~ADVENTURE~

Shisho sighed. He wasn't exactly good at this haggling business, was he? So much more to learn. "Aww... Okay then," Shisho said, withdrawing an exact sum of coins necessary for the purchase from the bag, handing it over to the man. While he awaited for the stallkeep to hand over his goods, Shisho inquired further on his other wares. "What other goods are you trying to sell? Why the guards do not allow you to sell more?"

The man takes the coins, then tosses the MD forward.

It begins to hover in the air in front of Shisho, iconically, now active.

[ShishoLOSE: 2000Z]

[ShishoGET: Purple Mystery Data]

"Well friend," He waits for the other woman to leave, disappointed, before he continues, "Like I said, my other wares-- green Dimension Capsules, specifically green-- have had... more variable effects. Most everyone who got money got less than I was chargin', so people stopped wantin' to buy the green ones when they heard. That was bad enough. Then someone got teleported clear to the other kingdom! The guards didn't like that." The man shakes his head.

"The thing that cut it, though, was when one popped open and some monsters-- just a couple-- popped out. The guards stopped me sellin' 'em then."

Shisho listened to the man's story intently, nodding as he did, arms folded. "Well, I can see the relevant dangers associated with the green Dimension Capsules..." he said, before he was informed by an internal beep resounding in his head. "It was for dad, Shisho! And... oooh, floaty glowy purply thingy!" Rini exclaimed, happy as soon as she hopped onto her seat. Shisho smiled, sending a private message to Rini so that Shisho didn't seem to be talking to air. "Should I open it?" -- the message was met with a loud "YESSSSS".

Shisho touched the mystery data, wondering what was in it.

It opens, revealing...

Nothing!

"Huh. That's kinda odd." The man scratches his head. "Never seen that happen with the purple ones..."

Overhead, the sky begins to darken...

Shisho waited eagerly as the mystery data opened, but then dropped to a blank expression. Did he get duped or something? Turning to the man, he looked at the way the man scratching his head-- no, probably not. "D'awww... Just my luck," Shisho said disappointedly, of which was met by Rini's frowning and complaining. "Ehhhh? There's nothing inside it," Rini voiced her own disappointment as well, before she blinked. "Hey Shisho, who turned off the lights?"

Shisho looked overhead to see the sky darken. "Umm, raining, I suppose?" Shisho said half-heartedly, still disappointed with the empty data that he paid for. Well, lesson learnt, he supposed.

NOPE!

As Shisho looks up, he notices that the sun-- was there a sun before? --looks funny. It's kind of darkened, with these weird, bright edges...

Abruptly, a massive black beam comes SHOOTING out of the sky, smacking straight into and through the Mystery Data and shattering it into a million tiny, expensive pieces.

For a brief moment, nobody knows quite what to say...

Then a Heelnavi, looking more like a burnt cockroach (ha!) than anything else, falls from the sky.

He twitches, and spasms for just a moment, looking like he's about to stand up-- then a black orb also falls out of the sky, smacking him in the head and bouncing off into Shisho's grip. With that, he passes out for good.

...

So yeah Shisho got a chip after all!

Quote ()

Eclipse
Damage: 80 + Sleep + Beam Attack; +80 damage to Non-Elemental targets
Accuracy: A
Description: A sphere resembling the moon appears high above the user, then releases a ray of black light at a target designated by the user. The beam passes through everything in its path, causing great damage and comatosing all it hits as it smashes through everything in a straight line. Rare
Duration: Once
Element: Null

Both Shisho and Rini blinked in their respective realities, with Rini proceeding to rub at both her eyes from the flashy display-- even if it was black. As the black orb popped into Shisho's hands, and Shisho stood there dumbfounded for a while before realising that what had just happened was actually his reward from the mystery data. "... Just wow," he said simply, speechless from the entire event, which happened in a flash like lightning.

Rini, recovering quicker than her Navigator, bubbly and all, bounced in her seat from the excitement. "Woow Shisho, did you do that? Is that what you got? You can now turn off the lights?" Rini said excitedly. Shisho nodded with a smile. "It's also more than that, Rini. You'll see," Shisho calmed her down, as she seemed to be looking ready to make him work to turn off all the lights in the mansion for the sake of entertainment.

Shisho turned to the stallkeeper, no doubt his reaction was to stare agape at the earlier spectacle. "This was a fine purchase, good sir. Thank you; I'll see what I can do about your other goods. No guarantees, though," Shisho offered, bowing slightly. "Do you happen to know the name of the guards in charge of these matters?"

"Uhhh..." The stallkeep scratches his head for a while. "I don't know his name, but I know he's got his office at the top of the east building." He points over at the building Shisho saw earlier, to the right of the entrance. "More importantly, is that guy okay...?"

A small crowd of onlookers slowly gathers to see the spectacle of THE MAN WHO FELL FROM THE SKY, and Shisho gets the feeling he should probably split before attention turns to him.

Shisho nodded solemnly and took note of the direction of the building the man was pointing at. His eyes roving over to the crowd gathering, though, he decided that it was time to leave. "Thank you. I will probably head there later," he said, floating down to melt into the crowd in the busy market. He started down the marketplace, heading towards the stall with a scruffy bearded man-- apparently selling a single title, with the cover representing the man's face.

Curious, Shisho approached him, showing interest and curiosity in the book's contents.

"Ah, good morning sir." The man nodded at Shisho. "Taken an interest in our fine kingdom? Unlike this... scruffy lot. You'd think they didn't live here!" The man leers at the gathered crowd as Shisho gets the distinct feeling his disposition is at least part of the reason why he can't seem to get his book to sell.

"Either way, would you like to buy a copy of my book? As the title says, it offers an abridged look at the history of not only our kingdom, but the history of the two others!" He beams. "...Well, I suppose it's one other, now..."

Shisho just smiled politely at the man's leering; while the man has every right to voice his opinions or dissatisfaction of his own country's climate, he made sure that he did not make his own comments in the matter. Can't judge a book by it's cover (or author), though.

"Ah, history! My favorite subject," reaching out to inspect one of the many books (of the same title) on display. Shisho's head perked up from reviewing the book, though, when he heard the man mention something about three kingdoms... but then suddenly became two? "About that! I'd like to know more, good sir," Shisho said, his enthusiasm still flowing.

Rini, however, wasn't exactly impressed. "It's books, Shisho. BOOKS! Idunwannareadanditlooksthick," the girl said, twiddling her thumbs in the process. Shisho wordlessly reassured her via text messages that she will not be made to read it, and the books are actually some 'necessary key item for this quest'. Rini brightened at the notion of quests, beaming in full force. "So Shisho gets to fight dragons and be a hero and things? COOL!" she giggled.

Shisho couldn't help but manage another smile, probably passing off as slightly aloof or silly to the author-cum-shopkeeper before him.

"You'll have to buy the book if you want to know." The author grins a sly grin, with a look in his eye like he's caught a fresh fish. "50 coins for a copy! 70 if you want me to sign it."

He pauses before adding, "Before there were three kingdoms. Now there are two. I won't say what happened to the third, but... most of the people who lived there are dead, now."

... Not that it was expensive.

Reaching into his 'coin' pouch once more, Shisho took out 70 zennies and handed it over to the man. "I'll pick up a book anytime," Shisho said, nodding. "A dark page of history, eh? I sure would like to hear more," the Navigator added.

Richard grabs one of the books from atop the stand, opens the hardcover and signs the inside before handing it to Shisho. "There you go! Hope you enjoy the read." The man nods.

Upon closer inspection, the signature appears to read:

"To my fellow scholar, Shisho.
-Richard Z. Graff"

Thanking the man for his autographed book, Shisho flipped his copy's pages to scan through it's contents quickly. ... What was the title of the book again? After reviewing the pages, he closed it and looked at the cover, then almost wanted to slap himself for not looking at the cover properly before buying it. Well, at least it was relevant to his interests, so all was well.

Once that was done, he took out a traditional-looking slingbag-- one that look like it's made of leather-- from behind him, and placed the book into the bag. Shisho paused only a brief moment before he bade the man farewell, and visited the last stall that caught his interest earlier.

Always intrigued by the concept of magic (and a fresh practitioner himself), Shisho couldn't help but inquire further information on the 'magic lessons' as well. Slinging his bag across his shoulder, he leaned closer to the stall, looking at any displayed wares before he voiced his queries. "Magic Lessons, eh? Sounds interesting! So what do you teach?" Shisho asked.

The person running this particular stall is a woman with long, curly hair, dressed in flowing robes. She nods, smiling cutely from between her purple locks. "I teach--" There is a pause as she stiffens, seeming to sense something, then looks across the marketplace. Shisho instinctively turns, and sees exactly what she does; a small group of guards headed exactly this way.

"--Many things! Come see me later outside the castle walls if you want lessons." She quickly says, handing him a small piece of paper. "For now, I teach vanishing! Observe, lesson one!"

With that she throws down a small capsule of something and disappears in a puff of smoke. The guards quickly close on Shisho's position.

"Oi!" Says the stern-looking leader of the armor-clad trio, "D'you know that woman?"

The woman stallkeep seemed to strike Shisho as more of a gypsy than a real magician, but he refrained from commenting such as he watched her giving him a cute smile. The short Navi lowered half of his face into his large collars, looking away slightly from the awkward situation. However, before the woman could even introduce her stall, she was already gone-- presumably from the guards. Now wasn't that suspicious.

Regardless, he still hid the small note given by the woman in his sleeves, away from sight.

As the leader of the guards called out to him, Shisho made sure to just answer honestly to avoid getting into more trouble. "Um, I just came to the store, and poof she's gone," he said, looking slightly disappointed from the woman's disappearing act. Maybe she was involved in some fishy or illegal businesses? Somehow it wouldn't strike him as unexpected at all.

"Blast it all." The lead guard snorts, kicking her stall. "She comes back, you tell her she's not welcome here, you understand lad? Tell her!" After that, he storms off, leaving Shisho alone among the crowd of shoppers and shopkeepers alike, all or most of them now muttering gossip.

Shisho nodded dumbly, watching the fallen stall and the guard storming off. He shrugged, floating towards the meeting place that the woman mentioned; his hands fumbling for the small piece of paper and examining what's written on it.

"Don't follow after me just yet. Hee hee hee. Just walk off the beaten path outside the castle walls while you're holding this and I'll find you.

Also, look up at the castle wall to the south (That's where you entered) when you're done reading this."

Prompted, Shisho looks up to the top of the ramparts on the castle wall-- and finds the woman standing there, robes billowing in the wind, waving and grinning at him. She then hops off the wall, down toward the far side, and is gone.