Mile high club

Guy blinked. He wasn't about to go cower with Gustav--and he already knew Wiki wasn't about to take orders from anyone. Ignoring the apparent order, his eyes resumed searching for the dragon...

There! His knife and--Gustav's? No, Julius'--arrow shot towards it, only to utterly miss or glance impotently across its ebony armor. It was a long shot, both literally and figuratively, in the first place. His head whipped over across the vessel, to see Wiki abruptly at the helm. His eyes widened in shock. "Din save us." How had she managed to wrest the controls away from Julius, a man easily thrice her size? Before Guy could even make sense of the situation, he felt the ship deck give way beneath him, careening wildly off course.

The vessel smashed into a floating island with a grotesque--booming echo of metal clashing with metal, stone crumbling against stone. The entire crew of the ill-fated ship was flung forward onto the grassy island. Gustav managed to copter into the air before falling, although he was forced to drop Julius' sword onto the ground, after nearly impaling himself on it. Guy rolled gracefully onto the grass, breaking his fall. He glanced behind him, seeing the ship littered with inexplicable explosions. He saw what looked like a giant, pale-yellow plum launched out of the machine and into a high arc, abruptly caught by... Gustav?

Guy shuddered in horror, seeing the graceful vessel crumble and fall into the sea of clouds below... its body in countless pieces. Words could not even express what a horrible waste this was. Even if it wasn't useful for fighting a dragon, it was a terrible, horrendous waste to see it go down. Having an airship was Guy's dream! He wanted to scream in Wiki's face, but was preoccupied--as a torrent of three-foot-diameter fireballs launched towards them out of the sky. His Mirror Shield raised high over his head, hoping desperately that it might be able to deflect one of the lethal orbs back at its sender...

---

Gustav was panting, hard. What was this madness? Why was a fire-breathing flying lizard attacking them? Why did Julius give him a sword larger than his entire body? Why did Wiki crash the ship? His precious map wouldn't get finished if they couldn't get back to the dungeon proper! His profits would suffer!! To top things off, he didn't even have anything with which to defend himself.

Trying to compose himself, he looked over the island on which they had so awkwardly landed. It was a grassy field somewhere between 60 and 100 feet across, resting atop a rock that--by some magic Gustav didn't understand--was floating effortlessly in a sea of clouds. There were four colossal pillars, each in one corner of the field, that must've stretched 100 feet into the air, at least. Gustav was abruptly distracted by a booming explosion behind him. Before he realized, a giant, pale-yellow plump fly into his arms, and he instinctively caught it. It swished with a strange fluid... Of course! This is must be what Guy was looking to find!

Before he could deliver it, however, he shrieked in horror as the dragon emerged from the clouds high overhead. A myriad of fireballs rained down on the group, which Gustav skittered desperately to avoid. Any of them would be an instant death!

Just shut up, I know what I'm doing!" she barked at other the ones fighting. Then she realized there was one fighter missing from the fray. She then began to look around frantically. The bird. Where was the bird?! She hoped it was alright, and thus Wiki was inspired to look for its owner. She ran over to Gustav. She watched the Hylian and the other Deku scrub from afar.

"Stop worrying about your profits for a second and be useful," Wiki spat. Stupid Business Scrubs. At least she was prepared to compensate for her lack of power with knowledge. She quickly grabbed the sword he was carrying and rubbed it on her cloak. She handed it back to him. "Shine it in its eye... mind the bird." She ran, eventually Wiki doing the same near a pillar. The dragon came at her with a roar. The reflective surface of the cards obscured its vision and it slammed into the column in front of it.

She readied an arrow before barking out an order. "Jump on it!" She screamed. "Slash its throat!"

"I have something, alright!" Guy hollered back at Julius, a grin in his voice. Gustav and Guy locked eyes, both thinking the same thing. The plum was hurled towards him, and Guy snatched it up abruptly. His free hand whipped the contraption from his Adventure Pouch, and he stabbed it hard into the plum's center. Like a sponge, the handheld object swelled inside the plum's juicy center. Guy discarded the now-useless plump, and shoved the spongey, juice-dripping object into his snout. He swallowed it a loud, audible gulp.

Gustav was busy wincing at Wiki yelling at him. How was he supposed to be useful in this situation? Throw his map at it? Before he even realized what was going on, he glanced over his shoulder to see the dragon abruptly smash into a pillar. A portion of the ebony armor cracked and tore off, as it flinched momentarily.

Guy's eyes abruptly flashed a pale yellow. Oh how he had missed this feeling. He could feel the energy swirling inside his core once again, for the first time in years. He was beaming. As the dragon began to charge upwards, Guy abruptly charged towards it. His blade was in one hand, shield in the other. He soared towards the exposed skin as high as his little legs would carry him--falling a few feet short. His entire body flashed a bright yellow, and he rocketed upward towards it. Propel had worked! Guy landed viciously blade-first into the creature's flesh, tearing wildly as his other three limbs clutched on for dear life. His arm stabbed and tore the blade through again and again as the dragon howled in pain, climbing up into the air, higher, higher.

...Din save him. Wiki was probably going to shoot it with him while he was still on its back.

When the beast had flailed above the four pillars, Guy had nearly lost his grip. Its body abruptly twisted in the air, spinning Guy off towards the ground--helpless. The beast glared down at him, before launching a blast of fire right at his face. Clutching his shield, Guy's entire body ducked behind it as tightly as he could, the mirrored surface deflecting the flames--barely keeping the threatening, lethal licks of fire off Guy's wooden skin. The breath propelled him downward at an insane speed.

For the love of Din, tell me it's been 10 seconds. As he rocketed downward, Guy's body once again flashed a bright yellow, and he shot towards one of the pillars. His Hover Boots kicked in at just the right time, letting him get the final distance towards its surface. His body skidded down against the stone surface, managing to just barely lock himself against the walled surface. His chest was heaving, but there was a grin in his eyes. The beast was wounded, right in the spot it hurt most--the base of its wings. He wasn't sure if it could still fly or not, but it was nonetheless lowering towards the ground--right where the others could smash into it with all their might.

The Deku scrub slapped her face and grimaced. Useless...

Wiki was thinking about shooting at Guy, since she was more upset over the fact that no one was answering her question than the dragon trying to kill her. She really, really hated being left out of things. She instead waited for the dragon to recover and then angled her card again. She was pretty sure that the stupid thing would be dead soon. Then maybe she could set the record straight (seriously, Wiki is asking the important questions here) and then she could get what she came here for. She glanced around, cocking another arrow and then firing it at the beast when it managed to slam into another pillar."Come on, the throat!" she yelled at Guy, expecting him to kill it. It's not like his friend would. Or maybe Julius would get it.

Guy blinked as the beast smashed into one of the pillars, miraculously. Was it so insanely reliant on its sight? It was a wonder that thing was even able to fly at all. Julius was after it, but the beast fly upwards once more--right between the pillars. Now was his chance. The angle would be perfect!

Guy leaped form the pillar with all the energy he had left, sprinting across the sky on the dim glow of his Hover Boots. He charged with all his strength, taking his blade in both hands, high overhead, before plunging furiously into the beast's now-exposed spot. A spatter of glassy material shot out, and the dragon twisted wildly, its voice crying out desperately in pain. The flailing was just enough to fling Guy off--but he wouldn't be thwarted so easily this time. His body flashed, and he shot with full force into the weak spot, nearly breaking his arm as his blade stabbed into the glassy orb until it was hilt-deep. Guy frantically twisted and shook the dagger as shards poured out, the dragon helplessly descending into the ground.

The entire island shook with the weight of the crash, its body hitting with a loud smack. Its writhing was so frantic that bits and pieces of armor were flinging off. Guy punched his dagger ever deeper, using all his strength to damage the apparent weak spot as much as he could, but the damn thing just wouldn't die. Guy's eyes glanced up to see its neck open, exposed. His voice shouted out, "Julius, slash it's friggin' head off!" He wasn't sure if even Julius had enough strength to cleave through its spine. Maybe Julius would know what best tactics to use, but one thing was damn sure: he didn't want this thing flying into the air again.

'"Huh," she said, quickly pulling out her journal to jot it down. Wiki. You are without a doubt, the most vile -- pretentious -- She wrote it down, exactly that. Excellent. Maybe the Hylian wasn't so useless after all. Of course, Wiki didn't actually believe she was the worst... but she enjoyed the comments like these anyways. Wiki rolled her eyes before realizing.. the bird was probably sentient. That meant that Gustav.. she cursed, realizing the fines for this would be ridiculous. She put her journal back before rustling through her hand bag. She struggled internally. Everyone... got... one..... She grabbed it, a map she had borrowed from the library. Maybe she just.. wouldn't pay the fines. It's not like they would send the cops after her for a scroll. ... Right? "Don't mention it," she said to Gustav, handing it to him. "... No, seriously. For my own safety, zip it." She waved one last time to the bird. She loved it. She wanted it. It was adorable. Wiki glanced towards Guy... he wasn't really going to give this kid what he wanted, right? She motioned for ... whatever Julius wanted ... and if Guy wouldn't give it to her, she would take it. "Listen!!!" She shouted, holding up.. oh who really cared. "Was she hot or not?!"

"Ugh," Guy groaned, pulling himself off of what had become a fresh dragon corpse. Finally, not only had he gotten what he came here to get, but he even got to kill a dragon. He considered hiring a bard to write poems of his epic deeds. His eyes sparked, for a moment, at the idea of it.

Before he could embellish further in the theory of it, though, Julius seemed to need a word with him. He finally rolled off the beast, his boots gliding elegantly onto the ground several feet below. In mid-stride, he scooped up the plum from which he had ripped out the juice. There was till a bit left, thankfully enough. He would have preferred to save it more carefully, but, time was short--and he very well might not be alive had he not absorbed this power.

Julius seemed to be going on like some sort of sport coach, about each person's accomplishments. What was this, an award ceremony? He soon found himself closer to Julius, though, the man's hand reaching down to place on his comparatively small, wooden shoulder. Sometimes Guy forgot Hylians were actually larger than him. There was a tiny bit of suspicion in Guy's eyes at Julius' words, but, he did have interest in seeing some of this sorcery replicated--if mostly because it meant some of it would fall under his ownership. "There is a bit left, yes. I know that most knowledge about it has been lost to the ages..." Guy sighed, heavily, "It took me a decade just finding the sponge that now rests in my gut. Don't try drinking it straight, I tell you." Guy shuddered, remembering how an associate of his blew apart from the energy contained within it.

Interesting...? Guy knew far too many 'interesting' people as it was, but only a handful of them could be tracked down in less than two weeks, much less follow him blindly to some location where possibly betrayal-- and probably death--would likely await them. Wait. Death? Of course. He knew at least one 'interesting person' who would be happy to come, and she always seemed to be easy to track down. Before the two of them could discuss more in private, however, Wiki abruptly interjected.

Guy's face twisted at the mere thought of someone finding his sister attractive. "Maybe... some poor soul might find her... attractive?" He shuddered, "Hot is not the word to be used."

---

Gustav smiled a bit at Julius, somewhat awkwardly. "With that beast out of the picture," his hands rubbed together, mischievously, "It should be safer to return... I doubt there will be nearly as much opposition to my cartographic skills." He still would, of course, need at least one hired arm for protection, but that could be sorted out.

Dirk the quay was pecking idly at one of the dragon's eyes, pulling out bits here and there, eating them. It glanced over its shoulder, black beak dripping with dragon blood. It glared silently, eerily, then proceeded to continue feasting on the dragon corpse. As usual, Gustav wasn't much minding it. He noticed Wiki handing him the parchment though. With a glance, his eyes widened. He looked to her, about to speak, only to abruptly shushed. He didn't understand her reasoning, but wasn't about to pass up profits. He smiled quietly to himself, then slid the parchment into his sack.

Gustav blinked abruptly, glancing first to the copter leaves on his head, then to the others. He had carried Guy up here, and that had been difficult in of itself. "Dear madam, and sir... how... exactly... do you expect to get down?" The island floated alone, and their only means of departing it had already crashed into the depths of the ocean thousands of feet below the clouds.

---

EDIT: For the record...

I'm getting 50r from completing this thread. This brings Guy's total from 60r to 110r.

On top of that, Guy Deznrita is losing...
- 85 rupees to pay for Propel
- 15 rupees to pay for Profession: Thief 3

Finally, Guy gains 15r from his profession (putting him at a new total of 25r), and Gustav gains 25r from his profession (bringing him from 75r to 100r).

".... Huh... " Wiki stared into space for a moment, obviously lost in thought. She finally grumbled, throwing whatever Julius wanted back at Guy. Who cares what Hylians wanted anyways. She looked at Gustav, suddenly pulling her hood over her head, shrugging. "... I'll find a way."

(( GIVE ME THEM ROOPS))