Friend of Mine, Jiji
Smultronstället
"I was scoping out dungeons the other day and I think I found a pretty good one for us to travel to today." Shishi explained to Toto as they walked along the streets of the port city that seemed to be stuck in constant sunset. The soft golden glow it cast over them did nothing to soothe antsy feeling he'd been having for the last week or so, however, though he knew the reason even without analyzing it.
Although he cherished the guild he'd created and the people who helped to make it what it was today, the strong urge to let loose in the arenas burst forward to the front of his mind, overtaking nearly any and all thoughts he had. Thankfully, it wasn't often he felt this way, but when he did, the feeling of longing for a battle tournament weighed heavy on him. Usually it was easily taken care of by competing in said tournament but lately there had been an unusual lack of decent opponents so that path could not be taken this time around.
Luckily, Shishi always had a backup plan.
"It's supposed to rather monster infested which will be good for you to level up in. They're about level or so higher than you but it shouldn't be anything to worry about." He nodded, patting his companion on the back in his own comforting way. "What do you think Toto?"
Toto listened as Shishi talked about the place they were headed to, not at all phased by the idea of a lot of monsters. It was about time he started leveling up soon - he was holding the group back a lot. He gave a reassuring smile to Shishi and nodded his head before speaking, "I think it's a great opportunity to level up." He faced forward, moving with Shishi as they weaved their way around the many folks in the port city.
"There's a lot of people here today..." He mumbled, staying close to Shishi so he didn't lose the swordsman amongst the crowd as they neared the warp area.
As soon as they walked up to it however, someone called out Shishi's name, alerting them both. Toto turned to see an avatar that looked like she walked out of the nearest saloon heading towards them with a pleased smirk on her dark lips. Her indigo hair gathered over one shoulder and the red and black feathers adorning her head moved with her every step.
"Well well, Shishimato - I don't believe you're here. It's hard to catch you in the port city, you know." She smiled pleasantly then, aiming it at Toto who shrank away from her gaze and looked between the two decidedly taller avatars wondering how they knew each other.
Shishi raised an eyebrow at the comment, but instead of scowling or returning with a snappy retort, he simply rolled his eyes upwards and gave the girl a playful smirk. "That's because I have much better things to do than laze around here." He replied, realizing just from Toto's complete silence that he'd shocked him into a bit of a stupor. He paid that no mind though and continued, "In any case, you're one to talk, treasure hunter."
"Hmm... got me there I'm afraid." The girl laughed, not at all ashamed of the label. It was true and she knew it. She glanced at Toto once more and then at Shishi again, head cocked to the side curiously, "Well? Are you going to introduce us or not?"
Shishi sighed and rolled his eyes once more. "Yeah, yeah..." He grumbled, gesturing from Toto to the girl and vice versa, "Toto, this is Jiji - a good friend of mine. Jiji, this is Toto - he's a member of the guild I created. You remember me telling you about it, right? I'm positive I at least mentioned it to you..." He murmured, frowning thoughtfully.
Toto's first reaction is to give the girl a scowl, his eyes threatening to lower into a hard glare. 'A member of your guild? After all this time you only consider me that, huh?' He thought inwardly, merely giving the girl a slight nod before turning to the warp portal. "We had a place we were going, right, Shishi?" He turned to look at him, motioning for him to hurry up.
Jiji looked between the two, "Ahhh, Shishi, now you wouldn't be taking the poor thing to another one of your high level places, would you?" She questioned, quirking an eyebrow at the redheaded avatar, who scoffed, adjusting his sword.
"Nope - it's a decent level. Hey..." He gave a smug smile, "Why don't you join us?"
Toto's face fell and he pulled his mask to cover his displeasure. Why did she have to come? Why did he have to invite her?
"I wouldn't want to intrude." Jiji laughed softly, eyes watching Toto discreetly as he looked everywhere but at Shishi and her - her specifically. She said nothing of the other's behaviour though and instead turned her focus back on Shishi as the warrior scoffed.
"You wouldn't be intruding. You might be of some help to Toto - better than me at least. You won't kill the monsters as easily I will." Shishi reasoned, not a trace of cockiness in his voice as he said it surprisingly enough. Of course, it was the truth - Jiji's level was right in the middle of his and Toto's levels so she was a the perfect candidate to help out Toto on his battles.
Jiji hummed thoughtfully, considering the offer thoroughly, before finally nodding. "Alright. I accept." She replied, observing Toto as she said it and not the least bit surprised when she noticed his eyebrows furrowing in what appeared to be frustration.
"Good." Shishi nodded, quite pleased with himself as he added Jiji to their party. "Everybody ready then?"
Toto heaved a deep, but silent sigh and nodded to Shishi. He looked forward but continued glancing out of the corner of his eyes to look at the girl, unsure of how to react. She was nice, yes, but Shishi was so much more... relaxed and content around her. He couldn't help the feeling of jealousy working it's way through him - he'd never seen Shishi like this before. 'They must be close...' He thought to himself as Shishi put in the place name, warping them to the right area instantaneously.
They appeared before what looked to be an old ruined building. Toto turned to look at Shishi, giving him a questioning look. "What is this?" He asked, his voice deadpanned and completely unamused. "I thought there were monsters here..." He couldn't help but shoot a glance at Jiji who seemed quite satisfied, almost as though she was purposefully wanting to tag along just to piss him off.
Shishi narrowed his eyes, an indifferent tone to his voice as he answered his companion. "It's the entrance to the dungeon, Toto. What--"
"What he means to say..." Jiji cut the warrior off before he began a long tirade, "Is that you can't warp inside of a dungeon. Usually, you either warp right in front of it or somewhere else nearby in the area. Only special events allow you to warp inside of a dungeon." She nodded, smiling softly at the robot avatar.
"I wasn't aware we had Joko with us today..." Shishi muttered sarcastically under his breath.
"What was that, Shishi?" Jiji questioned sweetly as she turned her head towards the red headed warrior - too sweetly.
Shishi grimaced slightly but said nothing, motioning instead for the two to follow him. "Come on you two, we're wasting time standing here and doing nothing!" He barked at them, all but running over to the door that would lead them inside.
"Don't pay any attention to him - he thinks everyone should know what he knows." Jiji whispered to her blue haired companion, amusement twinkling in her eyes.
Toto snorted at her words and followed behind Shishi, not even bothering to spare her a second glance. He just couldn't bring himself to be nice to her - Shishi never treated any of the other members of their guild so casually. He was usually very stern and... sometimes even downright unfriendly, like he was the boss and they were his employees. It didn't sit right with Toto, not at all and he certainly didn't like the way he was acting, but he couldn't stop the jealousy either.
He messed with his gauntlets, staring at them hard, trying to remember how happy he was when Shishi bought them for him and how that whole next day he couldn't keep a grin off his face, even at school. It didn't work though - he was still really unhappy with Jiji and the fact that Shishi treated her so much differently. 'They must have a long history... or they know each other in real life...' He thought with a disappointed frown.
When he almost ran into Shishi's back while he was lost in thought, Toto cried out, "What's the hold up?" He asked, in a much more disrespectful way than intended. He knew he'd hit a nerve when Shishi turned and gave him a look, but he didn't back down either. "Well, what is it?" He asked again, crossing his arms as Jiji finally caught up to them.
"It won't open, that's what." Shishi snipped at the blue haired avatar, growing quite tired of the sudden attitude Toto had begun having. He'd been fine before they'd left - what was wrong with him? Sighing heavily, he gestured towards the door.
The door in front of them was large and massive, standing at least a few feet taller than them, and made of stone. In the middle, where there should've been a handle, knob or lever of some sort to open it, there was nothing but three symbols. He vaguely remembered them to be the signs of Aries, Sagittarius and Leo, three members of the Western Zodiac. What they had to do with opening a door, though, he was at a complete loss for.
"Where's Dada when you need him...." Shishi grumbled under his breath, remembering the smiling archer was the best at these types of things. He could be a real space cadet ninety-nine percent of the time, but give him a puzzle and he made a complete 180.
Toto frowned at the exasperation Shishi had written all over his face and in his voice, he backed away from him and sighed as well. He took a better look at the door, trying to get his mind off the sudden ache he felt knowing he'd deserved it for being disrespectful. Just as he was focusing on the task at hand, Jiji walked in front of him, blocking the view to the door, which made him glare daggers at her back.
"Oh... Zodiac symbols..." She hummed, looking over them, even touching them as though they weren't real. She gasped and looked at Shishi then back to the door as things clicked in her head. "Aha! So that's it..."
She stepped away from the door and gave an accomplished smile, "Fire opens it. These three Western zodiac symbols govern over fire. Use one of your sword attacks that has fire in it." She nodded her head, quite pleased with herself. She even looked at Toto for praise but he looked away, turning his head upwards.
Shishi glanced between Jiji, the door, his sword and back again as if somewhat doubting that the girl was right, but said nothing and removed his sword from the sheath on his back. Jiji would know about these sorts of things anyway. "Here goes nothing..." He mumbled, swinging the broadsword at the door once then twice and hoping he didn't look as stupid as he felt right then for attacking said door.
Almost instantly, the three symbols flared to life from the flames at them from his blade. The bright glow they gave off faded slowly as, one by one, each of the symbols disappeared from the door. The three avatars watched as the slab of stone blocking them from entering the dungeon gave a loud groan as it swung open to reveal the entrance.
"Well then... that was simple enough. Let's just hope there aren't anymore like it." Shishi chuckled softly. He turned to Jiji and gave her a small smile, "Good work Ji." He praised, patting her the shoulder. He glanced at Toto and then at Jiji again, "Let's get going you two. We've wasted enough time already." He nodded, leading the inside.
Toto's mouth hung open from behind his mask, breathing hard as he watched the two walk ahead of him, not caring in the slightest that he was behind them by a few yards. He caught up slowly though and adjusted his mask, hiding as much of his face as the mask would allow. He couldn't hide how his shoulders slouched some, his feet almost dragging now. They had barely begun the mission and he was already ready to just leave and be done with it.
'I should've gone off on my own...' He thought inwardly, continuing to walk, not realizing the other two had already stopped in their tracks, obviously interested in something off to the side. He stopped and turned when he saw that Shishi was talking to Jiji about something. Toto crossed his arms.
"If you don't hurry up, I'm going ahead without you!" He called out, smiling smugly when they turned to look at him only to freeze. Toto tilted his head and ly to be face to face with the leg of a large, ugly beast that huffed smoke at him.
His eyes grew large and he ran away from the monster only for it to follow behind him, charging for a fire attack. "Ack, a stupid Grendel!" Toto whined aloud, "I hate Grendels!"
"Hurry Toto!" Jiji cried out as she noticed the Grendel getting closer and closer to the younger boy, the flames forming at its mouth mere inches from Toto's back.
Shishi ran past Jiji towards Toto, calling a quick 'Duck!' back to the girl just as he reached his younger companion, running right into him and causing them both to fall to the ground. He uttered a quick barrier spell to protect them just as the Grendel let out his attack, flames covering nearly every inch of the hallway.
"Dammit..." Shishi cursed as he lost some of his health points though thankfully it wasn't as many as it would've been without the barrier surrounding him and Toto. He quickly checked Toto's stats and discovered he was fine other than a little bit of lost health.
"Help would be nice you two!" Jiji shouted to the two, the loud cracks of her whip echoing throughout the entire hallway.
"Coming!" Shishi shouted, turning to Toto and motioning to the Grendel. "Let's go. I believe you have some unfinished business to take care of."
Toto stared at Shishi, standing up slowly and dusting off his clothes. He was shocked that the fire avatar came to his rescue. He shook his head however and focused on what needed to be done - specifically defeating the Grendel that was about to overpower Jiji. Sure he didn't like her, but he had a bone to pick with the beast as it had almost K.O.ed him in front of Shishi, which would've been a huge embarrassment for him.
He followed after Shishi, watching as he attacked the monster, but it didn't seem to do anything to it. "Yah, Shishi, are you dumb!? Your weapons are fire-based! You can't do any damage like that!" Jiji scolded, twirling around and hitting the monster several times, but each time her whip hit it, there was very little damage dealt.
Toto quickly dashed forwards, clanking his gauntlets together, creating electricity between them which he used once he slammed the metal weapons against the beast's leg. It howled out and turned to him, snapping his teeth towards him. Toto surprised it with an uppercut to the jaw, sending a large jolt of electricity into it's mouth.
"Good job!" Jiji praised as she landed near the robotic avatar after having flipped out of the way of the Grendel's tail. While the beast recovered from Toto's attack she took the chance to talk to the other boy. "Shishi will be on support and I'll do my best attacking him but you'll have to do most of the heavy lifting, okay?"
Toto wasn't able to give an answer back, however, as the Grendel lunged towards them again, seemingly ten times more pissed than it usually was. The two flipped out of the way, wasting no time in attacking the beast with attack after attack.
Shishi, who felt completely useless in the battle, began casting every support spell he could upon his two friends. When he wasn't casting something to raise their agility or boost their critical hit rate, he was throwing potions at them to rejuvenate their health. His fingers itched to carve into the monster with his blade but he held back from attacking, knowing that all it would do was heal it and that was the last thing they needed.
"Toto! He's growing weaker! Hit him now!" Shishi suddenly shouted, his quick scan of the creature's health alerting him of how close to victory they were.
Toto's head snapped in Shishi's direction, the words sounding in his ears, but not hitting him until he'd been slapped out of the way by the Grendel's tail. He hit the stone wall and got back up as fast as he could, limping some. He shook it off and broke out into a sprint as the beast whirled around on Shishi, about to swipe at him with it's massive paw.
"Hey!" Toto shouted, ducking underneath the Grendel's tail as he ran underneath it's belly, all the while charging his gauntlets for an attack.
He gave a smirk as he slid under the monster's mouth just as it looked down. He slammed one of his fists into it's lower jaw again, then the other. He punched the beast's jaw repeatedly until it finally gave it's death cry and fell over to the side, Jiji and Shishi moving aside to give it room to fall over and dissolve.
Toto stood and watched the creature, wiping at his clothes and making sure none of his equipment broke while he was battling.
"That battle was quite invigorating, wasn't it?" Jiji questioned, a bright smile on her face as she coiled her whip up and place it back on her belt.
"If by that you mean me being completely useless then, yes, it was very invigorating." Shishi replied, obviously irritated by said uselessness.
"I don't mean that at all." Jiji pouted, poking the red haired warrior in the shoulder. "Besides, you still helped with your support spells and the point of this dungeon was to help Toto level up right?" She asked, smile widening when Shishi grumbled his confirmation. "See? It wouldn't have done Toto any good if you'd helped attack the Grendel."
Shishi grunted a soft 'whatever' and looked at the younger boy. "If everything's okay, we should be moving forward. This is a two floor dungeon and we're still only at the beginning. We've got a ways to go so let's go." He nodded, turning and walking onward.
Jiji rolled her eyes at warrior but gave Toto a small smile when she turned to him, "That's Shishi speak for 'good job, sorry I was useless' but I think you already know that." She giggled, "Good fighting, Toto. I can see why Shishi picked you for his guild." She winked at him and then began following after Shishi.
Toto stared after them, stretching his arms some before following behind, his eyes on Jiji for a few moments before switching to Shishi. 'Just why is she trying to be so nice? Is it because she wants to lower my guard? Like hell.' Toto growled to himself, rolling his shoulders to prepare for the next battle. He kind of liked being able to show off his skills - even though he didn't get the praise from Shishi that he would like to have...
To be continued...
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