"So, what did you want?" I asked. After seeing Soul, Borealis, and Claire in the lobby, I stepped through the hospital doors. Claire was happy to see me, but everybody else was confused after seeing each other.
"Right, introductions. Ipa, Ruby, Ken, this is Soul, Borealis, and Claire. I met Soul long ago in Sieve, I met Claire in Gaia and her city was destroyed as well, and I met Borealis here. These are my party members." I explained. Alright, so everybody was introduced to each other now.
"It's about Claire. We found Mana Residue on her arm. It's from Joro. Anima, we want you to absorb it with that slime arm." Soul told me.
"What'll that do?" I asked Soul and Borealis.
"In theory, since slimes can absorb things, we were wondering if you could absorb some of the Mana Residue and use it somehow... I don't know! You're the one with an inventory!" Soul yelled at me. What was her deal?
I touched Claire's arm with my slime hand and she shivered afterward. "Sorry," I told her. Claire assured me it was fine, and I absorbed the Mana Residue into my arm. I could examine it in my inventory and got a little peek at the skills Joro had. Like a ripped piece of paper that was submerged in water, I could barely make it out... but I could clearly see the letters "...non" at the end. I knew that had to be [Cannon], the skill that ended Daria's life. Wait a minute...
"Borealis, what kind of magic paper do you have here?" I asked him.
"Good question... I'm not a professional, but we have some here I'm sure." Borealis told me. He leaned behind the counter and grabbed a sheet, handing it over to me. From out of my inventory, I pulled a pen out and started to write down the information.
[Cannon]
[Mana Requirement - 6,000]
[Soul Requirement - 60]
[Health Requirement - 99%]
HUH?!
"This skill... there was a skill left behind. Why in the hell did this skill leave Mana Residue? What is that?" I asked. Nobody but Soul seemed to know my answer.
"Mana Residue is left behind on skills that deal damage to your health. As they're called, the Limit Skills use your health and mana for a one-hit blow attack, but it usually has large requirements... what are the details on that skill you copied?" Soul asked me.
"[Cannon], it used 6,000 mana and it takes away 99% of the user's health... if he used this skill, I could've killed him." I mumbled.
"Woah! You better not use that, you would definitely die!" Ruby yelled out. I nodded, agreeing with her.
"Can I have it?" Soul asked. I shook my head, ripping the paper and putting it in the garbage. "Why not? I'll give you the money! I could sell that for a lot of money!" Soul told me.
Our argument went on for a little bit but soon ended with my win, she wouldn't get the skill and I would store it just in case. Now, all six of my slots were now filled. Well... now what?
"So, did you call me over just to get the Mana Residue?" I asked Borealis. He shook his head, I knew there was something else to this plan of his.
"I do have something else for you, but it will take you away from fighting Joro. Look, I'm worried about the next attack from Sieve and I want you to help us defend Dorrendale when the time comes. Will you help us, Anima?" Borealis asked.
"It's my job as a Hero, don't sweat it. We won't leave this area so long as we have no sight of Joro at all... Ruby! Ipa! Ken! We'll be defending Dorrendale in the meantime. Say, Borealis, do you have any property we could use?" I asked.
"Sure, wait outside while I see Claire out." He said to us. I waved to Claire and said goodbye to her, then I sat outside with my other friends.
"Hey, what should we call ourselves? What's our cool group name? The superheroes?" Ruby asked us.
"The Assassins," Ipa said. Both of these names were... terrible.
"How about... man I don't know! Borealis! Come name us!" I called out. He walked through the door with Soul and they both looked at us with disgust.
"Name us? How about the Idiots? Anyways, I have a property in the front near the gate, you can have that, but you can't make a doomsday base and ruin the look of the town. Is that alright?" Borealis asked me. I nodded.
"The Idiots... I like it!" Ruby snapped her fingers while agreeing to Borealis's name. That obviously wasn't going to be our name, but it was better than what we'd come up with.
"Can anybody cook?" Ipa asked. Everybody turned to look at me.
"Are you serious? Why would I know how to cook?" I asked, but Ken rose his hand.
"I can cook. I can fight and cook." He said. He was a very short-spoken person in every sentence he said. Well, whatever, as long as he could cook.
"While we make dinner, let's talk about our plans to take down Joro. Anima, you can teach Ruby whatever you need to for her to get to your level and support standing... and then we'll all address our skills. Sound good?" Ipa asked.
We all agreed to his terms and started to walk to the run-down house sitting behind an alleyway near the front of the gate to Dorrendale. It was hidden by the rest of the nice city, but I liked it. It was cozy... it would've been better if we didn't have such a wide assortment of behaviors within our group.
"This could use some red," Ruby said, putting the wall inside of a frame she created with her hands. I pushed down the window she made with her finger and shook my head. "That is the front door. That needs to be a welcoming color if we're going to live here." I told her.
"...light red?" I rolled my eyes and looked over to Ipa.
"We have a front door! Why are you crawling in through the window?!" I yelled out to him.
I don't think my heart was ready to take this.
"If at all possible, do you think we could put carpet in the kitchen? I don't want to make the mistake of slipping." I heard from behind me. Who the hell just said that?
"Ken. We're not putting carpet in the kitchen. Forget it! I'm taking over the house's design. Ruby, Ipa, Ken, just do something!" I yelled out. I opened the front door and sighed heavily as the others came in through the window. They got boot prints on the window sill...