The town wasn't a very large town. There was a shop, a few tents (tents?), a number of buildings, and a pier. But the size of the small town didn't match up with the large number of people that went through it every day.
"I've got Secret Cards to sell! Come one step closer to enlightenment! Best prices this side of..."
"Can anyone tell me where to find that Don Cavalier Balloon? I've been looking for them all day..."
"So, like I was saying before, Tenter had me cornered, but I pulled out my scrolls and..."
Esther, the clerk of the Guild Office in Megalopolis, was cursing her luck. She had been re-assigned to Blooming Cora after that incident with Soki. That was embarrassing, but to have to introduce complete and utter newbies to the Great Game, for weeks on end? She had tried to be cheerful about it, she really had. But the weeks dragged on to months as her exile did much the same. She had seen thousands, if not millions, of new applicants arrive on the island during her "reassignment", and only a dozen of them or so had the Spark that the Game was designed to find and cultivate...
Her phone went off. It was Eni. "Hello, Eni. Three coming my way? I'll be ready for them. Sealed? It's been a while since I've had sealed ones, but... you think so? Alright, I'll get them in. You owe me, though, for the Sheep."
Just as she turned off her phone, three girls teleported in next to her. A pink-haired fox, a brown-haired sheep, and redhead cat. Usagi, Nanoha, and Hikaru. Esther smiled. She felt something different about these three, something she hadn't felt since that blonde bunny with that silly ribbon had come through here months earlier. "Greetings ladies, and welcome to Blooming Cora!" With a great gesture, she introduced herself. "I'm the Guild Office Clerk and Second Secretary to The Don, Esther."
Hikaru and Usagi both smiled. They knew about the application process. It was genius, really. To apply for the Game, you needed to fill out an application and then deliver it in person to one of the secretaries of Don Cavalier. Yes, there were supplies on the island, but it was so much easier to have the application already filled out before arriving. They both handed Esther their applications. The exiled clerk took them and teleported them to... well, teleported the papers somewhere. Nanoha started to panic. Captain Stan hadn't said anything about applying for the game, and if they find out that I don't have an application...
Esther started to talk. "Well, that takes care of the first quest for the two of you, but the Sheep, Nanoha, will need to do it still. May as well have all three of you do it, just to get the three of you into the habit of doing everything yourselves." She snapped her hands, and three wooden swords appeared out of nowhere, along with three shields. "The three of you are to hunt down a creature called a 'Torobbie'. They have stolen the extra applications that we have on the island. Now, most people would have just stolen them back, but we decided to let the Torobbies take them and just unleash the new applicants on them. That way, the new applicants learn how to fight according to the laws of the island. Come back with at least one application for Nanoha-chan, and then we'll work on the next part of the application process."
The three girls turned away and started to run to the fields of Blooming Cora. Esther sighed wistfully. Each of those three girls had the Spark, but only one of those three had come to find it.
Small, pink balls of fluff with pompom tails bounced around the fields closest to the town of Blooming Cora. They were cute, harmless, and the perfect cannon-fodder for new players to try their strength on. Less than a minute after leaving the town, three girls had slain three Torobbies.
Not a single application could be found. Elsewhere, just a little further down the beach, two boys in buffalo costumes were also killing Torobbies. One of them had jet-black hair, and was wielding a sword and shield that appeared to be made of gold. On his head was a forest-green Beret. His unfortunate victims exploded in a shower of mud and shadow. The other buffalo had a sort of pine-green head of hair, topped with a bright red ribbon, and in his hands were a big square shield and a sword of blue steel with red veins. He stood there observing his companion, running numbers through a calculator.
"King," said the green-haired boy "it's gotta be counting twice. There's no other explanation for it."
The three girls ran over to the two strange boys. Hikaru frowned, her eyes fixed on the ribbon. "They aren't Daichi, but they've got Nonohara's ribbon."
King looked over at the odd trio. "Hey Kota, I think we've got company."
Kota shrugged. "They still have to get their own applications. Although they look familiar." He then ran over to the three girls. "You three are new here?"
Usagi and Nanoha both nodded. Hikaru, for a moment shocked into silence, quickly regained her composure. "We just arrived today. I'm Hibino Hikaru, and these are my..."
For a moment, she looked at Usagi and Nanoha. Companions? Teammates? Allies? Friends? Nakama?
King laughed. "I get it. Kota, they partied up! It's okay, you can call yourselves a party. Me and Kota party up all the time."
The odd trio didn't know what to say. The strange pair continued to talk right on over them. "King, wait a minute. That wasn't the hesitation of 'These are random people that I partied up with', that was more of a 'We met on the boat and hit it off fairly well' hesitation." The green-haired buffalo took a swat at a passing Torobbie. It exploded in a burst of mint-scented air, and a card fell out. "Oh, hey, another card."
"Nice, that one was two-thousand, one hundred and forty eight." King punched Kota lightly on the shoulder.
Nanoha looked at King. "What's that number about?"
"His damage, it should be easy to see... oh, wait. That's right, you're new here. You don't have your eyes on yet. Hey, KOTA! Looks like we get to train some newbies!"
Kota frowned. "King, I still have to meet with Himeko later and-"
But King wouldn't hear any of that. "Come on, we need to teach these girls how to survive. I'll call Heca and have her help us."
(Posted Mon, 09 Aug 2010 15:54)
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