Rising Violence

[Kade Lazarus]

Things were still pretty messed up, and Kade needed ways to calm down. He was by no means in his right mind, in fact, it was pretty stupid of him to keep running around, but he wanted to. He needed something to focus on, so he decided to take the hardest job he could. A B rank mission. He grabbed the paper from his guild hall in quick trip home. It wasn’t even that he was doing anything there, he just needed to drop off money and go. Still, being there… in his room, irritated him. He could see the shirt he’d tossed down on the ground after hearing that Tatsu was a dragon slayer. He was angry with himself for being stupid, and angry with that child for… being stupid. So his decision was to change clothes and grab the B rank mission from the bulletin board. He read over the green paper again. “Bring traitor Troy Hosk to Niles Crove, with the magic sword Troy stole from C Company.”

Kade looked in the mirror, his hair was getting longer, but he didn’t care. He pushed it back idly as he walked from the room. No one had seen him yet, so he could make an exit without any questions.

211/2000

[Kade Lazarus]

Kade had actually been making a lot of progress recently. It wasn’t a perfect system, but the more energy he burned through the more tired he got. That, oddly enough gave him time to think. While far from feeling in any way properly mellowed out, he had recently experienced something almost calm. He’d first helped someone find costumes, which had annoyed him. Next he went to babysit an old woman, and realized how much of an *** he was being. After that he even tried to calm himself down, heading to a fair. He rescued some children from a mad man. That job had been a mixed bag. He felt good, helping people, doing what he was supposed to, even literally fighting darkness. However… it gave him that taste of fighting. There shouldn’t have been any guilt in fighting off a crazy man, and yet something nagged at Kade. He shushed those feelings as he grabbed the note and left to find this Niles Crove.

It wasn’t hard to find Niles with the directions he left. He gave Kade an impatient look when he arrived. Apparently neither man felt like distributing pleasantries today. “So, are you capable of handling the job?”

“Yes. I’ll take care of it.”

418/2000

[Kade Lazarus]

“Alright. I guess I should give you… some background into the situation, so you know how to handle things from this point forth,” Niles offered with a sigh. Anyone could tell he didn’t want to be doing this, but he didn’t have much choice. Kade took in the man’s appearance. Strong, well built, equipped with weapons. It looked like he could take on whatever problem he wanted, and yet… he was asking for a guild to help him.

“I think that would certainly help. I’m definitely wondering why you’re seeking help from a guild. You look capable enough yourself, sir,” Kade said. A bit of his manners slipping out. Niles just shook his head.

“I’m plenty capable, but that won’t help me in this. Its… Hosk. Troy Hosk, he’s a selfish fool, but I don’t want him dead,” he said, almost grumbling a bit about it. Kade stood up straighter.

“That’s good, because I don’t kill people. Unless I had to, to avoid dying, but… subdual combat is more my specialty, and I am not interested in being anyone’s assassin.” It was very important for Kade to explain this. After the recent events, he wanted this man to know immediately that Kade wasn’t going to kill anyone. On top of that, this was a job for Lamia Scale. For his guild. They were not murderers, and he wouldn’t let himself misrepresent them.

650/2000

[Kade Lazarus]

Niles nodded, “Good to hear it. I guess you might be better for the job than I thought.” Kade didn’t take that personally. Well, maybe the good part, a little. However it implied that Niles had thought he was wrong for the job to begin with. It felt more like he was just personally involved. No doubt anyone would have been wrong for this job in Niles’ mind.

“I’ll do what needs to be done, with no unnecessary damages.”

Niles nodded again, “Alright… I run C Company. We’re not a guild, but we’re an organization. I started this group when I was eighteen years old. We weren’t respectable at the time, but being together gave us a purpose. It helped. One of the boys I hung around with was Troy… Hosk, the idiot. We’ve been together a long time, but he threw all of that away for his pride. Being that we are a mage group in Cerulean, we don’t get as many jobs… being so close to Lamia Scale. We are not without work though. I have personal matters I must tend to… and I feel if I face Hosk… it won’t be pretty. I might lose my temper, and I can’t have that.”

“I understand,” Kade said quietly.

860/2000

[Kade Lazarus]

“Alright, when you see Troy, you shouldn’t have trouble identifying him. He’s probably around your build, black hair, and he will probably have the sword he stole. It is a frost magic sword. He thinks he can do what he wants, so if you go looking for him, he won’t lie about who he is. That is why I say you shouldn’t have trouble identifying him. He only went as far as Hosenka to set up his little base, so… you won’t have too bad a trip either. So, are you ready to take the job?”

Kade nodded, “I can do that. I know how to get to Hosenka,” he added, for himself really. It was where he was born after all. That wasn’t relevant to the job though, so he didn’t add that comment in for Niles. They parted on respectful terms and Kade headed to Hosenka.

It was strange being back home, and Kade made his way to the cemetery first of all. He was here on work, but he still wanted to see his parents graves. He sighed as he stood there for a few minutes, until being disrupted by footsteps.

Kade turned to see an older man walking in this direction, and a teenager walking backwards in front of him, talking. From this direction Kade heard the man sounding upset, the boy sounding impatient. And then there was an exchange of a bag. The teenager went away, but Kade swiftly walked over to the older man to see what that was about.

1116/2000

[Kade Lazarus]

“Sir? Do you mind if I ask what that was about?” Kade asked when he got close enough. He could still just… barely see the boy in the distance. He seemed to have stopped to look in the bag.

“You must not be from around here,” the old man said, looking sad. “Its Hosk. A new group of ruffians. They’ve been running around, causing trouble and demanding money just to keep themselves in line. It’s the young ones causing the most problems… they target people… learn their schedule, and pester them until we pay. Like today. Tommy comes to me and demands money, and then when I won’t give it to him, he follows me to my wife’s grave and ‘politely’ threatens to mess it up if I don’t bring money the next time. Its too much to bare…” he sighed, seeming even more sad.

Kade clenched his fists. Of all the cemeteries to be disrespecting the graves, this one did not sit well with him. “Alright. Thank you. I’ll go get your jewels back.”

“Wh-what?”

Kade didn’t stick around though. He walked quickly, his speed walk just short of a jog. He closed in on the teenager who had just finished counting up his bounty. The man frowned at him, fire raising to his fist as a quick intimidation technique, but Kade didn’t spare it a second thought.

1345/2000

[Kade Lazarus]

“Not today,” Kade said. He threw an elbow toward the boy, but it was a strange action, until two light stars flew from his elbow. The boy blocked the first, sending it off, but the second light shuriken struck him in the chest. Kade took advantage of that to leap forward, sweeping his leg under the boy and knocking him down just as a blast of fire got misdirected straight upward. Well that was a good save. From there Kade went down on the boy with a normal elbow to the chest. That was enough to knock the air out of him, and one more punch to the face knocked him out. It wasn’t too violent, really, but it was worse than he normally would like to be.

Kade left the boy there for a minute, bringing the bag of jewels back to the man who now looked startled. They didn’t say much, just Kade saying he would deal with Hosk. From there he returned to the boy, dragging him into town and to some authorities. They could keep the boy contained, hopefully, and he apparently had a few more people to deal with. It wasn’t hard to find them though. In the middle of the day he spotted two teenagers arguing with a bartender for some alcohol. They didn’t seem to want it there, they wanted it for a party that night.

1578/2000

[Kade Lazarus]

“Is that all you boys do in town? You cause trouble and you argue with people just living their lives?” Kade asked when he stepped into the building. He looked around. Well, glass bottles… chairs. Yep, this place was going to get messed up if he didn’t take the ensuing fight elsewhere. He knew it would end in a fight. He stayed in the doorway.
 
“Who are you? Weird looking idiot? Get lost,” one of them said, waving his hand at Kade and going immediately back to demanding alcohol. Hm, this could be a problem.
 
“I’ll just be outside. Tommy and I had a great little talk earlier.”
 
Both of them looked at Kade now, giving him their undivided and clearly irritated attention.
 
“You did what? Tommy’s supposed to be here… wait… you…” one of them seemed to be figuring it out, and with a growl he tossed a fireball at Kade. Kade jumped back from the door and was easily able to avoid damage. The door was a bit singed though. At least with that failed attack this particular wizard ran outside. He tossed a ball of fire at Kade, which exploded into a fire blast when it landed, just in front of him. Great, long ranged. That’s my specialty…
 

1789/2000

[Kade Lazarus]

He threw a punch in the man’s direction, sending a piercing beam of light at him. Despite a block, it cut through, slicing through his arm and causing the man to send out a cry of pain. Kade took advantage of this, pulling out his bow and firing two shots at the man. One, two, in both shoulders, sending the man back against the wall. Kade ran up to him, blocking a kick to the cut and connecting a few punches to the teenager’s abdomen while he was trapped. The exchange left both fighters bruised up and a bit bloodied, especially with the last spell this boy used. His body covered in flames, searing Kade and tearing open some skin before the boy went unconscious and fell to the ground. Just lovely. Well, at least he seemed to be down for the fight.
 
The last one was still inside. Kade headed to the doorway. “How about we take this outside,” he said. Outside gave him a chance to fight at range until he needed to get close. Outside meant he wouldn’t be seriously messing up this man’s lively hood. The boy shook his head, snapping his fingers as his hands lit ablaze.
 
“You want my attention, you’ve got it. But I’ll burn this building to the ground before I leave.”
 

2009/2000

[Kade Lazarus]

It was clear this kid was serious, and Kade couldn’t risk that. He let out an agitated sigh and looked around. Too much damage would happen in here… he needed this to end quickly. He ran forward, using his newly learned boost spell. It propelled him fast as a bullet to this guy. He was too surprised by the sudden shift in speed. Unfortunately he seemed just as evenly matched at Kade to have this fight. He was startled at least, luckily. He blocked and Kade threw a knee up to the boy’s chest, hitting him below his block. An easy connect. He threw a punch to the side of the boy’s face, block, punch up to his chest, connection. It was a fast fight, but eventually the boy got his hands on a bottle of alcohol, smashing it over Kade’s head, but Kade didn’t need to see to win the fight. He grabbed a chair and broke it over the boy’s back. His heart was racing as he wiped the blood and alcohol off his face. Augh, the smell. It was disorienting. He couldn’t see anything, and all he could hear was some unfamiliar voice talking. Asking him to leave the building. Kade mumbled something as he walked out to the street. And there stood the man who the voice apparently belonged to.
 

2233/2000

[Kade Lazarus]

The disorientation was still bad. Kade had to drop his bow and pull off his shirt. It was in his clothing, and all he could do was hear. Blind fighting wasn’t ideal. The man said something to Kade again. Something about him… messing with the man’s lackey’s?
 
“Are you Hosk?” he asked, finally getting enough of the alcohol out of his eyes to see clearly. Yes, tall, fit, shaggy black hair. And… a sword. Oh boy.
 
He smirked, “Probably. But it won’t matter when I take you out.”
 
“Oh come on, there are people around. This is stupid!” Kade said. He wasn’t stalling, he just didn’t want to mess things up for these people.
 
“They aren’t in the way,” The man said. He cast an illusion, but even Kade’s dull senses knew what was happening. Everything was moving, but it was silent. Just great, now he had to rely on his eyes, which were lying to him, or his nose which still smelled the burn of liquor.
 
“That’s quite the tactic… disorient a man with a head injury,” Kade mumbled.
 
“I’m not the one who came to town causing trouble today.”
 
Kade’s arm raised immediately, feeling the painful blast of cold and metal against his skin. At least he’d blocked the attack before it reached his neck. In a moment the man was knocked back, and his illusion faded as his vision went away. The blinding block, good for not dying in these situations. Kade’s boost was still there, so he charged at Hosk. He managed to kick the sword away, and it was quickly apparent that his fighting style was distractions. Not the best technique against a dragon slayer.
 
The two rolled around for a while, ending up back on their feet, but Kade kept Hosk away from his sword until the man was crouched on the ground panting. He agreed to go back to see Niles. He wasn’t happy about it, but no one needed to die. He still couldn’t see after all.
 
“Good…” Kade said. He roughly grabbed Hosk’s arm to pull him up. They headed out of town with the sword and back to Niles to sort out the rest of the job. Kade made sure to grab his bow and shirt, and the ruffians wouldn’t be hard to run out of town without their leader. It was nice to think things could end without more violence. Unlike some people, Kade didn’t resort to murder.
 

2642/2000

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