah, she does. I like her, other than the whole temper thing she had this morning." Kilk answered his childhood friend.
"Really?" Megu said in a teasing tone. "Ooh Kilk you cheeky little boy." She pushed him with her shoulder.
"Huh?" Kilk replied in a completely clueless tone, with a look on his face now one of sheer confusion. He had absolutely no idea what Megu was talking about and she could see it. As soon as he gave her that look she burst into an uncontrollable stream of laughter. Which only served to confuse Kilk even more so than he already was. Still she could not stop laughing, the look on his face because of her teasing was just priceless. Finally, after a few minutes of riotous laughter she stopped, caught her breath and waved her hand in front of her face.
"Nothing Kazu, don't worry about it." She said smacking her friend on his back. "Hey, how about you go find Risa and we all get lunch together?"
"Okay. I'll go get her." Kilk said, still with a noticeable measure of confusion on his face. "Where are we gonna meet?" He asked.
"Here I'll write it down for you. I know you and you wont remember if I tell you." She pulled a small notebook from her pocket and wrote down an address and a name. Megu then folded the slip of paper up and placed it in the pocket of his jacket. "Eleven o'clock, don't forget. Okay?"
"Yeah, I got it." Kilk said as he hurried off to find their new friend.
After he had gone, Megu laughed to herself thinking about how interesting these next few days were gonna be. She sighed and silently asked the empty air. "He is really thick, isn't he?"
Running down the hall Kilk realized that he had absolutely no idea where to find Risa he stopped at the corner. "How am I supposed to get her if i have no idea where she went?" He thought to himself as he looked around hoping for some kind of clue. Just then he heard Risa's familiar yell coming from the right hallway. "Jackpot!" Kilk said as he ran off down the right side hallway.. After about a minute of frantic running he came upon the source of the yelling. From what Kilk could see, one of the people here to take the exam was harassing her along with four of his friends. He didn't know what they were talking about, but he did know that he didn't like the look in their eyes. Just as he came up to the hall this was taking place in, he saw Risa punch one of the men across the face laying him out flat. Next thing he knew one of the others shouted something that he couldn't quite make out before winding up to punch her. Kilk's body just started moving on its own, before he could even tell it to do anything he had already rocketed across the room with speed like nothing he had ever experienced, right into the path of the larger boy's fist.
"What the?" The boy said when he realized that his punch missed the target. "How did you." He began but was cut off when Kilk said.
"Didn't your mother ever teach you, it's not nice to hit girls." He had a smug look on his face as he stood there with the boy's fist in his face like it didn't even faze him.
Astounded the big lug took two steps back before saying, "Well, nothing says I can't hit you now does it?" and cutting loose with yet another punch in Kilk's direction. Then just as quickly as he had appeared in the path of the first, he disappeared from the second. He ended up standing between all five of them
"You know, your aim really sucks." He disappeared from the view of all five then reappeared next to the wall with his fist in one of the harasser's faces. He chuckled as if to say that the five of them weren't even worth his time. When one of them realized what was happening, he turned to Risa.
"You b***h!" He shouted as he moved forward to hit her for apparently calling in the cavalry to save herself. "I'll kill you!"
The second that the words "I'll kill you" came off of his lips, Kilk moved across that room so fast that all that was left of him on the other end of the hall was the momentum from uppercutting one of the harassers into the air. One second Risa seen two-hundred and fifty pounds of lumbering behemoth flying in her direction, the next that giant was riding Kilk's fist into the wall then falling face first on the ceramic.
"Any of you, go near her and I swear. It will be the last thing any of you ever do. You got me!" Kilk bellowed at the remaining men.
"Y-y-yeah." Two of them stuttered before picking up their friend and running away.
After they were gone, Kilk turned to Risa and said. "You okay Risa?" Putting his hands on her shoulders waiting for an answer.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine." She stuttered with a tinge of embarrassment showing on her cheeks.
"That's good." He said turning away to pick up her bag from the floor at the end of the hall. "Oh I almost forgot." He ran back over to Risa and continued. "Megu sent me to come get you. She said we were all getting lunch together."
"Oh." She said fuming with an unnoticeable frustration, she was about to ask Kilk why he always did what Megumi told him but was cut off when Kilk said.
"Now where were we supposed to go? Seriously, I don't see why Megu sent me to come get you. I always forget what I'm supposed to be doing,"
"You don't know where we are supposed to go? What am I gonna do with you Kazuto?" Risa said shaking her head.
"Wait, she gave me a note. I remember now it was so I wouldn't forget." He said frantically digging through his pockets to find the note. As he did this he didn't notice that he dropped the plush doll that Ester had given him.
"What's this?" Risa said picking up the doll. "Aw! It's so cute! I want one!" She shouted fawning over the little patchwork doll.
"Found it!" Kilk exclaimed triumphantly as he turned back to Risa and noticed that she now held Ester's present. "When did you? How did you? Can I have that back please?"
"Nope I think I'll hold onto it for a while." She replied as she preceded to play a game of 'keep away' with the doll.
"Please, a very special friend gave me that! It never leaves my side." He said frantically trying to get it back from the five foot six inch frame of the girl standing in front of him, when he couldn't he turned around in a huff saying. "Fine! If that's the way it is." He prepared to storm off, but then he noticed that something was sitting on his head, and it was none other than his plush doll. Risa stuck it on top of his head after he turned around to storm off. He picked it up off of his head and hugged the present from his friend, then placing it back in his pocket turned to Risa and gave her a hug as well. "Thank you! Thank you!"
Risa chuckled quietly to herself, she had a good idea why Megumi had sent Kilk to bring her to lunch. So she turned to her impromptu escort and said. "So Kilk where are we going?"
"Um, uh. I have no idea. I've never heard of this place before.." He said in disappointment when he didn't recognize the name on the slip of paper. "Here, you have a look." He relinquished the note to Risa who after some thought said.
"I know where this place is, come on." She said taking Kilk by the arm as they started walking. "So, you said that doll was a present from a friend. Who is this friend?" Risa asked with a tone of intrigue in her voice.
"She lives back in Aegir, her name's Ester." He replied not knowing where this question was heading.
"She?" She said with an unnoticeable disappointment.
"Yeah, I've got gifts from all of my friends. They couldn't be here. So they each gave me something so that they could be here, if only in spirit." He continued still staring off into the distance.
"Huh?" Risa said with an unmistakable hint of confusion.
"Yeah." He said looking over at Risa. "All of my friends from school gave me something." He returned to staring off into the distance. "Ester gave me the doll, my friend Deacon gave me this chain here." He said indicating the chain that hung from his pants. "Megu gave me a ribbon that I have tied around my right arm, and her brother Haruo made the patch on my back, I also have a necklace from my Mom."
Risa was slightly perturbed, she couldn't figure out if Megumi thought of Kilk as a brother or as something else. "Would she just make up her mind already?" She fumed before asking. "Now why would she give you something if she was gonna be here with you?"
"Well actually, she didn't know that she was gonna be here when she gave it to me." Kilk replied as they rounded the corner. "She got her preliminary test results late, but she had no idea what to give me. So when her brother gave me the patch, she ran upstairs to her room, cut off a piece of her favorite ribbon, and gave it to me."
"Oh." She said disheartened. "She cares about you a lot I guess."
"You liked my doll right?" Kilk said noticing that she had a hint of sadness in her voice. "I learned how to make them you know, I could make you one if you want."
"That would be nice." She said trying to hide the embarrassment on her cheeks. They walked in silence for about five minutes until they were almost out of the building. Just before they walked out the towering double-doors leading to the street, Risa broke the silence, turning to Kilk and saying. "Hey Kilk."
"Yeah, what is it?"
"Nothing." She said with a chuckle and continued walking. Kilk couldn't see it but she had a huge grin plastered across her face.
Kilk stood there confused, as he watched Risa walk away he thought to himself about how he will never understand girls, before running off to catch up with her shouting. "Hey! Wait for me!"
Twenty minutes of catch-up later the two came to a small restaurant. The place was called the 'Coyote', out in front of it, Megu and Risa stood talking waiting for Kilk to show up.
"Jeez, slowpoke. What are you doing leaving a pretty girl alone like that?" Megu teased. Kilk had no idea what Megu was talking about. They could see the confusion on his face and both of them burst into riotous laughter at Kilk's expense. Then after a few seconds decided to cut him a break and headed inside. After finding their seats and ordering lunch, the group started talking more. About what they'll do in their matches, about everything they could think of. Laughing, talking and having a good time, they let the tension slip away. The way they talked, someone would think that they had been friends forever. For the short time that they sat there talking, nothing else mattered. They were just three friends out having lunch. After they were done, Megu jumped up saying that she had left something back at the arena and that she'd meet them back there. She left the money for her portion of lunch on the table and, with a subtle nod to Risa, and an "I'll see you there", ran off.
"What was that about?" Kilk said in confusion after Megu had cleared their vision. He sat there scratching his head for a minute. Then he snapped out of it when the waitress asked him what he wanted for dessert. "Oh, sorry. Yeah I'll have a strawberry sundae." He said finally once he realized what was being asked of him. After he ordered his dessert, the waitress turned to Risa and asked her if she would have anything.
"No, I'm fine thanks." She said declining the waitress' offer. "Strawberry sundae huh?" She said turning back to Kilk. "You really like those?"
"Yeah, what you don't?" He said taking a bite of his ice cream.
"No, it's not that." She replied. "It's just, oh nevermind."
"Okay." Kilk said returning to his sundae.
Once Kilk had finished, They paid the bill for the meal and began heading back to the arena. The walk was pretty uneventful, they didn't talk for much of it. But just before the two arrived at the arena, they stopped and Kilk asked Risa why those guys were messing with her.
"I bumped into one of them when I rounded the corner. I tried to apologize but one of them said something and I just lost it. I hauled off and hit one of them, then they got mad and, that's where you came in." Risa replied in a 'not that important' tone
Kilk replied with a sort of half-disappointed "Oh" before the two of them continued on their way. The two walked through the gigantic double-doors, and continued on the now familiar route back toward the arena. Megu was there waiting for them, together the three of them waited for when the frightening Captain Krieger would return to announce that the listings were posted. Once they walked in, Megu teased the both of them by asking how their date was after she left.
"Megu!" Kilk shouted with a that noticeable red tinge of embarrassment creeping onto his face. Both of the girls had a laugh at the reaction of their friend, then having had their fun they decided to stop teasing him. About twenty minutes later Kilk was asleep in the rafters yet again. Once she was absolutely sure that Kilk was asleep, Risa turned to Megumi and said. "You know that friend of yours is really thick."
"Yeah, I know." Megu said with a smile and a slight chuckle. Megumi decided to find out a little more about her so she asked Risa where she grew up.
"All over." Risa said after a few seconds. "My parents died when I was young, I ended up living with my aunt. She never stayed in one place long, hopping around 'cuz she lost her job, or something went south with her boyfriend or something of that nature."
"I'm sorry." Megu said almost immediately.
"Don't be, it's not your fault. Besides, I'm okay with it." Risa said with a wave of her hand.
"You know, Kazu was." Their conversation was cut short when Krieger and his group burst into the room with the loudest uproar that any of the three hundred plus in the room had ever heard. As soon as this happened, in a scene of total deja vu Kilk once again fell onto the stone floor face first.
"You know, we probably should have seen that one coming." Risa said after the loud thud of Kilk's frame hitting the stone.
"Yeah, you can't argue that it's funny though." Megu said as the both of them tried to stifle their laughter before helping Kilk to his feet and turning their attention to the other end of the room.
"The match-up listings have been posted at various places around the building." Krieger shouted getting right down to business. "The first fight will begin in twenty minutes." With that the five of them exited the room just as quickly as they had entered it.
"So what do you say we go see who we got paired up with?" Megu said grabbing both Risa and Kilk by the shoulders, then pushing them together walked off.
When they got out into the hall, there was a small crowd gathered around the two foot wide poster displaying the first round match listings. Pushing through to the front of the line, Megu tried to find their names, then taking down their respective matches headed toward the outside of the pile. Luckily enough none of the three had been paired off to fight each other, and in an even greater stroke of luck that seemed almost impossible none of them would have to if they all won their respective matches. This was because the way the fights were set up, the fights would only go until eight were left on either side of the brackets. Also, the amount of people in the test, the brackets were wide enough to where none of them would have to fight each other.
"Alright here it is." Megu said when she had pushed back out of the line with a slip of paper. "Kilk, you're fighting 'Ichiro Matsuda', Risa's fighting someone named 'Yuriko Morino' and I have 'Akiko Morino'." Putting the slip back in her pocket she continued. "Oh, and Kilk."
"Yeah Megu, what is it?"
"You have the first fight." Megu said in a concerned tone.
That twenty minutes had to have been the slowest that any of them had ever experienced in their lives. Most of it was spent in silence as everyone in the room wondered who this person was that Ichiro Matsuda would be fighting. He had been spending the time boasting to anyone who would listen that he would mop the floor with this Kilk Rochette. Even going as far as to say that it would be over in less than ten minutes. Kilk chuckled to himself as he listened to the man's boasts. He had chosen to spend the time in a semi-meditative state lying on the wide railing that framed the balcony, listening to the admittedly funny rantings of the man that he would be soon locked in combat with.
Once the twenty minutes were up, like clockwork Krieger returned to the room. Once he and his four comrades had situated them selves in the room, Krieger ordered that Kilk and Ichiro report to the stage. Ichiro did so without hesitation, when called for Kilk called out.
"Yeah yeah, I'm coming." Then appearing as if he was trying to get off of the rail, he fell off of the rail and plummeted to the ground. After a short uproar of laughter from the entire room, and some concern from Megu and Risa, Kilk got up dusted himself off and walked over to the stage.
"This is the guy I'm fighting?" Ichiro thought to himself as his apparent rival walked toward the stage. "This guy? He's a total klutz. How can he expect to make it through this test." Kilk climbed up onto the stage and walked over to Ichiro. He extended his hand offering a sportsmanlike handshake to his opponent, who uneasily accepted. While this happened, the four instructors moved to the corners of the arena and placed their hands on the floor. A thin purple film covered the arena as it transported them to a small fifteen foot wide white walled cube.
"Alright. First match, Ichiro Matsuda versus Kilk Rochette." Krieger said raising his hand to the sky. Then after a second, his loud booming baritone voice shouted. "Begin!"
At the second his voice resonated through that room the two combatants rushed each other. Kilk ducked three punches which, from the feel of the air his fists displaced appeared to be as strong as if not stronger than anything Kilk experienced in his life. "Okay, I don't think I want to be hit by any of those." Kilk thought as he lept to the other side of the white-walled room.
"What's the matter? You scared of my hammer?" Ichiro asked in a taunting voice.
"Please, that little thing? Never." Kilk replied in an equally taunting tone.
"Why you!" He shouted leaping toward Kilk with another fierce punch. This one collided with the floor as Kilk jumped right past Ichiro's punch. After leaving a veritable crater in the floor of the arena, He turned and made to attack Kilk again, who again jumped to evade. After five more exchanges ending exactly the same way, Ichiro stopped for a second to catch his breath. "How can he move like that? This room isn't that big, yet why does he seem like he's so far away from me?" He thought as he finished his panting. "Come on! You too scared to fight me on equal terms?"
"No. I just enjoy seeing you lumber about like an idiot." Kilk shrugged, apparently feeling sorry for him. Then looking dead into his eyes with a look of palpable fire, he said. "Now, I'm tired. So I hope you don't mind if I make this quick." With that Kilk launched forward with such speed that it appeared that there were about ten of him. The group ran around Ichiro before moving in and attacking. Each one of them appeared to attack a different way, but it ended up being an uppercut that finished it.
While flying through the air, Ichiro saw Kilk flying through the air above him. The way that the fine dust floated in the air, it gave the illusion of a rainbow above him. Kilk's improvised rainbow amazed everyone in the room, especially Megu and Risa. Who marveled at the beauty of the patterns the dust made. "Amazing." Ichiro said almost inaudibly as he lost consciousness.
"The first match is over. The winner is, Kilk Rochette!" Krieger bellowed to the astonished crowd. "The next match will be, Michael Sarden versus Esper Vorien. The match will begin in one hour. Dismissed!"
Kilk made his way back up to the balcony where Megu and Risa waited. When he reached the top of the balcony, he noticed that someone was talking with them. A tall, scrawny boy with dark brown hair. Kilk couldn't see much of him from where he was but he could see that he had an unmistakable air of confidence about him, and that whatever he was saying it was making them laugh. Interested to see who this mystery person was, Kilk ran towards his friends and shouted. "Risa, Megu! How was that?"
"That was great Kazuto!" Risa shouted as she rushed over and hugged the triumphant Kilk. "And that rainbow at the end was so pretty."
There was a tinge of embarrassment on his cheeks that Kilk didn't notice. Once he got a grasp on the situation, he stuttered out. "R-r-really? Thanks. What's with you all of a sudden?"
"Nothing." Risa smiled. "Nothing at all." Kilk was confused two-fold but he decided to change the subject from his confusion about Risa to the identity of the boy now talking to Megumi. When he asked about him, Risa turned and said. "Oh, him? I don't know, he just walked up and started talking."
Kilk smiled and said. "Oh, okay. Well, let's go then." Risa smiled said okay, and grabbed him by the arm as they walked over to talk to the mystery man.
"Hey, Kilk. Nice fight. This is, I'm sorry what was your name again?" Megu said once Kilk and Risa had come to the group.
The mystery man readily replied to Megumi's question. "Oh, sorry my name is Shinji."
"And I'm." Kilk began reaching out to shake the boy's hand, but was cut off when Shinji burst in.
"Kilk, I know." He shook Kilk's hand vigorously. "I watched the fight, and I noticed that these two were the only people that even knew who you were let alone were rooting for you. I just had to see what kind of friends you had."
"Okay." Kilk replied with an uneasy shaking to his voice. He never had anyone seem happy to meet him for the first time. They always judged him, or wrote him off as someone that they wouldn't like, or in Risa's case beat the ever-loving crap out of him. "I, I don't know what to say. Thanks?"
"Jeez Kazu, you are so bad." Megumi teased giving her friend a punch to the top of the head.
Risa tried to stifle a chuckle, and Shinji rolled his eyes. Then at the strike Megu gave him Kilk's eyes teared up. "Why did you do that?" He asked Megumi trying desperately not to start crying.
"Aw, I'm sorry Kazu. You want me to kiss it and make it better?"
"No!" Kilk shouted as he tried to back away from Megu and inadvertently tumbled end-over-end off of the balcony and landed on his face on the stone tile ten feet below. There was an inaudible "ow" before Risa burst in shouting.
"Megu! What did you go and do that for? Kazuto! We're coming!" Megu and Risa ran frantically down to where Kilk had taken his second fall in half-an-hour from the top of that balcony, this time however it was completely and truly accidental. "You okay Kazuto?" Risa said concerned when she and Megu got to the space where Kilk had fallen. By this time Kilk had sat himself back up and was busy rubbing the back of his head (a curious sight since he had fallen flat on his face) and looked surprisingly enough like the fall didn't hurt as much as it appeared to. When he tried to get up and showed signs of pain in his left leg, both of the girls insisted on taking him to see Dr. Marguelise to make sure he was really okay. On the way to the Infirmary, Megu pulled Shinji back allowing Risa to support Kilk and creep slowly ahead of the rest of the group.
"So." Shinji said when he was sure that they had given Risa and Kilk enough room. "Why do you and Risa call Kilk 'Kazu' huh?"
"Why do we call him Kazu?" Megumi replied to Shinji's question. "Long story. Short version, I didn't think Kilk's name suited him so I started calling him Kazuto. Now that's basically the name his closest friends call him."
"Okay then. Another question, why is he so drastically different in a fight than he is normally?"
"That I don't know. It's like Kazu's a whole 'nother person when he fights." Megu paused allowing Risa to creep a little farther forward with Kilk. "I don't know what it is but, when something bad happens Kazu gets serious, and he gets this fire in his eyes and." Megu paused again for a second as if trying to find the words for what she was trying to say. "I don't know, it's like, like he's always playing around having fun, except when it matters. That has to sound completely weird huh?"
"No, no it kinda makes perfect sense." Shinji said as he started fuming to himself, Shinji hated people that played around like that in serious situations. He didn't like someone that decided whether or not a situation warranted their full attention. "Still." He thought to himself. "There's something about him, I don't know. Maybe it's a little too early to judge him. Isn't that right Kilk?"
Regrettably Kilk had twisted his left ankle pretty bad. So Dr. Marguelise made him pick a bed and lie there for a while until she had cleared him. So Kilk was forced to sit out and not see the matches until then. But he told Dr. Marguelise that he refused to miss Risa, Megu or Shinji's matches. To which the good doctor only said. "We'll see what happens Kilk." So resigning to his fate he asked the doctor if she could get him some cloth and a sewing kit. She was curious, what could Kilk need those things for? Wasn't he afraid of needles? Kilk answered her questions to her satisfaction and agreed to get the supplies that he'd asked for.
"Wait Doc'." Kilk said just before she disappeared through the door. "Don't tell Risa about what you're doing okay?"
She had a pretty good idea what was going on, so after promising not to reveal the intimate details of Kilk's plan she left to get the things Kilk asked for. Kilk then spent virtually the rest of the day either working on his little project, or hiding it from Risa when she came in to tell him about the match that had just concluded. Luckily the Doc' was able to get her out of the room each time by telling her that he needed to rest and that she could only visit for a few minutes to tell him about the matches, he was especially disheartened when he heard that he had missed Shinji's match. "Oh, Kazuto. About the next match, the next match is mine. Please try to get there okay Kazuto?" After agreeing to be there for Risa's fight, she gladly left and Kilk was able to finish the doll that he had been making for the better part of the entire day.
"So, what are you making that for?" Dr. Marguelise asked as Kilk finished the last stitch on the doll twenty minutes later. Kilk preceded to tell her about how she liked the doll that Ester made him a great deal, and how he makes it a point to give every one of his friends some kind of gift. "So that is gonna be her gift then?" With Kilk's response to her question in the affirmative she said. "Well, it's not quite all the way there yet. You're probably gonna feel some pain when you try to walk on it, but the way I see it. I went into the closet here to get some supplies, and when I came back out you were just gone. If you catch my drift."
"Thanks Doc' I appreciate it." Kilk said as the Doctor walked into the storage room at the back of the Infirmary and Kilk slipped out.
Back at the Arena, Risa was getting angry. "Where the hell is he? I'm gonna kill that boy!" Risa fumed as she looked at the empty space next to Megu that was supposed to have Kilk cheering for her in it. "He better hope that I work off all of my steam on this joker before I get to him." After trying to convince Captain Krieger to wait a few minutes longer before starting the match to no avail he ordered the start of the match with a booming shout that seemed to resonate throughout the entire building.
And to some effect it did, as he ran through the halls Kilk heard the booming voice of Jonathan Krieger shout 'begin' and it chilled him through to the bone. He had been afraid for some time now about what would happen to him if he was late, "I guess now I'm gonna find out. Heaven help me." He said as he summoned all the strength he had while ignoring the now pounding pain in his leg and sped up to as close to top speed as his ankle would allow. "Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on come on!" He chanted to himself as he rounded the corner onto the final stretch. He could finally see the door to the Arena Hall. He walked in and saw that the battle area Risa was in seemed to be an ancient ruin.
"Damn, I can't believe that this girl is beating me." Risa panted as she glared fiercely at her opponent.
"What's the matter? You scared? It seemed that way when you were trying to get Krieger to hold off on the match for a few minutes. Is that it? Are you scared?" Yuriko said taunting Risa.
Just then Risa heard something that she should have heard from the start, Kilk cheering her on telling her to beat the girl that stood in front of her down. With a sigh that seemed to say "better late than never" Risa turned to her opponent with a renewed spirit and fired back. "You sure like to hear yourself talk don't you?" She paused for a second to catch her breath. "For your information there's someone that I wanted to be sure saw me beat that overbearing bleached blonde head of yours all over this valley."
Risa struck a nerve with that one. As soon as she said it, the five foot eleven inch frame of the lithe and deadly desert beauty flew at her looking like she wanted blood. With a new resolve to crush Risa beneath the heel of her boot, she let loose with a wild barrage of attacks. Which ironically might have saved Risa a loss in the fight, Yuriko had done what no self-respecting fighter should ever do; let their emotions get the best of them in a fight. Infuriated by the remark Risa had made, Yuriko started leaving more and more gaps in her defenses in favor of a more relentless attack. Something that she would live to regret. In between one of her high kicks, Risa stepped in, dropped low and took out her other leg. Then as she fell to the ground, Risa converted the momentum she had obtained from the spin and used it to fuel a double open-palmed thrust that sent her opponent spinning toward the wall of a close-by ruin. Finally after spinning end-over-end nearly twenty feet she impacted with the wall, then seeing another opening Risa rushed in right behind her and made sure that the impact with that wall was one that Yuriko Morino would never forget.
"Eat this!" Risa shouted as she drove her knee into Yuriko's abdomen as she bounced off of the wall. That was it, there was no way that Yuriko was getting up from that. Krieger indicated that the fight was over and that after three more fights the rest would have to wait until tomorrow. He told to occupants that the fights would resume at ten o'clock the next day. When Krieger finished his speech, the instructors dropped the spell bringing the two back into the arena and had Yuriko rushed off to the Infirmary to have the doctors check her over.
As soon as the medical personnel had cleared the floor, Kilk and Megu rushed onto the stage with Shinji right behind. Once he got onto the stage Risa ran over and hugged Kilk. He gave Megu a look that Risa couldn't see that seemed to say "what's up with her?" to which Megu returned a look that said forget it, and doing so he finished hugging her. After she finished and backed away slightly, she smacked Kilk across the face.
"That's for being late!" She said in a choleric tone. "What took you so long Kazuto?" The glare she gave him told Kilk that she was really pissed, and the way she was standing indicated that she had no idea what to do at the moment.
Kilk only smiled, he was a little hurt that she smacked him but in retrospect he did deserve it for being late. So he reached into his pocket and pulled out the small plush doll that he had been working on for the better part of the day. "I had to finish this, and the Doc' didn't want to let me out of the Infirmary so."
"I'm so sorry!" Risa said launching into another hug. "I didn't know. Aw, it's so pretty too! Thanks Kazuto." Then she did something that he never saw coming. She lifted up onto the tips of her toes and kissed Kilk on the cheek before running off saying she needed to clean herself up a little.
Kilk stood there thunderstruck, he had no idea what just happened. His cheeks were a scarlet shade that Megu had never seen before in her life on him. At this sight she burst into a riotous uproar of laughter and said. "That look suits you Kazu!"
Kilk finally snapped out of the daze that Risa's previous action put him into. With a look of complete and utter bemusement on his face he turned to Megu and stammered. "W-w-w-what just?"
"Happened?" Megu said finishing the sentence her friend seemed to be having trouble wrapping that scatterbrained head of his around. "You did something nice for her and she kissed you. That's kinda the way things go when a girl likes you."
Megumi's answer only served to confuse Kilk more, he had no idea what she was talking about. Then Shinji, half-pitying him and half-aggravated with him said. "Can't you see? She l-" But he was cut off before he could finish his sentence when Megu elbowed him in the stomach and gave the nearly six foot tall boy a glare that albeit froze his blood in his veins. Once his lungs filled back up, all Shinji said was nevermind before letting the topic drop.
Once she left Megu turned to Kilk and told him to wait in the hall for Risa to get back. When he asked why, she simply replied that she had to prepare for her match. The schedule ended up getting flopped around when some of the participants dropped out, putting her match with Akiko right after Risa's match with her sister Yuriko.
After an arduous ten minute wait in the hall, Risa finally returned. Her appearance now, compared to what she looked like when she left to 'clean up' was an extremely marked change, and it had Kilk dumbstruck. He couldn't even piece his words together before he slapped himself and was finally able to get out a simple "wow."
"You like it?" She asked excitedly. "I hoped you would. I'm sorry I took so long. I had to do this, and then I had to find something to give you."
"Give me? Risa you don't have to give me."
"Yes I do!" Risa cut in. "Now shut up and take it." She said with a bit of her temper starting to show through as she pulled a necklace out of her pocket. It was a small sliver heart wrapped in a vine with thorns attached to a silver chain. She reached out grabbed his hand and deposited the tiny silver charm into it, she then closed his fist around it and pushed it back to him. "There, now you have something from me too." She said with the frustration disappearing from her voice, then she smiled.
"Thanks, I don't know what to say. Other than thank you." Kilk took off his jacket, and gave it to Risa to hold. Her eyes traveled from the beautiful patch on the back of the jacket she held, to the ribbon tied around Kilk's left arm. Then he attached the chain of the necklace to the same spot where the chain Deacon gave him hung.
"Why don't you wear it?" Risa asked slightly frustrated.
"Well, because." Kilk said dusting off his pants and standing straight. "I can't wear it. The chain is a little too short. I really like your gift, but I don't want it to choke me y'know?"
"Oh, I see." She said slightly disappointed.
"But." Kilk continued. "My Sis has a load of chains in a box in her room, when I get home I'll take one of her chains and put the charm on it." He smiled and continued. "Then I can wear it. So 'til then, I'll keep it like this so that everyone can see it."
"Okay." Risa said a little more enthusiastic about the idea. "Hey, you think." She paused a second when apparently embarrassed as her cheeks began to redden to a light crimson. "Maybe, I could come with you and Megu when you go back to Aegir? I'd like to see your hometown." She didn't get to see too much of it that morning because she just passed through to get to the train station.
"Sure." Kilk smiled and indicated that he would be happy to show her around Aegir and that they should probably get inside as Megu's match was getting ready to start and he wasn't going to miss her match like he missed Shinji's. They walked inside and over to the spot that they had albiet claimed as their place to watch the matchs. They got into their places and Risa rested her head on Kilk's shoulder. Kilk was confused at this action but decided to leave her alone. They noticed that Megu was down already on the arena floor in what looked like a meditative state, sitting on her knees facing away from the center of the platform.
"What is she doing?" Risa asked looking up from Kilk's arm.
"Meditating." Kilk said calmly.
"Really?" Risa said in disbelief. "I never would have pegged her as the meditating type."
"Yeah? Well anyway, let's watch." Kilk said turning his attention to the fight that was about to start. Megu's opponent walked onto the platform, for the first time since they've known him Krieger didn't speak a word. Once Akiko got onto the platform, the four instructors clapped their hands together and placed them on the ground. The purple film of the magic seal enveloped the platform and took them off to the arena that had become known throughout the day as the Kolgarano Badlands. "Heh, perfect."
"What was that?" Risa asked not knowing what Kilk was talking about.
"My Mom, taught her this really mean technique." Kilk said with a chuckle. "This girl, better hope she doesn't do anything to piss Megu off."
"Why?"
Kilk simply smiled and told her to watch and she'll see. If not, then he would tell her later. To which, Risa replied with a only a smile. "So." Akiko said with a sneer. "You gonna stand up or what?"
"I'll stand up when I'm good and ready." Megu replied without moving at all.
"Fine then, your loss." Akiko said as she launched forward. She fired into a rapid spin for a sweep kick, but when she came across expecting to meet her target Megu disappeared.
"Looking for someone." Megu said from behind Akiko's back. "I personally find it a whole lot easier to find something when you actually USE that space between your ears."
At Megumi's inflammatory remark, Akiko swung behind her back hoping this time to catch Megumi, again she missed.
"You almost had me there, seriously I felt the air coming off that one." Megu teased. This time Akiko turned around again, and this time she caught Megu clean on the jaw with a righteous uppercut. It sent her flying for a good fifteen feet, at the end of which she latched onto the rock wall behind her.
"How did you like that one? You dumb little girl." Akiko said triumphantly.
"I liked it just fine." Megumi whispered in the ear of her arrogant opponent, only when Akiko turned around to see her, Megu was nowhere to be found. The next thing Akiko Morino knew, she was looking up at the sky from the flat of her back with a right terrible pounding in her head. Before she could think it to herself, Megu answered the question for her. "Yeah, you feel that pounding in your head? That'll happen when you take a foot the the side of the head."
No sooner had she gotten the words out of her mouth, and she was looking up from the flat of her back. "What was that you were saying? Jeez, could you be any more stupid? Dumb Rieshin."
"Uh-oh." Kilk said under his breath.
"What's wrong?" Risa asked catching his subtle worrying words.
"She just called Megu a dumb Rieshin." Kilk said gravely. When asked what that had to do with anything, Kilk told Risa the story about how the day that he met Megu someone was picking on him and she stepped in to help him. One of the boys called her a dumb Rieshin, and Megu just lost it. Beat the poor kid so badly that his mother had to spend the next seven hours patching him up. "No one made that mistake ever again."
"Eeek. That sounds bad." Risa said putting her hand over her mouth.
"It's only gonna get worse. Remember what I said, she better hope she doesn't piss Megu off? Well now you'll see why." Kilk said turning his attention away from the fight.
"What are you doing?" Risa asked as Kilk braced his back up against the railing.
"I don't wanna watch."
"Oh, okay." Risa said turning back to the fight.
Back on the arena floor things were getting interesting, there had been a short exchange between Megumi and Akiko about the latter using that derogatory statement, which only served to piss Megu off even more. Then she started to tell Akiko about how within the next two minutes, the fight would be over.
"How do you plan on accomplishing that?" Akiko asked tauntingly.
"Like this." Megu said as she pulled the ribbon from her hair and placed it in her pocket. Once she did so, her shoulder-length brown hair fell and then flew up. She pointed at Akiko with a glare that would freeze anyone in their tracks, then she simply vanished.
"What's the matter? Running aw-" Akiko started but was cut off when she got punched in the face by something that no one could see. "What the?" She said, looking around wildly.
"What's the matter? Scared?" Megumi said, her voice seeming to come from behind Akiko. Hearing Megumi's voice, she swung behind her but nothing was there. "Missed me." She trailed off before hitting Akiko with an uppercut to the chin. When she returned to the ground, Akiko saw that Megumi was now standing about ten yeards away. "You know, I'm getting really tired of your yapping." Then in a scene like something out of a ghost story, she started walking. But this wasn't ordinary, no. To everyone there it appeared as if there were more and more of her. Soon there were at least thirty copies of Megumi Inari standing about the badlands.
"What the?" Akiko said anger creeping into her voice. She then let out a frightening howl and stomped the ground causing small boulders to fly up from the shattered ground. "I'll get you!" She shouted as she started hurling the boulders at every copy of Megumi she could see. The second that the first boulder left Akiko's hand, all of the Megu's started rushing toward Akiko. Dodging boulders, or launching off of them, many of them were hit but dissolved in an ethereal vapor. Before long Akiko was surrounded by the Megu clones.
"How in the hell?" Risa said as she watched the Megu clones appear. "How is that possible?"
"There's a technique that mom taught her." Kilk cut in. "She uses this technique to manipulate the heat in the fight area. The heat then bends the light, giving the illusion of multiple Megumi's." He then went on to say that if it was possible for anyone to see movement that fast, they would see Megu darting between the illusions masking her attack. Right now she was moving inhumanly fast to make it appear as if many of these illusions were in fact real. Kilk then explained that after surrounding her, Megumi was going to knock her into the air and drive her down to the ground. "That's how this fight ends." The fight progressed just as Kilk told them it would, after a brutal combo Megumi half-moon kicked her up into the air before jumping up even higher and after a front flip axe-heel slammed Akiko into the valley floor. It was over, Akiko could no longer fight. Megu stood there as Krieger called the fight and had Akiko carted off to the Infirmary like her sister, then without a word walked off. Risa and Shinji made to follow but stopped when Kilk told them that she needed to be alone for a little while. "Just trust me Shinji." He said with a smile as they let Megu walk away without a word.
"If you say so Kilk." Shinji said in a melancholic tone.
"You sure Kazuto?" Risa asked in a concerned voice.
"I have known her for a long time. Every time she does that, loses her temper in a fight, she always goes out to be by herself for a little while. Don't worry." He said calmy.
Both of them agreed and resolved to wait for Megumi there at in the arena. A few minutes later she returned looking as if she felt much better. "Hey guys." She said with a smile. "Hope you didn't get bored."
"Well, Kazuto really seemed to not be able to handle it. He was bouncing around and he really hated the not moving part but other than that were fine." Risa said as Megu walked up to the group of friends.
"Well, that's to be expected." Megu said with a chuckle. "Hey, Risa. You mind talking to me in private for a minute?"
"Sure." Risa said unsure of what was going on. She and Megumi walked away then once they were far enough away, Risa turned to Megu and asked. "So what's up?"
They talked for a minute or two then they rushed back to the group and Megu dragged Shinji off by the collar of his shirt, kicking and screaming all the way. Then Risa turned to Kilk and said. "Hey Kazuto, you wanna go do something?"
"Uh, okay." Kilk said sort of confused. "W-what did you have in mind?"
"You'll see." Risa smiled as she pulled him away out the door.
Next Chapter - "Leaf on the Wind"
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Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 12:42 pm
"Leaf on the Wind"
"So, Risa. What did you want to do?" Kilk asked in an interested tone. They had been given the rest of the day to themselves as the matches had been going faster than expected and they had gotten to the point where the proctors were going to cut them off earlier than expected. Instead of spending the rest of the day in the place that his mother had arranged for him bored out of his mind, Risa asked him if he would want to go and do something for a little while. Naturally inquisitive, Kilk continually asked what it was that Risa had planned, to which she only said that he would see when they got there. Eventually they arrived at this small ice cream shop on the far side of town.
"Come on." Risa said beckoning Kilk inside the shop. "Let's get some ice cream." To which Kilk promptly agreed. They walked inside and got their ice cream. After they got the ice cream, Risa suggested that she show Kilk around Lowengrin for a little while. Other than the occasional pointing out of a landmark, they spent the first few minutes walking down the street in sort of an awkward silence. Then trying desperately to get a conversation going, Kilk commented on how good Risa did in her match with Yuriko and asked why she decided to take this test in the first place. "Well you see." Risa started. "My parents got killed a long time ago. It happened in this attack on my hometown twelve years ago."
"I'm so sorry." Kilk said out of habit. "Wait. Twelve years ago? What happened?" He said half-hoping not to hear the answer he knew in his heart was coming. He had this nagging feeling that it had something to do with the men that attacked Aegir looking for him all those years ago.
Risa then began to tell a story of that fateful day. The day started out just like any other, she was helping her mother get ready to open the inn that they ran in the town of Cadrean. About midday, a woman came in with her son. She couldn't remember the woman's name, only that she was very pretty. She remarked that up until that day, that woman was probably the prettiest person she had ever seen. The day then progressed as normal, she helped her mother around the inn, she played with the woman's son, things of that nature, until just after sundown. She remembered waking up to the sound of pounding on the door of the inn. She looked out the window and saw these men standing outside on the street. "They looked like demons in purple armor." She said when she tried to describe them. "That's all I can say, they didn't look like men and what they did. They couldn't have been human, people aren't that heartless." She finished with a shudder. She remembered her mother bursting into her room and telling her to hide. She watched as the man killed her mother, then turned to her when they heard her screams. "I would have died that day too, if it wasn't for that woman." Risa told Kilk about how that woman had killed the man that stood there, then turned to her and told her that everything was going to be fine and that she would lead the men away. She told Risa to go down in the basement and hide until then. "I hid there for three days before one of the guards found me. They sent me to live with my aunt in Lis Aliera. I've been bouncing around from town to town since then."
"I'm sorry." Kilk said again.
"I don't know, I guess I decided to take this exam, so that I could try to make sure that nothing like that happens again." Risa said as she wiped the tears of that sad memory from her eyes.
Hearing Risa's tale of that day, Kilk couldn't shake the feeling that the story sounded familiar. "Hey, Risa." Kilk said when the words finally found their way to his lips. "Do you remember, if someone took a picture of that woman that day?"
Risa was shocked, "how w-would you know that Kazuto?" She stammered at the remark her friend made.
Kilk reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a small photo. "I want to ask you, is this the woman you saw that day?" He said holding the photo up in front of Risa. "I need to know. Please."
Risa reached out and touched the photo. She couldn't believe it, it was sort of charred on one corner and it looked like it had been handled quite a bit but there was no mistaking it, this was the very picture that she had watched her father take of their new guests twelve years ago. Just then she understood why he asked the question, "Kilk, is this?"
"My mother." Kilk said anticipating the question she was going to ask. "She died a long time ago, this photo is all that I have left of her."
"I thought you said you live with your mother and sister back in Aegir." Risa said greatly bemused.
"Well yeah, they've been so nice to me, but they actually adopted me twelve years ago after my real mother died. As far as I'm concerned, she is my mother. I just, I don't know, I just want to know what happened to my biological mother." Kilk replied in a gloomy tone. "Hearing your story, I guess it triggered some of my memories, I don't know. But I'm certain now, that my mother was the woman that checked in to your family's inn twelve years ago."
"So you have no idea what happened to her?" Risa said with a great deal of sympathy in her voice.
"No, I don't remember anything from that day. The only things I have from that day, are that picture, and this scar." Kilk said lifting up his shirt to reveal the scar from a massive gash across the whole of his chest.
Once the shock of seeing that scar subsided, the two continued walking. "So you're telling me you don't remember anything about that day?" Risa asked genuinely curious. Kilk nodded and sensing how increasingly uncomfortable Kilk was becoming with this topic, decided to leave it alone and talk about something else. "Hey, Kazuto." Risa said after a short uncomfortable silence. "Come on, let me show you my favorite place in the city."
"Okay." Kilk said as Risa pulled him by his arm down the brick path. Eventually they came to this hill with a lone oak tree. It was a massive thing that overlooked the better part of the town. It was a beautiful sight, watching the sun set against the backdrop of the buildings. "This is your favorite place?" Kilk asked as he marveled at his surroundings.
"Yup." Risa said with a smile. "When I lived here with my aunt, I would always come here and just stare out at the city. It's a nice place."
"Yeah it is." Kilk nodded. "Um, uh, Risa?"
"What is it Kazuto?" She replied turning to face Kilk.
"Nothing, it's nothing."
She could see the uneasiness on his face, he was concerned about something. "Come on, what is it? You can tell me." She said trying to coax whatever was making him feel like this out into the open.
"I don't know." He replied. "I guess I'm just anxious about the fights tomorrow."
"How about we just completely forget about fighting for tonight, okay Kazuto?" Risa suggested.
"O-okay." Kilk said finally after a short pause.
Risa could see that wasn't what was bothering him. Something still had him greatly disconcerted, something that she could see he wasn't exactly sure how to put into words. She decided to let it go for a little while though, to see if it would clear up on its own. Trying to get Kilk's mind off of whatever was bothering him, Risa suggested that they sit back on the hillside and watch the sunset. A prospect to which Kilk agreed after a few seconds. They sat there for a few minutes and Kilk finally put what was bothering him out into the open.
"Hey, Risa. I've got something to tell you."
"What is it Kazuto?" Risa asked rolling over to face Kilk.
"Um, you losing your parents that day, it was my fault." Kilk said finally.
"How could it be your fault?" Risa asked trying to figure out where this statement was coming from.
"Those guys, the soldiers, those devils in the purple armor. They were looking for me, they were chasing my mother because she wouldn't give me up to them." Kilk said trying to hold back the tears from realizing that he was the cause of the suffering his friend had gone through.
"How do you know that?" Risa said trying to convince Kilk that Cadrean couldn't have been his fault.
"Those soldiers, they came to Aegir about a week later. They followed Lexi home from there. she had found me floating in the river that runs just south of Cadrean." Kilk explained. "One of them, a man by the name of Rath. Told her about how if my original mother had given me to them like she was supposed to, and didn't try to run, then all the people that they killed probably wouldn't have died. It's all my fault, I wouldn't blame you if you hated me for it." Kilk finished, tears welling up in his eyes.
"Hate you?" Risa said sort of shocked. "Even if that were true, and you were what those men were after. There is no way that what happened to my parents, or to anyone else that those men killed for that matter, is you fault. You got that? You couldn't have done anything about it then, so don't worry about it now. Okay?" She said pulling a handkerchief from her jacket and giving it to Kilk to wipe his eyes with. "Alright, what do you say we head back now?"
"Alright." Kilk said appearing to be feeling much better. They gathered their things and proceeded to walk back toward the place that all of them would be staying through the duration of the exams. It was a small house that belonged to Lexi's cousin, who was not in town at the moment and had given Lexi the permission to use for the purpose of housing Kilk and Megu for the time they would be there. It was a big enough place that it wouldn't be a problem for anyone if Risa stayed there as well, and it had been decided on the train ride that she would be rooming with Megumi. Shinji however, already had his own place to stay and declined the offer to stay with their group.
About half-way home, Kilk and Risa were stopped by the same goons from earlier that were harassing Risa. "Well, well, well, if it isn't miss attitude and her little boyfriend. Out for a little stroll are we?" One of them started.
"Yeah don't you know it's dangerous to walk these streets at night? You never know what kind of people you'll run into out here." Another said with his squeaky high alto voice that seemed to crack every few seconds.
"I don't want any trouble guys. Could you please just move along? There's nothing to see here." Kilk said in a dismissive voice.
"Don't you just try to sweep us aside like were not worth your time!" The biggest one shouted as he drilled his fist right into Kilk's face, doubling him over. "Not so tough now are you?" He said triumphantly as he punched Kilk again.
"Kazuto! Are you okay?" Risa said in a troubled voice.
"I'm fine." Kilk said with a smile back at Risa. "Why don't you step back for a minute?"
Risa took a few steps back so as to be out of the way when Kilk fought the goons. She was surprised however when he just stood there and let them pound on him. "What are you doing Kazuto! Fight back already." She said with more and more concern creeping into her low and melodic alto voice.
"You told me not to think about fighting for the rest of the night, so that's what I'm doing." He smiled back again. "You guys can hit me all you want, just leave her out of this." He said to the men in front of him.
The hitting continued for several minutes during which, Risa could only stand there. She wanted desperately to stop the slaughter that was happening in front of her. "You can't just stand there and let them kill you though! Please, fight back Kazuto!" Risa shouted trying to stop Kilk from letting himself be used like a human heavy bag.
"I'm getting tired of your mouth girly!" One of them said as they broke off and went to go after Risa.
This act changed everything, almost instantly as soon as the second man went to attack Risa, he ducked the punch from the larger man and tripped the man running for Risa before giving him some help to the ground with an axe heel slam. He turned with a glare at the rest of the men and said. "I told you, leave her out of this. You didn't listen, big mistake." Kilk rushed up to the two men, the larger one that had been using him like a punching bag, and the smaller man whose voice sounded like a diseased chipmunk. He flash kicked the latter up into the air before hitting him with a rapid fire combo of several punches before grabbing him by the waist from behind and slamming the two hundred and fifty pound brute into the ground. He then walked up to the larger man, ducking his punches before grabbing one of them and snapping his log-like arm in half like it was nothing. The man let out a blood curdling scream before Kilk kicked him in the face, knocking him out cold.
When it was over, Risa rushed up to Kilk and, asked him if he was okay. He may have said yes, but his true condition was betrayed when he fell right to the ground. Luckily she wasn't fooled by this and caught him before he hit the ground. She looked down at the his slumped form and heaved a heavy sigh before bracing Kilk against her five foot six inch frame and helping him walk the rest of the way back to the house. They reached the steps and Kilk assured Risa that he was fine enough to walk on his own. Risa objected slightly but ultimately gave in allowing Kilk to walk unassisted up the steps to the door. Once there Kilk pulled a key from his pocket and made to unlock the door. The key turned with absolutely no resistance indicating that the door was already unlocked. He thought this was strange but decided ultimately that it did not matter and opened the door for Risa. "No Kazuto, you are going in first I don't care what you say." There was a short, futile objection from Kilk, who eventually resolved that there was no point in arguing and walked in. The lights were off, but he was sure that Megu had been here before him, he hit the switch on the wall behind him, and a group of at least fifteen people jumped out yelling.
"Surprise! Happy Birthday Kilk!"
The shock of almost his entire extended family from Aegir popping out of nowhere caused poor Kilk to faint. After a short bout of laughter a few of them hefted Kilk onto the couch that sat in the middle of the room. While they waited for the guest of honor to come around, Lexi turned to Risa and asked. "What happened to him?"
Risa proceeded to tell Lexi about the fight they gotten into on the way there, how Kilk told her to stay back and just let the men beat on him. How it went on for a long time before one of them decided to go after her and Kilk knocked them all out. "I couldn't move." She said grimly. "No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't move. I was frozen there. I could have done something, I should have done something." She said beginning to cry.
"It's not your fault." Kilk said with a groan as he came to. "You got that? I didn't want to fight, it had nothing to do with what you told me. So don't cry anymore."
Hearing Kilk wake up she rushed over and hugged him. "Are you okay?" She said after getting the tears to stop.
"Of course." He said as he got up off the couch. When he stood up, he felt a sharp pain run through his leg all the way up to his back, but he ignored it. Instead he smiled at her and said. "See, I'm fine. Now cheer up."
"Okay." She said smiling slightly.
"Alright enough of the depressing stuff. Let's start this party!" Lexi said trying to change the mood. There was a resounding yes from the entire room and Lexi suggested that Kilk head upstairs and clean himself up a little. Kilk agreed and went upstairs for a few minutes. When he was gone, Lexi turned to Risa and said. "You worried about him?" Risa nodded and Lexi continued. "Well don't be. He can take a beating, I should know."
"Thanks." Risa said feeling a little better. "Who are you?"
"His mother." Lexi said matter-of-factly.
"Really? I'm sorry, my name is Risa. Nice to meet you." Risa said shaking Lexi's hand. "What are you doing here? He said that no one was able to come from his hometown."
"Yeah, it was supposed to be a surprise, and if his reaction was any indication it surprised him alright." Lexi said jokingly.
Just then Kilk came back down the stairs, and it was decided unanimously that it was time to start the party. Everyone was laughing, joking and having a good time. There were a few gifts given and the party started winding down. Many of the people had gotten rooms at the inn and decided to head back there so they could get some rest. They all were going to stay for the remainder of the examinations to show their support for Kilk, Megu and their new friend Risa. Soon the only people left in the loft were Lexi, Elise, Kilk, Megu and Risa. Lexi had pulled Risa aside to talk to her one-on-one, they walked back into the kitchen and once they were gone, Elise turned to Kilk and said. "So, I see you made a new friend."
"Yeah, Megu and I met her on our way to the train station. Of course, that meeting did end up with her laying me out flat." Kilk replied jokingly.
Elise gasped, she was very protecting of her little brother and hated it when she heard about someone hurting him. "I can't believe you decided to be friends with her!"
"Jeez, it's okay sis. I ran into her, she hit me, and later she apologized for it. Now she's my friend, and she's been really nice to me." Kilk said trying to calm his overprotective sister down. It took some prodding but she finally agreed to leave it alone. "Oh yeah, Sis. Did you bring your jewelry box with you?"
"Yeah, why do you ask?" Elise said with a puzzled look on her face.
"Well, I've got this necklace, and the chain is a little too short for me." Kilk started as he detached the necklace that Risa gave him from where it hung and held it up. "I was wondering if you had another chain that would fit it."
"Okay, I'll see if I have anything." Elise said after she took a look at the necklace her brother held.
"Thanks Sis."
Just then, Lexi and Risa walked back into the room.
Next Chapter - Coming Soon
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Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 1:13 pm
Chapter 4 - "Arcana"
"This.. is going to hurt." Kilk says as the massive claw of the beast impacts his chest sending him flying, ragdolling across the stadium floor.
"Stop them please!" Risa shouts, almost crying as a shaky Kilk rises to his feet.
"How c-could they make him fight a Kalnoth.." Lexi says to herself as she watches in horror, gripping tightly onto the fabric of her clothing. "I-I can't.." She says in a shaky voice matching how she was shaking. "I c-can't stop him if he still has the will to stand.."
"What does that matter!?" Risa shouts. "He's going to be ki-" She is stopped by the feeling of a large hand on her back.
Ralin pulled Risa aside and set his other hand on her shoulder. "My dear you have to let him fight." He says sighing. "Look at him." He turns her to see Kilk still attacking the Kalnoth. "He is still trying hard. Do you want to force him to give up at something that he has been trying for ten years of his life to get to?"
"No.." Risa says looking down. "I-I'm just scared that.."
"He might die?"
"Yes.."
"Don't be." Ralin laughs. "Do you know who that boy's mother is? He is too stubborn to die."
Risa laughs a little. "I-I guess you're right Ralin.." She says standing straight with a small smile. "I can't do anything to help but cheer him on right?" She asks receiving a knowing nod. "Well then I know what I'm going to do then right?" She then returns to her seat.
"Th-thanks Ralin.." Lexi says wiping a tear from her eyes.
"You're welcome Lex." The large man responds returning to his seat.
Risa feels the hand of the woman next to her brush the top of her own. "H-he'll be alright.." She says gripping her hand for support before both of them start cheering.
After a few minutes Lexi stands up and shouts. "You better beat this thing or you won't get any dinner for a month!"
Back on the battlefield Kilk hangs his head. "Looks like I'm not eating for a month.." He laughs uneasily before looking down at his broken sword. "If I live that long."
The Kalnoth let out a blood curdling roar and started charging towards him. "Oh crap, here it comes." Kilk says rolling to the side to dodge the charge and then it turns and backhands Kilk with its large claw, sending him flying into a wall. "Anyone get the number of that train?" He says before shaking his head and pulling himself from the wall.
"Okay.. no sword, that thing is harder than anything I've ever seen, it's three times my size and hits like a train." Kilk says with an uneasy laugh. "I might just die here."
"Only if you stop fighting." A soft voice seems to come from all around him as the world slows to a crawl.
"Who's there?"
"That's not important." The voice says before a woman in a long white dress walks out from the mist that has begun to surround him. Her long red hair was held back by a band and tied off with a white ribbon towards the bottom where it came to about the small of her back. "What is important, is this one question." She says as her smile fades to a more serious look. "Why do you fight?"
"That's easy.." Kilk says after a minute or two. "I fight because I want to protect the people I care about."
"Wrong answer." The woman says as she sweeps with a kick at Kilk's face to which he just barely jumps back to avoid. She rushes forward and starts punching and kicking at him more, Kilk being barely able to dodge her attacks.
"How is she this fast?" Kilk says to himself, trying harder and harder to keep up with her movements.
The woman smirks and feints an attack before catching Kilk in the chest with a palm strike. "Too slow." She says as Kilk dropped to his knees.
Kilk coughed and gripped his chest, trying frantically to catch his breath.
"Now, I'll ask you again. Why do you fight?" The woman asks after Kilk catches his breath.
"I..I-I want to get stronger.." Kilk says finally. "I'm tired of feeling helpless.. I don't want to watch people I care about die.."
The woman pulls Kilk up and hugs him, waiting for him to calm down before stepping back. "A true answer." She says after stepping back. She held up her hand and each in turn the gifts from Kilk's friends would appear around her.
"Each of these, a symbol of what you want to protect, a symbol of someone important to you." She says before muttering a few words and the gifts swirl into a ball of green swirling energy. The world began to start up again and the Kalnoth's charge resumed. "Let that become your strength, and awaken your power!" She says slamming the ball into Kilk's chest.
Kilk spiraled out of the way of the slam that the Kalnoth delivered, shattering the ground where he was standing as the woman disappeared into mist again. "What just happened?" He says looking down at his clothing. He was now wearing a black jacket and pants with a green trim. His boots and the left breast of the jacket had an emblem on them of a green pair of wings being viewed from the side. He wore a bit of armor on both of his shoulders, with a chain connected in the front of each of them running around his back and connecting to the back of the other. He had a sword strapped to his back facing his left side, and one on the right side of his belt facing forward. "Woah.. This is cool." He says grabbing the swords and pulling them out. "Nice swords.."
The Kalnoth roared, seeming confused as to how he managed to dodge the blow. He then charged at him again.
"Not this time." Kilk says dashing out of the way but moving a good four times further than he wished to. "Wooooah.. gotta get used to this." He says bouncing a little then running around the ring, dodging slams and rocks. "This is amazing."
"Holy s**t Kazuto leveled up!" Megumi shouts as she sees Kilk's wardrobe change and power up.
"No Megumi, he awakened his Arcana." Lexi says with an astonished look on her face. She looked down ringside and saw Krieger give an approving nod. "He knew, he knew that Kilk would awaken, that's why he didn't stop the fight."
"What are you talking about?" Risa asks seeming confused.
"Nothing, nevermind."
"Alright now, let's see what I can do with this." Kilk says smirking and slashing at the beast's claws as he brought them down on Kilk's head.
The Kalnoth roared in pain as its arm went flying back, deflected by Kilk's blow. It roared again and the plates on its shoulders and back lifted up and glowed. It shot a beam of energy at Kilk that he just narrowly dodged. "Wow, that was close.." He says checking himself for singes. "A little too close."
"I better finish this before this thing decides to bust out anything else from its personal bag of tricks." Kilk says gripping the hilts of his blades tighter. "Alright, let's see what I can do.." He says slashing the Kalnoth's plates hard. Clash after clash he struck but didn't seem to crack them at all. Just then he noticed a bit of wind cut across the grounds of the badlands.
Kilk thought for a second. "Hmm.. I wonder.." He says smirking a little and jumping into the air. He slashed at the air repeatedly, sending waves of air flying at the Kalnoth.
"What is he doing? He isn't even hitting it.." Risa says scratching her head.
Lexi looked closely at the ground below the Kalnoth. "Look there, you see the scars forming on the ground? He's sending the slashes through the air, using changing air pressure to cut through the things in its path."
"What?" Risa says looking where Lexi pointed. "Oh my god.."
Kilk slashed faster and faster, causing the scars below the beast to widen and deepen. "Time to finish this." He says stopping the slashing and holding his arms out to his sides. His hands started to glow with a green light and he starts spinning extremely fast creating a tornado in the air above the Kalnoth.
The Kalnoth looks up at Kilk and fires another beam weapon at him.
"Oh no!" Risa shouts as the area in the air that Kilk was in suddenly explodes into a massive cloud of smoke.
Everyone in the crowds head and spirits sink a little. "Poor kid.." Is heard whispered in hushed voices through the faceless masses.
"Look!" Lexi shouts pointing at the cloud. The top of the massive smoke cloud began to be sucked into the center of it. Soon the entire cloud was engulfed in the tornado above the staging area.
"RAZORWIND RHAPSODY!!" Kilk shouts as the tornado explodes into nothing and two large blades of wind fly in the shape of an X at the Kalnoth.
The beast tries desperately to save itself by firing another beam weapon at the blades flying at it but to no avail. The blades made their mark and suddenly the Kalnoth was engulfed in a ball of green energy. A chorus of chirping noises fills the air.
"What's going on?" Risa asks seeming confused. Then she sees a rock falling through the air only to get cleaved in half by seemingly nothing as it fell just feet from the ball of energy. "Did you see that?" She asks pointing to the falling rock.
"Amazing, he can already control his Arcana at such a high level even though it just awakened.. Incredible." Krieger muses to himself as he watches the events unfold.
Soon the ball of light disappeared and the Kalnoth simply fell over dead, its body coated in gashes and other wounds.
"Cool.." Kilk says floating down to the ground and passing out as the staging area falls away and he is returned to the arena.
"Kilk!!" Risa shouts as Kilk loses consciousness.
(Not quite done yet but a good bit more than I had before.)
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Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 2:39 pm
Okay, about half done with the next chapter. I should have at least part of it up tonight if nothing else crops up and after I do my UNIX/Linux homework which is due tonight at midnight >.>
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