Guess Who's Back

[paladin_robot]

[Maybe you were there. Maybe you heard the comms chatter. Maybe, you caught glimpse of the great white giant paladin, standing in the hangar bay once more.

Whatever it is, there stands that familiar face, if a bit differently dressed than last you'd have seen him. He's wearing an old yet somewhat elaborate robe, and slung over his shoulder is a bag that seems to carry a large book. He seems to spot you as well, and he turns...]

Uh... hi.

[Richard Chevalier is back on White Chalice.]

Comments

[bluehippopotamus]

You're back!

[paladin_robot]

Yep!

[Simple answers for simple folk, I suppose. Still, Richard seems glad to see the digger again, throwing an arm over their shoulder.]

Gone and discovered the Mother Lode whilst I was gone? I mean, the keys and all..

[bluehippopotamus]

Sadly no Mother Lode yet, but there are progresses!

Anyway, I knew you're still alive, I just knew it! What happened though? You know... after you... fell... We looked for you, but didn't manage to find you!

[paladin_robot]

Well, I was kinda in another country.

[Richard rubs the back of his neck, thinking how to explain this.]

See there was this... sorcerer. One of the ones who created Ideigi, and had stuck around just in case the seals on the Demon Kings was ever broken. He... felt what happened to Ideigi, and to me, and so came to my rescue. I woke up after being dragged downstream, in this chamber he'd been living in for the last... what? Five, six thousand years? Something like that.

[armored_mother]

[Hey Richard, a certain Sniper is storming up towards you.]

Richard!

[She promptly grabs you by the collar and headbutts you. Slapping is for sissies.]

[paladin_robot]

Ah! Ann!

[Richard is shocked, and then the headbutt.]

OW! ANN!

[Then he's in pain, recoiling slightly, but not actually doing anything to escape her grip.]

What was that for?!

[armored_mother]

That was for dying you idiot!

[And before Richard knows it he's pretty much trapped in a bone crushing hug.]

Don't think this means I've forgiven you, you stupid, cheating ass... You've still got to make it up to me...

[paladin_robot]

...U-Understood...

[After the initial struggle for air, Richard manages to return the hug in some small part.]

I could... show you what I've learned whilst I was gone. A show just for you.

[turningyaponese]

More magicians? Honestly...

[paladin_robot]

Excuse me, I'm a 'trained sorceror' now. Okay, still some stuff to learn...

[He shifts slightly so as to highlight the book over his shoulder.]

But I'll master it. And then I'll show others how to do the same.

[turningyaponese]

Yes, and I'm the Game Champ. Titles don't really mean anything to the people we keep having to fight.

Really, teach magic? You don't really expect to do that, do you?

[paladin_robot]

And why not? Its near extinct, and someone's gotta keep the art alive. There's gotta be others out there who have potential, like I did. Just need something - or someone - to spark it.

[armored_fruit]

"RICHARDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!"

Michael Wilson? No, it is everyone's favorite Britannian Aristocrat running right towards you, arms outstretched as if to tackle!

[paladin_robot]

Isa-ACK!

[And Richard is knocked to the floor, a large book digging into his spine, and an aristocrat crushing him from the front!

C-Can't breathe...!

[armored_fruit]

Isaac growls, then sweeps you up into a Britannian Spinning Bear Hug!

"Ha Ha! My prayers were not in vain! The spirit of the Sinclair family Blade did indeed guide you back! Welcome home...Son of Normandy!"

[paladin_robot]

I... am... from... CALAIS!

[And in response, Richard raises his clenched fists... and then brings them down on Isaac's head! Needs to get free somehow after all.]

...Good to be back though. Thanks for the prayers.

[over_under_being]

Richard.

I knew you were not dead.

[Texotic is not good with physical things, so she just stands there awkwardly.]

[paladin_robot]

Really now?

[Richard shoots a small smirk, before walking up to Tex and... patting her on the head.]

Thanks. Good to know someone believed in me,

[over_under_being]

Of course. I wasn't worried at all.

[Look who's trying to hold back tears. Although Texotic's grumpiness intensifies under the pat.]

[paladin_robot]

Then whats with the waterworks, huh?

[Richard chuckles, drawing a small hankerchief from a pocket beneath his cloak.]

Need this?

[2000_skills]

Welcome back.
Couldn't give you the proper say so on the mission, sorry.

[paladin_robot]

I wasn't exactly able to explain where I'd been, so, fair enough. Still kinda surprised at what that Leader guy pulled though... I knew I'd botched the seal on Vientor, but I didn't think anyone on Earth would know how to exploit it...

[2000_skills]

He was never exactly a normal person. I can't think of how many times he escaped death according to my senior Riders...

[paladin_robot]

Moreover, he seemed to... know that forcing the release of the final Demon Kings would bring my Master and I out to stop them. At the very least, killing the old man was a chance to absorb his power...

Who the hell was he?! Do any of your senior Riders know?

[hammerinhero]

[Yuu stands with his back turned to the paladin, arms crossed in a defiant stance.]

"You're late. Not very noble of a Paladin to worry us, you know."

[The ninja scientist keeps his head turned away, as not to show the waterfalls of joy seeping from his eyes.]