Monster Hunt: Flashy Force

Finally arriving at Akane Beach, Lars O'Ryenne took a seat down by a palm tree, facing the breezy ocean and enjoying the beautiful clear sky after a long voyage on horseback from Joya to Fiore. As Lars sat down, he said the word "Requip" as a water bottle materialized in his hand. He took a sip, gave a hearty sigh and mumbled "I seriously cannot believe that a client in Fiore would request the help of a wizard living three countries away just to hunt a monster. Well, if the monster is what i think it is, then this trip will be worth it for me." He heard a soft "neigh" coming from his trusty steed, Karen. Looking up, he smiled as he got right back up on his feet and put his water bottle close to the glossy blue horse's mouth. "Drink up, girl. You earned it. I wouldn't have made it here without you, ya know?"

The glowing blue mare gulped down the water as Lars fed it to her. After that, Karen began to rub her head against lars as a way of showing affection. Lars hugged Karen saying "You should take a rest now. you have been running for a long time." Lars sat down once again, using his requip magic to summon another water bottle. As lars began to take a sip, Karen had begun to lay on her side; her limbs resting parallel to one another. Her mouth had made her look as if she was giving this gigantic smile of relief. Lars was initially staring out to the ocean, soaking in as much of the beautiful scenery as he possibly can. Doing so, he took another sip of water, and then glanced over at Karen. Suddenly, laughter arose from Lars's stomach as he abruptly hunched foward, spitting out the watter he was attempting to gulp down. Lars began to laugh in such a way that indicated that he was trying his absolute hardest to hold it in. The laughs were made under his breath. He attempted to stop laughing at the awkard position his steed was sleeping in, but Lars laughter rose once again. It arose in the same way that water would arise form a geyser, making his voice and laughter much mroe audible than before. This time, Lars' expression was locked on his face as he could not subdue the gigantic smile which was letting loose the laughter he was attempting to suppress. Karen opened her left eye, glaring at an oblivious Lars. Suddenly, a small bolt of lightning struck his hand, bursing the watter bottle and splashing heated water in his face. "Ow!!!!" Lars said as he frantically rubbed his face and body to swipe off the now warm water.

"Hehe... i guess i deserved that." Lars said with a chuckle. "But hey, you know i couldnt help but laugh! You have to admit that your smile was funny."

Following that statement, a telepathic voice filled Lars' head saying "Since when did you start having a sense of humour?"

Lars looked over at Karen and said "Well, to be honest, i have been trying to lighten up lately. I am starting to think that my friends at the guild may be right; I can't just be serious all the time. I think it really might be bad for me."

"You think?" Karen said sarcastically.

Lars cocked his head to the side with a slick smile saying "Well i would like to think so, but of course it is hard to do so when I have my horse zapping me every time i try to lighten up a little."

Karen closed her eyes once again, looking as if she is has the intent to fall asleep. "listen, i'm just a little cranky. I have been carrying you around nonstop for the past few days. Knowing you, im sure you understand that."

Lars looked away from Karen and out at the ocean once again. "Yeah, that's why i admitted that i deserved to get zapped. I just hope you know that i didn't mean to come across the wrong way."

"I know. But in any case, can you please wake me up in like, 20 minutes?" Karen asked. Lars scooched his butt away from the tree so that he could lay his while body on the floor. Looking up at the clear sky, lars said "20 Minutes? Come on now. You deserve more rest than that." He then turned his head to look at Karen. "Take as much time as you need. Besides, i am certainly in no rush. This view is remarkable; something i never get to enjoy back at home." Looking at Karen, it was clear that she had begun drifting off to sleep as lars was speaking. Looking back at the sky, Lars said "You and I are going to need it. We have a lot of work ahead of us to do."

A voice could be heard in a nearby forest, "Ahh... Damn it!! Am I lost again?!" said a man dressed with a green samurai coat, carrying three swords. "HAHA!! OF COURSE NOT!! HOW CAN I BE LOST!?!" he shouted out loud, denying the fact that he's lost. After 5 more minutes of walking, he realized "Wait... That tree looks familiar.." He had been walking in circles the whole time. The man took a great look around his surroundings and finally noticed a light! Excited he ran toward it, thinking that was his way out. By the time he reached the light, he realized that he ran off a seaside cliff and fell unto the water.

Lars continued to lay down underneath the protective shade of the palm tree. Though his consciousness was beginning to slip away form him, a distant, yet clearly audible scream had pulled his consciousness back into Lars' control. Lars' peacefully shut eyelids had sprung open, revealing now restless eyes darting around his entire surrounding, looking for the source of this mysterious scream. Lars' entire body then followed suit as he sprung to his feet like a military recruit responding to Reveille. Before darting off to search for the source of this strange scream, Lars had looked to Karen, whispering to her "did you hear that?" Lars was only met with light snoring; It was clear that Karen was sound asleep at this point, so Lars shook his head and rushed to the shore from where the sound was perceived to be coming.

The man, who fell off the cliff, is now underwater. ''God dammit.. I can't swim with all of this equipments.. Ah! Maybe..'' He thought of an idea. Unsheathing his swords slowly, he tries to make an attempt to spin around, and slowly water flows around him and makes the air to shoot himself out of the water like a torpedo with the saying "Flash Sword Style!!" He landed on the shore, his coat all soaked, drops of water on his face.

Lars's frantic search for the source of the sound had led him to the shore of the beach, but his search might as well have ended after seeing an unnaturally large vortex of water percolate from the surface of the ocean 40 meters away to his left. Out of the vortex of water, Lars saw a shadow shoot out from the center of the vortex and onto the beach. Looking at the shadow, it was made clear to Lars that the shadow was indeed a person. Resisting the urge to watch the vortex of water die down, Lars immediately sprinted towards where the shadow was on the beach. As Lars huffed and puffed, he loudly shouted "Hey!" to call the attention of the person who seemed to have washed up on the shore. "Are you alright!?" He asked.

The man turns toward Lars as he coughs out bits of water, when he was done, he replied nicely "Yeah, just cooling myself down." He lied. He stood up and shakes himself dry, doesn't care if the water hits Lars or not. Finally, he picked up his swords, which came loose of his grip when he was shot out of the vortex. "So.. Who are you and what are you doing here anyway?"

Lars attempted in vain to shield himself from the water by covering his face with his arm. "Sheesh, no matter how hard I try to stay dry, I seem to end up having water splashed in my face." Lars thought to himself. Luckily, Lars was wearing his Superconductor Armor which meant that he did not have much clothing to get wet. Brushing off the water that splashed on his bare chest, Lars smirked, "Haha! You're funny! A mysterious swordsman spewing from a mysterious watery vortex rising from the ocean washes up on the shore and asks me 'what are you doing here anyway.'" Lars begins to laugh for a few seconds, but then he quickly attempts to suppress it. "Heheh... Well, to be honest I was gonna ask you that question first, but since you beat me to the punch, I might as well introduce myself first. My name is Lars O'Ryenne. I am a wizard from the Orion's Belt Guild and I am here on a job to investigate and hopefully take down a monster that has been driving away business from Akane Resort." Lars said politely.

"Now that I introduced myself, who are you? Furthermore, what are you doing here; washing up on a beach like this? And don't say you were just cooling off. What you did there seemed to be a little too dramatic to just be cooling off." Lars asked jokingly.

The man looked at Lars for a moment, then closes his eyes and sighs. "Well, my name is Dex D. Draco. I'm an S-Class Mage of the guild Purple Phoenix and I was on my way back from a job quest." He said as he point to himself with his thumb then he scratches the back of his head. "Apparently, I got los-- I mean, I thought of a shortcut.. Heheh."

When Dex had answered Lars' question, Lars had caught Dex correcting himself mid sentence. This raised suspicion in his mind, but Lars had decided to dismiss it. He attempted to hide his sarcasm once more, but as he spoke, one could sense sarcasm subtly leaking out of his words. "Well, where is it you are going that is so important that you had to 'take a shortcut?'" Lars asked, alluding to the fact that he knew that Dex was obviously lost.

Dex raised his voice. "Didn't you hear me?! I said I was going back to my guild from a job quest!" After a moment of silence, he calmed himself down. "Geez, all I did is get lost-- I mean took a shortcut." He lied again, denying the fact that he has no sense of direction.

Lars was a little shocked to hear Dex raised his voice. In response, Lars got defensive, raising his voice enough that he would come across stern. "Sheesh, man, calm down. No need to fret." Lars replied. Lars took a good look at Dex's face as he had attempted to calm down in hopes that Dex would do the same. Crossing his arm and cracking a warm smile, he said "I know that face all too well; the face of a man who has trouble finding his way to his destination." Lars then looked Dex straight in the eye with a serious look on his face. "Now, before you accuse me of judging you, understand that i am saying that from the perspective of a man who has worked with many a lost person. Now, am i right?"

Sighed, Dex admitted that he is lost, for the first time. "Alright. You got me, I am lost. But while I'm here, maybe I could help you with this monster that you will hopefully take down." Dex pulled out his swords out of his red sash and sat down on a rock not too large and not too small.

Lars smiled and said nothing. He walked toward the rock that Dex was sitting on and took a seat on the sand next to the rock which had been covered in decaying palm leaves and dried, washed up seaweed. Lars began stretching as he replied "Aaaaaaah....! You know, you are definitely one interesting fellow. To be honest, I don't really need the help. I mean, haivng some help would definitely make the job easier... and i am certianly not trying to say 'no' but i don't want to put any extra strain on you, man. This monster i a pain to kill, after all. You seem like a nice person, and i don't want to put you through any more aggrivation."

Dex glanced up with his arms crossed, then he spoke nicely but in a concerned voice. "No, I'll go with you. I like a good challenge, after all, I am a skilled swordman. What could go wrong?" He looked back at Lars and grin while he gets up again.

Lars stood still with his butt planted firmly into the sand, crossing his legs indian-style and his hands brought foward, hunching his back. looking up at Dex, he said "Anything can go wrong, my friend. Anything. You can be a skilled swordsman, an experienced hunter like me, or even a wizard saint; always remember that a hunt won't always end the way you want it to unless you play your cards right from start-to-finish." Getting back up on his feet, Lars proceeded to walk towards Dex. "of course, that doesn't change the fact that we can definitely get this job done." he said with a smile. "Let's wait a few minutes though. My Eliquestreon needs more rest after carrying me across three different countries on her back."

To buy time, Dex pulls out a chair out of his pocket and lay down on it to take a quick nap. While he was snoring, a bubble that grows and shrinks can be seen connected to his nose. Both of his hands behind his back, acting like a pillow for his head.

Lars stood silent with a blank stare directed towards Dex. Confusion took over as he could not comprehend the location form whihc the chair was pulled out. "Requip magic?" lars thought. "No... it can't be.... i didn't sense any magical signature coming from him." As lars attempted to pin logic to what he had just saw, his brain might as well had been shriveling. The sight confused Lars so much to the point where he got on his butt with hsis hand clasping his head, attempting to pull out hair where there wasn't much har to Pull. Closing his eyes, Lars thought "AAAUGH! I am losing brain cells just by thinking about this!" Lars threw himself back, not realizing that Karen was peacefully asleep behind him.

"Why does the sand feel....." Lars hesitated, comign to the realization that he had thrown himself on karen and woken her up. With a petrified look in his eye, he slowly turned his head towards Karen until he met a now irritated Karen's glare. "....staticy....." he said right before Karen had gotten up and started kicking sand in his face. "H-HEY!!!" Lars shouted loudly with sand filling his mouth