Episode 43 Triplicate Number Three—The Wind

The ground around Eos Tower suddenly shatters, as a large form erupts from underneath it. A huge, silver dragon rises from the cracks in the ground suddenly, shrieking loudly and glaring down at them.

Arai gives a gasp in alarm. “Ah! Is that?!”

“The Third Triplicate!” Ayame cries, smiling down at Arai. She then disappears with a swift flash, leaving the Triplicate to glare down at the others.

The silver Triplicate gazes down at them, as powerful, sinewy silver wings sprout from its back, arching high in the air and flapping furiously. It gives another birdlike shriek, and turns over in the air, diving headfirst back through the shattered ground, retreating deeper into Eos Tower.

Ryuu cries out in surprise, running up to the hole in the ground after the Triplicate. As he reaches the shattered ground, he stares down into its depths, narrowing his eyes. “It’s getting away!”

Arai, Shuriken, and Kunai quickly catch up to Ryuu from behind, glaring down at the empty hollowed space. “It’s no use,” Arai mutters, “We’ve got to go and chase after it before it reaches Omega Sector.”

“Yeah,” Kunai adds, “If it gets to Omega Sector, we’re in deep trouble. We can’t let any innocent people lose their lives, or worse, become Paradoxes just like Ivy and Ayame.”

“Let’s go after it then!” Shuriken smirks, leaping into the hole recklessly in pursuit of the Triplicate.

“Down we go!” Ryuu growls, leaping through the hole after Shuriken.

Arai glances at Kunai briefly before nodding to him. “We’ll get this Triplicate, Kunai,” he mutters, before jumping in to follow the other two.

Kunai nods back to Arai just as his head disappears over the top of the hole. He turns to face Ivy, who remains standing still behind him. “Ivy,” he mutters, “Let’s go.”

Kunai then jumps through the hole himself, while Ivy slowly walks up to the hole, staring down into its pitch-black darkness for a moment. ‘Ayame…’ She then pushes herself over the edge, falling in after Kunai and the others.

Ryuu, Arai, and Shuriken land on a wide balcony, their capes flapping behind them in the swift current of air rushing by. Ryuu stares around out in the open air as several Chirrpys flap around his head obnoxiously.

He lowers himself to the floor and places his ear against the ground, listening hard. He rises to face Arai and Shuriken. “It’s rather quiet…”

“Does that mean that the Triplicate’s gone further down into the tower already?” Arai asks.

Kunai suddenly appears from above, using his Gaia cape as a parachute. Ivy follows after him, holding on to her Thorns with her own cape wrapped around it as a parachute, flapping around in the breeze.

“I’m not sure if we can keep up with the Triplicate on foot,” Kunai says as he pats dust off of his clothes. “It’s going way too fast for us to catch up. By the time we even get near the bottom of Eos Tower, it’ll already be in Omega Sector!”

“It’s no use,” Ryuu growls, shaking his head. He reaches into his bags, withdrawing from within several sheets of scrolls sealed with a blue ribbon. He hands them roughly to Kunai. “Here, you take these.”

Kunai glances down at the scrolls with a puzzled expression on his face. He looks up at Ryuu. “What am I supposed to do with these?”

“We’re gonna split up,” Ryuu growls. “Arai, you go with Kunai and the girl. Take these scrolls to the Eos Rocks and teleport to the bottom of Eos Tower. When you get there, start ascending the tower on foot again.”

“Got it,” Kunai replies, “But what about you and Shuriken?”

“We’ll continue chasing the Triplicate on foot from up here,” Ryuu answers, “While you guys take up the chase from the bottom. Eventually we’ll corner the Triplicate.”

“Okay,” Kunai replies, “Ryuu, you gonna be okay?”

“Of course,” Ryuu mutters, “Never been better. Why would I be hurt?”

Kunai stares at Ryuu for a moment, taken slightly aback. ‘I was asking if he was going to be okay by himself and Shuriken…but that answer doesn’t seem to fit the question.’

Kunai looks down at the scrolls, giving Ryuu his own reassuring nod. He then hands a scroll to Arai and Ivy each, and opens his own up. “Okay, we’ll meet up with you guys later,” Kunai says.

A bright white light glows for a moment at one of the Eos Rocks located near the bottom of Eos Tower. Kunai, Arai, and Ivy appear at the rock suddenly, surprising and chasing away several Ratz that had crawled up to inspect the bright light coming from the rock.

Kunai stares around at his surroundings for a moment. The air remains unusually peaceful. Ivy, meanwhile, walks up to one of the large, arched windows in the tower, staring out into the wide fields surrounding Omega Sector.

Arai contentedly chews on a chocolate chip cookie as he watches Kunai and Ivy’s backs. “It seems the Triplicate hasn’t arrived yet…”

“We should probably start the chase then,” Kunai replies, turning to Arai. “It’s bound to come this way soon enough. And we’ll be ready to stop it in its tracks.”

“You two go on ahead,” Arai says suddenly. Kunai turns and jumps in alarm as he sees Arai lying down and leaning on the tower wall. He closes his eyes lazily while chewing a cookie.

“ARAI! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Kunai cries, pointing at Arai.

Arai pokes open an eye laxly, smiling at Kunai. “Kunai, Kunai…it’s not a good idea to do a lot of exercise right after you eat… Besides, though Ryuu overreacts a lot of the time, he’s right, I’m useless. This kind of adventure thing is just not for me, the type of person I am.”

“NOW’S NOT THE TIME TO BE HAVING AN INFERIORITY COMPLEX!” Kunai yells frustratingly.

The floor suddenly begins shaking violently while the ceiling shakes and begins to collapse. The walls tremble as well, as the rumbling grows in magnitude.

“Oops, looks like the Triplicate’s here!” Arai exclaims.

The Eos Rock suddenly collapses under the pressure of the falling ceiling, and tumbles forward towards Ivy. Kunai runs forward, yelling, “IVY!” He pushes her aside, wrapping his arms around her to cushion both of their falls.

Kunai looks down at Ivy as he lies on top of her, breathing heavily. “Are you all right?”

“Get off me, Kunai.”

Kunai’s eyes widen slightly, and he opens his mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. Instead he shakes his head and gets off Ivy, allowing her to rise to her feet by herself.

Suddenly the ceiling collapses with a loud explosion, as debris and stone flies everywhere. Kunai raises both his arms, shielding himself and Ivy.

The shining silver Triplicate appears suddenly in the mess of things, flapping its huge, arched wings and glaring down at Kunai and Ivy with its soulless silver eyes.

Kunai glares back at the Triplicate defiantly. His eyes roam across the leftover debris from the collapsed ceiling lying all over the ground. Kunai suddenly spots Arai, lying motionless under a pile of stone and rubble.

Kunai waves his hand angrily, drawing a Steely from his side and staring up at the Triplicate, his eyes burning with hatred and rage. “Damn you!” he cries.

Kunai sprints forward to meet the Triplicate, but stops just as he raises his right arm, noticing a strange mark on Myou. He stares at the claw, where the red rune has begun to glow dully. It suddenly blazes crimson, and a rushing pain pours through Kunai.

He bends over, grabbing his right arm in surprise, gasping loudly. “Ugh…! It…hurts!” Kunai stumbles to his knees, grasping his right arm furiously with his left.

The pain suddenly numbs in Kunai’s arm, and becomes more bearable. He stares at Myou again, where the rune has settled into a bright red color. ‘That’s strange…the rune never glowed this bright before.’

Kunai rises to his feet again, staring up at the unwavering eyes of the Triplicate. “Time to take you out!” Kunai growls, sending two Steelys flying into the air.

They zip through the air, rushing past the Triplicate and displacing several of its scales near its wing. Kunai stares at the scales as they fall to the ground with a loud clatter. ‘Come on, Ryuu, Shuriken…the party’s already started.’

Shuriken leads the way as he sprints agilely past obstacles down Eos Tower, swinging past ropes and using his cape as a parachute when necessary.

Ryuu follows behind Shuriken, slightly breathless and unable to keep up with his pace. Ryuu slams his sword through the stone ground, taking a shortcut to catch up with Shuriken by flying through several platforms.

As he and Shuriken enter out into a bright, windy balcony again, they begin sprinting rapidly down past the open windows of the tower.

Ryuu stares at Shuriken’s back as they keep running. ‘Shuriken…something’s really strange about him. I don’t care what he says, I still can’t trust him with my life. There’s definitely something about him but I can’t place my hand on it. What is it?!”

“Shuriken,” Ryuu says aloud suddenly. He sprints faster to catch up to Shuriken, so that they are now running side-by-side. “Let’s hurry up and catch up to the others. The Triplicate should be at the bottom of Eos Tower by now.”

“Right,” Shuriken mutters next to Ryuu.

The Triplicate suddenly flaps its wings violently, creating a strong gust of wind. The miniature tornado blows by Kunai, shattering the sides of the walls and loosening many of the bricks set in it.

Kunai holds up his arms up to his face, attempting to keep his stance against the Triplicate. He glances back at Ivy as she stands, trying to maintain her own stance as well. “Dammit, Ivy can’t fight in these conditions, and if I let her get attacked again…”

Kunai suddenly reaches for another Steely, and gripping it tight, launches himself forward in a bright blue flash, going straight through the Triplicate.

Several scales fly past Kunai as he explodes through the other side of the Triplicate. He gazes up at it as he lands precariously on a loose stone floor.

The Triplicate remains fixedly staring down at Kunai, completely unfazed by his attack. Kunai, meanwhile, bends over panting, staring up at the Triplicate.

“Damn…it didn’t even get scratched…” Kunai mutters breathlessly.

The Triplicate suddenly draws a deep breath, and sends an explosion of concentrated air blowing down at Kunai. He ducks and rolls, avoiding the blast as it creates a large crater in the ground.

“That thing was powerful!” Kunai gasps, staring up at the Triplicate. He turns and runs again, leaping up to sprint against the wall as the Triplicate sends another powerful blast of wind flying at him.

Kunai turns and stares up at the Triplicate from behind. “So, the First Triplicate was Darkness, the Second was Fire, and the Third is…Wind?”

The Triplicate’s eyes glow bright yellow for a moment as shadows form from underneath it, and rise into the air, born as new Humanoid Paradoxes.

Kunai braces himself, clenching two Steelys in his hand. “More Paradoxes…” he mutters. His eyes turn to Ivy immediately as the Humanoid Paradoxes approach him. “I can’t let them get to Ivy.”

Kunai throws a Steely at the nearest Paradox, but it merely spins with its lance pointing outwards, and deflects the Steely easily. Kunai’s eyes widen at this new move. “Damn…wind-based attacks, eh?”

Another of the Paradoxes cuts the air with its lance, sending a blast of air and wind towards Kunai. He dodges the barrage of wind and cuts through another with a Steely.

The Steely flies through the air, hitting one of the Paradoxes on the chest. Kunai then switches out Myou for his battered Gephart, and stares back defiantly at the Humanoid Paradoxes. “Just cause you outnumber mean doesn’t mean I’ll lose to you.”

Kunai sprints forward with his Gephart outstretched, slicing past the sides of several of the Paradoxes. He launches a Steely at one from behind, forcing it to parry with its lance. Kunai uses the opening to stab it directly on the stomach, forcing it down to the ground dead.

Kunai then turns to the others, stabbing the nearest one twice and knocking it down to the ground. He then lunges himself forward, stabbing another multiple times, and finishes with a quick uppercut that sends it flying.

Kunai glances up as he sees several more Humanoid Paradoxes approach. He bares his teeth. “Ugh! How many of you are there? It’s time to finish you off!”

A coin suddenly lands in the middle of the group of Paradoxes. They stare down at the coin perplexedly for a few moments until suddenly it explodes, sending smoke flying into the air.

As the screen of smoke clears, Kunai suddenly leaps out of it into the air, his Gephart pointed upward and headed straight for the Triplicate’s eye.

The Triplicate remains unmoving and staring at Kunai as he approaches. Kunai finally reaches the eye, and with a rapid move, sends an Assaulter straight through its eye.

Kunai lands on the other side of the Triplicate again, staring up to inspect the damage. The Triplicate turns once again to face Kunai, revealing a cracked left eye, no longer silver, but a glowing yellow.

Kunai’s eyes widen as he sees the Triplicate’s newly revealed eye. “I got it straight in the eye…and it’s still standing unscratched? But how?”

Kunai’s eyes suddenly widen again, this time in pain, as he turns and stares down at his right arm. The Gephart lies cracked right down the middle in his hand, and it slides off weakly, broken apart, onto the ground. Kunai then watches in fear as his arm begins to crystallize with a loud hissing sound. The arm slowly become silver and scaly.

“My…arm…! What’s wrong with it?” Kunai gasps. He stares down at his legs as well, as they slowly begin to crystallize too. “I…can’t move!”

The Triplicate draws another deep breath again, charging for its wind blast. It then exhales, sending a heavy and powerful blast of wind and air flying towards Kunai.

Kunai’s eyes widen as the tornado of wind approaches him. “No!” Suddenly, a large shuriken appears in the air in front of Kunai, countering the blast of wind, followed by a bright flash of fire.

Kunai opens his eyes and stares as Ryuu and Shuriken appear in front of him. “Sorry we’re late,” Ryuu mutters out of the corner of his mouth to Kunai. “But don’t mind us crashing the party.”

Next Time: Episode 44 Explosion!

Kunai: Ugh…what’s…wrong…with my body?

Ryuu: Don’t worry, we’ll take care of it.

Shuriken: This Triplicate is going down!

Ryuu: EXPLOSION!

Shuriken: Okay! Eos Tower is collapsing! Let’s get out of here!

Kunai: Wait! What about Arai?

Ryuu: Why did you have to say that…

Episode 44 Explosion! coming soon!

News: I am now accepting character submissions for Tales of a Lost Phoneme. There are some guidelines and restrictions you MUST follow in order for your submission to be even considered.

First, their age cannot be prepubescent minus or middle age plus. Basically, they gotta be old enough to act maturely and young enough to..still move well. XD Also, when describing their past/history/background info, they HAVE to come from the Rift World. If you do not know what the Rift World is, you haven’t been reading my story.

The deadline for the submissions is Friday, August 4th, or whenever I finish Chapter 48, whichever comes sooner. No late submissions will be accepted.

One winner will be chosen to earn a quick yet vital part in ToaLP. They will most likely appear somewhere during Chapters 49~56. They HAVE to be on the party’s side, that is, the winning character will be journeying with the main party for a while.

If you have a submission for me, please send it to me via PM in this format:

Name: (obvious what this is)
Age: (what their age is, obviously)
Gender: (guy, girl, or it. just kidding. no its please)
Class: (what class they are. Any job is acceptable except for Beginner. They may be a Hybrid if you wish)
Weapon/Equips: (simple enough to understand)
Hair: (describe their hair)
Eyes: (describe their eyes)
Appearance Misc: (any other miscellaneous things about their appearance, from scars to special marks on their backs to tattoos, now’s the time to say them)
Personality: (any type of personality is fine unless it greatly interferes with the story. Your submission has to be on the party’s side)
History: (give them some past for me to work with. Remember, they MUST come from the Rift World, but they can have spent time elsewhere if you’d like)
Misc: (anything not specifically mentioned above can be put here)

Regarding names: Please, please, please do NOT, do NOT submit to me your IGN if it cannot be used as a real name in real life. Be creative. A fantasy name is fine, but I will not accept it if it’s anything along the lines of d4rkH3r0 or dkluvr or xxAznBoixx. Thank you.

Now submit before it’s too late. =P