Edit: What in the… this one went crazysymbols on me too… *resubmits*

Okay, starting chapter nine today… but I’m thinking this’ll be finished later because I’m busy until next Monday. (It’s Thursday.) For those of you who haven’t spotted it already, there’s a character bio out for Shard. (I did his first because he seems to have gained popularity recently.) Speaking of that nut, he will appear in this chapter, just not right away, so stay with me here. (Keep in mind I tend to flash back and forward in time during POV changes.)

@ Rosin: Lol, you and Ezyan are going to feel SO BAD when you get to the 3x range. You think you feel guilty killing snails? I will tell you the kittens are cUtE! And you’ll be expected to slaughter hundreds of them. xD

@ Indescane: Yes, Ezyan was right in saying that I’m a Broa player. Keep in mind the character BlastMage is a direct reflection as not only my tone as a human being, but also my avatar as a Maple Story player. If he says I’m Broan, I’m Broan. The one exception to this rule is that during the time this fanfic takes place, Blast is high 3x, in the actual game, I’m about to hit lvl40 (like 30% left to go).

@ iluvchocs: Yes, indeed ‘antihero’ is a spiffy word. I actually first heard it referring to Wario a few years back, he’s an akward hero and rival of Mario, for those of you who don’t know him.
link
Also, spiffy that you know Des in real life. *lol* I bet there’s lots of pestering happening then.

@ Ezyan: Yeah, I’m a big fan of the Kalis because in most videogames I’m the sniper. I like precision, and the high damage that come with a good shot. The Kalis SS is widely hated by a large number of people in Gunbound because it takes this to the EXTREME, and being just one pixel off can knock it down 200 damage. But, when you hit exactly, 800+ damage ahoy. I don’t approve of DT’ing, but I do it sometimes when it’s necessary to survive (mainly in 2v2 when we wanna get a specific teammate low so we can same time kill him and his partner later.). In that one match however, they had no choice but to DT me, because my teammate died right away, and it was Tag mode, so he couldn’t come back.
Additionally, your other questions, I spell the name “Erik” in this story, it’s also spelled Eric, but that’s a completely separate name. And finally, my GB name is DaMunky89.

And, last but most certainly not least, here’s chapter nine!

—
Cross peeked around the corner of the door again. Then pulled back hurriedly as Len looked sharply in their direction. The short, green haired fairy squinted at the doorway and leaned on the counter. He stumbled into Leul, also by the door, and then landed in a tangled heap on the moss pathway.
“I think she saw you.” Leul said.
“No way, she didn’t see me!” the thief protested.
“No, she definitely saw you. I know it.” the cleric insisted. “Listen, are you going in there or not? We can’t just hang around here till the fairies wonder what we’re up to.”
“Okay, okay I’m going in!” he said, and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Rushing inside CrossSlash crept quietly across the room, and vaulted over the counter, landing softly by the shopkeeper, Len. Picking up a lemon from the shelf in back, he tossed it across the room to land with a ‘wump!’ on the other side of the room. The silkily garbed fairy gave a start, then drifted off across the room to retrieve it. Chuckling softly, Cross opened the cabinet under the counter and began shoving handfuls of mesos into his wallet pouch.

—
Walking along the cleared path among the dense trees and brambles, the hunter unslung a Vaulter from his back to mow down a handful of slimes, two stumps, and a snail. More unfortunate casualties among the monsters –they just didn’t know how to stay out of peoples’ way!
“Ellinia should be somewhere around here…” he thought, “ah!” The fairy town became visible between the trees as he rounded another bend. “Now.. she said she’d be returning from Ossyria soon, so I suppose I should head to the station.”

—
Riella walked off the massive airship onto the platform in Ellinia, right into the arms of a waiting archer. She looked up surprised.
“Oh, Kytin!” she exclaimed happily, “I didn’t expect you to get here to quickly! Where have you been?” Hugging her once to step back, he answered nonchalantly;
“Dungeon mostly, evil eyes are on the advance again. What’s all this talk of DarkStriders?”
“Oh, nothing too important darling, a friend of mine is in a spot of trouble, and we need to rob the DarkStriders to get him out of it.” she laughed, making little of the situation.
“Uh. Yeah… I guess I’m in then.” he said, rolling his eyes. Riella had gotten the two of them into these ‘not to important but still significantly life threatening’ situations before, and he was used to it by now.
“Hang on a second, I need to call somebody.” she said, punching a name into her communicator. “Hey, CrossSlash? You there Cross?” she waited a moment, but persisted. “CrooooossssSlassssh…. Wake up Cross!”

—
Cross froze, one hand in a pile of mesos, and the other holding open his wallet pouch, as his comm crackled to life in his pocket.
“Hey, CrossSlash? You there Cross?”
“Flaming Bains not now!” he thought angrily, dropping everything with a clink of coin to stick a hand in his pocket and muffle the communicator. Fumbling it out, he hastily muted the call and stuffed the device in his knapsack. The clerk was coming back across the room now to investigate, and the thief hastily scooped the rest of the mesos he needed into his wallet. “Time to go.” he thought worriedly, and jumped over the counter to dart out the door. Reappearing in a puff of smoke to grab Leul’s hand and run off down the wide and mossy path, the startled cleric protested, demanding to know what’d transpired.

“I got the mesos okay! Riella almost got me busted though!” he growled angrily, pulling the comm back out of his bag. “Riella! How am I supposed to steal funding with you making noise! I was trying to be SNEAKY!”
“Oh, hey Cross, there you are.” she said over the channel, a tinge of laughter in her voice. “The scrollmaker’s prices were that high eh? Good job getting the mesos, why don’t you get back here to Ellinia station, I’ve got somebody you should meet.”
“Alright, agreed, I should introduce you to Leul as well.” he said, glancing at the cleric.
“We’ll be there in just a second.”

Walking under the high “Sixtopia!” arch to Ellinia’s air docks, Cross and Leul met Riella and Kytin by the boarding platform.
“Alright, Cross, Cross’ friend, this is Kytin. He’s a hunter; I’ve known him like, forever.”
“Cool,” Cross said, shaking hands with the man, “Leul, this is Riella and Kytin, I guess. Kytin, Riella, meet Leul. She’s one of the clerics who helped fight King Slime.” When the group had finished their introductions and gotten thoroughly acquainted, Cross got them moving in the necessary direction.
“Riella, you got those scrolls? Good! Let’s get back to that stingy El Moth guy!”

—
“Almost there! Go Kal!” Blast warbled happily, standing up in the mobile’s saddle as they bounced and rumbled down the great grass slope to Londe Metropolis. Suddenly, the grass ended, and Blast was thrown forward into the Kalisddon’s turret as he came to an abrupt stop. “Oof. What was that for?”
“We made it,” said Lift, “this is it!” And indeed, the Kalis had hit a cement curb, and far to the left and right stretched out a giant cement flat upon which the city stood.
“Okay, where can I find this astronomer, Lift?” Blast inquired, hopping off the Kalisddon and stepping up onto the pavement.
“Well, uh…” Lift said, looking off to the huge city ahead of them, sky split by the peaks of tall buildings, and air crowded with hovercraft. “…perhaps I should just show you.”

“What do you mean I can’t come in!?” Blast shouted at the officer blocking the doors to the huge office building to which Lift had brought him. “I NEED to see the astronomer!”
“I’m sorry son,” the man said gruffly, “but this is an institute of science, and I cannot grant access to just any ruffian off the street. Go get yourself cleaned up and into some nicer clothes, and then maybe I’ll consider it.”
“Ugh, okay.” Blast said, glancing down at his shredded starlight. “I’m not exactly a contender for Londe’s best dressed right now. Lift!” He said, turning to the device, “can you show me where to get some clothes around here?”
“Yes indeed, I know plenty of places where you can get some top notch avis!”
“Avis?” Blast said, “Is this another Gunbound street slang?”
“Well, in a way,” Lift said, “Avis are weapons and armors used by Gunbound jockeys…”
it said, chortling happily and explaining the fine aspects of Gunbound gear to the otherwise inattentive magician.

“Gunbound Supply: Street Gear and Avis” Blast read from the flashing sign as they walked into the store. “Seems like the place to go, good call Lift.” He walked up to the counter and rang the service bell as his Lift and Kal waited close by. The shopkeeper arrived, a round woman in her mid thirties, it appeared, to inquire;
“Gunbound Supply, how may I help you?”
“Uh, I need some.. avis.. I guess, and,” he tugged at his pocket, realizing it was empty finished, “I have no money whatsoever.” He said frowning.
“Well,” she said kindly, “we’ll see what we can do, won’t we?” and walked through an ‘Employee’s Only!’ door behind the desk, appearing again shortly thereafter with a clipboard and a small device resembling the comms they had back home. “First off, are you a registered Gunbound pilot?” He shook his head. “Okay, no problem, just register now and write your information down here for me.” she said, handing him the clipboard and the pda.
“Uh.. okay. Name, age, mother’s maiden name, check. Mobile…” he smiled and looked at Kal briefly. “Alright, is that all?” He said, handing the clipboard back to the woman.
“Just about, you’ll need one of these too, if you just registered.” She said, stooping down to grab something from under the counter, then handing him a shiny new comm over the counter. “You can take anything you want from the store, 50% of the gold you earn in battle will be automatically credited to Gunbound Gear until you pay it off.” She said, and smiled. “Good luck on the field sweetie.”
“Cool!” Blast said, poking at his new comm as he, Lift, and Kal walked farther off into the store. “I think I can communicate with my friends on Broa with this!”

—
Riella, paused when her comm buzzed.
“Go ahead guys, I’ll just answer this call quick.” she said, waving them on down the path.
“BlastMage89 has just logged on.” it said in red at the bottom of her comm’s nav screen.
“BlastMage?” she said, punching up her buddy list hurriedly, “but how?” She sent him a chat invite and waited eagerly, following the others blindly, focusing entirely on the communicator.

—
“Yes! There’s Riella now!” Blast said, hitting a button to accept the chat invite. Kal and Lift gathered in closer to listen as well.
“My god, Blast are you okay!” the worried warrior’s voice came in loudly. Cackling to himself and the mechs on either side of him, the mischievous Blast couldn’t resist.
“AACH!” he screamed into the mic, “what is tha- NO! Anything but that! NOOO!” he screamed again, cutting off the message and falling on the floor laughing manically.
“That wasn’t very nice.” Lift observed with one glowing eye, as the magician rolled on the floor cackling ceaselessly and struggling to breathe. Another shopper hurried out of the aisle, looking a tad frightened, when another chat invite popped up.
“Okay, okay, I’ll let her off the hook.” Blast said, laughing, and pulled himself into a sitting position against a nearby rack of shirts.
“BLASTMAGE! Do you hear me?!” Riella shouted immediately when he entered the chat.
“Yeah, yeah, Riella. Just messing with you. I’m fine! You’re not going to believe the things that have been happen-”
“YOU HAD US ALL WORRIED SICK! What’s WRONG with you! ARGH.” she growled, “Where are you now anyway.” he said, a tad more calmly.
“Well, this planet is called Londe, I was going to go see an astronomer to figure out where it is in relation to Broa, but the guard wouldn’t let me in looking like a beat up street urchin. I’m shopping for new clothes now, my old ones got shredded.”
“Your new ones’ll get shredded too if you pull any more stunts!” Riella growled, her chat icon brandishing a red whip. “Just wait till I get my hands on you I’ll-” her rave was cut off when Cross appeared onscreen as well.

“Hey buddy! You survived! That’s good news, we’re working on getting you back as well!” a voice could be heard faintly in the background, murmuring something along the lines of ‘Forty thousand and that’s final!’. “Listen,” Cross said, “We’re a little busy now, but you take care, we’ll get you back soon enough! Okay buddy?”
“Yeah,” Blast responded, “alright you nut. Good luck with that, I’ll do what I can on my end.”

Standing up, still laughing to himself occasionally, Blast picked out a couple of cheap equipments that he thought looked good, then hustled into the changing room. Coming back out all spiffed up, he turned around for Kal and Lift to see.
“Well? What’d you guys think?” Blast asked.
“Oh, I like it, it’s stylin’!” the Kalisddon agreed.
“Yes indeed, you look sharp.” Lift said mechanically. The outfit consisted of a pressed white undershirt, soft (and thus comfortable) grey slacks, a high collared blue coat, and fingerless red gloves, which he particularly favored.
“Yep, and it’s a set, so I can buy it all in one shot for cheap.” Blast explained as they walked out of the avi shop, “I like it enough. NOW let’s see if they’ll let me in that building!”

—
Meanwhile, far away on the planet of Broa, the sun set early on the cold winter peaks of El Nath. Cold and dark now, a man could be heard laughing manically in the frozen forest below.
“So,” Shard said, cutting off sharply to cough bitterly, “the boss sent you lot, eh?” he laughed again, mirthlessly, and pulled heavy armored shoulder pads off his shadow set, letting them fall to the ground with a heavy ‘thunk’. “He doesn’t honestly believe you fools can kill me, does he?” one of the assassins sneered, shifting from foot to foot, “You guys… I think you guys are the appetizer.” He laughed, pulling the rest of his green shadow off over his head, and dropping it by his feet as well. Flipping the dagger over his head he caught the Bazlud neatly in his other hand and hefted it easily.
“Well, shall we get started then?”

Both assassins disappeared in a simultaneous flash of light, leaving Shard to glance warily around himself. Closing his eyes, he instead listened to the forest. The silent forest, silent except… THERE! Kicking forward as Cerusk appeared in front of him, he knocked the man over in the snow, and then whirled around to cross blade with claw and block Achoss who appeared behind to stab him in the back. A star dropped from the assassin’s claw, into his free hand, but as he made to stab Shard with it, the man grabbed him by the wrist and intead flung him past into Cerusk, who had just gotten up again.
“Aach, watch it!” the other assassin said, dislodging the star from his upper torso, and they both turned to see that Shard had disappeared instead. “Great, now you lost him.” There was laughter in the night again, circling them, coming from everywhere and nowhere at all. The assassins hastily stood back to back and loaded stars, squinting into the darkness and trying to track the sound of the laughter.

“Look up.” said Shard’s rasping dagger voice, and the man laughed as he dropped down on the two from a tree branch above. Achoss shouted as the bandit landed on his shoulders, slicing him sharply across the back of the neck with that wicked dagger, and then spring boarding off of him to pounce on Cerusk, who was backing away –trying to get a good shot at Shard without putting a star in his brother’s head. Both men hit the ground hard, and Shard’s dagger came down on the pinned assassin before he could think to get out of the way. The man grunted again, stabbed several times in the chest, and barely got his claw in the way before the knife reached his heart. Fumbling a scroll from his side pocket, the man struggled, unable to pull it open with one hand. A bead of sweat ran down his head, his throwing arm shook as he held the dagger away from him, shaking the scroll frantically. The bandit on top of him laughed again, knocking the scroll out of the man’s hands, and drawing back to stab him –in the throat this time, when he suddenly slumped forward, hit in the back by two stars.
“ARR!” he shouted, “Cheap shot Achoss!” and twisted an arm around behind him to yank out the pointed objects, standing to turn and face them as Cerusk scrambled to his feet, to stand bleeding beside his brother. They both had stars in hand with a flick of the wrists.

Shard dodged left, then right, the stars flew harmlessly past him, and then lunged forward, punching Achoss in the neck, leaving the man staggering and coughing, turning to trip the retreating Cerusk, and kicking the man onto his back to step on his throwing arm and hold him there. The assassin made to stab him with a star in the other hand, but the bandit kicked it away, laughing.
“No, no, no. Cerusk.” he chortled, spinning the Bazlud over the backs of his fingers, then whipping his arm up, threw it violently down at the man. Cerusk sputtered once, coughing up blood, and Shard stepped back away from him… laughing softly.

Achoss was back on his feet to see his brother stabbed through the neck, the lunatic standing over him chuckling. He raised his claw and approached from behind, grinding his teeth. Bringing the sharp claw spikes down on Shard’s bare back, he was surprised when the man whipped around to catch his hand again, throwing him across his dead brother. “Appetizers. Remember Achoss?”
“I’m not done with you by a long shot Shard.” the assassin growled, venom in his tone. “Until we meet again.” and Shard saw too late the return scroll in his hands… the two of them disappearing, to leave him alone in the woods, laughing madly again. Stooping to pluck his dagger from the puddle of blood, the middle of which it was stabbed into, he glanced over the clearing to spot a piece of curled parchment in the snow a few steps away. Walking over to the return scroll, Shard chuckled again.
“Now, what do we have here?”