-=The Red and Blue Marbles Awaken=-

Not long after everyone had borded, the Southperry ship was on it’s way, calmly surfing through the light ocean waves. The water and the sky were at their bluest, as the day itself was calm and friendly. A sparse amount of clouds dotted the sky, and the bright sun glowed warmly over the world.

Any adventures who didn’t instantly get seasick were clustered about in groups, sharing stories of their time on Maple Island, as well as the great feats they would perform upon reaching their destination, Victoria Island. Many even talked about job advancements, including one pair of adventurers that had met not long before climbing aboard the ship.

“So, let me get this straight,” Shadow Viper said, thinking hard after a job discussion with Lance. “Upon reaching the island, new adventurers travel to one of four destinations and speak to the job masters there, provided they have trained themselves in certain areas enough. The areas adventurers choose to focus on come from four attributes: strength, dexterity, intelligence, and luck. The four jobs are warriors, bowmen, magicians, and thieves.”

“Yep, yep, and yep,” Lance said with a smile, agreeing on all three points made. “However, the job titles you listed are the collective titles. The titles for the first advancements are swordsman, archer, spellcaster, and rogue.”

“First advancement?” Shadow inquired. “So that means there is more than one advancement?”

“That’s right,” Lance acknowledged. “It’s common knowledge nowadays. It’s good for adventurers to know, since it encourages them to keep getting stronger. When I heard about it, it only drove me further into this life.”

“Interesting,” Shadow replied, gazing out into the ocean. *Well, one thing’s for certain-I can certainly become stronger than I already am,* he thought, taking a mental note.

As they discussed, Lance took a moment to size up Shadow. “Judging from your appearance, and your weapon of choice,” he said, “you’d do well as a rogue. That job is available at a place called Kerning City.”

The name of the city triggered something in Shadow’s mind. An image of a dream he once had, the one in which Yuka pointed to a city in the distance, flashed in his mind.

“At that city,” Lance continued, “you get the job advancement from-“

“Dark Lord,” Shadow interjected suddenly, snapping his attention to Lance. For some reason, it came to the bandit’s mind that Kerning City wasn’t just a location on Victoria Island, but rather the next stop on his quest.

Lance gave a look of suprise. “…That’s…that’s correct,” he managed to say among disbelief. “How did you know that? Are you sure you aren’t from around here?”

“Absolutely,” Shadow answered. “I have no idea where this Kerning City is, but I’ve heard about the Dark Lord. Actually, I saw him in a dream once. Ever since then, I’ve just known that he is the one I should see.”

Confusion and curiosity didn’t leave Lance. “That’s amazing,” he said. “Still, how could you, someone from a different realm, know to see Dark Lord for your job advancement?”

Shadow knelt down in front of the 16-year old. “Lance, let me ask you something,” he began calmly. “Do you believe in something called destiny?”

Lance had never given thought to destiny before. He was at a loss of words for a moment as he searched his mind for a reply. Just as he was about to give one, a female voice yelled out his name. “Lance!”

Lance looked past Shadow to find a redhead girl about his age with mahogany eyes. She wore a white t-shirt, brown khaki shorts, and sandals. She held a sword in her right hand. She waved at him with a bright smile. “Lance, it’s me!” she exclaimed.

“Holy cow, it’s Skye!” Lance shouted with happiness. “Sorry, Shadow, can you give me, say, ten minutes?”

Shadow nodded, and Lance ran over to Skye. As the bandit watched the two adventurers embrace, he suddenly saw a blue light shining out of the corner of his eye. “What the-” he began to say as he searched for the source. Eventually, it came to him that the light was coming from him. Frantically, he dug around in his uniform, quickly feeling something round in his jacket pocket. He pulled the round thing out.

Shadow’s eyes widened as he beheld a glowing blue marble. He didn’t remember being given this object before his journey. Questions began flooding his mind. “Where did this thing come from?” he asked aloud. “And how is it glowing?”

“It came from the masters, and I don’t know.”

Shadow glanced around to see if anyone was speaking, but no one was. Suddenly, the marble seemed to suddenly morph into a miniature flame. He panicked at first, but soon relaxed when the flame wasn’t harming him in any way. As he marveled at the flame, he could suddenly see a figure “in” it. He looked closer to find…

“Lord Scorpion!” Shadow exclaimed with suprise. “How…how did you…what are you…” Shadow couldn’t find the words to complete his question as he saw the image of Lord Scorpion sitting on a wooden floor, holding and looking at a small red flame of his own. Eventually, Shadow finally settled on a question: “What’s going on here?”

“It’s a lot to explain, so I’ll get to the point,” Scorpion began to explain. “Apparently, I’ve been charged by the elders in keeping track of your progress. They gave me a red orb and you a blue orb to do this.”

Shadow thought about it for a moment. “I guess I can see why,” he finally said. “It is good to have a way to make sure I’m alright. I imagine Ryu had something similar as well.”

“Actually, Ryu didn’t have this sort of communication with him,” Scorpion clarified. “I don’t know why. Maybe the elders just had more faith in him.”

Shadow nodded at that. Ryu was the best ninja bandit of the village at the time. “Maybe they want a way to provide some sort of assistance so that I don’t share Ryu’s fate. One thing about it, even a little knowledge goes a long way.”

“Good point,” Scorpion agreed. “In any case, how are you doing?”

“Very well,” Shadow answered happily. “I made my way through my first destination, which was Maple Island. After a little training from an instructor, I managed to make a new friend and find a boat to get to my next destination, Victoria Island. Once there, I must go to a place called Kerning City and meet the Dark Lord. Not the evil one, mind you, rather the good one.”

“Great to hear!” Scorpion said happily. “Sounds like you’ve made quite the progress. You’ll have to give me the longer version, though, like who was the friend you made, and-“

Shadow waved Scorpion’s question off. “Another time, friend,” he said, looking over at Lance and Skye. “I’m actually a little busy at the moment; you might say I’m about to make another new friend.”

“Another, eh?” Scorpion replied. “Wow, sounds like you’re getting used to the place. Well, I understand. I wasn’t sure if I’d catch you at a bad time before I even tried contacting you. In any case, I’ll inform the elders about this. For now, take it easy. Hope to hear from you again!”

“To you as well, Scorpion,” Shadow said with a nod. He watched as the figure of Scorpion lowered his hand, and the flame morphed back into the marble. As soon as it did, Scorpion disappeared, then Shadow’s flame also returned to it’s original marble form.

The timing couldn’t have been better; Shadow pocketed the orb just as Lance and Skye were headed towards him. *I doubt I can trust them with this sort of thing yet,* he thought.

“Hey Shadow!” Lance called out. “I’d like you to meet someone. This is Skye, my girlfriend. She’s looking to be an archer when we get to Victoria Island. She and I are both from there, by the way; I’m from the town of Perion, where warriors are trained, and she is from Henesys, where archers are trained.”

*Henesys and Perion,* Shadow thought, making a mental note. *I’ll have to keep those in mind.* Afterwards, he smiled and offered a handshake to Skye. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said in greeting.

“Thanks, same to you,” Skye replied, accepting the handshake. “Lance has told me a lot about you. You sound like quite the adventurer!”

“You could say that,” Shadow said in return with a chuckle. The bandit was as suprised as Scorpion was. Never since Yuka and Ryo had he made friends so quickly. It was something he wasn’t so easily used to, since he had spent the majority of his life training.

At that moment, Lance suddenly dashed over to the side of the ship and looked out with awe. “Guys! Check it out!” he exclaimed, motioning out to the horizon. Shadow and Skye followed his gaze to find an island in the distance. The island looked somewhat moderate in size from where the ship was, but Shadow had a feeling the island was actually a huge place.

“What is that?” Shadow asked, his eyes widening at the sight.

Skye giggled as she looked up at the bandit. “That is Victoria Island,” she answered.

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Two chapters in two days! A new record! What can I say, I was rather bored. Plus, why not make up for lost time? Hope you enjoy it!

As usual, here are your Mountain Dews.^_^

Previous Installments:
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