Lord of Azure Flame: Chat

[Ether]

Chapter 2 - Taste of Iron

"Hey, you! Stop where you are!" The high male voice rang through the area, as Ether sidestepped out of an instinct he never knew he had. The arrow embedded itself in the tree behind him, and Tanair jumped into action.

"Oof! Oww, hey, that doesn't bend that- YOW!"

Ether cringed at the sounds of pain as the young boy was hurled out of the forest and directly in front of him. Tanair followed with s stern expression, ready to land the killing blow.

"Wait!" Ether shouted, Tanair's fist stopping just short of cracking the boy's skull.

"What's your name, huh?" Ether asked, approaching the boy.

"C-chase." The boy answered with a stutter.

"And why did you attack us?" Ether persisted, helping the boy to his feet.

"I'm just hungry... I haven't had anything to eat in a while, and I'm broke." Chase answered, a convenient rumbling of his stomach enforcing his statement.

Sighing, Ether handed the boy a potion. "I guess there's no way around it. Come with us, and we'll help you out." Ether continued, silencing Tanair's objection with a glare.

"Now let's keep moving, the next town is still a ways away." Ether said simply, starting ahead. Tanair followed without looking at the boy, who scampered off after them, not wanting to be left behind.

***********

"So tell me about yourself, Kid." Ether asked Chase, the both of which were now sitting on a couch at the Hospital.

"Well, I grew up on the streets of Viridian... my parents threw me out when I was young... I tried to find work at the gym, but I wasn't strong enough, and they threw me out too... I didn't have any money, so I had to mug random bystanders just to get by... I still see that gym and... I can't help but feel hate well through me." Chase explained solemnly, before Tanair butted in.

"Then you will be worthless to us. We will need to best that gym in our journey, and if you are too weak for it, then you have no place here."

"Tanair." Ether said, trying to stop the woman, but to no avail.

"Then all the more reason for me to go with you guys... I'll show you, I'll get stronger, and I'll beat them with you... I know I don't look like much, but I'll become the best, and I'll be a great asset to you guys!" Chase said with enthusiasm, hitting his fist against the table.

"So lead me, Ether. I'll do whatever you want, just follow and I'll lead!" Chase finished, looking at Ether expectantly.

"Fine. Do as you wish, if that is to follow us, then go ahead." Ether relented, causing Chase to jump up in joy.

With that decided, the party, now three members strong, departed the hospital, before a loud, obnoxious, and overly squeaky voice rang out.

"Hi!"

Turning towards the blue haired girl, Ether sighed before addressing her.

"Hello." What do you want?"

"Hi! I'm Rita, I like swords! Hi!"

"Yes, Hi. Now what do you want from me?"

"Hi! I'm Rita, I like swords! Hi! Do you know Meteor Sword Technique? Hi!"

"..."

"Hi! I'm Rita, I like swords! Hi! You're cute, Hi!" With that, the sword obsessed woman known as Rita, who acted more like an actual Pokemon than any of her predecessors by a long shot, pounced on poor unsuspecting Ether.

"Ugh, what are you doing? Get off me!" Ether demanded, struggling against the woman's vicegrip.

"Hi! I'm Rita, I like swords and your face is pressed between my breasts, which I also like, but not as much as swords! Hi!"

Finally breaking her grip and scrambling to his feet, Ether pointed an accusatory finger at Rita.

"Back, devilish molester! Stay back!" Ether yelled, before grabbing Chase and Tanair and darting off back towards the forest.

********

"Hey Chase." Ether said to the young boy, as the group ventured back into the forest, to ready themselves to continue.

"Yeah Ether?" Chase asked, wondering why Ether keeped his eyes trained forward so intently.

"She is still following us, isn't she?"

"Yup."

"Damn." Ether cursed, there was no avoiding it, it seemed.

"Whoa!" Chase exclaimed, spotting the Pegasus Knight hovering above. Tanair cursed, something Ether had never heard the woman do before.

"She is tailing us. We have to kill her." Tanair said, eyeing the Pegasus knight.

"Shoot her down." Ether said solemnly, turning to Chase. The boy drew his bow and fired, hitting the Knight's wing, causing it to plummet.

"Alright, I got her!" Chase exclaimed proudly.

"Don't get cocky. Finish her off." Ether said, watching Chase draw another arrow.

This one missed.

The Pegasus Knight divebombed, as Chase fired another shot.

Another miss.

"Yagh!"

The area was painted a deep red.

"Chase?"

The boy found the lance of the Pegasus Knight driven into his chest, and ripped out his lower torso, his guts spilling out onto the ground as he gasped for air.

"Chase!"

Tanair brought her fist down on the rider's skull, shattering it, as Ether rushed to Chase.

"C'mon Chase, stay with me... stay with me!" Ether yelled at the boy, shaking him slightly... he knew it was worthless.

"What are you so ruffled about? He was worthless." Tanair said coldly, as Chase passed on.

"I am all you need to protect you." She finished, turning away.

"He... he put his trust in me... and I let him down... now he's gone..." Ether said, devastated at the boy's death.

"Get over it. There must be sacrifice to move on. Now stand." Tanair said solemnly, before a loud voice rang through the area.

"Hi! I'm Rita, I like swords! I found you, Hi!"

Breaking down where he lay, Ether just continued to mutter.

"This day just can't get any worse..."

Chapter 2 End.

Pokes:

Party:

Tanair(Bulbusaur) Lv.8 Tackle/Growl/Leech Seed

Rita(Rattata) Lv.3 Tackle/Tail Whip

R.I.P.

Chase(Rattata) Lv.5

Edited April 7, 2011 by Ether

[Ether]

Chapter 3 - Wall of Stone, Fury of nature

"Well, we have to get going." Ether said, resolving himself as he stood.

"Good. Let's move out of here already." Tanair said, poised to leave.

"Not so fast... we can't just leave him here." Ether stopped Tanair, eliciting a sigh from the woman.

"Hi! I'm Rita, I like swords, Hi!" Rita chimed in, speeding from in front of the two to next to them.

"Atleast make yourself useful and carry the body Rita... you still seem full of energy." Ether said with annoyance, as he started towards the exit as well. Rita picked up Chase' body up off the ground and followed with a joyful skip in her step.

Reaching the hospital, Ether accessed the PC in the corner.

"So, what is it you are doing, Ether?" Tanair asked curiously, as Ether readied the programming.

"This is a program that will transport Chase to Lavender Tower... at the very least, he will receive proper services and a burial." Ether replied, inputing the last of the data into the PC.

"Hi! I'm Rita, I like swords and I brought the corpse! Hi!" Rita chimed in once again, feeling the weight lifted from her shoulders as the last reminder of Chase slipped away.

"We shall rest here tonight, and move to Pewter City at the Dawn." Ether stated, moving to an unoccupied bed in the guest wing of the Hospital.

************************

Entering the forest, the sound of battle was pronounced and loud.

"A battle? Here?" Ether asked, annoyance creeping onto his face. Watching the chaos ensue, the situation was clear. Hoardes of young villagers riding massive bees were clashing with hoardes of villagers riding butterflies.

"Am I... seriously seeing this?" Ether asked skeptically, Tanair responding only by supporting her forehead against her palm. Rita had already charged into the fray and was swinging at a Hornet rider-

"RITA WHAT IN THE FUCKING HELL ARE YOU THINKING?!" Ether yelled out after her, gesturing for Tanair to support the foolhardy Myrmidon.

That was when Ether noticed it. A hornet rider diving towards Rita, stinger outstretched and ready to strike. Chase' death flashed through his mind.

"Rita! Get Down!" Ether shouted at the girl, but to no avail. She was too busy introducing herself to some enemy before slicing him in half to notice her own imminent doom... which was suddenly averted.

Ether blinked once, checking what he just saw. Indeed, it seemed the hornet rider had disintegrated into nothing. And another followed in it's path.

"You three! Over here, follow me!" A green haired youth called out to them, blasting another rider from the sky. Following the mage to the exit of the battletorn forest, the now-quartet sighed in relief.

Except Rita, who turned to the mage with a wide smile.

"Hi! I'm Rita, I like swords! You're cute too, I'm Bisexual, who would have guessed, Hi!" Rita said, jumping Dani with a molesty smile.

'Well, better her than me...' Ether thought to himself, before looking back at the scene to tell Rita to quit it.

'Actually, that's kind of hot... what is she doing?! Is she actually-' Ether felt a slight blush rise to his cheeks, before Tanair pulled Rita off of Dani and sprouted a tree to hang her off of by the collar.

Shaking his head to clear it, Ether turned back to Dani.

"So, who are you, and what was going on back there?" Ether asked.

"I am Dani, a mage of Viridian. And that was a conflict between two tribes of insect riders. They are native to this forest, and we are unlikely to see them again once we reach the exit." Dani explained, before standing.

"Now, we should get out of here before the frenzy begins... up until now has just been child's play." Dani said quickly, beginning to move.

"Follow me, I know the way to the exit well."

And with that, Ether and the gang followed Dani to the edge of the forest.

"So is this where we depart, then?" Ether asked, a frown crossing his features. Dani was social without attempting to molest you before you got out a word, which was getting quite annoying indeed, Ether noted, shoving Rita away as she was trying to latch onto his arm.

"Well, to be truthful... I've always wanted to venture out, and to see the whole of our world... but it was always too dangerous to go out on my own... if you wouldn't mind me joining you-" Dani began, before her hands were clasped in Ether's, as he looked her directly in the eye.

"We wouldn't mind at all, in fact, I insist you come with us to explore!" Ether exclaimed happily, before leaning into her ear and whispering.

"Please don't leave me with them... I can't take much more on my own."

Giving him a charming smile, Dani replied simply.

"Can do, boss."

"Wonderful. Now then, off to Pewter City!" Ether finished, leading the way to the next city, and the first of the gym challenges.

*************

"I am SlaveBlade the sturdy! Fear the wrath of my impressive rocky soldiers as we tear through your pitiful defenses! Hahahaha!" SlaveBlade exclaimed with fervor, as Ether, Rita, Tanair, and Dani stood in front of him.

Tanair started forward, an annoyed expression adorning her face.

"I am sick of all this..." Tanair said solemnly, vines wrapping around her.

"Tanair, what are you doing?" Ether asked, before the vines crashed into SlaveBlade, knocking him and his rocky soldiers out instantaneously.

"Tanair..." Ether said, stepping back a bit at the rage filled display.

"You will understand... in time." Tanait said coldly, turning towards the hospital, the others still rooted in place.

CHAPTER 3 END

Pokes:

Tanair(Bulbusuar) Lv.13

Rita(Rattata) Lv.11

Dani(Butterfree) Lv.10

R.I.P.

Chase(Rattata) Lv.5

[Ether]

Chapter 4 - Lucky????

"Tanair... what the hell is bugging you? I... I've never witnessed anyone that angry before..." Ether pestered the woman as the party advanced towards the edge of Pewter city.

"I am not angry." Tanair said coldly, not even turning to address Ether as she walked.

"Like hell you aren't! How else can you explain suddenly going berserk once we reached the gym? You were like a demon... like your sister!" Ether exclaimed, before a loud smack resounded through the area, and he found himself on his backside, clutching his now bruised face, Tanair looming over him.

She had been right. What Ether had witnessed before was not anger... anger was that look that made you wish you were dead so you didn't have to imagine what would happen to you as you lived. Anger was the look Tanair was giving him right now.

"Never equate me to her." Tanair spat with venom, the stomp of her foot moving a house up several meters on a torrent of vines before dropping it, miraculously without damage, as she walked away.

Standing warily, Ether looked to Dani and Rita, who both simply looked at Tanair's retreating form, even Rita not finding the ability to make a noise.

"Let's keep going." Ether said, not making it but a few steps before being stopped by a man in a lab coat.

"You! Ether!"

"Yes?"

"I am here to teach you how to run!"

"But I know how to-"

"NONSENSE! Now on with the lesson!"

And with that exchange, Ether learned to run... or he would have if it weren't a preposterous assumption that someone of his age couldn't already... what an odd fellow.

Looking around him, it seemed that there were more skirmishes taking place.

"Why can we not go anywhere peaceful?" Ether asked to no point, as the fighting began anew.

*********

Yes, wartime. Everything was going as usual, Ether supposed... Dani was dancing about the field, frying anything within a 5 foot radius with psionic blasts of magic, Tanair was pummelling those around her, vines assailing those out of the reach of her fists, from tripping them to impaling them... how she got a vine to do that he would likely never know, but at the very least it was effective and on his side. Rita was...

'What...? What?! WHAT!?'

Ether was frozen in place at the sheer magnitude of what he was seeing. This was a battlefield, and a battlefield was not a place for... that! not only was it completely uncalled for, it was dangerous. Ether could not think of anything that would leave the woman more open than... that!

A yelp of pain, at which Ether immediately cringed, and the sound of a blade cutting through a man's throat, left Rita walking towards him, spitting something out of her mouth into a nearby bush, her mouth bloody.

"Hi! I'm Rita, did I do good boss? Hi!"

"D-did you do good? What the hell was that?! For one you could have been killed, and that... that... here!? What gave you such a crazy idea!?" Ether yelled at Rita, his face blanched to match a ripe tomato.

"Hi! I'm Rita, I told you that I got my teeth ready for a new technique! Hi!" Rita exclaimed gleefully, obviously proud of herself.

"Nevermind... let's just move on..." Ether said with a sigh, the battlefield now deserted.

"Well Damn... looks like I missed it." A deep voice rang out, a tall, muscular man emerging from the edge of the battlefield.

"And here I was hoping to get some action." The man continued, as Ether looked him over. He was riddled with scars, his hair pulled back into a ponytail that hung loosely over his shoulder.

"Who are you?" Ether asked, gesturing for the man to stop where he was.

"So tense, man... you would think a guy surrounded by cute girls like them would be happier... if you must know, my name's Damian. Damian Kleine." The man said, his expression laid back, as he leaned on his spear, careful not to maim himself in the process.

"Alright Damian... what do you want with us?" Ether questioned.

"Well, me and my partner were separated in the chaos... and I'm trying to find her. We've got no reason to fight, hell, you guys just wiped out the guys who ambushed us... and there is strength in numbers, so there's no reason for us not to team up." Damian replied, flipping his lance back up to a resting position behind him.

"We don't need anymore distractions." Tanair said bluntly, moving ahead of the group once again.

"What's up with her? Tell ya what, give me a shot to show what I can do next time, and if you like what you see, I'll stick around, okay?" Damian asked, ignoring Tanair's cold shutout.

"Well, that seems fair." Ether replied, following after Tanair.

*************

"So, this is Mt. Moon, huh?" Ether said, as the entrance to the looming mountain came in front of him.

"Yup... there are supposedly stones there... of crystallised hellfire... they are incredibly rare, and are used to make weapons like my spear." Damian replied, leading the way into the cave.

The rocky dwellers of Mt. Moon were no contest for Tanair's frenzy of vines, each subsequent victory causing her to grow more rash and irritable.

After felling one particularly large rock soldier, Tanair let out a shrill cry, clutching her head as she bellowed.

"Tanair! What happened?!" Ether asked, rushing over to the woman.

"Stay back... stay back!" Tanair yelled, plants suddenly covering her entire body. A soft glow and another scream... and it seemed to be over... Tanair's once brown locks replaced with leafy tendrils, her hair literally changing into a plant. As well, the plants about her feet spread out.

"Tanair... what was that?" Ether asked with concern, approaching the woman.

"That was... just one of the vices of my kind... that is why, I grew so irritable as of late." Tanair said with a mellow tone, standing upright and walking further into the cave without a second thought.

While curiosity racked the others, it was clear that Tanair would not say more... all that was left was to follow in silence.

*********

"This... here it is!" Damian exclaimed, digging the stone out from the wall. It let off an alluring crimson hue as he clasped it in his hand, and suddenly began to glow a deeper crimson.

"What? What is it doing?" Damian asked no one in particular, as the stone pulsed, he felt it permeating his entire being.

The stone. Crystallised hellfire, sunk into Damian's hand, the lance in his other growing sharper, longer, and the barbs and spines more pronounced.

"This... this power... I can feel it... flowing through me..." Damian muttered, the sounds of the approaching men breaking his concentration.

"Stop! We are the Septimian reformists! You, wielder of a crimson weapon, die!" The reformist's swarmed out of nowhere, charging the weary party... was this the end?

"Haha... fools." Damian said in a low tone, leaping up into the air, and hurling his Gae-Bulg towards the cluster of men. A shaking of the earth, and a crimson rift spelled their doom. As Damian landed and retrieved Gae-Bulg, he looked at his companions, who looked back at him in shock, and said simply;

"So. Am I strong enough for ya?"

CHAPTER 4 END

Pokes:

Tanair(IvySaur) Lv.16 Tackle/Sleep Powder/Leech Seed/Vine Whip

Rita(Rattata) Lv.17 Tackle/Tail Whip/Quick Attack/Hyper Fang

Dani(ButterFree) Lv.15 Tackle/Stun Spore/Sleep Powder/Confusion

Damian(Nidoking) Lv.16 Growl/Peck/Focus Energy/Double Kick

R.I.P.

Chase(Rattata) Lv.5

[Inactive Account]

OI SAGE Arrin said a thing to Sadie, do you want to reply to it please (I got a conversation to post)

[the_whistler]

Work this week, please check back in about 20 hours for signs of consciousness.

[Inactive Account]

blooooooogpoooooooooost

[Mercakete]

Write more. The world needs to read this. Or at least the rpers.

[Phoenix]

Nah, you were right the first time. Definitely the world

[Balcerzak]

Huh. I did not notice any earthshaking revelations in there... only common sense.

Still an enjoyable read, by all means, which I may have forgotten to communicate directly when discussing it post-posting in the IRC.

[Inactive Account]

I was going for common sense, yeah... it's just that in a lot of media it doesn't actually seem to be that common.

Comment on the blog instead of the thread, make me feel like I have traffic

[Snowy_One]

I would be interested in seeing something about environments, worlds, and cultures personally.

[Inactive Account]

I've got a whole list, man. Plenty of worldbuilding stuff to write. This'll take me a while~

[Snowy_One]

Huh. I did not notice any earthshaking revelations in there... only common sense.

Still an enjoyable read, by all means, which I may have forgotten to communicate directly when discussing it post-posting in the IRC.

Ever hear of a pen and paper RPG called FATAL?

[Inactive Account]

AUGH SIR

also, in happier news, NOTHER POST

[Balcerzak]

Ever hear of a pen and paper RPG called FATAL?

Only by reputation for some of its... quirkier... game mechanics.

[Dark Sage]

Ever hear of a pen and paper RPG called FATAL?

Do not bring up FATAL. Nobody is in the mood for hearing about that turd, especially me.

[Mercakete]

Tutorial on how to coment on-site required. =_=;

[Inactive Account]

There's a comment box at the bottom of the post. Just comment in there, and select which ID you want to use for it below that (there is an option for just entering a handle with no site affiliation).

[Snike]

Slave misses you, BTW.

[Inactive Account]

hlblrrr moar posts

I seem to be both updating this and coming up with more things to write for this a lot faster than I had initially expected. Of course, it isn't all RP stuff, but yeah.

[Script]

What's been keeping me busy should be ending within the next two days, so you can all holding your breath for my glorious return. Then again if you were this message wouldn't reach anyone. Sad, really.

[Snowy_One]

Erm... This is gonna sound odd but... I am interested in writing a LoAF fanfic. I have two primary ideas ATM; one being The Fall of the Dragons which will be focused mainly on Helenos and the demise of the dragons 520 years before LoAF started; while the second would be LoAF done according to my 'original hopes and plans'. Would anyone be interested in either of these ideas?

[Inactive Account]

nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnope

[Snike]

nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnope

[Ansem]

I'd read it