[IC] A Hero Tale {Complete}

[Brucenorris007]

Bruce did his best to remain impassive at the newcomer’s question. He knew his own opinion of Luke, but he didn’t feel like it was his place to color the man in yellow’s thoughts of the renegade leader. His eyes flickered down for an instant before he settled on a response.
”Luke is a friend.”
Bruce turned around, heading back toward where they had started the lap around the dome.
”I trust him.”
He walked on quietly, not saying anything else on the matter.

[Jensoman]

Jenso frowned at Bruce's response. It wasn't the one he was hoping for, but at wasn't a bad one either. "Alright.." Jenso muttered. He looked at the Orobo tunnel exit. "Is there usually that much commotion over there?" He asked, pointing at the area where people were gathering. He still wanted to meet with Luke, but this was grabbing most of his attention right now.

[Brucenorris007]

Bruce could feel the newcomer’s dissatisfaction, but he ignored it. Best for him to formulate his own opinions about Luke. He checked the overhead crystal again- it had passed its peak, but still shone bright. He estimated left them at around just after midday.
”Is there usually that much commotion over there?”
Bruce brought himself out of his thoughts and paused to follow the newcomer’s gaze. He narrowed his eyes at the divers. There seemed to be a lot of them coming in at once. It wasn’t yet time for scouting parties to change shifts, being it was only the middle of the day. He’d only ever known a few to come back at a time aside from exchanging the day shift for the night shift. His right hand hovered over his empty sword sheath. He hoped it didn’t mean anything, but his instincts told him there was a good reason for so many to come back now. Regardless, there was no immediate threat, so he kept his face impassive and shrugged at the man in yellow.
”Sometimes they change shifts. A big group like that might mean there’s news from outside, I suppose.”
Bruce turned and walked into the crowd, raising his voice just enough to let the newcomer hear him.
”I’ll let Luke know you’re looking for him if I see him first.”

[Jensoman]

"Alright. Talk to ya later Bruce! Oh, and...the name is Jenso, by the way!" He shouted after Bruce, loud enough for him to hear. He began to head towards the tower where he'd seen Luke head too earlier, believing he would most likely find him there.

[tex]

As Jenso made his way towards the eye of paradise, something became blaringly obvious among the divers that stood scattered between their crudely constructed crevices. A select few had their eyes locked with the golden hero, three out of every five, stepping slower as they glared in his direction with fiendish intent. Whenever Jenso exchanged their glance, their eyes darted elsewhere instantly. Although Luke's tower wasn't very far away, it felt buried beneath a mountain of revolt, on the cusp of the doubts that seemed evident in the paradise.

Jenso's foot met the base of the eye, coming to a large iron crevice that looked as if it were carved from a chunk of scrap metal. As he stepped past it, the reddened rock walls of Diver's Paradise vanished, replaced by the calm décor of Luke's main living room. Luke himself stood near the edge, looking out of his bottom floor window with both hands firmly pressing against the softened stone of its rim. He spun around and lit up for a split second, but it didn't take long for the dips in his shoulders to crease anxiously. Luke pushed himself into a spin and faced Jenso, his eyes partially vacant.

"How're you finding yourself here kiddo?" Luke wheezed. He jerked his neck down, broke eye contact and clenched his teeth. "Sorry, not kiddo- Jenso! You like the place?"

[Jensoman]

Jenso looked at Luke as he entered. He didn't seem as annoyed with the man's presence than he was before, albeit still feeling awkward when being around him. "Um...It's amazing. What your people do here is incredible. I can tell that everyone here works very hard, in order to survive and expand. It's admirable." Jenso stated, ignoring the fact that Luke called him kiddo. "So...are you doing okay..?" He asked.

[tex]

Luke sighed and shook his head. "Not even remotely, Jens," He started, sitting down on a padded rock couch nearby. "I suppose you've already heard about those masked fellas that've been wreaking all sorts of chaos across Thorisa, yeah?"

[Jensoman]

Jenso's eyes widened as Luke referred to the Order of Chaos. He clenched his fists tightly. He tried to restrain his anger, but had difficulity doing so. "Yes...I have.." Jenso muttered. "Did they do anything to you?! Do you know where any of them are?!" He asked.

[tex]

"No, not to me, or any of my people. Not yet, anyways. Us divers keep to the caves, usually. But with all the havoc those psychos are causin'... Well, it's starting to reach us, slowly but surely. We had to seal a tunnel to keep some yellow fellow out of the paradise," Luke explained briefly, "And that's why you're here. I need your help findin' something we can use to crush masks limited, something I happen to know quite a bit about... Rather, some things." Luke paused and patted the side of his couch, inviting Jenso to take a seat.

"You ever heard of the Purity Amulets?"

---

~ End Of Chapter 86 ~

[tex]

~ Chapter 87 ~

_{The Purity Amulets}

Luke pulled a small booklet out of his pocket and waited for Jenso to sit by his side.

[Jensoman]

Jenso walked over to Luke and sat beside him. "Can't say that I do.." Jenso replied. He was quite surprised to learn that they managed to stop Rajaka from entering. "How did you stop Rajaka from entering?! He's insanely strong! Did you seal it before he noticed it? I've been traveling all around the world to try to stop them...those masked people are called the Order of Chaos. They're really dangerous." He explained.

[tex]

Luke nodded and opened the book. "Bobby and Ralph sealed the tunnel with a few controlled explosions after they noticed him breaking Orobo Village to pieces. They acted on their own, probably saved the entirety of our paradise. We have some people headed over to the blast site to make sure the tunnels haven't been compromised. At any rate, without that path, that yellow guy isn't gonna find his way down here-" Luke paused and lowered the book, looking over to Jenso. "Did you say Order of Chaos? Hah, what a stupid name. Either way, it seems we have the same goal, now." He nodded and tapped his book. "This might be the solution to our problem, Jens."

[Jensoman]

Jenso's eyes widened as Luke mentioned that Rajaka destroyed Orobo Village. "Does...does that mean that everyone's in Orobo has been killed?!" Jenso asked Luke. 'Darn it..Katie...' He thought, concerned for her safety. "Oh, and...I'd prefer it if you call me Jenso. Not Jens." Jenso said as politely as possible. He gazed over at Luke's book, curious to see what Luke was talking about. Part of him told him that the man was just an idiot, but he wanted to give Luke the benefit of the doubt.

[tex]

"Oh, uh.. Sorry," Luke croaked, "I don't know about Orobo, we were looking out for ourselves, first and foremost. I don't regret what those guys did, especially now, when the paradise is one of the only organizations doing anything about people like this order." Luke flipped through the small book for a little while he spoke with his massive scarred thumb. He suddenly stopped on a random page and slammed his index finger against the rough texture of the page.

"Here," He started, pointing at a drawn picture of five amulets, each with a different color, "The purity amulets, the rarest artifact in this book, written by the legendary collector, Bobba," Luke explained.

[Jensoman]

Jenso looked at the page. He cringed when he heard the name Bobba. He stood up and turned around to face Luke. "What, are you kidding me? This book was written by Bobba?! Yeah, he sure is some collector, alright! A murderer and a thief!" Jenso suddenly spat. Jenso took a deep sigh after his outburst. "I'm sorry, I'm not mad at you, just...I had to take Bobba down in the past. If he wrote this book, then I wouldn't put faith in the fact that those amulets actually work. Probably another one of his schemes, trying to sell some crappy amulets at a high price and claim they're magical." Jenso added. "He even tried to steal my golden shirt."

[tex]

Luke snickered and shook his head. "No, no, not Bobba Jr. Bobba Senior," He clarified, "The boy's father, and a close personal friend of mine. He helped me establish this cave in the very beginning using his greatest invention, the earth bracelet. The very same invention that Bobba Jr. Stole, and tried to recreate inefficiently for all his men. Unfortunately, Bobba bit the dust a lot earlier than he should have. Heart attack, or a lung problem, we never really figured it out. Uh.." Luke paused and stared at the book in his hand vacantly for a few moments. A series of rapid blinks snapped him out of his stupor, and he continued.

"Anyways, he gave this book to me a long time ago, kind of as a parting gift. Find these treasures, fulfill my life's goal he said, and wouldn't you know, he wasn't duping me. We've found a lot of stuff he's catalogued in here, the real deal. Magical artifacts, treasure, historical documents, you name it. It's all upstairs in this very tower. Even that gun over is a result of his hard work," Luke said, pointing to the gun he carried earlier, which was now rested expertly against the edge of a wooden set of drawers. "It's powered by a Lymphia crystal, the last of its kind. They used to act as the hearts of Lightning golems, but now they're extinct. Gun shoots literal lightning. Pretty nifty- But I'm getting off track.." Luke stopped and reached into his pants again, pulling out a small silver amulet with a blue bright white gem at its center.

"We already found one."

[Jensoman]

Jenso listened closely to Luke's words. "Oh, I see.." Jenso muttered, remembering That Bobba Jr. mentioned his father and how he looked up to him. He stared at the amulet. "So...how does this amulet help us?" He asked.

[tex]

"It doesn't," He said, "I don't even know how it works. But if Bobba was right, then collecting all 5 will grant the wielder a power beyond anything you could possibly imagine, exactly what we need to beat those masked fellows. And I.. I want you to help me get them."

[Jensoman]

Jenso narrowed his eyes at Luke as he spoke. "Imagine that we can find all five, and you get this power. And you actually somehow manage to defeat the Order of Chaos. What will you do with it then?" He asked Luke. If the man's intentions were among the lines of Sera's, he intended to snatch the amulet from the man and try to yank the book out of his hands. "Is this the only reason why you wanted me here?"

[tex]

Luke didn't respond at first, instead gently grabbing Jenso's hand and placing the white amulet in his grasp.

"I was never planning on using any of these amulets myself, Jenso!" He said with a wide smile, "That's a job for a hero."