Gardenia's Burden
The Root Town of Delta Server bustled with life,
players running up and down walkways and sailing the
canals as they bought items, traded and connected with
parties of adventurers. Gardenia strode down the
street confidently, the red eyed blonde dressed in
white light armor as she carried her latest deadly
lance. She was a well known player for her beauty and
style, though that could be a bit of a problem...
"It's Ms Gardenia!" a female player squealed from
behind her.
Another girl sighed, "She looks so cool!"
"Let's see if we can get her player address," a new
player suggested eagerly clearly unaware such a
request might be impolite.
'Oh hell,' Gardenia cursed, hurrying off before the
girls could mobilize. What she really wanted was just
to adventure in peace, but the fangirls made it all
very difficult. Turning down a alley she heard the
girl's chatter as she ducked into a dark corner,
waiting until they passed. With a sigh of relief she
hurried off to the main walkway, starting towards the
chaos gate.
"Excuse me?" a female voice asked, "Is that you,
Gardenia?"
With a sinking feeling Gardenia turned, only to blink
as she recognized the girl as a twin blade she had
fought beside before in one of Kite's parties.
"Natsumi," she nodded calmly to the green haired girl.
"I thought it was you," Natsumi smiled, looking cutely
shy in her usual blue one piece outfit. She frowned,
"Are you in a hurry?"
"A little," Gardenia said as she gestured for Natsumi
to follow her, "talk with me while I go to the chaos
gate."
"Right," Natsumi trotted beside her, "I heard about a
higher level Twin Blade weapon, but I haven't been
able to form a party to go after it." She smiled
sheepishly, "Most of my friends are lower level than I
am..."
"Have you sent a message to Kite?" Gardenia wondered
as a idea began to form, "I'm sure he'd agree to
help."
"He's not online," Natsumi answered and all but
admitted she'd tried that first.
Gardenia chuckled to herself softly as they reached
the slowly spinning gold ring of the chaos gate. 'If I
go with her, I at least won't be around the fangirls,'
she silently mused before saying, "Very well, I'll go
with you."
Natsumi clapped her hands together, "Thank you!"
"So who will be our third member?" Gardenia asked as
she quickly checked her inventory, satisfied to see
she had enough healing potions, fortune wires and
other essential items for dungeon questing.
"Do we need one?" Natsumi asked, frowning a little. A
shy smile, "I'd rather not split the treasure three
ways."
Gardenia fought back a smile at that as she asked,
"You have a healing skill?"
Natsumi laughed, "Of course, I learned that lesson the
hard way."
"Then let's try it," Gardenia said as she formally
gave Natsumi her member address.
With that Natsumi formed the party, entered the area,
and in a moment they found themselves in a new area.
Around them swept fields of grass, occasionally broken
up by standing stones and the occasional flower that
made Gardenia smile slightly in admiration under a
clear, cloudless blue sky.
"All right," Natsumi raised one of her blades, "let's
go."
"Let's," Gardenia answered, following Natsumi's lead.
Natsumi was eager but quite capable, Gardenia soon
noted as they worked across the field clearing out
monsters. Despite her seeming lack of confidence she
ran their battles wisely, testing with strength first
then deciding if skills would be needed to defeat a
enemy. Together they made a surprisingly good team,
her slashing away from afar then Natsumi boldly
leaping in to finish the enemy off.
"All right," Natsumi cheered as they defeated the last
monster on the surface and the all monsters cleared
notice appeared.
"Not bad," Gardenia nodded, "now let's head for the
dungeon." As Natsumi raced off she called, "Take your
time! I need to restore my SP first."
"Oh, right," Natsumi blushed as they walked to the
dungeon entrance, "mine was getting kinda low, too."
They soon reached the twin flames that marked the
tunnel leading down into the dungeons, and with a wary
stance they descended into the dimly lit underworld.
In the roughly carved out first room Natsumi wisely
activated a fairy's orb, the item showing them roughly
where their enemies might be.
"Well populated dungeon," Gardenia noted as she saw
all the rooms and red dots, starting in the next room
and covering right to the stairs farther down.
Natsumi gulped softly, "Too well populated?"
"We can handle it," Gardenia said firmly, "just as
long as we're careful." As they advanced she said,
"Keep an eye on my health meter and I'll watch
yours... if they drop below a quarter, use repth or a
health potion."
"Got it," Natsumi promised as they headed into the
first large room, charged the portal and watched it
unfold to reveal a monster.
"Good," Gardenia purred as the massive stone figure
appeared, "a big one. I wouldn't want our first
opponent to be too weak."
With that menace defeated they moved from room,
slaying various earth based creatures to start with,
though they saw a few water types too. With treasure
split they descended through level upon level,
eventually descending five times beneath the ground.
'She's good,' Gardenia admitted as they paused to take
stock, 'really good!' More unusually Gardenia had
found herself enjoying the World more than she had
been before,. Except maybe the times she had worked
with Kite. 'Is this what it's like to have a real
partner?' she wondered.
"How are you holding up?" Natsumi asked worriedly.
"I've still got a few health drinks left and my SP is
good," Gardenia answered her crisply, "how about you?"
"About the same," Natsumi agreed. "I've got a few
decent spell scrolls saved, too, just in case," she
added brightly.
"Heh," Gardenia felt a odd sense of satisfaction,
knowing she had also kept powerful weapons in reserve.
"You know," she said as they set out once more, "I
think you really have the potential to be a great
player."
"Thank you," Natsumi blushed.
Fighting through the final set of rooms was far harder
than anything that they had faced before. Both of them
were exhausted, running low on supplies and wondering
if the final prize might really be worth it, but then
they would look at the other and find strength and
hope in the other's steely determination.
"KY-AAAA!" Gardenia roared as she struck a final blow,
sending the beast dissolving into random data. She
leaned on the lance, panting as Natsumi staggered over
to her side.
"Are you all right?" Natsumi asked even as she used up
her last health drink to restore some of the other
girl's vitality.
"You didn't need to do that," Gardenia rose, the two
standing by the final gate, "there's only one room
left, it must be the treasure room."
"Just in case," Natsumi smiled slightly as she mused,
"I'd hate to be surprised."
"Heh," a ghost of a smile crossed Gardenia's face as
they advanced into the last chamber.
The room was small with a paved floor, unlike the rest
of the dungeon and a mysterious statue floated behind
a gleaming treasure chest. They walked up to it
slowly, savoring their triumph and stretching out the
anticipation of what the prize might be.
"Go on," Gardenia waved her to the treasure box.
Natsumi opened it, then turned to Gardenia as she
smiled and said, "Here."
"Huh?" Gardenia took it as she heard the computer
chime, 'Natsumi has given you Odin's Spear.' She gaped
at the item, stunned, "This isn't..."
Natsumi smiled, "I sort of fibbed. The item I heard of
was a item for your class... and of all the ones I
know, I thought you deserved it."
Gardenia blinked at her, "But what about your quest to
become stronger...?"
"I leveled up and got plenty of items," Natsumi waved
that off, "besides..." The other girl blushed faintly,
"I thought it was time someone did something for you."
"I..." Gardenia, for the first time in a long time was
at a loss. "Thank you," she finally managed.
"You're welcome," Natsumi smiled as she used a sprite
oceana to return them to the field, then they gated
out.
As they appeared in root town Gardenia told Natsumi,
"If you need help again, all me." Natsumi said her
farewells then disbanded the party, the green haired
girl racing away to sell and trade off items. 'You
know,' a faintly blushing Gardenia thought as she
watched Natsumi go, 'I think I may understand how a
girl can get crushed on another girl...'
End.
Notes: I always kind of liked Gardenia, and found her
all girl fanclub kinda funny. I figure if you're
drawing girls like that, there must be something about
you that sympathizes... or something. lol Takes place
somewhere in disk one or two of .hack games, I
suppose.
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