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 Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 7:43 am
{Don't post here unless you're a morph thief, nomad, or Eyris Watchman on a horse. This thread is for those three and anyone else fleeing to the forest that is NOT the campsite. :3}
Again, they were alone. Just Anri and Leon, in the forest, alone. At least it wasn't overly hot or cold, and the two of them wouldn't be bothered by the weather. Thank goodness there were such favorable conditions in the weather, but not so much as to being alone.
Loneliness meant an ambush, but Anri couldn't wake his rider. He was out like a light.
More hooves were heard in the distance. It was the sound of yet another horse, making its way into the deep forest at a rapid pace.
First, at the horizon it wasn't so clear who it was, but as the shape grew closer, anyone looking could tell it was the Nomad Trooper, Sue carrying a very knocked-out Lance.
All her attempts to wake him hadn't gone well at all.
More importantly... "Where are we?" she asked. She had no clue and also no map... but at least she wasn't alone. Wait.. another horse she saw? It was Anri! Leon was still knocked out, but alive! Great news.. but at the same time terrible as she'd now have to guard two unconscious people.
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Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 12:40 pm
What was that thief's name again? Nino mentioned it... and then it came to her. "Lance!" the nomad called out. "Lance, Leon, you have to both wake up, we have to get out of here!"
She'd never experienced panic on this level before. She always had her tribesman, whether they be of the Kutolah tribe, General Roy's League, or FEF. She'd never faced anything by herself... especially when there were others to look after.
She shook Lance, and made Andre ride closer to Anri so that she could do the same to Leon.
No one woke up.
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Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 12:55 pm
Lance groaned. The pain in his stomach wasn't searing, but it did hurt a lot. His mind sprung back into consciousness. It seemed they had stopped. He could hear someone shout, but he couldn't hear what they said. It was as if something was covering his ears, and only the muffled sounds came through.
Lance started getting irritated. He thought he could make out something else in the background, like a horse or something. Lance mumbled in his half-awake state, before drifting back into unconsciousness. "Just...murghl...get a...move on al...ready..."
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Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 2:19 pm
"Move on?" Sue repeated. She thought she'd heard Lance speaking! However, the man was still very, very passed out. Likely injured critically.
She hadn't brought any elixirs, oh, the terrible luck! She wondered if he had any on him? But then the nomad would be pickpocketing again. Oh... what to do?
Well, now that she thought about it, the thief was probably very used to getting stolen from. Her fingers went through his pockets. Nothing?
She'd used her last vulnerary in the morph battle. What a waste that was, now that she thought of it. However, she did take his advice... holding onto Lance with one arm, and signaling Anri behind her with the other. Sue was moving on, no matter what was ahead.
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Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 2:59 pm
Lance awoke again. He felt himself sweating. Ugh. Tymora. You sure have weird ways of showing your affection to your favourite follower...
The ride was getting bumpy again. It seemed like they were moving now. A hand had wrapped onto Lance's arm. What is this arm...doing here?
Lance could hear running water. Were they near a river?
Lance rose his head a bit. Down below a slope, past the trees, he could see a river rushing wildly. It was one of those valley rivers, that was going around the mountain down towards some lake downhill.
He tried focusing on the person holding his arm, but he couldn't make out who it was. That's when he cracked.
Ah! I lost consciousness back there! That valkyrie looked mighty pissed off at me! Now she's taken me captive, and she'll torture me for revenge!
Lance collected all the strength in his body to move. No! Not a chance!
While they were riding forward, Lance quickly jabbed his captor in the side with his elbow, making the captor let go. He then leapt off the horse, and tripped a step before he sent himself tumbling down the slope. Doing his best to avoid the trees, he still got hit by some of them on the way down. He fell flat on his stomach before the momentum carried him up to his feet, and he ended up falling into the raging river. I...got away... he thought as everything went black again, and his body was carried downstream, to wherever the river would be taking him.
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Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 3:29 pm
"Ah... what... what are you doing, you fool!" Sue shouted as she felt only a slight pain in the jab that went into her side. Why couldn't that knight at least try to wake up? I can't worry about him while chasing Lance downstream!
But it was safe, wasn't it?
She could leave Leon for a while. She instead whipped Andre hastily into action, making sure they kept even with the morph's sweeping distance.
The nomad stopped, relieved they weren't too far from Anri, as the war horse had been trailing Andre as well.
She noticed Lance only stopped floating because he'd slammed against a rock, he was stuck against it. I... I have to get him out of there, but the current's too strong... Unless of course.... I can make that jump onto that rock. Wait! Stepping stones!
They weren't in a straight line, and the first one looked like it wasn't very tall, but as a nomad, Sue could cross them easily. It's carrying Lance's weight that was going to be hard. She really did wish that someone else would be there to take him up when she finally could hold on to him. It was also times like these she wished she had a pegasus. Wait, her a pegasus knight? No.
Nervously, Sue put one foot forward, landing on the first stepping stone. She had to be quick to the second, as the first wasn't that good to stand on. Hopping across the third, fourth and fifth, and finally making it to the rock Lance was against.. probably crushed, she lifted the morph from under his arms out of the water. "Hold on... Lance...."
Leon was finally showing signs of stirring. It seemed like it had been days now since he'd been knocked out cold by magic. The knight grumbled curses. Magic was completely underhanded! Just piercing through armor? That's cheating. Luckily for Lance, whom was in big trouble and in need of his help, the Lieutenant hadn't the foggiest recollection of what exact spell knocked him out or who cast it.
He blinked, taking in his surroundings. A forest, no more battles... Anri, and... Andre? Where was his rider? At this time, he was more worried about these things than his own pain.
"What 'n th'name of Holy Falchion..." he muttered only those words before he saw the Nomadic Trooper trying to rescue Lance from a rushing river all by herself. Dismounting Anri, he took a dash to the edge of the banks... just before the stepping stones. "Nomad Trooper Sue! Lance!" he shouted both names with a hint of worry behind them.
"L-Leon..." Sue stammered before she struggled to get the rest of Lance at least out of the raging current. However, the rock wasn't going to have room for the both of them very long. "Take him... I'll make the rest of the way back by myself..."
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Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 8:32 pm
Lance was all alone in the dark. "Hello? Is anyone there?" He had moments earlier escaped from Jyoti, but now he was in this enclosed space. "If you're out there, please say so!"
Suddenly, a shriek came from all around him, and Lance had to cover his ears as the screech was unbearable. Lance had his eyes wide open, yet he didn't see anything. Then, a giant face, with a pointy chin and three horns on its forehead, and a head shaped like a clutch of bananas, appeared.
"W-what? Who are you?"
The giant sized head did not answer him for a long time. When Lance was about to ask again, it spoke up. "I am Zanbiel. I am the bringer of Darkness. I have come...FOR YOU!"
The head opened its mouth, revealing giant fangs and a snake-like tongue, and the head approached Lance on an insane speed. Lance turned around in panic, trying to get away, but all he did was run on the spot. It was if he was trying to run through a swamp. Lance tried screaming, but not a sound came out...
Lance was flailing in his fever-induced sleep. The night-terror he was facing was even affecting him at his body, as he was kicking and waving his arms around the rock in the middle of the current.
Kneeing Sue in her shin, he then turned around and managed to crawl back into the current, and once again it took control of his body. Lance suddenly woke back up, and he had trouble identifying where he was.
I had just been running from that Zanbiel face...and now I'm in water...was it all a dream?
As the water enveloped him, he was about to drift off to darkness when he remembered where he was again. Ah! Jyoti!
He was now wide awake. His body was still protesting, leaving him weak in all limbs. In any case...I have to get away from here... Lance swam back to the surface, and looked behind him to calculate how the river was formed. Then he brought up his palm and took aim. "I sure as heck ain't gonna get caught again! Bullet Impact!"
He remembered his power was out of control right now, but that was going to work in his favor. The force worked as a quick jolt of kinetic energy, and Lance was sent whooshing down the current on an ever higher speed than before. He laughed maniacally at his captors. "Hahahaha! You'll never catch me now you bas...tar...ds...?"
That's when he saw that he had been running from the armored person he fried earlier and the nomad from before. Ah crap.
"Dangit why meeeeeee~" Lance yelled as he disappeared around the bend, Tymora know where it was leading him.
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 6:37 am
Again, idiot! Sue wanted to scream it so loud, but she had to get off of these stepping stones and get on Andre to give pursuit. The nomad hopped across them carrying no weight, although she wished she kind of was.
The moronic thief went and propelled himself further! It would take forever for even both horses to catch him! Don't he realize we're trying to save him?!
Leon was wasting no time. He knew the Nomadic Trooper behind him was well capable of taking care of herself: she had been taught everything she knew from her father, one of FEF's great Crewmembers. It was when he mounted the saddle-less Anri that he felt it. Pain, everywhere... and although they were only slight, the burns stung as if they were still fresh.
Even so, he wasn't slowing. The knight carefully steered Anri around all obstacles, remembering his horseback training in Archanea where these were neatly placed hurdles. Same height, weird shape, but Anri was taught well enough to clear them fast. Of all the bad luck. If only Leon had his tools, but he'd dropped them along with Anri's armor! This would be difficult, but he wouldn't give up. He had to save Lance, he had to.
Close behind the Eyris Watchman, Sue was pursuing on Andre. Soon enough, her and her steed were at even speed, where Lance was barely in her eyesight. Making their horses go faster... both riders knew that was a bad idea. She knew more than anyone that a tired steed brought nomads to horrible disadvantages in battle and otherwise.
And there was another chance to stop him.
She noticed a pretty sturdy branch sticking out ahead. The nomad hopped from Andre to branch rather swiftly, reaching out to Lance's hand with one of hers. She'd get him, but now how would she climb back as carefully with extra weight? Not that he was... fat or anything, but extra weight made everything else harder. "Lance, we're here to help you!" she exclaimed. "Can you move... at all...?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:06 am
Lance was barely keeping his head above water. He was amazed by how the nomad still managed to keep up with him. The raging currents had Lance knocked back and forth between rocks like a pinball, and his body was now aching more than ever. The wound in his stomach didn't make anything better.
"S-Sue! Impeccable timing!"
Lance reached out his arm, and he was almost there...almost...almost...
WHOOSH.
A tiny waterfall made the height increase and Lance missed Sue's hand by a mere inch. He yelled back at her. "Just keep on moving! Try to find a shore or something up ahead! I'll be fine!"
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:10 am
Blossom hadn't expected the river to be running so violently that morning. She pulled her sword off of her back and put it down on the shore. She peeled her gloves quietly off of her small hands. "Is... that someone talking?" she wondered before looking up. She thought she could see a hand and a head higher along the current. Blossom rushed to the river's edge, near a large stone, squinting through the spray of water. As the person rushed past, Blossom braced her feet against the rock, reached out a hand, and lunged to snatch at his hand. "Hold on tight!" she shouted to him before attempting to pull him out, had she been lucky enough to grab on securely. Blossom was stronger than she looked, even if she was a small person.
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 12:02 pm
Leon almost winced as he watched Lance slip right out of the nomad's grip. So close, and yet the current was merciless. He immidiately took off after the scoundrel though the moment he saw him slip away. Again, he wasn't giving up. Whether he was on the Watch's list for having a notorious pickpocketing record... made no difference that Lance was in trouble.
Aiding a criminal. He wondered if he himself could be locked up? Not the time to think about it!
Anri and Leon dashed forward, knowing it would take the Nomad Trooper some time to get out of the branch safely. One of them had to save him...
Up ahead, the knight noticed a tiny spec, which as he got closer, he recognized as a person. Blossom? One of the ones who said would help him watch over FEF! He'd just realized she'd grabbed hold of Lance, and urged Anri forward ever faster so he could prepared to help her pull him up.
Sue this time, after climbing out of the branch with no luck was the one pursuing from behind. Never had her and Andre gone so quickly! Then again, it's not like she was in situations of such urgency every day....
There had to be some kinda deity of misfortune reigning over Learania! Sue never remembered this much bad luck raining upon Sacae what now seemed like in Learania... every single month almost!
While she contemplated though... Sue realized she was far downstream from where Leon had got a headstart, and Blossom was holding tightly onto Lance.
She'd be too late if he slipped again.
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 12:32 pm
Sindar had been wondering around for quite some time without seeing anyone. Suddenly, he heard shouting. With the young fighter running as fast as he could, he soon discovered the reason; A man was in the river and a small girl just barely had him in her grasp. Continuing to run, he yelled "Just hold on a little longer, I'm coming to help!"
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 2:33 pm
Glubglubglub.
Lance went down below the surface again. He struggled getting back up, and he gasped for air. His clothes was getting tighter to him as his body temperature sank as well, making it even more difficult to read.
From his periphal vision, he could see another figure at a shoreline. "Ah! That's gr-!"
A rock made a sudden impact on his head, and with a "Giack!" everything went black again. His body lifelessly floated onto the more calmer areas, but Lance no longer new that.
Instead, he was having another night terror in his fever induced state, making him twitch every once in a while.
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 2:44 pm
Leon had at last stopped right behind Blossom, whom was still struggling to pull up Lance by the looks of it. He dismounted quicker than usual, darting beside her. "Let me take 'im!" Leon exclaimed. He could see that the thief was unconscious again, it was understandable through his ordeals.
The knight took Lance's other dangling arm, and started the aid his mercenary companion in at least getting him up out of the water.
Sue was just able to see their shapes in the distance. She was going as fast as she could... but Andre was starting to slow. The steed had enough of all this rapid pacing. He needed some downtime, more food, more water....
The nomad noticed this, and slowed her horse down a little. She didn't want her mount to get too exhausted, or he couldn't make it back to camp. Besides, Leon and Blossom seemed to have a handle on the situation.
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