MAJOR Edit: Wth? How did all those weird symbols get into my blog? *resubmits*

Yeahaah! I am back! With chapter ten in tow, mind you. Nice to see all of you enjoyed the video, and thanks for the comments on that as well. (Though I must say, the voiceovers came out rather quiet and mumbly…) Banannaphone did of course make the cut to get in, because it rules. Additionally, I must say the snail slaughtering was probably the most fun part of that movie to do. xD It was so violent and …needless! *cackles* Terribly sorry to keep you all waiting so long!

@ILC, Ezyan, Indescane: Lol, I didn’t know it was a competition. >.<; There’s plenty of ‘like’ button to go around ladies, don’t fight. xD

@Drunkdady: No I didn’t actually train on snails for three hours, that was just my typical nutty sarcasm. *lol* I was kind of making fun of the Maplestory leveling treadmill. Additionally, I’ll be seventeen in September, for those of you wondering.

Now, on with our story! Things are beginning to heat up in Broa, and Blast is finally beginning to get his bearings on Londe. As for our good buddy Shard, well I’ve resolved that since he’s become a total nutter on me, I might as well let him be, so be forewarned he’ll be doing whatever he wants. FINALLY, please COMMENT people, I respond to all comments that warrant an answer, and I appreciate all comments given, it’s a nice way of showing me you actually read the blog, as opposed to just clicking past it for a moment.

—
El Moth snatched the thick purse away from the young thief and poked through its contents briefly before handing him the scrolls.
“Four scrolls of Return to XDarkStriders’ Headquarters. Is that all, or might I interest you in-”
“No, we’re definitely good.” Cross said, growling, “I don’t have another hundred-thousand mesos to spend on your fancy parchment.” Returning to his friends, Cross handed the scrolls around. Riella, Leul, and Kytin… Riella, turning the sealed item over in her hands, examining it, spoke first.
“Ah, yes, very good Cross. Kytin, did you get those other scrolls I asked for?” Looking up, the hunter smiled wryly, tipping his elaborately feathered hat off his head in one hand with a bow.
“But of course!” he said, drawing four more scrolls out of his pocket, “What’s a good spot of troublemaking without a flawless escape route?” Riella turned back to the others to explain, handing out these scrolls as well.

“The DarkStriders’ base isn’t registered as an official town, so we should be able to use standard Return to Nearest Town scrolls to poof outta there when we’re done. Is everybody ready? …good, now hang on, I’ve just got to contact somebody.” She said, stepping back from the others and flicking on her comm. Looking over a pitifully small friends list, she flicked one nail over a newly added name at the bottom.

—
Shard’s comm crackled to life in the rucksack he’d dropped in the slush before his little skirmish with Achoss and Cerusk, muffled by the fabric of the bag, its speaker buzzed for attention. Picking up the Return Scroll, he turned to fetch the device -flicking it on and casually scratching behind one ear with a bloodied hand.
“Shard here, what’s up warrior girl?” he answered gruffly, and began putting his heavy shadow set back on with a free hand.
“Hey, we’re ready to go, when can you be at the DarkStriders base?”
“I’ve got a scroll, I can be there whenever.” he said, clicking a shoulder plate back into place over the body suit. “Those will drop you off in the XDarkStriders’ cargo bay, which needless to say is locked up, but I have the code to open the door, so it’s no big.”
“Okay, let’s go then!” the radio crackled.
“Fine, gimme ten seconds to tidy up here, and then get in there.” he said, flicking the communicator off, and then busying himself with a quick snow wash of his hands.

—
“Okay everyone, we’ll be meeting a … friend there, you all ready to go?” The crowd murmured agreement excitedly, and gathering into a loose circle, opened their scrolls one after another, disappearing in vibrant flashes of light. Looking around the clearing once more, Kytin sighed and pulled open his scroll as well.
“Here goes nothing… I guess.”

Appearing in puffs of smoke slightly above the ground, the adventurers dropped softly to the floor –most of them did anyway (Cross landed in a crumpled heap). The small band stood up hurriedly as a rasping laughter echoed in the darkness. Riella peered around at her surroundings, raising her Traus. A large empty warehouse room, a ways off behind them was a pair of huge loading doors, and opposite from those, far across the room was a smaller service entrance, no doubt leading to the main base. Off to either side were several large unmarked crates and boxes.
Appearing in a puff of smoke behind her, their “friend” appeared, laughing.
“Boo!” he whispered, but she didn’t flinch. Stepping away and turning to face him, she addressed him curtly;
“Yes, hello Shard. Shall we get down to business now?” But before the man could answer, CrossSlash jumped forward, a pair of stars whipping into place in his claw.
“Shard!” lunging forward to throw them at the man’s head level.
“Whoa, chill out monkey boy.” the bandit exclaimed, drawing his weapon in a flash and knocking the projectiles aside with a sweep of his dagger. “I’m here to-”
“Don’t care!” he was interrupted as the rogue leapt forward to swing his clawed fist at the man’s head.

“Hey waitaminute!” Shard demanded, ducking the shot. “Hey COOL IT!” he growled again, as he was forced to roll out of the way of a sharp kick. The bandit stood up all at once, punching the thief in the gut and smashing him to the ground with one shoulder. “If you really want to know my intentions, ask your warrior friend! She’ll tell you if you won’t listen to ME!” he shouted.
“Riella, what did you call HIM for!” the thief growled, struggling to get some air back into his lungs.
“Cross, we’re going to need his help to find our way around! He’s not with the DarkStriders anymore!” Grumbling, Cross, flicked a wrist, sheathing his stars, and rolled to stand sorely from the floor, but said nonetheless,

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it. Are we ready do go or not?” Suddenly the room flashed red, an alarm sounding and a metallic voice echoed above;
“Intruders detected. Intruders detected. All units to defensive stations. Releasing attack charges.”
“Ugh, NOW look what you imbeciles did!” Riella shouted, as Kytin and Leul edged away from her, “We’re not even IN the base yet and they caught us!” Focusing on Shard, she asked no less angrily, “Shard! What does it mean by ‘attack charges’?” shifting uneasily foot to foot, the bandit answered notably unhappily as the door across the room slid open on automated hydraulics;
“Well… who here has ever met a Bain before?” he inquired, backing away further from the far off door, and laughed nervously.

—
Strolling through the streets of Metropolis, amongst tall buildings and flashing lights, Blast, Lift, and the Kalisddon talked excitedly.
“So Blast,” the Kal chittered, “I know you’re trying to get home and all, but do you think you’ll have time for some matches with me before you go?”
“Sure, I think there’ll be some time yet.” the cleric responded.
“Indeed,” the Lift whirred, “you would do well as a Gunbound jockey BlastMage.”
“Well, I don’t know… I’ve only had one match!”
“Actually,” the L-563 began, “would you consider keeping company with me during your time here? I can work for free!”
“You can do that? Don’t you have an owner already?” Blast inquired.
“Well, no. Lift construction, development, and maintenance are paid for by Metro Tax, so I work free for anybody I choose, as long as I work for somebody. We’re like Londeian volunteer help! Normally we just park outside a Gunbound arena, switch around between jockeys, but you look like you have some potential, so I think it’d be beneficial to travel with you.”

“Cool, I appreciate the help Lift.” Blast said, looking to the skyline. “Hey, isn’t this the place?” he said as they approached the guard that had turned him away before. Stepping ahead of the bots flanking him, Blast raised his voice to address the man.
“Guardman McShwankypants! I’m here to see the astronomer!” he said, flourishing a gloved hand elaborately and adding a fanciful bow.
“Ugh, you again. Whatever, just don’t touch anything.” the man said, stepping aside to hold open the heavy glass door.
“Sweet! We’re in! C’mon guys, lets find that astronomer!” the magician said as he and the two bots walked through into a wide entrance lobby. He glanced at the soft blue carpet, and elaborate sculptures to either side –resembling everything from planets and solar systems to DNA, atoms, and plant life.
“Hello, where can I find astronomical studies?” he said, walking up to the counter and addressing a flamboyantly dressed secretary –in a vibrant red dress and coke bottle glasses.
“Eight floors up, down the hall on the right. You can’t miss it.” she answered in a tired drawl, pointing to several elevators by the corner of the lobby.
“Ah, okay thanks.” Blast said, turning from the counter to eye the bots behind him. “I don’t know if you can come Kal, you might be too heavy for the elevator…”
“Arr, that’s okay Blast, you go on ahead, I’ll chill out here.”

Stopping before a deep blue painted office door, Blast reached for the knob, reading the text on the tinted window.
“AdiumTek Space: Research and Development of Astronomical Exploration, sounds like the place Lift.” Walking into the dim room, Blast looked over the many cubicles, and the equally many employees working at computers in them. Far across the room, a man sat in a large chair under a small planetarium dome, spotlighted by a small yellow reading lamp, around which models of a solar system rotated. “I’m going to guess that’s our man.” Blast said, turning to the Lift behind him, still half in the hallway. Blast tiptoed across the busy room quietly, the L-563 floating behind him, and approached the man on the platform, raised slightly above floor level.
“Excuse me sir,” he said politely, “but are you the astronomer? And if so, might I ask you a question?” The man lowered his reading glasses to blink at him over the rims, looking away from his book.

“Oh, yes indeed. I am he, what do you have to ask of me?” He answered in a tired voice. At this range, Blast could see the wrinkles evident in the man’s face, and the hair that had long lost its color. But, he was dressed sharply, and was no doubt a valuable member to the institute’s workings. The astronomer placed a scrap of paper in his book and closed it carefully.
“Well first off, I’m BlastMage.” the magician said, shaking the man’s hand.
“Mhm, I’m Hashio, the head of or astronomical studies here.”
“Okay, since that’s out of the way. I just need to ask if you know about a planet called Broa, and where it is in relation to this world.”
“Oh, never heard of the place, or if I have I’ve forgotten.” the man said, standing up to walk across the platform to the back wall. “Here, it should be in our databases if we know anything about it.” Following the man, Blast and Lift looked over his shoulder at another computer, the astronomer already had a database manager open, and it read “scanning now”. The computer pinged with on with three results. The astronomer read off the screen’s contents for them.

“Three planets known as ‘Broa’ found. Number one; One of twenty globes in the Wiz-1 starcluster. Number two; One of five four globes in the Wiz-5 starcluster. And number three; One of five globes in the Wiz-6 starcluster.” The astronomer thumbed his beard, thinking. “We found three places named ‘Broa’, Blast. How many neighboring planets does this ‘Broa’ have?”
“Well, last time I was in the Omega Sector, they said four neighboring globes were found.”
“Hang on a second,” the astronomer turned to eye him strangely, “you say you’re FROM Broa?”
“Uh, yes.. that’s right. It looks like I’m from the Wiz-6 Broa in this case.” Stepping away from the computer, the old man paced, thinking things out for himself.
“I don’t see how THAT is possible… Wiz-6 Broa is 1.2 million light-years away! Unless, you came here magically?” He said, turning to Blast again.

“Yes, I came through… some kind of swirling portal. It was created when this medallion,” he said, taking the dimensional stabilizer from his shirt, “crossed with another like it, except red.”
“Ah, yes…” the man said, removing his thick spectacles to polish them with a corner of his shirt, “alchemy isn’t exactly my forte, but I can tell you this much; you came here by magic, and you must return by magic. At this distance, no scientific means available to us today will return you to your planet before you die of old age. You say you came here through a portal?”
“Yes, it tore open, the medallions did it I think, they were going nuts when it happened.”
“Well, whatever spell it was they caused,” the man said, waving a hand through the air vaguely, “can probably be reversed just as easily, but you’ll need the necessary power for the huge amount of magical energy it will take.” BlastMage sighed to hear this and looked back at Lift exasperated. He’d been through this all before, and turning to face the astronomer, sighed and asked;
“Fetch quest?” (The man nodded.)
“Fetch quest.”

—
Imlye sighed and pushed her sleeves back out of the way again, shifting position to get comfortable. Sitting beside a small bed in the infirmary wing, she tended a badly roughed up Erik to the best of her ability, constantly aglow with the green light of healing.
“You have seriously got to stop getting beaten up Erik,” she said, pushing aside the red hair that covered one side of his ever scowling features. Unconscious, he had been since he’d appeared in the cargo bay beside her, battered and bleeding, on the retreat from their last battle. “I don’t know for how long you can keep getting lucky. Should have retreated earlier I suppose.” She sniffed, and stood up, she’d done as much as she could for now. As for the others, she looked across the small, dimly lit room to the hulking shadow in the opposite corner: breathing heavily and standing over another bed, upon which lay an even further tattered shape. The man standing shifted foot to foot, and growled in a gruff tone;

“I still remember when we didn’t have to retreat at all.” Achoss said, “Now we’ve got deserters, one traitor so far, and a ragtag band of swashbucklers are raising attacks left and right to thwart our every plan. A bloody madman killed my brother!” he finished, gesturing angrily to corpse laid out before him. He opened his mouth to shout again, but Imlye crossed the room in a flash of blue sparks, a hand on his muscled chest and a finger laid delicately across his lips.
“Now, now Achoss. Times like this are when our strengths are really tested. Trust the boss, he’ll see us through this. Just be glad we have the means to bring your brother back. You will both have another chance at Serkoth yet.” The assassin sighed, his shoulders slumping as she stepped away,
“Yeah, and I’m sure Cerusk will be just as ready to rip that two-timing Shard apart as soon as the Preist sees him.” he said darkly, although notably less noisily.

Suddenly, the lights flashed red and a metallic voice echoed;
“Intruders detected. Intruders detected. All units to defensive stations. Releasing attack charges.”
“For the love of all things holy! That’s the third time this week!” the cleric cursed. She turned to frown at Achoss, “Our boss, he IS a good leader, but if there’s one thing about him that gets annoying… Argh! The base just HAS TO go full alert every time a Jr. Pepe stumbles through the doors!” Turning to run a hand across Erik’s cheek, behind her, she looked up to the assassin again.
“Well? We should get going then.” he said, offering an arm, “You know the boss will want everyone in their places. To deflect a full on penguin assault and all…”
“Yes, I suppose… perhaps if we hurry we might actually beat the Bains to one for once.”

—
The astronomer’s words echoed in his mind as Blast sat the saddle on his trusty Kalisddon, Lift floating nearby as they rumbled down the rocky terrain into the massive catacombs below Londe Metropolis.
“Take this crystal,” the man had said, handing him a sparkling clear stone, “it’s called a focus gem. You will need to power it up by finding four charge gems, deep within Londe’s ancient elemental shrines. The closest is the earth shrine, in Cozy Tower, below this very city. Find that crystal, and return to me, if you can do this, I will tell you more, but this is the first task you must tackle.” As BlastMage had turned for the door, Lift by his side, the astronomer called to him again, “And BlastMage? Just a warning, the shrines are deep within what are now official Gunbound battle zones, any opposing jockey you meet may challenge you to combat. If you fail in battle, you’ll have no choice… but to return here and try again.”
“Well, that isn’t an option now is it guys?” Blast muttered to the bots, as the Kal bumped over a particularly large chunk of otherwise indisputably bland terrain. “Let’s just get it right the first time eh!?” Turning to the ever knowledgeable mode of transportation, Blast asked the L-563; “Lift, it this place is all underground, why is it called the Cozy TOWER?”

“Ah, well there’s a very easy explanation for that Blast,” it said, turning one flashing eye on him, “this once WAS a tower, back in the ages of chaos. It was a stronghold built by the Miramo, as a foothold against the Hubobeian forces south of their establishments north of the Nirvana mountains. For security purposes, it was built on a great platform, suspended above an even greater canyon, the only access being over one of eight huge connecting bridges, all of which were heavily guarded of course… but the tower fell –quite literally, when it was converged upon by both Hubobeian and Adium forces, and all the bridges were destroyed. The entire platform fell into the canyon below, but remarkably enough, the magically reinforced tower was left unharmed. Eventually it was covered over with dirt and sand, and Metropolis unknowingly built over it hundreds of years later. It was recently unearthed by an Adium mining project, and opened as an underground Gunbound zone.”

Suddenly, the Kalisddon stopped, they had come to a great rift in the earth, the soil below dropping away into darkness, seemingly forever, and the sight gave Blast vertigo just thinking about it. Before the trio could come up with any way of crossing it, a voice rang out in the murk ahead.
“You there! Consider yourself challenged to an official Gunbound match!” A boisterous female voice, made louder by the numerous echoes in the caverns, the speaker unknown until she flicked on a spotlight across the gorge. The girl was as young as he, riding a large, orange spider-looking mech, and BlastMage didn’t doubt for a second that she was by far more dangerous than the inexperienced pilot he’d beat down before. Floating beside her was another Lift, and if he had things his way, this mouthy young lady would need it sooner than not. This could be his first real challenge as a Gunbound pilot. “Well Kal boy? First shot is yours!”

—
The five of them drew back, Leul, Riella, Kytin, Shard, and Cross all clustered behind a pile of boxes, well back from the door, as the bandit talked hurriedly, to prepare them better.
“They have a small pack of Bains, hellhounds, hand tamed from birth by the guild leader. The guild releases these suckers into the building whenever a snowflake passes through the security grid, and they fan out throughout the building to kill anything not wearing a guild tag.”
“And why didn’t you tell me this BEFORE!” Riella demanded in an angry whisper.
“I was hoping we could avoid this by teleporting in,” he growled, “I didn’t tell you about the Bains because I didn’t want to panic anybody. Your thief attacked first okay!” he finished, jabbing a finger in an equally annoyed CrossSlash’s direction. Hurriedly pulling a dark plated comm from his pocket, Shard punched a few keys, then stashed the device just as quickly. “Okay, Erik is in the infirmary wing, and more importantly, so is his medallion. We need somebody to distract the Bain that will be checking this area, and someone to snatch that from the wizard. Your call warrior girl.”

Riella bit her lip, looking over their little crowd, then having decided, said;
“Okay, you two, Cross and Shard, you’ll have to go for that medallion, there will be other Bains out there and you both have darksight.” the thieves growled at her decision, but said nothing, “The rest of us will stay here to occupy our Bain, hopefully Leul can keep us alive while we all do our best to stay out of its way until you get back. Then we poof outta here before somebody gets gutted. Good?”

Just then a loud snort was heard at the far off door, followed by a louder growl.
“It can smell us back here…” Shard cautioned as he drew his dagger and disappeared in a puff of smoke. “Don’t stay back here too long, keep moving, and watch out for firebombs.” the bandit cautioned, as the heavy padding footsteps of the great dog could be heard on the other side of the boxes. Cross growled and disappeared as well, smoke enveloping him as a star clicked into his claw.

—
“Follow the sound of my knife, and keep quiet yourself little rogue.” Shard whispered as they both slipped invisibly through the open door, into the hallway. He tapped his dagger on the wall in one direction, then walked down the hall to the next intersection, tapping again to direct the incrementally quieter Cross, whom could be detected only by the faint sound of his breath. “If Bains show up, get against the wall and keep quiet. We don’t want to face a firebombing in one of these narrow hallways.”
“Aye.” the thief acknowledged quietly.

Around another corner, and down one more hall, their noses were stung slightly by the smell of rubbing alcohol in the air, the infirmary wing. A moment later, Achoss emerged from a door ahead, arm and arm with Imlye, the two laughing and chattering. Shard suppressed a snarl as he pressed against the wall and inched by, then darted inside the room they had left. Blinking in the dim light, they both reappeared, Cross following Shard’s lead.
“I’ll stand by the door; check the room for that medallion, fast.” Shard said in a hurried hush. Cross moved across the room and bent over the man in the first bed. Pushing aside Erik’s collar, Cross grumbled and checked the man’s pockets instead.
“Well, he’s not wearing it, and it’s not on him.” Footsteps could be heard in the hall.
“Check the drawers in that bedside table, hurry.” Shard muttered back, to an audible sniff outside the door. It took something big to snort that loud. Holding his dagger at ready, he glanced furtively at Cross. “Lets move!”
“Okay okay,” Cross said, rifling through the drawers as quickly as was possible to do so and remain quiet. “Got it!” he said triumphantly, pulling the gleaming red medallion from the bottom of on disheveled drawer, but was answered by a ominous growl at the door. Whirling around, Cross was just in time to see Shard disappear, and the muscled-dog-beast turn to him.

—
Riella whispered hurriedly to her companions as the thieves disappeared.
“Kytin, go left, and draw the dog off, I’ll attack it from behind, Leul, go right, and keep me alive while staying as far away as possible. Try not to draw attention to yourself, we don’t want him firebombing you.” As they stood up to move, she placed a hand on the hunter’s arm. “Don’t you go doing anything heroic darling. We’re ALL getting out of here alive.” The Bain snarled, right beside the boxes. “Now go!” she said, scrambling up one box, to jump to another, and leap from the toppling pile as the monster smashed through it, thoroughly stomping up the place they’d just sat. Coming down behind the beast, she slashed it across the side, as it was distracted by a rain of arrows, Kytin’s bowstring whipping back and forth in a frenzied blur. “Leul, I can take one hit, maybe, don’t miss the chance to heal it.” She said, jumping back to spring off a wall, as the Bain charged her again, she slashed a long gash across the monster’s back as she flew overhead, but the wound closed up just as quickly –they weren’t hurting it AT ALL.

Growling, the dog batted away more arrows with a swing of its massive paw, and opened its monstrous mouth, the cavernous opening glowing red.
“Look out Kytin, that’s a firebomb!” Leul shouted, recognizing the magic attack at once, and giving the archer just enough time to spring out of the way, tucking his bow for a fast roll to the side, as the Bain spit a huge globe of flame to incinerate the place he had just stood. The cleric rushed forward to him to check singing, as Riella dodged again and slid back beside them when the beast made contact with her shield and sent her sprawling.
“Hurry Cross…” Leul said, glowing green, and stepping back as the creature roared again.

—
Cross had just enough time to disappear again, slipping behind the room’s numerous shadows as the beast’s rank breath and sharp teeth came just an inch from his face, the creature instead lunging entirely through him to slam its head on the metal bed frame.
“Ehehehe, time to go methinks, the thief chortled, diving into the hall and running off after Shard, whom he was sure was on his way already. Sliding around one corner and pushing off the wall to bound around another, he burst through the service door to the warehouse to reappear and see ahead of him, Leul, Riella and Kytin struggling to avoid another massive dog.
“We got it! Let’s get outta here!” he shouted to them, as Shard reappeared beside him. Riella slid back and pushed off a pile of crates, springing over the Bain to come running then sliding to a stop beside them. Leul and Kytin ran up equally winded.

“Everyone! Scrolls out!” Riella said, and as they did so the dog behind them growled and puffed steam behind them, dislodging its head from another newly smashed box. Pulling open scrolls, the parchments flashed brightly… but then died down to glow blue, nobody had left yet. Looking around, Leul knew what had happened.
“This place is warded against teleport scrolls! We can’t get out until we leave the building!” Suddenly the crowd was scattered, jumping and rolling and disappearing out of the way as another firebomb came down, charring the cargo bay’s neat tiled floor.
“The loading doors!” Shard shouted, reappearing to point, “that’s our way out! Move it!” nobody waited for another word, they were all running in that direction, as the Bain charged up from behind again. Riella felt the creature’s huge tusks pressing into her back, and grabbing onto the massive teeth, flipped over the monster to land behind it, leaving the confused Bain to snap giant jaws at empty air. “Keep moving!” the bandit said, beside the great doors now, frantically punching buttons into a keypad beside the steel locked exit. Clustering against the huge door, as far away from the Bain as possible, Riella shouted to Shard as she arrived as well;
“What’s the holdup!?”
“Hang on, this’ll take just a second to crack!!” he said, punching another combination into the lock.
“You SAID you had the code!” she raged at him.
“They changed it okay!? Just chill for a moment!” but ‘chilling’ was the last thing on anybody’s mind, as the bandit frantically battered the keypad into the wall, and the Bain charged another firebomb.
“SHARD! NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME!” Riella shouted, as everyone jumped out of the way of the blast, which subsequently melted a hole in the door. “That works too…” the warrior noted, standing up. “Everyone through! Let’s get out of here!” She said as Cross, then Leul jumped through the smoldering gap in the metal, then disappearing in a flash once beyond the base’s wards. Kytin paused, looking at her expectantly. “Shard, what about you?” she said to the man still standing with one fist against the keypad. The man’s response was a dark rasp, which dissolved into mad laughter.
“I’m going to stay here to cause a little trouble first. Don’t worry about me.” he said, and then disappeared.
“Well, you heard the nut, let’s go now!” Kytin said, grabbing the warrior’s wrist as the Bain growled again and charged them. Together, they jumped through the gash in the warehouse doors, and pulled open scrolls, disappearing in a flash as they hit the cold slush outside.