//------------------------------//
// A campsite and a sparring battle 
// Story: The Adventures Begin 
// by Dragon Shimmer 
//------------------------------//

With supreme pain and effort, the team finally made it to pass the Guardian of the Kitten Ruin. They were impressed by the technology of the ancient. Plain rock would float through the air, fire into them gigantic particle beams, capable of melting any armor. The source of such technology still remains a mystery to anyone. Beyond the ruin, the ground began to slope steeply. Few adventurers would wander that far, only the most skilled warriors carry on. Regardless, the team finally made it to Volcano Peak, the goal of their journey. Where the ancient deity, Arkon, was buried thousands of years ago and has now returned to incur untold disaster. The end of their journey is drawing near.

   "Come on, why are you so freaky heavy?" Sunset whined as she and Lance try to pull Natalie and Matt out of the cliff

   "Hey, it not my fault here. This is Natalie's fault, she can't jump so I must bring her here. I didn't know that she is so heavy." Matt tries to blame Natalie and receives a pinch from her. "Yes, that's hurt". 

  "Don't call me heavy, ok? I'm on diet so please don't issue about my weight," Natalie complain

  "Fine. Just keep weight on what you want, now think about how we can get out of here please?" Math yells.

   "... I think I got an idea. Hey Sunset, can you teleport both of us here?" Natalie asked.

  " I don't think that works because you guys will be teleported randomly. So I don't take this risk," Sunset answered

  "Just do it, we are going to fall here," Natalie says. Sunset nods and casts a teleport spell to them; the duo disappears.

   Later, Sunset and Lance hear some voices on the tree, it was Natalie. She goes down the tree after that. A moment later, she put an arm to the tree and start vomiting

  "You ok?" Sunset asks

  "Heh.. heh... This Is the effect of teleporting?" Natalie asks as she continues vomiting.

  "Yeah, first time but you will get used to it soon. Besides I can't use that in combat though, sorry," Sunset explains while waving her wooden staff.

  "Have you seen Matt? I don't see him any -" Lance gets cut off because he is hearing someone yelling in the sky. He starts to look up and sees Matt is falling from the sky with a long "Ahhhhh". As he lands, he falls into Natalie's body, makes her blush heavily, and after that, he receives a punch to his chin from Natalie, sending him flying backward much as Lance and Natalie are surprised.

  "Wow, I didn't know Natalie can punch that hard," Sunset says

  "Yeah, me too," Lance agrees. 

    Matt stands up and rubs his chin. He never thought that Natalie can punch that hard, so he must be careful with her in the future.
  
  "You know, that good punch Natalie," He said as he rubs his chin. 

  "Sorry, I'm just surprised," Natalie said while covering her face to hide her blush.

  "Anyway, we should go now before it's night," Matt suggest 


  The team head to Volcano Peak. As they arrive, they see many big tents set down by the volcano. Sunset quickly hides herself into the cloak as she sees a big campsite. The campsite is like a market, they have spots to sell food, weapons, etc... Each one has some specific kinds of stuff.

   "... Since when do they get campsites in this volcano?" Matt asks curiously.

   "I don't know. But the good thing is that we don't need to use a teleport crystal to go back to town to get supplies." Lance explains

   "As long as Sunset can keep hiding her appearance, we will be safe." Natalie caution as she stares at Sunset, make her smile sleepily

 As the team keeps going, they are greeted by someone wearing black armor and black pants.

  "Hey, hey over here Lance," The stranger waves at them as Lance turns to him and is surprised.

  "Uncle Eldaro!" Lance cheers and he rushes to his uncle and gives him a hug "How are you, Uncle?"

   "I'm fine, kid," He says as he pinches Lance's cheek. "Long time no see, you are growing up so fast, kid" he pats Lance's back happily.

  "Come on, I'm not a kid anymore." Lance laughs

  "Well, good for you kid. Anyway, what are you doing here, this place is very dangerous, now." Eldaro said

 "Honestly, I come here to slay that demon down" Lance answered as his uncle surprise.

  "Are you Crazy? That thing over there is very dangerous. I don't think you can handle it alone" Eldaro worried about his cousin.

  "Nah, I don't come here alone. How about I introduce myself to you, my teammate?" Lance suggests.

  ".... Well, we will do that in my tent. Come." Eldaro waves his hand to ask them to come in. 

  
   The team goes into Eldaro's tent. Inside the tent, there has a large map on the table with some of the monster's figures. It also has some weapons and radar too.

  "Wow, this is really like a tactic tent here," Matt amazed 

  "It is. Since that demon wakes up by something, we must isolate this mountain to make sure that the monster will not be coming out of this Volcano. " Eldaro explains to make the team, except Sunset, smile sheepishly.

  " So... Eh you got anything to kill that demon?" Lance asked.

  "Unfortunately no, even if we blow up this Volcano but I assume that Arkon will still be alive and continue to make a disaster. Worse, after the bombing, he will be free to spread that disaster all over the world. So I can't take that risk." Eldaro says as he walks around the table "So, this is your team?"

  "Yeah. This is my team," Lance answers.

  "Hmmm...." He stares hard at them " where is your healer? I don't see any priest in your team" he points at Matt " I know you are swordsman", point at Natalie "a mage", point at Lance " a gunner", point at Sunset in dark figure "and... Eh, what is his or her role?" 

  "A mage too. Anyway, the swordsman is Matt, the mage is Natalie and the dark figure is Sunset" Lance introduces.

  Eldaro stares into Sunset, making her gulp inside the hood while outside she seems fine to him," I suspect you most, dark figures. I am not gonna ask why you hide your appearance because you may be ugly so you have to hide. You are a mage after all though," He decides to touch her forehead to feel her mana but Sunset uses her staff to stop him.

  "Sorry but you really know how to mess with the woman right? I didn't know you are a jerk," Sunset teases.

  "Ah.. tough one. I like it." Eldaro says, "You make me curious now," He sits at the table and drinks his coffee "If you are a beautiful girl, I would like it."

 "Sorry but I'm not beautiful. I'm just a normal girl as the normal mage", Sunset says

  "Now you make me more curious about your appearance," Eldaro turns to Lance. "Can I borrow her?" 

  "Eh... What for?" Lance asks curiously

  "I wanna have a sparring battle with her," Eldaro said as Lance's eyes widened.

  "But uncle, why don't you pick Matt there? He will be a good opponent to spar with." Lance tries to deny it.

 "Nah, I don't like him. Besides, he is a fine swordsman to you and your team," Eldaro pat Lance back and points at Natalie "That is a very good mage for you then," point at Sunset " I'm honestly don't know if she is a good mage or not, I just can't read her mana." Natalie and Matt giggle while Sunset's face hoofed. 

  "... Ok then, just please be gentle ok?" Lance said as Eldaro thumps up.

  
    The team goes to the training park. It has a wide battle zone with some weapons and some benches aside. Matt, Natalie, and Lance sit on the bench and watch, they also have some popcorn that they just bought in the next camp. Eldaro, who wears heavy steel armor, grab a pistol with a big sword on his back, and steps into the zone. Sunset steps on the zone too and wishes that her appearance not be revealed. 

   "Okay, time to choose your weapon lady. Remember if you lose, you have to reveal your appearance," Eldaro said 

  " I'm fine with this wooden staff, and since when have we had that bet?" Sunset asked. 

  "Just for now, and don't worry I will be gentle," Eldaro said as he is in battle stance make Sunset facehoofs.

  The duo stares at each other to analyze. Eldaro feels weird because a normal mage must be chanting spell right now while Sunset doesn't. He rushes at her and swings his sword at her, Sunset manages to block it but the swing is too strong, making her step back. He jumps up and slams the sword at her, Sunset simply steps aside to dodge. Eldaro feels something is wrong, he jumps back after that to dodge Sunset's "Wyvern Slash". The slash has contracted to his armor; to his surprise, it has slashed through the armor. 

  "... What kind of spell is that? It looks like a dragon," Eldaro thought as he spins around and slashes, a tornado appears after that, and it rushes toward Sunset. Sunset spins the staff and slams it to the ground. A bit of ground has risen before her, enough to block that tornado. Eldaro feels annoyed right now. He picks his pistol and tries to aim at Sunset but before he can do it, a fire dragon is flying toward him, making him have to duck to dodge but a "Wyvern Slash" appears in front of Eldaro, making him fly backward as the armor is cut into a two-piece. Eldaro is surprised about that, wondering how she can move that fast.

  "I am surprised that mage has this type of fighting," Elrado admired her.

 "Then what do you think a real mage does in battle?" Sunset asked.

 "Well, from the start you don't chant any strong spell that makes me surprised, even that slash-shaped dragon makes me impressed. But I'll not stand down," Eldaro slams the sword on the ground, a moment later his body glowing red as Sunset in a defensive stance. Eldaro rushes at Sunset at high speed with a punch to Sunset, making her slam into the wall; then he swings the sword at her. 

Sunset manages to block the swings and she tries not to fly backward. She creates a lighting ball on her front hoof and slams it to the sword. The electricity flows into Eldaro's body like a second, make him jerk back and glare at her. He immediately swings the sword at Sunset more furiously, but she manages to dodge all of them and quickly counter back by a punch into his face. Eldaro is surprised at being punched, next time he realizes he has a nose-bleed after that and stares at her and asks.

  "Are you really a mage? This punch is just like a horse kicking into my face. Weak one but still hurt," Eldaro explained, making Sunset feel offended but she must calm at this.

  "Maybe you are too weak for that punch?" Sunset taunts him.

  "Or maybe this mage doesn't know any advanced spells," Eldaro taunts back.

  "Oh really?" She uses mana to cover her body "I really hope that this will be fun", and she suddenly disappears, making Eldaro surprised and looks around to find her. For the instinct, he immediately rolls forward and dodges the "Wyvern Slash" behind his back. Sunset grins as she punches the ground to cast a spell.

 Eldaro feels his legs being held by something and looks down, he sees the earth is rooting him in place. Looking up, he sees a lightning-shaped dragon is flying toward him, nowhere to move, he gets hit by it and gets paralyzed but still stands up. Then he got hit two more, making him fall to the ground. He tries to get up but a wooden staff slam near his face looks up and sees the dark figures now on his body. He finally surrenders.

"Ok, you win." He gets up after Sunset gets off his body. "Geez, I don't know you have "Blink" spell"

 ".... Maybe this name fits my spelling. Anyway, good fight," she lifts her hoof to and has a friendly shake. Eldaro is now more suspicious after this shake but he will keep that in mind.

   Lance, Natalie, and Matt cheer Sunset about her victory. They rush to Sunset and bear hug her, making her can't breathe. After a while, they release her. Lance walks beside his uncles.

  "You are defeated. That's not unusual for you, uncle," Lance said.

  "I know, though this mage of yours has... Weird style of fighting but I feel good. But I am curious more about her appearance though." Eldaro rubs his hand at his nose. "If this is a beautiful girl, I will flirt with her though." 

 "Uncle, I have known you alone for 40 years now, but you will be disappointed after finding out her appearance. Trust me," Lance suggests but Eldaro raises his palm to stop while another hand holds his chest for a heart attack. 

  "Why are you striking me down like that? Anyway, I trust your team can survive in this place but I doubt that you can fight Arkon by that. I suggest you must have more people to do that," Eldaro suggested 

 "Nah. I'm fine with them, and I will slay Arkon down with my team. Trust me," Lance said, making his uncle think while deciding to trust him this time.

 "Fine, I can't stop you now. I will give all of you a map of this volcano with a condition. That is you must survive, ok?" Eldaro said and Lance nod "Good, take a rest and sleep. I will give you the map tomorrow." And he leaves the tent "oh, by the way, the sleeping tent is next to the tactic tent, it's big enough for you four. Don't worry," then he left the tents.

 The team going to the sleeping tents, and arranges the tent to make it comfortable enough to sleep, and they sleep together. Tomorrow, they will start the remainder of their journey.
 



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