[OPEN] Sometimes You Shouldn't Be a Hero...

[Jun]

"Stand back everyone. The Knights of Flynn will protect you."

Illyas herded some civilians away from the raging fire while simultaneously gathering a wind arrow. His fingers were bleeding and he was sweating bullets (partly due to the fire, partly due to this world being so hot on its own), but he continued to focus and refine the wind into a suitable arrow in his hands.

"Hold on Quintessence. We're almost done here."

A few drops of blood splashed his face as the arrow flew towards the fire. Unlike normal wind which fueled fire, Illyas' magic-gathered wind was skilled at destroying the flames. This arrow alone put out the fire on nearly half of a roof. Or what Illyas assumed was a roof, as the houses here were rather odd and..blocky.

But the important thing was it was out. Not by his effort alone of course; the rest of their squad was fighting the fire from other areas. After all, this was one (oddly) large fire. The archer was certain his captain could take this fire out by himself. He was one amazing fighter after all. For someone who doesn't wield a bow, at least.

"The fire is out. Don't forget it was we, the Knights of Flynn, who helped you here." Illyas beamed. Nothing compared the the feeling of accomplishment he received from helping those in need.

A short man from among these civilians, perhaps their leader, approached Illyas with two bodyguards behind him.

"It is very fortunate you were here to put out this fire, young man." the short man said, his eyes never opening.

"It truly is. Though we did not come here just randomly. Actually, we're trying to find some inform-"

"Oh, I'm sure you didn't come here randomly." the leader interrupted. "I'm sure you expect us to pay you somehow for putting out this fire."

"That would indeed be helpful, but we aren't here for money."

"But you are here. That much is clear. And so is this fire. We haven't had visitors or fires in a long, long time. I do believe you know what I'm getting at, archer?"

Illyas raised his eyebrows at their leader. He certainly was an odd one. Not in appearance perhaps, but simply the way he spoke. A little...slippery? The exact word wasn't coming to mind. Odd was probably the best way of putting it.

"My captain would like to speak to whoever would be in charge. Would that be you?" Illyas continued, trying to lead the conversation. No point wasting time if this man wasn't really their leader.

"Oh, I'm sure. Let me show you the way to the palace. My guards will...assist you."

Illyas warped away his bow as the two burly men came to his side. With rope in hand.

"You expect to create some fire and than play the role of hero by putting it out? I'm won't be deceived by you outsiders. Not again."

Finally realizing the guards were trying to take him hostage, Illyas jumped back and re-summoned Quintessence. The crowd around them was still watching, whispering amongst themselves. Nobody was trying to stop these men. Which meant they were either truly the leaders, or...

"Common thieves is what you are. Do not expect to defeat a Knight of Flynn with such petty tricks!"

In close combat like this, arrows would not be too helpful, so the archer began to sprint away. The crowd opened up a path for him, but offered no other help: they just wanted a show, it seemed.

"If I just wait a little longer, I'll be able to gather a blade of wind to fight these rouges. I need to find where the others are stationed, but they may have gotten off track from the fire..."

Arming himself with a normal arrow from his quiver, Illyas continued his escape by twisting into an alleyway. He could have sworn there were some crates here he could use to climb to hire ground. Then they would feel the wrath of his arrows.

Not that fighting atop a nearly burned roof was the smartest plan, but there wasn't any other options here.

[OOC: Alright, so Illyas could use some serious help here. Although I can't really say whether these are truly just "common thieves".]

[Ryu-star!]

"The Gullwings, at your service!"

[ OOC: NPC'ing the Gullwings for this beginning part here. ]

The Celcius rocketed across the skies of Agrabah, the passengers aboard the unneccesarliy flashy Gummi Ship completely oblivious to the happenings of the world below. No, they were more focused on their destination. The legendary Cave of Wonders.

Being the treasure fanatics they were, it should be obvious that, the moment they heard of the wonders the Cave held, they immediately jumped aboard the ship and went after it.

"Guyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyys! We’re almost there!" Rikku shouted yet again, practically bouncing of the walls in excitement. Rolling her eyes and smirking to herself, Yuna turned to look out of the window once more, finding the vast city beneath them quite fascinating, despite the fact that she should have been focusing on their upcoming treasure hunt.

Perhaps, if she’d thought to look ahead, rather than down, she would’ve seen it.

Perhaps, if Rikku hadn’t tripped and knocked Brother’s hands off the wheel at that moment in time, he could’ve avoided it.

Perhaps, if Paine hadn’t chosen to wear such ridiculous heels, she would’ve been able to keep her balance, rather than flying forward and colliding with Yuna.

So many things that could have happened.

None that did happen.

The ship collided with a flying carpet going in the other direction, Paine crashed into the former summoner and knocked her unconscious, and the Celcius promptly crashed into the desert just outside of the city.

Ouch.
___________________________________

Several minutes later, she awoke.

The Celcius was downed about thirty feet to her right, but her friends were nowhere in sight.

Already heading off to the Cave of Wonders, no doubt.

But before she could follow, the sounds of a scuffle caught her attention. Allowing her curiosity to get the better of her, she was off, heading into the city and quickly reaching the commotion itself. Leaping over the heads of the ‘guards’ and landing beside the stranger.

"Looks like you can use some help. Allow me." Firing off several shots in the direction of the pursuers, the former summoner smiled.

This was going to be ten kinds of fun.

[Jun]

The alley had no crates to reach the roof, unfortunately enough. But at the very least, it was not a dead end, allowing the archer to continue running. But then he couldn't run forever; even as a trained knight he was barely faster than his pursuers. There was the whole case of being slowed down by armor, after all.

Illyas had planned to gather enough wind to create a blade, but creating anything other than arrows was not easy to do while on the run. If he slowed down even a little, he would be caught. And while his hidden blades could get him out of a jam once, it would not work twice. And generally wasn't worth the risk.

It was one thing to save the common folk, but there was also staying alive. This wasn't Flynn; he wouldn't die for these people.

And so, as these thoughts rushed through the soldier's head and he prayed to find his traveling companions, he found someone else coming to his aid.

He couldn't get a good look at her while running, but she didn't appear to be a soldier. No, she wasn't even wearing armor! But she also didn't look like a citizen of this town.

But what caught his eye most of all was the strange weapon in her hands. There were two of these strange metal constructs which had no sharp edge whatsoever. And yet as she pulled some sort of trigger on them, an explosion seemed to fire out.

"A magic amplifier perhaps?"

Whatever it was, it threw his pursuers off just as much. Well, not just as much...they seemed more surprised someone else was interfering and not so surprised by her weapons. They didn't seem to change their minds about capturing Illyas.

But it really didn't matter right now, because this stranger's arrival had given Illyas some time. Time during which Illyas summoned up a wind arrow and managed to make a fairly sharp Open Stance.

"I'm sorry to strike you so dishonorably, but you left me no choice."

His fingers screamed as he pulled back on the arrow, already in pain from the countless arrows shot at the fire. Nonetheless, Illyas made a clean shot into the left kneecap of one of his pursuers. And since the criminals weren't wearing armor, it seemed especially effective.

Effective enough to cause the little man to run in fear. But that still left one fully-able pursuer with sword in hand.

Illyas took this moment to look over the girl who had come to his aid, but quickly came back to the strange weapons in her hands. They allowed such long-range and explosive spells. Maybe they were just an amplifier for fire magic? Or perhaps they were just long-range weapons she combined with fire spells, like the Quintessence and wind magic.

"Thank you for your help. I would formerly introduce myself, but we should take care of this man first." Illyas said, motioning to the standing criminal as the soldier pulled an arrow out of his quiver.

[OOC: Just a heads-up; our characters aren't suppose to know this yet, but these guys aren't criminals. They seriously are castle guards, but the palace is convinced Illyas' crew started the fire as some scheme and therefore wants them captured. I might have had some more ideas for this thread too, but they escape me right now...]

[Yuna !]

"The Gullwings, at your service!"

[ Good to know. ^^. ]

So this guy's a bow-wielder, hmm? Yuna asked herself, watching with genuine interest as he pulled back an arrow and promptly sent it through one of their pursuer's kneecaps. It was rather amusing, really, that this stranger was choosing to use such a primitive weapon. Primitive to her, anyway. Sure, she could faintly remember there being bows back on her homeworld -- though her memories were still fuzzy, of course -- but they weren‘t used all that often. In fact, they were mainly used by the Ronso, or in certain ceremonies. Though she had to admit, this guy was using them rather well. Not as well as she tended to use her guns, mind you, but that isn’t the point.

"Thank you for your help. I would formerly introduce myself, but we should take care of this man first." Looking at the guy in question, Yuna smirked. "Don't waste your arrows, friend." And with that she advanced on the man.

And promptly kicked him in the face.

Needless to say, he was going to be knocked out for several hours.

Turning back to face her new ally, she walked over to him, slipping her guns into their holsters as she did so. Offering her hand, she smiled again. "I'm Yuna. Nice to meet you. Though might I suggest we save the introductions for later? Seems that some visitors are coming to greet us." As was made evident by the sound of approaching footsteps a short distance away.

There was but one question now.

Should they fight, or should they flee?

[Jun]

As Illyas began to load the arrow into Quintessence, he was stopped by the girl. Mostly because she advanced on the enemy and kicked him in the face, sending him onto the ground.

"That's...certainly an interesting technique." Illyas said, a little dumbfounded from her transition between complicated magic-amplifiers to a face-kick. On the bright side, it seemed effective.

The girl extended her hand after putting away her weapons. The little holders she kept them in looked very much like min-quivers...

"I'm Yuna. Nice to meet you. Though might I suggest we save the introductions for later? Seems that some visitors are coming to greet us."

Illyas did hear footsteps approaching. Perhaps the little man had brought reinforcements? If he had, he was remarkably fast. Illyas was tempted to stand his ground and fight just to see Yuna's weapons in action again but decided against it.

But in the end he couldn't postpone introductions after one party had already started. He found it a little odd to shake hands with a girl but did so anyways. She had offered a handshake after all.

"I'm Illyas Aion, Vice Captain of Flynn's Second Archery Squad. We should move quickly to avoid another needless confrontation. If that is alright with you."

He put the arrow back into its quiver and slowly began to walk deeper through the alley. He needed to find a high spot to find his comrades, so he searched for a way to reach the roof.

Spotting an open window on the second floor (one so large it seemed like a whole in the wall). And luckily enough there was a rope hanging down from it! Maybe this was the hideout of someone else?

Whatever the case Illyas knew this was his best option right now, even if it did make him feel a bit like a criminal. But then he was used to climbing trees back home to get a good shot and there weren't many trees here, so this would have to do.

"I believe this should be a good spot for now. Ladies first."

And while "ladies first" was a basic rule of soldier etiquette back home, Illyas realized her weapons may make her a more capable fighter if the enemy did catch up. Not to mention her outfit may not make going first when climbing the best idea...

But Illyas just couldn't shrug off proper etiquette. It was just the way he was raised.