The Way Back

Derek: <No way in hell am I letting you guys touch Kelphy!>

*He holds up his hand, ablaze with fire. He slams it into the ground, causing the floor to become red hot.*

~Kari & Kentaro~

OOC: Yeah, sorry

*The White Paradise is in a lower, eastern side of the city. To get there they have to walk down a group of really long stone flights of stairs down a snowy hill covered in trees. At the bottom they find an ancient japan-y setting with wooden houses around a large deep snowy garden that looks more like a small patch of woods. Scattered around the place are lampposts and a relaxing flute melody is playing in the background. Only a couple women are walking around. A sign on the house closest to the stairs reads "Reception".*

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~Derek, Kelphy & Crowley~

Fat Bandit: <Belly really hur----OWWWW!!!>

*The Fat Bandit groans as the floor becomes really hot. The blonde thiefess pulls a rapier out of her mouth and somehow balances it vertically on the floor, jumping onto the hilt. Spade's feet are surrounded by flames of his own to protect himself and Kelphy's by water. The fat bandit's belly starts roaring again and, next thing they know, an immense jet of triturated tuna and gastric acid is flying into Derek from his mouth at great pressure.*

Blonde Thiefess: <Gross!>

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~Creed~

Crone: <You get a bitchslap, motherfucker. Let's go.>

*He glances at the wounded horse, which is staring at them with abandoned puppy eyes, and proceeds to ride the good one. He motions for Creed to ride along.*

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~Lucien~

*As the creature gets closer, he realizes it is a 13-feet-tall blue horse with a pulsing blue aura, dark blue mane and tail, and fully glowing yellow eyes, no pupil or iris. It stops, floating above the water a few feet from him, and turns its head to look at him. Lucien feels his bones become cold once more as the stallion neighs a roar.*

*Kentaro continues till' Kari takes his hand and begins to bull him towards the reception building.*

"A nightmare huh... never thought I'd see one in person" Lucien grips his swords. "Well then... COME ON!!" he motions the beast to come at him.

---

Creed looks back at the wound horse. He walks to it and touches it sending a pulse of ice magic through it. The horse is put to sleep as its body flash freezes in an instant before shattering into ice particles.

*Crowley jumps away and up onto a chandelier, standing on it.*

Crowley: <(She uses magic... and I have no magic... I wonder how I can get around this.)>

*Crowley starts thinking to himself.*

*Derek holds up his sword and cuts through the stream of fish, then dashes at the group of bandits.*

Derek: <Leave!>

*He slashes in a circle, that catches ablaze with fire.*

~Kari & Kentaro~

*A pretty young woman with waist-lenght brown hair wearing a pink kimono is standing behind a counter. As they walk in she holds out a basket of rice balls.*

Receptionist: <Welcome to the White Paradise District! As you might know, this is the smallest district in capital Alda. The whole district is actually a hotel and spa resort built to make help you relaxe and even...>

*She winks at them.*

Receptionist: <...to give couples some romantic time. We're only charging 100 Gald a person for 2 hours in the resort as a celebration of the boss's birthday! Do you wish to stay?>

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~Derek, Kelphy & Crowley~

*Half a dozen blazing knifes come darting from the ceiling towards Derek as Spade leaps over to Kelphy. He draws a knife and points it at her neck, cutting the necklace, which rolls down the stairs. He then swings the knife back upwards to cut her throat. She presses against his belly with her palms and all of them hear a muffled "vroom" for a second. Spade starts bleeding out of his ears, mouth and nose a bit and falls to the floor. Kelphy steps away, widening her eyes.*

Kelphy: <I-I-I-I'm sorry!>

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~Creed~

Crone: <How noble of you. Only gets you so far in life. Believe me, for I have lived a long one.>

*And so they set off on the white horse, finally exiting the mountain range and arriving at the frozen coast.*

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~Lucien~

*The horse leaps over him, soaring up the cliff. At the top it turns back down and roars, head-sized hail swirling down from the sky upon him in a spiral.*

"Yes."

*She hands the lady two hundred gald.*

Lucien waits for the hail and actually deftly uses it as stepping stones to leap up the cliff face and attack with a shadow handed punch. Though reality he was aiming to grab the horse with another hand from behind and swing around to stab it.

---

"Honor, when applied properly, can be more of an asset than a burden."

Derek: <What the...>

*One of the knives goes across his shoulder in an instant.*

Derek: <GAH!>

Crowley: <(Dammit, Spade! This doesn't look good.... but now's my chance!)>

*Swiftly and quietly he drops from the chandelier to the ground and picks up Spade's body with his left arm and dashes over to the necklace and picks it up as well. He did all of this before anyone could react.*

Crowley: <Everyone, fall back! We're out of here!>

*Crowley quickly runs past the fat bandit and blonde thiefess and out of the building.*

~Kari & Kentaro~

Receptionist: <Thank you! Just a second, please.>

*She crouches behind the counter and stands back up holding two thin white towels. She hands them to them and points at a door behind her while sliding a section of the counter opened.*

Receptionist: <Please go through. I hope you enjoy your time here!>

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~Derek, Kelphy & Crowley~

*Kelphy runs to Derek, holding her hands out towards the door. As the blonde thiefess and the fat bandit are running out, water bursts from the ground, hurling them aside. She runs to the doors and unlocks them, dozens of guards running into the lobby and then out of the palace after the four bandits.*

[My necklace...!]

Kelphy: <Master Derek, are you all right?!>

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~Creed~

Crone: <Of course you'd say that.>

*The horse suddendly grows a pair of long light wings and proceeds to run on water across the ocean.*

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~Lucien~

*The horse's body turns into water and bursts. It reappears behind Lucien and floats back across the sky. It opens its mouth, shooting a jet of dark water towards Lucien. Just as its about to hit, a red spheric barrier surrounds him, stopping the attack. The horse roars and darts towards Lucien.*

*Derek covers his wound, which is already starting to cauterize thanks to the heat from the knife.*

Derek: <I'm fine, Princess... But what about you? Are you hurt?>

"What the...?" Lucien looks confused for a second but recovers soon enough to launch a few shadow fists at the horse.

---

"The keyword is properly."

"You're welcome."

*The two go through the door.*

Crowley: <Go go go go go go go go go go!!!!>

*Crowley runs as fast as he can to get out of the palace, jumping up onto a tree and then swinging from tree to tree to escape faster and in a more stealthy way.*

~Kari & Kentaro~

*It's a backdoor exit out of the house. A stone path leads into the snowy garden.*

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~Derek & Kelphy~

*A drop of blood drips down her neck from a tiny cut on her neck.*

Kelphy: <I'm...I'm fine.>

*She looks at the door and bites her lip, wincing.*

Kelphy: <(...I- I can't lose that necklace.)>

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~Crowley~

*The blonde thiefess follows him up onto the trees, leaving the fat bandit behind. Suddenly, black smoke fills the air. They hear the guards yell about it, and feel their arms grabbed and pushed. Some familiar bandits help them out of the city. Soon, they're in the middle of one of the many frozen plains surrounding the city, near a large rock. Several bandits are talking on one side of the rock. The blonde thiefess, the fat bandit and Crowley are alone on the other side, Spade sitting against the rock near them.*

Blonde Thiefess: <Good thing the guys came to help us.>

Fat Bandit: <I was scared. Now I hungry.>

Spade: <Did you... did you get it?>

*He looks at Crowley.*

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~Creed~

Crone: <They will never forget everything I've done. No one will.>

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~Lucien~

*The monsters screeches as the punches thrust into its body, and it turns into water that rockets past Lucien. It takes shape again behind him, roars, and swings its front hooves at Lucien's head as water wraps around his body.*

Crowley: <Yes, but I don't see what the big deal with it is...>

*Crowley picks it up and dangles it in the air.*

*They follow the path.*

Kentaro:<Say, how come we're here? If you don't mind me asking.>

"Well... Er..."

Kentaro:<Say no more. I think I understand.>

[Well, not really.]

The Lucien it attacks seemingly dissolves into shadows that shoot forward like shrapnel aiming to tear the horse beast a part. Lucien himself had narrowly dodged and barely had time to cast a proper illusion causing it to fade as quickly as it did.

---

"But by continuing to lack honor how will you change their minds? Or is it your goal to prove them right?"

Derek: <I'll get it then.>

*He gets to his feet and runs, limping a bit, in the direction the thieves left.*

~Kari & Kentaro~

Within the garden is a large natural hotspring and a pretty large inn next to it. The flute melody is louder now, and the vapor rising from the water immediately makes them feel warm. An old lady is bathing by herself at the far end of the hotspring, but that's about it for strangers.*

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~Derek & Kelphy~

Kelphy: <...N-No, Master Derek...!>

*She follows him. Walking out, they see a thick layer of black smoke drifting away in the wind, the guards walking around mighty confused. The bandits are no where to be found.*

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~Crowley~

*It's a silver necklace with a blue gem and a silver horse silhouette embedded in it.*

Blonde Thiefess: <Looks mighty valuable.>

Fat Bandit: <You all right, spade?>

Blonde Thiefess: <You weren't kidding about the princess. What did she even do to you? And finding His Majesty, the King of Sephira there with her? How's that for a surprise, eh?>

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~Creed~

Crone: <I don't seek redemption. I just want to keep the promise I made to Sephira.>

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~Lucien~

*The monster roars as the shadows fly through it. A minimal amount of blood seems to splatter off seconds before its body bursts into water. It reappears inches away from Lucien, its yellow bright eyes staring into his. A jet of water springs up from beneath him and swallows him, enveloping him in a large sphere of water as the monster floats away.*

Lucien gasps for air.

---

"You are a stubborn one."

*Crowley sighs and continues looking at it.*

Crowley: <So, what do we do now? It's in our possession.>

Kentaro:<I assume there are other attractions to this place?>

[And where'd that flute come from?]