TRITHAL: "Well this fucking sucks! How come no one tried to contact us?"
David: "We tried to, but we couldn't get ahold of any of you. You had scattered and hid yourselves too well."
TRITHAL: "A brain tumor? Well that kinda makes sense... He's always been 'special' in that way."
Danika: "I always thought he was just being goofy. This is pretty sad!"
David: "Well let's put all that sadness aside for a moment. Tsutaru, it's been ages since anyone here has heard from you! What has been happening with you this whole time?"
TRITHAL: "Quite a bit, actually. It would take forever to explain everything. But, since we don't have all the time in the world, I'll give you the abridged version of what's been happening within the past year..."
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TRITHAL (narrating): "After we split up at the Mountain Castle last year, me and Danika headed south to Laurenstown, in the Valleys of Morgura Prefecture....."
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David (interrupting): "Isn't that where you ran off to when that shit went down at the pizza place?"
TRITHAL (mildly irritated): "Yes, it was..."
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(random home video-style clips play as TRITHAL and Danika narrate)
TRITHAL (narrating): "Moving along, when we got there we found out that all of the students who abandoned the Kaze Dojo after Hitukiri died had come back... even those losers who pulled that stunt at that festival we attended. I guess the scene that happened there reminded everyone how powerful the Sword of Wind is when wielded properly. As time went on, we continued to bring in new students, and the Kaze Sword now has a larger following than it has had in a long time."
Danika (narrating): "Even though I couldn't call upon the Forest Dragon anymore, I still wanted to use my Forest elemental powers. So, soon after we moved there and found a place to live, I enrolled in a Forest element Ninjutsu school. I've been getting stronger using my own powers. I can't explain how liberating that feels!"
TRITHAL (narrating): "We both soon found ourselves more happier and content than we had ever been. We had finally found where we both belong in the world. It kinda felt like it does when you finish an extremely difficult puzzle of some kind. The last pieces of our lives were falling into place."
Danika (narrating): "With the income we were making from my part-time job, Tsutaru's school teaching, and our bounty hunting, we had enough saved up for a down payment on a house. So, we moved out of the apartment we were staying in and bought a nice 3-bedroom 1 1/2 bath house in Laurenstown. Not even a week afterward, Tsutaru asked me to marry him. I thought I could never be as happy as I was that day. Now I can finally leave the painful names of 'Fifth Saibot', 'Forest Dragon', and 'Daugher of Ghondu' behind me forever. Now I just call myself Danika Trithal."
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David: "Wow. That's amazing! Kudos to you, Tsutaru, for finding happiness. Although, I never figured you to be the type to want to settle down."
TRITHAL: "Well, the time felt right. Besides, I'm looking forward to some peace and civil stability for a change."
David: "Now, one thing I don't get is how come you, at only 28 years old, became a swordsmanship master. How did that happen?"
Since David doesn't know the whole Macha-Rei story, and since TRITHAL still wants as few people as possible to know about it, he shrugs and responds, "Well, I guess I'm pretty gifted..."
Picking up the hint from TRITHAL, and knowing better than to pry into things he doesn't really need to know about, David says, "I suppose so."
Danika: "Hey! Isn't Thrax supposed to be coming?"
AXEM: "Yeah, he is! I wonder where the fuck he is? It's silly that you got here before he did, even though he doesn't have as far to travel as you do!"
By this time it was almost noon. Outside in the street, some shitty used car with a hole in the muffler pulls up to the curb outside David's house. From within emerge THRAX and Anri.
David: "Ah, well speak of the devil and he shall appear."
TRITHAL and Danika turn around on the couch to look out the front window. Danika immediately noticed Anri getting out of the car with THRAX.
Danika: "Anri is with him. I wonder where the others are?"
TRITHAL: "Don't know..."
Danika: "Tsutaru, you don't suppose she's still mad at us, do you?"
TRITHAL: "From a theoretical standpoint, I would say, 'probably'. Resentment is like body fat... it doesn't just disappear as soon as you stop eating junk food."
AXEM: "Trithal, will you knock it off with the philosophical bullshit already? Cheeseless rice!"
By this time, THRAX and Anri have made it to the front door of David's house. The three exchange greetings and make their way into the living room, where AXEM, TRITHAL and Danika were sitting. Anri noticed TRITHAL and Danika, then turned as if she was gonna leave. THRAX stopped her and asked why.
Anri: "I will not sit in the same room with the likes of those three! I hate them!"
THRAX: "Why? There isn't any reason for you to hate them anymore, remember? Just go in there and chill. You don't have to interact with them at all."
Anri eventually agreed, and the two of them joined the others in the next room. THRAX, AXEM and TRITHAL exchange greetings with each other, and TRITHAL and AXEM fill THRAX in on what's been happening since the last time they heard from each other.
THRAX: "Holy shit! Trithal and Danika got married? And I missed it?! What the fuck?!?"
TRITHAL: "Well, that's what happens when you vanish into thin air and not tell anyone how to get ahold of you."
AXEM: "Enough of that. What's been happening with Thrax these days?"
THRAX: "That would take a whole other episode... so let's wait on that and go visit Chris."
With that, the group of them leave David's house and walk the few blocks to the Dale Gorge cemetery where Chris is buried. When they reach his grave, they read what's on his stone:
"The Wet Blanket"
SEIDELL
BORN: NENGO 299年7月24日
DIED: NENGO 327年8月17日
BELOVED SON, BROTHER, GARDNER,
AND APPRENTICE WATER WIZARD
TRITHAL: "'Water wizard'? He was more like a leaky twat."
AXEM, THRAX, Danika and David proceed to whack TRITHAL with pillows for that statement.
THRAX: "Chris died two months ago and none of us knew about it until now. I guess we should try harder to stay in touch with each other so we don't miss out on things like this."
AXEM: "Well, it's too late for Chris now. Goddammit!!"
AXEM then proceeds to pick up a pillow and toss it at Chris's headstone. TRITHAL withdraws his marijuana pipe and lights it up in honor of Chris. He passes it to Danika, David, and THRAX. Anri and AXEM turn it down.
Before the group of them could get too high, THRAX's cellphone rings... which surprises AXEM and TRITHAL that THRAX even has a working phone at all. THRAX answers and has a brief conversation with the person calling. After a few minutes, he returns to the party.
THRAX: "Hey guys... some potentially sucky news: Elric just called me and told me that Gwarlihim just got ahold of a letter that one of the old Draconian lords sent to his allies. Gwarlihim can't read everything it says, but apparently someone found out that I've been training as a Myrmidon warrior and has alerted the rest of the Draconian warlords. Something about everyone being worried about the return of Xanatos or something... and might be preparing for an all-out war or some shit... Anyway, most of the letter was illegible, so we really don't know what's going on. But this is serious enough to make Gwarlihim nervous, and that's saying alot."
TRITHAL: "Can you get a copy of the letter? Maybe we can try to figure out what is says."
THRAX: "Good idea. I'll see if Elric can fax it to David's machine."
THRAX gets back on the phone and has Elric fax a copy of the letter to David's house. The group return to the house and retrieve the fax from the machine. THRAX examines it and says, "Well this first part looks like it's written in one of the Draconian languages. I can kinda make out what it says... As for this second part, I have no clue what it is."
TRITHAL examines the letter and, being that he seems to know a little about every language in the Land of Fantasy, uses his skills to determine what the letter says.
TRITHAL: "The first part is indeed one of the Draconian languages... kinda looks like from the north-eastern lands. This other part... it kinda looks like one of the ancient forms of the written Macha language."
THRAX: "The Macha language? What could that mean?"
AXEM: "Well, what does it say?"
TRITHAL studies the second portion, then almost immediately gets a concerned look on his face. He then reads it aloud in the Macha language, which everyone except AXEM, David and Anri understand. After he finishes reading, THRAX says, "Yeah, that's bad!"
AXEM: "What? What's going on?"
TRITHAL: "That's gonna take a while to explain. This episode's almost over, so I'll go into detail about it sometime later."
After all that, David treated the now-reunited party (minus one) to dinner at the only decent restaurant in town, China Cafe. (Jeremiah does Homer Simpson drooling noise somewhere in background) Afterward, David offered to allow the party to spend the night in his spare rooms. After thanking him for his hospitality, the party turned in for the night.
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