Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

Chapter Three
He slowly stood up and turned to see the two kids from the game both poised, pulse rifles in firing position. They were wide-eyed with fear and determination. Someone had not only been paying them a lot of money, judging from the expensive tattoo the boy on the right sported on his arm, but arming them as well. This could only mean one of two things: either someone was extremely mad that the Penguins won, or else this was some kind of cover-up, and the mission itself nothing but a ruse. Rich simply didn't have enough to go on yet, but he knew one of these kids would talk. The only problem was they had the jump on Rich, and before he could even draw his wand they'd vaporize him. He needed a distraction.

"Ready to die, hunter?" The kid with the tattoo said with a forced smirk. The quavering in the teen's voice told him that he was hesitant, but Isahn couldn't rely on that hesitation for long. Rich just raised his hands in surrender, hoping Typhus would arrive soon...

"FOI,"from almost out of nowhere Typhus came into action, he had purposely missed because he doesn't kill kids unless he has to. The blast from Typhus' Foi blast startled the two teens, then Typhus ran and punched the tattooed teen. The other teen hit Richard hard enough just to put him unconscious for a moment then held Typhus' arms, the tattooed teen then said, "Why are you helping him, wasn't it the team that hired us to kill the mascot and anyone who gets in the way?"

Typhus just looked at the teen and said, "How am I supposed to know? I'm a hunter as well. "The face on the shocked teen was indescribable, he was shocked that the newest rookie on the Piata Penguins was actually a hunter. So the kid just raised his rifle and aimed at Typhus. Typhus didn't even try to escape, instead he just laughed and twitched his ear which made the teens nervous. "Haven't you ever seen a guy twitch his ear like this, "Typhus twitched his ear again, then he noticed Richard conscious again.

"I waisted enough time, now are you prepared to talk?" Typhus said flipping the teen over his shoulder knocking the teen out. Then he started towards the tattooed kid.

As Rich regained consciousness, he shook his head to clear it of any lingering fogginess and jumped up, wand at the ready, a scowl on his face. Glancing around quickly, he ascertained the situation:

Typhus had indeed come, and had knocked one of the kids unconscious, and he was approaching the tattooed teen now. Isahn saw that at first the boy was distracted by his knocked-out companion, but as Cole drew nearer, the enemy raised his rifle into point-blank firing position. Rich had to act fast.

He was about to use "Deathspell," but remaining shreds of dignity demanded he not kill someone so young. At least, not yet. Growling in frustration, Isahn used "Mindblast," stunning the youth with a wave of dark power. The stricken teen staggered, dropping his weapon, before a quick punch from Typhus ensured he fell. Both hunters silently glanced at each other, and a nod of acknowledgement passed between them. Typhus then told Isahn of what he had learned from the kid during their scuffle while Rich was knocked out.

Within ten minutes, both teens came around. Rich grabbed the now-helpless tattooed kid by the neck with his cybernetic hand and rudely lifted him up, effortlessly. Slamming the kid against the ceramocrete wall, Rich came almost nose to nose with the boy, and allowed his eyes to fill with malignant darkness... just to scare the boy, of course.

"Tell me everything now, or die," Rich said in an imperious voice that radiated madness. He had learned long ago to control the evil stirring within his being, but nobody else needed to know that...

It worked. The kid nearly soiled himself. Frantically, he explained everything.
"It...it was the Principal!" the boy gasped through clenched teeth, "the real mascot has been using special skills all season to help the Penguins. They're not even techs... he's part telemental or something. The gaming commission had become suspicious of the cheating, and the Principal, the head of the Penguins, hired us to 'take care' of the mascot. I warned him to stay away on the Principals orders, and then the Principal was supposed to hire a hunter to make it look like he was innocent and just following protocol...ouch!" he wriggled in Isahn's iron grip.

"You weren't supposed to survive the attack!" he admitted, "and even if you were, we were supposed to finish you, and pin it on the Arcturus Guild," the teen was referring, of course, to the infamous assassin's guild operating underground on Motavia, "that way, the principal not only keeps a huge fortune made on gambling, but doesn't have to pay you either, and gets away with everything. Please, don't kill us! We were just following orders! You're hunters, you know what that means!" The kid was almost crying now, information pouring out of him like water from a broken dam.

"So the principal was behind it the whole time, using the team as a front for making money, and hiring you..." Isahn was disgusted. He had worked for corrupt employers before, but never had anyone actually hire him with the intent to eliminate him... just to make everything look legit and throw the scent off his trail...
Isahn dropped the kid, who collapsed into a heap, and turned to his companion.

"So Typhus, what should we do with these two? The Principal has payed them well, and we can't just let them go. Once we've figured this out, it's time we go and have ourselves a little 'chat' with the our employer..."

Typhus thought for a bit then smiled, "Give me five minutes with them, I want to have a little chat with them." So Richard Isahn went and sat on a bench.

Typhus held up a wallet, "He paid you quite a bit of money, hope you don't mind if I take it. "The tattooed kid then said, "How did you get my wallet? How in all of Algo did you get my wallet?" Typhus just smiled briefly and stuck the meseta in his pocket
"What's your name? What's your friends name? Why did you take this job? And how long was the principal planning this?" Typhus questioned and twitched his ear. "M-m-my name is Ken, m-my friends name is Gary. When the principal told us h-his 'problem', we d-didn't accept, but he wanted the j-job done so b-bad that he he, offered us each 10,000 meseta and we accepted. I have n-no clue how long he planned it though."

Typhus tied up the two teens, then signaled Richard to come back. When Richard had reached his destination Typhus told him all the info he had gathered. Typhus then looked at Richard and said, "It's your call,what do you want to do?"
Rich thought carefully for a minute.

"The Principal is not a stupid man. He's going to realize somethings wrong soon, if he hasn't already, and may try to flee. We've got to get to him as soon as possible," with that, Rich and Typhus both took off running as fast as possible, throwing open a back door to the Motavian Academy and hastily ascending a stairway leading to the Principals office. Isahn quickly kicked in the elaborate wooden doorway, and saw two surprised individuals staring back at Typhus and himself.