============================================================================== ############################################################################## ============================================================================== o---o o-----o o----o o | o-----o o---o o------o | / | | | | | | |\ | | | | | | | | / | | | | | | | \ | | | | | | | |/ o---o | | | | \ | | | o---o | | o |\ o-----o | --o | \ | o-----o |\ | | |\ | \ | | | | | \ | | | | \ | | | \ | \ | | | | | \| | | | \ | | | \ | \ | | o----o | o | | | \ o------o | \ o------o o | | ----o---- o | o----- | | |\ | | | |\ | | | | | \ | | | | \ | | | | | \ | | | | \ | o----- | | | \ | | | | \ | | | | | \ | | | | \ | | | | | \| | | | \| | o------o | o o----- ----o---- | o o----- "A Mage's Companion" - by ~«:EDgAH-Kun:»~ ============================================================================== ############################################################################## ============================================================================== After I had gotten all my goods from the Prontera Shop (Red Potions, new Arc Staff, and a new Hat) I set off alone to the Prontera Dungeon. From past stories, I hear it's a good place to level up, but its also contains EXTREMELY powerful enemies. On my way to the dungeon I destroy enemies with my Lightning Bolt spell, which was about at its maximum level of power. They were nothing though, nothing compared to what I was about to face. As I walk through the feilds, I come upon a cave with a few fighters outside and thought to myself, "This must be the place." As I sit down alone near the cave entrance, I overhear three Swordsmen talking amongst themselves; "DUDE! Doppleganger is pretty damn tough!" "HELL YEAH!" "What did he drop for you Kevin?" "MAN! He dropped me a 2 Hand Sword!" "You lucky bastard!" "Yeah! You're fricken lucky, man!" "Yeah yeah, but thanks for the help guys. I'll give you each half the stuff I picked up, ok?" "Whoa! Sounds like a fricken deal!" "Yeah! Thanks, dude!" *watches Kevin hand them both half the loot he found* "SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!" "AWESOME, MAN!" As I had enough of their talk, I challenge myself to enter the Prontera Dungeon and overhear the three Swordsmen say at the same time, "That Mage is crazy." Without letting that comment get to me, I slowly walk in the dark dungeon. "Man, it's pretty dark in here. I should cast Sight to help me see where I'm going and if there's any monsters coming." As I wave my hands and chant the Sight spell, a flickering light is summoned around me and luminates the area around me "Ah! Much better!" As I continue, I see something move. "What in the hell is that?!" As I see a shadowy head with two daggers in boney non-fleshed hands come towards me, I finally realized it wasn't human, and decided to cast Lightning Bolt on it. I wave my hands and chant, "Thunder Gods! Hear me! Destroy my enemies with a single stroke of lightning!!!" As sparks fly from my hands, a lighning bolt flies down from the sky and strikes my enemy dead! "Well, what the hell exactly WAS that?" As I progress to the place where I summoned my Lightning Bolt, I find a pile of bones with two useless flint daggers in the pile. I take a bone as proof of the kill and stick it in my pack. "Okay, that was a pretty hard one to kill, and from what I hear, monsters get tougher as I progress to other parts of the dungeon. Well, I'm certainly not leveling up just talking to myself about it, so I might as well be on my way." After that little battle with "Skellie", I walk onward and find a Poring. Since it has weak Defense and low Hit Points (HP), I decide to melee attack it with my Arc Wand. I walk up towards it and raise hands with my staff gripped tightly and swing downward into the little pink Poring. *WHACK*. After that, it was destroyed into little peices and dropped a few Jellopies it had looted. But since they are worth such little value, I decide not to waste room and weight for them. I continue onto the end of the first level of the cave. I had no clue what I was about to go against, NONE at all. I sit down to rest and close my eyes to regain the HP I had lost from the previous fights. As I hear something come closer, I open my eyes. I start up a Lightning Bolt spell to cast at an enemy, but I hear a voice; "Whoa there, tiger! Don't kill me now!" As I realize it wasn't an enemy, I cancel my Lightning Bolt spell. "Sorry... I had thought you where another 'Skellie' or something." He came closer and sat beside me. "Hahaha! It's fine, lad, as long as I'm not toast. So don't worry about it." As I looked at him, I realized he was the guy who found a 2 Handed Sword. "Hey, did you follow me in here?" He replied, "Welllllllllllllll, yeah, I did. I thought you had needed a bit of help in here since it was hard enough with my friends and I. and we're of high level, about 45 or so. What about you? What level are you, about?" I glance at him and look down to the floor, "I'm about level 35..." He snaps back in response, "Hahahah! Thats fine, you'll get some GREAT experience here! I'll help ya!" I slowly respond; "Err.... ok, if thats what you want, thanks. But before we go, what's your name?" "Kevin, yours?" "...." "Awe, c'mon, I need a name from you!" "I wish to remain nameless..." "That's no fun, dude!" "I dont know if I can trust you just yet" "Well what if something attacks you? You certainly ain't gonna kill anything with that long casting Lightning Spell." "I have a Soul Strike spell, too...." "Hehe, well, if you insist." "Okay, lets go." "Right!" As we walked on into the second part of the dungeon, we used Red Herbs we had picked up a while back to heal ourselves to full HP. My Sight spell had worn out, so I recast it to luminate the dungeon. As Kevin and I move on into the dungeon, we come across a cheap bow with some bones around it. Without worrying, we move on. As we continued, I heard a crackling behind me and a small grunt. "Kevin, uhh... did you just hear that?" "Hear what?" The crackling started again, but louder. "THAT!" "Yeah... I heard it ...turn around." As I turned around like he said, I saw a "Skellie", not with two daggers, but this time, a bow. As I took out my Arc Wand to cast a spell, the Archer Skeleton shot an arrow at it, knocking it out of my hand. "SHIT! My Wand!..... ARGH!!!! SOUL STRIKE!" As spirits form around me, they fly towards the Archer Skeleton, hitting it without much effect, and seemed to look at me without eyes. As I felt my end was near, I hear a cry; "DEMON FROM HELL! BE GONE! BASH!!!!!" I then see Kevin with his shinning 2-Handed Sword, swinging it into the Archer Skeleton, knocking it into pieces. As I look at him breathing heavily, looking down onto the bones and seeing him protect me as he knew me for a long time... I knew I could trust him. "Th...thank you Kevin..." He turned and looked at me, pushing his sword back into his sheath. "Yeah, it's no problem at all, bro." I replied weakly, breathing a bit heavily from the fight, "B...bro?" He replied with joy, "Yeah! Man, I just wanna be your friend! Lighten up!" I then responded, a bit more energetic; "Heh.. Sure, why not? Feels good, actually" He replied, over-joyed; "Great!", as I get my Arc Wand from the ground, we then move on. I stop suddenly and say, "Hey, Kevin..." He stops then turns around and looks at me; "Yo?" I look down and then back up; "The name's Ed..." He replies, "Whoa! You trust me now?! Sweet!" I reply joyed "Heh, alright. Let's go!" We then walk nearer to the next level of the cave and sit down to heal up. "Hey Kevin?" "Yeah Ed?" "Thanks alot for saving me back there, I really appreciate it." "Haha, it's no problem at all!" "Yeah...I'll find some way to repay you." "Dont worry about it! It's fine, no need to repay for anything!" "Eh.. alright, then." "Okay! Now c'mon! Lets go! And be prepared! It gets harder from here!" "Alright!" We then got up and moved on towards the entrance to the next level of the cave, where there are rumored to be Munaks and Ghouls roaming around, which are MUCH harder than the skeletons we have faced. It's also rumored that skeletons TOO are there, so we're going to have one helluva time. As we go through, I heal myself with a Red Potion I had with me. "Here, Kevin!" I toss him a Scarlet Potion for him to heal himself. "Thanks bro, but I dont need it just yet, I'm fine for now! Lets go!" We enter the cave, and as soon as we enter, we both smell a horrible smell... the smell of death in the air, a smell that is not really a good sign for us. "Damn bro! That shit smells horrible!" I laugh and respond "Heh, yeah. That's not a very pleasing smell. There may be a Munak or a Ghoul around, keep your guard up. Ghouls aren't fast, but VERY powerful. Munaks are fast, and only a tad weaker than Ghouls, so be alert!" He replied chuckling "Heh heh, I know, I know. I've been here before, remember?" "Heh, yeah, you're right. Let's go!" We head towards a narrow passageway that opens up soon after into a wider passageway, then see 2 Archer Skeletons ahead of us. Kevin began to panic; "SHIT!" "Dont worry, heh heh.." "What's so funny?!?!" "You'll see, heh heh..." "YOU'RE LAUGHING AT THIS!? THEY'RE COMING FOR US!" "Heh, have you no trust in me, Kevin?" "Well... yeah, I do, but..." "THEN SHUT UP, DON'T WORRY, AND WATCH!" "Whoa... okay... What are you goi-" I cut him off with a chant for a spell that only few gifted Magicians know: "Fire god, Ifrit, I ask of you! Block off my enemies path!!! FIRE WALL!!!!!!" I then extend my arm with my staff back and my other arm forward, throwing a huge ball of fire in front of us. Kevin's eyes widen; "Whoa...! Did he say Ifrit?!?!" The ball of fire then dropped to the ground in front of the Skeletons, then forms a wall of fire as one of the Archer Skeletons walk right into in, burning up in the vicious flames as the other tries to shoot arrows through it, but all it does is burn them up before the arrows get through. "I told you not to worry Kevin... Now watch... SOUL STRIKE!!!!!!" Spirits form around me and whoosh towards the Skeleton, still trying to shoot arrows through but failing. The spirits colide with the Skeleton, knocking it to the ground in pieces with all the bones shattered. Kevin stands there, clearly amazed; "Ed, were you lying to me? Are you REALLY only level 35..?" "Sorry Kevin, yes... I was lying. For that, I am sorry." "Well then, what level ARE you exactly?" "...." "Awe, c'mon! You can tell me!" "Er.. I'm about level 76" "HOLY SHI....... YOU'RE JOKING ME!" "No... No, I am not" "I guess you aren't lying... Only few learn a spell like that from the fire god, Ifrit" "Yeah... I dont want to go on about it, though... Let's just go" "Wait... Why are you here anyways? You couldn't level up much if you wanted to here" "I... I'm here for 2 things..." "And what are those 2 things?" "One.. I'm here to find earrings" "Yeah? And the other?" "The other... The other is to solo..." "Solo what?" "Solo... Doppleganger" "WHAT?! YOU'RE NUTS! HE WOULD KILL YOU IN 5 SECONDS!" "We'll see about that... Let's go..." "No! You are NOT going to solo Doppleganger! I barely survived even having 8 men fighting with me!!!! Not to mention a healer healing me!!!!!! What makes you think you can SOLO HIM!?!?!?" "Kevin... Let's go..." "ED! Even with that Fire Wall spell, you CAN'T SOLO HIM!" "Kevin... I said let's go..." "Fine..!" As he finally agrees with me and decides to let me solo Doppleganger, we move onto a few Munaks that we wipe out completely in 10 seconds flat. "Damn Ed. We royally RAPED them!" I laugh and say, "Heh, you damn right we did. Let's go." We then proceed, looking for Doppleganger and more Munaks that might have earrings. "Hey Kevin, look over there, a bunch of Munaks in that corner... Watch this; "FIRE WALL!" Again, I throw a ball of fire before the Munaks in the corner and they then turn around, trying to attack us. All they do is burn and fall to the ground in ashes, though. Kevin then says, "Hey, Ed... there's something shinning in the pile of ashes over there" I snap back "WHAT?!?!" I then rush to the ashes and search through them; "HOLY SH..... KEVIN! EARRINGS! IT DROPPED EARRINGS!!! I DONT BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!" He replies, "Heh, congrats! Put them on!" I happily reply to him, "Hah hah! Okay!" I then pierce a hole into my ears with the brand new Earrings and yell painfully as my ears start bleeding a bit, "OW! Fuck, that hurts, but DAMN... I feel such a high power in me... I feel like my magic has gotten stronger!!! Heh, alright, lets go find Doppleganger!" We then head off into a darker part of the cave until we feel a sudden wind... Kevin blurts out; "What in the hell?! How come there's wind here?!" ".. Kevin.. Stand back.. He's here.. Doppleganger is near..." "Ed.. Are you sure you want to solo him..?" "KEVIN! GET BACK!" A sudden gust breezes by me as my cloak moves along with the wind, and the next thing I knew, I saw Kevin on the floor with a ghost-like figure that looked exactly like Kevin right above him with a Two-Handed Sword in only one of his hands, showing his brute strength by holding such a heavy sword with only one hand. Kevin said lightly; "Ed... I think I found him..." "SHIT! KEVIN!" "I think this is the end for me, Ed... It's been nice, man... I... I'm really going to die... aren't I?" "Kevin! YOU WON'T DIE! Great god Carbunkle! PROTECT US! SAFETY WALL!!!!" 2 bright lights come down above Kevin and me, forming a clear wall around us. Doppleganger notices what is going on and comes charging after me with his 2-Handed Sword in both hands. He swings it at me as I clinch my eyes as Doppleganger slices his heavy sword over and over into my invisible wall; "Shit... it's dying out... SOUL STRIKE!!!" 5 Souls appear over my head and whoosh into the mighty ghost, knocking him back a few steps, but he comes back more vicious, swinging his wrong stronger into my shield as it weakens. "SOUL STRIKE!!!!!!!!!!" Again, five souls knock him back, but still charging into me, swinging over and over, anticipating my invisible shield to break so he can hack into me. I then see Kevin stand up, bleeding from his stomach from the slash Doppleganger delt him before, and walk towards Doppleganger, dragging his sword in one hand, holding his wound in the other. He then stops behind the vicious ghost hacking into my shield; "KEVIN! NO!" Kevin then lets go of his wound and grips onto the heavy sword with both hands, making a downward slash into the mighty ghost but just gives it little pain. Doppleganger then turns around, ignoring me, and slashes Kevin once again as Kevin is hit so hard he flies back into the wall and drops down with blood coming out of his mouth, sitting there, helpless. "KEVIN!!! FUCK!!" The Doppleganger then moves toward Kevin to finish him with a final blow. "ARGH!!!" Waves of Chi blow out the sides of me, throwing dirt opposite of where I stand; "YOU ARE SO DEAD, DOPPLEGANGER!!! YARGHHHH!!!!!!!! LIGHTNING BOLT!!!!!!!" Forms of lighting strikes down on the Doppleganger to grab its attention, but actually strike him to his knees. He gets back up and charges toward me with his sword in the air; "SOUL STRIIIIIIIKE!!!!" From the anger and power I gathered up, not 5, but 10 souls float around me and fly right into the mighty ghost, literally destroying him, dropping his broad sword and an EXTREMELY rare plant/herb called a Yggdrasil, which would sell for an extremely large amount of zeny (about 1 million or so). After picking those two, up I rush to Kevin laying there half dead. I look at him spitting out blood from his mouth and see his armor pierced with a slash and the wound on his stomach. "Kevin! DON'T DIE ON ME!! DON'T DIE!" I then frantically look around for something I could do about his wounds, finally coming across the extremely rare plant, Yggdrasil. "If I just do this... he should be fine..." I let out a huge sigh from using such a rare plant so quickly; "This is for helping me through every fight... thanks." I then peel off pieces of the plant and lay them onto his wounds, causing the wounds to heal right up and close together as if there was an Acolyte doing it. Soon after, Kevin regains conciousness and looks at me, saying, "What in the hell happend?" "Heh... Nothing to worry about. Here, you could put this to use more than I can." I then place the Broad Sword onto his lap. He then snapped back "Whoa! You're not giving this to me, are you?! I can't just TAKE it... I'll feel horrible!" I reply laughing "Would you rather me giving it to a newbie? Heh, just take it, man." He chuckled, then took the sword into his hand, "Hah, I s'pose your right! Thanks, bro!" We then proceeded out of the cave, knowing we had accomplished what we (or I) had wanted to do. We stopped outside the entrance of the cave and rested, then talked amongst ourselves. A Thief passes by and sits closer to the entrance. "Hey Kevin, you like that new Broad Sword?" "Yeah, bro! I feel all tough with this huge thing! WAYYYYY better than my 2-handed sword!" "Yeah, I'm glad your happy with it, but... I'm sure a newbie would have loved it more. *Laughs* You sure you dont want to reconsider?" "Ok, you're just crossing the line right there! Stop teasing! I really love the damn thing, ok bro? *Laughs back*" "Yeah, yeah. Don't worry, I wouldnt do that. I'd rather sell it for 2 million zeny *Laughs again*" "Haha, stop teasin' me bro!" "Dude... STOP calling me bro, it's kinda bothering me!" "Ok, br... err... Ed *Laughs*" "*Laughs back* Haha, you'll get used to it" After our little chat, the Thief sitting by us lowers his head and tips his hat down, giving a smirk "Heh, this should be a piece of cake for a level 30 Thief such as myself. If you low levels can do it, I sure can!" After he says that, he runs into the cave as if he were really strong enough with a Gladius on hand. Kevin and I look at each other. "Br... err... Ed! He's gonna get murdered!" "Yeah... Shall we?" "Of COURSE!" "Lets go!" We then run towards the entrance to the cave chasing after him with my Arc Wand in hand and Kevin's Broad Sword in his hand. As we disappear into the darkness, I shout out "SIGHT!" as the scene fades out... ============================================================================== ################################# The End #################################### ==============================================================================