Xan the G

Fire Emblem - The Reclaimers of Peace

@Xan the G are you still here?

@Prince of Seraphs

Are you asking or telling me? Because I genuinely would not be able to tell at this point. I've read your post enough times already to note there is literally nothing for me to do or is even required of me. At this point I was just going to right up a post about Franky squandering his role in the melee because of his natural disobedient/curiosity streak.

Was there someone I missed? Because all the tension and drama within your 2 collab posts wrapped up in a self-contained fashion.

FairyTail: Golden Dragoon Guild

Hiryu slid to a halt as immediately as his body would let him, but he was in the middle of the cloud of floating cards. They were revolving axially in place.

"Teleport through this," mocked Heath before snapping his right fingers. On his command the cards spread out in random direction, ricocheting off the sides of the trailer and back again at the others sides. Hiryu did try to phase through, but it was pointless. Hiryu couldn't track the path of the cards no matter where he moved to. The card motions didn't just cut at Hiryu, but marred him with the imbue magic on impact. By the end of the attack, the sliding hatch to the trailer was slightly ajar, after a few of the cards detached the lock and the speed of the train made a gust burst through the now open hatch. Hiryu was hunched over, barely classifiable as on his feet, with cards of red, blue and yellow prodding out of him, much like the merchant. He had a particularly bad cut on his shoulder, where the card did a through-and-through. Heath was standing opposite him, enough markless. "And you come from an official guild right? And yet... what an ametuer-" jibbed Heath before throwing a trio of cards at Hiryu's head.

...Luckily for Hiryu, out of the corner of his eye he could see through the ajar hatch that the train was on the bridge over the river. He jumped to the side, at the wall, phasing through on last time out of the train. On the train, Heath saw the flash of his cards hitting Hiryu, but the only thing still in front of him was a headband, smeared at one part with a splatter of blood. Heath caught the end of the band before it completely fell to the ground, curious at first, but then realised this was Hiryu's headband and the the mage must have teleported. He looked around, spotting the ajar hatch and swung it open to look out. The sudden swoosh of the door brought with it a great gust of wind as the train was still moving at full speed. Heath lost his hat as it took away from him and fluttered down into the river below. Through watching his hat, Heath noticed Hiryu falling behind it, rocketing like a meteor into the bed below. He raised an eyebrow as Hiryu crashed into the river, his hand clenching the headband and closing the hatch door with a sigh.

"Now to wait to get off this damn train..." he muttered.

FairyTail: Golden Dragoon Guild

The Cowboy, Heath tumbled, suddenly on the inside of one of the Freighter train's carriages. Hiryu also phased into the carriage, but as this action was intentional for him, he landed with a lot more control and grace. Heath sprang to his feet and glanced around nervously, touching himself, realising he was still alive, somehow. He then glanced about at his surroundings getting a bearing of where he actually was.

"We're on the train...?" he asked in calm disbelief to Hiryu. Hiryu didn't respond, simply recollecting himself into a fighting pose. Heath was curious about Hiryu for all but a second, before he realised... it didn't really matter to him. He drew a card with rapid speed. "Quick Draw!" he muttered, launching the card down the empty carriage at Hiryu. As Heath's hand twitched to grab a card, Hiryu charged back at the card-wielding mage and phased passed the mage enthused card with his vajra teleport as he was swinging out his foot in a roundhouse kick.

"Ouroboros!" Hiryu chanted, before pelting Heath with a magical projectile of his own. Heath was thrust back. A bead of sweat formed on his head as he started wheezing from having the wind blown out of him. But as he struggled for breath, Heath began to chuckle as opposed to fret.

"You know, at first, I thought you were trying to escape, or get me out of the way. But you're just stupid enough to think you might beat me!" said Heath mockingly. "Part'ner. You can't teleport out of a bad shuffle. You don't know just how nasty I deal'em!" Heath roared, his hands delved into his pocket and Hiryu adamantly rushed him, but instead of firing one or two cards, Heath reveal a miriad of cards, all fluttering with ethereal magic imbue in them, levitating in the air.

FairyTail: Golden Dragoon Guild

@CuccorulerNah there was nothing important. I'm not the GM or anything, and I'm not a rigid RP'er tbh. Obviously the rules bar godmodding and hax, so I just threw in some decent foil to make the story a little more gritty. If it helps, I plan for Hiryu to lose to the Cowboy mage initially, but that doesn't have to affect what you do.

FairyTail: Golden Dragoon Guild

@Coco@Cuccoruler Just to say, I deliberately left Feon with the Merchant so she can help rescue him and escape. The bandits don't NEED either of them in particular so long as they have the goods he was trying to courier. Hiryu escaped in the manner he did because he was awake to hear that the only person who wasn't safe was himself. I wasn't trying to make you a damsel in distress, I just thought it would be interesting to have us trying to take down the conspiracy from two fronts, you rescuing the Merchant from the bandits and me trying to find you guys so we can figure out how to get the good back (and what the good even are that the bandits are trying to steal. For that matter - who they are even stealing them for).

FairyTail: Golden Dragoon Guild

"Heh, they get stranger every day," remarked the cowboy to Feon's outburst. Hiryu watched Feon struggle, with some heaviness in his chest. It wasn't pleasant to see her rattled. There was genuine emotion and panic being displayed for someone that otherwise seemed so self assured and well put together. There was a silence after the Axe man hit Feon in the back of the head to render her unconscious. Hiryu knew things were going from bad to worse. In the distance the blow of locomotive horn bellowed, signalling the coming of a freight train. The Axe man picked up Feon and put her over his shoulder. "You'll be paid in the usual way," the cowboy spoke to the man with the Axe. The Axe man shook his head.

"No, I want the girl too." added the Axe man. The cowboy dropped the merchant at this point and tipped his hat.

"...alive?" he inquired. The Axe man grinned. The cowboy hopped off the wagon to walk closer to the axe man. "This does not come back on us. No matter what. You and your people take the rap."

"Just make sure we get our money and we'll forget all about you guys, like we always do." replied the Axe wielding man. The cowboy smirked at the comment and then glanced at the kneeling Hiryu. At that time, Hiryu noted that Feon, while unconscious was going to be taken alive, and the merchant, for whatever reason, was too important to the bandits and the cowboy mage to kill even after hiring Golden Dragoon to protect him. It meant Hiryu had some play, and just had to figure out how to get himself out of the situation and regroup afterwards. Similarly, the freighter train was pulling in close enough for everyone to hear the spurs and wheels clanging against the tracks in the background ambience.

"What about him?" the cowboy asked. The axe man shook his head, his smile completely gone. "You don't swing that way? I figured you'd be too desperate out in the wilderness to care," he jibbed crudely. The cowboy plucked a card from his pocket and it glowed with an ethereal shimmer. "Any last words pilgrim?"

"_vujureh..." mumbled Hiryu. The cowboy leaned in with a bemused look about his face.

"...what?" he asked. Hiryu rolled into a handstand and mule-kick the bandits holding him.

"Vajra!" he called, teleporting behind the cowboy, still upside down, but facing the back of the cowboy's neck. He grabbed him at the neck while he was still surprised and in a somersault threw him towards the tracks. He immediately charged at the cowboy as soon as his feet kissed the dirt and tackled him at the stomach. The train was passing by at that very moment with speed, and both Hiryu and the cowboy were going to crash into it. "Vajra-" Hiryu murmured, phasing out of view with the cowboy. The Axe man and the other bandits looked around puzzled, at first concerned that they just turned into a bloody smear on the side of the train. When it passed by completely, they saw no trace of anything, no blood, no flesh, no bones.

"W-w-what the hell did that guy do?" mouthed one of the bandits. The Axe man blinked.

"He just kill Heath." remarked the Axe man.

"What do we do about the goods now? And the merchant?" asked another. "Shall we just kill him and leave?" he added.

"No!" insisted the axe man. "They know where to find us. If we kill the merchant too, then we lose the only one who could prove he didn't double cross Heath. We take the haul and the merchant along with the girl. We'll wait for them to send another mage to us and we'll explain everything from there." ordered the Axe man. He looked one more time at the tracks and then to the train, hurtling on towards the bridge over the river. "...crazy bastard," he remarked, reflecting on Hiryu.

FairyTail: Golden Dragoon Guild

Being first on the scene, Hiryu used his Vajra teleportation skill while performing a baseball slide. He skidded into the legs of one of the wild boar mounts and phased to the other side of it to avoid it falling on top of him. As Feon went to work on another bandit, Hiryu made a jump kick at one who leapt from his baor towards the wagon, which was now stationary after one of the pulleying horses had been injured and crippled in the assault. Hiryu pinpointed his next target and made a dash for the bandit.

"Hold it right there part'ner!" called a voice from the wagon. Hiryu slide to a stop. Similarly, a figure jumped down against Feon during her rampage with an axe to block her attack on another of the hoodlems. This particular assailant had a broader, taller figure than the other bandits. Even his attire was a little more prestigious than his brethren.

"Feisty little girl with a sharp little dagger, eh?" teased the prestigious looking bandit as his axe clashed with her daggers. Hiryu turned round the other voice from the wagon. It was a man, dressed like a cowboy, gripping the merchant in a hostage hold about the neck with one arm. The merchant had red, blue and yellow cards sticking out of his flesh and clothes with blood lining the cuts. The cowboy's other hand had a card to the merchant's neck. The cowboy dug his card in a little to cut the merchant, just to show he wasn't bluffing. The card glowed as it pierced the skin, the tell-tale sign of magic.

"I don't know who you people are or how much this idiot is paying you to stop us but you have my word; you give in now and make this simple, I'll let him live," the prestigious bandit glanced to the cowboy after hearing him issue an order of mercy for the merchant in barter for Feon and Hiryu's obedience. Hiryu stared at the cowboy intently in silence, before running his eyes through the bandits, understanding what the wager meant for him and Feon. He sighed with a furrowed brow and closed eyes as he raised his hands. A bandit kick him in the back of the leg, while another that he had attacked punched him in the stomach. They both grabbed his arms to lift him back to a kneel. Hiryu looked to the merchant with a glare of venom and animosity. The merchant still struggling under the cowboy's reign looked back with only guilt.

FairyTail: Golden Dragoon Guild

Hiryu's eyes stretched wide at the feel of Feon on his rear. It was more than just uncool, it was a sudden and direct violation of his personal space. His back went rigid and upright, frozen in place on contact. He swallowed the lump in his throat and attempted to move passed it.

"Okay..." he muttered with a blink. He shuffled his legs, testing their reaction. He felt turbocharged. Feon moved on ahead of him and Hiryu took a couple steps to chase her, but stopped, remembering the merchant. He looked back. The man was nervous. He couldn't hide it. Hiryu wondered if he was even trying to at this point. "We have everything under control. You have my word." replied Hiryu, before jetting off to the scene of the last robbery. along the way, Hiryu remarked on how fast Feon's magic made him. Running was a naturally forte, but Feon's magic seemed to make it truly effortless. When he arrived, he immediately knew the scene didn't make sense. The attack was situated out in the wilderness. For any gang of roving bandits and thugs they couldn't afford to scour the entire area between cities like this looking for travelling stock or traders. They would need to set up camp, somewhere they can work around. The vast openness between towns of Fiore created too many opportunites to miss someone by chance of being in the wrong place or at the wrong time. The struggle looked precise, not necessarily organised, but precise. They left nothing of whatever was being transported, meaning they had they own means of transporting it after the attacked the wagon. What's more, there was wreckage of the wagon still left lying around, meaning they didn't steal that to make their exit either.

"We need to head back to that merchant." explained Hiryu, before high-tailing it back the way they came. The prior encounters with bandits on this trade route were not random. There were prepared for when and where they were attacking the traders and what they were highjacking them for. More to the point, Hiryu was convinced that the merchant already knew all this.

---

The Merchant didn't wait for Feon and Hiryu to return, feeling to anxious as a sitting duck. The merchant boarded his wagon and commanded the horses to mush in the direct of his destination. The horses moved into a trot and the merchant glanced left and right as he moved further and further from town. Unfortunately, while out on the meadows near the train tracks, he heard a whistle. It startled him. Upon glancing around, he saw a man on horseback, beset by mountain bandits on steeds resembling wild boars or pigs. He tried to out pace them by forcing the horses into a gallop, but the bandits closed in on him from all directions.

FairyTail: Golden Dragoon Guild

Coco - we can do our part irrespective of everyone else tbh.

FairyTail: Golden Dragoon Guild

"It seems pretty popular," added Hiryu, glancing around at the crowds walking through the town. Quite a few girls were walking around with that particular model teddy bear, although Hiryu didn't mention that specifically. He didn't know how to respond to the part about it looking cute and so chose to ignore it. He also didn't want to have any more conversations about how cute and pretty things were and decided to push the envelope. "Right there; there's our merchant." he mentioned, pointing to a shop front. Outside of it was a cart, being loaded with goods by an adult, middle-aged man. Hiryu walked up to the man to introduce himself. "You ask for escorts?"

"Oh, you responded to my job request? You read the whole thing right? I'll pay you up front and a bonus when we arrive." replied the merchant in a matter of fact way. "If you make it." Hiryu narrowed his eyes at the comments. It was strange to him that the marchant be so foreboding. The merchant seemed convinced that he would run into trouble, trouble that would require the help of mages to escape successfully. It was suspicious for the merchant to be so convinced such a level of danger would be coming for him. Enough for Hiryu to potentially break the cardinal rule of transporting, the rule with got him expelled from his clan in the first place.

"You never said what we would be transporting," Hiryu teased to the merchant, now with an interest to fish for clues.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just some trade goods from the festival over to the next town," replied the merchant as he was putting the finishing touches on. Hiryu glance at one of the crates the merchant was dropping on, and also at his shop front. Everything was so nondescript, blank. Hiryu genuinely couldn't get a read on what kind of merchant this man was or any clue of what was inside those boxes.

"I know you're fast, but I could certainly make you faster if you wanna start scouting now."

@Cuccoruler

"W-w-well now, I'm sure that you guys could manage whatever comes, you don't want to stray too far away from me, I'm paying you to protect me after all, haha..." quickly rebutted the merchant. Hiryu paused on the merchant for a second, potentially a second too long as the merchant's disposition changed to a nervous and self conscious bemusement.

"It's a good call," replied Hiryu to Feon. "I know the trail you're trying to take. I'm familiar enough with it. It passes by the train bridge over the Acacia river. Should be routine enough," Hiryu scanned the earnestness on the merchant's face, who seemed to be trying to grab Hiryu with a glare to hold him from going. It lasted less than an instant - a freudian slip of sorts, too quick for Hiryu to sus out what his deal is. Hiryu moved to stand in front of Feon. "So... do I need to do anything or..." he asked with a shrug in regards to her enchantment.