Book Burning [Mission, solo]

Kotone groaned as yet another loud knocking jolted her from her peaceful slumber. She had decided to stay in Hargeon a little longer, now that she was a hero rather than the villain to the people. If she was honest, she quite liked the attention. Until it woke her up anyway. Rubbing her left eye tiredly, the dragon slayer sat up, got out of bed, crossed the room, and opened the door. SHe was rather surprised by whom she found on the other side. It was a man. A man in the girl's dorms. And she wasn't properly dressed. putting an arm across her tank top-covered torso, she closed the door slightly as she hid behind it, feeling uncomfortable. "Can I help you?" She sounded annoyed. Probably because she was.

"You can," the man said as if it were no big deal that he was standing in an area men shouldn't be located. His air of authority told her that he considered himself high enough to be above the rule. At least when he had business here. "I am Gorge. A high-ranking member of Lamia scale, since you aren't a member to know this,"

"Okay..." Kotone raised an eyebrow, wishing he would go away, at least long enough for her to look presentable. Despite her short skirt she normally wore she was actually rather modest. And she cared about her appearance, which right now was that she had just woken up. "I have a job for you. Because you are a friend of Lillian's, and she seems to trust you." "What?" Kotone wasn't trying to make conversation. The man seemed to be. "Meet me in the commons and I will tell you." Kotone agreed with a nod, closing the door and quickly getting ready, grumbling about people ignoring rules.

Before long, she emerged in a white blouse, a plaid skirt, and her long black jacket and boots. She quickly found Gorge, and sat down. Gorge explained at length how there were a set of important scrolls in the library in Hargeon, and that he wanted someone with as much notoriety as her to guard them in order to deter criminals. He had, however, received word that someone wanted to steal them for some reason.

"No problem," Kotone nodded, thinking about how she needed more money before she left town anyway. "Guarding a couple pieces of paper will be easy, pops." "Pops? I am a high-ranking member of Lamia Scale! I would ask that you show me more respect." Kotone raised an eyebrow at first before finally sighing and nodding. "Yes, sir. I'll do that." She wasn't one who worked well with authority, but she had worked hard not to be hated, at least for awhile. Plus she wanted the money.

"Now, when you are ready, go and be ready for trouble." Kotone nodded, scooting out her seat and going back to her rented room. She had a few hours to get ready. Too bad she had to be awake now. She hated not getting to sleep after being up all day.

A couple hours later, she waved to the couple of guild members who were friendly when she was around, setting out to the library in order to keep the scrolls from the wrong hands.

word count 545/500 (Complete! Now to spend a couple more posts finishing the mission properly.)

As she wandered down the streets, Kotone was given her usual stares of distaste from the people in the town. Ever since causing a scene at the jail and storming off to take care of matters on her own, she had been judged even more harshly, as if she were a loose cannon waiting to explode and destroy the town. She had intended the opposite, and scowled more at them at their judgemental stares. She put up her cat-eared hood, grumbling under her breath and avoiding the people while she worked on getting to her destination.

Before long, she stopped in front of a rather regal-looking building that was labeled 'library.' She was surprised at how nice it looked, but she supposed that since it was a place lots of people liked to go during the day. She seriously doubted anyone was going to try and get the scrolls before night time, but sometimes people were pretty stupid. This town was evidence of that, in Kotone's mind.

Entering, she informed the librarian of Gorge's intent, and she was led into a spot on the second floor, near the back. Apparently, this was where they displayed the valuable scrolls that people had been threatening to take right out from under their noses. Kotone shook her head. "Threatening before doing is so amateurish," she grinned, giving the librarian a fangy smile, which caused her to decide to leave the dragon slayer alone as she scurried back to her desk. "Huh. Guess some people are put off by smiling." she shrugged, grabbing a chair and leaning on the back legs, her feet on an antique wooden table. "May as well get comfy. I could be here awhile..."

Evening came and nothing had happened, just as Kotone predicted. People had left the library for the evening, but Kotone was stuck there until morning. Or at least until she caught someone. The ice-wielder found herself wishing something would happen just so she could go home earlier. She really should have brought something to do. Or at least brought Sid. But he was back at the guild hall, so she could only talk to herself. Which she did, on occasion.

After another hour or so, she could hear something. Someone was trying to sneak in through the roof! And they were being pretty stealthy too, except that they were up against a dragon slayer. With a fang-revealing grin, Kotone sat up quietly, going and taking her place where she could tell they were trying to come into the building. Before long, two men entered through a hatch in the ductwork on the roof, dropping down before noticing the seventeen year-old standing casually, hands in her coat pockets. As the third one dropped down, she grinned. "Lamia Scale says hi," she informed them as she grinned wider, ready to teach them a lesson.

The men stared in stunned silence for a moment before the third one, probably the leader, belched out orders "What are you waiting for? She's one girl! Get her!" Kotone didn't stop grinning, nor did she remove her hands from her pockets. "Just one girl. That's right. But when that one girl is a dragon slayer, that's all that's needed to stop you."

The men faltered for half a second before their hands ignited in flames. Apparently, the plan to scare them off with the name of the library's guardian hadn't worked. They hadn't even heard. "Attack!" the boss ordered angrily, enraged that they were already in trouble. Of course, Kotone might be in trouble as well. She was skilled, but three fire users against her ice magic might be a bit of a challenge. Luckily, Kotone Hoshino loved a challenge.

1151/500 word count

Despite the new threat, the ever-confident dragon slayer didn't even assume a readied stance as the fire users leapt at her. She was out manned and possibly out gunned, magically speaking, but she likely had more experience than them, even at her young age. Kotone dodged to the side deftly as a flaming punch was hurled at her face,then ducked as a second one sailed over her. Finally, she jumped back from a flame kick, taking her hands out of her pockets as she landed. In her hand materialized her ice blade, Frostborn.

She used the sword to parry a fire punch, unable to block flames physically. It hardly surprised her, but it was still a bit alarming to note that they were  hot enough to melt through part of her sword. There was the disadvantage to having a sword of ice rather than a real one. At least it was melting the sword rather than her face!

Kotone ducked under another punch, sweeping the second thug's leg out from under him. She slammed her sword into his jacket so that he couldn't get up, leaving her with only two thugs to deal with. Unfortunately, she wasn't talented enough to summon a second ice weapon just yet, and it took a lot of concentration to keep just the one materialized properly. Dodging the first thug, she stepped right into the swing of the leader, which singed her jacket and sent her stumbling forward.

The first thug used that moment to punch her back again, knocking her off of her feet. "Damn it..." she complained as she raised herself off the floor. Kotone had never seen so many fire wizards working together. This was the perfect time to see exactly how strong she was. The teenage girl started chuckling strangely menacingly.

She got up slowly, wiping the blood off of her lip. "Alright..." Kotone allowed the blade to disappear, and the second thug got back up with a groan as the other two stood there, wondering why the girl was laughing.

"This is perfect!" she said with a grin, her right fang poking over her lip. "I've been looking to see how many fire mages I could best. I bet you three weaklings will prove to be a halfway decent challenge if you all work together with your fire." The thugs, for their part, seemed incredibly insulted that a teenage girl, even a dragon slayer, would insist that they were weak, Each of them assumed stances that were ready to strike again. Kotone didn't wait for them, however. "Wings of the Ice Dragon!" she yelled as giant ice wings materialized. She beat them together, sending the spell crashing into the second thug.


Word count: 1603/500

MP 180/200:

Kotone's spell crashed into the larger man, sending him flying back into the wall with a dull thud. Kotone didn't wait to see if he was unconscious. There were two other thugs to deal with, and even at her young age she knew better than to take her eyes off of her opponents while they were ready to attack.

"We just wanted them scrolls, girlie," the leader said with a look of disdain on his face. He clearly did not like that he and his men were being beaten up by an upstart teenage girl. "They was worth a fortune. We had ourselves a buyer and everything!"
His companion felt the need to speak up as well. "But now we're gunna have to teach you a lesson as well, little girl!"

The 'little girl' they were referring to gave them another cocky grin. Sometimes insults set her off. But sometimes she knew people insulted her because they were sore losers. This was the latter, as far as she was concerned. "Yeah? Well I'm about to disappoint you twice. The scrolls stay here. And I teach you a lesson instead."

Kotone took the fight to her opponents this time, running towards the fire mages and delivering a jump kick to the newly-recovered lackey's chest. She landed, quickly turning and conjuring an ice barrier to stop the leader's flame-enhanced retaliation. The shield didn't last long under an assault from a flame wielder, and Kotone was thrown backwards, herself, when the ice dome collapsed.

Her head hit the wall and the room started spinning. Three images of the same man walked toward her. Three cocky grins accompanied a glare down at her. "And now I'll show you why you made a mistake, girl."


1893/500 words

As the room came back into focus, Kotone could see what she had already gathered with her other senses. The leader, a burning palm held clenched, stood over her. She could smell the flames as easily as she could see them and feel the warmth. Fire wasn't really her thing. "Lesson time, kid!" The man cried as he plunged his fist through the air towards the dragon slayer. He'd waited too long though, and Kotone was ready. She dodged to the side with a quick roll, pushing up and jumping back to get behind him. As she did, she brought her foot back down into the back of the leader's knee.

He cried out in pain as Kotone grinned. It was a good fight. Even if it appeared his companions were down already. But if she wasn't careful they would ruin the library and her newly-earned reputation in the process. "Alright, boys, it's been fun, but I'm going to have to put out your little flames." As the leader rose again to try and retaliate, she punched him square in the jaw, sending him crumpling to the floor for good. Kotone was much stronger than she looked. She grinned again, breaking into a laugh. "Now that that's over... time to call in the authorities."

Kotone had brought rope just in case she managed to capture someone. It seemed like a better choice than not preparing at all. With the three wizards all tied up, she delivered them to the proper place, finally returning to the Lamia Scale guild hall.

"You did a good job," Gorge told the girl in an approving tone. "Lamia Scale could use a dragon slayer, you know." He was inviting her to join a guild. Kotone gave him a grin. "I'm only here on a temporary basis. I don't really like to be tied down. You understand." Gorge nodded with a slight grin. "Of course. Well the invitation stands. Here's your payment. Stay as long as you like."

A few hours later, Kotone stood out in the sunlight, sighing as Sid trailed behind her, chasing a butterfly. Hargeon wasn't such a bad place, she supposed. But she'd have to leave soon. She wanted them to actually welcome her back the next time she came, after all. "C'mon, Sid. I'm starving. Let's go find something to eat before we head out."


word count 2287/500

-Exit-