Fantasy Side Hero Chronicles

[YsFanatic]

This was not how Dana envisioned how the start of her training journey was going to be. Sure the shuttle had dropped her off in a forest on this world without anyone noticing, a forest located in what appeared to be a pretty isolated nation surrounded mostly by mountains, but it didn't take long for things to go down hill. And it wasn't because of any unexpected monsters or anything like that. Instead she had found herself giving an undignified shout of surprise when the ground gave way from under her and the swordswoman fell into a well disguised pitfall trap. As surprised by this turn of events as she was, Dana spent several moments just laying on her back as bits of foliage fell down around and on her, just processing what had just happened.

With a heavy sigh the Neigol royal climbed to her feet and brushed off the loose bits of debris as she examined the wall. The incredibly smooth walls made her think that someone used a power of some kind to get them that way. While she could have used her magic to blast holes in the walls, give herself something to use as a foot or hand hold, she was wary of making additional noise just yet as she didn't know if whoever made this would be friendly or not. As such, Dana instead opted to have the magi-tech bracers she was wearing lighten gravity's hold on her before she used what space there was to try to get a bit of a running start before leaping for the top of the pit. However, even with her excellent physical abilities and the power of her bracers her fingers just barely grazed the top of the edge before she slid back down to the bottom of the pit. Brow furrowed in annoyance, Dana stared at the top of the pit with her hands on her hips as she considered possible courses of action.

Throwing some equipment up there first would likely make enough of a difference for her to be able to climb out, but that would also mean that any opportunistic people or critters nearby would have the chance to swipe her stuff. A better option would be to try making some hand and foot holds and see if that would do the trick. Of course doing that was going to depend on if the smooth walls were at all resistant to being damaged or if they were more than just a few centimeters thick...

Juju

 

[Juju]

“What is it, Mimi? You hear something?”

The two had just finished up a little fishing trip to the upper pond whenever Mimi had begun to act strangely. With tail all fluffed up, the little bakeneko had skittered up the trail, mewing at Kyoko to follow. Bundled fish in hand, she did just that, though not with a little protest.

“Hey, will you slow down! I’ll drop all the fish!” she protested mid-leap over a fallen log, hopping over branches and tangled vines.

The fish in question, all threaded together by the gills on a long fishing line, swayed dangerously at her landing, but Kyoko managed to keep them above the dirt with a wild sway.

Unconcerned, Mimi sprinted off ahead of her. It was all Kyoko could do but chase after the fleeting tip of a fluffy tail. Just what had gotten into her companion? Granted, it wasn’t entirely unusual for her furry friend to scamper off after mice and bugs, yet something was different this time. She could feel it.

Eventually, the chase came to an abrupt stop in a forest clearing. The symbols painted onto the nearby trees were enough to give Kyoko a general idea of what the fuss was about, even before she parted some shrubbery to get a better look.

“Huh? The pitfall’s sprung? That means…” Kyoko went silent as she heard something moving around inside. Looping her catch onto a nearby branch, she instead unslung her bow and approached the side of the pit carefully.

Dana would first see a cat peering down at her, and then the face of a curious young girl wielding a red bow. The expression of which quickly changed into that of surprise. She laughed awkwardly and then lowered her bow, “Phew, you really had me there! Thought you were a monster or worse... that old man who lives near the bottom of the hill. A fall like that probably would have killed the old grump..."

Her bitter complaints made her aware of something else. Peering closer at Dana, she added, "Oh wait, speaking of which, are you alright? You're lucky it wasn't one of the snare traps, or the spiked-pits near the swamp."

 

[YsFanatic]

When the cat's face became visible over the rim of the pit, Dana's eyes narrowed slightly as her hand started to slowly inch towards the hilt of her sword. Depending on the kind of cat as well as the temperament of this particular one, she would either be fine or be needing to defend herself very, very soon. Thankfully it ended up being the former when a young woman's face appeared moments later and lowered her bow. When she finished asking if Dana was alright, the purple haired woman couldn't help but chuckle a bit even if she filed away the bit about spike-pits. Part of her cover story was that she had cut through the swamp, so knowing that traps existed around there was useful. She just had to hope that the spike-pits where not so numerous that it was unlikely for someone to get past without falling into one, otherwise she'd need to think of a new story.

"I've been through far worse." While she hadn't had any actual combat experience on foot yet, the training was rather intensive and the royal had gotten plenty of bruises and battered bones from it. "So how am I getting out of this pit? Tried climbing but its rather well made." In theory if she made another leap for the edge the younger woman could grab her hand and pull her up, but Dana didn't know what what kind of upper body strength the other woman had. Even with the bracers reducing her weight a bit, her Palman heritage made her somewhat heavier than she looked, which might catch the bow-user by surprise and then they would both end up in the pit. Unfortunately rope wasn't something that the swordswoman brought with her, otherwise that would have been a perfect solution.

Juju

 

[Juju]

YsFanatic​

“Hm, had worse, you say? Sounds like you’ve got a lot of stories to tell!” Kyoko said, placing a finger under her chin as she inspected the woman. She was carrying a sword, one that looked completely different in make than the ones seen in the region. Could she be from outside?

“Are you an adventurer?” Kyoko asked, eyes sparking in realization.

Sat below her, Mimi let out a loud meow to remind her of the more important matters at hand. Giggling a little, Kyoko gave Dana an apologetic look, “Right. Should probably ask these things after you’re out of the pit. I got you! Just, uh, give me a moment.”

Her voice trailed off as she tried to think of a way to haul the lady out of the pit. If she tried to lift her out, there was a chance that both of them would get stuck. One idea was to try her fishing line, but she doubted that it could hold the weight.

While she was busy thinking of a solution, Mimi hopped down into the pit and landed gracefully in front of Sarah. The horned cat looked up at her with expectant, wide eyes coloured in a mix of red and blue. Just as she had done to Kyoko, the bakeneko let out a loud mew at Dana. It seemed as if the cat was trying to communicate something to her, but the exact message was unclear.

 

[YsFanatic]

Dana couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the other woman's actions. It seemed that she was a bit easy to distract, but it also appeared that the cat was smart enough to give reminders if it was needed. Which gave Dana a brief pause. If the cat was actually intelligent enough for things like that, then it was entirely possible that it could pick up various scents from the swordswoman that it could identify as from NOT being around here. The metallic smells of the ship that dropped her off for one, but also the scent of her Musk Cat friend, Mion. The two of them had been chatting up until the moment she had walked off the ship and that was recently enough where Dana knew that Mion's smell was likely still all over her.

But if the two believed that she was an adventurer, then hopefully it'd be easy enough to explain away if she needed to and it wouldn't be a problem. But none of that would matter if she didn't get out of the damn pit. Thus when the cat jumped down and meowed at her, Dana simply smiled and knelt down with her right hand extended for the cat the smell. "I don't suppose you're going to become extra large, grow wings, and fly me out of here?" A quiet chuckle comes from the purple-haired woman when she says that, slightly amused by the reference that she had just made to the changes the mystical Laerma nuts could cause in Musk Cats. Sadly the tree needed to grow the nuts had been lost when the Algo solar system had been destroyed.

Juju

 

[Juju]

It would seem that Mimi had noticed the strange scents on the woman, her little nose twitching as she inspected the swordswoman in front of her. After a quick sniff, she went back to meowing. That’s when Dana mentioned the mystical nut and its ability to transform musk cats.

It was just some light humour, yet it quickly sparked the attention of Kyoko, who leaned down to give her a large grin, “Wait, that’s the perfect idea!”

Before Dana could even begin to question just what part of her previous statement had given rise to this idea, the horned cat in front of her began to change. White fur swirled and scattered, like a flurry of petals, growing larger by the second. Magic clung to the air as the bakeneko transformed from a cat to a feline that could rival a full-grown tiger.

Mimi nudged Dana’s arm, encouraging her to grab a hold of her fur. Should Dana take it, the giant cat would leap up and bring them both out of the pit.

 

[YsFanatic]

Dana would raise an eyebrow with the younger woman's announcement, but that would soon fade away and be replaced with a massive, pleased grin when the cat started to grow in size. When it nudged her arm, the swordswoman gave the feline a quick scratch behind the ear before climbing aboard and grasping the fur. No sooner than she started to say "ready" did the cat leap, the suddenness and speed catching her off guard and nearly causing her to lose her grip. Dismounting, she rewarded the cat with another ear scritch and a "thank you" before turning towards the archer with some of the grin still on her face.

"Thanks for the help. My name is Dana and as you guessed, I'm not around from here. Been trying to find a town where I can earn some money for shelter and food since I don't have much in the way of supplies left." That last bit was more or less the truth, she had arrived here with only a couple of days of food and water on her belt and no real way to procure more in the wild. That was part of the training in a sense, to see if she could manage long enough with minimal supplies to get a source of money to buy what she needed. If need be Dana planned on playing it off like she lost most of it in the swamp when traveling through it and hoped no one would be able to tell that she wasn't telling the truth. "And the work doesn't have to be combat related either, I'd be fine with just lending a hand with more menial tasks like hauling supplies around."