The Adventures of Stitches

[Andross]

OoC: Heh, yeah, I know, most generic name ever concievable. But, don't worry! The story will be interesting. It will open up with a bit more action than my previous try at character fiction.

BiC:

The Battle For Daileon

Chapter I

"So, we gonna stop soon? We've been ridin' all day." asked a scruffy-looking bandit. "Shuddap, Axe! We will get there when we get there!" replied a slightly smaller, younger man, riding in front of a few tough looking guys. "Aw, Blade, I'm gettin' tired. This armor's heavy. The other guys stink. And, not to mention, we're all hungry! We hadn' had a bite to eat for the last couple o' days." Axe complained. "What did I tell you? SHADDAP!", responded the angry looking leader of this crew. "Besides- Not like you don't stink, either. You think I take pleasure riding right next to you?"

They were all bandits, a notorious group known as the Blood Skull. They were made up of members who took the names of various weapons- Blade, the leader, Axe, the second-in-command, and Scythe, Knife, and Fist (He was a brawler; didn't use weapons.) The crew rode on, until Axe spotted something. "Hey, hey! Is that a buildin'? Hey, it looks like there's a couple more of em. Maybe it's a village." Scythe looked at Axe with anger. "No duh it's a village, idiot." Axe started to reply, but decided not to.

When the bandits rode up in to the village, Fist noticed something. "Hey! These buildings are all burnt and trashed..." Axe then looked at Scythe with merriment. "Aha! There ya go!" Axe looked ahead again, and said to himself loudly, "Buildings out in the wilderness don't have to be a village." Knife spoke to Axe, quietly. "Don't worry about it. Let him have his glory. Well, the closest an idiot can have to glory." The two started to chuckle. "Don't you two be laughin'! You should be cryin', since I was right. Right! Sure, I was wrong about it being a village, but you were wrong about it being a village as well! Oh, wait- Oh, DARNIT!", Axe replied. Scythe was about ready to burst out in to laughter, but Blade told them to quiet down.

"All of you, quiet down. This village seems familiar... Heheh, this must of been here for years... But that's besides the point. Fist was scanning the area, while you imbeciles were playing around. He found an opening to what looks like a sewer system. That is where we will spend the night." Blade finished talking, and Axe looked up at Blade. "Huh? What 'bout supper?" asked Axe. "Oh, yes- What about supper? That will be your responsibility, Axe. You will go out and hunt, while we stick around here." Blade responded. "Huh? W-wait just one minute..." Axe said. "Shaddup. Go out and get us some dinner." Blade said loudly, and Axe walked off in a disgruntled mood.

As Axe was out searching for food, the other bandits were looking around the sewer system. Once again, Fist noticed something interesting. "I found this type of blue liquid running around the cracks of this wall." Fist told Blade. "Hmm... Blue Liquid, you say?" Blade asked, and then looked up, as if he was trying to remember something. "Lead us to the location where you found the liquid, Fist." Fist nodded when Blade was finished talking, and he led them to this old, cracked wall. "Blue liquid coming out of a wall... Doesn't make much sense." Blade said. Then, as Blade set his arm on the wall, leaning on it, the wall started to crack and crumble. The bandits backed off, as the wall fell down. They all gazed at what they found in astonishment.

The wall revealed a large, blue crystal, attached to what seemed like an arched structure with a fountain beneath it, which is where the blue liquid, which came from the crystal, leaked. "Hmm, this must of been here for a while..." The leader spoke again. Suddenly, he started to speak, again. "Wow..." Blade said, in astonishment. Memories started to rush back to him. "Hey... I know this place... I lived here, when I was very young... Wow..." Then, as Blade reached up to touch the crystal, the crystal burst in to a thousand pieces. It revealed what seemed to be a doll of a little girl. "What... What is that?" Blade asked, as he tried to figure out what it was. "Say... Is that a doll? Why would Val'Dan put a doll in the Gaurdian Portal?" He looked at the doll, which looked like it was in a sleeping position. "Hey- I remember this doll. Used to belong to a girl named Vera. I thought I ripped it up when I was smaller." Blade continued to look at the sleeping doll. "Now, come to think of it, it does look different. Like it was redesigned, with different cloths and threads and stuff. A home-made doll..." He said, as he looked at it. Just then, the eyes of the doll opened.

"Wha!?!" Blade exlaimed, as he fell back. The doll stood up. It yawned, and stretched out it's arms. It looked at the crew of scruffy looking men. "Hmm... Hmm... Where's Val'Dan?" it asked. Blade scrambled up to his feet. It was obviously one of the long-dead Val'Dan's creations. "Val'Dan? That old wizard? He's dead. Been dead for years, heh." The doll looked shocked. "Dead? He was just here a moment ago..." The crew of men looked puzzled, but Blade seemed to understand what the doll was talking about. She was probably thrown in to the portal by surprise. "Listen- Val'Dan is dead. Heheh, when Zaiken rose up against the guild, I was one of his new recruits. Eventually, I was booted out of Zaiken's forces for bad behavior, but... I am pretty sure Zaiken killed Val'Dan himself. If I remember correctly." The doll's eyes widened. "Z-Zaiken? He was such a kind man... He would never do that to Val'Dan!" it cried. Blade responded. "Well, I'm pretty sure you never knew the real Zaiken. Zaiken worked for the Dead Sun. The leaders of the organization eventually took over Daileon..." Just as Blade finished, the doll started to gather a large amount of energy. She let out a load of energy in a pulsing blast, which hit all the bandits. The bandits, although injured, were not fatally injured. "Uhh... Ahh, let's get out of here!" Blade screamed. As the crew rushed out of the sewers, they left behind their weapons.

A few moments after the men fled, Axe came pummeling in, with what looked like a large deer carcass. "Hey, hey! I did good! Look at this huge buck!" Axe through the bloody body down before the doll, unknown that the doll was there. Axe looked up. "Hey, guys, what ya think of my- Hey, your not Blade! Or Scythe... Or Knife... Or Fist! Dangit, you ain't none of 'em!" The doll stopped staring disgustedly at the dead thing beneath it, and looked at a large, bald, scarred, and bearded man. "No, my name isn't any of those. It's Stitches." She responded. Axe then looked at all the weapons left behind. "Huh? Where's the crew? AHH! YOU MUST BE SOME EVIL DEMON THAT ATE MY FRIENDS! Gah!" Axe yelled out loudly. "Huh? Eat them? I wouldn't eat anybody..." Stitches responded. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR LIES! YOU WENT AND DUN ATE MY FRIENDS! YOU'RE GONNA PAY!"
Axe responded, and he started to rush towards Stitches with his battle axe.

Stitches was caught by surprise, and had a bit of her arm ripped. "Ah! My arm! I'll have to fix this!" Stitches screamed. Axe looked at the doll. "Gah! You MUSt be a demon! You shed no blood!" Axe started rushing towards Stitches again. Stitches dodged the attack, and shot a beam of magic energy at Axe. Axe was damaged a bit, but got up. He summoned a bit of his strength. "Now, I'm gonna use my special- Swirling Axe Smash!" Axe started swinging around in a large, incredibly fast tornado with his axe, but missed Stitches every time he moved near her. He stopped and looked rather dizzy. He vomited all over the ground. "Eww!" Stitches yelled. "Uh... How'd you avoid my... Hurling, uh, I mean Swirling Axe Smash..." Axe remembered Scythe, who gave Axe's special move the 'Hurling Axe Smash' name, because of a previous, yet similiar event. "Uhh! No more fancy-pantsy-antsy moves! I'll just use brute force!" Axe, once again, rushed towards Stitches, who once again dodged Axe's moves, causing Axe to crash in to a wall. Axe got up. "Uhh! It ain't right! IT JUST AIN'T RIGHT! AHHH! DEMON!", Axe screamed, as he ran off.

Stitches scrambled up, and repaired her arm with the rather large needle located under her neck. She ventured outside of the sewers, and looked at all the burnt buildings. She started to cry, but, right at that moments, she saw an old, burnt sign. It said "Cinnasaon City, 5 miles, East." Stitches thought if Cinnasaon City was destroyed as well. But, she decided to head off to check and see, anyway. She had nowhere to go.

[Andross]

Chapter II

Stitches continued down the path. She had nowhere to go. She tried to keep happy, but the realization of this tragedy was a huge burden, indeed. She just walked, walking, hoping to find civilization. This long walk would normally be short and easy for Stitches. But today was different.

Finally, after what seemed like a very long walk, she spotted two large windmills. "Windmills...", she muttered, as she approached what looked like a small village. Indeed, the village was Cinnasoan, which was spared the wrath of the Dead Sun. Stitches felt overjoyed. She remembered her previous trips to Cinnasoan, with Val'Dan. She remembered that there was an academy in Cinnasoan, a mage school headed by one of Val'Dan's close friends, Mal'Rav. Mal'Rav would certainly help Stitches out.

Stitches entered the village. The villagers staired at her uncomfortably. She obviously wasn't human, but some sort of magical creation. She ignored them, optimistically approaching the doors to the University of Candein, which stood in the northern part of the city. She walked up to the doors to a large dome, with a tower in the middle. She pushed open the doors, and walked in.

There were several doors on multiple sides of the dome. She knew that Mal'Rav would be in his office, studying, at least at this time of the day. The door to Mal'Rav's office was the top room in the tower. Stitches climbed up the spiral staircase to Mal'Rav's room. She opened the door.

"Mal'Rav!" she screamed. However, her delight vanished as she saw a different man lift his head up. "Mal'Rav? Who is this Mal'Rav you speak of? I am Albert Verdacht, master of this academy." the man yelled out, in an aged voice. The man had long, white hair running down the back of his head, and he had little hair on his forehead. He was thin and old. "What business do you have with me? If you have none, then go away!" Stitches felt slightly embarrassed for her intrusion, but the emotion of sadness and dissapointed stinged even more. She began to walk out, but she decided not to.

She turned back, and asked Verdacht a question. "Mal'Rav was the previous headmaster of this academy... Where is he now?" Stitches asked. Verdacht grew impatient. "I already told you. I don't know. I was assigned to this academy by Proffesor Veirn. All I know is that the previous headmaster was banished to the Tower of Miazore. Anyway, leave!" Verdacht responded. Stitches stayed, and asked one more question. "Who's Veirn?" Verdacht replied by yelling, "Veirn is the head of the scientific development of Daileon. A wise man, yes. Now leave!" Verdacht shouted, and Stitches left the building.

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Dark clouds loomed over the Tower of Dail, the historic monument where the main government operations of Daileon took place. Zaiken, head of Daileon's military forces, and manager of the military development, was lecturing some young soldiers. "You are special units. You have been chosen for special duties, based off of the skills that you have shown." Zaiken said. The soldiers all shouted 'Yessir.' "You each will be sent on special missions of great importance for Daileon. Do not fail." Zaiken continued. After another 'Yessir', they were all dismissed. All, except for one female soldier.

"Vera... Your mission is special. Your task is the most important of all... I need you to obtain the last Wizard Stone..." Zaiken told Vera. Vera remained silent. "Long ago, when we were both members of the Guild of the Dawn, Val'Dan created a special doll... A living doll, powered by that final stone... It disappeared. Most likely, Val'Dan hid it, and it was reactivated. We need you to destroy this doll, and obtain the jewel from it's remains. Understand?" Zaiken continued. Vera remained silent. "You are now dismissed, Vera." Zaiken said, and Vera walked out of the room.

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Stitches needed to find the 'Tower of Miazore'. Most likely, Mal'Rav would be able to help her out.