[F1-PP] Tidal Wave (Asteria)

[Ratatosk 0]

How long has it been since Ratatosk started taking the game seriously? A month or something, but he wasn't level twenty five yet. That was the one thing that astonished him, "I guess it really is hard to level up in this game huh..." Not long after, he looked at his unspent SP, and realized he could grandmaster his one handed straight sword skill. "Yup, it's really time for that." As soon as he grandmastered the skill, he'd be dealing more damage and then he could invest his SP into light armor. "But before I do that, I need to take one last walk around the first floor. I mean, a person who grandmastered a weapon skill shouldn't be roaming around these low level floors right?"

Edited May 1, 2016 by Ratatosk

[Aster 0]

Aster walked with a slight spring in her step this morning, feeling a bit more comfortable now that she'd gotten more of her bearings in Aincrad. She knew there was plenty more to learn, but she was feeling more inspired and motivated than she was before, reclusive and uninterested. She still didn't feel up to the task of leaving the city's walls on her own, at least not before she got herself some better equipment. Even then, the thought of fighting monster's in this world...

The girl shook her head to dismiss the thoughts. Discouraging thoughts would only serve to have her holing herself up in her shop for the rest of the day. Again. Trying to hold on to that good mood, Aster continued to the main plaza of the city. The crowds were pretty thin today, but with nothing of mention going on that wasn't too surprising. She stopped her aimless wandering a second to take a look at the various players and NPCs going about their business. After a few moments, the girl tilted her head as she thought she saw the familiar blonde hair of one of the few players she'd properly met so far. Aster jogged over, matching the boy's pace so their paths would intersect. As she got closer, she couldn't help but smile as she recognized the boy. "Ratatosk!" She greeted him simply, raising her hand in a small wave.

[Ratatosk 0]

"Huh? Aster?" He turned around when Aster's voice called out to him. "Oh hey? What's up?" But just when Aster called out to him, a group of about four katana wielding men showed up behind him. They said it loud and clearly, "Hey Ratatosk, got yourself a girlfriend already?" The blonde slowly turned around and socked one of them, "Sh-Shut up!" He turned around again to Aster and had a blush on his face, walking up to her. "Could you umm... Please ignore these guys..." They seemed very much like Ratatosk's buddies making fun of him, they probably are his buddies who liked to make fun of him.

Edited April 21, 2016 by Ratatosk

[Aster 0]

Aster smiled as she approached the boy, about to reply to his greeting when a handful of other people approached as well. One of them started teasing Ratatosk and Aster gave a nervous laugh, immediately intimidated by the group of strangers, save for the single familiar face. She felt embarrassed to even speak now, but tried to continue their conversation normally. "Oh um, not too much. I've started working on my profession!" She said proudly, glad she came up with a different topic. 'Not that I've been doing that well at it...' She added on in thought. Her first experiments were pretty hit-and-miss so far, but she figured that meant there was only room for improvement. The system seemed pretty straight-forward, and though part of it came right down to luck, her experience in the craft would only get higher. "Anyway, what brings you here?"

[Ratatosk 0]

"Well uhh... I sort of had some- AGHH!!" Something unsightly appeared at the corner of his eyes, it was Hideshido... The pantser... "H-Hey umm... Could we go to someplace private, I mean, not like that or anything... It's just- HOLY [censored]!" A hooded individual started speeding at Ratatosk, trying to pull off his pants and reveal his underwear. "ASTER, RUNNNN!!"! Right when Hideshido passed by Aster, everyone knew what was going on. Even the samurai knew, "Oh god... Not again Hideshido..."

[Aster 0]

Aster stood somewhat dumbstruck by the commotion around her. Before Ratatosk could get half a sentence out, he was being rushed by another individual. The blonde seemed to recognize the other player, so maybe they were just friends? As the boy yelled and ran off in a sprint with the other person chasing after, she looked around at the handful of other players in confusion before looking back to Ratatosk as he bolted away. One man looked amused, while another looked annoyed and yet another rolled his eyes and the hooded man's actions. Aster hesitated a moment before making her best effort to run after them. "H-heeeeyyy!" She called, hoping to get them to stop.

[Ratatosk 0]

"W-Woah! Ahh!!" Hideshido caught up to Ratatosk with his amazing speed, and did the unspeakable. Pants him. "[censored] you Hideshido!" The blonde immediately pulled his pants back up and began chasing Hideshido, "When I'm done with you, you'll never pants me ever again!" When Ratatosk pulls out his sword, you know things are getting extreme, but since this is a safezone, you can have an all out brawl but not die. "Get back here you [censored] asshole!" Chaos fell unto the scene, even some of the samurai were racing into the scene, "Don't do it Ratatosk! He's not worth it!"

[Aster 0]

Aster had tried to keep up with the boys running around the capital city. She ran out of breath astonishingly quickly, giving a lazy attempt to stop them from fighting once the two had moved from chasing to brawling. She was ultimately confused as to how she ended up in a situation like this, and as Ratatosk drew his sword she was immediately more concerned for both of their safety. "H-hey!" She called through heavy breaths, keeping a safe distance away from the crowd of players now trying to separate the two. "Ratatosk! Stop fighting!" She felt like she was pouting now, hoping her words would be enough to stop the scene that had broken out in the middle of the city plaza.

[Ratatosk 0]

"Hideshido! You're finished!" Ratatosk raised his sword to hit the filthy pantser, but somehow, they were on the edge of a small road that lead down. "W-Woah, AGHGHHh!!" And now Hideshido the pantser, and Ratatosk the salty gamer rolled down the hill... And when they landed, the most awkward position was created. "Mmfff, rrrrrghghh!" Ratatosk's lips locked with Hideshido's, he quickled retracted them and punched him. "[censored] you, you [censored] [censored] [censored]!" Ratatosk blushed and went back to Asteria, "So uhh... What do you want to do?"

 

[Aster 0]

"W-wait!" Aster carefully made her way down the hill so as not to fall flat on her face with the momentum. By the time she'd caught up to the tumbling duo, Ratatosk had given the other man a firm strike before turning his attention to her. The girl had her hands on her knees, bent over and panting from the exertion. While her virtually body wasn't actually exhausted, the game made things feel so real--she just couldn't handle that much physical activity.

"I...don't care..." She answered his question through heavy breaths. "Just no... no more of that!" She exclaimed with a pleading tone.

[Ratatosk 0]

"Okay, how about we go out in the fields and fight some monsters. I heard there's a nice miniboss around the edge of the floor." Energetically, he took off in a sprint and expected Aster to follow, "It'll be fun! I heard it gives an awesome material too!" Ratatosk unsheathed the Anneal Blade again and zipped past the fields like a bullet. "Uhh... Where's Aster?" The blonde finally noticed that he went off too quickly for her to even follow, maybe he should've waited and let her take her time. "Oops... My bad."

[Aster 0]

Aster took in a deep breath, standing up straight to properly face the boy as he spoke. She grew visibly nervous when he mentioned leaving the city, but tried to mentally calm herself. The last time they had gone outside of the city, everything was fine. In fact, Ratatosk greatly overpowered any of the simple boars they'd encountered. All of her mental preparation shattered with his next sentence. "M-miniboss? I don't--" Before she could get the words out, the boy had run off past her. Cut off, the girl scowled in annoyance, looking over her shoulder and then turning to see the boy weaving through passersby as he bolted for the nearest gate.'Is this what friendship is like?' She thought with slight sarcasm, taking a deep breath and exhaling as she jogged along to follow his path.

He reached the fields outside of the city in a fraction of the time it took Aster, but the girl finally caught up to Ratatosk as he was waiting, blade in hand. She slowed to a walk, out of breath again as she wordlessly scolded the boy with her expression. Her brows had furrowed before she took a minute to compose herself.

[Ratatosk 0]

Ratatosk waited for Aster to arrive, he sat on an old brown stump in boredom. "So... You're finally here..." He felt comfortable with Aster around, she reminded him a bit of 'Koko' one of his friends in the real world. It was a bit different though since 'Koko' was a guy, a very very shy guy... Like Ventus... "Alright, I heard this mini-boss takes the form of the person fighting it. And..." A loud metallic clang could be heard in the distance, there was the mini-boss. "And supposedly he's supposed to teach the fighter a lesson." The blonde unsheathed his sword and stared longingly at his blade, that old thing has been with him for a lot of his adventures. Hell, it even saved his and a couple of other peoples' asses.

[Aster 0]

Aster frowned, inhaling deeply through her nose to steady her breathing. She glanced nervously over her shoulder, looking at the town gate in the distance. This may have been the farthest away she'd been, but as Ratatosk brandished his blade with the familiar look of confidence about him, she felt a little more at ease. She smiled lightly, but as she opened her mouth to speak, the loud banging sound startled her, causing her eyes to dart towards the source. A figure could be seen emerging from the sparse foliage. At first, the creature looked like nothing more than a featureless humanoid--a gray, three dimensional silhouette approaching them. As it came closer it slowly contorted, shifting and changing, causing Aster to take a nervous step backwards. She anxiously stared at the creature as it took on its new form within seconds. As it closed the gap between them, the monster's new eyes flickered to Aster before settling intently on Ratatosk. A mirror image of the boy, the creature drew a sword identical to his own, holding it at the ready as it stared Ratatosk down with a wicked grin. Whether it had no voice of its own, or it just chose not to speak, the creature took on a fighting stance, patiently waiting for him to make the first move.

[Ratatosk 0]

The mini-boss stared at Ratatosk with the intent of fighting, it's eyes were a jade green, much different from Ratatosk's ruby red. It spoke, "I haven't seen you in a while Ratatosk, but looks like we need to come to blows here." What appeared to be Ventus, Ratatosk's alter ego, sent him a total loss duel. "The conditions are simple, no sword arts, ten health points for me. Our mitigation should be the same, but the problem is, you need to hit me at least ten times to win the duel." The blondes smiled and spoke in unison, "Well, so be it, I'm glad that we got a chance to do this." Ratatosk picked up his blade and tried to land a strike, the opponent took a step back and made Ratatosk trip. "Off to a good start Ratatosk, remember, I am a very evasive person. You once called me a demon with the sword didn't ya?" Ventus took his blade and tried to slash at Ratatosk, but also missed, "Looks like we're both missing these hits huh."

ID# 57956

Battle 1 (2+2-3=1)

Mob 1 (3-2)

Ratatosk: 78/78 HP, 17/19 Energy, 18 Mit, 2 Acc, 2 Eva

Ventus: 10/10 HP,  17/19 Energy, 18 Mit, 3 Eva, 1 DMG

 

Edited May 1, 2016 by Ratatosk

[Aster 0]

The girl's auburn eyes were fixed as the combat began. She put her hand in front of her to pull up her inventory, but hesitated before the screen appeared. She looked up at the nearly identical duo taking swings at each other. Pulling her hand back towards her, Aster certainly felt this wasn't her fight. She could heal Ratatosk if necessary, but she didn't want to interfere. This fight seemed...special, in a way. Pushing her fingertips together lightly, her feet remained planted in the grass as she watched on intently.

((OOC: Sorry, not sure what to do. I'm cool with watching the dramatic battle, though :P))

[Ratatosk 0]

((OOC: Gotcha))

Ratatosk kept striking at the mini-boss (Let's call him Ventus from now on) but he kept dodging and deflecting each attack with his blade. "That's pretty good Ratatosk, but not enough." Ventus closed his eyes, and with that, both of their eyes changed colors. Ratatosk was now Ventus, and Ventus was now Ratatosk (Yes, very confusing). "Huh? What the?" Ratatosk gave Ventus a thumbs up, "Hey, you were going to prove to me that you were strong, remember? You killed those abominations, you protected those people. Now all you've gotta do, is show me your strength. Well, are you just going to stand there, you weakling!" There was a short moment of silence, Ventus broke the soundless barrier by slashing at Ratatosk, "I am not going to lose! This blade, it's the reason that I can protect people, it's the reason that I'm still alive!" They both charged at each other with their blades extended, but sadly, none of them were hit.

ID# 57958

Battle 3 (4+2-3=3)

Mob 3 (5-2)

Ratatosk (Ventus): 78/78 HP, 15/19 Energy, 18 Mit, 2 Acc, 2 Eva

Ventus (Ratatosk, mini-boss): 10/10 HP,  15/19 Energy, 18 Mit, 3 Eva, 1 DMG

 

Edited May 1, 2016 by Ratatosk

[Aster 0]

Aster watched mesmerized as steel clashed and the two continued the assault. Ratatosk's opponent suddenly had a change in demeanor, also reflecting back towards the swordsman himself. The girl narrowed her eyes slightly, looking between the two as they circled and dodged each other's movements. Her fingers had begun to intertwine, and she held her clasped hands close to her chest. The first blow had yet to land, and as the exchange continued she silently hoped for the real Ratatosk to win.

[Ratatosk 0]

"Hah! Really Ventus, you weakling. Did you really think you could hit me that easily? Get real, if you're not going to forfeit, then we'll be here all night. And while your back is turned, and your mind is in dreamland, I'll kill you." Ventus came up with a brilliant idea as soon as the mirror finished his sentence, "Hold on, you said we both have the same mitigation right?" He unequipped his his armor, bringing both of their mitigation down to zero, and now the tides have turned. "Now I only need to hit you twice!" However, that did not mean the enemy was any less evasive, he'd still have trouble hitting him, but a significant amount of damage would be dealt if he managed to land a hit. The mirror gave a quick chuckle, "That won't matter, cause I've got a trick up my sleeve as well." Ratatosk (The mini-boss) rushed up to Aster and tried to land a hit on her, but Ventus got in between as soon as he could. "I will not let you hurt my friends! I don't care how many times I have to die! I don't even care how many times I fall to the ground, my friends... They are the reason I am still alive!" The blonde looked to his sword, "C'mon, give me your strength!" Before trying to land his first hit, he noticed a gaping slash on his chest, but it was worth it to keep his friends alive. Ventus charged at the mirror, but it sidestepped and made him trip. Who knew fighting in your boxer shorts was actually bad.

ID# 57959

Battle 4 (5+2-3=4)

Mob 9

Ratatosk (Ventus): 77/78 HP, 13/19 Energy, 2 Acc

Ventus (Ratatosk, mini-boss): 10/10 HP,  14/19 Energy, 3 Eva, 1 DMG

Edited May 1, 2016 by Ratatosk

[Aster 0]

The confusion wrought by their change in personalities was plain on Aster's face. She looked between the two figures; at this point she was starting to lose track of them. After continued banter, the blonde with red eyes looked through her, eliciting a flinch from the girl in reaction. His gaze threw daggers at her, and while she first recognized the pair of red eyes as Ratatosk's, its murderous intent sent a chill down her spine. With another wicked grin, the monster rushed straight for her, sword in hand. The girl froze, unable to call her legs to move her away.

The blonde--her true party member--reacted just as quickly, dashing to cut off the attack and take the hit for her. Startled, Aster stumbled backwards with the momentum just in front of her. She nearly lost her footing, not to mention her mind, but steadied herself before looking up at the player between her and the fake. 'I don't want to be a liability...' She thought with gritted teeth, beginning to regret her agreement to face this opponent.