The Mana-Verse

[Sakura Leic]

"Mm-hm, I'd really like that," Pema nodded, "Speaking of Rapidash, though, I miss Epee..."

"We can go see her soon, I remember where the Dwarves were keeping her to take care of her." Sakura stated.

[Sapphire Knight]

"A pleasure to meet all of you." Shuu smiled. "I have two other daemons, one whom I'll introduce now, the other... I'm going to keep in his tablet..." He sighed, pulling a small rectangle of lavender stone with a simple picture of a tiger carved into it.

Shuu then began to say some incantations in, what sounded like the language Grani spoke. The tablet shone before vanishing into a spark of electricity. A moment later, lightning gathered in a ball nearby, taking on a feline shape before solidifying into a pale blue, nearly white, tiger with black stripes and dark, gray-blue, bladelike spikes down it's back.

"You summoned me, Gonsol?" The tiger daemon asked, it's voice deep like Grani's.

"Just to introduce you, Susanoo."

[Phi]

"We can go see her soon, I remember where the Dwarves were keeping her to take care of her." Sakura stated.

"Really? Yeah, let's go see her soon," Pema clasped her hands together and smiled.

[Sakura Leic]

"Gonsol?" Sakura asked though was glad it spoke a language she understood.

[Sapphire Knight]

"In your tongue, it means 'Master'." The tiger, Susanoo, said. "As the knight holds my contract."

[Sakura Leic]

"Ah okay, so you guys are kind of like Toshi's mostly invisible, except to me and Daddy, Pokemon Familiar Spirits, kinda." Sakura nodded.

[Quickman]

The Professor just watched quietly for a long moment.  Once he was sure that no one was paying him any mind, he limped off to get his polearm and return to the mines.

[Sapphire Knight]

"What the hell's a pokemon?" Shuu and Susanoo asked at the same time.

[Sakura Leic]

"Wait you never seen one before?" Sakura pondered "That's odd I thought they were everywhere.  Well I have a big book of them with me so you can see them and some Pokemon that came with us."

[Fxeni]

"Well they're not all that common everywhere, actually. They certainly don't tend to like towns and cities, I can say that much," Fxeni interjected.

[Sakura Leic]

"I guess that makes sense, I only been to 2 cities and I didn't see too many unlike the wild." Sakura nodded ".....Does that mean White Beard scared all the Sea Pokemon away?  They don't really have too many places to go......"

[Fxeni]

"Perhaps..." Fxeni said, pensively.

[Sakura Leic]

"I hope they come back someday....but that won't be any time soon......." Sakura nodded slowly with a frown on her face "I just hope they found good homes........"

[Fxeni]

"Speaking of White Beard... we should probably figure out a game plan. We could always go back to Heimdal... the mercenary networks there might offer us some information," Fxeni thought aloud.

[Sakura Leic]

"Heimdall, I never heard of that place before." Sakura said as she tilted her head.

"I think I might have years ago, isn't up in the frigid North?" Calien asked.

[Sapphire Knight]

"Okay, so, give me the short version of what happened?" Shuu asked, tilting his head.

"Awaken me when I am needed for battle, please." Susanoo yawned, flickering away into small sparks of electricity and returning to being a small stone tablet in Shuu's hand.

[Fxeni]

"The Legendary Omni Gem is real. Well... it was, until it was shattered. We need to find the pieces, but we don't know where to start," Fxeni explained as simply as he could.

[Sakura Leic]

"Oh and there's some crazy 1000 year old hypocrite who wants to destroy and remake the world and become a god even though he hates the gods." Sakura added "He wants the Omni Gem too and he probably wants to steal it once we put it together since he needs it for his plans.  I heard about those sorts of things in stories all the time, that's why he probably let us live even though he could destroy us all with a flick of his wrist as we are right now.  So we need to get stronger.

He also has a creepy Mask Man and creepy Scientist working for him."

[Sapphire Knight]

"I see." Shuu said as he put Susanoo's tablet away. "Supposedly, the first Sapphire Knight had visited the Omni Gem before... Where they declared that they would protect the world as it's mortal guardian." He said, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "So it is real... And in pieces... Chances are, daemons are going to be congregating around each shard, as they feed off of magic, which the Omni Gem is a huge concentration of."

[Quickman]

By this point, the Professor had made it all the way to the mine entrance and was about to go inside.  However, he hung back as while he was on relatively decent terms with the rest of the Dwarves, he was still nervous around them, particularly if he was alone.  He also didn't want to be caught alone carrying a weapon, lest any of the less-trusting Dwarves assume that he planned to do them any harm due to his affiliation with the Order.

Glancing over his shoulder, he watched the party speak with the newcomer, and then decided to just stay outside.  Resting his polearm against the rock wall, he slid to a seat on a chiseled block, he back to the wall.  He put his hood up to shield his eyes, and cast his gaze to the ground to do some light meditation.

[Sakura Leic]

"That doesn't sound good....." Sakura gulped.

Calien's eyes widened as he heard that last detail.  The thought of Demons attacking innocent people worried him considerably, especially if one piece happened to end up in the Village north of the Emerald Forest.....

[Fxeni]

"Which is why we should probably get this show on the road as soon as we can," Fxeni said. "Do you plan on tagging along, Shuu?"

[Sapphire Knight]

"Actually, we shouldn't have to worry too much about them being hostile. Plenty of food should make them fairly sedate." Shuu said, shrugging. "Unless anyone here naturally absorbs magic at a very high rate."

[Sakura Leic]

Sakura's eyes widened when he said that, of all the times he could have said somthing like that, especially with Pema present......

[Phi]

"Which is why we should probably get this show on the road as soon as we can," Fxeni said. "Do you plan on tagging along, Shuu?"

"Yeah, we'd love to have you tag along!" Pema nodded, "It almost feels like our group expands more and more, every day. I think the first person to join after I did was the Professor-"

She turned her head and looked around, "Wait, where did he go? I could've sworn I saw him a minute ago..."

"Actually, we shouldn't have to worry too much about them being hostile. Plenty of food should make them fairly sedate." Shuu said, shrugging. "Unless anyone here naturally absorbs magic at a very high rate."

Pema involuntarily glanced at Sakura when Mana absorption was mentioned, as she felt closest to Sakura, than nervously fiddled her thumbs, a timid gaze shifting to Shuu, "I-I... I can absorb..."

Her arms collapsed at her sides, unable to finish her statement.