"This is what you get for pissing me off you damn brat!" Francis continued to bludgeon Nasak with a random piece of wood that she had picked up when a hand yanked her away from the boy.
"Madame, I understand that my two counter parts are rather short but I assure you that we are far too old for you to be calling us brats." Denver clapped Francis's ears with his palms, grabbed her by the mask then kicked her away.
"SHIIIT!!" Francis hit the ground while holding her ears. They were ringing like mad and she even felt some blood trickle out of them. "GAH, DAMNIT! THAT HURT YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" Francis's stared at Denver with disdain in her eyes.
"Really? About how much does it hurt? Would you say as much as a knife to the kneecap or would you rather compare it to the pain one feels when they are abandoned on a handmade raft after a shipwreck?" Through the ringing Francis heard Denver's voice in her head.
"You're a damn Mystic? How the hell is a brat like you a Mystic?!"
"I just told you that we are far too old to be-"
"Shut up!" Francis threw out a handful of small pellets from her satchel. The pellets flew through the air and shook a bit before flying at Denver at high speeds. Denver moved to avoid the pellets but they were faster than he could move so he was still hit by a few as they dug into his leg.
"Hmph!" Denver grunted. "I do not believe I know that kind of alchemy? Could that be something you made yourself or perhaps something you conned from a truly quick thinking soul?"
"Did you just call me dumb?" Francis asked as she grinded her teeth.
"No, madame." Denver stood straight as he looked down at the alchemist. "I just called you slow." Francis' eyes lit up with pure rage. She sat up on one knee, dug into her satchel and pulled out more of the small pellets.
"Die you irritating rascal!" the pellets flew through air similar to the way they did the first time, however, this time they started to glow a deep, rancid green before shooting out toward Denver. Denver had never been one for athletics so no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't avoid these strange alchemical creations that Francis threw at him.
They once again dig into him, this time hitting him in the chest. The good news was that for the most part these things only stu-
"Urgh-" Denver sudden felt weak and sick to his stomach. "What in the cavernous valleys of Suinkin did you do to me?" Francis's stood up from the ground holding one of her ears still.
"I poisoned you." She answered with an unwavering coldness in her voice. "Does it hurt? Do you feel sick?" Denver didn't answer with words as he fell to the ground dry heaving. Francis started giggling from the sight. "Yeah, serves you right brat!
She then looked over to Nasak who she thought would have gotten up by now. She walked by over to him and discovered the reason that he never came to help. "Wow, I beat the damn burly brat unconscious! I guess you were a bit too...huh?"
Francis looked to the side where she saw one of the brightly burning green flames but it didn't look like a wild flame. No, it kind of looked like-
"Francis..." The woman's eyes went wide as she heard the familiar voice of a ghost from her past. "...I need more sweetheart. Can you make me more of that potion?"
"Mom?" Francis lifted her hand to her mouth and that's when she realized that her mask had come off. She looked around and saw Denver clutching it while he holds his stomach on the ground.
"O-Oh, I a-apologize!" He strained as he spoke. He held up the mask presenting it to Francis. "W-were you lo-looking for th-this?" Francis made a dash for Denver but was stopped when another flame blocked her path.
"Why would you make it, Francis?"
"Dad?" Francis' eyes shook as she stared at the fiery silhouette of her father.
"WHY WOULD YOU MAKE THE THING THAT KILLED ME! I TOLD YOU NOT TO!" Francis backed away from her screaming father until she bumped into something behind her. She shuddered as this thing felt...different from the flaming remains of her parents. Francis slowly turned her head and saw two figures staring down at her.
One, a massive, green fire bird with eyes so sharp that they could cut through a tree trunk with just a casual glance. The other, some sort of...Princess Knight with form fitting armor astride the back of the large monster.
She was donned in a feathery breastplate composed of the bird's green feathers. From beneath the breastplate extended a slightly green metallic material that formed the rest of her body armor. Her legs were covered with greaves of the same strange material as well as a green feather skirt made of some of the bird's larger feathers. She had a long orange and green feather cape. The girl had no helmet on, only a flaming face mask that covered her mouth. Her long pink hair was tied in a ponytail that was being held up by a flaming green hair tie.
And her eyes. The top half of her eyes were a beautiful violet but halfway down they shifted into a venomous green color.
"Francis Aeouli..." The girl glared down from atop this brilliant firebird that was about the size of a war brig!(165 feet or 50 meters)
"...We've found you!"
...
At the entrance of the port Vance, Rasque, and Dandelion came rushing in. They came to an sudden stop as they saw the massive monster had actually landed on the docks.
"That thing's massive!" Vance noted.
"That doesn't matter we're looking for those boys!" Rasque snapped while scanning the docks for any sign of the students that they were supposed to be looking for. "Do you know where they might've gone, Dandelion?"
"There's a place called Pirate's Worst Nightmare that they may have gone but that monster looks to be right on top of it!"
"Then we should hurry over there before that thing starts getting feisty!" Bizen and Dandelion nodded and the three rushed over to the area that the firebird had landed. They were not the only ones headed to that location, however...
"Is that it?" A young voice questioned.
"That would be the our 'Verdant Firebird'." An older man confirmed. The pair were on a boat just outside of the Port of Filth. It was a small vessel, one suited to holding only the two of them but it was enough. The younger man whistled as he peered at the bird from afar.
"Man, so it really is just a big bird on fire? But, why are its flames green? I thought firebirds had...y'know....normal fire on their feathers? Also I thought that they could only set their wings ablaze but that entire thing is on fire!" The older man sighed.
"Can you just shut up and do the job that her highness order us to do? This is why I can't stand being paired with newbies."
"Well, I'm sorry if I'm just a bit curious about why a giant bird is terrorizing the city and why we're the ones that have to deal with it! Aren't royal knights a bit overqualified for something like this?" The younger knight looked down to the royal insignia on his chest as he complained.
"Do you know how strong that thing is?" The gruff older man asked with irritation in his voice.
"Uh no? Why would I even know that?"
"Exactly, you wouldn't. So how do you know that we're overqualified?" The younger knight's face lit up as he finally understood what his senior was trying to get at.
"Ohh! We don't know how strong that thing is so they sent two of the weaker knights to deal with the situation!"
"Exactly, they-wait WHAT! I'm no weak knight!" The older man yelled offended by the younger's words.
"Don't you know that all of the younger knights have heard stories about how you never beat that retired lady? Uh, Lady Sala Ren of the Unrivaled Fist?"
"That's misinformation! She disappeared before I got a chance to get my next duel! If I ever find that woman I'll make sure to prove that I'm the strongest once and for all!" The two knights continued their lighthearted banter as they approached the dock of the Port of Filth.