Forming the Links[]
Takeshi Kaneko and Ash Davies stood conversing in front of the job board at the Libertus guild. The two had become rather close during their time spent together at the guild and during the war; some would say they acted more like brothers more than anything. They both stood in front of this paper filled corkboard in order to find a job worthwhile to cure their boredom at the sudden drop in excitement during this post-war peace. The task directed conversation was interrupted only by jokes, often at the expense of one another, poking fun with silly quips. Yet from the dialogue that followed it was clear that no offence had been taken, quite the contrary. They enjoyed the banter, the witty and not-so-witty put-downs. They teased and jibbed one moment and discussed team strategy the next, taking one another seriously and giving well thought out responses. This continued for a few minutes as their eyes mindless browsed over the words plastered up before them until something caught Takeshi's attention.
"Hey Ash, check this one out." Takeshi says as he points to a post that asked for help in ridding the town of thugs who had claimed to take it as their own. It was one word that caught the black haired mage's attention though, "The man says these thugs are from Aeternum... you think a few of them still fighting the war despite their loss? They probably aren't one of those Elementals we had to face if they only took over this small town, right?" He asked, conveying his interest in the jobs premise as they both shared a brief history with the members of the mentioned continent.
"I guess so. To be honest, I'm not surprised. Just because their leaders were defeated doesn't necessarily mean they have to give up, and may even have encouraged them - for vengeance, you know. And even one of those Elemental monsters would be able to take over an average village. It's safe to say that none of them will be there." Ash commented logically. He inspected the request paper - making note of every single detail, including the quality of the odder - and nodded sharply. Gauging the danger in job's like this one was difficult due to a lack of prior knowledge, but if he assumed the group of thugs was made up of ex-soldiers, it would not be a major issue. Swiftly grabbing a pen from his pocket, Ash scrawled 'TAKEN' across the request, and turned to Takeshi, beckoning to him. "Come on, let's go see where Sakky is. We kinda need to tell her about this" Looking around, Ash could not see their new teammate, even with the reddish hair that made her stand out from a crowd.
Sakura Xavier couldn't help but smile as her head was deep into a book. Her hair kept falling in front of her and she countied to filp it out the way and read furiously. She was on the last pages of her favourite book this year, reading her became her new obession after finding her own way around. The book ended in a clif-hanger making Sakura sour, she grabbed the book in rage and shoved it in her pink leather backpack that had the Libertus symbol on the lid of it. She was ready to go anywhere but a mission with her casual gear on, her armour in the Libertus dorms. She couldn't help to notice her two comrades, looking for something or someone and she realised it was most likely for her. She walked up to them and waved. "Sup?" she asked when she finally got close enough to them they could hear her, the guild was never a quiet place.
Becoming the leader of Rapio wasn't a easy task for Sakura, at first she didn't want it and wanted Takeshi to have it but she soon accepted the offer after a small debate on the matter. She wasn't the best of leader type material yet she was strong and she felt stronger around Ash and Takeshi. Looking at the two boys always gave her butterflies in her stomach, excited to see what they were up to even if it was rather boring, then again, nothing was boring to her with Ash and Takeshi. Sakura flicked her hair back once again before waving again. Even though she was kind and strong, she still didn't have many social skills.
“Ah, our fearless leader! Here, check this out.” Takeshi says with a smile as him and Ash walk up to greet Sakura. Handing the crumpled up paper that he ripped off the job board, he figured it would be easier to just show Sakura the job instead of trying to explain it all. He admired Sakura as their leader, knowing that the position was better suited for her than it would have every been for Takeshi; despite the assumption that it should be him, given his ranking in the guild. She kept things focused within their dynamic and was someone they could count on to keep their team active. Frankly, Takeshi wouldn’t even have the time to be a team leader even if he wanted to; what with his internship at Horizon, and the fact that he was shadowing his father to help one day take over their family company, Takeshi wouldn’t be able to handle the stress of being a leader. He would rather keep the guild as a fun place where he could relax and unwind, and go on adventures with his friends when he was able. And when Ash had suggested that she join the team as their leader, or rather he persisted, Takeshi wasn't going to say no; especially since his partner seemed rather taken by the women, and who was he to stop what he assumed was his friends romantic endeavors.
Giving Sakura a little background on why Ash and him wanted to take this job, Takeshi spoke up. “From the looks of it, these thugs are probably remnant soldiers from the war that we fought not too long ago. Probably Aeternum extremist who are hungry for retribution. And since Ash and I here have some experience dealing with these guys, we thought ‘Who better to take this job than us?’”
Noticing Sakura rise gracefully from her seat and put her book away, Ash nudged Takeshi. As their leader drew close, Ash had a sudden wave of dizziness - a feeling of intense nausea washing over him, as if he was drunk. The feeling lasted mere seconds, but by the time he had recovered, Takeshi had handed Sakura the slightly crumpled job request, and she had begun to inspect it. As she did so, Ash took notice of her in more detail, examining her causal attire from head to toe, and making notes of certain things, like the way she furrowed her brows when concentrating, or the piece of hair that feel into her face every ten seconds it so. Ash had had a soft spot for Sakura ever since she had joined the guild, and he had suggested to Takeshi that she became their leader. Shifting his gaze to Takeshi, Ash began to reminisce about the war between the Ishgarian Toveri Alliance and the kingdom of Aeternum. This war was the stage for Ash and Takeshi to meet, and their ferocious teamwork in the battle against the demonic ice queen lead to a strong friendship forming between them. As Ash finished his examination of his teammates, his eyes began to drift around the rest of the guild, from their fellow fighters in the war to people he had barely talked to in his entire tenure at the guild. The laughter, fun and joy oozing from every person in the room made Ash feel secure and happy. Moments later, Sakura looked up from the job request and smiled brightly, teeth like marble columns shining out from between perfectly sculpted lips.
Sakura looked at the piece of paper given to her, a job. Butterflies filled her stomach at the thought of doing a job, the team had been rather idle at the moment due to the war but the thought of just relaxing and being able to do a simple job would be fun and something to keep her mind off from the other things that kept buzzing into her mind. Defeating some thugs would be easy but since they were Aeternum thugs they might not be easy but Sakura was not worried, not when she knew that she had very skilled team mates. "Alright then, this sounds pretty good and the pay is good amount, you already put down it was taken?" Sakura asked, holding onto the piece of paper and smiled at her team. "Just give me a second to get changed then we can go!" with this the team got ready to depart.
Takeshi smiles widely at her easy acceptance of the job, taking a seat as the two boys wait in the guild hall for the leader to return. Takeshi looks up to Ash, "So you think we should probably take the train to the city, right? Would probably be the fastest way. I'm curious to see what we find there..." Takeshi said calmly, despite his rising frustration within him from the memories he called upon in the war, having faced the insanely powerful ice queen and being unable to do anything...This time we won't lose though... he thought as he looked toward his friend for his thoughts.
"Of course the train would be the fastest way. You didn't learn how to teleport while I was on the loo, did ya?" Ash queried, with a joking tone. Waving his hand, a phantom soldier appeared - formed from his Shade magic - and immediately broke apart into twelve dark mice, which began to run through the air, followed by trails of black smoke. They began to weave patterns in midair, forming words, symbols and other things. After a few seconds, the mice faded as Ash's concentration was strained. Controlling them individually and simultaneously was difficult, and he was still working on it. Ash looked back at the job request, seeing nothing they had missed, and began to get excited for the fight ahead.
Sakura came back as soon as she could, her golden armor shining on her. She walked back towards the group with a smile painted on her face, seeing the Shade Magic made her stop and shiver. Even if she seen it for a thousand times, the fact it seem creepy to her looped around her brain. She went towards Ash, coming behind him before whispering boo and waiting for a reaction. She wanted a small bit of fun, she knew the tension would be quite high due to the feeling that the Aeternum could even be alive. They had lost and she knew they had took it to heart with it. Since Sakura wasn't on the battle field she felt guilty and ensured that she would be able to make the team happy and worry free. After she got a reaction off Ash she asked about what he was doing with his Shade Magic. Sakura was curious at Ash's ability especially when some bullied him for weakness. Though that can't be possible, either that he wouldn't be placed on the front lines of a war!
Takeshi smiles at his two other teammates, thankful that the two try to keep things light, where as Takeshi has a habit of taking things too seriously at times. He walks over and places his hand on top of the shorter girl's head, "Now, now, we shouldn't be scaring Ash like that. The only ones we need to scare are those Aeternum mages who don't know that the strongest team in Libertus is coming for them!" He said with a slight laugh and clench of his fist. He takes a look at the time and motions for them to get going, as he walks briskly towards the door. "Come on, if we don't leave now, we will have to wait another hour for a train." Takeshi adjust the cuffs on his wrists, the only thing he needs to take with him during his travels, as it holds all his weapons and gadgets. This time I am going to show them what I'm really made of!
With a slight start, Ash turned to face Sakura. She was once again messing with him, as all his focus had been on the shadow-like rodents in front of him - he had always been an easy target. He quickly explained that he was practicing controlling multiple units simultaneously, before Takeshi began to speak. Smiling at Sak, Ash replied to Takeshi's comment, "Yeah, we definitely need to go. Tak, you're all ready to go, I'm ready to go, Sak is ready... Come on then!!". With an odd change in character, Ash readily agreed with Takeshi statement, and, removing the flow if magic power to them, watched as his dark mice faded away into a thin must, before dissipating entirely. Swivelling in place, he turned towards the door of the guild, and set off at a brisk pace, leaving the other two behind in his eagerness. The excitement rushing through his mind brought back memories of the war, fighting alongside some of the most powerful members off the guild, discovering teamwork with Takeshi. Other than the fact they lost their fight, the war had been a good experience for Ash.
As the team made their way to the train it dawned on Sakura that Takeshi was tense, he was more serious than the rest, for her a more fitting leader, and she didn't really enjoy it. "Hey, ease up Takeshi, you lost in the battle because we didn't have enough knowledge about her there is no need to worry, just some little bunch of soldiers, we don't even need to use any magic on them at this rate!" she knew she was being rather cocky, but she was worried for Takeshi. Out of everyone Takeshi and seemed to take the loss of the battle the hardest and Sakura worried that Takeshi blamed himself for the loss. She couldn't do much for him but even so Sakura tried as she reached for her members and gave them a hug. "We are the strongest team, if we don't win then the other guys have no chance! Everyone knows that!" Sakura said again, forcing herself to become jolly and laugh.
Takeshi let out a forced smile, trying to relax his body enough to pass as comfortable and confident in this mission. He glanced down at his right hand as he paid for the trio's train tickets, seeing the metallic reminder of his mistakes in that mission. It's not that he wasn't comfortable with his new prosthetic, in fact he only saw it as a motivator to get stronger, it was the fact that he wasn't even strong enough to land one hit on the woman that took his arm from him. He had always been confident in his abilities, always aspiring to be like his older brother, trying to be a role model to his friends and the others in the guild. But his confidence had been wavering as of late due to the incident during the war... But he put his faith in the idea that his teammates would help lift him from his funk; especially with who they were going up against. As the train boarded, Rapio took their place in the back of the train for what would be rather short ride. Turning to Ash and Sakura, Takeshi cleared his head and did his best to focus on the mission at hand, "So what's our plan of attack here guys? Go in with guns ablazin'??" He said with a laugh as he holds up his bionic arm to make a pseudo gun with his fingers, making *pew pew* noises as he "shot" around the train.
Looking out the window, Ash replied to Takeshi "Pretty much. I mean, that fits all our styles, doesn't it? With the variety of bases I alone cover, we are prepared for almost anything" This statement was quickly by a snort and a laugh, as he turned and saw his teammates ridiculous acting. The lack of tension between the three of them made times like this all the more enjoyable. Ash saw Takeshi's new arm and, as usual, became slightly jealous. Although Takeshi did not entirely agree, Ash saw the prosthetic as an opportunity for Takeshi's physical strength to become even greater, and make him an all the more formidable combatant.
Sakura sat down on the train and smiled at her team mates, even laughing at the gun sounds Takeshi was making. They team had quite quickly taken the mission witout much thought which could normally cause problems but that didn't bother anyone in the train, even so they were still lively. "Maybe the "Guns ablazin'" should be our back-up plan," Sakura said, still laughing a little, "wish we knew morea bout this mission or the location itself so we could formaulate a better plan!" Sakura pondered to her team mates again, getting more serious than she was a few minutes ago. She knew she needed to be serious at times after all, these were people lives, not some toy. One mistake could harm someone and she wouldn't forgive herself.
Takeshi nods his head in agreement, thinking of his first statement as merely a joke to ease the tension. "Perhaps when we get there we can do some reconnaissance to get a better lay of the land and figure out potential places where these rebels are hiding out at. Then we can devise a suitable plan of attack to take them down. From what I can see," Takeshi says as he glances out at the trees passing by the window of the train car, "the city is surrounded by forest. So perhaps we can drive the rebels into an awaiting trap in the trees? That'll help minimize damage and potential civilian injury, should they put up a tough fight."