So.. We meet again... [Job w/ Mer]

Mer had been training for the past few weeks, which was why she hadn't done a job in ages. Although she had her magic completely developed for her magical capacity, she was hesitant to do a job. She wasn't completely sure about it since she only just stopped training yesterday. This was why she decided to be put on the random pairing list. She knew she could handle herself but there was still that small voice in her hand that told her not to trust herself.

After writing down her name on the little sheet, she looked back at the paper once more to recollect her thoughts. She read it thoroughly and read about the ancient tome that seemed to be stolen from this old man. He wanted them to get it back which wasn't too much of a worry. Mer knew that having 2 mages on the job would make this a good bit easier than if it was solo.

As she looked away from the flyer, she felt her phone ding with excitement as it displayed the words "MATCH FOUND." With that Mer figured out the meeting place of her and her new strange friend. It seemed like the other had wanted to meet in the middle of the small town of the old man. Mer was ecstatic about the news and had hoped that the person would be the most interesting person Mer had ever met.

It only took a few minutes for Mer to get to the middle of the town. As she tried looking at the dot of the person on her GPS, Mer stumbled upon a little cafe. As Mer stopped right in front of it, the gps began to beep as though her partner was right in the spot. Mer seemed to sense a familiar magical aura as she realized what it was. Looking at the wall to the side of the building was Poko and- "Zephyr!" As Mer walked over to Poko, Zephyr lunged towards Mer as she hugged him with glee. With tiny sparkles in her eyes, Mer said to Poko, "Nice to see you again. Its been like what...3 weeks?"

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Mer was having so much fun seeing Zephyr again. She couldn't believe it had been so long since she had seen him. As she was cuddling with the little monster, she had her attention drawn to Poko. She seemed to have been wanting to go, which was quite fine with Mer. After all, how would she be able to do what she was set out to do if she just sat here and cuddled with a pet? As Mer sat quietly, barely listening to Poko's question, she said to Poko, "Sure, why not? I mean we did apply for this job to do something exciting. Let's go and see what this little building could be." As she smiled, Mer walked forward as she stretched out her legs and arms as though she was sitting in that chair for ages.

Walking down the little street was actually quite quiet. It was unusual for Mer to be this quiet, but she just felt like taking in her surroundings. As she looked around the area, she saw something as Poko picked up her feet. On her ankle was a mark of some sort. It was pink, which was weird to Mer since she had never seen it on Poko before. As Zephyr lifted his head from Mer's intertwining arms, Mer asked Poko, "Hey, what is that mark on your ankle? Did you actually join a guild?" With the telling of her guild, Mer said to Poko, "Guilds are amazing. They let you adventure the world and meet so many new people. It's nice being able to travel the world and still have people who you can have beside you." With a gentle smile, Mer just kept walking.

As she went down the hill, she saw so many interesting looking restaurants and shops. As she looked to her right, she saw some sort of shop. She felt some sort of strange aura coming from it. It was as though she was a metal being pulled by a magnet. She wanted to stop her feet, but then again...she couldn't. As she came nearer to the shop, she felt the butterfly rune at the top of her head. It seemed to be a purple light that shined beautifully. The second she walked into the shop, the glowing had stopped.

She walked up to the counter and saw a peculiar lady there. The lady was odd and felt a bit off to Mer, even though she hadn't even ventured off into much of the real world yet. As she looked around the room, she saw a glowing item. It had seemed to be a necklace of some sort. On it was a rune, one she had never seen before. As she glared at the item, she felt its energy pulse out towards her. She felt it growing stronger as she reached her hand outwards towards it. Forgetting about the other life form in the room, the lady coughed and said to her, "What are you looking at?"

With a voice of awkwardness, Mer replied back to the old lady, "Uhh...that necklace, ma'am, can I see it?" She seemed very bored and tired, so she just rolled her eyes and reached towards it. With a very slow reach of her hand, she grabbed onto the necklace as she saw the necklace glow with a mystic purple. Along with this was something odd. It was a weird feeling...it was as though the necklace was giving her some sort of power.

As Mer cleared her thoughts, she asked the lady, "How much is this?" With that question, the lady quickly answered back at her, and said, "It's free, but you have to return to me an ancient tome known as 'Krakchta' from a group of bandits in the east. I understand that you are already going there, so you might as well get it for me." With that, she began to push Mer out of the building. With one final plead, Mer asked aloud, "Wait how did you know-"

All of a sudden Mer was pushed out of the store. She knew she would have to get that necklace, as though it was a life or death situation. With that, she walked back to where Poko was on the sidewalk. She hoped that Poko didn't see her run off, but she didn't know for sure. Until then, she nestled back up with Zephyr and went on her way. As she turned around to look back at the shop, she saw the lady glaring her down. Mer turned back to her front and closed her eyes. She said to herself, "I can do this..."

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Mer opened her eyes to a questioning Poko. She seemed weirded out, worried, or something else. Mer didn't know which, but after a few moments she realized Poko had asked her a question. It was about her disappearance, but then again Mer didn't want to talk about it just yet. As she scratched the back of her head, she said, "Nowhere really, just thought I saw something suspicious." Mer had then coughed as she kept walking forward.

It wasn't too long before Mer got halted by Poko. Looking towards her in question, she realized that they were at the building with the hidden tome in it. She saw as Poko signaled Mer into a different direction than forward. Mer crouched and snuck into a bush where she would begin a conversation with Poko. Mer decided to look over the area. She seemed to see many warrior-like people there, maybe even what her storybooks called ninjas. She saw multiple scouting the area, which made the area they were in even more compromising. Mer felt the intensity of the situation and brought her head back behind the bush, as fast as possible. With the turn of her head, she saw Poko right in front of her face. Mer could feel the breath of Poko as it hit her.

Mer blushed as she walked backward from Poko. She made sure she was still behind the bush though. As that awkward situation ended, Poko warned Mer and gave them a meeting spot when things got rough. Mer nodded her head in agreeance as she hoped that would help calm Poko down.

Mer then looked back towards the ninjas and thought that it was really dangerous to be doing the job in open daylight like this. As she opened her mouth, her words were replaced by Poko's as the blonde haired girl said her plan. Mer had then smiled at the fact that Poko was thinking the same thing as her. It was kind of cool that this was one of the few things they have agreed on. After a few moments of silence, Poko asked if Mer had any other plans in her head. Mer then shook her head and stood up a tiny bit more. With a look of question on her face, she saw as Poko sat there contemplating something. Worry struck her face as she crouched down towards Poko. With an anxious voice, Mer asked Poko with worry, "Are you okay?"

After a few minutes, or so, Mer and Poko were settled into a tiny camp they made. Mer had made fire, which she learned from her village, and sat next to it. She rubbed her hands together and looked over towards Poko. The girl had asked Mer a question that made Mer feel a tiny bit homesick. She didn't want to go to much into the story, but she felt that her comrade had to at least know half of it. With a voice of despair, Mer had said to Poko, "Many years from now, my mother and father were traveling through a forest. It was the day of their honeymoon, and there was me. My mom was pregnant with me, but she didn't realize it till it was too late. As they were walking through the forest, my mother tripped on something. It wasn't any normal vine or root, it was some sort of magical rune. My mother had seemed to trigger something that blocked them from leaving. They tried to leave but they couldn't...they just kept on hitting the same old barrier again and again. After a while, they gave up and decided to continue walking. They hoped they would find another way out, but after a while, they knew they wouldn't. It was a day or so until they found actual human beings. They were in some sort of tribal area known to me now, by Fantagia. It was the land of hope for them. All the people there were adults who got trapped in this mystical forest just like my parents. There were no children there however because they were seen to be too pure to be taken by the jungle. Adults were taken there so they could live forever since they had fulfilled their lives. Children however still had so much more to live for in the world, which was why me being there should have never happened. When I was born, I was born with this rune on my head. I was known to be special because the unknowing of my mother's pregnancy caused me to be born. All the villagers loved me, but every day I saw a sadness on their face because they knew I had so much more to live for. That was when I ha-"

As Mer was in the middle of her story, she looked up to see that it was night time. Mer made a short giggle as she said to Poko, "Wow, seems like I wasted all our time, hehe. Maybe next time I'll tell you the whole story. There is so much more, but I guess a few hours isn't enough to cover it all. I don't think I've even covered a quarter of the story yet" As Mer tilted her head and smiled a gentle smile, she said to Poko, "Guess we should get going now, huh?"

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As Mer got up, she saw Poko say something to Zephyr. He seemed ready to go back to the place, but then he went back down and curled up into a ball, sleeping. Mer had assumed that Poko had just told Zephyr to stay back while they went on towards their goal. Mer had then gone over to Zephyr and petted him, while saying, "Don't worry, we'll make back later." With a gentle smile, she stood up and began walking with Poko. She then turned her back and looked at Zephyr. With a small wave, Poko and Mer went out into the darkness, leaving Zephyr to nap.

They arrived at a tiny bush near the scene of the "ninjas." Mer was ready to fight them, but she wasn't too sure on if they would be able to fight them. The ninjas seemed strong, while Poko and Mer were pretty much still just children. As she saw the ninjas patrol the area, she still couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. It wasn't until Mer heard the voice of Poko and then looked into her beautiful eyes, that she had felt safe. When she looked at Poko, something felt different about her. It wasn't hate or anger, it was safety.

As Mer looked into the deep blue eyes of Poko, she heard Poko come up with a plan. Mer thought the plan was actually quite brilliant, which made Mer quite happy. She thought to herself, "I can't believe she's so smart...and beautiful. How can I enjoy the world when true happiness is right in front of me." Mer sighed as she came back into reality. With a yell whisper, she said, "Yes! yes! Definitely agreed!"

Both of them then turned their back and went their separate ways. With a slight whisper, Mer says the word, "Jaguar!" It glows as it falls into Mer's hands, melding her entire body with celestial like spots. As they covered her, she turned invisible and made her feel amazed by its power. She remembered getting this rune just a few days ago. The Jaguar spirit spoke with her as she slept and engraved the rune into her spiritual rune of the butterfly, the keeper of Fantagia's magic. Mer looked at her hands and saw nothing, which means that she knew it was time. She saw her prey move around carefully as they patrolled the area.

It was almost time for her to strike, but first...she raised her arm as it glowed. With that happening, a mark appeared on one of the ninjas. The partner of the marked prey looked at him. He seemed to be alarmed by the mark, due to it glowing, and warned the other ninja. As they looked around, Mer pounced at the marked ninja as it popped, hurting him with tons of pain. The partner looked around, as he dashed straight towards the inner palace. Before he could though, Mer used the strength from her rune and picked up the ninja. With ease, she threw the ninja at his partner, basically knocking him out cold. Mer made sure they would not wake up soon and dug a hole. She then took them and dumped them into it. With as little force as possible, Mer laid them into the hole and covered it with dirt. If they were strong enough(which they were) they would be able to easily get out of it. Also, Mer had made some air holes for them.

Although Mer was there to defeat them, she didn't want anybody to get hurt too badly. She would never want to physically pain another human being that way, ever. It wasn't until she was done, that she walked back towards Poko. Not wanting to give up her position, Mer kept the rune on. She then walked over to Poko and saw...blood. Feeling terrified, Mer looked at Poko as she had just killed one of the ninjas. Mer looked, pained by what Poko did. Yet, Mer still saw the remorse in the eyes of Poko as she almost threw up on the ground. Mer tried to recover herself from the image but waited 2 more minutes.

After those 2 minutes were up, she walked over to Poko and tapped her on the shoulder. She then whispered into the ear of the blonde haired girl, and said, "Hey it's Mer, I'm sort of invisible now but trust that I'm here. I don't want to be seen, especially not in this hostile place, but if you need to talk to me, just talk and I will be sure to hear it."

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Mer could tell from the fact, that killing those men scarred Poko. Mer could see as Poko was trying to hold in her pain as she knew Mer was there. It pained Mer to see Poko in so much grief and suffering. This state made Poko seem vulnerable, as though Mer was finally seeing a part of Poko she had never seen before...remorse. Mer was so drawn to the fact that she could finally see Poko as something other than mean. This was a whole new side that Mer could explore, and maybe relate to. After all, Mer had only really ever seen Poko's mean side.

As Mer was in thought, it seemed as though Poko had disappeared into the night sky. Mer looked around trying to whisper-yell, "Poko!" As her voice barely came out, she realized that Poko was probably way too far gone now for Mer to actually call her. She didn't want to alert any of the ninjas around, so she decided it was best to at least try to find Poko first before it was time to go to that little white tent they agreed upon at the start. She reentered the real world from her thoughts and began to start walking around.

It was what seemed like hours before Mer finally made human contact once again, but it wasn't the human contact that she had in mind. As she looked forward, she saw ninjas as they looked around. They seemed to be alerted by something. Maybe they were finally beginning to realize the loss of their friends as they patrolled around the building. Mer didn't have time to worry about that now, though, especially since they were probably going to go to alert the other ninjas in the building like how the other ninja she fought tried to do. She went on the prowl towards the ninjas in their white suits. She made sure not to make a noise before she thought that it was the perfect time to strike.

As she crept up upon the 2 paired up ninjas, she marked the one on the right with her "Hunter's Mark." The ninjas didn't apparently see the little mark Mer had cast upon the right ninja. As she sneakily tiptoed towards the 2 ninjas, she decided that it was time to pounce. She jumped towards the marked ninja as she body slammed into him. She took her sharp nails as she clawed him across the face. She didn't do it enough to kill him, but she was able to knock him out from the fear of an invisible force attacking him. As she looked around, she realized that she couldn't see the other ninja anymore. He seemed to disappear, as she fought his partner. She took a step forward making a loud clap on the ground with her foot. That was a fatal mistake for her because right as she took that step she was pounced on. The ninja had lunged on to her from the darkness as he tried to punch her. Luckily though, Mer was invisible which meant that it was easier for Mer to not let him receive direct contact. She moved her head quick enough to wear his arm kept connecting to the ground. As he shook his hand, trying to shake away the pain from hitting the ground, Mer took the moment to her advantage and used her legs to kick him off of her. As he hit the ground, there was a loud scraping sound with his back, which caused Mer to yelp.

She ran over to the man and unequipped the rune that she currently had, taking away her invisibility. As she kneeled down to look at the man, he seemed to be knocked out cold, but not dead. She felt a tear roll down her cheek as she muttered to herself, "I never wanted to hurt anyone. I'm so sorry for hurting you. I hope you are well after this. Please don't let go of your soul because of me." As she felt more tears roll down her face, she sucked up her crying because she knew that she had to get that tome no matter what. She kissed the head of the ninja as she walked off. She knew that it was time for her to go back to the safe place Mer and Poko agreed on.

Before she entered the tent, she felt her eyes puff up. She tried to wipe away the tears left on her face and hoped that Poko wouldn't notice the crying she had been through. As she walked through the tent, she could tell Poko was distressed. Mer was sure Poko could tell that she was not having a great time on this job either, so Mer gave Poko a half smile and sat next to her. As she sat crisscrossed in front of Poko, Mer said to her, "So, how are you? I can tell that you're very distracted, maybe even sad. This job has been sort of taking a toll on me, and I'm wondering if it has on you too." Mer then put a sympathetic look on her face as she awaited Poko's response.

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