A last reprise by Retalion

Disclaimer: I do not own maple story or any of its characters blah blah blah (whatever the hell they put in fan fic disclaimers… you get the point). Parts of this story are true, parts fictional, you be the judge and decide which is which.

 

Where they came from, how they got there, no one knew. All they knew was they were there and that they were happy here. However, one day they discovered a town and things changed, for at the far end of this town, there was an extravagant boat. At first, they merely continued with their lives, playing together, enjoying life together. However, curiosity started growing on them, to the extent where they were no longer able to resist the hole they felt in their hearts, the hole that was the question, “Where does this boat lead? Where will it take us? What lies on the other side of this vast body of water?” And with that, one by one, they left with the boat’s daily schedule, never seen again by those who still played together. As more left, so the curiosity within the remnant grew, as questions of “Where did they go? Where are they now?” ate at their souls till they themselves had no choice but to get on the boat to discover the answer themselves. This went on till one day, there was only one child left: His name was Jackk.  He was the youngest of them all and not because he was the youngest, but just because of who he was, he was afraid of the unknown and despised change. That was his reason for never getting on that ship with the others, why he stayed behind for so long. Days became weeks and weeks became months and that curiosity that ate at the others ate at him as well, but that fear of change was greater than the curiosity of the unknown and he stayed where he was. As the months passed, the curiosity grew and eclipsed the fear, to the point where he had no choice but to get on the boat, to find out for himself what was really over there, across the water to the destination of the boat. How long he was on the boat he didn’t know, but when he arrived, he saw a city that was very similar in look to the one he left. His friends were there too, but they had changed.

 “Welcome to Victoria Island” smirks Sandy “What took you so long? I’m an Ice wizard now and my name has been changed to muiee”

“Yeah, welcome”, comments Andy quietly “I’m called Anakara and I’m a wizard too, but I use the fire elemental instead of the ice one Muiee uses”

Bewildered, Jackk asks “What do you mean? What’s a wizard and what’s the difference?”

“Oh, you don’t know? On this island, you get to choose a job and with this occupation, you’ll be more powerful than ever. This island is inhabited by four tribes: Warriors, archers, thieves and magicians. Warriors are strong but slow, magicians use magic, archers attack with bows and arrows and thieves can throw stars and use daggers. They’re like warrior and archer hybrids, but they’re A LOT faster. That’s what I am now. I’m a bandit and they now call me C0nvict” says his friend who he had always known as Victor.

“Wow, you guys have all changed a lot…but it’s nice seeing you all again” exclaims Jackk.

“So anyways, what will you become?” asks C0nvict.

After a moment of thinking, Jackk replies “I think I’ll be an archer”

At this, all three of them burst into laughter and reply in unison “You’ll never make it anywhere as an archer. They’re weak and it’ll take forever for you to get stronger. You’ll give up before you get anywhere.”

At this, two new people come in, one holding an elegant claw, the other a fancy fan. “Hey guys, what’d ya got there?”

“Oh hey Kev and Wes meet our friend back from the island, Jackk” remarks C0nvict. Pointing at the guy with the claw, he remarks “Jackk, meet Wes, who is known as L0rdAssassin” and then gesturing at the dude with the fan, he comments “and he’s Kev, or Chakra, a bandit like me”

Chakra smirks “So what’s he going to become?” The three friends answer in a stutter “Well, we’re trying to convince him otherwise and…” Chakra interrupts “just spit it out already. We don’t have all day”, to which they reply with dejected looks, “He wants to become an archer”

Chakra opens up his fan and laughs “That’ll never happen. Archers are a hopeless path and weak as hell. I have an idea, how about I just finish him off now. Six hits of terror and fear, let blood spill from the sky, Savage blow!”And with that, Chakra brandishes his dagger and charged towards a terrified Jackk.

Muiee and Anakara stand there, doing nothing as they know that he is more powerful than they are and that resistance is futile. However, C0nvict draws his bazlud and tries to fend off Chakra’s deadly attacks but he was behind him before he knew it. Jackk cowers in terror as Chakra’s sharp fan draws closer and the end draws near. However, just as the fan is about to cut it’s first of six vicious hits, a blue arrow zips between them, halting Chakra’s attack. Jackk looks behind him and sees an archer in an officer’s uniform with a steel bow in one hand, smoke drifting lazily upwards from his other hand, fingers still attached to the bowstring. He looks down appallingly and whispers, “Picking on someone that innocent and defenseless, what a cowardly action.” With that, he gracefully leaps down from the tree he was sitting in, cape billowing in the wind, an icon of serenity and peace. Seeing this, Jackk knew what he was going to be, regardless of what he was told. He had just seen his hero and knew exactly who he wanted to be.

~To be continued…

Chakra growled in frustration. “Who are you to stop my deed, I was being nice. Consider it a favor so he wouldn’t have to suffer”

                “He’s under my protection now. You mess with him, I won’t let you go.” The archer says with great confidence. With this Chakra and L0rdAssassin sulk away.

                “Kid, just do what you want. Don’t let pricks like them decide for you. If you want to be an archer, go for it. But it’s a hard path to follow; I’ll warn you about that now. Good luck.” Said the archer

              Jackk, completely in shock yells “Wait! Can I have your name, the name of my hero, who I want to be like one day?”

                “My name’s Royce. Around here I go by Antag0nist. I’m the brother of that pathetic bandit you see there.” His bow points towards C0nvict who is looking down in shame. With that he walks off into the distance, fading from view, his cape billowing behind him, bow at his side, a majestic view.

                With that, the three go “We’re going to go train now, cya Jackk”

                Jackk reaches out his right arm and goes “Wait, lemme come with you! Like old times!”

                The two wizards walk on, completely ignoring him. C0nvict replies sadly “Sorry Jackk, you’re too weak to train with us. Maybe one day when you become a strong archer, we’ll train together then.” Pointing to his right, he adds, “The place to become an archer is over there. Athena Pierce will help you and aid you on your way.” And with that, he jogs after the others, disappearing from view as well.

                That left Jackk all alone and with that, he walked to his right in the direction C0nvict pointed to. He walked onwards till he saw a giant tree in his way with a door inside it. He timidly opened the door and stepped inside, excited and scared, happy yet nervous. Inside, this tree dwelling was a simple place. It consisted of two floors of wooden platforms, both filled with bowman equipment. On that second floor sat a woman of some age, the creases on her face showed her wisdom, the clarity in her eyes showed her kindness. Though she looked old, her voice was fluid and sweet as she asked “May I help you there, young one?”

                Nervously, Jackk stammered “erm… I’m here be…because I wan…want to… I want to be an archer” and with that, he quickly looked down at his feet. There was a moment’s silence before he heard a soft, melodious chuckle and look up.

                Athena smiles and replies, “there’s no need to be nervous. Many have come here asking the same thing, and I have granted each and every one of them who truly wanted to become an archer. However, many have changed their minds before leaving this building. I will tell you this: The path to becoming an archer is long and treacherous. The archer class is the smallest of the four and that is because we are shunned by the other three classes. We are looked down upon with disdain; we are treated as trash and scum. Many archers leave here and are quickly taken down by the other three classes. Our road is definitely the most difficult; our road will definitely take longer than that of the other classes. However, I will tell you this: when an archer becomes successful, he will be truly great. Those who become great are few, but those who persevere through all the training and hardships will become great, the price of greatness well worth it. I’m not here to enforce the way of the archer on you; I’m merely here to guide you. I’ve warned you of the dangers ahead in the road of the archer, the choice is yours. Do you want to become an archer?”

                Without even a second of hesitation, Jackk answered “Yes I am willing to become an archer. From today, I shall be called Retalion, filled with the courage of a lion and the power to fight back, to protect those dear to me. From this day onward, I shall be an archer!”

                Athena was slightly taken aback as she had never seen such determination within an aspiring archer. After a second of shock, she smiled and said, “I, Athena Pierce declare you an archer. Now go out and make us proud!” With that, he handed Retalion a small, blue bow. “Take this bow and carry out your dream to be an archer with it. Hold it dear to you and use it well.”

                Retalion grabs the bow and holds it tightly, and to Athena’s shock, asks a question: “Though my name is now Retalion, I don’t want to leave behind my real name. Is it okay if I use both?”

                Athena was taken aback, but after a second of thinking, she replies with a smile, “Yes, you may. You can be known as Jackk Retalion if you want.” As Jackk Retalion headed out the door, Athena thought to herself, “This boy definitely won’t be the strongest, or the fastest, or the greatest, but there’s something special about him.”

-End of Intro

Chapter 1

With the blue bow Athena had given him, Jackk trained diligently. Notching arrow after arrow, firing them one after the other on blue mushrooms from the branches of a tree, safe from the angry blue mushrooms gathered below him trying to get to him. All of a sudden, the branch felt heavier. He looked beside him and there was C0nvict, his friend from the island.

“Hey there, Retalion, training hard I see?” C0nvict asks in a friendly way.

“I’ve said before, just call me Jackk” replies Jackk, continuing to shoot arrows down at the poor mushrooms.

Before either was able to see more, icicles flew in, killing all the mushrooms. Walking towards them was L0rdAssassin, with a giant smirk on his face, evil intent obvious. He says tauntingly, “Well, if it isn’t this all powerful archer, Retalion. Antag0nist isn’t here to protect you now, what’ll you do?” And with that, he pulled out two shining icicles and threw them up into the tree. Both C0nvict and Jackk dodge the deadly projectiles as they bury themselves into the trunk of the tree. C0nvict leaps to another branch while Jackk jumps to the ground. L0rdAssassin throws two more icicles at Jackk, who diverts one with an arrow and dodges the other. “Not going to use special skills on me, kid? Are you that confident in defeating me?”

Jackk asks questioningly, “What skills?”

L0rdAssassin laughs, “You mean you don’t know? Six weeks of being an archer and you still don’t know? I’m right. It will be mercy for me to put you out now. Sprout from the claw decorating my hand and pierce the bodies of mere mortals, lucky 7!” The stars move strikingly faster than the ones before and Jackk stands in shock unable to react. Just before the icicle hits, everything freezes.

Jackk hears a voice saying, “This isn’t how it ends. There’s more in you than what you’re showing”

Bewildered, Jackk asks, “Where am I? What’s happening? Who are you?”

The voice answers benevolently, “Jackk, I’ve always been here. I’ve been with you from the beginning. I’ve watched you grow all this time. This might sound absurd, but just trust me, say these words out loud. Its time you learn how to master some of the skills of being an archer”

And with a flash of light, the icicle continues its path. Alertly, Jackk quickly backpedals and jumps into the air, hovering above the icicle. Aiming with his bow, he chants, “let power fill these arrows, let light shine through from the shot, Arrow Blow!” With that, a glowing blue arrow shoots out and the icicle explodes.

L0rdAssassin snickers, “Well well, this just might get interesting. Speed of that above, aide me in my battles, Haste!” With that, he easily dodged the blue arrow shot by Jackk. Jackk stares in shock at L0rdassassin’s new speed and he laughs, “What’s the matter? I’m too fast for you now?” And with that, he throws two more stars at Jackk, who dodges them.

Jackk thinks to himself, “even the stars he throws are faster. There’s almost no way I can counter it.”  In frustration, he fires off an arrow, which just whizzes past L0rdAssasin’s ear.

L0rdAssassin freezes in shock, thinking, and “He’s learned critical shot too? He can’t be underestimated. Perhaps his learning speed is faster than I thought” The battle rages on and in his frustration, he hears this voice again: “Repeat after me once more”

Sliding back once more, Jackk chants “Let the power of one arrow split into two; let two arrows pierce with the precision of one, Double Shot!” With that, he fires an arrow, spinning at fast speeds till it turns red and splits into two arrows, both going towards L0rdAssassin in different directions. L0rdassassin easily dodges the first arrow, leaping into the air but the second arrow pierces his left thigh and he falls awkwardly.

L0rdAssassin gets up awkwardly and pulls out the arrow and winces, uttering something that sounded like “You bastard!” With that, he throws two more stars towards Jackk, who dodges them easily. Jackk reaches behind him to pull out another arrow to fire double shot again, but to his dismay, he had run out of arrows. A look of shock appears on his face and with that, L0rdAssassin grins evilly once more. “What’s the matter, no more arrows?”With this, he limps towards Jackk, two icicles in hand. Jackk starts to backup, fully aware of the situation. L0rdassassin is now in front of him, smiling widely, saying “Well, this was an interesting potential. I underestimated you and you almost got away, but now is your time to die!” He stabs the first icicle into Jackk’s right shoulder, causing him to wince in pain and drop his bow. He swings the second icicle towards Jackk’s throat but all of a sudden, a blazing yellow arrow knocks the icicle out of his hands.

To be continued…

Antag0nist was standing in the distance and walking towards them, a look showing he was obviously really pissed off. “Release the explosive powers of this arrow, and let chaos reign, Arrow bomb!” With that, he shot off an arrow with an explosive on its head. The arrow lands two feet in front of L0rdAssasin, exploding and kicking up a mess of smoke, blinding everyone in the area.

L0rdAssassin looks around, trying to see where they are, but a second arrow had flown off and pierced through his claw and hand, causing him to fall in pain and grip his left hand. “Damn Final attack!” He screams in pain. He looks around him and all he sees is c0nvict running frantically to the right. Of the two archers, he saw nothing of. Wincing in pain, he gets up and walks off in the opposite direction, in search of Chakra and perhaps some way to bandage up his hand and leg properly.

Jackk woke groggily, his head aching. He had no idea where he was but it was dark around him except for a candle lit in the corner. Sitting by the candle, Jackk saw Antag0nist, sitting there, staring at his bow. Antag0nist says softly, “ah, you’ve awaken”.

Jackk says questioningly, “Where am I? What happened?”

“Well, you got pretty beat up by that noob L0rdassasin. I came to rescue you just in time and brought you here to mend your wounds and whatnot” informs Antag0nist

Jackk tries to get up and walk but falls back down feebly. Seeing this, Antag0nist asks, “What’re you trying to do?” to which he gets the reply “I need to get stronger, so I can protect myself, and so I can protect my friends. I want to be strong like you one day.”

Antag0nist replies, “Have you heard about the second job advancement? By that look on your face, I don’t think anyone told you. Well, as archers grow stronger, they need to make a choice, whether to become a hunter, which uses bows, or a crossbowman, which obviously uses crossbows. With this, many of the weaknesses that you hold now will be gone. In this battle, you lost because you ran out of arrows. Well, as a hunter or a crossbowman, you possess the ability to shoot arrows from the power within you, rendering actual arrows useless. With this new job, you can shoot faster than you’ve ever thought possible, and most importantly, you’ll learn a new skill, the skill I rescued you with, Arrow Bomb. This allows you to shoot arrows with explosive nature that leaves enemies in disarray and chaos, confused of what’s happening. As well, after being hit by such an arrow, they will be winded and unable to move. I see that you make up for the lack of melee attacks by using speed to create distance to shoot. With this advancement, you will be able to land massive melee attacks by swinging your bow, causing fatal blows. This is the power of 2^nd job archers. You need more training but I sense that you’re getting close to being able to take this test.”

Jackk replies with an eager look in his eyes “How do I do this advance? What do I have to do to become more powerful?”

Royce replies, “There is a cave nearby. It is filled with dark and evil creatures. Monsters resurrected from death, mutated beyond recognition, powerful to extents yet unseen by you. You will have to defeat them, and bring with you 30 of their souls to Athena to prove your worth. Then she will bestow you with more power. However, right now is not the time to talk of these matters. You should rest. We can talk further afterwards perhaps.”

When Jackk woke up, Antag0nist was nowhere to be seen. He picked up his bow and the quiver of arrows that Antag0nist had left him and went out to train once more. After some time, Jackk felt he was worthy and headed to the cave. It was pitch black and he couldn’t see more than an arms length in front of him. With a deep breath, he entered.

End of Chapter 1

Chapter 2

The cave was pitch black and Jackk could barely see his hand stretched at arm’s length. All that was visible within the cave were the glow of eyes of monsters. Jackk pulled out his bow and shot an arrow at the nearest glowing eye. It missed completely, disappearing without a sound. Readjusting his aim, he shot again and this time, he nailed it. The monster burst into flames and for a second, he could see the entirety of the cave. There in the cave were mutated monsters, too many to count. Upon the death of their comrade, they were aware of their new visitor and started slowly advancing towards him, their advance given away by the sound of slithering on the cold, rocky floors of the cave. Jackk quickly fired arrows and every one he fired, he hit his target with, but there were just too many and he was overwhelmed and fell. That voice that had appeared during the fight with L0rdAssassin emerged once more and he heard it say, “Let me take you back to a scene that now seems oh so long ago. You can’t fall just like this…”

                “Hello, I’m Victor’s brother, Royce.” Said the older boy as he stuck out his hand and grinned. Jackk took it feebly and shook it. “What do you want to be one day?” Royce asks inquisitively.

                “I really have no idea” replies Jackk

                “Well, become an archer with me then. I’ll introduce you to the way of the archer, the pride of this small, shunned class. The reason we’re hated is because they all think we’re useless, they all think we’re weak, but that’s because we keep our strength secret. With the determination I see in you, you’ll become great like me one day and maybe even surpass me!” Royce chuckles “Well, I have to go now. It’s time for my weekly tricking practice.” With that he does a double back flip and runs off, yelling back towards Jackk, “I look forward to seeing you again soon! With your new power! Don’t become a complete retard like those sins!”

                Jackk opened his eyes, with a whole mob of zombified and mutated monsters on top of him. He throws them all off with a scream “Power Knockback!” All the monsters were thrown backwards and with that, he tried the shot that he heard Royce pull that day when he rescued him:  “Release the explosive powers of this arrow, and let chaos reign, Arrow bomb!” The smoke subsided right away and the monsters stood there for a moment, stunned then groaned in pain and fell, dead.

                The bow in his hand had started glowing and looking down, this wasn’t the blue bow that Athena had given him no more; this was a gold bow with green trimming. It was the bow that Royce had called a Ryden. The voice he heard gave him another whisper and with that, he repeated, “Let arrows shoot from the soul, let these arrows pierce with the powers within me! Soul Arrow!”

                With that, he dropped his barrel of arrows. He had no more need for them. He continued to fire at the oncoming monsters and beautiful, shiny, thick gold arrows replaced the once shabby wooden arrows he used to shoot. The rest of the task of defeating 30 of these was quickly finished and with that, he left the cave, heading towards Athena’s hut.

 To be continued…

Blood dripping from gashes on his arms and legs, Jackk stumbled into Athena’s hut, his transfigured bow in one hand, a bag holding his proof of accomplishment in the other.

                “Hello there, can I help you?” Athena says, watching with concern as Jackk dripped blood all over the floor.

                Jackk answers, breathing heavily “I’ve finished the task to make the second job advancement. Please make me stronger” and with that, Jackk walked over and placed the bag in front of Athena.

                Peeking at the contents inside the bag, Athena declares, “Very well, I will make you stronger. Here you make a choice. Shall you become a hunter, one who shoots bombs at high speeds, or will you become a crossbowman, a shooter of slow, yet powerful blasts?”

                Without a second of hesitation, Jackk replies “I shall become a hunter, just like Antag0nist, who I walk in the footsteps of”

                “Very well, close your eyes and I shall make you into a hunter”

                With that, Jackk with his eyes closed felt a change and when he opened his eyes, he had on a blue hat, trimmed in gold similar to a hat you see worn by pirates. From the hat stuck an extravagant blue feather. His grey t-shirt had changed into a blue piece of armor with some cross formation on the front, again in that golden trim. His blue shorts had been replaced by silver leg armor adorned with a golden belt and his shoes were now studded boots that were blue, matching the shirt and pants. What was the biggest transformation was what was on his hands. His plain hands now had a glove made of mithril and his bow was now a magnificent looking red bow trimmed with silver accompanied by a silver bowstring.

                “With this, you will become stronger than you have ever been; feel power you have never witnessed before. This power is granted for doing good deeds and if I ever see you using it otherwise, I will take it away. Use it as you see fit, train and master these skills, make the archer class proud.”

                With his new equips, Jackk ran out the door with an utter of thanks. Apparently, the transfiguration had healed up his wounds and wariness as well. However, right outside the door, he ran into a person and they both fell in a heap. Both of them muttered apologies and they introduced each themselves to each other. Upon introduction, the stranger said he was a man named Blackbull from perion and that he had lost a very important item on his travels called “Blackbull’s deed”. Without hesitation, Jackk volunteered to help get it back and with that, he headed off for sleepywood, the place where Blackbull had said he lost the deed to defeat the cursed eyes there, the monster that stole the deed. He didn’t know why he was doing it, nor what he was getting in return, but he knew it would make him stronger.

End of chapter 2

 

Chapter 3

 

Into Sleepywood Jackk went and in the depths, he saw his target, a mob of cursed eyes, poisonous green in color, one eye adorning its head. The place was filled with them and upon seeing their new guest; they rushed towards Jackk, each trying to get a piece of him. Jackk recited clearly the chants for soul arrow and double shot and fired away, knocking the monsters down with great accuracy. Though it was barely apparent, Jackk noticed, the monsters were slowly pushing him back. At last, he decided. He stood his ground and said the words for power knockback and swung his bow with all his might, knocking cursed eyes to the wall opposite him.

Jackk valiantly killed cursed eyes for hours, looking for this deed that that Blackbull person had apparently lost but none of them seemed to drop it when they died so Jackk struggled on, killing them with quick, precision. However, like any human, as time wore by, Jackk grew tired and lost the alertness he held when he originally came here and after those long hours of killing, cursed eyes were able to sneak around him, successfully surrounding him.

Judging that his attention was focused on the cursed eyes in front of him, a cursed eye behind him leapt at him, on the verge of landing a direct and fatal hit on Jackk’s head. Jackk turned his head just before the cursed eye hit him, in shock as he had no idea what he could do. It moved too quickly for Jackk to react and just as Jackk thought he was doomed, an arrow flew through the air, striking the cursed eye right through the skull. Jackk looked in the direction where the arrow came from, expecting to see Royce but instead, he saw an archer dressed in the exact same manner as himself, smiling and waving.

“Hello, Im avericeacc, but you can call me Dan”.

 

To be continued