Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

Let's see... hop skip and a jump this way, disappear down this street...

It took her a few minutes (and wrong turns) but Shalelu soon found herself in front of a storefront marked LAZY DAZE. "Address matches the card," she said to herself as she pushed the front door open.

Splat. Shalelu faceplanted on the door, noticing it hadn't moved at all. The shop's "CLOSED" sign swung from side to side with the movement, and she sighed. "Awwww, damn it!" she grumbled. "I don't wanna wait until tomorrow to give this to him!"

"Care to take a seat?" He said as he sat them by the counter, setting himself on top of one.
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"Don't mind if I do," Brigit replied with enthusiasm. She hopped onto the stool, absentmindedly reached into one of her coverall's pockets and grabbed a pack of cigarettes. She was tapping one out of the pack when she looked up and remembered where she was. Damn this habit! she cursed herself. If I ever get my hands on those Morgan kids for messing with my controls and stealing my... oh wait... that was 50 years ago...

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she apologized, embarrassed. She cleared her throat as she shoved the pack back in her pocket. "Nasty habit; wish I could do something about it. Anyway, so you're a genius, you say? Intriguing, intriguing." She tapped her chin with her pointer finger. "You know, I'm heading to Neo Paseo's library in the morning to look up some inf-"

BANG!

Something sounded like it had crashed into the front of the shop. Brigit spun around in the direction of the sound.

"What the-? I think a bird just flew into your door!" she jumped down from the stool and waited to see what Jakob would do.

The usual calm Jakob was no more. He started to shake a bit at a bad memory. He reached over the counter and grabbed he Shadowblade, a rare weapon which not many possessed, for good reason too. He drew the Shadowblade from it's sheath, making his way to the door. He took a deep breath before peaking out the door.

He gave out a laugh while he sheathed his sword. he opened the door, "Sorry mam, but we're closed right now. Could you please come back tomorrow?"

New character!

Name: Bo (short for Bubo)
Age: 8
Gender: male
Hometown: Esper Mansion, Dezolis
Race/occupation: skytiara/guide & courier
Length: 1'10"
Wingspan: 4'11"
Weight: 3.1#
Appearance:
~eye color: yellow
~hair color: reddish-brown and cream feathers
~hair style: none, but has owl "horns"
~Clothes: none
~Accessories: silver Esper tag on left leg
Equipment: silver talons (provided by the Espers)
Techs: Bo is old school and knows magic: Chat, Cure, Exit, Fly, Open, Tele, Trap, Wall, Hypn (Okay, I made this one up. Basically, Bo can put enemies in a trance ("hypnotize") and they will attack each other for a round.)
Skills: Super Sonic, Wind Storm
Character History: Bo was raised from birth in captivity at Esper Mansion. He provided several "jobs" for the Espers including message courier, guide, and sight tracker (especially useful at night). Recently he was captured by space pirates during one of his guide jobs and was taken to Motavia to be sold. The pirates have just landed on Motavia at the start of this adventure.
Other: He speaks Palman. Can talk to most animals. Has excellent night vision. Though he looks regal and majestic, Bo is quite innocent about many things (especially now that he's on a new planet) and doesn't fully understand human behavior. He asks a lot of questions and tells stupid jokes, making him an annoying travel companion at times. He is easily distracted by shiny objects.

Bo's beginning:

Bo could sense the ship touching down. He hadn't been in transit for long, so either the ship was landing on the nearest planet, Motavia, or the pirates had gone through hyperspace. Not that Bo knew any of this; he didn't understand much of anything that was going on: why he had been captured, where he was going, or what the pirates were going to do with him. All he cared about right now was escaping, and fortunately for him, his captors had no idea he could open locks and disable traps. Now all he had to do was wait for the pirates to open the cargo bay. He'd be gone before they could recapture him.

He heard muffled voices growing closer as the first bits of light entered the bay. The doors gradually opened fully, and the pirates began unloading their loot. Bo waited patiently as the pirates finally made their way to his crate. He watched as two men lifted his crate and began their journey down the ship's ramp. Once they were completely outside the bay... WHOOSH! Bo pushed against the cage door that was seemingly still locked. It opened with no effort and Bo was free and gaining altitude with every flap of his wings.

Don't look back! he told himself. Keep flying! There's a city ahead!

The city he saw a few kilometers away was Neo Paseo, though Bo had no idea where he was. The only thing he cared about was finding easy hiding places. He used the strong wind currents to his advantage, swiftly leaving behind the ship and the furious cries of the pirates and making quick time to the city.

"But- but whaa!?" Shalelu replied to the man behind the door. "Come back tomorrow? I can't! I gotta deliver this electro-doohickey I have to a Jakob Daze! Oooooh, now where was it?!"

Irritated, Shalelu started digging through her backpack. "Let's see... where did I put that? Is it under my toy boat? Nooo.... ah! Here we go!" She took out the strange device and showed it to the man. "I'm supposed to give this to one Jakob Daze, care of Chaz Ashleigh of the Hunters' Guild of Algo! If you're Jakob Daze, cool beans! =D"

Her eyes then narrowed to slits as she whispered conspiratorially, "But if you're not, then, uh... I gotta headbonk you. No pressure."

"Headbonk? Uhh... anyway," Jakob began saying when he saw the part in her hands. "I've been waiting for that for two weeks. But then again, if Ashley sent you then that means you're trustworthy." Or an idiot. Jakob thought in his head. "Well, thanks for the," Jakob looked at an owl which flew by his shop, "part." Odd. You don't see that often.

He looked in the direction the owl came from to see three strangely dressed men with weapons out, running down the street causing trouble. Chasing the owl it seemed. Without thinking, Jakob grabbed the woman's arm in front of him and yanked her into his shop, closing the door behind him as he drew his Shadowblade once more. standing in position in the middle of the street, he held his ground and called out, "Put your weapons down, and stop causing trouble."

One of the men called out, "Why, you gonna make us?" Jakob shrugged and said, "If I have to yes."

Brigit
Brigit had been standing almost directly behind Jakob, curiously looking over his shoulder at the device the pink-haired woman was desperately trying to give to Jakob. All of a sudden Jakob grabbed the woman and flung her into the shop. Brigit had not time to react as the girl flew headlong into her, sending both of them to the ground. Oof. Brigit, on the bottom of the two-person heap, heard the shop's door slam shut, causing the open/closed sign to fall on top of the girl's head. Ka-thunk.

"Um, hi," a dazed Brigit said to the woman, carefully brushing aside one of the pink ponytails that was dangling in her face and tickling her nose. "Are you okay?" She hoped so, as she really wanted to get up so that her vulcan wasn't digging into her back anymore.

Bo
Bo was quickly running out of steam, since there were no good air currents inside the city. He hadn't exactly anticipated the pirates having a land rover ready to go, making his escape much more difficult. Where were all the trees in this city, anyway? Or barns? Or open windows?? The outlaws had to ditch the vehicle just outside the city, but they weren't about to give up their most valuable piece of loot, Bo. He had heard one of them give an amount, 200,000 meseta, as the skytiara's estimated value. It may be a lot of money, but it made Bo feel cheap. He had to find a way to get away from them!

What was this? Suddenly the three men stopped, challenged by a stranger standing in the middle of the street who was brandishing an unusual sword. Bo instinctively turned 180 degrees in the air and flew towards his spikey-haired defender.

"Mister! You gotta help me!" Bo cried out through labored breathing. "These guys are trying to sell me, but I belong to the Espers! THE ESPERS!" he repeated and wasn't sure why. Do people on... wherever he was... do they even know about Espers? He softly landed on the stranger's shoulder, a brazen move, but hoped the man would understand. "They're pirates!" he added.

Sometimes Bo forgets that humans aren't used to talking owls...

"Hey, wait, whaaa-!?"

Shalelu didn't have any time to resist as Jakob dragged her into the store, then slammed the door behind him. She staggered into the other customer, sending them both to the ground, then felt a dull *thud* as the store's sign bounced off the back of her head.

"Oh, hello!" she said to the other woman. "I'm just fine! It takes a lot more than that to knock me out!" Rolling off of her and leaping to her feet, she continued, "Yep! Perfectly all right!"

Jakob looked at the owl as it spoke to him. "Pirates huh?" he found himself saying as a pirate charged forward. Jakob ducked under the mans swing, doing a leg sweep causing the pirate to fall.

The second pirate made his way forward, swinging an axe with great fury. Jakob jumped back, dodging the mad swings as he brought his own weapon up to parry the attack. Both weapons connected, Jakob had to use both arms in order to keep from falling over. The pirate lifted his axe again as Jakob used his leg to kick the man in the stomach, causing him to bend over. Jakob followed through with a kick to the head, causing the man to fall over unconscious.

The first pirate began to get up again just as the third began to walked forward. "Come on guys? Can't we all be friends?" Jakob said aloud as sheathed his Shadowblade. "That was a mistake boy," He heard one of them say. Jakob closed his eyes, drawing energy from within his body, channeling it into his hands. "Hewn!" He said as two whirlwinds flew towards his opponents, hitting them in the chest, causing them to spin and fly down the street. He hated using magic, it always drained so much from.

Looking around, people were staring at him in both awe, and disgust. It wasn't normal that a young man could take out three other men without breaking much of a sweat. But Jakob was used to it already as he turned to the owl and said, "Owls aren't supposed to talk." With that he fell to his knees, then the ground. Exhausted from using magic.