(PP-F5) Always a Bigger Fish (Persephone) <<Blood in The Sand>>(COMPLETE)

[Jomei 0]

He had no idea why he chose the Fifth Floor to walk around on. It was one of his least favorite places to be. The hot grainy sand, with not a body of water in sight, made the air hot and dry. Not to mention the excessive heat...but he was beginning to get used to it though. The ginger haired man walked around the man square of the city, his hands in his pockets. The signs up for the boss raid had taken place and were locked just like that. Jomei originally planned to go with the group, support the raid party and keep Lowenthal alive to the best of his abilities. But, going behind the mans back, Lowenthal banned and member of The Velvet Room from joining in the battle.. wanting to keep the guild alive in case anything happened to him. He could not help but be pissed off at his friend for being selfish and do so. What would happen if he did end up dying? How would his friends feel about that? He kicked the sand, sending a handful of the grainy dust into the air in front of him. It was then he realized that he did not even know how else would be going to this fight.. or even if they had enough people to keep everyone alive. Being the man had attended the meeting on Floor Eleven, he had received a message on the battle plan and which members were attending.. despite Lowenthal blocking his privileges from being able to answer. Jomei decided to finally take a look at the roster to see just what was going to happen. He scrolled through.. everyone seemed pretty capable of themselves. At the end of the list came a familiar name, Persephone. He blinked with wide eyes.. he did not know the girl very well, but from the last time he had met her, she did not seem like much of a fighter. What was Lowenthal thinking of this? Was he allowing it? Either way, Jomei knew he needed to do something to help. If he could not be in the actual fight, he was going to help someone survive.

He quickly opened up his private message window and composed a new one to the girl

Persephone,

Saw that you were gonna be taking on the Floor Eleven boss with the raid party. Was wondering if you'd like some help leveling up before hand. Meet me on Floor Five if you're interested, we can find a quest or two to help grind quickly.

- Jomei 

[Persephone 0]

Lisa didn’t know how it was that she came to be on the roster for the boss fight. She had mentioned to others that she had wanted to be a battle medic, but that did not mean that she actually had the capabilities to do so. She was screwed. Really [censored] screwed. She had next to no level and she was supposed to help take out a floor boss? They were all insane and she was going to die.

Rather than focus on her death, Lisa had decided to level as much as she could before the fight to see if there wasn’t some miracle that she and the others would survive. She was looking for someone to party with when a message came through. She opened it and saw it was from Jomei, one of the other handsome gingers she’d met the night of Zelruis’s birthday bash. Deciding that this was a good thing, she popped open a reply box and typed a message back to the young man before heading up to the fifth floor.

Thanks for your offer! Would love to not die!

 Will meet you in town on the fifth floor; let me know a spot and I will find you. 

[Jomei 0]

Only a couple of moments later and Jomei received a reply from Persephone. Reading it over, she accepted the man's help and asked where in Armadillo to meet him. He rubbed the back of his neck, probably should have been more specific with that in the first message. Looking around where he stood, he tried to find some sort of landmark that stuck out from the rest. His green orbs finally met with the run down and decrepit bell tower of an old church. It was nothing too big or out of the ordinary, but it towered above the other buildings, so it seemed like a good spot. He set up another private message to send to the girl:

RE:RE:
Persephone

I probably should have specified in the last message.

Theres an old church with a broken tower a little bit North of the warp gate. Just meet me outside there.

-Jomei

 After sending out the message, the ginger haired man walked over to where the church stood. Didnt look like there was much going on inside, as it was probably coded into the game to be abandoned. He leaned against one of the adobe walls and waited for the girl to arrive. 

[Persephone 0]

Lisa received her instructions and headed off toward the warp platforms. She chose the level and then headed off toward the desert level for some fun. Having reached the correct floor, she hopped off the platform and bounced her way toward the church she was told about. She opened up her map and selected the landmark, a red marker popped up on the screen and she followed the blip till she arrived at her destination. Sure enough the tall young man was there waiting for her and she hurried over to him with a wide smile on her cute face. “I’m here!” She said as she stopped just a few meters short of running right into Jomei. 

[Jomei 0]

Jomei was looking up at the blue sky of Floor Five, without a cloud in sight. Seemed about right for a desert as hot and dry as this one. The silhouette of a small bird circled in the air high above him. With a smirk, the ginger let out a sharp whistle, and the bird changed course and dove down straight to Jomei's position. The bird turned out to be an owl, Jomei's familiar companion to be exact. The bird took to a hover above Jomei's shoulder and perched on the layered armor piece. As he scratched the ice of the bird's head with his index finger, he heard a voice call over to him. Looking forward, Jomei recognized the familiar bob of brown hair running towards him with a bright smile on her face. Jomei put up his hand and gave the girl a small wave, "Hey Persephone, good to see you again." 

With a lift of his hand, he opened up his menu screen, sending the girl both a party invite and friend request, something he admitted to forgetting to do at Zelrius' party. "So, ready to get some training in?" 

 

[Persephone 0]

The young woman smiled softly as the lanky man greeted her so kindly. She was pleased that Lowenthal knew so many lovely individuals. She still wondered about the disheveled young man at Zelruis’s party, but she was not the type to pry, especially since that looked like an incredibly explosive subject. “It’s very lovely to see you again as well. Thank you for inviting me out. I was afraid I wouldn’t even be a bit ready for this fight. Now I’ve got a chance…” she said so very grateful that Jomei had called her out.

Lisa watched as the pretty ginger man opened his panel and then sent her a friend and party request. She accepted both and gave a nod. “I’m ready!” she said with a determined look on her face. 

[Jomei 0]

"Alright then, lets get going." He gave the girl a soft smile before pressing a button in his inventory. As he did so, his slender sword materialized onto his waist. With a nod, he led the girl out of Armadillo and into the desert. Looking up at the sky again, he used his hand to block out the sun's rays from blinding him. He brought his hand back down and unclipped the long green cloak that ran down his back. As he did so, the cloth fell from his neck and hit the sand, vanishing into white light as it went back into his inventory. "So, lass. You didn't seem like you had faith in yourself with this fight.. How come you signed up for it in the first place?" Jomei was not one to judge, but Persephone did not seem like the type to jump straight into the boss fight. He had faith the girl was strong and could handle herself.. but he also did not want to see the girl getting killed. 

[Persephone 0]

Lisa nodded as Jomei said they ought to head out. She wasn’t sure how much help she could be on a quest like this, but some would be better than none. She walked alongside the young man, her head down watching her feet as she walked, feeling rather unsure of herself. Jomei must have sensed her worry as he piped up and asked why she had joined the fight when she seemed so unsure of herself.

 “To be honest, I didn’t know I had. “ She laughed. “I had mentioned my want to be a medic, and the next thing I know I’m being told I’m needed on the front, and Zelruis is such a smooth talker I agreed before I even realized it. I didn’t even remember saying something like a yes until I saw my name on the announcement. I feel absolutely stupid. I’m probably going to die… that is if I don’t die here first.” She lamented. 

[Jomei 0]

Jomei looked at the girl with pinched eyebrows. It sounded like she was just thrown into the situation, either from a misunderstanding.. or just Zelrius taking advantage of the girl's want to be a medic. He let out a heavy sigh, he did not want to see such a sweet girl get killed. He shifted his pace so he was walking slightly closer to her, and he placed his hand gently on the girl's back. "Well, why else do you think I invited you out here." he gave her a soft smile. "I may not really know you much, but I'm not gonna let you die." He then looked forward once again to see where he was walking, his voice took a more serious tone, "So, in case you were wondering, I'm taking you to fight the field boss of this floor.. its a shark that burrows in the sand, I'm not much of a tank.. but I'm going to draw all of its attacks on me.." he rubbed his hand on his chin before pulling a crystal out of one of the pouches in his belt. He placed the crystal in the girl's hand, "Here, if you don't use it, I'll need it back.. but its a teleport crystal. If things start to look bad, use it." Off in the distance, Jomei noticed a sail boat shipwrecked on the land. There were gaping holes in the hull of the ship with sand pouring out, and most of the sail was ripped apart. He lifted his hand and pointed towards it, "It'll spawn over there. Are you ready, Persephone?" 

-1 Teleportation Crystal

Edited September 27, 2015 by Jomei

[Persephone 0]

Jomei placed his hand on her back reassuringly as he spoke telling her he had called her out to help. “Thank you Jomei, you’re terribly kind.” She said smiling brightly. He then went into explaining their mission and she nodded all the while. The idea of a land shark was excellent. She had seen many silly shark movies dealing with the same premise and now he got to live out a secret horror movie fantasy.  The man paused for a moment and then pulled something from his inventory and placed it in her hands. It was a teleport crystal. He told her to use it in the event things got ugly. “But…” she was going to ask about his safety, but she knew he was much stronger than she was. “Okay Jomei… I won’t make you worry by staying in a bad place. Just you be careful too okay?” 

+1 TELEPORTATION CRYSTAL

[Jomei 0]

Jomei stopped in his step as the two were about five meters from the shipwreck. He reached his arm across his body and drew his Summerthorn rapier, "I will be." He looked over to Persephone and nodded his head, signaling for the girl to follow him in closer to the structure. This time, his walk was much slower as he approached, knowing it was the probably spawn point of the sand shark. "Just be ready, it likes to sneak up on y-" As if on que, the sand around them began to rumble. He recognized the feeling from the last time he had fought this boss. From the top of the large sand dune behind the boat, Jomei noticed the large, dark fin of the beast plowing through the sand towards their position. Jomei took a more battle ready position, placing his rapier out in front of him in a dueler's stance. As the fin disappeared behind the boat, the entirety of the sand shark dove out of the sand over the top of the mast of the ship. It was about the size of a large great white shark, but its skin was made of tan, dry looking scales. Jomei pushed off of his back foot and began to run forward, planning to intercept the Shark on its downward motion and attack it before burrowing into the sand. It was falling at pretty fast speeds, so Jomei would need to activate his <Concentration> skill to ensure a successful hit. As he closed in on the target, he leapt up to meet it in the air. His rapier began to glow a gold aura as he activated his Neutron sword skill. With the system taking over, Jomei seemed to thrust his rapier forward once, the blade colliding with the nose of the shark. Once his sword made contact, however, 4 more streaks of light pummeled into the shark's face.. dealing a five hit combo in total. Jomei hit the ground and dove back out of the way to avoid being sucked into the sand with it. 

-------
ID: 33025
BD: 3 (+2) (+1 Concentration) 
DMG: 5x7 = 35 Dmg (Neutron - 5 EP)
MD: 6(-1) = 5 Miss
-------

HP:
Jomei: 89/89 ( 16/21) (H:1)
Persephone: 24/24 (6/6)

Sand Shark: 90/125
Base Atk: 30

Edited September 27, 2015 by Jomei

[Persephone 0]

The pair had finally made it to the desert wreckage. There was a ship half sunk into the sand and she couldn’t believe her eyes. It was a trip to see ship wreckage in the middle of a dry and dusty desert. “Well I’ll be…” she said and smiled as they approached with caution. They were in shark territory now.  

Jomei had told her to be careful and keep her eyes out for the monster, and no sooner than he had, the ground began to shake, and a large fin appeared from the top of the sand dunes close to where they were. “OH MY GOD…  THIS IS FREAKING AWESOME!” Lisa squealed in delight as she pulled her weapon from its sheath and readied Reaver for the attack. Her companion went first. He was able to strike the monster with little effort and she was relieved. With the damn thing focused on him, she would live to see another day.

 

33269

BD: 8     PERSEPHONE HITS SAND SHARK FOR 2 DMG    (-1 energy)

PARALYSIS ACTIVATED

 

Her turn.

Persphone waited for an opening and she hit the sand shark with all she could, which wasn’t very much. However, her stunning abilities kicked in, and the shark was frozen. The young woman landed and bounced as she had done her job as she hoped. “There Jomei… go get it!” She cheered excitedly.

 

Jomei: 89/89 (16/21) (H:1)
Persephone: 24/24 (5/6) (H:1)

Sand Shark: 88/125

[Jomei 0]

As the shark made its way back up through the sand, Persephone jumped into the battle and made an attack on it. Her sword collided with the monster, not doing much damage, but it fell short of its leaping attack and crashed into the sand. Taking a quick peek at its HP bar, Jomei noticed the small lightning bolt that indicated it was stunned. "Nice one!" he called over to her, and she replied with telling Jomei to take his attack. With a nod, the ginger haired man turned back to their stunned foe. Moving quickly with the help of his <Sprint> skill, he flew through the sand to where the shark tried to regain its movements. As he ran, his sword began to glow its gold aura again, and within the same movement, he brought his sword downwards to slash at the shark's stomach. He then followed with another 5 strikes, creating a bright red cross on its body. 

------------
ID: 33287
BD: 9 (+2) = 11 
DMG: 6x7(+1) = 48 (Crucifixion - 6 EP)
MD: 6 (Stunned) 
------------

Jomei: 89/89 (11/21) (H:3)
Persephone: 24/24 (5/6) (H:1)

Sand Shark: 40/125 (- 48 )

Edited September 28, 2015 by Jomei

[Persephone 0]

Jomei launched a brilliant attack on the monster unleashing a can of whoop ass that made the mobs life drop significantly. She smiled as she’d done her job properly. I was part of the reason she was being taken to the fight, her paralysis ability was supposed to help keep the mob from attacking so stronger players could wallop the crap out of it and finish it off without fear of attack. Being able to move again and fearing another stun, the shark dove back into the sand, its fin disappearing under the dunes. “Damn it… it ran! Be careful!” She said calling out to her companion.

 

33637   BD: 3     MISSED     -2 ENERGY

 

Jomei: 89/89 (11/21) (H:3)
Persephone: 24/24 (3/6) (H:1)

Sand Shark: 40/125 

[Jomei 0]

The irishman finished his attack and leapt back as the shark began to flail its way out of the paralysis. Once it was free, the beast twisted and turned its body to get back into the sand. During its initial descent, Jomei could feel the slight tremble of the earth around them.. but it soon stopped. It must have gone deep below the sand so it could move without being noticed. Jomei looked up into the air at his familiar that was circling them, hoping she would have been able to pinpoint its location. Judging by the owl's stagnant circles, she must have been in the dark just as much as the two players on the ground. The ground slowly began to shake, more and more, the starting point being just under Jomei's boots. Looking down at the sand, the snout of the environmentally-challenged shark emerged quickly, pushing Jomei into the air. As the ginger was propelled upwards, the shark opened its large jowls to catch the player. Jomei quickly flipped his body around so he was falling towards the shark head first. Activating a sword skill, he shoved his sword forward, the blade plunging into the face of the shark, adding an additional four unseen strikes. The shark began to dissipate into white data fragments as the ginger fell threw them and into the sand. 

------------
ID: 33681
BD: 10
DMG: 5x(7+2) = 45
MD: Dead
LD: 2 
------------

Jomei: 89/89 (7/21) (H:3)
Persephone: 24/24 (5/6) (H:1)

Sand Shark: -5/125 (-45)

+1 Mat
+ Sand Armor Potion (Each)
 

Edited October 1, 2015 by Jomei

[Persephone 0]

Lisa and Jomei stood there looking about for where the shark might attack from next. The ground began to quiver and up came the damn shark. It sent Jomei flying through the air. Lisa screamed and rushed toward him, her blade at the ready to attack, but her companion had things handled. He flipped over and dove straight for the shark, connecting with the beast using his long thin blade cutting into the beast. His strike was a critical one and the monster burst into pixels as the young man sailed down through the frenzy of colored dots and fell into the sand.

“OH MY GOD!” Lisa hollered as she rushed forward. “Are you okay Jomei?”

She said as she started pulling bandages from her bag to administer first aid. Upon inspection however, the young man was absolutely perfect. Without a thought she grabbed the lanky ginger and hugged him tightly. “You are one tough son of a bitch you know that? Thank was absolutely amazing! You’re insane!” She laughed as she let him go, still smiling widely. 

[Jomei 0]

The ginger haired man picked his face up out of the sand. After spitting out the grainy material that he had taken a mouthful of when he hit the ground, he shook his head to rid it of the rest in his hair. He did not even hear the girl yell as she ran over to his where he was. He pushed himself up to he was sitting on his legs in a kneeling position. The girl was looking at him in almost a shock, bandages and other first aid equipment in her hands and at the ready. Jomei glanced over at his health bar, which was still at max.. as well as hers, which was the important part. He looked back to her as his lips curved into a smirk, "Well.. Wasn't that fun?" he chuckled. 

Persephone then fell into Jomei, wrapping her arms around him. A light blush came to his cheeks as his eyes went wide. Seemed like the girl had not seen anything like that, maybe this was her first field boss fight? He chuckled as the girl let her go, rubbing the back of his neck. "Heh, thanks. Honestly I'm just happy you came out alright." He returned the girl's smile and stood up, brushing the rest of the sand off of his clothes. 

[Persephone 0]

“Yeah me too! I’m so glad you didn’t get swallowed alive.” Lisa doubled over in laughter still amazed at what she saw. It wasn’t her first rodeo by any means, but it was certainly the most interesting boss fight she’d had thus far. After minutes of giddy laughter the young woman packed up her first aid equipment and stood up giving a bit of a stretch. She checked her stats and smiled widely, “I got two levels out of this!” She cheered and threw her hands up in the air.  “Thank you Jomei! I really needed that boost!” 

As she stood there she realized that they hadn’t collected their winnings. “Hey… what’d this stupid shark drop?” She asked curiously. 

[Jomei 0]

Jomei laughed pathetically at the thought of being swallowed by that shark... To think, just one wrong more and it could have been over like that. He let out a sigh of relief and looked down at the girl with a smile, "Yeah. Me too." Jomei looked around the surrounding area as Persephone looked at the gray box in front of her. With a giddy smile, the girl cried out that she had gained two entire levels from the boss fight. Jomei turned to her with a grin, "Thats great! And no need to thank me." he chuckled happily. 

The girl then brought up that they should have gotten some sort of a reward from killing such a touch enemy, "Oh yeah. Almost forgot." Jomei opened up his inventory with a movement of his hand. Scrolling all the way through his items, he came to an item known as Sand Armor Potion. "Here, you should have gotten one of these potions. Its called the Sand Armor potion.. you can pour it onto your armor and it supposedly strengthens its defenses for a little while. That.. may actually be really helpful for you in the boss fight." 

[Persephone 0]

Prsephone opened her HUD as Jomei had and sure enough she had one of the potions like he’s shown her. He explained what it was for and the pretty woman smiled. “Really?” That’s flipping brilliant! OH Jomei, you really are a lifesaver! If I make it out of there alive, I will I don’t know… but we will do something to celebrate me not dying.” Lisa began to laugh but dying was really something that had been looming on her mind lately. She hoped she would be alright.