Rika frowned as she passed by what looked like the same tree for a third time. She wasn’t sure what it was about the dust mines, but it almost seemed like the place made it, so she almost automatically got lost simply by attempting to make a trip there. Though at the very least, Rika was beginning to figure out the way, or at least she thought she was given that things were beginning to look like how she remembered the path to the dust mines looking like. The pigtailed huntress was soon rewarded for her efforts when the view of the dust mine of Bellmuse came into view, Rika broke out into a grin at the sight, glad she’d managed to find her way to the place while also mentally resolving to try to pay a bit more attention to where she was going.
The pigtailed girl hadn’t simply been struck by a desire to visit the mines of course, while she’d toured the place before, it was still kinda boring overall considering it was just a big tunnel in the ground at the end of the day. Though it could probably be good for some training, especially for blind fighting, the martial artist made a mental note to try it some time. Right now, though she was actually here for a reason outside of simply undergoing a new type of training or the like. Rika had seen a request on the major mission board to help guard a transport of dust and figured that it would probably be interesting. The pigtailed girl hadn’t really thought much of what guarding a dust shipment entailed, but she figured she could probably handle whatever happened.
Besides, pirates had been present on the island recently, and she figured it would probably make sense to guard things like dust shipments given the use of dust in her own battle with one of the pirates in question. The pigtailed girl nodded before continuing onward, attempting to find the man she was supposed to meet who would be helping move the dust in question. Apparently multiple trips back and forth were planned, and Rika would be expected to ride along on them to make sure nobody tried to raid the dust shipment in question. As such a thing could probably be bad considering the dust embargo still going on. In many ways the mines currently were a lifeline for Bellmuse, and while Rika didn’t truly understand the full necessity, she did at least get that this was probably pretty important.
It wasn’t long before the pigtailed girl found herself in a truck cab next to a large, boisterous man who’d introduced himself as Boris, though the other men working to load the trucks had earlier referred to him as Redman or something like that. Rika didn’t really know, but figured it probably wasn’t too important anyways. The man seemed friendly enough, telling her stories of during the first two trips back and forth between the dust store, and the mines. Allowing Rika to avoid the inevitable plight she only found herself facing in the third trip between the two places.
Namely, she was kinda getting bored, and the sights and sounds of Bellmuse and Springwood failed to entertain the pigtailed girl after so many times of seeing the same ones over and over. The pigtailed girl was also nowhere near patient enough to actually be an observant and wary guard, but even she had to be suspicious when they had to stop at a tree that had suspiciously fallen onto the path, causing the truck to slow.
“Well this doesn’t seem right…” Boris remarked, frowning at the downed tree, the area was isolated enough to be perfect for an ambush, far enough from the mine to keep any reinforcements from joining quickly, as well as a fair distance from the city itself. “Hey, think we need to be on our-“ The man was cut off as a strange thunking sound came from the side of the truck. There was a loud noise and suddenly the truck was flipped over as though rolling several yards before crashing against a tree.
Rika meanwhile, was annoyed, she hadn’t expected the attack, especially with how peaceful things had been up until this point and hadn’t at all been prepared when the vehicle was suddenly upturned, and as such found herself crawling out of the wreckage slowly, frowning when she noticed the driver was unconscious. She recognized the use of thrust dust when she saw it and frowned at the two people she could see standing behind the truck. The pigtailed girl had to undo her seatbelt, before she could get out of the vehicle, and even then, she had to climb out through the window, since the wreck had dented the door in such a way that it refused to open properly despite the huntress’s attempts.
The two pirates had opened the back of the truck, apparently having dismissed its occupants as dead or disabled, only to look up when at the pigtailed girl’s voice. “Jerks, aint very nice to go makin’ sneak attacks like that.” Rika’s voice rang out, quickly gaining the attention of the two pirates, one wielding a hook that Rika recognized as having dust infused into it. Pink…thrust dust then, Rika noted. That explained why they were able to flip the truck at least. The pigtailed girl assumed a ready stance before activating the dust infused in her shoes, blurring suddenly only appearing as a fist slammed into one of the two pirates to send him flying off into the jungle. The one with the weird thrust hook thingy specifically. While the two pirates had been in ready stance, Rika’s attack had broken straight through the first one’s guard, and she didn’t hesitate to push the advantage, her foot pivoting just after landing the rocket powered punch. The pigtailed martial artist dumped the extra momentum into a rotation, activating her earth dust, fused into one of the anklets she wore to cause the earth next to her to shoot out and follow her in the spin.
The maneuver served its purpose, causing the earth to slam directly into the other pirate, hitting him in his unprotected flank just as he prepared to make his own attack. Rika didn’t hesitate to capitalize on the advantage either, drawing a crystal and summoning ivy to restrain the man. She looked out towards where she’d knocked the other guy, before frowning. “Aw come on, ya can’t tell me that’s all ya got…” She complained, frowning.
Rika had hoped they’d be at least a little bit tougher than that, but apparently the fight was going to be an easier one, at least that was what the pigtailed girl thought before a fireball shot out from the tree line, singing a few plants on its way out to collide with Rika. Or at least it would have, had the pigtailed girl not moved out of the way of the attack, jumping to the side, before landing still in a stance out of the way of the fireball, the pigtailed girl followed up by activating another crystal in her bracer, slamming a hand into a ground that caused a spout of high pressure water to shoot out from the ground. The water collided with the man, and Rika used a second crystal to make the water freeze around the man, trapping him as well. The pigtailed girl glanced around, looking for any other opponents to fight before checking on the driver, happy to see that he was now awake.
The next few hours went by quickly, with a second vehicle showing up, an airship arriving as well to take the captured pirates…somewhere. Rika didn’t really know where, but figured it probably wasn’t too important. She had to help move the dust onto a new vehicle, since the shipment still had yet to arrive at its destination. Boris himself was taking to hospital in order to treat his injuries, though the pigtailed girl had noted that he seemed alright, which was good, since she’d already decided he was a nice old man. The rest of the Dust shipment made it to its destination with little in the way of conflict, though Rika had to explain what had happened to the authorities, a task that wouldn’t be so bad except for one problem. It was SO boring.
The pigtailed girl hadn’t simply been struck by a desire to visit the mines of course, while she’d toured the place before, it was still kinda boring overall considering it was just a big tunnel in the ground at the end of the day. Though it could probably be good for some training, especially for blind fighting, the martial artist made a mental note to try it some time. Right now, though she was actually here for a reason outside of simply undergoing a new type of training or the like. Rika had seen a request on the major mission board to help guard a transport of dust and figured that it would probably be interesting. The pigtailed girl hadn’t really thought much of what guarding a dust shipment entailed, but she figured she could probably handle whatever happened.
Besides, pirates had been present on the island recently, and she figured it would probably make sense to guard things like dust shipments given the use of dust in her own battle with one of the pirates in question. The pigtailed girl nodded before continuing onward, attempting to find the man she was supposed to meet who would be helping move the dust in question. Apparently multiple trips back and forth were planned, and Rika would be expected to ride along on them to make sure nobody tried to raid the dust shipment in question. As such a thing could probably be bad considering the dust embargo still going on. In many ways the mines currently were a lifeline for Bellmuse, and while Rika didn’t truly understand the full necessity, she did at least get that this was probably pretty important.
It wasn’t long before the pigtailed girl found herself in a truck cab next to a large, boisterous man who’d introduced himself as Boris, though the other men working to load the trucks had earlier referred to him as Redman or something like that. Rika didn’t really know, but figured it probably wasn’t too important anyways. The man seemed friendly enough, telling her stories of during the first two trips back and forth between the dust store, and the mines. Allowing Rika to avoid the inevitable plight she only found herself facing in the third trip between the two places.
Namely, she was kinda getting bored, and the sights and sounds of Bellmuse and Springwood failed to entertain the pigtailed girl after so many times of seeing the same ones over and over. The pigtailed girl was also nowhere near patient enough to actually be an observant and wary guard, but even she had to be suspicious when they had to stop at a tree that had suspiciously fallen onto the path, causing the truck to slow.
“Well this doesn’t seem right…” Boris remarked, frowning at the downed tree, the area was isolated enough to be perfect for an ambush, far enough from the mine to keep any reinforcements from joining quickly, as well as a fair distance from the city itself. “Hey, think we need to be on our-“ The man was cut off as a strange thunking sound came from the side of the truck. There was a loud noise and suddenly the truck was flipped over as though rolling several yards before crashing against a tree.
Rika meanwhile, was annoyed, she hadn’t expected the attack, especially with how peaceful things had been up until this point and hadn’t at all been prepared when the vehicle was suddenly upturned, and as such found herself crawling out of the wreckage slowly, frowning when she noticed the driver was unconscious. She recognized the use of thrust dust when she saw it and frowned at the two people she could see standing behind the truck. The pigtailed girl had to undo her seatbelt, before she could get out of the vehicle, and even then, she had to climb out through the window, since the wreck had dented the door in such a way that it refused to open properly despite the huntress’s attempts.
The two pirates had opened the back of the truck, apparently having dismissed its occupants as dead or disabled, only to look up when at the pigtailed girl’s voice. “Jerks, aint very nice to go makin’ sneak attacks like that.” Rika’s voice rang out, quickly gaining the attention of the two pirates, one wielding a hook that Rika recognized as having dust infused into it. Pink…thrust dust then, Rika noted. That explained why they were able to flip the truck at least. The pigtailed girl assumed a ready stance before activating the dust infused in her shoes, blurring suddenly only appearing as a fist slammed into one of the two pirates to send him flying off into the jungle. The one with the weird thrust hook thingy specifically. While the two pirates had been in ready stance, Rika’s attack had broken straight through the first one’s guard, and she didn’t hesitate to push the advantage, her foot pivoting just after landing the rocket powered punch. The pigtailed martial artist dumped the extra momentum into a rotation, activating her earth dust, fused into one of the anklets she wore to cause the earth next to her to shoot out and follow her in the spin.
The maneuver served its purpose, causing the earth to slam directly into the other pirate, hitting him in his unprotected flank just as he prepared to make his own attack. Rika didn’t hesitate to capitalize on the advantage either, drawing a crystal and summoning ivy to restrain the man. She looked out towards where she’d knocked the other guy, before frowning. “Aw come on, ya can’t tell me that’s all ya got…” She complained, frowning.
Rika had hoped they’d be at least a little bit tougher than that, but apparently the fight was going to be an easier one, at least that was what the pigtailed girl thought before a fireball shot out from the tree line, singing a few plants on its way out to collide with Rika. Or at least it would have, had the pigtailed girl not moved out of the way of the attack, jumping to the side, before landing still in a stance out of the way of the fireball, the pigtailed girl followed up by activating another crystal in her bracer, slamming a hand into a ground that caused a spout of high pressure water to shoot out from the ground. The water collided with the man, and Rika used a second crystal to make the water freeze around the man, trapping him as well. The pigtailed girl glanced around, looking for any other opponents to fight before checking on the driver, happy to see that he was now awake.
The next few hours went by quickly, with a second vehicle showing up, an airship arriving as well to take the captured pirates…somewhere. Rika didn’t really know where, but figured it probably wasn’t too important. She had to help move the dust onto a new vehicle, since the shipment still had yet to arrive at its destination. Boris himself was taking to hospital in order to treat his injuries, though the pigtailed girl had noted that he seemed alright, which was good, since she’d already decided he was a nice old man. The rest of the Dust shipment made it to its destination with little in the way of conflict, though Rika had to explain what had happened to the authorities, a task that wouldn’t be so bad except for one problem. It was SO boring.
