The Apprentice [Solo; Job]

Job Info:

Shaku looked up at the gem, it was taunting him. It was waiting for him to touch it and he knew it. "What a mess it was to get up here, but at least I'm in one piece. If my suspicions are right though, the hardest part has yet to present itself" he said aloud, due to the lack of a single soul around. He wondered what it would be like if the gem actually did suck him in. His skepticism still gave him a bit of doubt when it came to the whole "touching this gem will make you stronger", but his curiosity got the better of him, which is why he's up here in the first place. Then again, it would be crazy for him to get cold feet after all the effort it took him to get here.

= Flashback Start =

Shaku looked up at the overbearing tower looking down at him, making itself feel much bigger than it actually was. Regardless of how challenging it looked, he powered forward through the large wooden doors, looking as decrepit and rotted as any building in an abandoned town. It was dark, but the walls were lined with torches that burned furiously, lighting the way for the fearless adventurers that wanted to discover what kinda secrets that this building held. Although dim, Shaku didn't bother using his hawk eyes to see through the darkness, he would just deal with it. I wonder if someone keeps these torches lit or if the fire just doesn't go out. I've only heard of one kind of flame that burns forever, that of a phoenix, but they went extinct quite a while ago. This building must be a lot older than it seems... he thought.

Finally finding the stairs on the opposite side of the room, he climbed, careful not to slip on the vines and moss that covered the masterfully crafted stone steps. That's when he finally came face to face with one of the guardians of the tower. He knew he's run into one, it was only a matter of when. It was a knight clad in black armor, completely motionless by the looks of it, but it was giving off an ominous aura that didn't exactly seem beckoning. Shaku attempted to slowly sneak around the suit in the hopes that it wouldn't come alive, as he suspected it would. No one would leave a suit of armor so well made in the middle of an old tower for no reason.

His efforts were in vain, unfortunately. Without a word, it lunged towards him as he was just about to reach the stairs. Before he could react, Shaku could feel the cold metal gauntlet clasp his face and shove hard into the wall. I guess he isn't one to talk he thought as the wall cracked and eventually broke from the sheer force of the blow. Requipping Beowulf, he quickly made a counter attack, lest he simply stand there and get thrown out of the tower's second floor. With a hard jab, he was able to knock the knight back quite a ways, staggering from the blow. Taking no time at all to rejoice in how much damage that one attack did, Shaku got down on all fours and started sprinting like a wolf after its prey. Shaku pushed off his legs with tremendous force, coming up with his right fist and landing a punch straight into the knight's face plate.

Again, it staggered. Much farther back than his initial attack, which was a good sign that he was at least doing *some* damage to the thing. He couldn't help but smile as the armor clad creature took a knee, getting up with the support of a sword it had just summoned. Requip too? Or... before he could finish the thought, he pushed off the ground and towards him, swinging the heavy weapon towards his neck with both hands. Although it was quite a quick swing from the position it was in before, the knight was still using a two handed weapon. Shaku ducked, the sharp blade slightly cutting off a bit of his hair. Getting hit while using Beowulf was the last thing he wanted.

Using his legs as a spring, he pushed upwards and gave a hard uppercut to the helmet, knocking it off as the head snapped back. Underneath the helmet... there was nothing. Not unexpected however, so it didn't particularly faze him. Can you even hurt a disembodied suit of armor? he began to think as it swung its sword horizontally at his chest. With his right arm, he blocked the attack with the forearm of his left arm and brought his right arm down to break both of the gauntlets of the suit. It worked. Both of the gauntlets fell to the floor as well as the sword, and with no way to attack, the suit fell apart. I guess everything has its weakness he thought while he climbed the stairs to the third floor.

In the middle of the room was a woman. Just an average woman you would expect to see out and about, buying from the local stands or just walking around the town. The thing is... this was no town, she seemed out of place, and judging from the fact that there was a disembodied set of armor that had attacked him, he was cautious around her. "Oh hello there!" she said with a smile. This caught him a bit off guard, seeing as how just a second ago, he was sure she would try and charge him. "Oh, hello there."
She giggled. "Surprised? It's normal. I get a few visitors every so often, people strong enough to beat Frank down in the second floor" she began, just making some small talk.

Frank? Armor can be named? Even so, it's a strange name, fitting. She's also pretty talkative "Mind if I pass?" he asked, hoping to avoid a confrontation like the one on the floor below. "Sure, after you beat me in a bout" she said happily, her attitude not faltering. Although it was a bit off putting, he ignored it and walked closer. "Can't we just skip that and let me be on my way" Shaku asked in the hopes of weaseling his way out of a fight. The woman didn't respond, with words, anyways. She simply disappeared, giving off the impression that she was allowing him to go forward, which Shaku had no qualms with. Happily, he strolled towards the stone stairs before he heard a disturbance in the wind, followed by three powerful strikes to his rib area.

So fast he thought as he was brought to his knees by the kicks and the girl walked around so that she was overseeing the back of his head. The fact that he was using Beowulf actually strengthened her kicks, unfortunately, he picked a bad time to use it "That's odd. People don't normally react to my kicks as if it broke their bones. Why is that?" she asked him, inquiring as to why her kicks did so much. "Oh well, doesn't matter. Either way, your going to be dead soon at this rate". She brought her leg up, probably hoping to drop her heel onto his head with enough force to knock him out. It was predictable enough for him to be able to grab her leg, tight, that's going to be your only mistake he thought, the sharp claws in his gauntlet digging into her.

Blood began dripping down the shallow wounds causing her to try and hop back with her free leg, but that only caused the teeth to go deeper as they were slightly hooked. Your strength is mobility... it's also your weakness he thought as he brought his other arm over to grab the other part of her leg, keeping her in place even more so than before. "Could you let me go?" she said, slightly wincing from the pain of her leg being caught between sharp, inward facing teeth. "It's not like I didn't want to avoid this" he replied. She seemed nice, so he felt bad at the fact that he had to cause her such discomfort, but he was also a bit confused by how chatty and nonchalant she was talking considering she was trying to kill him. It was nice, but strange.

He quickly stood up, knocking her off balance and causing her to fall and the back of her skull to collide with the ground. Soon after, he brought his right leg up and stomped hard on her stomach, which reflexively tightened. The claws in the greaves made shallow cuts in the soft area which wasn't protected by any bones, causing her to let out a small yelp of pain. Shaku stomped again, this time on her chest, cracking the sternum. Finally, he unhooked the gauntlets from her leg, raised his leg, stepped over her, and walked away. She was really fast, way faster than me... but once I hot my hooks in, it was over. She shouldn't have been so cocky as to try and finish me off so quickly. Oh well, her mistake Shaku thought as he climbed the stairs to the third floor.

The third floor is what really surprised him, all it had in the center of the room was a mirror. Shaku found mirrors unsettling, and the fact that a mirror could be potentially dangerous didn't help. Still, he walked up to the tempered glass and found that he was just staring back at himself. He stood there, completely still for what seemed to be an eternity before finally considering walking away. Once he did that, the mirror image came alive and stepped out of the mirror, going from 2D to 3D in a mere step. Wow he thought before asking it, or rather, himself a question. "Who're you?" "You" he responded to himself. Is that really how I sound like? Weird.

His mirror image quickly punched, causing Shaku to sway the upper half of his body to the right to dodge the attack and swung back, a right hook flying towards his mirror's face. No dice. His opponent leaned back, causing the swing to miss and giving him room for a shark knee to Shaku's gut. Argh... this should be fun Before he knew it, his mirror brought its arm down onto his back, propelling his face into the ground and eventually breaking through, falling to the second floor. Mustering enough strength to roll his body over, he felt ten needles penetrate his upper chest and a force powerful enough to topple an elephant slightly lower.

*Crack* The concrete behind him was starting to give into the force that was being but on his front, this is isn't good.... It finally gave way under him, causing his to fall with his mirror image still standing on his chest, claws dug into him. Back to floor one... he thought as his opponent crouched down. "I really thought I had more fight in me" he said, taunting him. "I do, you've missed something" Shaku replied, looking up past himself. He knew that the mirror image would look, if it really knew him, as he particularly enjoyed tricks. This was one of them, he was bluffing hard. When his enemy looked up to see what he was looking at, Shaku violently shook his body,

WIP