Building A Relationship

Job Details:

Sign-Up Page 22, Post Number 532

-Sakuramori, late afternoon-

Wearing her Azure Armor under a blue t-shirt and wearing khaki cargo shorts with white tennis shoes and backpack on her back, Victoria walked into Sakuramori to pay a visit to Florence Manderley's apartment. Florence had invited her to her home a week-and-a-half after Victoria had recovered from getting her ass kicked by Alexander Kerwes and kicking his ass in return. Her injuries were so severe that she had spent three days in the hospital and over a week at Sabertooth Guild Hall recovering from them. Victoria had felt so weak that even the simplest of missions would have been a grueling ordeal to undertake.

The rogue scientist had given the brunette quite the beating during their fight. The list of injuries included bruised ribs from the powerful palm thrust he had used against her, a left arm that was nearly broken from being used to shield her head from being slammed into the concrete when she was picked up by her ankles and thrown twice, and a back that was bruised from the multiple times she had been slammed into walls and computer consoles. Only Victoria's Azure Armor had kept her alive during the fight. Had she not been wearing it, chances were high that she would be convalescing from their battle for much longer than nearly two weeks.

Victoria had managed to eke out a win thanks to clever use of her Flashbang to leave Kerwes open for a Beam Cannon spell, but she had been unable to kill him thanks to a last-second twitch moving his head out of the Beam Cannon's path, so pretty soon she would have to go globe-trotting again to find him. Before his escape from Snowfall Island Alexander Kerwes had promised that their third meeting would be their last. Victoria would be sure to hold him to that promise even if she had to die with him to make it happen.

The armored mage made her way into the neighborhood where Florence lived and made her way through the modest foot traffic in the area. Most of the people on the road gave way when she appeared and greeted her warmly. The people of Sakuramori still remembered the days of Black Rose and remembered the brunette's membership in the guild. They remembered how Black Rose saved them from the "Night of Eternal Darkness" incident during a horror film festival that the town held in autumn and how the guild provided protection to the town during more mundane circumstances as well. Victoria returned the greetings as they were given and continued to walk until she eventually wound up standing outside of Florence's apartment.

Victoria approached and knocked on the door three times. She had just lifted her hand from the door when it was almost flung open, making her jump back a short distance. Florence greeted her warmly, grabbing the brunette in a tight hug. Victoria found herself taken off balance and had to struggle to stand up straight, a task that was made more difficult by Florence leaning into her.

"Come on in, Victoria!" The blonde exclaimed, pulling the off-balance Victoria inside and kicking the door closed with her left foot. The Sabertooth mage had not received a warm welcome like that in a long time. Then again, she had no real family outside of Sabertooth and her adopted father. Florence seemed to take it upon herself to be Victoria's mother figure to complete the sort-of family that Victoria had going. Victoria did not mind because she had never known her real parents and she had never really cared enough to go looking.

For all she knew she was an unwanted child who was dropped off at the first convenient place. None of that mattered anymore. There was no point in worrying about it either. Her birth parents were probably long-dead or had long ago moved out of Earthland.

Victoria had worked her way up from being a street kid in Capital Crocus to a mage in Sabertooth who was technically the second-strongest mage in the guild. She had gone from having to scavenge meals out of trash cans in back alleys to having enough money to buy a restaurant outright if she wanted to. Victoria had made a lot of acquaintances and a few friends, had gained a sort-of family, had earned quite a bit of money, and had built up some influence by virtue of her magical strength and her reputation for taking on the most dangerous jobs. She had come a long way from the streets of Capital Crocus.

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-Inside Florence's apartment-

Victoria was inside the apartment of her friend and hostess Florence Manderley. Florence was still dressed for the office in a white coat with blue long-sleeved shirt and black knee-length skirt with black shoes, but she soon kicked off the shoes and threw them into a side closet in the living room. Victoria took off her shoes just inside the front door and left them on a black mat to the right of the doorway. She took off her backpack and set it down next to her shoes so that it did not take up space on the couch.

"I'm glad you made it, Victoria. I was about to go somewhere later today and I wanted some company." Florence said to the Sabertooth mage, sparking her interest. Where could Florence be going that needed a mage of Victoria's strength to go with her? Victoria had no clue, but she was sure that her hostess would tell her when the time came. The brunette sat down on the brown leather couch and listened to Florence rummage through the kitchen for something, possibly a glass to drink out of.

Glassware clinked together as the medical expert searched through her kitchen for a mug or a glass, then the sound of muttered cursing and the rumbling of a dishwasher being started up. It seemed that Florence forgot to wash her dishes before Victoria arrived. The brunette was mildly amused because the blonde had given the impression of being prim and proper, but the latter was prone to moments of less-than-ladylike behavior like Victoria.

"Sorry about that, Victoria. I forgot to wash my coffee mugs last night, so I'm having to run my dishwasher." Florence apologized from the kitchen before more glassware clinked in a cabinet. Victoria was wondering what the blonde was going to drink once she found the right glass to use. Would she drink something mild like coffee or would she walk on the wild side and drink alcohol? After another three minutes Florence finally walked into the living room with a bottle of water.

"I forgot to make coffee this morning, so it looks like I'm drinking water." Florence commented on her beverage situation.

"If you want something a little stronger, I can make it happen." Victoria offered. Florence's golden eyes met the brunette's eyes and a look of mild shock appeared on her face.

"I can't drink, Victoria. We've got a job to do later today." Florence said sternly. Victoria frowned a bit, but a stern rebuff was to be expected from the blonde. Medical professionals did not have as much liberty to drink as mages did. Victoria could respect that.

"OK." Victoria said plainly, letting the matter drop out of respect for her hostess and mentor. The brunette had plenty of opportunities to practice her craft at the Red Dragon Inn courtesy of Ryo and Will. Not being able to make a drink for Florence would not hurt the brunette at all.

"I need your help, Victoria." Florence launched into a request without much delay. Victoria's mind abandoned the idea of making a drink to hear what her mentor had to say. The Sabertooth mage was all ears.

"Need my help? With what?" Victoria asked.

"I'm going to head to a remote community far from here and I need someone to watch my back. I'll be going on bandit-infested roads and I need a strong escort." Florence told Victoria plainly. Victoria was surprised. That was it? That was what she was here for?

"OK." Victoria replied, still in disbelief. She had expected to hear that one of Kerwes' creations was threatening another island or that the community Florence was going to was besieged by bandits about to burn the place down. Florence was quick to pick up on that disbelief and started to explain why she had contacted her student.

"I know it's not as exciting as the missions you're used to or as high-stakes, but I hear you've been going at it pretty hard lately. You've been in life-threatening situation after situation without a break in between. I think you need to do something a little less dangerous for once." Florence gently explained her reasoning to Victoria. Victoria was not quite sold on the idea of a walk through the wilderness to a backwoods community. She wanted to find Kerwes and defeat him once and for all so that no one else was used for his human experimentation. She hated the wait for Franklin Kerwes to contact her with his son's whereabouts, but right now there was nothing she could do but wait.

"I'll go along. There's nothing I can do to stop Alexander Kerwes until I know where he is." Victoria voiced her willingness to take the job despite the low stakes and low danger. Months ago she used to be concerned about fighting bandits, but after taking and completing four jobs of fighting mutant reptiles and Alexander Kerwes, bandits did not concern her very much anymore. They were small potatoes compared to a scientist who had a small army of mutant reptiles at his command and enough resources to use his army to sow discord wherever he pleased.

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[Total Word Count: 1,672/12,500]

-Sakuramori Forest, two hours later-

Victoria walked alongside Florence as the pair made their way through Sakuramori Forest. Victoria had been told that the woods were a favorite haunt of local bandits, so she was ready for a fight. In addition to wearing her Azure Armor, Victoria also wore her Bandolier so that her weapons would be even more effective than they already were. On the brunette's head was the Crown of Persephone in case she needed to heal herself or Florence during the trip.

Florence was wearing a traveling outfit composed of a purple long-sleeved t-shirt, khaki pants, and light brown hiking boots. On her back was a brown backpack of medical supplies destined for the remote community to which they were going. It was Victoria's responsibility to get her mentor and the medical supplies to their destination without incident and she was determined to complete the job no matter what.

"I notice that you're wearing a crown of flowers on your head. Were you part of a wedding lately?" Florence asked Victoria as they walked through the forest.

"It's a special item called the Crown of Persephone. It boosts the power of my healing magic. I paid a lotta money for this crown, so you can bet your last Jewel I'm gonna use it." Victoria explained to the taller blonde why she was wearing a crown of flowers. Florence blinked for a moment.

"So you went and bought a special item to boost your healing magic?" Florence asked. She had probably expected Victoria to go out and buy more firepower instead of investing in healing magic. A few months ago the Sabertooth mage might have gone and done just that, but she was not the same person now as she was a few months ago. A lot had happened over the past few months that had changed the brunette's outlook on life.

She had investigated the frozen dam on Snowfall Island and learned about Project Lacedaemon from documents she had recovered in the Administration Building, an investigation which had kicked off the whole fight against Alexander Kerwes.

She had gone to Shadow Island to clean up a mutant infestation and had met Franklin Kerwes, Alexander's father and a new client of hers.

She had traveled to Divide Island and had her first real fight with Alexander, a fight which was one-sided but showed her exactly what her opposition was capable of.

She had went to Crescent Island and worked alongside her old acquaintance Abigail Windstrider to save the island from "failed" experiments sent there by Kerwes to slow her down and buy time for Agent Lacedaemon to be refined.

Finally, Victoria had returned to Snowfall Island, fought through a base full of mutant reptiles, and eventually confronted Alexander Kerwes in a rematch. While the scientist gained the upper hand and hurt the brunette with attack after attack, Victoria cleverly used spells not related to magic firearms and landed some big hits of her own. The two fought to a draw after she shot a hole in his right pectoral with a Beam Cannon, forcing him to disengage from the fight and retreat to an unknown location.

"Yeah. Combat Medic magic's come in pretty handy ever since you taught it to me." Victoria finally replied to the question. Florence looked surprised at the answer given to her.

"Really? That explains how those officers on Divide Island were able to survive their wounds. They had said that a girl wearing a crown had treated them with healing magic. I had a feeling that it was you." Florence commented. Victoria was relieved to hear of their survival. She had worried that she had been too late to treat the wounded officers, but that was not the case.
They had survived long enough to get proper medical treatment thanks to the Crown of Persephone and her training in Combat Medic magic.

"Yeah." Victoria replied laconically. In the shadow of all her successes lurked one big failure, one that continued to haunt her to this day. That was the failure to save the villagers from Phaz infection. Her healing magic could do nothing to help them; the only way to "help" them was to end their suffering on the spot, which she did with a single shot to the head for each and every villager. They had approached her and asked for a swift and merciful end, but the deeply unpleasant experience of taking innocent lives to spare them from a week of suffering altered her outlook on life and her responsibility as a mage.

Before that fateful day Victoria had treated each job as a trip to the shooting gallery. She could not wait to fight bandits so she had an excuse to bring out her weapons and shoot at people no one would really care about. After that fateful day Victoria had lost a lot of her former exuberance and looked for a way to make up for what she had done. Even though her hand had been forced by circumstances beyond her control, Victoria refused to forget what she had to do and refused to drink the guilt away, instead opting to live with it.

"You seem... different. You're not nearly as cheerful as you used to be. Normally you can't wait to get in a fight so you can shoot bandits without legal consequences." Florence said to Victoria. The brunette faced forward and kept walking.

"Did something happen?" The blonde asked. Victoria turned towards her and spoke a single word.

"Yeah." The brunette answered without much enthusiasm. Florence's golden eyes narrowed.

"Is it something to do with that Alexander Kerwes?" Florence asked another question.

"Yeah. I don't like sitting back and letting him make the first move each time. I want to find him and stop his plans before any more of his mutants are set free on some island community or on some remote village." Victoria admitted to her mentor, alluding to her experiences on Shadow Island, Divide Island, and Crescent Island. Florence blinked. Victoria had never sounded so responsible before.

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"You're that committed to stopping him, huh?" Florence asked Victoria as they continued to walk through the forest towards the village. According to her mentor the pair was a quarter of the way to their destination. So far they had not encountered any local outlaws, but that did not mean that they were out of the woods yet, so to speak.

"Yeah. I've come this far and gotten my ass kicked by him twice, so I'm gonna see this through." Victoria replied confidently without taking her eyes off the road. She had already chased him around four islands and had thwarted his plans four times, so she wanted to be the one to finally stop him when he ran out of places to hide. She was not sure where Alexander Kerwes could run to where he would not be found by his father. She was sure that the rogue scientist was radioactive and that not many people would willingly shelter someone like that because of the intense scrutiny it would bring them under.

"Kerwes really did a number on you, Victoria. If I hadn't have gotten to you when I did you might not be walking right now." Florence said to her.

"Tell me about it. If it weren't for you I might not even be alive right now." Victoria chimed in. She had survived the battle with Kerwes, but she might not have survived the long trip back to Snowfall Island's port city to get help. With her jacket's ability to keep her warm compromised thanks to the mutant reptiles and their sharp claws, the intense cold of the island would have finished what the reptiles and the scientist had started. Her overall condition was bad and she could not have made it to shelter in time before the cold did her in. It was fortunate that Florence and Snowfall Island Special Forces had arrived when they did.

"You would have made it, Victoria. It would have taken you a long time and a lot of work, but you would have made it off Snowfall Island." Florence expressed confidence in the Sabertooth mage's abilities. Victoria knew Combat Medic magic, so she could have healed herself enough to at least stand up under her own power, but at the time she was more than a little afraid that she might not make it out of the base, let alone make it off the island. She was worried that some of the mutants might be smart enough to open doors and get to her while she was unable to defend herself. Thankfully the entity who got to her was Florence Manderley instead of reptiles or a mercenary "clean-up" crew sent to finish her off.

"Yeah, but I'm glad you showed up when you did. I mean it." Victoria thanked Florence for her timely arrival and timely aid right when the brunette needed it the most.

"It's no problem. I'm glad that Franklin Kerwes gave me the information I needed to find you." Florence replied. The pair soon came to a fork in the forest road with a wooden sign in the middle. One dirt path led left and the other dirt path led right. Florence was in the lead here, so Victoria would wait and let her decided which way to go.

It took only a minute for Florence to make the decision to head left. Victoria followed after her and kept a watch out for the local outlaws looking for easy prey. If they went after Florence's supplies they would be in for an unpleasant surprise because Victoria was a walking arsenal who could produce weapons at a moment's notice. Also, both she and Florence were trained in Combat Medic magic and could call upon weapons that would make the bandits regret ever leaving their camps.

-Deeper into the forest, forty minutes later-

Florence and Victoria continued to walk under the forest canopy while listening to the birds in the trees tweet merry bird songs and forest animals frolicked in the brush... or at least Victoria thought there were forest animals frolicking in the brush on both sides of the well-worn dirt trail. It could have been bandits moving in to set up an ambush on the pair. Victoria was not sure what was going on around them and that was what concerned her the most.

"Um..." Florence started off, unsure of herself. Victoria looked towards the blonde nurse.

"I think we're lost." Florence hesitantly admitted. Victoria's jaw almost dropped when she heard those dreaded words. They had spent over forty minutes traveling deep into the forest and only now had Florence expressed concern that they might be on the wrong path after all. The brunette's disappointment and concern were palpable as Florence looked around and tried to determine if they were really lost or not.

"Great. Just great." Victoria dryly remarked. That was all she could say without running the risk of offending her friend and mentor who had done so much for her. Florence's face turned red and she turned away from Victoria. The brunette felt a little guilty for reacting like she did and tried to think of a way to apologize when Florence's face brightened.

"No, no, we're on the right track! I just remembered!" Florence exclaimed triumphantly. She jabbed her finger towards a tree that was missing a branch and had a bird's nest nestled in the branches. Barely visible in the nest were two rather large eggs of an unknown bird species... at least they were unknown to Victoria since she was not a bird expert.

"I remember that tree. It was here the last time I passed through!" Florence continued to explain what made her confident that they were on the right path. Victoria did not know any different and she did not want to hurt Florence's feelings again, so she kept quiet until the nurse was finished talking. Only once the blonde stopped talking and two minutes had passed in silence did the Sabertooth mage speak up.

"OK." Victoria said laconically. Filled with renewed confidence in her pathfinding abilities, Florence took the lead and the pair continued their journey to the remote village that needed the medical supplies they were carrying.

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[Total Word Count: 3,764/12,500]

-Deeper in the forest, two hours later-

Florence and Victoria had traveled deeper into the forest on their quest to supply a remote village with medicine, but there was one small problem. Florence had taken a wrong turn somewhere down the road and now the pair were looking at a small tent village of about fifteen tents, but all the inhabitants were men wearing leather armor carrying weapons and coming after them. Victoria facepalmed. Instead of a village in need they had found a bandit camp!

"I could have sworn that we were headed the right way..." Florence commented as the men drew closer while laughing and making jokes about their "easy score". Victoria brought out her Grenade Launcher, which made the men step back. She was not going to use high-explosive grenades unless she had to; tear gas would be sufficient to put these goons in their place. Florence thought the same thing because she brought out her Grenade Launcher and the pair faced down the small bandit army. They started to back away from their armed prey, but it was too late.

Florence and Victoria began firing tear gas grenades at the men and watching them flee the floating clouds of tear gas when the grenades burst open. As soon as they had fired five grenades apiece the pair ran for their lives and left the bandits coughing. They had better get clear and find their real destination before the bandits caught up to them and exacted revenge.

-In the forest, twenty minutes later-

Florence and Victoria were still in the forest with no clue as to where they were going other than deeper into the woods. Victoria was watching the bushes for signs of the bandits they had fired tear gas at coming after them for revenge and for loot, but mostly revenge. The pair stopped in front of another wooden sign; this one pointed to a village named Grass Village. It was a nondescript name for a nondescript place, but at this point Victoria would just be glad to get there and deliver the medicine so that they could go back to Sakuramori and let the police deal with the bandits.

"Is Grass Village where we need to go?" Victoria asked Florence, who was looking down the dirt path that led to the village. The blonde appeared unsure of whether the village was the right one, so she stood at the sign with her hands on her hips. That was most likely a "NO."

Victoria wished that her mentor would hurry up and determine whether they were heading the right way because those bandits were not going to take being hit with tear gas lying down, especially since the people who humiliated them were women. Now that she thought about it maybe she should have employed high-explosive grenades to put a permanent end to the problem. Then a realization hit her squarely in the face.

The brunette had been taking way too many combat jobs. She had been fighting reptiles and frogs and a scientist who was as strong as she was. She had been going into harm's way so much that her immediate reaction to anything classified as an enemy was to shoot it until it was dead. She recalled the effect that the high-explosive grenades had on the mutants of Shadow Island and was disturbed that she was casually considering applying that same solution to the bandit problem. What was happening to her?

"Are you OK?" Florence asked Victoria. The brunette gave a weak thumbs-up. She was not sure if she was OK at all. She had not been OK since the village got coated with Phaz and Victoria had to end the suffering of the villagers, including a couple who had just gotten married.

"OK. We'd better get going. I'm sure those bandits are looking for us." She said. The pair walked briskly down the road towards Grass Village to avoid their unwanted followers and maybe complete the job some time before next week. Victoria did not know how urgent the village's need was, but she was pretty sure that they did not have time to sit around and shoot the breeze.

-Deeper in the woods, on the outskirts of Grass Village-

Victoria was relieved to see the wooden buildings of Grass Village and the large wooden sign on poles that read "WELCOME TO GRASS VILLAGE" because now they did not have to wander through the forest and try to figure out if they were really on the right path or not.

"We made it!" Florence exclaimed in relief.

"Yeah, and no damn bandits." Victoria remarked. Moments later she heard shouting and laughing behind her that made her eat her words. The bandits had followed them here!

"Damn." Victoria remarked. They had followed them here, probably to get a larger selection of loot than what they could get off of two women. Now they had put the entire village in danger.

"Run, Florence. Get the medicine to the people." Victoria instructed, staring down the bandits who were approaching them. She would fight them to give Florence time to get away with the supplies and possibly get help... if Victoria lasted that long. There were over three dozen bandits and only one of her, but that did not matter now. She had taken on tougher odds and had survived... the latest Snowfall Island incident sprung to mind.

"I can't believe that we were beaten by a kid with a crown of flowers!" A bald man with an eyepatch over his left eye said in disbelief.

"Yeah! We'll make her pay for that!" An obese man wielding a steel warhammer promised.

"After we deal with Flower Girl, we'll kill everyone and loot the whole village!" A slender man with a pair of daggers said. The group burst into cheering at the prospect of revenge and easy loot.

Victoria had heard enough from them to make a decision whether to escalate the use of force or not. She brought out her Light Machine Gun. She knew what had to be done and was going to do it for the safety of everyone in Grass Village.

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[Total Word Count: 4,806/12,500]

The bandits involuntarily stepped back when Victoria produced her Light Machine Gun in order to deal with them. If she did not stop them now, they would return to Grass Village and destroy it when she was not there to defend it. Victoria prepared for things to get messy.

"Victoria, what about you?" Florence asked.

"Just go!" Victoria sternly replied. She did not want the nurse to see what was about to happen next. The brunette was already on edge over what she was about to do and she did not need Florence's reaction adding to the emotional moment. Her Sabertooth membership could be jeopardized.

Victoria was prepared to wipe them all out here and now so that they would be unable to threaten anyone else. If she let them off the hook now they would only continue to prey on travelers passing through Sakuramori Forest. There was no telling how many hapless travelers had fallen prey to them before Florence and Victoria found them and the outlaws decided to give chase after getting off lightly the first time. The outlaws would be stopped here and now.

"GO!" Victoria urged Florence as the gang of outlaws recovered their courage and began to advance on the mage. Florence took one last look at her, then ran for the safety of the village. An obese man wearing full leather armor and wielding a steel claymore rushed at Victoria and the brunette reacted accordingly. She aimed at the target and held down the trigger, perforating the man's chest long before he could get within sword range. He fell down and bled out on the dirt road.

She thought the bandits would be smart enough to back while they still could, but it soon became apparent that they were slow learners. A skinny man in full leather armor wielding an ax ran at her while spitting curses that questioned her parentage. Victoria gunned him down without a second thought, turning him into Swiss cheese like she had the first bandit. Hiss corpse had barely settled on the ground when one of the gathered outlaws expressed his outrage in colorful terms.

"You killed my brother, you disease-ridden whore!" The skinny man wielding two daggers shouted at her. He was not too happy about what just happened and was ready to avenge his brother.

"I can send you to see him if you want." Victoria quipped sarcastically. The man's face turned red and he bit his bottom lip so hard that he drew blood. He yelled and rushed at her, throwing a dagger to make her duck. Victoria ducked under it and the bandit used the opportunity to close the distance. She reacted quickly and jammed the LMG's barrel against his chest, then opened fire before the surprised man could kick her.

He dropped his dagger and yelled as he fell backwards with a shredded chest. He died only moments after hitting the ground. His end was a lot messier than Victoria had wanted it to be, but she had no choice. It was him or her and it was not going to be her.

Victoria stood up and looked at the other bandits, who had all taken a back step and wanted no part of her. Violent thoughts were racing through her mind. She should just put them out of her misery now before they could get a chance to charge her and overwhelm her with numbers. She wanted to get rid of them so badly that she felt the LMG in her hand lifting itself to finish the job.

It was a struggle to not finish what she had started. Violence was the only thing these men understood. She would be doing the world a favor by wiping them out. What should she do? Spare them and have them come back for yet another attempt to get revenge on her or wipe them out and never have to deal with them again?

Her heart was beating so fast that she worried that she might have a heart attack on the spot before she could make up her mind. Victoria steadied herself and thought over what she should do.

After a minute of thought, she had made up her mind. There was only one real choice that could be made.

They had to go.

Victoria raised the LMG, aimed it, and fired. She heard the men scream and saw them drop to the ground. Victoria fired until the barrel was glowing red.

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[Total Word Count: 5,560/12,500]

After Victoria had finished firing all the men were on the ground. She looked at the glowing barrel of her Light Machine Gun and listened to the soft HISS of air cooling the barrel down. It spoke to her softly and imparted an unpleasant truth with its soothing whisper.

Sometimes violence is the only solution.

Victoria did not ever expect to hear wisdom from an inanimate object, but her weapon was talking to her. What it said was unpleasant, but it was not true just because it was harsh. Victoria listened to its whispering and felt at peace with what she had done. She and Florence had given the outlaws a chance to walk away after the tear gas attack in self-defense and they had thrown it away just to try and get back at them. What had happened to them was entirely their fault.

Victoria turned away from the barrel of her weapon and turned towards the men lying on the ground. Her face showed her annoyance with a deep frown. They were still lying there?

"GET UP!" She shouted at them. The fear-stricken men quickly obeyed her command. They stood around at a loss for words.

"GET OUT OF HERE AND DON'T COME BACK!" She ordered them. They quickly turned around and ran for their lives, scrambling over each other in their effort to get away from the angry brunette. The bandits all left the area with the exception of the three men she had killed in the fighting. She had fired over the heads of the rest of the men and used her weapon's Buzzsaw ability to force them to the ground.

Victoria looked back towards the barrel of her weapon, which was still cooling in the breeze. It continued to whisper to her as she looked at it. She looked at it until Florence spoke to her.

"Hey Victoria, are you OK?" Florence asked her travel companion. The blonde was missing her backpack of supplies, so they had presumably been delivered in the time between Victoria urging her to run for the safety of Grass Village and the brunette dealing with the outlaws. That in itself meant that the mission was a success even if the confrontation between Victoria and the outlaws had turned violent. Success was all the Sabertooth mage wanted out of today.

"I think so." Victoria commented to her friend. She was not sure if her Light Machine Gun had really spoken to her or if it was the first sign that Victoria was going off her rocker. It could have been the latter given how hard she had been slammed against the ground by Alexander Kerwes in Snowfall Island. She had used her left arm to shield her head from actually hitting the concrete floor, but that was only a desperation measure and was no substitute for proper head protection, of which were was none available for the mission.

Florence looked at the bodies of the three dead bandits her companion had killed to protect the village. She looked sad that it had come to that but appeared to understand why they were killed. The killing was an unfortunate necessity to save the lives of other people and Florence seemed like she understood that.

"I'm sorry it had to come to this, Victoria. I'm also sorry that you had to be the one to do it." Florence said to her. Victoria did not look at Florence as the former found the words to make a response.

"I didn't want this to happen, but they weren't going to leave this village alone. They weren't going to leave us alone either. They came after me and wanted me dead, so I killed them first." Victoria replied grimly. There was no self-pity, no questioning of herself, no emotional breakdown. There was an unpleasant task to do and she did it to save others from harm.

"Are you sure you're OK, Victoria?" Florence asked Victoria before launching into a brief explanation of why she kept asking that question.

"You just killed three bandits. I don't think there's going to a big inquiry into it since they were known outlaws and you acted in self-defense, but I don't know if you're really all right with it. Killing zombies and mutants is one thing, but killing people is another thing entirely." Florence calmly explained her reasoning without judging the brunette for what had happened.

"I'm fine." Victoria replied laconically, still refusing to make eye contact with the nurse. She was fine with what she had done because it was in self-defense and the defense of others. She had acted within the law and within the guild mission of Sabertooth, but Sabertooth's rules specified that she was to avoid killing whenever possible. The mistake she had made in not subduing the bandits may come back to put her on thin ice with Ryo and the Aces.

She would just have to deal with it if it came up. There was no taking back what she had done. The three bandits were dead and the rest of them scattered for the time being. She was not sure if the bandits had really fled or if they were just biding their time until she left before returning to destroy Grass Village. The brunette hoped that her act of mercy would not come back to haunt her.

"Do you want to go into Grass Village with me?" Florence inquired.

"No thanks. You go ahead. I'll watch for the outlaws in case they return." Victoria answered. Her eyes were fixed on the road leading into town. The truth was that she did not feel like she had any right to set foot in the village after what she had done. They did not want someone as violent as her bringing any more trouble to their doorsteps. She did not blame them for not wanting her to darken their doorstep.

"OK. I'll go ahead. I won't take too long." Florence promised before returning to the village to conduct whatever business had brought her here. Victoria was in no hurry to leave. She was not sure whether to drag the corpses of the bandits off the road so that they did not creep out the locals any more than they already did or whether she should just leave them there in case the police showed up to ask questions. The brunette opted to leave them there for the time being. If the police wanted to question her they would know exactly where to find her.

[Word Count: 1,114]
[Total Word Count: 6,674/12,500]

-Outskirts of Grass Village, one hour later-

Victoria stood quietly on the outskirts of the village watching and waiting for either the bandits or the police to arrive. After an hour of waiting she did not see either force arrive, so she assumed that the outlaws had really fled the area and that the people of Grass Village had not called the police on her for murder. Victoria waited patiently for Florence to conclude their business and was in no hurry. It was not like she had much else to do because Franklin Kerwes had not found his son and sent the information to the brunette.

It was starting to get dark outside; the electric lights of the village twinkled on behind her to reflect the change in time. The only thing that changed for her was that now she was standing in partial darkness than in fading daylight. A few minutes after the electric lights came on the brunette heard footsteps behind her. She turned around to find Florence with the empty supply backpack on her shoulders.

"I've done everything I needed to do here. Let's get going. The people of Grass Village will handle the bodies." Florence informed Victoria. Victoria dispelled her Light Machine Gun without a word to the nurse.

"They know about your confrontation with the outlaws. They appreciate you defending them from the threat. If the police come by they'll explain that you acted in self-defense." Florence added.

"OK. I appreciate that." Victoria finally broke the silence which had lasted until the blonde's arrival. She had thought a lot about the violent end to the confrontation and wondered how she could have done things differently; for once she did not mean "doing things differently" as just using a different weapon in her arsenal. She wondered if she could have subdued them all without having to kill but soon dismissed the task as impractical.

They already knew about her tear gas grenades, so they would have known how to defend themselves against the less-than-lethal measure. Taser Spark worked on only one enemy at a time and there were thirty-six of them to deal with. It was too bright outside to make full use of her power to control shadows, which would have been her best bet for non-lethally subduing the whole group at once. In the end she chalked it up to having to do something unpleasant to save more lives in the long run.

"Are you ready to go?" Florence inquired.

"I'm ready." Victoria calmly replied.

"All right then. Let's get going. I know the way back to Sakuramori, so we won't get lost in the woods this time, I promise." Florence told Victoria in an attempt the lighten the dark mood that the brunette had been feeling for the past hour. Victoria gave a small and weak smile in response.

-Outskirts of Sakuramori, four hours later-

It was the middle of the night when Florence and Victoria had finally made their way back to Sakuramori. True to her word the blonde had gotten them there without getting them lost in the woods or leading them to another bandit camp. The only problem they had encountered was the long time it took to get back home, but that was a small price to pay for the success of the mission. The pair put one foot in front of the other and were almost to the lighted town gates when they heard noises behind them.

"There they are!" A male voice shouted. Victoria spun around and spotted a small group of seventeen bandits in the gloom. She groaned.

"Son of a bitch!" Victoria muttered under her breath. They were the same bunch of bandits she had chased away from Grass Village over five hours earlier. She had a feeling that she would regret sparing their lives, but that could not be helped.

"You've humiliated us twice today! We won't run this time!" A burly man wearing full leather armor and carrying a steel longsword promised, his longsword gleaming in the light.

"I should have known you guys would come back." Victoria dryly retorted. The assembled men laughed at her. Victoria moved to summon a weapon to do what she should have done earlier. She had showed them mercy a second time and a second time they had thrown it away. She raised a hand when Florence grabbed her wrists and pulled them down.

"Victoria, please. There doesn't have to be any more killing today." Florence pleaded. While she pleaded the bandits closed the distance and now held the two at swordpoint. Victoria frowned deeply as bandits felt up Florence as a deliberate insult to Victoria while the Sabertooth mage could do nothing to stop them.

"Your fancy guns won't save you now, you piece of murderous trash! We can kill you before you can raise one!" The man with the longsword proudly boasted. His fellow bandits applauded him and felt that they had finally won over their female opponents. Victoria looked at the ground and saw a lot of shadows dancing at her feet and at Florence's. This was an ideal condition to use her power to control shadows.

"You guys never learn." Victoria remarked. The bandits stopped laughing and looked at her.

"Oh yeah? How come you're the one with the sword to your throat? Don't you think we learned plenty?" The leader asked mockingly. Victoria laughed as her eyes glowed violet and her hands were wreathed in shadow.

"I don't think you've learned your lesson." Victoria replied as a forest of shadowy hands on spindly shadowy arms erupted from the ground. Florence gasped and the bandits recoiled in terror as the hands opened and reached down to grab the bandits by the waist as smaller hands disarmed them. The forest of hands now held a forest of frightened and screaming bandits aloft, leaving just her, Florence, and their leader with their feet on the ground.

"You should have left us alone, but you were too dumb to take the hint. Now I'll show you just how little you learned from the first two fights. I promise you there won't be a third fight." Victoria hinted darkly as two more shadowy arms rose out of the ground beside her. The bandit leader lost his cocky demeanor and stepped back, holding the sword out to keep the brunette from approaching him. Unfortunately for him, she did not need to get close to hurt him thanks to her control over shadows.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" The bandit leader screamed at the violet-eyed brunette as the arms reached out for him. He slashed wildly at them but to no effect; since his blade was not magical he might as well be swinging a butter knife. The left hand grabbed the sword by the blade and snatched it away while the right hand grabbed him around the waist and lifted him into the air as he screamed in terror. Victoria's remark about there not being a third fight had come true. This was not a fight... this was pest control.

[Word Count: 1,206]
[Total Word Count: 7,880/12,500]

Victoria stood amidst the arms and watched the captured bandits attempt to get down from their perches. She was trying to decide whether to turn them over to the town guard or get rid of them for good, but the choice was not hers to make. The town guard had overheard the commotion and soon arrived to investigate the cause of all the noise with a sizable group of over two dozen with more on the way. Victoria turned to face them with violet eyes.

"Victoria, please. It's over. They'll be arrested and tried in a court of law. You don't have to kill them." Florence pleaded. Victoria was not sure if the town detention facility would hold them. She should finish what she had started so that she would know that they would get out to come after her and Florence for a fourth time.

"It's over. None of them have to die, Victoria. Just let them go." Florence implored the Sabertooth mage. She was still not convinced that handing them over to the authorities was the right idea. Who was to say that they could not escape and come after them again?

With great effort and a lot of persuasion from Florence, Victoria decided against the violent and permanent solution to the bandit problem. There had been enough killing for one day. She closed her eyes and used her power to set the men on the ground, letting the town guard take it from there. The stunned bandits, grateful to be away from the shadowy hands that had held them captive and the brunette who had summoned the hands, offered no resistance to the authorities who took them away.

" They were no match for you. I'm glad you didn't kill them, Victoria." Florence praised the brunette for demonstrating restraint in not killing the bandits when she had them at her mercy. Victoria brushed aside the praise.

"There's been enough killing for one day." Victoria replied dismissively. If she had been alone chances were high that the bandits would not have survived their encounter with her because she was tired of their antics. She had given them two chances to walk away and live and they chose to throw both chances back in her face for a shot at revenge. There would be no fourth encounter because the town guard had taken them into custody and they would be tried for their crimes in a court of law.

-Three hours later, Florence's apartment-

The pair had been "requested" to go to the town guard station to give testimony concerning the circumstances that had led to the bandits being grabbed by Victoria's shadowy hands and the interviews had taken three hours to conduct. By the time they had finally reached home the sun was almost up and they were tired from both the travel and the "fight" with the bandits. There was precious little time to sleep because Florence had to go to work soon. Victoria was not sure what she would do since her hostess would be doing her day job... maybe Olivia Ashford would need some work done, like watching over her house or transporting a package to Mr. Wainwright.

Victoria took off her Crown of Persephone, Azure Armor, and Bandolier and set them back inside her backpack before sitting on the same couch she had crashed on months ago when they had first met. It was funny how things were coming full circle lately. First she had returned to Snowfall Island, where she had first read about Alexander Kerwes and Project Lacedaemon. She then returned to Rose Garden, the town where she had gotten her start as a mage a little over a year ago. Now she was back in Sakuramori to spend some time with the closest thing she had to a mother figure.

Florence set aside the empty backpack in which the medical supplies had been carried and sat down in a chair opposite the Sabertooth mage. Victoria wondered what the deal was. Florence's golden eyes met Victoria's eyes... she looked like she wanted to discuss something with Victoria, something of importance.

"I'm glad you came with me to Grass Village, Victoria. I'm glad you did not only for the protection, but also because we haven't spent any real time together." Florence began to speak. Victoria was not expecting this line of conversation and was caught off guard by the topic.

"I know a bandit fight isn't the best way to spend time." Victoria commented about their travails. Florence laughed a little.

"Yeah, getting lost in Sakuramori Forest and the surrounding woods isn't a good way to spend time together either." Florence made a self-deprecating joke at her own questionable navigational skills. It was Victoria's turn to laugh a little. She had not had cause to laugh in some time.

"Well, we did spend time together. Roughly four hours of being lost in the forest together time." Victoria chimed in with a technical reminder that was delivered as softy as possible to avoid making the blonde feel guilty. Florence laughed again at the brunette's dry wit and then spoke up.

"Yeah, but we made it. Somehow we made it despite getting lost and finding the bandits and running from the bandits and..." Florence continued to list the trials they had faced in getting to Grass Village and the lengthy return trip that culminated in a brief "fight" before Victoria subdued the bandits with her control over shadows. Victoria was glad that she had chosen to spare the lives of the outlaws for a third time because now they would be out of the way for awhile as they awaited trial, then sent off to prison for their offenses. She had dealt with them in a way that did not involve extrajudicial action and she was not a murderer for having killed men who had more or less surrendered to her.

"Yeah. We made it." Victoria echoed laconically. She had set out thinking that this job was going to be a boring walk through the countryside, but she had gotten to fight after all. It was not what it was she was expecting. Instead of a typical small-scale battle of good versus bad, the brunette saw part of herself that she did not like, but that part of her kept her alive.

[Word Count: 1,078]
[Total Word Count: 8,958/12,500]

-The next day, early afternoon-

Throwing off a nondescript blue blanket that had been placed on her by her hostess, Victoria woke up. She had fallen asleep on the couch since Florence did not have a guest bedroom. Such a place was fine with the brunette because she had slept in places a lot worse than on a leather couch. In the bad old days she had slept in a run-down apartment complex that was hardly fit for human habitation but was kept serviceable only by the hard work and constant vigilance of "Burr." In the even worse old days before meeting "Burr" she had slept on the streets of Capital Crocus with all the discomfort and danger that sleeping in back alleys entailed.

Victoria sat up on the couch and quickly woke up. She had been a light sleeper because sleeping on the wrong street or in the wrong place was a bad idea and one needed to be ready to run or fight at any moment. The brunette had no formal athletic training, but she had become a track star in all but name thanks to all the running she had done as a child. She had to run from street gangs, the police on their periodic sweeps of the homeless whenever it was election time for a politician, and from gangs of bored rich kids looking for a cheap thrill by beating up homeless people. The brunette had become quite the runner thanks to them; running was a skill which served her well in her numerous adventures because a twiggy person like her could not outfight every enemy she came across.

"Hey there." Florence greeted the newly awakened mage. She wore a purple tank top and black gym shorts that were really short and clutched a white mug of coffee in her hands.

"I thought you were at work." Victoria remarked to her casually dressed hostess. Florence smiled.

"They owed me a couple weeks off, so I'm taking a day or two." Florence casually explained. Victoria did not say anything as the blonde walked over to her and sat down in the chair with her warm drink. Florence was brave to sit down with a cup of hot coffee in her hands, but she seemed to have a lot of practice performing such a potentially dangerous maneuver.

"So, what's going on today? Do we need to return to Grass Village or are we going on another lengthy wilderness hike to another remote village?" Victoria asked while removing the blanket from her lap and setting it to the left side of the couch. Florence smiled again.

"We're not going on another trip through the wilderness. We're sticking to civilization this time." Florence answered. Victoria was intrigued by this. What could she mean by that?

"We're going to Capital Crocus' mall." Florence declared with a smile. Victoria was surprised to hear that. She did not anticipate going back to Capital Crocus so soon after dealing with the Panty Thief, that weird guy who went around using his magic to steal women's underwear. Maybe that weird guy was one of a kind and he did not train apprentices to succeed him. She did not want to imagine what kind of training an apprentice went through and she hoped she never found out.

"Yeah? What for?" Victoria asked out of curiosity.

"I haven't been in months and I'm tired of hanging around here all the time." Florence candidly explained. Victoria understood where she was coming from. As much as the Sabertooth guild hall was a good place to live, hanging around there and listening to Ratatoskr's insults got old and the brunette wanted a change of pace.

"Eh, good enough for me. When do we go?" Victoria said, jumping up from the couch and landing squarely on her feet. She was ready to get on the road to the mall and check out Resin Monuments. Maybe they had some new figurines of the latest generation of Gods and Goddesses of Ishgar, Wizard Saints, and Rising Stars. She would find out when they got there.

"In a few minutes. We both need to get showers and get dressed." Florence replied, carting off the cup of coffee to the kitchen. The pair then made plans to get ready and go to Capital Crocus for a shopping trip. Victoria hoped that this trip would go better than the last time.

-Two hours later, Capital Crocus mall-

After hitching a train ride to the capital, Florence and Victoria strolled into the three-story mall looking for something to do. Florence wore a purple long-sleeved t-shirt and short black skirt with white tennis shoes. Victoria wore a black Steel Matron band t-shirt with a black skirt and white tennis shoes. They were an odd couple, but they were the closest thing they had to family.

"Looking for a guy?" Victoria joked about the length of Florence's skirt. It was tight enough to show the blonde's backside and men were taking notice. Teenage males certainly appreciated the view, but even married men in the presence of their wives could not help but to take notice of Florence. Even a few women around Florence's age took notice of the blonde and seemed to like what they saw. Victoria, on the other hand, went unnoticed by the teenagers, which was just fine with her.

"Not really." Florence replied.

"Well, they're certainly looking at you. They like what they see." Victoria said. Florence huffed.

"If I had known that all I had left in my closet was this black skirt, I woulda done laundry last night." Florence commented sourly. Victoria could not help but to grin at her friend's attitude. The blonde was aware of the effect she had on people and did not seem to like the attention at all. Part of Victoria would give anything to be as beautiful as Florence and have a guy actually pay attention to her like they did Gaia, Itori, Aura, or Sarah.

Victoria's boyish figure was a mixed blessing. While she could wear the Azure Armor with no alterations and had a greater range of clothing available to her, she could not get a guy friend outside the guild because she looked like a guy in drag. Guys wanted women with figures like Gaia, Itori, Aura, Sarah, and Florence. The brunette was not too upset about that because all of them were good people who deserved happiness, but every once in awhile her boyish figure caused her no small amount of unhappiness.

The pair strode into the center of the mall on the first floor and stopped to look at a map of the mall. Victoria looked at Florence, who was poring over the map and was oblivious to her surroundings. Victoria sighed. The blonde had no idea where she was going... again.

[Word Count: 1,162]
[Total Word Count: 10,120/12,500]

-At the food court-

After Florence stared at the map for five minutes, the pair decided to go get pizza before they began their journey through the three-story building that embodied shopping. They sat down in black metal chairs with red cushions and faced one another with their paper plate of Pizza This pepperoni pizza and 32-ounce soda cups decorated with the company logo and boasting clear plastic straws poking through the top. The pair were in a good mood because so far their visit to the mall was going smoothly. Both of them also liked pizza.

People were milling about in the food court as soft music was piped in over the mall's speaker system. The two women listened to a music track that consisted of a woodwind instrument being the main instrument backed by a xylophone and a triangle. It must have been one of those "experimental" music tracks because the brunette did not like it at all... Florence herself was barely tolerating the music.

"This is about as healthy for us as eating sludge from Morgate Town, but I like it." Florence said to Victoria. The brunette was surprised that a medical professional like Florence would deign to eat something as unhealthy as restaurant pizza. Victoria thought that her mentor would be a huge health food fanatic and would have a fitness regimen to match. Florence kept to a sensible diet of salad and fish, but she was not a health food fanatic nor a fitness fanatic.

"Eh, I'm not worried about nutritional value. I've had a lot worse." Victoria commented calmly. She had eaten food in varying states of decay that all made her sick, but rotten food was better than no food at all. Since they were about to eat she would spare the details and let Florence fill in the gaps if she chose to do so.

"You're just like your father." Florence observed. Victoria set down the slice of pizza she was about to bite into and looked at the blonde.

"What do you mean?" Victoria asked.

"Both of you have the same attitude towards food. Both of you figure that you won't live long enough to have to deal with the consequences of a bad diet." Florence replied with a trace of humor on her voice.

"Well, you're not wrong." Victoria admitted, taking a sip from her cup through the clear plastic straw. She was drinking the nectar of the deities, Strawberry Slam. It was loaded with enough caffeine to power the staff of a hospital and at least one guild.

"That drink's not good for you either, Victoria. You're doubling down on all the things that are bad for you!" Florence began to lecture the brunette on her dietary choices before pausing to sip from her straw. Victoria watched and noticed that the blonde had also chosen Strawberry Slam as her drink of choice. The blonde noticed that Victoria had noticed her choice of beverage and she quickly backpedaled hard enough to reverse the rotation of the planet.

"What was that about healthy choices?" Victoria asked pointedly, looking into her mentor's golden eyes. Florence panicked and tried to come up with a good explanation for her hypocrisy. She could not use the "you're a child" card since Victoria was eighteen. Without that stock reason to fall back on, the blonde visibly wilted under Victoria's gaze.

"Um... uh..." The blonde struggled to come up with an explanation that would appease the brunette sitting across from her. Florence was spinning her wheels in the awkward silence. Victoria kept gazing at her and waiting for an answer that she knew would never come.

"Eh, it's no big deal. I don't care what you do." Victoria commented casually. Florence sighed with relief and happily drank more of the sugary drink. The brunette picked up her piece of pizza and bit a chunk off of it while the "experimental" music changed from the odd woodwind and percussion instrument piece from earlier to a more "mainstream" acoustic guitar piece.

"Where do you want to go after this?" Florence asked in between bites of her own slice of pizza.

"Resin Monuments. I'm looking at the resin figures for the Rising Stars and Wizard Saints." Victoria answered. Florence was curious.

"You know some of the Rising Stars and Wizard Saints?" Florence asked.

"I met the Rising Star Tyson Rhodes once. I've met Ryo Knetewaga, who's the Guild Master for Sabertooth and the Wizard Saint of Fate. Samira Nassar, the Goddess of Humility, is also in Sabertooth. I've met Gaia Sabin on more than one occasion. Gaia's a pretty good person to know." Victoria started her explanation. Florence seemed genuinely interested to hear the brunette's story. The brunette had met a lot of notable figures of the mage world during her tenure as a mage and was certain to meet many more before her time was up.

"Gaia's looking to become a Wizard Saint herself. I hope she reaches her goal." Victoria quickly chimed in. Gaia had what it took to join the ranks of that famous organization composed of the mage community's best and brightest. Victoria had the power of a Wizard Saint but did not feel like she belonged in their group because of what had happened in the Phaz-infected village. Gaia was not weighed down by the guilt from such an act and was more deserving of a shot at fame for her work. Gaia would also make a far better public figure than Victoria because of the former's way with people.

"What about you? Are you going to try and become a Wizard Saint?" Florence inquired. Victoria laughed a little.

"Nah. There are mages who deserve the title a lot more than I do. I'd just be taking up space that someone else deserves. Besides, I don't need a fancy title to kick ass if I need to." Victoria asserted to Florence. Alexander Kerwes and the bandits from yesterday learned the hard way that just because the brunette was not a Wizard Saint did not mean that she could not handle herself. Florence did not seem to entirely buy that reasoning but decided not to press the matter in public. She let the matter drop and switched to another subject.

"I want to go by the music store." Florence said to Victoria. It was the brunette's turn to be interested in what their friend had to say.

"I was looking for Steel Matron's third album called Matron Of Metal, but I was also looking for Plague Doctor's debut album Rats In The Streets. It's kinda hard to find because it was their first album and a lot of people say it's not as good as their second album Death On Four Legs." Florence told the goal of the visit to the music store. Victoria learned something new about her mentor. Florence was apparently into rock and metal, two genres that Victoria would have never suspected that someone like Florence would listen to.

[Word Count: 1,204]
[Total Word Count: 11,324/12,500]

-Fifteen minutes later, Vault Of Metal-

After a bit of searching and a lot of consulting the map, Florence and Victoria finally found a music store on the second floor of the mall named Vault Of Metal. The decor was fittingly industrial with metal shelves where both music lacrimas and old-fashioned physical albums were kept, gray marble tile flooring, and stainless steel walls that looked like the interior of a bank vault. Inside the staff were dressed like bank employees. Posters of various rock and metal groups dotted the walls... the posters advertised Steel Matron, Plague Doctor, Crypt Crushers, Titanium Maiden, Overwhelming Ambition, and other music groups she had never even heard of.

Inside the store were a few customers milling through the aisles in search of music. Victoria and Florence exchanged glances for a moment. After a brief pause they decided to go in and see if Florence could find what she was looking for.

"Welcome to the Vault Of Metal!" A young man in a bank teller's outfit greeted the pair from behind a counter that was made to look exactly like a bank counter. His eyes went to Victoria's Steel Matron t-shirt, then to Florence's plain purple shirt. He had obviously pegged the brunette as the metalhead because of her t-shirt, but he would soon be proven wrong.

"Thanks. I'm looking for something that's kinda hard to find. Do you happen to have a copy of Steel Matron's third album Matron Of Metal?" Florence asked. The young employee's brown eyes widened. Victoria's assumption was right... he had pegged her as the metalhead.

"Um, yes. We have a copy in the back. Not too many people ask for it 'cause they don't know about it and they like Steel Matron's later work better." The employee answered in the affirmative. Florence was visibly pleased by his answer.

"Also, do you have Plague Doctor's first album Rats In The Streets?" Florence asked further. A smile came across the employee's face.

"Yeah, we've got that one. We've also got their third album Creaking Corpse Cart and their fourth album The Doctor Makes House Calls." He answered. Florence was pleased beyond words to hear that. That was probably more than she expected, but she was nevertheless happy to hear that the store had what she wanted.

"Did you see them in concert in Capital Crocus a few years ago? The one where they first brought out the cart?" The employee asked.

"Yeah. I was there for that one. That was awesome." Florence answered with a knowing smile.

"Brought out the cart?" Victoria asked them.

"They brought out an actual horse-drawn wooden cart that dead plague victims were hauled to mass graves in. Instead of crowd-surfing some fans jumped into the cart and were hauled along like corpses around the concert grounds. After the cart completed a circuit everyone got hauled out and thrown on the ground like corpses. It got crowded really fast, but it was awesome." The employee explained. Victoria was a bit put off by the idea, but she gave the band credit for staying true to their gimmick. It would probably make a lot more sense to see in person than it would to hear about secondhand.

"I got in the cart once. It was pretty amazing to ride in the cart and hear the music, but some guy kept trying to feel me up the whole time. I warned him three times to leave me alone, but he didn't listen. After I was finished with him he needed a doctor for his face." Florence replied. Victoria did not know that her mentor had such a wild youth. The blonde had an endless supply of secrets that she saw fit to keep to herself until just the right time to tell them.

"Oh yeah, I heard about that! Some blonde chick kicked a guy's ass so hard that the guy's entire face was bloody! I wish I coulda seen it!" The employee gushed in excitement. He then realized that he needed to get Florence's albums and calmed down long enough to rush off to the back without another word. Victoria looked at Florence with something approaching awe... she had always thought that the nurse was a typical stuffy square. Florence looked back at Victoria.

"It's true. I liked to go to metal concerts and I got into fights because guys kept feeling me up. They thought I was a typical metal groupie, but they were wrong." Florence explained the background story that led to her beating up the guy who got handsy with her. Apparently she had to beat up a lot of guys who got handsy with her.

"Was this before the military or after?" Victoria asked.

"Before and after." Florence explained with an economy of words. Victoria was even more in awe of the blonde after hearing that. There was something awesome about a beautiful nurse who went to metal concerts and kicked asses when guys could not take "no" for an answer. The fact that the concerts were Plague Doctor concerts somehow made it more fitting.

"Do you still go to them?" Victoria asked.

"Yeah. It's been a few years, though. I've kinda grown out of the wild phase. I had to after I became a nurse." Florence explained to Victoria. Victoria was not sure about that. Florence seemed eager to go to another Plague Doctor concert and ride on the cart again, hopefully without a guy trying to fondle her this time. The employee hurried back to the counter and presented the two boxed lacrimas to Florence.

"Sorry about the wait, but here ya go. Matron Of Metal and Rats In The Streets." The young man said to Florence, gently laying them on the counter side-by-side. The first lacrima was in a black box. On the cover was a middle-aged woman in a white t-shirt, blue jean overalls, and a yellow hard hat wearing welding goggles and thick work gloves holding long-handled tongs at arm's length from her. Gripped in the tongs was a red-hot CD made of metal about to be dipped in a metal trough of water to cool it down. On the CD was etched "Matron Of Metal" in crude angular letters.

The second album, Rats In The Streets, was a white box with a pencil-sketched black background that depicted a medieval town complete with grimy alleys heaped with refuse, wooden buildings clustered together, and a church steeple complete with a brass bell. In the streets were clumps of rats that were colored blood-red. The rats were running towards the viewer as if coming after them.

"That'll be 2,500 Jewels." The employee said. Florence happily forked over the Jewels and the employee rung up the sale, then printed out the receipt and handed it to her. He then bagged the lacrima boxes and handed the black plastic bag over to Florence.

"Thanks." Florence thanked the young man for his time and effort.

"No problem. We've got more hard-to-find albums in our vaults. Tell your friends!" He said. Florence waved goodbye to him and Victoria followed her out of the shop. Now they were going to Resin Monuments to peruse their wares. Victoria hoped that this time she would not be cajoled into buying more of those panda figurines.

[Word Count: 1,272]
[Total Word Count: 12,596/12,500]

-Resin Monuments-

Victoria strolled into the store with Florence following not too far behind her. The brunette raised a hand in greeting to the male shop owner and made a beeline for the aisle containing the figurines of Wizard Saints. There she saw that there were a few new faces immortalized in resin.

There she saw the white-haired blue-eyed chick dressed in a fancy out named Serilda Sinclair and her boyfriend named Mythal Ragnos, who had dark hair, red eyes, and what looked like stubble on his face. She recognized both of them as the Rune Knights who had come a long way in a short time; they both had a power level higher than most mages in Fiore. Serilda was the Wizard Saint of Conviction who had a power level equal to her peers and Mythal was the Wizard Saint of Might who had the power level of a God of Ishgar. Victoria's eyes ran across the shelves and she saw that a few of the former Wizard Saints had achieved promotion to Gods and Goddesses of Ishgar, including Sabertooth's Samira Nassar, who was now the Goddess of Humility.

Victoria's eyes returned to the current Wizard Saints and noticed that aside from Serilda and Mythal, most of the Saints were familiar faces. Her Guild Master Ryo was still the Saint of Fate. Fairy Tail's Mura Kensho was still the Saint of Spirit. Fairy Tail's Nessa Cordelia Lux was still the Saint of Purity. There was a familiar face in their ranks, the blonde from the desert who had achieved promotion from Rising Star to Wizard Saint... Leona Jarnefeldt.

Leona had become the Wizard Saint of Courage since the last time Victoria was here. The blonde had listed as goals the reduction of outlaw activity in Desierto as well as finding her long-lost father Samuel Jarnefeldt. Victoria wondered where a chick from Desierto had gotten the last name Jarnefeldt from. She looked at the blonde figurine and noticed that Leona had a decent chest and backside... Leona was almost certainly a hit with the guys.

Leona's mouth was also kind of big. Victoria was not sure whether the large mouth was a real feature of Leona or the result of a grudge the artist held against the blonde Wizard Saint. Victoria had never heard Leona to talk trash or to make big promises she could not keep, so she chalked it up to unknown reasons and looked one last time at the current Wizard Saints. She hoped to see her friend Gaia Sabin as a Wizard Saint one day.

Victoria then walked over to the Gods and Goddesses of Ishgar and saw all four of them in one glance. All four of them were Wizard Saints who had achieved promotion to their current status and all four of them were familiar faces. Victoria instantly recognized the morose facial expression of Fairy Tail's Sorano Granon, who was now the Goddess of Tranquility. She also recognized West Fiore Trading Company's Ruvel Mizune, who was a short blond guy who also had a lot of power at his disposal that was both personal and linked to his guild. He was now the God of Resilience.

She soon spotted the glowering figure of Johann Von Weiss, who had left West Fiore Trading Company to found Dies Irae. He was the God of Persistence. The last of the four figures was the green-haired Goddess of Humility, Sabertooth's Samira Nassar. Victoria already had a figurine of her from last time, so buying another one was not necessary.

She turned from the Gods and Goddesses of Ishgar to the Current Rising Stars. There she saw three figures. The first was a man with blond hair from Fairy Tail named Ghost Gates. The second was a dark-haired fellow with all-black clothing and piercing silver-blue eyes named Solmar Starshade, who was a Guildless mage. The third Rising Star was a fellow with reddish-brown hair and tiger-striped skin from Sabertooth. He was Tyson Rhodes, her guildmate she had met a few weeks ago.

Victoria immediately picked up a box of Tyson's figurine and held it in her hands. She looked around for any other figurines of interest and made a beeline back to the Current Wizard Saints. There she picked up boxes for the purple-and-white clad Nessa Cordelia Lux and the dark-haired Mura Kensho. Victoria was about to turn and go to the counter when she took another look at Leona's figurine.

She hesitated for a moment, then walked back and grabbed a boxed Leona figurine. Victoria had to cut her spending there or she would spend a lot more than she had intended to. The brunette walked to the counter with her four boxes and watched the man ring up the purchases.

"Would you like more panda figurines? They're good sellers." He said. Victoria's eyes narrowed. Not this again.

"No thanks." Victoria replied calmly.

"We just got some new ones in the other day and-" He started to speak before Victoria cut him off with a glance.

"No thank you." Victoria answered calmly but firmly. The man took the hint and rung up what she already had.

"That'll be 10,000 Jewels." He gave the price. Victoria counted out and handed over the money, then received the bagged figurines in return. She glanced inside and was pleased with her purchases. They would go on the shelves of her room along with the Samira Nassar, Astrid Foss, Ryo Knetegawa, Gaia Sabin, and Noya figurines... plus those weird pandas she had bought under duress.

"Thank you miss! Have a good day!" The man bade her as Victoria left at Florence's side.

-Capital Crocus Mall, First Floor-

The pair had enough mall time for the day and were preparing to leave with their purchases. Florence had found her music and Victoria had found more figurines. The pair stood in line for the exit and looked at each other.

"Today was a good day." Florence said to Victoria.

"Yeah. I got the figurines I wanted and there were no panty wizards running around stealing underwear." Victoria seconded her mentor's opinion. Florence looked at Victoria incredulously. The brunette had some explaining to do.

"I dealt with one back when I was here with Gaia Sabin a month or two ago. He was a weird guy who used magic to steal women's panties... while the women were still wearing them. He stole Gaia's underwear but left mine alone." Victoria replied with a straight face.

"Did you kill him?" Florence asked with a worried expression.

"Nah. I just hit him with a Taser Spark and mall security hauled the creep off." Victoria answered her mentor's question. Florence relaxed when she heard the answer.

"Say, did I tell you about the time some drunk chick tried to rip my skirt off at a Plague Doctor concert?" Florence asked. Victoria was sure that she was in for another story of Florence's wild youth.

"Yeah, it was a weird story. You see, some drunk chick I looked at once thought I was hitting on her..." Florence started to tell the story as the pair shuffled towards the exit door. Victoria was glad that she had taken time out of her busy schedule fighting mutants and scientists to go on a trip with Florence. It had started off kind of boring, then it got dark, then it turned light again. Victoria learned a lot about her mentor and learned that the medical professional was not nearly as boring as she thought. Victoria was glad that she had met Florence Manderley so long ago because in addition to learning a helpful magic she had also gotten a friend.

[Word Count: 1,309]
[Total Word Count: 13,905/12,500]