GambolMuse

Dragon Ball: Legacy (Mogtaki and Vena Sera)

"Yes I'm sure the whole process is painful for you, but this can't wait. Or rather, I can't wait any longer," Aito corrected himself, meeting Krom's gaze with an annoyed one of his own, "At any rate I'd think you would be happy to be allowed off of the base grounds, unless you'd prefer to spend all your time there?" He didn't much care for the inner workings of the rebel forces either, he tried to steer clear of whatever they decided to do with the man. Much as he may not be favored around here however Krom may posses some invaluable information, information which could have a large impact on them. "When we last spoke you mentioned something like a Beastman project, yes? Turning people into what I assume you've turned Yumi into," Aito continued as he started pacing again, albeit far more slowly, "I want to know where this is being conducted, and who your subjects are. I can't imagine many people volunteering to have their entire physical being altered like that, unless they're zealous or insane. So tell me... You must know at least that much?"

Shu was going to bounce right out of his damn pants if he kept hopping around like that, what gives? Takeshi hadn't seen his brother this happy in over a year, and while nice it was kind of odd to see. "I did this... Really...?" he asked as if in disbelief, his eyebrows raising slightly. No way, he'd actually done something to cheer Shu up? It wasn't remotely what Vegeta or the doc probably had in mind but hell, if it worked then it worked. Chuckling at his brother's hyperness he nodded when asked about something later, reaching out and playfully plucking at his nose, "I do have something yeah, but its a surprise again! It's no fun if I tell you everything now is it?" he asked with a wink, "Besides, if I told you then you might go through the roof you'd be so excited, don't want to be breaking the house now do we?"

Being asked here was confusing, Haku didn't expect to be involved in much really. He was far more used to sitting in his quarters and leaving only when told, this new kind of freedom was unusual to him. Not that he minded it, he just didn't know much of what to do with it. To find that Krom was here as well didn't sit terribly well with him as he had no love for his former superior whatsoever. Just what was going on out there though? What did those men have to talk about that none of them could hear it? "I guess not, he had an escort and everything... And aren't you curious why he's here?" Haku asked as he returned to T'charrl, "That man's awful, I'm kind of hoping they lock him up and throw away the key. I don't care why they did what they did, it was miserable taking orders from them." No regard for most of their troops for one, or if they did have it then they never showed it. Plus being treated like crap was never a fun thing, he certainly didn't miss that.

"No way, she was completely into me! She was laughing and everything," Kabocha said defensively as his face reddened, "And do you know how hard it is to find a girl on this planet? Seriously, this place is packed and yet so many of them are..." he paused, shuddering before lowering his voice, "I met a girl with tentacle arms... I am NOT dating something with those!" At least if they were on Kortal or Earth he'd find a woman that was, well, more like him. Out here in a world where so many different races lived together there were plenty of people he just couldn't see himself getting on with; admittedly there wasn't a whole lot that deterred him from a girl, yet Uuonoe seemed to have just about everyone one of those things. "Oh right, aside from a crazy king waging war to protect everyone, nothing is wrong with Kortal at all," Kabocha remarked with a roll of his eyes, "Come on Kai, they need someone to straighten them out. I'm all for Saiyans taking charge, it makes sense because we're the strongest. But you think the way the King and everyone is doing it isn't wrong?" He might not have a method of his own, but clearly what was going on wasn't working.

Dragon Ball: Legacy (Mogtaki and Vena Sera)

It was good that Shu was having an absolute blast with this, as was Takeshi. He hadn't honestly expected much out of this and even thought his brother might be afraid of it, so having both of them enjoy it was a pleasant surprise. Laughing as they surged ahead they hit the water at the bottom with a splash, the older of the two boys falling back into the shallow pool as he let go of Shu. "Of course its fun! Glad you're having a blast buddy!" he said through chuckles, sitting up and grinning at Shu, "We do have it on Earth, somewhere. When we go back maybe we can look for something like it." Whenever that might be, they probably had a lot of stuff to do before they could even consider going back home. "Until we get home though let's go ahead and play here. No ideas when we'll get to do this again, you know?" He was positively soaked right now yet just didn't care, having much too much fun to be bothered by it. Getting to his feet he shook himself off and fetched their board, jumping out of the water and racing up the hill. "Come on buddy, let's go!"

"Oh... I mean that makes sense. And I guess we kind of look different depending on where we grew up. Just nothing as drastic as your kind, understand? And of course I'd miss the light, it's nice to be able to go out and into the sun." East City had just the right balance of sun and rain, you never got too accustomed to one or the other. There were the winters too of course which she couldn't much care for, and aside from that one world they went to Yumi didn't think T'charrl knew what snow was anyways. Trips aside they really should focus on their lesson here, goodness knows when they might have a chance to sit down and talk like this again. "Don't spoil the book silly, I want to know what happens too," Yumi teased, nudging T'charrl with her shoulder before beginning to read. She only got a few sentences in before the questions came again, unsurprisingly about things he'd probably never seen before in his life. "Oh... Well let's see... Horses are animals we ride on Earth. They are big, bigger than either of us, and they stand on four legs. They have long heads, a lot of hair on their necks and tails. Graze is how animals eat, they eat grass in fields and things like that. And drawn up... Uh..." Come to think of it she didn't quite know how to explain that one, oops.

---

Enough being led around like a horse by a carrot, he was sick and tired of not getting straight answers. Work denied him the chance to go and seek out Krom as he'd like, and the rebels were terribly strict about allowing the Saiyan off the premises. Only after a forceful conversation was Aito able to have the former general brought to their temporary home under supervision of some rebels. There were answers he needed, explanations concerning the Beastman project among other things. Waiting for Krom to decide to give him the details wasn't going to cut it any longer. Pacing about in the back yard Aito glanced briefly over at Viral's sleeping form, wondering if he might be able to get some insight into his son as well; Krom said he wasn't a scientist, and his knowledge proved as much, but he should still know something about what was done. "Assuming you have the answers..." the doctor mumbled, glancing over his shoulder as Krom entered the property, "Took you long enough to arrive. Your escort out front?"

After getting completely drenched from their games earlier Takeshi and Shu both desperately needed a change of clothing. With the former being chastised by June for soaking good clothes, and leaving them lying on the floor, they redressed and headed to the living room to relax. For a while both boys were still giggling and chattering away about what they had done earlier and making plans even now to do it again. How long had it been since he and Shu did something like that? Had they ever? Sure they played games now and again but that was for a few minutes here and there, often days if not weeks apart. Today though they spent a whole hour on those slides, coupled with their time swinging in the trees before that too. "How do you still have so much energy?" Takeshi laughed, grinning as he watched Shu, "Seriously buddy, you gotta wind it down a bit, you know? You'll have no energy left for later!" Then again if Shu was getting back to himself then he'd be all bouncy and giddy right up until they went to bed, and probably even while they were in bed too.

This was not very promising, why was Krom coming here? The fact that his father seemed so agitated by the man's presence worried Vegeta; he always recalled his father as relatively relaxed and casual, seeing him visibly annoyed by something was unusual. None of them were a huge fan of Krom's admittedly and wouldn't be for some time, but aside from stories and accounts of past encounters what did Aito have to go off of? Peering through the blinds into the back yard he watched his father pace back and forth for a bit, his breath catching slightly when Krom entered his view. "Father... What are you doing with him?" Vegeta mumbled, furrowing his brow as he tried to make heads of the situation.

"He's meeting with Krom obviously," Yumi interjected, peering over Vegeta's shoulder as she tried to see too. "I don't know why though, he should just stay back at the base, I don't like seeing him here." More importantly Viral was still out there asleep, was it really the best place for them to be doing whatever they were doing? She worried seeing that man would upset her friend, or even worse make everything that had gone right as of late go so terribly wrong. "I hope your dad knows what he's doing... He knows Krom isn't a great guy, I can't imagine they're having a friendly conversation." She might be able to even eavesdrop on their conversation from here but she refrained from doing so, almost afraid to and discover what they were discussing. Whatever it was they were doing it outside and away from them, if it was meant for their ears then they would be having the chat in here.

Haku didn't quite understand why they were so tense about what was going on outside, it wasn't like they were going to fight. The fact that a man like Krom had been reeled in and was being kept under watch struck him as funny, a man who would probably as well sent him to his death had he the chance. Funny how that was different now, to think that he wasn't just some little bug to be thrown at the nearest enemy anymore. Sure he might not be the most popular person here but hey, anything beat what he was doing before. "I'm surprised they even let Krom go out, you should see it at the base," he whispered to T'charrl, "Guards around him all the time, and Korian is constantly coming by to make sure he's not doing anything. He's basically a prisoner, hard to believe he just was let go." Or was he? Getting up from his seat Haku went to the window and peered out the front, frowning and immediately drawing back away from it. Nope, that massive man Leto was out front with that woman from before, whatever her name was. So he wasn't completely free then, kind of funny still.

"I don't understand why everyone was called here, this is a colossal waste of time so far," Kabocha grumbled irritably, leaning back on his spot on the stairs and folding his arms, "I was just chatting it up with some nice girl too, she was totally going to go for it and then we were asked to come here. Talk about lousy timing!" Sure maybe he wasn't super into the whole orange-skin, green hair deal anyways but a girl was a girl, he didn't much care right now. It would be one thing if they were being spoken to at the moment but instead Aito was outside chatting with Krom, leaving everyone else in here to sit and wait. "They should at least be involving me and my father if it's about Kortal, we have the power back home to make things change. At least once the king is out of the way..."

Far From Home

Prologue

"Nii-saaaaan... How much longer do we have to walk? My feet hurt!"

"Not much further Suto, and we haven't been walking for that long, please try to tough it out," Doku replied patiently, an amused smile on his lips. Since leaving the town earlier they spent all of an hour out in the fields, getting some training in before noon. While most other players saw fit to panic or remain in town he'd felt it necessary to embrace their situation; like many things in life you couldn't expect it, and the difference between those who succeeded and those who failed was initiative. Sure, comparing a death game to the education system of Japan wasn't really a fair comparison but the same ideas still worked.

Suto let out another sigh and folded his hands behind his head, his eyes drifting around the field to get a feel for what was going on. Not many players had done what they did and went out into the fields, most were too scared. Truth be told he'd probably have been among them had Doku not agreed to join him, though babysitting might be a better way of putting it.

"We didn't even do that much today! If we're going to go level up then we need to kill more boars," Suto complained again, his eyes drifting skyward with a huff, "We need to be the top levels to clear this thing! I still think being trapped is some freaky joke though. I mean they can't really do that right?"

"I don't know, if it's a hoax then its an elaborate one. We'll wait and see what tomorrow brings." When was tomorrow? For that matter how long had they actually been in the game? Time was not parallel between this world and their own, he couldn't recall how the cycle worked but he was certain it wasn't a 1:1 ratio. Unsettling in more way than one, they would have no real knowledge of what was transpiring outside of this game for some time. The way they had it explained to them it meant the game would have to be cleared, what an absurd notion. Single-player games were cleared, but an MMO? If this were truly some warped scheme to keep them prisoner here, a plot in of itself that seemed half-baked, Doku couldn't fathom how long it might take to free themselves.

Starting City loomed just before them now and players were beginning to come out in droves now. After the initial shock of the announcement it seemed many appreciated what this meant for them, that progression and leveling up was their only way to free themselves of this virtual prison. Parties were forming as well as groups of four or even more were heading into the Grasslands, taking up what few monster spawns there might be available. Sure, leveling may become everyone's priority, but with this sudden influx of players and so few beasts it was going to be a painfully slow process. That was unless you went a bit further out as they had done, take a chance further from the town to find more sparse hunting grounds; in time those too would become overrun, but if he and Suto could keep ahead of the frenzy then they'd be leveling far easier.

"H-Help! Somebody help me!"

Two hours into the game's launch and already panic had reached an all time high, the threat of actual death causing most of the player base to seriously consider staying put. Those who did sum up the courage to leave the safety of the town found themselves confronted with death, funnily enough in the form of creatures once though fodder. The notion of dying to a boar or wolf when just a game was humiliating, but you'd live another day. Now if you fell to one of these creatures, a very real possibility, you'd not only look like an idiot in the process but lose your life for it. Not exactly an illustrious carving on a tombstone, now was it?

Upon hearing someone's cries Suto looked in the direction of the sound, spotting a lone player being attacked by a pair of wolves. Gasping he drew his dagger from its sheath and took off from the road towards the player, ignoring his brother's calls to remain put. He couldn't just watch someone die, not if that was how the game worked now. Within striking distance of the wolves he activated his most basic skill, <<Vorpal Strike>>, dashing straightforward and leaving a purple particle trail behind him. Catching one of the wolves from behind he inflicted extra damage thanks to an inherent skill of his, enough to nearly kill it in one blow. On cooldown now however Suto was faced with both wolves turning on him, the other player far too panicked to help out. With both beasts growling at him Suto tried to force his body to move for another skill, finding it unwilling to do so. As both wolves let out a howl each lunged at him, shutting his eyes as he waited for them to strike and instead hearing the whimpers of both beasts.

Doku had to really push himself to reach his brother in time, managing to activate his <<Cleave>> skill before Suto was struck. An upward swing, his greatsword caught each wolf in the abdomen and launched it high in the air, killing the first and leaving the second critical. From playing earlier he'd managed to level up, and as the wolf came down he activated his second skill, <<Shoulder Charge>>. Leaning his body forward he took one step and drove his weight into the beast's side, sending it flying to the ground before shattering into a dozen shards. Breathing a sigh of relief Doku let his cooldowns refresh before standing upright, promptly admonishing the random player with an angry glare.

"Watch what you're doing, otherwise people are going to die because of you," he warned, walking over and pulling the other boy to his feet.

"S-Sorry! I didn't mean to, it was a mistake!" the boy stammered, bowing to Doku and Suto, "Thank you for saving me! T-Thank you!" Fighting back tears he then quickly turned and ran back towards the Starting City, clearly not prepared for this.

Doku watched the boy run off, pushing past others as he made a frantic dash for the safety of the town. "Tch... Trying to run solo is an idiotic move," he remarked, shaking his head as he eased his greatsword onto his back again.

"We saved him though! And I guess you saved me, so... Everything worked out, right?" Suto asked, chuckling as he rubbed the back of his head. His expression changed then to an amused one as he stepped closer to Doku, winking and nudging his side with an elbow. "I thought you didn't believe this was real, what's all this about getting killed, huh? Does that mean you were wrong?"

Doku narrowed his eyes at Suto before sighing, pinching his brow as he hung his head. "I'm just being safe. Until we know for sure we shouldn't take things lightly. Now come on, let's get back to town."

Far From Home

Yukio

Display Name: Suto

Real Name: Yukio Fukuyama

Age: 15

Appearance:


Background:
A resident of the small mountainous vale of Ichigawa, Yukio is an avid gamer and self-proclaimed prank master. Most of his time in school is spent with friends discussing games, thinking about games, planning his next practical joke on a classmate or daydreaming in some fashion. Arguably immature and too lax he has earned the ire of his parents on more than one occasion, used to being told to straighten out his behavior. Ever the deviant though he continues to have fun, always keeping his grades at "just good enough." He'll do as much as he can to make sure he gets through and nothing more, having no reason to really push himself academically. Besides, his older brother Arashi is already the pride of the family, he can afford to relax a little.

Player Build/Class:
Befitting his mischievous nature Suto took up the closest thing he could to an "assassin" class. Utilizing trick attacks and status effects, he makes up for in lack of health or defense for speed and striking power, essentially a glass cannon. He wields a tantō, wears light armor and has a set of kunai on his person at all times.

Arashi

Display Name: Doku

Real Name: Arashi Fukuyama

Age: 22

Appearance:


Background:
A resident of Ichigawa and older brother to Yukio. Arashi is the eldest child of the Fukuyama family and already accomplished despite his relatively young age. Having completed his education at the University of Tokyo at age 19 he is an exceptionally bright individual, if somewhat begrudging; taking up the family practice in a pharmaceutical company has ensured he has a comfortable future, yet one he cares little for. His heart isn't in it and he found himself often playing games with his younger brother as of late to avoid having to deal with his unsavory work. Immensely protective of Yukio, and arguably more patient with him than their parents, the two are quite close to one another.

Player Build/Class:
Somewhat unused to having so much choice and free reign Doku was a bit overwhelmed at first. Eventually though he settled on a two-handed greatsword and medium armor build. Cumbersome now that the game is literally their lives, but he thought it seemed fun at first.

Far From Home

Placeholder! :P

Legend of Zelda: Templar Ascension

Ducking into a nearby alleyway they managed to locate a hidden passage, and once inside they could finally breath a sigh of relief. He was used to sneaking past small regiments of guards around ruins, but never around a city that they might constantly be attacked in. These disguises too were only as good so long as those being fooled had no grasp on magic; Fiona would look right through them as he'd been told, that was reassuring. Smiling exasperatedly he rubbed at his neck once the door closed behind them, removing his own ring for the time being and pocketing it.

Before they got too ahead of themselves they should get their bearings with the map. Looking to it as Regol showed it he nodded at the gestures, not completely sure himself what they should do. "If you're asking me... Demoko can wait. We might need some of those supplies, probably best we hold onto them for now," he mumbled, inspecting the map thoroughly for their passage inside. Looking then to the poster he furrowed his brow curiously, then raising it when he saw Regol stood among others. A propaganda poster for the Templars, so this man was one of them then? Or a traitor at any rate, now he could understand why Link was so wary around him. If someone defected once they could do it again, though from what he'd seen so far there was no reason to think Regol would. Best to be a little safe though.

"Crazy people...? Yeah, my parents called me that when I told them what I wanted to do too," Caelan laughed, smirking as he glanced at Link, "That's coming from a kid waging a war against the Templars though, want to talk about crazy? As for what I do... I don't know really. I love hunting treasure, its exciting. I love seeing the old ruins and exploring them, finding what mysteries they have for me to uncover. Aside from that though? I guess I'm interested in expanding my magic, and learning more about magic in general." A lot of people his age were getting into some kind of trade, enlisting in the guard or, now that he knew more of it, probably joining the Templars. That was all fine and well but it wasn't what he wanted, he wanted to explore and learn about what he wanted to learn about, not what some instructor or craftsman told him to.

Nothing reassured you like some veteran like Regol saying Fiona was deadly. Just how bad was this woman? Both Demoko and Regol seemed to be extremely wary of her, and their fighting force was a mere fraction of what it had been before. Getting into any kind of fight then was out of the question unless they had a death wish. "We'll find out I'm sure, no use in getting caught up on it now. Best to keep our minds on what's going on, right?" And that meant rescuing the Princess, something he still thought was completely absurd. Seriously, how were the three of them going to ever make it out of the castle if it did come to a fight?

"You want me to lead? Oh sure, let me be the canary. If I die or hit a trap then you'll know where not to go," the water mage remarked sarcastically, sighing before looking ahead down the tunnel. It actually made sense for him to lead, he should be able to recognize if there were traps hidden anywhere. "Uh... Regol right? Can you give Link the map? I want someone who can... You know, talk, to tell me which way to go. I need to keep an eye out for traps, I can't be staring at a map the whole time."

Dragon Ball: Legacy (Mogtaki and Vena Sera)

Convincing Shu to join him on the board had been easy, and within moments they were on their way down the slide. Keeping one arm around Shu to be safe they darted down the hillside, speeding along right up until they hit the pool with a resounding splash. At first the silence that greeted them in the pool worried Takeshi and made him think his brother hadn't enjoyed this as much as he might like. That concern though was quickly dispelled when Shu sprung to his feet and jumped around, looking like a little kid as he rushed out to get ready for another run. "Alright, alright buddy! We'll go again!" the older boy laughed, getting himself out and wiped water from his face before ushering Shu back to the top of the hill. All around them the sound of children laughing and squealing with delight made him grin, finding all of the excitement to be contagious. Definitely a lucky break they found this place no doubt! "Ready? We'll go even faster this time!" Placing himself down and getting Shu situated he grinned, pushing off with both hands this time. They slightly raised up off the slide before bouncing back onto it, darting along the track into the pool within seconds, kicking up a large amount of water on landing. Even Takeshi was laughing now, falling back off the board into the pool and smiling at Shu.

"Oh, uh well that doesn't change our skin really, it's different than that. It uh..." Yumi began before pausing, frowning confused as she scratched at her head, "Actually... I don't know how it works. But being above ground and below ground doesn't change that. But I'll love to see it, I don't mind if its underground." While she was enjoying having these side conversations they had technically come down here to study, they could always continue these later after they did a little more. Smiling amused she nodded once before opening the book open to the same page, skimming it for a couple of sentences that didn't seem terribly complex. "We can make plans after we do this, how's that sound? I'm sure we'll be able to find time to see both of our homes if we want. I haven't ever shown anyone where I live." Vegeta had been there years and years ago but she doubted even he remembered it now; when they were kids growing up she spent more time at Capsule Corporation than her own home, sometimes even she got confused. "Now let's see... Aha! 'The horses were drawn up and let loose to graze while everyone began preparing for a long night. The river would keep them safe, so they hoped, and provided a source of food and water.'" Seriously though when were the faeries going to start popping up? Silly fantasy novels...

Dragon Ball: Legacy (Mogtaki and Vena Sera)

Shu's excitement was way higher than Takeshi had anticipated, the kid was practically bounding out of his own skin. It had been absolutely ages since he'd seen his brother this eager and it was both reassuring and hilarious to watch. "Yeah, nice and simple buddy. Come on, we're wasting time just standing around here." Grabbing his brother's hand he pulled him along, right to the top of the slide where spare boards were waiting for them. After finding a decently sized one, they weren't all uniform, he set it on the closest slide and waved Shu over to join him. "Sure does, just hold on tight while we go!" Takeshi laughed, placing his arms around Shu's midsection for extra measure. All set? Freeing one hand briefly he pushed off on the ground behind them and sent them forward, slowly approaching the peak of the hill before spilling over it. Rushing down the slide, water kicking up everywhere, they made it to the bottom of the hill in seconds and hit the pool at the bottom with a resounding splash. It was shallow there, barely up to one's shins if they stood up, but it served the purpose plenty well. Just from that one go they were positively soaked yet even Takeshi found himself grinning like an idiot. "Hah! Ready to go again squirt?"

Reading and discussing their language may not be as exhilarating as racing down water slides but it had its own fun. Yumi was enjoying teaching T'charrl what she knew and he in turn was taking it all in, it was nice to see. "You don't have to read it as quickly as I do either. If you get caught on a word then we can sound it out, no problems there!" It was weird, in some ways it was like instructing a little kid. Only this little kid was probably close to Shu's age, spoke perfectly fine and was from another planet. Weird that she could say that now and it be a completely normal thing, just over a year ago training someone from another country seemed strange, never mind off-world. "I'd love to see all that! Your planet was really nice, and so was the castle. I'm sure there's an awful lot to be seen still, we'll definitely have to go back!" Yumi said eagerly, smiling before placing her hand down on the book, "Before we get ahead of ourselves though let's get back to reading, okay? After this maybe we can think about going back, if we have time. I'm sure Vegeta wouldn't mind if we... Borrowed the shuttle."

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

Perhaps a night time approach would have been a good idea. There was no telling if the bandits would still be here come sunset, but nothing could go as poorly as this was. Having stirred the hornet's nest they now stood on Aube Doré's decks surrounded by bandits. Far from an ideal situation and the only way out of this now was to fight. Given the odds, two against however many criminals were here, Ethan had no choice but to call Cecil up to help. Even just having one more person here gave them a better chance and he knew the Machina could handle himself in a fight. Parrying a sword strike Ethan stepped in and stomped his foot down on top of a bandit's toes, driving his head up then into the man's chin and knocking him over. Wincing as his scalp ached from the blow he rubbed at it briefly, cringing when Cecil shouted at him.

"Sorry, sorry! We just need the help okay?" Ethan called back, smacking away another sword as it narrowly caught his side. Persistent lot, the only advantage they had was there were so many, and the quarters so tight, teaming up on them was next to impossible. Still meant that they would keep coming, but at least they weren't fighting three or four men at once. Striking a man on his thigh with the flat of his sword he then reached down and caught the man on the foot, pulling it and tipping him off balance, giving his stomach a good kick to knock him over and bowling onto one of his friends. Just as he'd done so another bandit came after him with a very unusual set of weapons, a pair of knuckles with spikes on the end. Unable to really block much Ethan caught a punch across his cheek, a few cuts forming as the tips dug through his skin. Gritting his teeth and biting back the pain he threw a hand out as the bandit readied another attack, releasing a blast of wind to knock him back and into a pile of crates on the deck.

"You're in it now Cecil, complaining does little to help!" Nymira shouted back as she ducked beneath a sword, swinging her body to the side to avoid the crushing of a hammer. Placing one foot on the hammer's head she jumped up and grabbed the man's head, using her momentum to flip him over and onto his back with a heavy thud. Grabbing hold then of the hammer she used her entire body to swing it and smash it into another bandit's stomach, winding him before using the handle of her dagger to bash his jaw, probably breaking it but knocking him out in the process. She really wasn't good at this whole non-lethal fighting, it flew in the face of everything she knew. "Damn pacifists... This is nonsense," Nymira grumbled as she stepped over the fallen men, heading towards the cabin of the ship to try and find whoever was in charge. Every group had a leader, if they could beat him then they'd be victorious.

Just as she had gotten a hand on the door a thunderous crash made her dart back, just in time to avoid a massive blade sticking itself through the door. Watching then as it was kicked off its hinges a massive man walked out from the cabin, wielding a hefty cutlass in one hand and a wild grin on his face. Hastily grabbing her daggers from their sheaths Nymira rushed in to try and debilitate him somehow, figuring he was nothing more than a lumbering fool. Darting side to side she sprang forward and tried to cut his calf to bring him down, eyes widening in surprise when he deftly avoided her swing. Turning her body she used both of her daggers to stop the sword from cleaving her in two, only to find a hand grabbing at her throat and lifting her off of her feet. Gasping for breath under the man's oppressive strength she tried to kick at his chest to break free, finding herself unable to muster the strength for it.

"A Dimuran girl huh? Now that's interesting, what's your kind doing all the way out here," the bandit leader laughed, increasing his grip on Nymira's neck. By now she was clawing at his hand to try and get free, her face paling slightly as she even dropped her daggers. "Adorable, she's trying to fight back! Haha, what a sorry sight you are!" All he had to do was close his hand and her neck would snap, over and done with. Smiling maliciously he began to tighten his grasp even further, but stopped short of the killing blow when her hand extended itself into his face. It was much too close to properly react, and when the flames spit forth his face was caught right in the path. Howling in pain the bandit promptly dropped Nymira and stumbled back, losing his sword in the process. "Y-You bitch! I'll gut you for that!"

Slowly but surely they looked to be dwindling down the bandits number in large part thanks to Cecil and Zander. With the two of them now involved in the fray there was much more room to maneuver, and splitting up their opponent's focus meant they were making mistakes. Nearly 8 bandits lay on the deck either unconscious or beaten, and while more still remained they were making leeway. All was going well, and Ethan was optimistic they could finish this without any serious injury. That outlook however was quickly tarnished when he heard the bandit leader shouting a ways off, looking over to see him gripping his face, blood on his hands and dripping down his chin. Nymira sat on the ground with her palms facing him, looking prepared to fire another spell. Cursing her persistence he darted over to try and halt her casting, intending to knock her out of the way and spare the bandit. Before he ever reached her however the sound of rattling chains stole his attention, and his head swiveled in time to see a large ball coming at his head connected to a rusted chain and weight. Raising his sword just in time Ethan groaned in pain as he was knocked off his feet, tumbling through the air and into the open cabin, going as far to fall down the stairs to the hull below. The entire room felt like it was spinning for a moment, and as he tried to get to his feet he stumbled slightly, trying to get his bearings back.

With all the chaos happening on and around Aube Doré no one had noticed a new party arriving on the scene. Four men dressed in finely tailored suits, each carrying with them some kind of weapon fashioned of the highest quality materials, each boasting a Demacite core for added effect. They were here for one particular reason, a specific crate on board of that vessel. Stolen parts, parts which had no business being out on the market and belonged to a particularly important individual. If they wanted their paychecks, and to keep their heads, they had to retrieve them. From their place on the road they could see the frenzy happening on the deck and landing, bodies going every which way and bandits fighting with a ragtag group. Who knows what exactly was going on here, not that it mattered. If these two parties killed one another then all the better, it made it easier for them to do their job.

"Come on, it has to be on the ship somewhere. Get on board and fan out, we'll find it," one of the men said, pulling a rod from his coat and pressing a button on the grip. The tool itself extended and two prongs emerged from the end, electricity crackling between the points as it powered up. Approaching the landing first he ignored Zander dueling with the men, trying to go immediately for the gangplank but finding himself stopped by a man carrying an axe. Scowling the man in the suit continued forward, and when swung at he reached out and caught the bandit's wrist, wrenching it around to make him drop his weapon before shoving the prod at his chest, electrocuting him and dropping him into a heap on the ground.

The man to the rear of the group had been approaching the landing when he heard the rustling of bushes nearby, pausing in his step and looking around the area. Was someone else there? Furrowing his brow he took his arm from his jacket, having had it tucked away inside with the sleeve hanging loosely at his side. Strapped to his hand was a gauntlet with several pads both on the fingertips and the palm, and on the back of a hand a thin case filled with Demacite powder. There was only one set of bushes nearby, fairly simple to guess where the sound had come from. Extending his hand outward he used his other to press a switch on his wrist, and with it the pads on the gauntlet lit up, magic forming at his palm before ice fired off from it in the form of shards, threatening to tear through the leaves and whatever might be inside.

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

Just to cover my butt from legal charges, Mogtaki said it was okay if I had Cecil do that thing with the thing :P DON'T SUE ME! ;A;