Ghostie

Usually, Ghost would have froze from knowing that such attention was on her. With her playing the ukulele, however, it was almost like she was a different person. Unlike her usual blank face, her lips slowly curled into a beaming smile the more that she played, and the more that she heard Nari sing. In an instant, it was less of Nari singing to her acoustic, and more of Ghost doing well timed improv to the purple haired tank’s vocals. Especially with how she had switched from Gaelic to that oh so familiar Ed Sheehan song for a bar switch; Ghost quickly adapted the moment she heard the English, still grinning and having a blast.

Looking back at NIGHT and Koga, Ghost continued to play and even danced with the beat and with Nari’s singing while winking at the two watching with pure enjoyment. She really seemed to come alive!

Then she remembered, they were still there for a purpose. Ghost began looking around for what she might as well consider her ghost brethren - even if by namesake alone - as she continued to play, still keeping up with Nari and having fun.

Ghost thought about what Koga had said. Don’t let yourself get stuck in the past… Master YunXiang said something similar, right after the Second Trial. They were right, of course; she shouldn’t let herself be swept away with what happened then. All the same, it was also easier said than done.

Especially… when she partly blamed herself, and felt like she had good reason to.

Even so, Koga’s words soothed her more. Hearing him mention the time, she looked up through the trees and saw that it was getting darker by the moment. Then she looked up at Koga, whom she was still clinging to.

Several seconds pass, before Ghost realized how the scene might appear otherwise. Blushing deep red almost instantaneously, she let go and fell back from an anxious reflex, smiling from embarrassed humor and patting her cheeks. Giving Koga a simple nod, Ghost went to pick up whatever belongings she had set aside while they fished, and waited for Koga to join her.

Ghost listened to them all discussing, one topic in particular being what she could play or what she wanted to play. Thinking about it for a moment, she could just give them a demonstration, based on semi easier ones she knew from when she was younger…

Ghost stretched her chord fingers before immediately going into a light fingerpick instrumental. The beat had sounded oddly and eerily similar to Feel Good Inc. by Gorillaz, although the lyrics were swapped out with well timed singular strums which she altered and cut and added reverb to as it went on. Something so upbeat, fast paced, and charp that it was nearly unmistakable.

As the intro finished, she then switched to the Zanarkand theme from Final Fantasy 10.  In contrast to the Feel Good Inc., this tune seemed more bittersweet, soft, fluid, emotional. Then, as she finished it’s intro, she finally switched to an improv.

going by ear to find a few specific notes, she nodded and then began to strum the ukulele completely normally, the beat and chords to the melody sounding familiar from something earlier.

It was her providing potential instrumental to the Gaelic and English songs that Nari had sung earlier by ear, improvising the lyrics into each other and providing slightly more bounce with the sound of her ukulele to try and bring the currently unsung lyrics slightly to life. Not as much as Nari did, but enough that Ghost could hear the lyrics better in her head. Not that she understood the lyrics, by any means; but the song itself that Nari had sung was beautiful, and that was enough for her.

A ‘níon mhín ó, sin anall na fir shúirí 

A mháithairin mhín ó, cuir na roithléan go dtí mé 

Dúlamán na binne buí, dúlamán Gaelach 

Dúlamán na farraige, b’fhearr a bhí in Éirinn

May it be, an evening star

shines down upon you

may it be when darkness falls

your heart will be true

you walk a lonely road

oh how far you are from home

Ghost nodded to Nari’s explanation, tapping her arm out of curiosity. Not harmed, but still changed.. Is it maybe a quest, of some sort? They really didn’t have much to go off of, but it certainly sounded more interesting by the second, and likewise more mysterious. At least if that’s the case, she might not have to worry about being too much of a chore for the others to look after.

Then she heard Koga say her name, and her attention popped back up to one hundred percent. It did seem odd that the ghost seemed to appear with Nari’s singing, and then vanished once it stopped. At the same time, it could’ve been purely coincidental, but Nari’s voice and the language she used was definitely unique enough in the best way. If anything, it might be a shot in the dark, but could be useful in the cave if not right now. Tapping her chin curiously, Ghost then opened up her inventory and looked toward her various vanity sets. She wasn’t a performer class just yet, but she could probably still provide some entertainment to go along with Nari’s voice! Besides, she’d already gotten it to provide entertainment for herself; might as well get some use out of it!

A small ukulele materialized in her hands, and she took a moment to ensure that it was tuned in, giving a few tests to the strings before giving all three of them a confident thumbs up.

Feeling Koga’s arm around her, the tears became heavier, and she breathed slowly to keep herself from completely breaking down. It felt nice; Actually being in physical contact with someone, like this. Obviously, with finally making new friends, it was different but… something about this moment helped her realize, she wasn’t alone anymore. Even though she was crying, a small, sad yet happy smile slowly crept onto her face, leaning into Koga’s hug.

Then, she felt the kiss on her head, and her face rapidly reddened from the sensation, but listened to what Koga had to say as she took a moment to settle herself. He must’ve been trying to comfort her more.. right? Taking her arms away from her own sides, Ghost leaned in more, and hugged him around his waist without warning. The fact that someone else knew what she was feeling, it… scared her, a bit. But it was also relieving, knowing that she could share this side of her with someone finally, after so long..

Her tears finally stopped, and she listened to Koga’s heartbeat while enjoying the moment. She had to admit, this was very comfortable… She still wasn’t sure how she felt about the goof holding her for certain, but she knew that this felt right.

Ghost smiled back at him, sitting calmly next to Koga again as he opened and searched through the chest. It was hard not to find some humor in the situation now; She didn’t quite know what this ‘mimic’ was that Koga mentioned, but she was certainly glad that they didn’t have to worry about anything bad from what they’d gotten. Plus, it seemed like he was happy with what he’d gotten, judging by the same grin coming across his face as earlier.

“…I.. joined SAO with someone,” she began. It was a bit easier than earlier to find the courage to talk, but even so, the words were still strained Taking one more breath, she fidgeted with her hands and kept going. “…I promised that she would be… the first to hear the voice that this game gave me. Her name was Sana. She.. we didn’t know that death was real here, yet..” Ghost’s face reverted back to its blank expression, the only difference being a single tear running down her face. “…I couldn’t… keep my p-promise…” Hugging herself, she looked down at the ground. It looked like she would break from the slightest wind; She knew that compared to others, what she has been through would likely pale in comparison. Even so, just remembering that day..

Ghost’s eyes widened, almost having forgotten her worries from earlier. Her eyes glazed over, looking down at the creek and her reflection, contemplating his question. The water seemed so peaceful, despite the fish running through it. She really didn’t know how to respond; it was difficult for her to think about when she first started SAO, with Sana. But what Koga was asking was a completely fair question, and she had no reason not to tell him, as far as she was concerned. She still wasn’t sure what even encouraged her to talk in front of him in the first place..

Fixing to sign her answer, she stopped , taking a deep, steady breath and dropping her hands. As she did, a small, timid voice was heard, as she struggled to push the words out. “…Ah-I—“

She was quickly interrupted, as Koga launched a treasure chest out of the water, and she covered her mouth in shock as she watched this moss covered box almost crush his… well.. you know!! Crawling over to him from where she sat, Ghost panicked slightly as she made sure he was okay.

Seeing him look away, Ghost felt like she succeeded in her claps of encouragement. Noticing that he had put the fish away into his inventory, continuing with his fishing, her mind completely went off course. It was rather a good thing that the game allowed the players to have an inventory menu, instead of using actual satchels and bags to carry everything. If they had to carry the fish along with them, there was a chance that it would carry an odor. Now that she thought about it, EVERYTHING would be a lot heavier. Weapons, armors, healing potions; without the inventory menu, Ghost hypothesized that she’d probably be buried in stuff and unable to move right now. Especially all of the vanity items that she’s collected, like her ukulele, her bikini from the dojo, her hats, the half dozens of different simple clothing that she’d gotten for when she wasn’t in armor (which is handy considering her still current lack of armor), and—

“Hey, Ghost? mind if I ask you something?”

The sudden question brought her out of her thoughts, and Ghost looked over at Koga. Giving him a nod, she walked over and sat next to him, traditional style on her knees, setting her hands in her lap as she looked at him attentively.

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209054 LD 8 Fail
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Getting somewhat of an answer from Koga regarding what she asked, Ghost then took a moment to listen to what Nari explained about this Cave. A cave that provides generally unnatural experiences to the players that go inside; Considering that it was the first time she’d heard of flat out paranormal entities in Aincrad in general since starting, it made sense to Ghost that something like that could possibly come from a location like this Cave, if it’s real.

Then she’d heard Koga speak up, and Ghost (although she agreed with him on how the name could be confusing) was surprised at how blunt he was, and it scrambled her thoughts as she considered any other alternative explanations…

…and coming up empty handed. Nodding, Ghost signed to Nari this time, the subtitles fluidly producing with her motions. If this ghost is from this cave you mentioned, has there been anything else talked about that we might run into inside the cave? Being the lowest leveled player among them, she couldn’t help but wonder if anything dangerous might be inside. BUT, she made her choice the moment she had grabbed Koga’s arm earlier, and she had no plans in changing her mind. And she also couldn’t help but agree; the cave did sound pretty interesting.

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Glad that Koga was in agreement, Ghost nodded and walked with him to the creek. In all honesty, she was partly just looking for an excuse; Outside of quests and that one dinner at the Silver Eagle, she really hadn’t had a chance to spend a lot of time with Koga. While in thought, she scavenged around the creek to see if she could find anything.

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209050, LD9, fail
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Nothing to find. That didn’t falter her smile, though. While looking, her thoughts drifted to Koga, as he pulled out his rod and began his fishing. Before, when she had first met him, it was difficult for her to be fully herself around him. But over a very short time, she found it much easier to be around him. She felt comfortable. She honestly couldn’t help it; He was kind, and funny, and kept his cool rather easily when under pressure, and he was good loo—

No, stop that!! she thought to herself, flicking her own forehead. She could feel her cheeks warming from the thought, and she quickly looked for a distraction. And a distraction certainly came, as Koga called out to her, holding up a rather decent sized fish, wiggling at the end of his line. Seeing his reciprocated grin of pride at catching it so quickly, it went past his usual suave appearance and gave him a hint of cuteness that Ghost wasn’t prepared for. All in all, however, she was amazed at how quickly he had caught the fish, and clapped happily in cheering him on.

Nodding with excitement, Ghost looked up at Koga with an even bigger beaming smile than before, and accepted his hand up. Demon Shard! she signed, before quickly speed walking, almost skipping, to the place where she had seen it. She bent over to pick it up, giving Koga more of a show than intended, but not as much as back at Master YunXiang’s dojo at least. Digging around the glowing purple stone, the pale haired girl took the shard and the ore along with it, standing back up straight and showing them to Koga proudly.

Slipping them away for now in her inventory, she nodded with satisfaction before going into thought. It seemed like a waste to go back so soon, as she noticed the clear creek running through, the setting light shining through the trees, the faint fireflies starting to appear. Ghost then looked back at Koga and signed again. That takes care of the shard; should we keep foraging, or maybe something else? It took much less time than I thought it would, to be honest. 
 

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Several minutes pass, just the two walking through the forest, Ghost enjoying hearing the birds lightly sing in the trees. It was the first time in a long time, but Ghost had seemingly started to seem.. happy. Her mannerisms were more relaxed, her brows not locked in place, her eyes glancing around at every tree and every ray of light as if it were the first time she had seen them. Glancing over at Koga, Ghost gave him a small smile. She seemed much less stoic and serious now, showing more of a playful and normal manner. Almost like a girl her age would usually act, minus the quiet part.

That change in demeanor was quickly interrupted, however, when she suddenly felt her hand vibrate. Looking down at the compass, she saw it pointing directly to the left of them. Turning mid step, Ghost then ran right into Koga, tripping and falling on her butt in surprise.

Several moments pass of silent embarrassment from her, before Ghost finally looked toward where the arrow was pointing, right at a glowing Demon Shard hidden under some brush, sticking from the ground, right next to what appeared to be a very small vein of ore (material).

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209025, LD19 CD8 (Crit Success)
Ghost gains +2 Material, +1 Demon Shard

Ghost listened to everyone as they talked, calming down and glancing at the place where she assumed the ghost was earlier. Having only seen a flicker in her peripheral, she didn’t know if she could really consider that seeing it, but she definitely saw something. Looking around the trees and brush, she didn’t see anything really worth noting.

Would this game really have ghosts as an enemy? Even if it was a game, Aincrad is practically their real life at the given moment, so knowing that the paranormal could be injected into this world as something much more intense was… well, it was beyond terrifying to consider.

Tapping her arm, Ghost thought of any possibilities that could’ve caused whatever they witnessed. There was one option, but she didn’t know for certain. Music? she signed, pointing to Nari with a blank but curious expression. As far as she could tell, it was the only thing that came to mind when they were coming through earlier that might’ve stood out.

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Giovanna tucked a lock of red hair behind her ear, and hummed happily before pulling out a small apothecary satchel, digging through it as she talked. Ghost watched the woman curiously, noticing that the satchel had a lot more room than it appeared to. “You see, Demon Shards are quite rare! Typically, you wouldn’t be able to find a Demon Shard unless you had mastered your craft, but there are loopholes!”

The woman pulled out of the satchel a small, engraved black compass, the engravings appearing Celtic and glowing just a faint green. “This compass is rarer than even Demon Shards,” Giovanna said with a smile, offering it to Ghost who took it without hesitation. As Ghost looked down at the compass, she noticed that the arrow span around aimlessly, not pointing in any specific direction. 

“This Cursed Compass will only work once it’s within a manageable distance of a demon shard! Once it is, the arrow will guide you toward the shard until it has been collected! Keep in mind that the compass will only work once for you, as you are not attuned to it; Your tasks, Ghost, and her friend, is to forage for materials that you might find useful! And once the Compass leads you to finding a Demon Shard, you may return to me, so that I can evaluate the materials you collected for you! The stew should also be done by then, if you would like some. I look forward to your return!”

Ghost nodded and gave a small bow, standing up slowly and dusting off her leggings before looking over at Koga. The sun was reflecting just enough from her eyes to show more of the violet in them than the silvered blue. Ready?

Ghost bowed to Giovanna in greeting. Slowly but surely, Ghost was getting used to conversing with the quest givers, especially now that she knew they could understand sign. Hello! My name is Ghost; I was hoping to possibly learn foraging from you, if you’d be kind enough to train me. Giovanna tilted her head and her brows cocked in surprise. “Teach you?? How odd.. Normally, I just have people coming up to me asking for trade; I can’t recall the last time I’ve had someone ask me to show them how to find the materials themselves!” Smiling, albeit a bit in humor, Giovanna say back down gently, to which she gestured for them to sit with her as she continued on her fire cooked stew. Ghost nodded, and sat down shortly after, enjoying the light of the fire on the sunset and the scent of the meal.

”I’ll gladly teach you what I can,” Giovanna continued, “but a lot of knowledge on foraging and gathering comes from trial and error! The harder materials to come by, the Demon Shards… well, that’s where the real craft begins!”

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As strange as it was, Koga was right about them being up Ghost’s alley; she tried not to show it much, but she always had a soft spot for… well, for things that were cute. In the real world, she didn’t have nearly as much wiggle room to indulge in collecting stuff like that, but the more that she accepted this world, the more she found herself regaining her interests, slowly.

As they neared the campsite and the woman, she heard Koga’s question, and the blush crept back onto her cheeks. Tapping her fingers together again, she thought about it for a second. Perhaps what he was really asking is, why him? It was a fair question; That, and he was probably more busy as of late. Turning toward him, she signed again. I… enjoy your company. I’m getting more and more comfortable around you. It feels nice, being like this with someone. Taking another moment to recollect her thoughts and fight back the heat on her face, she started walking toward the woman again.

The woman, her name showing up as Giovanna, looked away from her fire to look at the two players, and gave a relaxed smile. The woman was dressed in head to toe in more natural forestry ware, a dark green hooded cloak resting on her shoulders, and reddish brown hair that accentuated th he freckles on her cheeks. “Ahhh, so I guess this area wasn’t as well hidden as I’d first imagined! Somehow, the townsfolk always manage to find me. I move around fairly often, but it’s always the same, I suppose! Are you requiring some herbs? Or another material, perhaps?”

Ghost jumped at the sudden break of silence, hearing the items materialize as she turned toward Koga. Looking down, she noticed the Lockhart Gloves that she had requested from the Ring and Sword earlier. Taking them as Koga gave them, she was fairly surprised; she didn’t expect that he’d already have them made, and in such good quality too! Maybe in-game crafting was faster than she anticipated versus the real world?

Then, she noticed the other gloves’ info bar, and she almost dropped the Lockhart gloves from even more surprise, her lips curling into a smile that broke her emotionless expression from humor. White, lightly fuzzy soft gloves with paw patterns on the palm; less weighted than the others, probably for quicker and more accurate strikes? Something… Adorable? she signed to him in question about the name of the extra gloves, a small blush coming up on her cheeks. Accidental or no, it was very sweet, and she bowed lightly in thanks and placed both pairs of gloves into her inventory as they got closer to the caravan.

Ghost stood there, her face as blank as ever, but her hands shaking a bit as she chased after them. At the moment, she wasn’t sure what Nari saw, but Ghost thought she might’ve gotten a glimpse out of the corner of her eye as Nari began to chase after it. She shook her head to Nari’s inquiry about Tracking.

She hadn’t sunk any points into anything yet, so she could probably get it, but at the same time she was deliberately saving them up for Martial Arts. Using her points just to get a singular skill she’d rarely use right now would probably be a mistake in the long run, anyways.

Was there any other information given?? the girl signed, the subtitles lighting up dimly in front of her. She knew she wouldn’t be of much help currently, but she hoped she could at least be useful for ideas if any were worth discussing. 

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<<Earning a Living: Forager>>

Ghost walked through the forest, the sun faintly starting to set, and she seemed preoccupied in her thoughts, staring down at her bandages. She finally was able to use Martial Arts, and it filled her with joy knowing that she had that capability, a small smile creeping across her facial features. When she completed the mission, Ghost water no time in putting all of her SP into maxing out the Martial Arts skill as far as she could. She could now do significant damage for her level, hitting an average of But then, she glanced over at Koga, who was walking silently beside her.

Apart from discussing the quest they were now on, he didn’t say much during the entire walk here. Tapping her fingers together, Ghost looked back forward with a silent sigh. Was it because she had spoke?? It was pretty awkward after that. She didn’t really know what caused her to suddenly want to speak, it just… felt right. Very weird, but right at the time. Frowning ever so slightly, she sighed and looked up toward an opening to a Meadowed hill, with a gypsy themed caravan next to a campfire. 

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Later in the day, Ghost made her way to Koga's shop, the Ring and Sword. Walking in, she was taken back by the beautifully designed weaponry along the walls, the jewelry, the armor... She knew that Koga was passionate when it came to his gear, but she'd never expected that he was this determined as a blacksmith, with how relaxed and laid back he was at times. Her eyes then landed on the wooden kendo training sword hung in the very back, broken but held like a trophy. That probably has quite a story, if he chose to mount it like that.. Maybe I'll ask him later,  she thought to herself with a small smile. She could hear Koga somewhere in the back, probably hammering away on some other masterpiece. Deciding not to bother him right away, she walked up to the counter and opened the Request Form menu, filling it out fairly easily.

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Request Form - Enhancements	Request Queue
Item Name: Lockhart Gloves Profession: Blacksmith Rank: 7 Roll ID:  Roll Result:  Item Type: Martial Arts Weapon Tier: 2 Quality: Perfect Enhancements: DMG III Description: No Materia Needed! Post Link:

 

The door to the shop opened, and Ghost walked in, her blank expression taking in the interior which greatly differed from the outside. Realistically, she didn't know what exactly had brought her here. One moment, she was on the main road in the Town of Beginnings, and the next thing she knew, she was down some unknown alleyway. Looking at her menu map, she was surprised to see how well hidden the shop even was on there.

Thinking for a moment, she pulled up her currency, reading 4,736 col... Koga did mention that I needed to look into buying some actual armor... Maybe I could get some from here? Nodding in confirmation, she noticed some sets of nice looking light armor on the walls. Walking up to the front counter, a menu popped up showing a request form that scared the heck out of her, having not been prepared for it. Taking a breath, she looked through the available options. Then her eyes widened for a moment, noticing that there were plushies. Several moments passed, before she started filling two forms out at an incredible pace, suddenly undoubtedly inspired.

~Requests~

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Item Name: White Battle Pajamas
Profession: Tailor
Rank: 10
Roll ID: 
Roll Result: 
Item Type: Light Armor
Tier: 1
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: EVA III
Description: Fighting in Comfort can keep anyone light on their feet.
Post Link:

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Item Name: White Mokona
Profession: Tailor
Rank: 10
Roll ID: 
Roll Result: 
Item Type: Plushie
Tier: 1
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: LD III
Description: One Mokona, Two Mokona~
Post Link: [Leave Blank]

Super excited about this ʕ•̫͡•ʔ POWER POSTERRRR

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THREAD END SUMMARY~

Ghost Gained Martial Arts Weapon Skill and TECH-F Art!

EXP
Ghost: 9,656 9,617/ 10 * 1 * 0.7 + 300 (quest) = 975 973 EXP
Koga: 9,656 9,617/ 10 * 4 * 0.7 + 300 (quest) = 3,003 2,990EXP

Col
Ghost: 400 * 2 = 800col
Koga: 400 * 2 + 450 448 (Laurel Wreath) = 1250 1,248col
Edits completed by Nari with love. :)

As the Boulder broke, a large banner of Congratulations flared above Ghost and Koga’s heads, signifying that they had completed the mission. Ghost’s eyes lit up, her heart skipping from the sheer happiness of being one step closer to her goals. It was like a burden had been lifted, knowing that she could now defend herself properly in this death game. And it was all thanks to Koga.. Ghost remembered back to her first day in SAO. One of the reasons why she had wanted to play, was that it allowed verbal translator options that bypassed physical mutism.

You can do it, Ko! A few deep breaths, concentrate on what you want to say! It might not sound right at first, but you’ll get the hang of it! Or if you don’t wanna, you don’t gotta, right? I’m sure you’ll get that S.T.Whatever working in no time!

Those words hit her like a ton of books. Ghost hadn’t tried speaking, not since she passed… But she was slowly starting to trust Koga, more and more. They’d only met mere weeks ago… And yet she felt like he could be trusted with anything; even her life. Taking deep breaths in, and deep breaths out, Ghost looked down at the rock beneath their feet and then prepared herself.

“….T-Th..thank…you…”

The words were soft and faint, almost silent. Ghost turned toward Koga, and bowed in confirmation of those words, not knowing if he’d heard but now too anxious to say it again.

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Feeling the wind off of Koga’s singular strike, watching the crater form and the HP drop a full thirty points, Ghost’s eyes widened significantly. Thirty points… It took bandages and item buffs and a mystery buff to get her to Nine damage, and Koga easily more than tripled her output. Just thinking of how much experience she would have to gain to do that was unreal… Ghost looked over at Koga blankly, but her eyes almost appearing watery, her resolve faltering as she realized just how much time she’d wasted in the town of Beginnings when she could’ve been bettering herself like this the entire time.

Hanging her head, she sighed and got back into position. She wasn’t going to let that get her down; memorizing how Koga had hit the Boulder, she breathed in deep and concentrated all of her power into her strike, letting loose with her own punch which echoed through the cave, not nearly as loud as Koga’s did but enough that it was noticeable.

Looking up at the Boulder’s health bar, she noticed it went down by ten points this time instead. Straightening back up, Ghost gave a very small smile, the hand she used for the attack brought to her chest in thought. Sure, she may not be able to do as much damage right now… but she’s improving, slowly. Even if Koga destroys the Boulder in his next attack, she was satisfied with knowing that she was making progress.

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