Promise? Chapter 10
By the way, in terms of Ammy's brush techniques, I'm not going to include the expanded ones. Example: Cherry bomb 2/3. That was a pointless power in the first place, so she will automatically have that as well as Power Slash 2/3. Other ones like Inferno or the Wind tornado...thing will probably be included when first given the power over the element. But, that can change.
Chapter 10: SAO+AC3=Procrastination
I stood up, shook my head, wiped my face from the embarrassing sob-session, and looked at Ammy who was already walking back to the inn. I sighed and started to walk back as well. When I got back to the inn, Issun and Ammy were sitting by the front desk, talking. I sat down across from them, Ammy staring at the ground, avoiding me. I got the message and turned my attention to Issun.
"So, what's the plan Issun?" I asked.
"Well, we could check out that giant windmill, or there is a village to the north, Kusa Village, that we could also check out while visiting the windmill. It's all up to the leading lady!" Issun replied, jumping on Ammy's head. Surprisingly, Issun didn't end up in Ammy's mouth like usual. Ammy just continued to stare at the ground. Issun just stared at me and I shook my head.
"Anyway, we need to get going, we all set?" I asked.
"Yeah, so long as-"
Issun was cut off by Ammy rising to her feet, and she looked straight at me and said, "Yu, I want to spar when we leave."
I stared at her back, confused. She just kept staring straight at me with that serious face of hers. "When we get out to the field, I want to spar with you. If you refuse, Issun and I will leave you here."
My eyes twitched. Is she serious? Where the heck did this come from anyway? Guess I have no choice.
I nodded, and we walked out of the sanctuary and into Taka pass, we decided to go to the same clearing where Waka and I fought, or rather the place where I got my shit pushed in. My self-esteem after that fight is pretty much zero, heh, but I should probably get over that soon. When we were at the site, Issun took a seat on the sidelines near the center. Ammy took her position across from me, summoned her reflector as a main weapon and her beads as her secondary. I summoned my blade, still confused by this. What is she planning? I don't think I've upset her enough to the point of abandoning me, or worse killing me.
"You ready?" she asked.
"Sure, why not. But what are the terms of this spar? First one to disarm, first one to get a hit off, what?"
"How about to the death?" she said in return.
.........
Uh....
WHAT?!
"Really puts me in a bad position don't it?"
"That's the point."
"Gee, life really is unfair, huh?"
"Quit complaining and let's start."
I just shook my head. This has to be a joke. Ok, gotta focus. Ammy has rejuvenation, power slash, blossom, vine travel, lillypad, cherry-
Thanks to my fantastic reaction time, I was just able to avoid Ammy's first attack. Guess she took the opportunity to attack while I was thinking. I really need to stop that. So the only really powerful thing that I have to worry about is cherry bomb and power slash. Her powers only work on demons, though, I wonder if being half demon, half human gives me a free pa-
Another slash, this time she struck me with her reflector right in the chest, knocking me back into the trees. STOP THINKING YOU BLOODY IDIOT!
I got to my feet and kept my eyes on Ammy. She decided to charge the front; she planted cherry bombs behind me using her brush, forcing me to meet her in close combat. As we fought each other head on, I counted to myself how long it took for the cherry bombs to explode. 6 seconds. Good, now I know how long I have to elude the explosions. _ Good thing was: Ammy would use up almost all her ink creating cherry bombs that she couldn't use power slashes. Meaning, she didn't have enough ink left to use more than two cherry bombs. I jumped into the air after she summoned two more and shot them with my dark bursts, which I've now named "Dark energy shots", and the bombs exploded. Ammy met me in the air and began swinging. I blocked the first attack but the second sent me flying. I hit the ground. _Damn, I feel bad for the demons we've fought. That hurts like a bitch! I struggled to my feet and Ammy shot some of her beads at me. I summoned my sword and easily deflected them.
"Why is she hurting me...? I thought she was my friend...."
What?
Ammy used my confusion as a chance to knock me back with her reflector. I hit the trees again and fell to the ground. My glasses, which somehow has stayed on through the fight (I forgot to take them off, ok? Shut up), flew off and over by Issun. Thankfully, they weren't broken. I was angry. I hated feeling weak. I hated losing. I hated feeling useless.
"If I lend you my power, will you let her live?"
What?
"I can give you the power to win, but you have to let her live. She's my friend, our friend. I don't want her hurt."
Who are you?
"Do you want my power?"
Who the fuck are you?!
"Yes, or no."
Fine, yes. Please give me your strength.
Suddenly, I was covered by the same aura that covered me during the fight with the spider queen. Ammy looked surprised but remained in a fighting stance.
- POV CHANGE! Ammy's POV at this time!-
Heh, my plan worked! I got him to activate it! Next step is to see how strong it is.
I watched him stand to his feet. His eyes looked soul-less. His red eyes were gleaming. For the first time in my life, I felt afraid. It was like he could cause the end of the world with just a flick of his wrist. For some reason, I wanted his old eyes back. Despite the color, they were warm and innocent. Sure, he was the farthest thing from innocent and can be a sarcastic bastard, but those eyes were so full of warmth. It was like he was really happy to be with us. I shook off the feeling at turned my attention back to the matter at hand. Suddenly, a woman appeared in between us.
The woman appeared to be the same one that sold him those damn glasses. Dressed in the same attire, she still looked just as young and beautiful as she was before. She started to walk towards Yu.
"Hey! Get away from him, you idiot!" I yelled to her.
"Oh quiet, stupid dog. I'm simply observing it. Besides, do you have a way to make it calm down? No? Well, I do. If you keep quiet, I'll turn it back."
What is she talking about? Observe him? And how dare she call him an "it". I'll rip her to pieces!
"Now my dear, it seems you've made contact with him. Good. He will be pleased to hear that. Or maybe I could just wait and let him see for himself. You look exactly like him it's almost scary." She sighed. "Maybe I should take you for myself, I could just imagine how it was all those years ago. Oh how I miss those days." She continued to ramble.
What the hell is she talking about?
Yu just stood there with a blank stare. Not at the woman, not at me. Just...nowhere.
"Well, even though I love the dark, I guess I can calm you down for now. I'll just have to wait until later. Can't kill you too soon." She said with a grin. She snapped her fingers and Yu's eyes flickered. The dark aura disappeared and he fell to the ground by the woman's feet. Yu! I thought as I ran towards him. The woman dissipated into a dark cloud as was gone. I decided to figure that out later. I was freaking out, for some reason_. I asked him to spar just to draw out that aura, but I didn't expect it to work! Not to mention that woman appearing and calming him down. God, what was I thinking? That form drained him of all his energy last time he used it and he needed a day of rest to recover. Who knows what else it could do!_
Issun jumped on top of my head and said, "Ammy calm down. He's fine, look at his stomach."
I looked at Yu's stomach, and he seemed to be breathing fine. He's sleeping, figures. I sighed, and asked Issun to open our supply bag. Issun was in charge of carrying all the items. Don't ask me how he was able too. All I know is that when I first got an item, it vanished into his backpack. When we take it out of there, it goes back to its original size. I've learned to just accept random things that make no sense. I am a goddess that curses like a sailor and acts like a generic tomboy, so I think nonsensical things are pretty normal in my life. "What do you want?" asked Issun, searching through the bag.
"A blanket. What else?"
"Why? It's warm out."
"Fine, Issun. When Yu dies of being out in the cold air, I'll make sure to bring his ghost back to haunt you forever. I don't care if YOU think it's warm, I want to be sure."
Issun gave me the blanket, finally. I grabbed it with my mouth and threw it over Yu. Issun and I decided to just sit and relax until he would wake up. We talked about heading to Kusa Village and where Issun has heard rumors of brush techniques. After we get through stuff here in Taka Pass, our next destination is Ryoshima coast and Sei-an city. I looked over at Yu, at the mention of Sei-an. When we get to the city, we'll need to cover Yu up so people don't recognize him. After about an hour, Yu woke up.
-POV CHANGE! POV of Yu!-
I woke up with seeing Ammy's face in my line of vision. I went into a sitting position and asked, "What happened?" And so Ammy explained my activation of the dark aura, (I'm gonna name it Beatdown mode from now on because it's awesome) the encounter with the woman, and my passing out. I grabbed my glasses and put them back on. "Thanks for the blanket." I said, folding the blanket and giving it to Issun.
"No problem, you ok?" Ammy asked.
"Never better, why?"
She just rolled her eyes and replied, "Ok, tough guy, the plan for now is to head to Kusa village and talk to the villagers."
"Ok, and Ammy..."
"Yeah?"
"You never explained the sudden mood swing when you asked to spar. Did I like, upset you or something?"
"Oh right! I uh...wasn't serious about any of that. I wanted to see if you could activate that dark aura again. I figured a life or death situation was what it required... sorry."
I just stared at her, "Well, I guess it worked. No point in being upset." I stood up and began to walk. Ammy followed by my side and directed. When we got to the village, we were noticed this thick fog across town that was draining the ink out of Ammy. I was completely unaffected, but Ammy was getting really tired. When we were climbing the stairs further into the village, Ammy collapsed on the ground. I asked her if she wanted to stop but she just shook her head. I rolled my eyes at her stubbornness and picked her up.
"What are you doing?" she said, turning a little red.
"I'm carrying you the rest of the way. I need to return the favor for Agata."
She continued to struggle, "No! I'm not some damsel in distress! I can....walk..."
I sighed, and piggybacked her. "No one said you were a damsel in distress. I'm your friend, friends help others. Getting help when needed doesn't show that you're weak. It shows that you are too stubborn to admit that you need help. Besides, we're almost to the top of the village."
"Why do you always pull this crap?" she said tiredly. "Why do you keep saving me? It's so infuriating. It makes me feel insignificant and useless."
"Well, stop needing to be saved." I gave her a douchy smile. "This is something out of your hand, and not every fight can be fought alone. Besides, I need my opportunities to look badass and heroic!"
She sighed, and rested her head on my shoulder, "You're such an idiot..."
When we got up the stairs, what awaited us was a priestess. She was on the ground crying. We talked for a bit, told us about a demon in the windmill causing this fog. She asked Ammy, seeing the marks on her body, to help. Ammy lifted her head weakly and said, "Okay." And then she put her head back on my shoulder. We went to a cave in which gave access to the windmill. A creepy-looking transparent door was surrounding the entrance.
"What is that?" asked Ammy, who was still on my back.
"I don't know. Probably something bad, though. It's always something bad." I reach my hand out through the door and surprisingly, it passed through. Holding Ammy and Issun, I was able to bring them through the door and we were on the other side. Well, she did say a demon was up here. Maybe it created that. Guess being a demon gains me access. Ammy was feeling better, so I let her off. After a few stretches, she seemed ready to go. I started to walk when I heard Ammy say, "Thanks."
"I'll accept your thanks if you promise to stop being so worried over stupid shit."
She chuckled, "Sure, I promise."
After solving a few puzzles, again, we were at the top of the windmill where Ammy saw another constellation. "Who the fuck keeps putting all these puzzles in random areas? It's so impolite!"
"Maybe the gods are testing your patience." Ammy said with a grin.
"You can tell the god's that they're dicks. Anyway, you have fun with your constellation, I'm gonna go hide from death."
After about ten minutes of waiting, Ammy was given the ability to control wind. Get it? We're in a windmill and Ammy learns the power of WIND. IT'S SO FUNNY!!! That brush god should be a comedian. In all seriousness, we were now able to explore more of the windmill and found a giant room. A giant...samurai boar thing on fire appeared and we figured it was the demon the priestess was talking about. After fighting the demons in the windmill, Ammy and I figured out a little technique we could use combining our abilities. She would summon cherry bombs and I'd use my Dark Energy shots to blow them up on command. She would just not ignite the fuse. We used that strategy against the boss when Ammy used her new power to blow out the fire while summoning cherry bombs for me to explode. The boss was easily beaten. Afterwards, we noticed a strange artifact in the center. Apparently the boss was guarding it. We went to go take it when Waka suddenly appeared in front of us.
"Impressive work, demon kid. Amazing what can happen when a holy goddess teams up with a monster from hell."
"Glad to know you're still wearing that ridiculous hat. I can't take anything you say seriously when you're wearing that." I replied.
"Well, I'll be taking this." Waka grabbed the artifact.
"Hey, wait!" but he was gone.
And so, the village was saved and the people of Kusa village praised Ammy. Ammy was quiet the whole time, obviously not enjoying the attention. When we got out of Kusa, I had to ask, "If you need praise to grow stronger, why are you so shy when you get it?"
"Just because you need something doesn't mean you want it."
"True."
After that fabulous discussion, we set up camp for the night. It had been a long day and we all needed rest. We made a fire, got our sleeping bags out, and Issun was telling us one of his "amazing stories" about some guy who wants to be king of the pirates. I turned in after about two hours of his story and Ammy did too. When I got in my sleeping bag, Ammy was a few feet away from me. We both said our good nights and I tried to sleep. For some strange reason, I just couldn't sleep. After a few hours, I turned to face Ammy who was also awake.
"Can't sleep?" she asked.
"Nope."
"I miss the bed back in Sasa." Ammy replied with a sigh.
"Me too, well I don't miss the snoring but..."
"Ok, that's it. I'm sleeping next to you from now on." She replied, getting up and moving next to me.
"What?!"
"You just couldn't let that go, could you? Well, now it's payback time." Ammy said as she climbed on top of me like the other night. She had the trollest of smiles on her face.
I sighed, and just tried to sleep. Still couldn't, but Ammy was sound asleep, not even snoring tonight. I don't know whether to take the fact that my stomach is so comfy that it made Ammy sleep like it were a bed as an insult or compliment. I watched her sleep because there was nothing better to do until I remembered about that voice during the sparring match. I tried to talk to him again, but I received nothing. After about another hour, I finally went to sleep.
-END OF CHAPTER!-
I think this is the first chapter that I ended without a plot-twist. Huzzah!
Anyway, I know I know, I didn't include the stupid dog fetch quest. I hated that in game and didn't find it necessary for the story. Hayabusa is awesome though, probably the best character in the game lol.
*Another thing, sorry for not uploading anything recently. Been watching some animus (anime) namely Sword Art Online, which is...okay, and been playing Assassins Creed 3 which is my candidate for GOTY 2012. *