Dimitri breathed a sigh of relief, "Seems like we just barely made it in time,". Sakuya replied with a grin as she leaned on the car door besides her, "See I told you everything would work itself out,". Dimitri rolled his eyes before driving the car into the estate; as much as he wished to point out how the mess could have been avoided, he thought it best to hold his tongue. They were about to meet a client after all.

After a few minutes the weary group of adventurers were ushered into the inner sanctum of the estate where their client awaited them. Upon entering the meeting room Sakuya wasted no time taking charge, "Greetings Mr. Gillian," she began as the rest of her group entered " I'm Sakuya Mikage; pleasure to finally make your acquaintance." she said extending her hand to shake Nicolo's. Dimitri followed soon after, "Dimitri Lambert; we spoke earlier, once again sorry for arriving late we had a few difficulties on the way here." he said with a soft smile on his face, still just a tad bit ashamed at almost missing their appointment.

" We've already heard of the... incidents involving the previous expedition; you don't need to worry about us, we're some of the best in this field. So I can assure that we will retrieve what ever we can from the site," added Sakuya quickly after Dani had introduced himself. "I just hope you'll allow us to study some of the more interesting pieces after we've returned." she said with a warm smile; their group had a reputation to maintain in the buissiness, this would be just another challenge.

Dimitri nudged at Sakuya's side once she had finished speaking and motioned to the side towards the young man sitting nearby. Sakuya having, completel missed him turned her glance away from the client for a moment and looked at the young man before returning her gaze to Nicolo's, "Friend of yours?" she asked with a raised brow.

*Bodyguard Job*

Anyone who intended to take the bodyguard job would find that they were instructed to meet at a business headquarters in Futi, one of the larger cities on the continent. The business was named Aerial Value Gunneries. It mainly dealt with weapons that were to be used by aerial vehicles. However, as of late they had not been doing well. A rival business had appeared and had some kind of new targeting system that completely surpassed AVG's. So the heads had decided to perform a merger. The trouble was that there were a few people who were against this deal. One of their business partners that provided the munitions was going to be cut out of everything when the merger was complete. Despite their words to the contrary, AVG felt like the man who was dealing with the merger, a Mr. Nocet, would be in danger. They were expecting hunters. In fact, they were already sure that a hunter had been sent out.

He was known as the Immortal Ranger. His hatsu power is unknown but he has been in several clashes and should be dead. Seriously, there is no way he should he survived. In two cases he had fallen over 5000 feet with no cushioned landing nor a way of slowing himself down. In another case he had been trapped in a building full of explosives. And in a latest battle, his opponent had sword he had ripped open his chest, only to find the ranger stand up again with no apparent injuries. The ranger only took jobs that paid extremely well and was always accompanied by another man. The other man had never fought, however, so there aren't any details on him. As for the ranger's appearance... well... "You'll know him when you see him."

The hunters are to protect Mr. Nocet for one week. By that time, the deal should be finished. Should something cause it to be delayed, the Hunters will be paid more for extra time, assuming the cause of the delay was not within their power to prevent.

All of this was conveyed to the hunters when they arrived. There was a rather lengthy pat down and background check so they had plenty of time to read up. Their client was a thin, rather inconspicuous man, wearing a double breasted suit. He had on thick glasses but was young. He also looked like he was about to fall apart. His hair was messy and his suit was wrinkled. He was walking back and forth and his head darted up when they entered. He reached inside his suit for something. "W-who're you!?" A guard which had escorted the hunters held out his hands "Sir, these are the hunters."


*Niccolo's Mansion*

Niccolo seemed annoyed at their late arrival but satisfied with their excuse. "No, not yet. This is another hunter who will be on the job as well. Now, I don't want you fighting over the reward so everything will be totaled. It won't be split up so there is no use in trying to get the others to leave. Any questions? If not, you can talk in the plane; it's going to take quite a while to get there."

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Final Fantasy IX was the best Final Fantasy game ever and if you think otherwise you are WRONG!

My fanfiction account. Comments and criticisms are very welcome.

Danny had been on the road for some time until Dimitri and Sakuya had picked him up on the road to Nicolo's estate. When they asked him why he hadn't arrived yet, he tried to explain the chain of events that led to his loss of direction. How he let his instinct get the better of him and began to chase the goddamn pigeon that had crapped on him, then some how he pissed of a stray dog and its pack, and he still wasn't sure how the role players got involved in the whole affair. So after that, he decided to fall asleep, so to prevent further prodding.

It had been some time since he had had a good rest, and is mind drifted to happier days. In his dream, the professor was teaching him how to read. The patience of that man was truly great, considering how bad of a pupil he had been early on. Seeing the professor's face again, smiling, had soothed him some many time. His mind drifted further into the realm of sleep.

At some point they must have arrived since he heard Dimitri talking to an intercom. Stretching, Danny sat back on the seat, and transformed again into his human version. Still a bit groggy, he followed Sakuya and Dimitri to Nicolo's study.

After Dimitri introduced himself, Danny said" Name's Daniel Connors Thompson. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. Nicolo."

He was going to say more but Sakuya entered into her business mode and cut him off. So he looked around for a chair to sit down when he saw the young man there.

"Good, we may have help for this task. White hair and green eyes, what an unusual combination. Then again mine fall under that description too.", Though Danny to himself.

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Mastery of magic is when telling time means telling time what to do.

In Honor of a true warrior: Quotes from Dinobot

Quickstrike: [gloating and tauntingly] So, what's a warrior without weapons, eh?
Dinobot: A warrior still! [Punches Quickstrike twice, then throws him so he lands on his head, knocking him out]

- Honor does not need to be won, but it must never be lost.

- The question that once haunted my being's been answered. The future is not fixed. My choices are my own. And yet... how ironic. For I now find that I have no choice at all. I am a warrior. Let the battle be joined.

~ Takai ~
~ Bodyguard Job ~

She had to hurry to make the appointment to meet the client for her next job, but Takai was nothing if not punctual, even if she was a little out of breath when she walked into the door.

She took an unobtrusive place with her back to a wall and let her breathing even out as information was disseminated, absorbing it quietly without reaction.

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Official Forum Mom

Sakuya smiled, "I assure you Mr.Gillian the thought had never crossed my mind. Truth be told, if have the rumors concerning those ruins are true, we may just need an extra hunter or two with us." she stated kindly. As it stood, she was worried about the other hunters skill, when it came to handling relics, but that would be dealt with later. In any case, she would have to make a point to watch the young man; she had enough experience working with hunters who were after a single object in the ruin, completely disregarding all the other relics and ancient lore within. On one occasion a hunter went so far as to blow up a priceless mural telling the civilizations rise to power in his search for some hidden cache of gold.

The very thought of that hunter caused the young woman's blood to boil just a bit. She took a moment to breathe in and calm herself down. Seeing his wife's reaction DImitri decided to step into the conversation, " In any case, we are ready to leave as soon as possible; in fact, unless our friend here..." he trailed off in hopes of the young man introducing himself during his pause. "...has any business to attend to, I dare say we could finish making preperations to head out,"

{City of Futi, Bodyguard Duty}

"Taka." The young man stated to the client as Takai was coming in.

Taka looked back as he heard someone entering the lobby of the corporate headquarters. He gave a moment to remind himself that he'd seen her before. But it had been in passing. His cold eyes went up after a cursory inspection of her entire form, doing in seconds with his gaze what the local security for the client was doing to Taka by hand. He stood still as they were patting him down, watching Takai's eyes.

"Salutations." The young man expressed silently by simply moving his mouth slowly to pronounce the word. He then turned his attention back to the men patting him down. They looked him over afterward, finding him completely unarmed. One security officer asked him if he even knew what it meant to work as a bodyguard.

"Better than you..." Was all Taka said in reply before turning and walking away to stand aside from the group, placing him a few feet from Takai.

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*Dragon Fight*

The tall one was incredibly unlucky. First he was badly burned by the fireball, shredded by claws, pierced by fangs, and crushed against a building. Incredibly, however, he rose up. Well, most of him rose up. His right arm was no where to be seen. If anyone had wanted to get a good look at him, it was too late. He was burned beyond recognition. He stepped forward, then fell to the ground. The drive was at his side in a moment. "Deegon, you always were worthless." His mouth opened and Deegon's body stiffened. The nen from Deegon's body was sucked into Tantra's mouth. Then Deegon didn't move anymore. Tantra turned to Darastrix "That wasn't very nice but it was fortunate." His nen suddenly flared. If Darastrix could think, he'd realize that, somehow, Tantra had added Deegon's nen to his own. However, Darastrix was probably busy with Geegais.

The tail attack did diddly squat. It was like a fly trying to smash down an iron gate. After Tantra's action, Geegais held up both his arms. The air began to vibrate and on the tail's next impact, Geegais released his ability. It sent Darastrix (the human core) flying, spinning in midair as a gigantic shockwave hit him.



*Bodyguard Job*


Nocet looked at both of them, wide eyed, then turned to the guard. "These are my bodyguards!?" The guard repressed a sigh. "Sir, as I've told you before, you cannot use normal logic when dealing with hunters. There are children I've heard of that could kill every non-hunter in this building without taking a scratch. They could just walk in the front door and start the clash with absolute certainty that they would win." The guard turned to the hunters "Is there anything either of you need?"

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Final Fantasy IX was the best Final Fantasy game ever and if you think otherwise you are WRONG!

My fanfiction account. Comments and criticisms are very welcome.

One dead, few left. This one in front....not strong......what did he just do? Stronger now.....interesting. What is going on behind m-

The dragon let out a roar of surprise and fury as Geegais's attack launched Darastrix (from within the dragon). Digging its claws into the ground, the dragon braced its Nen body against the attack. Darastrix hit the "edge" of the Nen dragon's body, but did not fly out. Instead the Nen stretched to absorb the impact, before gently returning Darastrix to the center of the dragon. The Nen beast now clearly saw the need to attend to Geegais, and it whirled to face him, whipping its tail at Tantra in hope that Tantra would not see the attack coming, or at least not in time. With shocking speed the dragon's head darted forward, jaws agape. It intended to rip Geegais to shreds for causing it so much trouble! He expected a clash with the man's shock-wave ability. It was time to find out which hatsu was stronger!

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Takai
~ City of Futi – Bodyguard Job ~

In the interior lighting, Takai's long hair took on the rose-like tone that lower, yellower lighting tended to give it, and her pale skin seemed sallow in comparison to the darkness of her outfit and the carmine-tint of her hair and eyes. She let her gaze rest on Taka for a long moment, acknowledging his greeting with a quiet nod as she judged him. He had quite the pretty face, but beyond that, he held himself in a way that bespoke capability—and that increased his worth in her eyes. She couldn't yet trust him, but the foundation for building a camaraderie and confidence wouldn't be completely destroyed by obvious ineptitude.

Her crimson stare flicked away from her new partner as their client expressed a somewhat-less-than-desired attitude toward them. She gave a curt nod to the guard and took one step further into the room, closer to the nervous thing that she was going to have to protect.

”Do you require an illustration of capabilities, Mr. Nocent? If such will put your nerves at ease, I am willing to lower myself to petty displays,” she said flatly, obviously anything but pleased at his lack of faith in the pair of Hunters.

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Official Forum Mom

Sapphire Vempari: Job for Money

Sapphire sat in a coffee shop eating a cinnamon bun as she checked the available jobs. She hadn't been a hunter for long but could do a few smaller jobs. She smiled as she looked over the bodyguard job. She began looking through the information given before paying for the food and leaving, her computer in her backpack. As she looked back and forth at the street, she felt someone trying to pickpocket her. With a sigh, she turned to face him, or her, and look in their eyes. "I suggest you leave before you do something stupid." she warned before beginning to walk away.

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They taped over your mouth, scribbled out the truth with their lies, you little spies - You will release your life, joining with the god-damned world of the dead and the lonely. - Я сошла с ума, Mне нужна она
Innuendo Squad's Resident Lesbian
Mother of darkness, mother of light, earth beneath us, soul in flight, songs of love and love of light, guide us to our heart.
We all come from the Goddess and to her we shall return like a drop of rain flowing to the ocean.

{City of Futi, Building Lobby}

Taka shook his head a bit as he looked to the security guard. "Not necessary. I always have exactly what I need with me." He stated while looking over to Takai as she took a step forward. He kept his arms straight and down at his sides, his white, breasted jacxket giving a slight shine in the warmth of the indoor lighting. He took a moment to look down at his white suit, mentally checking if the guard had been a greedy fellow and tried taking anything.

With nothing missing, Taka looked back up, watching the lithe girl. She is willing to display her gifts... Young and brash. He lifted his hand a bit, looking down to it. ... I'm nearly the same age, though. I'll wait and reserve judgement. At least she wasn't like those other girls who always stared at me...

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William watched the late comers arriving... it was pretty good to have help though he did worry slightly about what would happen if he ended up having to fight them to keep the sword, well... hopefully it wouldn’t be one of the ones he needed. The woman was clearly much more in charge though the man wasn’t completely in the shadows, he waved slightly as they looked over at him... at the very least he was glad that it was almost time to go.

He stood up and walked over to the group holding out a hand to the man “Ah no, I got nothing left I need to do here... my name’s William by the way, how do ya do?” he was ready to go, though the fact they were taking a plane was interesting... the journey would be... uncomfortable. He’d only been on a plane previously to get to the actual hunter test and it had been very crowded and noisy... economy class really sucked, not that he had the money at the time to afford anything else.

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I... am plotting something... he he he he...

*Dragon Fight*

Tantra nimbly jumped over the attack. He watched Geegais put up his arms to defend himself. Unfortunately, he was unable to stop Darastrix's powerful attack and was shredded. In a flash, Tantra appeared next to him. He touched him and, again, Tantra's nen grew more powerful. "Well, thanks for that, Chosen One. Now, it has been a few minutes and, according to our intel, you should be going to sleep soon. Now, can you take me out before that happens? I doubt it." He laughed. "This is way too easy. All it took was a few sacrifices and you are in our hands."


*Bodyguard Job*

Nocet tried to pull himself together and failed "A d-demonstration? Like what? If it is safe, that would be fine."


At the lobby, a guard shook his head at the newcomer "I'm sorry, but we've already accepted someone. You'll have to try somewhere else."


*Plane Trip*

The hunters would be on the plane for 13 hours. It was quite large, with plenty of space for the hunters. They could pretty much do whatever they needed, including introduce themselves.

_________________
Final Fantasy IX was the best Final Fantasy game ever and if you think otherwise you are WRONG!

My fanfiction account. Comments and criticisms are very welcome.

The blocker is dead now. All that is...left...is......

The Nen dragon slumped a little, its form wavering slightly. The massive Nen expenditure was catching up with Darastrix's body. Tantra was correct in stating that it would not be able to hold together much longer. But, despite not being able to clearly understand Tantra's words in its his enraged state, the dragon still recognized a challenge. Darastrix's blood red eyes glowed from the depths of the cloak as the beast reared back, opening its jaws wide. Then, in a sudden motion, the cloak's head shot forward to unleash a blast of flame at Tantra. This time the cloak would not stop at just blasting. It recognized that Tantra had absorbed his comrade's Nen, and was more powerful. There was also the chance that he had gained their abilities as well. So the cloak moved forward with its blast, cutting off the flow of fire in time to be able to strike at Tantra if he emerged from the blast unscathed. A furious flurry of claw swipes and bites awaited Tantra. Darastrix was going out with a bang.

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Sapphire Vempari: Conference

"Perhaps I could talk to the man and the one he hired." she smirked. "I'm sure he'd feel safer with more than one bodyguard." She had hoped she could get this job, being a bodyguard was easier for her than the other jobs, but she'd take what she could get if they couldn't work out an agreement.

_________________
They taped over your mouth, scribbled out the truth with their lies, you little spies - You will release your life, joining with the god-damned world of the dead and the lonely. - Я сошла с ума, Mне нужна она
Innuendo Squad's Resident Lesbian
Mother of darkness, mother of light, earth beneath us, soul in flight, songs of love and love of light, guide us to our heart.
We all come from the Goddess and to her we shall return like a drop of rain flowing to the ocean.

~ Takai ~
~ City of Futi, Bodyguard Job ~

”It is safe,” she said simply. If it weren't safe, she would be fairly useless as a bodyguard, because it would mean that she had no control. Control over her power was one of the few things that she did have, and in abundance.

”Don't move,” she advised, then took a silent breath as her heels shifted apart a few inches as she dropped into a ready stance. Her long, graceful fingers closed about the hilt of the shorter sword at her hip with a slow deliberateness and familiarity, like caressing a loved one's cheek.

Her shouko opened and aura poured out, visible only to those whose eyes were attuned to the special energy, to coalesce about her sword-hand and tanto. The process seemed achingly slow when focusing on the languid movements of Takai's Nen, but in reality took less than a breath.

Just when one might be tempted to ask what was going to happen, the bored-looking girl gave a sudden movment, halfway unsheathing the small sword. As she did, the focused energy that she'd concentrated was thrown, like a crescent-shaped blade, toward her new employer.

She calmly clicked her tanto fully back into its sheathe and walked forward to close the gap between her and Nocent, reaching up to brush the bit of hair she'd cut off of the wrinkled shoulder of his suit before he could ask what she'd done.

“Is that suitable to calm your nerves, sir?”

She glanced toward her new partner, surreptitiously judging his reaction, too. It wasn't just his reaction to her Hatsu she was interested to see, but whether he realized that she'd been so kind as to show off so that he wouldn't have to. It was, in its own way, a show of trust.

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Official Forum Mom

{City of Futi, Lobby}

Taka watched his cohort in the duty closely. His only movement while watching her display was a tilt of his head upon finally getting a grasp of her style of swordsmanship. He gave the girl a gentle nod, silently thanking her for taking attention from him and any need for he to show his strengths as well. He then tilted his head, looking to the entrance of the lobby where another was trying to enter the building.

Weak... I can already tell that the new one is very weak. Taka thought to himself before returning attention to his employer and partner in this job.

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*Dragon's Hunger*

Tantra cackled and he opened his mouth. Unfortunately for Darastrix, the fire was still composed of nen. It soon stopped being fire and instead returned to nen which was devoured by Tantra, along with Darastrix's cloak. If he wasn't in a rage, he could have noticed something very important about Tantra's power. Since he was, however, he didn't manage to see anything. The cloaked figure circled around Darastrix, closing off a means of escape while drawing a rapier.


*Bodyguard Job*

The man nodded cautiously. His eyes had opened wide and his mouth was slightly agape. "Alright, you've proven your worth. Shall we be off?"


*The Lobby*

"We've already got two hunters. Unless you've got a special skill to offer, we have no need of you."

_________________
Final Fantasy IX was the best Final Fantasy game ever and if you think otherwise you are WRONG!

My fanfiction account. Comments and criticisms are very welcome.

Sapphire Vempari: This is getting annoying.

"Which of the others can attack with weapons without touching them?" She asked, raising her eyebrow, crossing her arms and smirking. "I may not be the most useful this time but I am a very good bodyguard.

_________________
They taped over your mouth, scribbled out the truth with their lies, you little spies - You will release your life, joining with the god-damned world of the dead and the lonely. - Я сошла с ума, Mне нужна она
Innuendo Squad's Resident Lesbian
Mother of darkness, mother of light, earth beneath us, soul in flight, songs of love and love of light, guide us to our heart.
We all come from the Goddess and to her we shall return like a drop of rain flowing to the ocean.

*The Lobby*

The guard looked unimpressed. "A different method of attack doesn't really mean anything. What I'm asking about is if you've got an ability that would be able to change the tide of battle or that is specifically made for guarding someone or something."

_________________
Final Fantasy IX was the best Final Fantasy game ever and if you think otherwise you are WRONG!

My fanfiction account. Comments and criticisms are very welcome.

Sapphire Vempari: A Deal to be Made

"With my speed and my weapons, I'd be a great addition to any team." she sighed. "Let me talk to the others and see if I can make a deal with them. If not, I'll look elsewhere."

_________________
They taped over your mouth, scribbled out the truth with their lies, you little spies - You will release your life, joining with the god-damned world of the dead and the lonely. - Я сошла с ума, Mне нужна она
Innuendo Squad's Resident Lesbian
Mother of darkness, mother of light, earth beneath us, soul in flight, songs of love and love of light, guide us to our heart.
We all come from the Goddess and to her we shall return like a drop of rain flowing to the ocean.

The Dragon Cloak's Nen eyes widened as is realized the trap it had fallen into. Too late it tried to pull away, but it was no use. If it had not been near-dissipation it may have succeeded, but the battle had drawn on too long, and the rage had blinded it. Darastrix's vision slowly returned as, starting from the tail, the Nen cloak dissipated, absorbed into Tantra. Darastrix had been seeing through the eyes of the cloak (without much conscious thought). The cloak let out one last roar. A roar of defeat that almost reached the edge of the city, the noise causing many citizens to turn and listen with awe. Even people within their homes, stepped outside or looked out their windows at the noise. Then the cloak was gone, and Darastrix lay near Tantra, unconscious. He was defenseless against Tantra's rapier.

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~ Takai ~
~ City of Futi, Bodyguard Job ~

She nodded as she turned, her eyes following Taka's gaze to the new arrival in the lobby. Her lips pursed in thought for only a moment. What was with her lately, feeling so generous? It was...out of character. Nevertheless, she paused near the new Hunter who bore weapons similar to her own, lifting her chin as she looked out the doors.

“Don't cause any problems,” she said simply, not looking at Sapphire, and then proceeded out the door, taking quick stock of the street and skyline beyond. Observation of a threat was the first step to overcoming or avoiding it.

”Takai,” she offered without prompting. ”He's Taka.” As if the introduction was all the discussion that was needed in order to get them all working like a well-oiled machine...

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Official Forum Mom

Sapphire Vempari: Don't Flirt with the Pretty Lady

Sapphire watched as the hunter woman passed, smiling a little. "You're cute." she smiled. "I'm guessing you got the job?" She wasn't normally one to start a conversation but was really hoping to get some part, thinking this job would be better than the others on the list. "Is it just you so far?"

_________________
They taped over your mouth, scribbled out the truth with their lies, you little spies - You will release your life, joining with the god-damned world of the dead and the lonely. - Я сошла с ума, Mне нужна она
Innuendo Squad's Resident Lesbian
Mother of darkness, mother of light, earth beneath us, soul in flight, songs of love and love of light, guide us to our heart.
We all come from the Goddess and to her we shall return like a drop of rain flowing to the ocean.

{City of Futi}

Taka followed closely to their employer, letting Takai take point and scout the area. He remained silent while she did introductions for the weaker one he'd noticed moments ago. He then arched an eyebrow when she asked if there were any others. Right after Takai had even introduced him by his name, no less. He closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head, not bothering to say a word. The child was too incompetent to even pay attention to the simplest details and yet she wanted to protect someone else?

Taka's cold eyes turned to Takai, as if asking his new comrade if she had just heard it as well.

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