Paladin Academy II: Crystal's got an Upgrade

[Silverraptor]

I actually have a partially written version of the next part set aside. I'm working on it little by little.

[Cuthalion]

Good to hear, I'm looking forward to it.

[Blue Ghost]

Take your time. We can wait.

[Silverraptor]

Paladin Academy: Chapter 2: Part 26
-Cast-
Recaiden
Lock

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A long, dark tunnel continued to extend onward. The glow of a torch illuminated a small portion of the tunnel. Holding that torch was Recaiden as he made his way forward. He had been anticipating this moment the entire 3 days of travel it took him after the scene at the fortress. He had not only successfully killed a high value target right under the paladins' nose, but also killed the one who has slighted him and have him fail his last assassination.

A drop of water fell from the ceiling onto the back of his neck, causing him to shiver slightly. He reached back and wiped the back of his neck dry. He hated that they managed to take his cloak. But with the amount of gold he was to get from this task, he could easily replace it.

A short while later, he beheld a large wooden door that was slightly rotted from the dampness of the tunnel. He reached out and pushed the door open. Inside, he saw the brilliantly decorated room with a well dressed man sitting behind the desk. The man was bent over, scribbling on some parchment.

Recaiden cleared his throat and held his hands up in the air as if to announce himself heroically.
"I have arrived! And with my return I report that the task is done!

The man stopped scribbling. He put his quill back in its ink pot and then placed his elbows on the desk, considering Recaiden.
"The job is done you say? You killed the paladin?"

"Of course, your majesty. And with her death, I will take that bounty you have so generously placed upon her head."

Lock's expression did not change.
"You say... you killed her?"

Recaiden felt a stab of annoyance.
"Of course! Stop fooling around! I know when a job is completed."

"Oh, well."
Lock reached down and pulled out a piece of parchment from the desk.
"According to this urgent letter from the academy, they said that the infamous assassin Recaiden (aka. you) managed to break in and poison 2 paladins and they had reason to believe that one of them was the actual target."

Recaiden rolled his eyes, but raised his hands up again.
"What can I say? I had to improvise on my way out. And so what if I killed another? You want to get rid of them all anyways, right?"

Lock ignored him and continued.
"It is with good news, they add, that both paladins are alive, having survived from the poison on the antidote discovery the previous night before. The paladin that is the target has had increased security placed around them until such time as either the assassin or the bounty placer is caught."

"WHAT?!?"
Lock held out the parchment as Recaiden swiped it from his grasp, staring in awe at the parchment.
"Impossible! I was told that the poison quickly became obsolete or contaminated if not held in the right conditions! There is no way they could make an antidote!"

"Regardless."
Lock leaned back in his chair, his fingers pressed together.
"It would look as if you failed your task. And as such, no pay."

Recaiden glared up at him.
"Are you serious?! I have just been promoted to most wanted on their list, all for a task for you!"

"So? That's your fault and problem."
He got up and walked over to a bookshelf, pretending to look at the titles.
"You disappoint me. Assassin's always make sure their target is dead. You advertised yourself as being the best, but both your past attempts have ended in failures. Does this mean you're going to have to retire from assassin work? A pity, but I guess I'll have to find another."

The sound of a blade being drawn out caused him to pause. He became aware that Recaiden was standing close behind him. He could sense the blade inches from his throat.
"I will not be talked down to like that! I hold no loyalty to anyone! Not magician, nor king, nor god!"

Lock turned around slowly. His face held no emotion, but his stance was that of confidence.
"If you believe your skill is as good as you say it is, which I currently doubt, then by all means, proceed."

Recaiden was shocked that this man held no fear of losing his life.
"What?!"

"Think. You've had 3 days of time to get away. Currently the paladins have no idea which direction you have gone since you left the academy. How convenient that they would pick up the trail so quick with my death on where your whereabouts were. And they'd have the entire kingdom on their side to help track you down."
Recaiden stared at him with murderous venom. However, he knew the king was right and swore loudly.
"Now, if you were to leave, you'd still have a 3 days head start to try and fix the unfortunate situation you've had placed on yourself. I will not alert the paladins to your whereabouts, as they would be unfortunate for me as it would for you."

Recaiden took a step back and pointed to him.
"This isn't over! I will be back for you someday!"

"I wish you luck. For somehow, I don't think the paladins are in a 'capture' mood. As I understand it, they have you as kill-on-sight."

Recaiden held his place for a moment, before turning to sprint out the door behind him. He could not believe the situation he had been placed on him. But one thing he knew for certain, the wizard was going to answer to him.

[Silverraptor]

Well, I had started working on this about a week ago, but a random windows restart update that happened behind my back had me lose it all. I was discourage for some time, but your posts had me slowly regain determination and finish this part. I'm happy to say, I love this version much better than what I had originally written out.

On the part:

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When Lock revealed to Recaiden that Viola was alive, I had based it off that Futurama episode. I could almost hear Lock saying, "Well, according to her wikipedia page..."

[Cuthalion]

Well, I had started working on this about a week ago, but a random windows restart update that happened behind my back had me lose it all. I was discourage for some time, but your posts had me slowly regain determination and finish this part. I'm happy to say, I love this version much better than what I had originally written out.

On the part:

Spoiler

Show

When Lock revealed to Recaiden that Viola was alive, I had based it off that Futurama episode. I could almost hear Lock saying, "Well, according to her wikipedia page..."

Awesome. Anyways, nice episode, I look forward patiently 'till the next.

[Lix Lorn]

Well done on redoing it! I hate redoing stuff

[ThePhantom]

Nice cut away, thanks for continuing with this.

[super dark33]

ahahaha yes! the reference is good!

[Blue Ghost]

Beautiful as always.

[Viera Champion]

I still prefer my shipfic.


Kurama
Tin tea pot

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Oh teapot, how our love is forbidden, yet we continue...

Hush love, we will show the world that a paladin and a teapot can live together in a stable relationship...

This still is, and always will be the greatest fanfic I have ever been a part of.

[super dark33]

This still is, and always will be the greatest fanfic I have ever been a part of.

But wait! There's more!

[Nergalus]

Bump......?

[Silverraptor]

Thanks for caring enough for this story. I'm trying to work up a schedule and plan to continue this.

[Cuthalion]

Yay! I miss this.

[Partysan]

Yay! I miss this.

So do I. And yes, I am still subscribed to this thread.

[Lix Lorn]

It'd be nice to see it back! Even if I've forgotten like half the plot...

[super dark33]

Oh my stars i havent improved a smidgen at naming my self-insert-into-someone-else's-story charecters.

Im proud of young self.

Pfhaha no im not

Edit: Oh and my ship fic is still here. I was always a writing genious.

[Blue Ghost]

Ohai! It's been a while! Ah, I remember this from the good ol' days in the Playground. I miss those days.

[Silverraptor]

I do too. I really want to continue with this story.

[Silverraptor]

Okay... I have a proposal.

I have the story for the most part all fleshed out in my mind. Believe it or not, I have been thinking, and even dreaming about this story the entire time, and each time I figure out a new plot point, I feel so giddy and everything (Considering how when I first started this, I had *NO* idea what I was doing). So, my main problem is to actually get the time from school and family and RL, and the motivation over that to the many video games I have accumulated (and still do, unfortunately).

So, this is my proposal. Would you, the playground, by majority vote, decide on whether I should fast forward far into the future of the story and write out a chapter. This chapter would have no dialog and would also avoid using names, but there are a few key details that might get spoiled and worked out way early for an audience that is constantly analyzing the plot. So thus, it is up to you guys. I would recommend you guys poke and prod any others playgrounders who have been following this earlier and you have contact with to join in on the vote.

That said, for those of you who have forgotten the plot so far, you will not be alone in rereading all the chapters again, as I will have to reread what I wrote (and possibly slightly edit) to know all that I have said and rebuild off what was already said and established (and for those small things that won't work, I will be making small changes). So that said, I await your consensus of whether I should give you all a taste of what is to come, or go back, reread the chapters, and continue where I left off?

[Lix Lorn]

You should do whichever is easier and more exciting for you to write, dude.

[ThePhantom]

I'm okay with a skip to the future, though its what you want is what is going to be written.

[Recaiden]

I'm with them. Write what you want. The future is good, and the vagueness would be an interesting exercise.

[Silverraptor]

So, I tried to write the future part, and then encounter a problem. There were a few things plot-wise that were yet unresolved. They are minor things, but still equivalent enough that I didn't want to constrain myself into having to write into that hole I made instead of allowing to story to go where it wanted. For those of you who have written stories, I'm sure you understand what I mean. And so, I won't write out the future part and will instead start working on trying to get the next intended part out.

However, there is something I would like to present to you all about that future part. While scouring youtube for an intro of a certain anime, I discovered a fan dub version of the song. As I listened, my mind inevitably wandered to that future part and I was stunned how EVERY lyric matched the character I was thinking of perfectly. This character WAS a paladin and, after discovering the nature of the universe and how insignificant he was created for, now has his own agenda based off the anger and refusal to accept the fate he was given.

So, I invite you all to listen to this English version of the anime, and think of a yet to be revealed former paladin being the focus of the song and his motivation.

Yes, I know the Anime is Attack on Titan. Its fight scenes are awesome and has an interesting plot, even if the setting concept is weird.

[Silverraptor]

Okay, so thought I would tell you all this to raise your hopes again before I evilly dash them away again. I've been rereading the story to catch up, and its been very entertaining. This might come as a surprise to you all, but I didn't think of myself as that good of a writer. I mean, I always had these kind of stories playing around in my head and liked them the way I thought of them, but I didn't know if anyone else actually would enjoy them when I wrote it. Even though you guys were all cheering and waving around bon bons saying it was a good epic story, I didn't quite believe that at heart and figured I was just a mediocre or below average writer. What changed my mind you ask? 2 Different things.

The first being, fan fiction. Particularly, some friends have tried to get me in to reading different types of pony fan fiction. 80% of the stories I did not finished and I was appalled at how bad the stories were. The descriptions were off or non-existent, the characters were based off characters that did not match the actual characters they were based off, or only had 1 personality trait from the show that the writer could only see in their own weird mind leaving their characters as stale one dimensional characters. And don't get me started on the stories. Just... I haven't even touched any of the different ship parings. No way am I going to touch that can of worms, for fear I'll scare all the fish off and then that's an afternoon wasted. After a while, I couldn't keep reading and deleted the bookmark I was forced to add to my web browser from my friend. I did a quick search though other bookmarks and discovered one that had been tucked back into the far corner that I completely forgotten about. This thread.

I was curious at this point. After reading such bad attempts at writing fiction, I wondered how bad I was. How would I compare my story to the abominations my eyes had the misfortune to just read. Anticipating disappointment, I began reading each part of the story, one by one. And this leads to the second reason of me believing I was a better writer than I thought. I enjoyed it. I absolutely enjoyed reading my story again, except since I haven't thought about it in such a long time, it was almost like reading a strangers story. But I knew it was mine, because I could see and remember the different references I put in the different parts and where I got those from. Like literally every time I read a certain phrase or event, I slammed my head onto the desk and said to myself, "So that's the part in my life we've reached right now." I was also playing music while I read and right at the part where it became Viola vs Grim, this song began to play. So, that was perfectly timed I guess.

Anyways, I've convinced my self to try writing this again and have a better idea how to continue. While I'm catching up, I want to ask a couple things. First off, lets see who would decide to come back to this after all this time. I would like to know who is still here and who isn't so I can try and figure out who to add to the story in the future. I'm sorry that my getting off this story has lead to an outcome like this, but here's hoping to make it through. Second, to those of you who are coming back to this, I feel the need to tell you guys this. A lot of this story I got the idea or reference or even quote from something I saw or experienced in my life. I would actually be willing to answer any questions on where I got the idea of X, or why I decided to go with Y, and such from my story. Think of it as a sort of scavenger hunt that hopefully gets you all back on track with how the story went so far.

Anyways, with this fresh meat out there, I'd better get back to reading while my trap- I mean post lures you all back here. I hope to hear from whoever see's this bat signal soon.

[ThePhantom]

Silver, I never left. Well, I hope that your'e upcoming trip will give you ideas for the story.

[Cuthalion]

Oi'm here as well.

[Silverraptor]

Paladin Academy: Chapter 2: Part 27
-Cast-
Viola
Blue

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A small cloud of smoke was floating lazily on the ceiling. The large circular room was illuminated by different glows from various items littered about, such as vials filled with liquid and assorted instruments. The most noticeable was a small disk that almost looked like a sundial. Instead it had differently colored and sized orbs orbiting around the center dial, moving a small distance each second before stopping with an accompanied *click*. About 10 feet away, Viola was slumped over on the table, head resting sideways on her crossed arms, watching this instrument. The empty cup of tea sat next to her, completely forgotten as her look was that of complete boredom. She didn't know what time it was, as all the drapes were drawn over the windows, but she was sure it was approaching dinner time as her stomach started to growl. She slowly turned her head to rest her chin on her arms and looked over at the arm chair that had its back to her for the countless hours, with the blue hood that accompanied it over the top for the equal amount of time.
"Blue! Come on, I'm bored out of my skull here! Even the hospital room was more entertaining as clouds and birds would float by occasionally. But here, I can't even see anything from the world outside!"
There was no sound heard from the armchair except for a splash as something was lowered into the cauldron on the other side of it.
"I know you can hear me, stop ignoring me!"
There was still no sound to come from the chair. She saw as a robbed hand became visible briefly as it was attempting to pour a precise amount of strangely colored liquid into the cauldron. Irritation had reached a breaking point for Viola and she directed a low frequency blast of sound over at Blue, who nearly dropped the vial and scrambled to grab it in mid air. After successfully catching it, the hood moves and Viola see's the 2 yellow eyes look over at her with slants of mild annoyance emanating from them.
"So, do I have your attention now?!"
She felt pleased that he finally paid her some attention after all this time. However, he turned around again and was paying attention to his cauldron again.
"HEY!"
Viola shot straight up out of her chair. After wincing from the pain that shot up briefly, she grabbed hold of her walking stick and hobbled over.
"Blue! I'm your guest here! And this is not how a sleep over is supposed to go!"

A loud sigh was heard from the wizards, but he didn't move at all.
"Unfortunately, a guest you are not but a treasure to be guarded."
He then reached for a drawer leading to a file cabinet and started rifling through it for more things.
"And a sleep over is supposed to happen after the sun has decided to do the same."

Viola hobbled over around the cauldron to stare at wizard angrily. The wizard reluctantly looked up at her with those 2 glowing yellow eyes.
"Well, the problem with me is that, unlike most treasures, I can show my dislike for being cooped up. I'm not going to tolerate being here and just laying around with nothing to do."

The wizards stared at her for a moment.
"I suppose that is a valid argument."
He grabbed his staff and pointed it towards the back where curtains were drawn leading to a supposed other room. From inside, a small bag emerged and propped itself onto the table Viola had occupied.
"There. Enjoy."

Viola looked over at the small bad. It looked smaller than even the smallest purses she had seen. She looks over back at Blue.
"And what is that supposed to be?"

"Something that will hopefully occupy the 'treasures' time to allow me to finish this brew."
Viola glared suspiciously at Blue before hobbling over to the chair she just vacated. She sat down and reached for the bag. She was sure her whole hand could take up the space inside by itself, so what could possibly be in here that she could occupy her time? As she undid the string she looked inside and gasped. Inside was a void of colors with shapes appearing frequently in the back. She looked up at Blue who answered the question she was about to ask.
"It's a wizard's most common and easy to make appliances. Referred to as a 'Bag of Holding', it does what its name suggests and holds stuff. Just reach in for different objects and entertain yourself with what you could pull out. Imagine it as a box of chocolates that you won't know what you get until you bring it out."

Viola looked down into the bag.
"There's nothing dangerous in here, is there."

"To a wizard, no. To an annoying attention seeking treasure, unsure."

"Oh, ha ha! Very funny."
Viola sarcastically responds to his statement of her, but is still pleased that she atleast got her point across. Looking down into the bag again she reached in to grab one of the shapes that appeared in the background. As she pulled her hand out, it was just a dusty old book that contained strange runes she had never seen before. Disappointed, she tossed it aside and began to reach again into the bag.

10 minutes of this yielded just as many uninteresting items. Scrolls, quills, empty vials, and more books were suddenly added to an increasingly enlarging pile. Viola was beginning to get fed up, her arm in the bag once again as the wizard finally lifted himself out of his chair and was making his way over.
"You are most kind. I dislike having to spring clean those bags out. It can get quite repetitive."

Viola froze, staring exasperatedly at the wizard.
"Are you serious?! You were just having me... empty a bag that you didn't want to have to do yours-"
Her hand grabbed something metal. Something that had a strange yet familiar shape. She looked down and pulled out of the bag what looked like a one handed paladin sword Blue would make.
"Why do you have this in here?"

Blue however froze, staring at the sword.
"I think... I may have given you the wrong bag to clean. Please give it here."

Viola was looking at the sword.
"Why, what's wrong with this..."
She paused as she examined the area between the hilt and the blade.
"Blue? Why is there no crystal slot on this sword."

"It used to belong to a paladin that is now deceased, now please, hand it and the bag over."

Viola put the sword down before plunging her arm into the bag again, defiant.
"Nope! This is what you get for ignoring me for hours on end and then having me to do your own cleaning for you."
She grabbed another metal object that was similar in touch but different in shape. With a little difficulty, she pulled out what appeared to be a shield of the same metal and nature as the sword. It was round and could easy buckle onto someones arm, but could also be grabbed onto and held. She looked up at Blue puzzled.
"None of the other paladin's I've seen use shields. Why is this here?"

Blue's yellow eyes disappeared as he blinked.
"While most paladin's end up with a single sword, there are other types of weapons and equipment that they can develop their style around. This paladin had one such unique style."

Viola looked at the shield again and saw, in the center of the round shield, the slot where one would put a crystal. She looked up at Blue again.
"Whose shield did this belong to?"

"Please, young Viola. You're putting me into an awkward spot."

"Who was it Blue?"

The wizard sighed, his eye's disappearing for few moments as he closed them. Finally he sat down on the chair opposite her and looked up at her with saddened eyes.
"The sword and shield... belonged to a shield fighter paladin, who was known as Silv."

[Silverraptor]

The long wait and ignoring parts were in part referencing me for waiting so long and ignoring this thread.