I wish inspiration came steadily, not in bursts…
Disclaimer: Runescape belongs to Jagex Ltd. CCS belongs to CLAMP and Kodansha. Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This fanfic belongs to me!
Chapter 40 – Syaoran
I was hoping we’d at least have some things… ah, here’s a little bag that seems to hold much more than it seems. So we do have backpacks of a sort…
Let’s see… 500 gold coins, a mug of beer, a map, a Dragon Fire shield, a needle and spool of thread, a pair of earmuffs, a longbow and thirty arrows, a vial of anti-poison potion, a ring mould and a bar of gold, three cooked shrimps, and a loaf of bread…
That’s not much, really. “Ash?”
He jerks, startled that I’m using his real name. “Oh! What is it, Yuki – or should I call you Syaoran?”
“Check your pockets…”
He looks at me oddly, but takes out his pack, pulling out a tinderbox, a bronze axe, a knife, a lock pick, a fishing rod and sixteen baits, and a bronze pickaxe.
“Well, I suppose we’ll have to see how this world goes.” He says.
I nod as we head out towards the area where the demon was. If we do this… errand quickly, we’ll get more money.
I’m slightly worried though.
What if we’re stranded here for the rest of our lives? No, I will not believe that can happen…
Yue has been surprisingly quiet…. Oh, he did come, right? I look around, and sure enough, a few paces away, is a pure-white rabbit. Thank Clow…
We’ve almost reached the area. Sure enough, a blood red demon, surrounded by necromancers in black, stands there, roaring.
“Should we split up?” Ash asks.
I nod. “I’ll take on the demon, if you don’t mind.”
He shakes his head. “No, I’m out of practice.” He grips his sword tightly as he charges the nearest one, a blue haze around him. “For Camelot!” He shouts, as he cuts the first one down.
As each opponent goes down, I notice that they drop bones and sometimes… other things, but their bodies just vanish.
We are definitely in a game world then. Ah, yes, the demon… it lunges at me, and I jump out of the way and cast a magic spell…
A bolt of fire energy hits it dead on as it roars.
Good, that seemed to work well. I continue my Fire bolts, and after six or seven more, it vanishes…
Does that mean we won?
Ash grins at me, as he pockets some gold the dead necromancers dropped. “Well, that wasn’t too hard.”
“Indeed.” Yue states, as he takes on human form again. “This is quite an interesting world…”
I smile. “Yes, doing magic using runes is certainly different!” There are about two hundred fire runes, six hundred airs, and thirty chaos, plus two laws in my pouch.
“More to learn then,” Ash grins. “You know, I think we may have gotten different specialties.”
“We can check, somehow, right?”
He nods, pointing to the black wristbands we both wear. “Let’s see what skills you have…”
“Magic, Ranging, Prayer, Agility, Herblore, Cooking, Crafting, and Slayer…”
“I’ve got Attack, Strength, Defense, Fishing, Mining, Woodcutting, Firemaking, and Thieving…”
“So none of ours overlap.”
“I suppose that’s good…”
“I don’t feel hungry at all though.” Ash comments.
“Maybe food has some other significance in this place?”
He nods. “That might be it…”
“Well, maybe we should go collect our reward now.”
“That sounds like a good idea!”
So we walked back to the palace, which took about twenty minutes… at least it was good exercise, though I daresay Ash had it worse. He was wearing roughly thirty-five pounds of armor… and it was black.
“I wish we could trade…”
“I know,” I answer. “Magic is fine, but… I haven’t practiced weapons in a few months, and I’d like to.”
“Hmm…” He looks thoughtful. “Maybe.”
King Raoul gave us 2000 gold coins each. Not bad!
“Hey, is that a runes shop?”
“So it is… ah, there’s a sword shop right there.” We exchange grins and head off to shop…
Soon, Ash is back with an armful of air and mind runes. I’ve been checking out the swords, and now I’ve got this lovely set of two steel daggers…
It’s interesting how I can suddenly shoot arrows – oh, it must be Arrow’s influence… she’s still with me, subdued…
Yes… none of my cards are missing, but their power has been severely dampened… even Light and Dark wouldn’t be too much help in battle in this world.
Ah well…
At least I’ve learned how to shoot… animals, like those cows in that field. I wonder why the farmer doesn’t protest?
It must be another game perk.
Ash is attempting to cast wind strikes, but all his shots miss or do little damage. Oh! He just shocked himself!
At least injuries – self-inflicted – don’t do much damage…
“Hey, Ash!”
“Yes, Yuki?” He looks up.
“Perhaps your armor is acting as a lightning rod for magic?”
His eyes gleam with understanding. “I believe you’re probably right.” He runs off to Varrock, and returns half an hour later in blue robes. His armor has somehow managed to fit into the tiny bag he carries.
It’s not so odd… I have one myself.
Well, when cows die, they drop slabs of beef… he chops down a small tree, lights a fire… and I cook the beef.
Interesting…
Now what should we do?
How long will we be stranded here? Crossing dimensions is always a tricky business. I wonder how much time has passed at Hogwarts.
It did seem to be home for a time.
Now, though, I know how Dumbledore truly thinks and feels. Vile, trickster… pretending to be friendly…
He wanted to take me to Azkaban! If not for Light, I could have died!
I doubt he cares…
We’re probably all pawns to use in the war against Voldemort. After all, Ash is ‘Harry Potter – the boy who lived’. The perfect hero to stand up on a pedestal…
Poor Ash…
It must be hard, getting his memories back. I’ve heard Yue talking to his moon guardian, Sabrina. She acts almost exactly like Yue. How bizarre.
Maybe all moon guardians are taken from the same mold.
Beef… we split a steak and consume it. I suppose it’s not too bad, kind of tasteless though…
In a virtual world food wouldn’t have a taste, I suppose…
Nani?
My watch reads eight P.M., but it’s still light out! There’s no night and day in this realm? Then how do we sleep?
Do we even need to? I feel no fatigue.
Odd.
End Chapter
Completed 4/4/05
Started 4/3/05