Crimea Castle Town: Let Them Eat Pigs

[TurkwithStyle]

Yoshimitsu scurried over to a door and noticed a big lock on it. "Hmm...a lock as great as this should hold something VEeeerrry valuable." He casually lifted his sword, pushed against the lock, slowly lifted it, and then swung the sword downward so the lock would brake. Yoshimitsu looked downward at the broken lock, "Oh my. It seems the lock has fallen off. Now this door tempts me to peek inside. Should I go?...or should I stay?" He thought for a minute rubbing his chin and gazing upward. "It seems I shall succumb into seduction!" The man giggled as he turn the handle and opened the door to find the greatest mother load of treasure he had seen in a long while. "..It seems I have won the lottery." He quickly, and stealthily, pressed on inside, stuffing his pants, pockets, and...pretty much every article of clothing he had with as many gold coins as possible.

[Lans]

"Of course," Porom said with a nod. Then, going over to Ranulf, she waved her staff over him. "Cura!" Rainbow sparkles of energy appeared over him and misted down on him, and he would feel much better.


"Hmmph, showoff."



"Ok, now in the meantime can we get some answers as to what's going on around here?" Sheena asked.

[Mage]

When Porom used her magic on Ranulf, he started to feel much better then before. "Ah...thanks a lot, kiddo." He smiled down at her. Even though it was a healing spell, it was mostly different from a Mend staff, but it was about the same effect wise.

Agreeing with Sheena, Mist had to ask too. "Yeah, Ranulf. What's going on around here?"

Well, it wasn't right to leave these newcomers and Ike's sister in the dark. "Long story short, assassins have come after Princess Elincia. So my good king of Gallia sent me to handle the problem. I recruited Ike and Ammy, who comes from another world." He looked over at Sheena and the others. "And I'm assuming none of you are from around this world either."

Hearing this, Mist was a little surprised. "Another world? You mean like Mr Snake and Mr Sonic?" Mist wasn't in the Tournament, but she watched every battle Ike had been in. Out of everyone there, Sonic and Snake stood out among the rest.

"The very same, Mist." The Laguz started to run off. "Sorry, but I'll have to tell you the rest later!"

"Ah, wait up!" She ran after Ranulf, but looked back at her friends waving her arm. "Come on, guys!"

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It was difficult to make it out, but when Ammy put down the bone Ike took a good look at it. With his vision blurry and the hallucinations kicking in, he interpreted the bone as a loaf of bread. So without question, the blue haired man picked it up and sunk his teeth in. Completely ignoring the fact it was simply a hard bone. "..."

When Elincia saw Ike try to eat the bone, she couldn't help but giggle at the sight. Then wondered why Ammy gave it to him, perhaps it was a rare healing item?

-----------------------

Close to where Yoshimitsu was "shopping", there was this rather large black iron door with quite a few locks and chains all over it. In most cases this usually means the people in the castle don't want anyone poking their heads in, but it sure does stick out in all the gold and jewels. Why, a fella could just notice it from across the room if he tried.

[xenomina]

During the others conversation, while much was revealed to the young(ish) boy, the truth itself caused the bounty hunter to become very confused. "You mean...this isn't Earth? There is no England? Where am I then???"

"Master Bridget, I dun' think we're in England anymore..."

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The goddess Amaterasu watched over Ike as he slowly chewed the bone. Though Ammy preferred to eat the whole thing herself (being quite capable of doing so,) she knew that the bone's healing effects would work just as well on the human as he gnawed on it. She could already see his body begin to gain knew vigor, the bone's holy power destroying the poison inside the warrior.

Somwhere deep down, Ammy felt a sense of duty she had felt when she protected the cowardly warrior Susano, and the stubborn Oki, She felt a need to watch over Ike as he traveled, for the sake of what may come.

Lost in her thoughts, she could barely hear Issun fall to the ground in hysterical laughter.8

[TurkwithStyle]

Yoshimitsu was stuffing everything with gold pieces and such. That is, until he saw the big lock on the door to his left. "Hmm...looks important." He walked over to it and whacked it with the sword, much like the lock outside...but it didn't break. He cocked his head, "Hmm, naaamuuu...." he jammed the sword within the lock and twisted it, using it as a pick. The lock fell to the ground, unlocked. The door was now completely bare, "Well. The door looks less important now. I'm sure no one will mind if I break and enter this unimportant room with no lock!" He casually opened the door and saw something...interesting.

[Mage]

When Bridget asked what world this was, Mist could only answer. "No, this isn't Earth. This is This World...believe it or not, that IS the name." She paused. "I'm sorry, but we have to hurry!" She ran again to Ike's location.

When Ike regained his senses, he looked around with the bone still in his mouth, the poison was almost completely gone. "?"

"Ike, there you..." The cat man stopped running up to Ike, to see the bone from the man's mouth. "..." He turned around and laughed to himself. "Pfftahahahahahahahaha!" Ranulf just couldn't stop.

This only brought confusion to the mercenary's face. "..."

Which was stopped, when Elincia pulled the bone out of his mouth. "I believe this is it, sir Ike."

He blinked at the bone, and looked over at Ammy. "Oh, that was yours wasn't it? Thank you, Ammy." This makes the 2nd time she saved him today, Ammy was definitely a goddess to help him escape a terrible fate.

His sister came up, with her newfound staff out. "Here you go, Ike..." She closed her eyes, and held it close to him. The green gemstone shone a soft jade light, and surrounded Ike with a similarly colored aura.

If the bone wasn't enough to clear the poison, the soothing aura was. "Ah..." He stood up, after flexing his arms around slightly. "Ok, I feel alright now."

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Meanwhile, Yoshimitsu wouldn't have to go too far to stumble on a mysterious treasure. In the middle of the dim room, surrounded by blue torches was...



A statue of a woman (Totally not Mist) holding a simple bronze medallion with a soft blue fiery glow around it. It was just sitting there on the palms of the statue, not guard, no traps, nothing. It's almost like she was holding it out to the thief.

[xenomina]

"This World?!?!?" Bridget sighed and pouted. "Aww, I'll never make it back to England..." Relunctantly, the young boy followed after the others. Maybe the proncess could help him find a way home..but that would be best left for later.

Ammy looked down at Issun, who was still laughing hysterically, it was time to quiet the little sprite. Casually, Ammy bent down and picked up Issun with her mouth, achieving the result she desired with little effort.

"Yuck, dog breath!!" Issun immediately hopped out of the dogs mouth, red with anger. "Watch it furball, I don't wanna smell like slobber!"

8

[Lans]

"Another world. Yeah that would explain a lot. Great..." She sighed. She'd kinda had her fill of dimensional travel during the world regeneration quest, and that had actually been two separated pieces of one world...

[Mage]

"This World...ah, so they are coming much quicker then I expected." Sighed Elincia, as she closed her eyes in deep thought.

"What should we do now, princess?" Asked the mercenary, awaiting his friend's answer.

With a smiled over at Bridget and the others, Mist tried to keep a tone of hope in the air. "Don't worry, we WILL find a way to get you all home."

As the group all talked, Ranulf suddenly was in shock. "Oh no!" He sniffed around. "He's gone!"

"What's wrong, Ranulf. Who's go...!" Then the truth hit Ike like a thunder bolt spell. "Ah, you don't mean..."

At that moment, screams were heard from outside the castle.

The cries for help caused the woman to run out to the balcony. "No!"

"Elincia!" Feeling worry in the pit of his stomach, the man followed Elincia out to the balcony.

"Mist, I'll go look for some help around the castle. Take these guests the safety!" The cat man ran through the hall way, determined to find a helping hand.

Mist was disappointed she couldn't help with the trouble outside, but she had to help out the newcomers first. "Alright...." She tried to hide her worry.

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@suey@ "AHAHAHAHAHAHA, FOOLS!" Yelled the pig assassin, as he entered the castle town. "That's right, RUN! Run before the might of..."



"THE KING PIG STATUE!" Bellowed the piggish man, as he jumped upon the shoulder of this mighty walking weapon. It smashed the vendors in the street and wrecked the homes on the side, even trophizing everyone in it's path. "HA! Who among you has the guts to take on our greatest weapon?!"

And then out to the balcony came Ike and Elincia, peering down at the chaos the monstrosity was causing.

The princess couldn't believe the destruction that was happening to her kingdom, it reminded her of the attack long ago, the deaths of her parents and uncle Renning, the devastation of the Crimean Knights. It all flooded back to her, which showed as she came to her knees. "No..."

When the princess had succumbed to her fear, Ike knelled down to her and shook her slightly. "Elincia, snap out of it! We have to do something about that thing!" Ike remembered the story from Lucas, who had faced the statue before. If what he remembered was true, then there isn't any way they can destroy the statue without a cutscene powerful attack. Ike took out his Ragnell sword and stared into the golden blade, sure it was powerful, but does Ike really have the strength needed to cut through solid stone? "..."

[Vize Viper]

Fortunately for Ike, and for Crimea's capital in general, the blue haired warrior wouldn't need to worry about the issue of strength...

Because as the statue took another thundering step forward, there was a sudden gleam of silvery light, that passed from the top of its crown, straight down. For a brief, tense moment, it seemed nothing had happened... Until the statue split down the center, the two halves sliding against each other until the monsterous construct exploded into a cloud of dust and smoke.

Within the cloud, the silver reflection of a large blade was visible, as the sword's owner stepped out of the cloud, his unseen eyes narrowing.

The Black Knight... had joined the battle.

[xenomina]

Relunctantly the boy replied, sluggishly following his new found friend to safety. Bridget was new to the This World, and rather than chance his own death, it would be better to follow the others advice and head for a safer place.

The goddess in wolven form would not so easily turn away from battle however. Following the two teens only a few steps, Ammy turned and made a mad dash towards the warrior and the princess, before leaping between them, off the balcony, and down to the ground below. Ammy senses were flooded with evil, and she dare not turn away. She was both relieved and disappointed to see the giant statue fall. Ammy had faced giant 8-headed serpents, clockwork owls, even a centaur covered in flames, and the goddess game out victorious. Whatever monsters that were ahead would be no different, she was certain of that.

[Lans]

Sheena blinked in astonishment as the giant animated statue was simply cut in two by the imposing figure. "Well...that was certainly anti-climatic."


"Wow, and up til now I thought the coolest move I'd ever seen was a dragoon's jump attack."


Sheena shrugged. "Just as long as this guy's on our side. I'm not exactly psyched about fighting someone who can do that...not that we wouldn't win and all."

[TurkwithStyle]

Yoshimitsu walked up to the medallion. "This is...quite interesting." He looked one way, then looked the other and shrugged. "I'm sure no one will miss it." He reached out and picked it up before stuffing it away somewhere in a pocket. When it touched against his body he suddenly got light headed. He held his head with the one hand, "Namu?"

A figure appeared in the doorway behind him, "What do you think you are doing?"

"!?" he turned to find a red haired boy in the doorway. "Just trying to find the bathroom."

"...I'm sure." He raised his sword, "And you thought you should treat yourself to the castle's treasure along the way? Thief?"

"Thief?" Yoshimitsu looked around, "Surely you are not talking to me. I'm a mere tourist, wandering about your castle on vacation..." he flashed a couple gold coins between his finger knuckles and continued, "These are nothing but souveniers!"

"..." The boy was unamused. "I say you give yourself up. Return the treasure now before I have to do something we both wouldn't want to witness..."

"Threats! I should call the guards on you! You are a very unstable personality." He turned invisible and skittered around, brushing past the boy.

"!?" The boy sharply turned, "Hey! Get back here!"

[Mage]

Just before Azel knew it, Ranulf ran past the treasure room, not even bothering to notice what happened on the side. "Anyone out here?" He called out, hoping someone would answer.

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@suey@ "Wha?! How could this...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!?!?!" Screamed out the man as he feel from the collapsing statue. Unbelievable, to think a single man could destroy the prototype of the rebuilding siege weapon in a single strike...

When the Pig Statue suddenly crumbled to rubble, Ike and Elincia simply stared at the wreckage in shock. "..."

Then the mercenary's eyes drifted down to the man who unleashed the attack. That gleaming silver blade...the flowing crimson cape...and the full body of black armor. "!" Ike knew it in the bottom of his heart it was...

"THE BLACK KNIGHT!!!" Yelled out some Crimean people, as they backed away from the sight.

And just like that, Ike jumped off the balcony and on the ground bellow.

"Sir Ike!" Yelled out Elincia, as she looked down at where he landed safely.

But he was beyond communicating now, the swordsman ran to the large figure brandishing Ragnell with practiced form, as if he were planning for this encounter for years. "You!" But before Ike even touched the knight, he was blasted back by a barrier surrounding the armored man. "!" He skidded back on the ground, maintaining his balance.

And the maker of the barrier was surprisingly a young girl about three to five sizes smaller then the large knight, she held out her glowing yellow book and looked out at Ike. "..." Then up to the Black Knight. "Are you alright, Sir Knight?" She had a feeling he was feeling fatigue from the fighting from before and just destroying the King Pig Statue here.

"Who are..."

@suey@ "ENOUGH!" Yelled out the pig mask, as he interrupted the group. "Just because you beat the King Pig Statue, doesn't mean you've won the war!" He looked over his shoulder out at the entrance. "In just a minute, this place will be crawling with foot soldiers. There is no place to run!"

When Suey said that, Ike knew what he had to do. As much as he hated letting the knight go for now after waiting so long, the Pig Masks attacking Crimea would indeed get in the way of their duel. "Damn..." He prepared himself once more, to fend off the attackers. Before shooting off a glare at his sworn enemy. "Once this is over, I'll be coming for you."

The maiden of dawn also prepared herself, by letting down the barrier spell and stepping behind the two men. "I do sense a lot of strife between you two, but it is not my place to intrude." Micaiah got her light tome ready, as she saw a few figures coming over the horizon...

[Vize Viper]

The Black Knight simply nodded, either in answer to Micaiah, or accepting Ike's challenge, it was impossible to tell as he turned, readying himself to face the oncoming army as well.