Zero No Tsukaima Fan Fiction ❯ Zero no Tsukaima The Holy Knights ❯ Chapter 7

First Mission

 

As the sun rises the group pack up and start heading back to the village to talk to Cloud.

Airo looks at Seth and notices his odd clothing and can't help but ask, “Seth, where did you get those clothes that you are wearing?”

Seth looks at his clothing, a shirt he had gotten from Gen, black sleeve on left arm.....blue jeans. Seth looks back at Airo and smirks, “Rain don't like them very much but they are called blue jeans. I got them from a clothing store in my world called Wal-Mart. I think they are made of a material called denim.” He puts his hands into his pockets and keeps walking know that eventually a question about Wal-Mart will rise, but unlike his pants he can at least explain that Wal-Mart isn't a store built into a wall. Seth starts smiles at the idea and how he has to casually explain things that are so simple on Earth.

The group reach a bridge that connects two cliffs above a fast moving river. Airo and Rain start walking across the bridge while Seth stays on the other side. Rain turns around and puts her hands on her hips, “What is wrong Seth?”

Seth leans forward looking between the plants of wood, down into the rapids, “Is there another way?”

Rain walks back over to him his face is lightly covered with sweat, “Are you okay Seth.” She puts her hand under his chin so that he stops looking down at the river, “Are you afraid of heights?”

Seth nervously says, “Ya.” and looks at her and then back down at the rapids, “I don't deal well with really high places.”

Rain sighs and sees no other way to get him across. She takes Seth by the hand, “Follow me, watch me, don't look down,” Rain smiles making Seth feel less worried, “Okay?” Seth nods more interested in Rain at the moment than the rapids far below.

As she leads him he begins to completely forget about anything but Rain.

'Wow her hands are so soft, her smile is so pretty'

“HEY TRUSPASSERS!”

Seth snaps out of his thoughts and re-realizes how high in the air he is, “Oh shit!”

A group of men with red bandannas surround both sides of the bridge. A rather short man with long black hair appears to be the leader, “You are trespassing on my bridge.”

Rain looks at the man and then to either side of the bridge, “There is no sign that this is your bridge, in fact I had traveled across this bridge two days ago!”

The man lifts his head up and crosses his arms, “Well that means that you gotta pay twice!”

Rain almost makes Seth fall off the bridge by angrily walking towards the man, “Listen I am the daughter of Squall Strine, I am a noble and I command you to leave us alone and stop trying to collect money from a free bridge.”

The man steps forward closes the already small distance between him and Rain, “Bitch!” The man shoves her back and she trips onto the bridge. Seth suddenly runs past Airo on the bridge and jumps over Rain and slams his fist into the short man's jaw knocking him back into the group of men behind him.

The man stands up and his face contorts into a scowl as blood runs down his chin, “Do you know what you just did?” Seth looks at him with a mixture of confusion and anger, “You just killed your friends.”

Seth turns around and the men on the other side of the bridge cut the ropes holding up the planks. The other side of the bridge falls and swings forward crashing into the side of the cliff wall, “What the hell are you doing?”

A man runs past Seth and goes to cut the other end of the rope but Seth grabs him by the wrist and slams his fist into his gut. A group of men tackle Seth and holds him down long enough for the other end to be cut. Without thinking Seth's body releases an energy like wind that blows all the men off him and he jumps off the cliff reaching desperately for Rain's hand. Just before hitting the water Seth captures her hand but the impact of the water knocks him out cold.

 

 

Seth opens his eyes and puts his hand up to his forehead and finds that his forehead has a cloth wrapped around it. He sits up wincing once his torso is vertical, “urrrgh....” He looks around the room and finds that Airo and Rain are also in the room unconscious.

Seth quickly climbs out of bed and his legs give out from under him and he crashes down to the ground. Seth grunts and crawls over to Rain's bed, “Rain? Rain.....Rain please wake up Rain.”

The door opens up and a old man walks into the room. He bends down a little and takes Seth by under his biscep and helps his up to uneasy legs, “What happened to you boy?”

'Boy?'

Seth lets it fly, “We were crossing a bridge and some group of men in red bandannas came and cut the bridge rope and we fell into the river.” The man doesn't say anything but lets out a "uh hu" and walks over to Rain, “Were you the one who helped us?”

The man coughs, “Hardly, the river ends rather peacefully about fifty feet from this inn and I found you three washed up on the banks. I got some of my patrons to help me get you all here.”

“Well thank you.” Seth notices that the man is checking Rain's pulse, “Is she going to be okay?”

“Yes, her pulse has slowed down because her body needs to rest, she probably won't wake up for a few more days.” Seth lets out a sigh of relief, “Now about this gang.” Seth sits back down on the bed and is about to start explaining but the man continues, “They are called the Red Gang and they have taken something very important from me.” The old man walks over to Airo and checks his pulse, “I want you to go and get it for me.”

“What, you want me to go get back what they stole from you!? Why should I, I mean I am grateful and all but-”

“But what boy? You'd all have died from sickness if I hadn't gotten you out of the water, If you do this for me I will be forever in your debt, will you really deny an old man?”

The old man makes Seth feel guilty, “What did they take?”

The old man stops checking Airo, “They took my granddaughter.” Seth starts to feel anger building up inside him, giving him strength. “She is thirteen and has long blonde hair. Her name is Sakura.”

Seth stands up, his anger over those men not only hurting Rain but kidnapping a little girl, “Where are they, I will go get her?”

The old man finds Seth's energy rather impressive, “They are in an abandoned building just north of here.” Seth walks past the man and opens the door to the room, “Wait a moment, follow me.” Seth follows the old man down a flight of stairs realizing that he is in a hotel/bar of sorts. The old man makes Seth wait while he goes into the “employee only” area of the establishment. A few minutes later the old man comes out with a pair of copper colored gauntlets with a runes imbedded into the hand area. “These are magic gauntlets, I figured from the pair you have that you are rather skilled in hand to hand combat. These gauntlets will let you use fire magic like a mage to a wand.”

Seth takes the gauntlets and puts them on testing out how easily they move, “But how do I use the magic?”

The old man sits down on a stool taking a deep breath, “If you can't draw out the fire just by wanting to then the magic word is ignis.”

Seth nods and walks outside followed by the old man. Seth points his hand into the air, “Ignis!” A blast of fire comes from the center of his hand and flies off into the sky. The fire dies before hitting the ground and Seth looks back at the man, “I will be back, if Airo wakes up could you send him after me? I might need his help.”

“Good Luck.”

Seth turns back to the man, “Thanks, I might need it, see you later old man.”