Wednesday, August 25, Afternoon

Leo Maxia

Our usual adventuring party consisted of five-- no, four people. Two attackers in the frontline, Yuna and me, and a healer and a defense buffer in the backline, who doubled as ranged attackers.

But, when you’ve got only two party members, you have to think about party composition differently. There’s the same number of roles, but only half the number of party members to fill those roles. So there’s two options. One, you could fill the party with specialists. Mage and Fighter. Tank and Healer. Damager and Support. Specialists cover a role, and similar roles, well enough such that, in theory, others don’t need to focus on that. But, if anything happens to either member of the party, the entire expedition goes down in smoke.

The other option is to go general. Each member can fill a wide variety of roles and take care of themselves. Though it limits your effectiveness in any one given area, it ensures that, no matter what it is, someone can take care of it.

Yuna and I were in the latter category.

Yuna stopped, and blocked the path with her scythe. “Wait.” She cupped her hand around her ear and leaned in. “Did you hear that?”

I shook my head, and lowered my voice. “No. What was it?”

The two of us were quiet for a moment. I did hear a couple voices, like metal scraping forming words. “I’m the Creeper! Catch me if you can! I’m the Creeper! Catch me if you can!”

Then, another voice. A boy. “W-whoa! What the…”

The voice screamed. “Someone! Help!”

I was in motion without thinking. My sword and sword arm trailed behind me as I burst through the hallways at the sound. I didn’t slow down at the corner, instead, I kicked off the wall, and redirected my momentum-- the Holy Sword Galatine’s power.

I kept running. Directly in front of me, there were three, clearly inhuman, shapes. I saw someone on the ground, backing away from them. I aimed for the space between them.

“Magician Arcana! Holy Sword Arondight!” I slammed my sword into the ground as it changed forms, from longsword to massive claymore, tearing up the floor as it slowed my fall. With a wave of my hand, I projected a transluescent green, glowing barrier from the Arondight. The Viruses slammed into it.

I spared a look back. “Are you hurt?”

On the ground behind me was a boy. He was gripping the side of his arm, but it didn’t look serious. He managed a nod. Shook, but probably fine.

I looked through my barrier. Three Viruses. Willowy, thin creatures, barely humanoid, with patterns, like a circuit board, of blue and black running across their bodies. They had two ‘eyes,’ glowing a sickly green, fixated on us.

One of them hunched over and pounced, and slammed into the Arondight’s barrier, again. The other two scratched at the barrier with jagged claws.

“I’m the Creeper!”

“Catch me if you can!” they called.

No cracks. The barrier’s not taking that much damage. They don’t seem that strong. Okay. Time to end this.

“Just stay there. Don’t move,” I said. “Four of Cups.” I pictured the card in my head; the corresponding card appeared before me. I reached out and shattered it between my fingers. Around me, four balls of water hovered around me. I froze four of them into walls around the boy, and took hold of the Holy Sword. “Holy Sword Clarent!”

The sword changed forms again, from claymore to regal rapier, and the barrier dropped with it. I pulled it out of the ground, and fired sword beams at two of them. Small explosions rocked the hallway. As for the third…

“Incoming!”

Yuna’s foot slammed into the remaining Creeper. It disintegrated on impact. She landed, gave a polite bow, and summoned her scythe, again. “You got some nerve, leaving me behind like that.” Yuna grinned lopsidedly. “So, how’s the kid?”

I dismissed the ice, and stowed the Four of Cups card. “Shooketh.”

“What does he have to say to that? You shooketh, kid?”

The boy’s eyes were wide. “W-what the…”

“He looks shooketh, alright. Hey, let go of your arm. Lemme take a look.” Yuna knelt down beside him and peeled away his hand. The boy had a cut on his arm. It didn’t look very deep, but he was bleeding.

Yuna and I exchanged a glance. He’s bleeding. Therefore, he’s not an Esper. It would’ve been too easy to just have the first guy we ran into turn out to be an Esper, huh?

“Two of Swords,” Yuna said, shattering a tarot card. The fragments reformed as two balls of wind. With a flick of her finger, they spun into two bladed disks of air. Yuna cut the sleeve of her jacket into a long strip, and bandaged it around the boy’s wound. “Do you want me to kiss and make it all better?”

He was too busy staring at the spinning buzzsaw of air to respond.

“Still shooketh, huh?” Yuna pulled him to his feet. “You got a name?”

“Ruh… Randy,” he said.

“Well, Ruhrandy, you’re stuck with us. Try not to fall behind, or you’ll be eaten. Sound good?”

I pulled Yuna aside. “We shouldn’t scare him like that.”

“Relax. I’m just having a little fun.”

“Not very heroic.”

“Hey, you know what’s not heroic? Asking for someone’s name when we haven’t given ours. C’mon.” She summoned her scythe and struck a pose that I recognized from Bizarre Adventure. “The black hole that consumes time, the fate that consumes all of humanity, none can escape. And I am the human manifestation of those unyielding forces! Death Incarnate, Luna vi Nox! But you can just call me Yuna.”

Randy clearly had no clue what was happening. But then again, when did they ever? I can never turn down an opportunity to do a self-introduction. “A fragment of Avalon rests within my soul! True successor to the Once and Future King, I will be your faithful shield and holy sword. The Magus of Blue, Caladbolg Montoya! But you can just call me Leo.”

Slowly, Randy stood. He rubbed his eyes, blinked twice, and looked at the makeshift bandage on his arm, then at Yuna’s cut sleeve. “This is… this is real…” His eyes widened. “Whoa! That’s so cool! You guys are like real life superheroes!”

“Sure, let’s go with that,” I said. I prefer to think of myself as more akin to a JRPG character, but whatever. “We’re here to keep you safe, citizen! Okay, let’s get moving.”

Yuna and I discussed the next course of action as we walked through hallways, Randy in tow.

“I checked during Journalism,” Yuna was saying. “Those Creepers are swarming the central wifi access point in the office.”

“You didn’t get rid of them?”

“Nah,” Yuna said.

Randy poked his head in. “Because you had to go back to Journalism, right?”

“Pfft. Journalism’s not a real class. Hey, fun fact, our school has a school newspaper. No, it’s because I needed Leo’s Holy Sword.”

We have a school newspaper? That was news to me.

“Why’s that?” Randy asked. I noticed he was scribbling stuff down on a notebook. “Power of friendship? It’s dangerous to go alone?”

Yuna could totally take those guys by herself. I said, “So, you saw those Viruses just now, right?”

He nodded.

“Those guys can bond to technology, and cause havoc in the real world. You know the rolling wifi problems?”

He nodded again.

“Those were caused by Viruses messing up the wifi access point. When a Virus is bonded to a host, you can’t really fight it unless you separate them. That’s where the Holy Sword comes in.” I extended my hand. “Magician Arcana. Holy Sword Carnwennan!”

Before me, the Magician Arcana tarot appeared, and shattered and reformed as a silver dagger with a pure-white hilt.

“When it’s in its Carnwennan form, I stab the host, and it forcibly severs the connection.”

“That’s when we go kick ass and chew bubblegum. And I’m all out of bubblegum.”

I said, “I’m pretty sure it’s the reverse. Chew bubblegum and kick ass.”

“Really?” Yuna asked. “My way sounds more natural.”

I shrugged. “Hey, Randy. What are you writing?”

Instinctively, Randy pulled away, but, opened his notebook after a moment’s consideration. “I’m real sorry. I shoulda asked before I did this, but I was taking notes on what you guys were saying.”

“Huh? Why?”

“I’m in the Comics Club, and… I’ve actually been stuck with writer’s block. I thought, maybe I could use you guys as inspiration.” He looked right at us. “Is… that okay?”

Yuna and I exchanged a glance. “Sure,” she said. “Just don’t tell anyone else. Trust me, no one’s gonna believe you anyways.”

“Right! I won’t. Your secret’s safe with me!”

One of Yuna’s favorite quotes was from Ben Franklin. ‘Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead.’ Though… in this case, it wouldn’t matter what we answered.

When normal humans get trapped on this side, and make their way back, they lose all memory of ever having been here.

But what of the notebook that he was writing on? All his belongings would be restored to the state that they were in when he entered the Command Level. That goes for all inanimate objects. My eyes trailed to Yuna’s cut sleeve.

He just wants inspiration, huh…

“Hold up,” Yuna said. “Four of Wands.” A couple of them, across the hallway, poked their ‘heads’ up.

“I’m the Creeper! Catch me if you can!”

She flicked her finger. The hallway was rocked with a fiery explosion. When the smoke cleared, there were no more Creepers.

“Carry on,” Yuna said.

We ran into a few clusters of them, all of which we dispatched at a range, using our Minor Arcana. I was right in my initial assessment. They weren’t that strong. We’d probably be fine, even with half our usual party missing, and an escortee. Now that I put it that way, it sounds like we’re at way more of an advantage than we actually are, huh?

It might’ve been more fun if they were a bit tougher.

I dismissed the Holy Sword. “So, what kind of comic are you thinking of creating?” I asked.

Randy thought for a moment. “Something cool, but also something touching. Have you… ever read Ink Roulette?”

“I’ve heard of it,” I said. I have a friend who keeps telling me to read it. “That’s the one about artists, right?”

“Yeah! Even though it’s just about people who draw, it’s really exciting. And, ever time they succeed, or hit a milestone, it really hits you. Those guys… put everything into what they do. You really want to cheer them on. I like stuff like that. Something like that.”

Yuna smirked, reached over and patted him on the head. “You’re such a good boy.”

We walked out of the old building, across a walkway, and into the main building. “We’re here. Right over there.” She pointed to the door to the main office. “That room’s swarming with them.” Yuna looked at Randy. “What should we do with him?” Normally, we’ve got two other party members, one of whom can create impenetrable barriers, to look after the escort.

“We can’t bring him with us,” I said.

“Out of the question,” Yuna agreed. “What if we put him in a classroom and lock the door?”

“That might work,” I said. Gee, I wish we could do that in actual escort missions.

“I wanna see you guys in action again,” Randy said.

Yuna and I didn’t even blink. “No.” Like an astral connection.

“But--”

“No,” I said. “That’s final. Sorry. Wait for us in the other room. Lock the door. Do not exit until we tell you to.”

He knitted his brow. Man, I’m losing gonna lose Social Link points for this. But, this is how it has to be.

“I get it,” he said. His hand touched Yuna’s makeshift bandage. “See you in a bit.”

I swallowed. I felt a pang of guilt. No, this is how it has to be. I’m a hero. Chin up.

Heroes don’t lie.

I couldn’t meet his gaze. The moment we get rid of the Virus that pulled him in in the first place, he’ll be sent back to the real world, having never met us. It’s not like I haven’t done this before.

But… it never gets easier. This is the fate of a Hero. This is--

No. It’s just because I don’t want to tell him the truth.

“Yeah,” I said. “See you later.”

I watched Randy walk through the hallway, walk through a door, and heard the click of a lock. Yuna patted me on the shoulder.

“It can’t be helped. It’s not your fault.”

I didn’t say anything. She always said that.

“Let’s do this, Caladbolg Montoya.”