(PP-F2) A Long Overdue Meeting (Sousuke) COMPLETE!

[Amira 0]

Manta was visiting the second floor. She didn't have any particular reason to be there other than the fact that she needed a bit of a break from the constant training, fighting, crafting, and material hunting. The forested area of the second floor was one of the best places to relax. It was filled with monsters and other mobs, sure, but nothing beat hiking in the woods and just forgetting about all your responsibilities. It was also a great place because she wasn't likely to meet anyone who knew her. Most people knew that she spent most of her time on the first floor, so if they were looking for her they would their and not here. She didn't know why she bothered planning this out... It wasn't like anyone would come looking for her anyway, except for maybe Koumori, looking to duel with her or go hunting. Currently she was sitting on the edge of a fountain, relaxing in the sun. Despite relaxing, she was still decked out in her equipment, her blue leather breastplate, her beautifully crafted silver sword, and her bulky pair of silver gauntlets. Still, she did look like she was having a good time. Her head was tilted back, turned upwards towards the suns rays, her hair streaming down behind her, almost touching the water, but not quite.

Edited October 25, 2015 by Manta Gaul

[Sousuke 0]

Sousuke was walking through the forest he once walked with his girlfriend Manta way back before he left on his own to find himself a purpose to stay in this death game. He had lost everything and now all he was known as was the fallen hero to some and others the hooded swordsman. He noticed a fountain he used to meet up at with Manta and his memories can flushing back.

He approached the fountain with his hood still pulled up hiding most of his face yet his trademark scar was still visible. He didn't notice anyone around and thought he could allow himself this one moment of weakness. 

Pulling his hood down for the first time in a good while he let his now shoulder length hair free. It was messy and unkempt. He tossed a single coin into the fountain and started to cry as he looked into the clear water and uttered a few simple words.

"I just wish I could have one more chance to make things right." He said out as he let the tears fall and slammed his fist on the fountain in frustration.

[Amira 0]

Manta smiled as she watched a bird fly by in the sky above. She had been depressed for a long time after Sousuke had left. She had retreated to herself, forsaking all of her friends. It was only recently that she had come out of that slump and thrown herself into helping to complete the game. What had once seemed like a paradise, an escape from an uncaring world, now seemed like a prison. It was a n extremely nice prison, full of nice people, but it was a prison nonetheless. She had changed, the fake smile that had been plastered on her face for most of her life was gone now, and she dealt with the full responsibility of her emotions, no longer hiding but confronting them head on. Still, that hadn't resolved the problem of her loneliness.

Until she met Koumori that was... She had been heading into a cave to hunt mobs when she'd run across a high level monster. She'd elbowed him in the face as he was exiting, and instead of leaving her to deal with the problem had stayed and helped her. After that they had become some sort of combination of rivals and friends, hunting for materials together, and practicing their skills on each other. It helped to fill the hole that had been left by the exit of Sousuke and her other friends. She stopped thinking about the past as she heard footsteps behind her. There was a man on the opposite side of the fountain. It appeared that he had completely overlooked her, and had just tossed a coin in before starting to cry. Manta was about to stand up and walk away from the fountain, feeling that she was somehow intruding into the personal affairs of someone else, when she noticed the scar. She jolted with surprise, and her hands slipped from where they were bracing her in place. She tumbled backwards into the water with a gigantic splash, not entirely sure if her eyes had been deceiving her or not.

[Sousuke 0]

Sousuke was brought out of his meloncholy when he heard the splash of water which completely snapped him back to his senses. He quickly wipped his eyes and looked around for the source of the noise. He saw a girl trying to regain her composure on the other side of the fountain. He brushed his hair out of his face still not used to it's New length and quickly walked to the other side. Just as he got there he stopped in his tracks completely dumbstruck by who he saw. He couldn't believe she was sitting right there in the very same fountain they had fallen in once when he tried to stop he from slipping.

"M - Monty?" He asked in disbelieve his hand outstretched awkwardly as time seemed to stop for this single moment his eyes wide in shock.

[Amira 0]

Manta heard her real name being used, and she pushed her soaking wet hair up out of her face. This was awkward... Wait a second, wasn't this the same fountain they had fallen into all that time ago? Her memory was slightly hazy, but she couldn't believe she hadn't realized that. Then her thoughts rushed back to reality. Sousuke was right there in front of her, after all this time. A whole rush of conflicting emotions flooded into her, sadness, happiness, anger, joy, hurt. She was overwhelmed, and all she could come up with to say was "I guess I fall into fountains a lot when your around.", a shell shocked look on her face. She just sat there in the fountain, her eyes taking Sousuke and his new look in. And she'd thought she'd changed. He looked like he'd been through a lot, and her first instinct was to try to comfort him. That's what she would have done before at least. Now she was still trying to process exactly what was happening.

[Sousuke 0]

Sousuke slowly came back to his senses still struggling with his emotions, unsure what he should be feeling. Settling for happiness he stepped into the fountain and gently pulled Manta to her feet before wrapping his arms around her not caring that she was soaking wet. He held her there taking in her scent and reliving so many moments in his head tears coming to his eyes again. 

"I'm So sorry I didn't contact you." He whispered between quiet sobs trying not to completely break down.

[Amira 0]

Manta could have sworn she'd gotten over him when she sold that coat he'd given her, but apparently some of her feelings for him were still there. She allowed him to pull her to her feet, torn between slapping him and running away. But then he hugged her and started to sob. That decided it. She had come back from her bout of depression slightly more cynical, and without that fake smile, but she hadn't become anywhere near heartless enough to shove away someone who was crying and slap them, or even run away from them. It was apparent that he'd been through a lot lately, like her, but it looked like he'd come out of it worse for the wear, unlike her. She still didn't know what to feel though. Fear was definitely one of the emotions, fear of failing to comfort him, fear of successfully comforting him, and definitely a fear of how he might have changed after all this time.

She reached up and gently patted his back with one hand, the other reflexively holding onto the hilt of her sword. Even in a safe zone, sword had a knockback effect, they just didn't deal damage. Maybe she should give him a whack on the head with her sword. That might jar him out of his sadness. Manta thought a bit more and came to the conclusion that that was a terrible idea.

[Sousuke 0]

Sousuke managed to regain his composure after a little while the only sounds were his sobbing and Manta breathing softly. He felt her sword hand twitch towards the hilt of her blade and he gently released her stepping back just a little and brushed his hair from his face simultaneously sipping his eyes. He instantly assumed she was mad at him but the look in her eyes spelled fear. 

"Your afraid of me arnt you." He whispered softly. He unfastned his sword from his belt and set it on the side of the fountain to show he had no intention to hurt her.

"I may not look like your Sousuke but I still love you, the day I left was a mistake I should never have made and leaving you alone tore me apart I promised I'd never leave and I broke it." He whispered hanging his head his hair hiding his face.

[Amira 0]

(OOC: Sorry if the post is short or has a bunch of spelling mistakes. Im on my phone atm.)

"Im not afraid of you. Im afraid of this situation. And I dont know how I feel about you right now." Manta paused, trying to think rationally but failing, a single tear falling from her right eye to plop onto the ground. He had said he wanted another chance before, at the fountain before he knew she was there. Was he talking about her? She decided to assume so. She definatelt felt something for Sousuke, but she was no longer sure what that was. "Im at fault too. If this is going to work... We need to start over, from the beginning." She wiped her eyes and then hardened her expression to one of utter seriousness. "Im Manta. Nice to meet you." 

[Sousuke 0]

Sousuke looked up as Manta re introduced herself. She was right, starting over was a good idea he could tell they had both changed and he didn't want to lose her even if she wasn't the exact same girl he knew.

"I'm Sousuke, it's a pleasure." He said to her in reply grinning a little. The first smile in a long long time. It wasn't much but it was a start.

He bowed to her and added "Thank you for this second chance." He said politely before standing back up and taking in her looks. Her hair was slightly longer and she had ... Matured quite well it seemed and Rogaine has to look away slightly as his face heated up in embarassment.

[Amira 0]

Manta smiled back at him, before noticing that his eyes had wandered over to her hair and then somewhere else. Of course, he could just be checking out her latest piece of equipment, the blue leather breastplate she was wearing, but he gave away exactly what he was looking at when his cheeks started to turn red. Manta took her sword off of her belt, still in it's sheath, and gave him a little rap on the top of his head. "I'm just going to assume your looking at my equipment. +3 evasion, makes me pretty much impossible to hit. Y'know, I did hear somewhere that the best way to get to know someone again after not seeing them for a while is to fight them." She suggested. Sad to say, but after she had withdrawn to herself, she had become a bit of an addict to fighting. It helped get rid of that pang of loneliness. Even if she wasn't all that lonely now, she still enjoyed it a lot.

[Sousuke 0]

Sousuke winced as she lightly tapped his head with her sword. He was glad to see that she hadn't changed to much and yet at the same time so much. She described her gear and he shrugged his was damage mitigation 2 and evasion 2 since he wore two pieces himself. It wasn't as impressive as manta's set however.

"Better than my gear I havnt upgraded at all since I left, same old sword and same old coat that was my brothers." He told her. When she suggested they fight however he was taken back a little.

"If you want to I don't see why not but you'd most likely win I havnt gotten into a decent fight for a while." He explained. Sure this was true but he doubted his own skill more than anything. He had faced some bosses solo and lived to tell the tale but when it came to fighting against other players he wasn't sure he'd be at his best, and this was Manta, the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her more than he already had.

He took a few steps back and grabbed his sword placed it over his shoulder onto his back. It was a comfort thing to him despite being strategically weaker due to the longer unsheathing time. 

"Knockback only right?" He asked and his fingers found there way to his blades hilt his fingers wavering hesitantly.

[Amira 0]

The only reason Manta was confident fighting Sousuke, was because of the pain damper, the system the game used that kept the players from feeling pain when they took damage. Otherwise she would be too worried about causing him pain. And that didn't apply to just him, it applied to everyone. She hated putting people in pain, so it was a good thing that problem was eliminated by the game itself. She unsheathed her sword and held it out, assuming a fencing position.

"Of course not. Half loss is the only way to go." She stated. She just wanted a chance to show him how strong she'd become while he was gone, thanks to Koumori's training.She wasn't going to mention Koumori though, because Sousuke might get jealous. She swiped her free hand in the air and sent him a half loss duel request. "You don't need to worry about hurting me. I have a few tricks up my sleeves, and we can stop the fight any time you want." She stated calmly as the wind started to pick up, causing her hair to fly about dramatically. She debated taking the breastplate off, as it gave her an extreme advantage, but decided not to unless neither of them were hitting one another.

[Sousuke 0]

Sousuke decided this was probably going to be quite interesting regardless of outcome he decided that since Manta seemed to want to give it her all he would too. He dropped his stance a second and took a small piece of cloth from his pocket. He then used it to tie his hair up into a short pony tail so his hair wouldn't get in his way at all.

"Guess we doing this then' might as well go all out hadn't we, like you said it's the best way to get to know someone in this place." He took off his coat and boots revealing he was shirtless underneath showing his well toned body. He wore nothing but a simple pair of jeans and sneakers for the fight.

"I'll take my armour off myself I'd rather fight you with only my own skill you can keep yours on if you like." He said as he accepted the duel request.

[Amira 0]

Manta noticed that he had unequipped both his coat and boots for the fight. She felt like she had already held an advantage when they both had her armor, so the fight would be completely one sided if she kept hers on. She swiped and unequipped her breastplate and gauntlet. The timer started to tick down as she finished, and she looked over at Sousuke. "I already had an advantage, it would be as fun if I beat you right off the bat. Regardless, even without equipment, that's whats going to happen." She stated as calmly as possible.

Stats:

EVA +1 (acrobatics)

Rapier (2) +2 DMG

[Sousuke 0]

Sousuke grinned at her confidence although she did seem a little nervous, her posture seemed off she was either to confident or was hiding something either way he wanted to see how this would play out. He grabbed his sword from the sheath and held it reverse like a dagger and readied himself dropping into a defenseman posture with his blade across his his body as the timer hit 0 he figured he would wait to see how she moves and plan accordingly.

"Your move." He said calmly waiting for her attack

Skills: +1 Eva +10 hp +1dmg

Weapon: +1 dmg bleed 4 hp two turns on roll of 8 - 10 

[Amira 0]

Manta prepared to dodge Sousukes attack. From her experience, people always charged when the timer hit zero, trying to get the first hit in. When the timer clicked over to zero, she tensed up, preparing to roll out of the way. The attack she was expecting never came though. Instead, Sousuke stated that it was her move. It appeared that he was still as much of a gentleman as he had been before. "All right." She said back, grinning a little. Despite all the time apart, and the hardships that he must have been through, it seemed like he was still the Sousuke shed known at heart. She ran forwards and stabbed, hitting nothing but thin air in the end.

ID# 36207 results:

Battle: 6 (-1)=5 Miss

Craft: 4

Manta: 52/52

Sousuke: 56/56 

Energy:11/13 (-2 for miss) 

[Sousuke 0]

Sousuke watched as Manta thrust missing just inches to his left. He hadn't had to move at all but it was a close call, her speed threw him him off a bit and side stepped the wrong way missing his counter attack completely. He flipped his sword around around and gripped it with two hands skillfully setting into a kendo like stance.

"Youve certainly gotten a lot quicker, but you overcompensated for your speed focus on your target, don't forget I'm not a monster I'm a player I'm harder to predict." He told her. 

His time soloing had taught him the harsh reality of that, as he said it his scar glowed red just for a split second a painful reminder of old wounds.

"In the real world when I was a soldier a good soldier could counter attack but a great soldier was unpredictable."

BD 6-1 miss

HP 56/56

Manta 52/52

Energy 12/14 -2 miss

[Amira 0]

Manta took Sousuke's constructive criticism well, incorporating it into her strategy. "As it happens I've been practicing PvP with a friend, Koumori." She called out, raising her sword once again and pointing the tip at him. "I'll reveal my trump card now. Don't die on me." She activated her extra skill, <<Concentration>>, before activating her strongest sword skill yet, <<Quadruple Pain>>. She charged forwards with all of her speed, targeting each of his four joints with a graceful yet powerful stab. She retreated back once her sword skill finished, watching as his health went down almost to the yellow, but not quite.

ID# 36223 results:

Battle: 10 Crit Hit

Craft: 8

Damage: 1 (base)+2 (skill level)+1 (concentration skill)+2 (crit hit)=6 DMG.  6x4=24 DMG + Stun

Sousuke: 32/56 (-24) Stunned

Manta 52/52

Energy: 4/13 (-7)

[Sousuke 0]

Sousuke was hit hard and it took him by suprise. Manta had certainly learned some new tricks but Sousuke wasn't going to just give up just like that he didn't want to expend his stamina just yet though on sword skills so he decided to just break the stun and go for a basic attack.

The stun had really took its toll however so he missed completely when he rushed forward and gas to correct his position. He grunted in frustration and turned to face Manta ready for her to finish the fight.

BD 1 crit fail

Energy 7/14