[PP|F10]<<Training Your Friend>> Shadowy Figures

[Assassin 0]

Back onto the gloomy floor of 10 where Assassin knew she could likely meet her sister. She knew that she spent a lot of time out here cause it was quiet and away from a lot of the other players, but she still didn't like it. It was scary and unsettling, especially after what that fortune cookie had told her when she was looking for her pet, Hyou. She thought that maybe she could find something cool up here, but ultimately, she chickened out a bit and found Hyou on a lower floor.

The assassin opened her menu carefully and started to type out a message, slowly. "Neechan, im on floor 10. wanna help me do something so i can level up more?" She pushed send to the girl and looked around the safe area settlement on this floor, trying not to attract any unwanted attention from the occupants of the city.

Spoiler

Name: Assassin
Level: 23
HP: 460/460
EN: 46/46

Stats:
Damage: 11
Mitigation: 23
Evasion: 2
Accuracy: 2

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: Kami Sori: DMG: III
Armor: Dark Cloak(LA): MIT II; EVA I
Misc: Fastening Belts(Tri): ACC II; EVA I

Skills:
Dagger [Rank 5]
Light Armor [Rank 1]

Extra Skills:
Familiar

Mods:

Battle Ready Inventory:
Teleportation Crystal*1

Housing Buffs:
Rested: -1 energy cost for the first two expenditures of each combat
Relaxed: Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.

Guild Hall Buffs:

Scents of the Wild:

Wedding Ring:

 

[Hidden 1]

Hidden was currently sitting on the steps to her house, casually bathing in the sunlight of the morning. She sat there, garbed in her black clothing that sleeved her arms and came down  as a skirt. Her legs though, were also covered in black leggings. Silvery white hair fell neatly down at her sides and back. A ping received her attention, one from Ayame who was on the tenth floor? Last place she would have figured to see the young girl. 

She stood, her familiar bounding to her from the field as she did. It peered silently up at her with a curious look before bounding off into her shadow where it would sit quietly while she would travel.

Within a quarter of an hour, she would appear in a flash of blue light on the tenth floor, the dark floor that was lit with glowing mushrooms. There was an almost unfinished sense to the floor as if it had been quickly created without given the last proper touchups. Perhaps one day Cardinal would update the system and add a little more story to the dark wasteland?

Umbra leapt from her shadow as it found home, and as always, seemed to take in everything with its stare. Every time they came, Umbra would search around. Hidden assumed it was looking for its family. She however, didn't really care. "Ayame?" she called out. "I am here!" 

Spoiler

Stats

Hidden
Level 53
[0] Hidden | 1080/1080 HP | 106/106 EN | 16 DMG | 79 MIT | 4 ACC | 2 EVA | 11 BH | 8 Holy | 108 Vamp. Off [Rested 2/2]
1080 HP
106 Energy
4 Accuracy
2 Evasion
16 Base Damage
79 Mitigation
+5 Stealth Rating
11 Battle Healing

Gear
<<Nato's Might>>           // +8 Holy, 1 ACC, 1 Vampiric Offensive
<<Shadow's Silence>> // +54 Mit, +1 EVA
<<Shadow's Light>> // +3 ACC
              <<Umbra>> // +9 DMG

Buffs

• Increased Out of Combat Regeneration by 5*Tier and Reduced Energy Cooldown to 2 Posts
• Increased Hiding Skill by 1 Rank. 
•  

Battle Ready Inventory
 

Skills

Dagger | Rank 5: +5 DMG
Hiding | Rank 4+1: +5 Stealth Rating
Light Armor | Rank 5: +25 Mitigation   
Battle Healing | Rank 1: +1% Max HP Recovery pert turn.                             
E Familiar - DMG | Rank 3 +6 DMG
E Survival | No Ranks: Immunity to Environmental Effects
E Disguise | +1 EVA til next turn - 5 Turn Cooldown

Skill Mods

Athletics ~ +20 HP, +1 DMG
Precision ~ +1 ACC

Acrobatics ~ +1 EVA
Sneak Attack: Assassin ~ +3 DMG when attacking from Stealth, Attacks from Stealth are sure to hit. 
Vanish ~ Can use a Post Action in Combat to reenter stealth. Automatically reenters stealth upon killing blow. 

 

[Assassin 0]

Hearing the familiar voice of her sister, Assassin runs over in the direction of the woman slowing as she realized the figure standing at the teleporter. It was weird to see her without her hood over head, and looking in a good mood at that. She always seemed so grumpy.

"I'm here Nee-chan!" She called out, waving down the silver haired girl with a smile. "I had totally forgotten that you had moved to a different floor. I remembered you saying that you liked it here cause it was quiet so I came here first." Hyou took notice of the little umbra fox and waltz over to inspect it's form. It padded its paws at the shadow-like creature, curious as to what it really was.

"You wanna do something fun? I was getting bored so I came to find you." She asked, finally glad that Hidden was a little more open with her appearance now. It definitely made her easier to talk to.

[Hidden 1]

A small girl came bounding over into the area calling out her name and waving as she did so. Hidden wasn't sure if she preferred Nee-chan or shadow lady. Never mind it was obvious. She didn't like shadow lady. "Yeah it is nice and quiet here. Some people can be annoying." she stated with a facial expression that made it seem like she was deep in thought.

Ayame asked her if she wanted to do something fun and a puzzled expression played on Hidden's face. "You came to me for fun? I didn't realize you had fun with me. Alright then, I suppose. I don't have anything better planned today." She pushed some hair from her eyes as she looked over to the couple of familiars that engaged eachother. Umbra seemed to have diverted its attention from its searching to take a look at the leopard that pawed at it. As it did paw at it it would pass through its body which gave off an extremely cold black air. Umbra was actually a small dense ball of shadow that rested in her center. The rest was just an illusion made to give it more life. If it wanted, it could float around as a little black ball. 

Umbra's form would merge into a copy of the snow leopard to see what its reaction would be. Hidden would giggle at the two fat leopards. "What an odd choice in familiar for you Ayame." she would state as she looked on. 

[Assassin 0]

"You are fun Nee-chan." Assassin said plainly, looking up to her sister with a small smile. "Well, I mean you don't let me get myself hurt while I'm trying to have fun. I like being around you and that is reason enough."

Hyou was more surprised than Umbra might have expected as it took on her form. Her paw had gone right through Umbra's body to no effect and then she sudden'y copied herself into a snow leopard as well. Its head cocked to the side at the shadow being, trying to figure out what it was capable of.

"Hyou?" Assassin asked when Hidden inquired about her odd familiar. "I found her abandoned by her parents in the woods. I wasn't going to leave her there all alone."

From the shadows underneath of the familiar, a violent color of purple emerged. A swirling vortex of dark energy enveloped the big-cat familiar, latching it under its control. Hyou's body glowed with a menacing purple color, and her's expression snarled at the copied familiar. It swiped at Umbra angrily, to no avail. "H-Hyou?! What are you-" Assassin approached her familiar, but clawed at her, leaving a mark on her face. Assassin only took a single point in damage, but she fell to her behind in surprise as her familiar bounded out of the safe zone and into the tunnels of the tenth floor. She looked as though she was about to start bawling.

"H-Hyou? What has gotten into you? What was that? W-Wait!" She cried, tears forming down her cheeks. "N-Nee-chan, what's going on?" She no idea what to do at this point, scared of what might happen if she were to chase the cat down.

---

Success 1/3

[Hidden 1]

Hidden marveled at the fact that Ayame wasn't like any other kid in the world. Most children would hate for someone to ruin their fun for a reason such as safety. "Well I suppose if you say so." Hidden offered a smile as the girl explained about her familiar's backstory. "Abandoned by its parents huh? That one almost hits too close to home." Hidden would mumble. Of course, it probably resonated somewhere within Ayame too. 

She turned back to the familiars and noticed a flash of light. She stepped back at one, putting a hand in front of Ayame as a dark smoke surrounded Hyou. This smoke seemed to engulf Ayame's familiar before it absorbed it. She lowered her hand and Ayame rushed forward. Umbra, sensing the new hostility changed shape as the other familiar attacked, shrinking down into its ball form to dodge the attack entirely. The familiar would then attack Ayame and begin to run off.

"I can't say I have seen something like this before." Hidden said. 'That smoke though reminded me a lot of Umbra. Was it perhaps a shadow that just found the nearest thing to latch onto?' It was rather odd. "Let's follow it." She said and Umbra transformed into its fox form before bounding after the other familiar. 

[Assassin 0]

Assassin took the lead, running at full speed to catch back up with her rogue familiar. Hyou was a sweetheart when she wasn't defending her master. She couldn't believe that the leopard had just left a reddened mark across her face like that. Although she was still crying a little bit, Assassin wiped the wetness from her eyes and did her best not to look too affected by what was happening.

Hyou was fast, in fact, much faster than she had remembered. Assassin easily outpaced the feline, and that was why she would usually end up taking some time to catch up. Whatever this black smog that was affecting her was, she was becoming more powerful, and a lot faster than she normally was. "Hyou! Wait, don't run away! Its me, Ka- um, I'm mean, uh.. wait! Don't leave me!" She had grown much more attached to the fluffy familiar than she had realized.

[Hidden 1]

The charged forward, and Hidden could tell the distress in the girl's eyes as they chased after it. She really liked her familiar and after sometime they had become attacked. Hidden couldn't say the same for her familiar. It was lifeless. It followed orders and that was it. 

Hidden, tired of chasing already, decided to take matters into her own hands. "Umbra. Enough playing. Stop it." The familiar would race forward, quickly intercepting the other familiar. It would stop in front of the other familiar. It would stand there for a moment as if to threaten its opponent. In a split second, her familiar exploded into a black liquid that sprayed all over the opponent. This wave would over take it and reform until the opponent was effectively trapped within a cage of shadow. While not the strongest, it would allow them to catch up with ease. 

'Her familiar has definitely gone through some form of change from the way she is reacting.' Hidden would think. 

[Assassin 0]

Umbra darted forward with blinding speed. She didn't realize just how fast another familiar could be compared to her. It's black form in cased Hyou in a prison of dark energy. The purple mist around the cat lingered as she attempted to over power the chains of darkness that were holding it down.

Assassin hurried down to the ground, hoping that her pet would be a little more happy to see her. "H-Hyou! Calm down, it's okay! It's me. You don't have anything to worry about!" She pleaded to her leopard, trying to calm it down enough so that it wouldn't scratch her across the face again. Even still, it tried to do just that as its master leaned into help. Assassin still had some tears in her eyes, but she had at least stopped crying at this point.

"D-Do you know what's going on Nee-chan? You know stuff about this floor more than I do." Assassin asked, looking up to her older sister.

[Hidden 1]

At least for the moment, they had caught up with the runaway familiar. There was Umbra to thank for that. Despite their efforts and Ayame's pleading, a ghoulish fume still rose from its body. It was a peculiar thing to witness. Ayame looked up to her and asked if she knew what was going on. "I don't really know. I mean, the smoke itself kind of reminds me of Umbra and the way her body is made of shadows. I don't know, maybe a different shadow creature is trying to work its way into your familiar. I didn't realize they could do it." It was also interesting though, if the entity was made from shadow and was possessing a creature... could the upcoming floor boss do the same thing. She had heard talk of it possessing an entire dragon corpse. 

"I could try to use my dagger to force it out, but I am not sure if your familiar would survive. The light would kill the shadow, but the dagger would kill Hyuo." She stated. Probably not the best thing to tell a small worried girl but it was the facts. 

[Assassin 0]

Despite the attempts to reach out the familiar's sense of reason, which it had, she was well aware, Hyou merely struggled more, snapping at her owner viciously as it made attempts to break free of the other familiar's grasp.

The moment Hidden mentioned using daggers to fix this problem, Assassin jumped and put herself between Hidden Hyou. "N-No! Don't hurt Hyou! I... I- I want to help her! Hyou is my best friend..." Tears started to meld down her eyes again, shining across the low gleam of the fungi in the cave. "P-Please, can we try and figure something out that won't hurt Hyou? M-Maybe your dagger can scare the creature out of her? Like, just putting it near her might spook it out of her body?"

There had to be another way than just ending her pet's life. Assassin and Hyou had been together for awhile now and she refused to resort to such a thing like murdering her cause she was going a little out of wack.

---

Success [1/3]

[Hidden 1]

Hidden felt bad for the girl. She didn't want to lose her friend and looked to Hidden for advice. But she didn't have any good advice to give. She shook her head when the girl mentioned scaring and also mentally noted the girl planned to intercept her attack. "I think it could sense that I don't intend to actually attack it. It won't work." She face hardened as she thought of some way to save the girl's familiar. Of course, there was the option of just getting this new familiar to like Ayame. Perhaps the creature was still trying to get its bearings inside of its new host and was frightened that way. Parasites eventually found themselves to live lives similar to their hosts so that they may blend in. Would Ayame like being told to just leave it and hope it sorts itself out?

A chain from Umbra's makeshift bindings broke, loosening the holy on the leopard. It was going to hold on for much longer. Perhaps there was anothe rway? With the unfinished world, the lore to this concept was either not available or undiscovered. That made it rather difficult. 

[Assassin 0]

Assassin's eyes welled a bit. The way this was turning, every suggestion was saying that she would have to put down her familiar. Or, at least that was the implication that she was getting. She wouldn't leave her best friend to die because something tried to take over its body. She refused.

Next moment, Assassin turned around and knelt down to the fluffy, angry familiar that breaks free of it chain just as she reaches in. She wraps her arms around the familiar, who returns the gesture by simply clamping down on her shoulder and clawing at her back. Since Hyou was a low level monster, it didn't do any conscquental damage whatsoever to her, even with the enhancement of the shadow being. "Hyou! Please calm down... I don't want someone to hurt you! Y-You have to fight it, I know you can do it. If you don't, then... then... N-No! Hyou, come back to me please!"

[Hidden 1]

It was still a disheartening scene. It was even worse knowing there was nothing she could do for the girl. As one of the chains broke, Ayame pounced on the crazed familiar and Umbra withdrew its strength. The creature was back to fighting and biting but this time Hidden made no moves. It didn't seem to be causing any real danger. However, she wasn't willing to allow the creature to escape them again. These wild goose chases were rather annoying. 

"Umbra, go ahead and stop it from moving again. It is probably getting weaker." Hidden would command her familiar. She frowned when her order wasn't followed. Her head turned so that she could see her familiar who was staring off into the distance. Hidden followed the familiar's line of sight. A white orb floated above the ground, wisps of fog emanating from its body. "I haven't seen something like that on this floor before. What is it?" She watched as Umbra dashed after it.

"Now we have two runaway familiars." Hidden stated distastefully. 

[Assassin 0]

Assassin struggled to hold down Hyou as the other familiar bolted off, but to no avail. She broke free of her master's grasp and charged after the other familiar, growling and snarling. Assassin laid on the ground for a moment watching the two familiar's burst in a sprint after whatever the white orb that appeared was.

"Nee-san..." Assassin whined as she got off the ground. She wiped the tears from her eyes. The kid was obviously in a struggle to figure out what to do next. "W-We have to chase after them! What if they get hurt by something or someone?"

Assassin then charges off in their direction, not really worried about being ambushed by any enemies as she runs through. The pair of animals had gotten a long lead on them, but she could still see their behinds from this far. "Wait guys, don't run away!" She called to them, hoping that maybe her voice would knock some sense into them.

[Hidden 1]

She looked on with a looked made from a mixture of bored and confused. Had she known it would have been like this, she might not have come to the tenth floor. Ayame cried out and chased after the two familiars. 'Here we go again.' Hidden thought as she rushed after the kid. 

The familiars and the pair of players would stop a few meters away from the glowing white orb. The orb hovered in the air, a white vapor coming off from its body. It seemed to be completely formless but full of life at the same time. A heat radiated off it, warm and gentle. As if it were an animal's body heat. "I don't think I have seen this on the floor yet." Hidden said aloud, triggering everything in the area.

Umbra pounced forward at the white light which angered Hyou and the orb. A pulse of light would throw the two familiars back and rush the players with a cold wind. Crystals of ice formed in the air, several of them. Hidden was just fast enough to throw herself in front of the crystal that hurtled itself towards Ayame's chest. The crystal pierced into her left arm, drawing out red pixels. 'Tch' Hidden looked down at her arm finding the area where the crystal hit was hinted blue. 

"What the..." She would exclaim. Her eyes drifted towards her own familiar. The attack that hit it seemed to be extra effective. It seemed to have burned away the familiar's body. Umbra's body reformed and was ready for another round. 'could this thing kill the darkness in Hyou, or would it kill the familiar first. The shadow's seem to hate this thing or want it desperately.' 

[Assassin 0]

When Hidden's familiar jumped intowhite ball of light, a massive wind forced the younger girl to cover her face with her arms. Nee-san jumped in front of her, blocking shards of crystal from impaling her. Assassin yelped in fear as one of them stabbed directly into her sister's arm.

"Nee-san... Are you okay?" She asked looking at the crystal in her arm. Once she confirmed that Hidden hadn't taken any fatal damage, the young girl moved ahead to see Umbra's body reforming. The bright like called Hyou as well, or maybe even it called the darkness inside her. Hyou mimicked Umbra, jumping right into the light. The moment that she did, the parasite left Hyou's body and made some awful shriek of a noise. It was obviously in pain. Soon, it passed through the ceiling and left. Hyou's body was still alight with purple energy, however, and luckily, the light hadn't melted her like it did with Umbra.

"Hyou? Are you alright now?"

---

Familiar Training[2/3]

[Hidden 1]

"Nee-san... Are you okay?"

Hidden glanced at her health bar and found that it was almost at full. However, the damage had made it through her armor. She nodded to the young girl and watched as the crystal that struck her began to fade into nothingness. "This monster doesn't make sense with the floor. Besides, what is it?" It didn't have a red floating curosr above it. In fact, it had no cursor. It was an anomaly. 

Hyou pounced at the orb as well, and another wave would push it back, this one more powerful then the last. Raising an arm to cover her eyes from the wind, Hidden would watch as the leopard familiar would begin to smoke with a dark purple light. The body of the familiar seemed to convulse as the shadow that manifested inside was ripped away from its body from the direct blast. With one final blast, the shadow would fly into the air. 

For the first time, Hidden would get a look at the source of their problems. This shadow took the shape of something more sinister than Umbra had, taking on the form of a wraith. It had long sharp talons for hands that protruded with a dark smoke. It shrieked for a moment before swooping down to attack once more. Hidden thrust her dagger forward, a flash of holy light shining for a moment. The wraith would hesitate before retreating upwards into the air. 

While Ayame tended to her familiar, Hidden once again turned her attention on the orb of light. "I got a feeling you aren't just going to stop." Hidden said before darting forward. She slashed with her dagger and as she got closer she immediately felt much colder. The orb drifted to the side, evading her attack. By the time, she moved to turn for a second attack, she found that she couldn't move. She looked down and found her legs were trapped in blocks of ice. "What?" she heard the sound of bells ringing and turned. Hidden got a glimpse of a different form taking shape form the orb. A feline-like shape seemed to be created from the light. 

However, Hidden managed to distract it for Umbra who managed to successfully pounce the orb. As the two collided a loud pop sound as the two struggled. As the two fought, Umbra would become lighter and the orb darker until they were near the same color. Then, their bodies seemed to sink into eachother for a moment before an unknown force pulled them apart and flung them away from eachother. The two entities color would revert back to normal and the orb would quickly float away, causing for a large wall of ice to rice from the ground to block their path to follow it. 

[Assassin 0]

Now that the entity had left her familiar, Assassin was able to look upon it clearly. It was horrifying, but Hidden quickly 'persuaded' the demon to leave. Once it was gone, a malevolent energy still surrounded her familiar. She quickly ran over to the big cat cub's side and made sure that she wasn't hurt too bad. Hyou wasn't as angry as before at least, not instantly snapping at her the moment she got close.

Assassin knelt down next to Hyou and checked her wounds. They weren't bad at all and she would be alright enough to take her back to town. She hadn't even noticed Umbra taking part in the fight with orb. The loud crack of a sound burst from their collision, forcing her to cover her ears. Umbra landed next to Hyou, so she stepped over to make sure the familiar was okay as well. "Don't worry guys, you're both alright."

[Hidden 1]

With the commotion finally ended, Hidden would sigh and sheathe her weapon. "I suppose, that is enough craziness for one day. I am so confused by everything that has happened, I think I am just going to go home and relax." Hidden would begin to walk back towards the town, Umbra getting up and following. "I don't know what is up with your familiar now, but I bet it will go away after some time." 

Hidden would eventually reach the tenth floors main settlement, Yomi. If Ayame hadn't followed her, she would wait for her to arrive before stepping onto the teleport pad."Alright. Lets go home shall we?" Hidden would ask before whisking them away to the second floor. "Is your familiar alright? I doubt getting possessed or something really is good for it." She stepped forward, beginning down the path that would take the pair to Hidden's house. Why did she make it such a long walk again?