The Crane Hermit Finale (Complete)

The Crane Hermit Finale

Medium Quest

Requirement: Must have completed The Crane Hermit Part III.

Reward: 1,000 zeni and Crane Cloak.

After your brutal show of strength, Master Shen is inspired to start up a new Crane School. He has set his eyes on a temple in the snow mountains, inhabited by some monks. Go and evict them. But, beware, they are master martial artists, so you'll need to use everything you know.

Crane Cloak - Accessory - A heavy cloak worn by the students of Master Shen. Increases strength by +1,000 in combat. Boosts all XP gained from training by +8.

Several days had already passed since the fifteen year old boy had begun his travel. He had left his mansion in West City in search for something that may awaken even more of his dormant power that he knew resided within him.

The young man had decided to take a brief break from his travels to train. He had very little combat experience and thus his control over his abilities was all but perfect. Standing in the center of a massing of tree Ryouji took a deep breath, took his fighting stance and landed several blows on the surrounding trees. With each strike a bright purple light flashed from his fist and the trees shook violently with every punch.

Ryouji’s eyes darted to his right as he felt a presence nearing; he continued his training as if unaware of the impending threat. The moment the man walked through the tree line, Ryouji swing his arms around slicing the air with open hands as if they were swords, and shoved his fingers against the man’s chest and under the his chin.

“What is it that you want old man?” Ryuji spoke softly as to make sure the carnivorous animals of the forest cold not hear him.

The person that stood before him was a small thin man with grey hair in the style that would resemble that of a clown. He had a mustache that seemed to be two separate enteties that formed on each side of his nose. He wore a green and gold martial arts gi with the symbol for ‘Crane’ on the front, a weird black bird like hat sat atop his head and his eyes were covered by sunglasses that just made him look like a douche.

“No I need nothing form you,” The old man replied shaking his hands back and forth wildly. “I simply came here looking for my disciple.” The strange man looked around a bit before returning his gaze to the boy who still and his fingers pressed into his chest. “You haven’t seen anyone have you?”

“No,” Ryouji replied bluntly, lowering his hands. “My apologies oji-san, I had mistaken you for someone else.”

“Oh really?” The man raised an eyebrow. “Are there lots of older men chasing you around?”

“Eh?” Ryouji took a few steps back as he became flustered. He did not want the man to get the wrong impression. “N-not at all. It’s just - never mind. Sorry again.”

“No need for apologies,” The man responded “but if you really want to make it up to me I have a task that needs doing.”

“Of course Oji-sama,” Ryouji responded with the most sincere smile he could muster. He did not like this man, too much was unknown about him and he seemed a bit odd, but he couldn’t let the world know of his presence just yet. He had to continue his charade. “anything to make up for the misunderstanding.”

“First of all, call me Master Shen,”

“Of course Master Shen,” Ryouji responded reluctantly. He was even more upset that this old man had the nerve to tell a young boy who had just met to call him Master.

“As you’re aware of, I am missing my previous student after sending him on a task for me. If you are willing to complete his task, I would be most grateful. Of course I would reward you with something special.”

“I would be honored.” Ryouji responded with a graceful bow.


(WC: 579)

“Damn old fool,” Ryouji muttered as he slowly made his way up one of the cliff sides. Master Shen had told him of an old monastery that he wished to use as a training dojo. He neglected to mention that it was at the highest point of the Northern Mountain Range. “I hope by special present he didn’t want to do anything lecherous.” Ryouji shivered at the thought of the idea.

The boy’s hand grabbed ahold of a large rock on the top of the cliff and slowly pulled himself up over the edge. He sprawled out as he looked up into the sky. It was unusually blue today. Perhaps this physical gauntlet was a way to release himself from the world of the Humans. Up here, high in the mountains, the air was a lot cleaner and he could feel it. The cold crisp air stung his face, but he didn’t hate it. It was almost enlightening.

Looking over, Ryouji discovered that he had inadvertently found the monastery. The large old style building was surrounded by a giant wall that stood about three times his height. He could hear the voices of several people from inside the walls. The boy hopped to his feet and searched along the wall for the opening.

Turning the corner he saw the front of the monastery. Its great steeple at the very center with a large copper bell hanging from its top looked as old as the mountains themselves. Ryouji slowly made his way inside. He could sense all the glares he had received when he first entered. Each of the robed monks whispered amongst one another about the new arrival. He could only assume that they were not used to visitors being up so far in the mountains.

(WC:296+579=875)

“May as well get this over with.”

Ryouji placed his hands together and closed his eyes. A purple glowing magic circle formed beneath his feet. There were strange symbols inside the circle and lines connecting varying parts of the circle to one another. The symbols were characters of an ancient writing that the Shins once used long ago, before the creation of the universal language.

The glowing light caught the attention of the monks as they stared in awe, unsure of what they were witnessing. A bright pillar of violet light shot upward from the circle and high into the sky. The light pierced the clouds and with its fiery state it caused the clouds to begin to swirl around the pillar.

All of a sudden, Ryouji felt a burning sensation on his back. He looked back to see the beam of light just as it slammed into his back sending him flying face first into the tile of the courtyard floor. The pillar slowly dissipated as the purple circle slowly faded away.

“Damnit,” Ryouji cursed as he slowly got back to his feet. “Screw that old bastard. He neglected to tell me these guys were martial artists.”

It seemed as though the monks did not sit idly by as they had taken up arms, several of them had weapons. The weapons ranged everywhere from bladed to blunt, from steel to wood.

“Fine then,” Ryouji shouted as a magic portal opened just in front of him. He reached in and pulled out twin swords. “Come at me.”

(WC:257+875=1132)

The cold, thin air carried the sound of clanging metal far and wide. Sword against sword, steel versus steel, the battle for the monastery was underway. Ryouji was not expecting a fight when he arrived, but he knew now that was an ignorant oversight on his part. The monks were highly adept at hand to hand combat, much unlike Ryouji, and so they put up one hell of a fight. He had only recently started training with sword combat training and was still not very skilled.

Blocking the attacks from the left, evading strikes from behind, Ryouji found it incredibly difficult to keep up with the seemingly endless assault. One crack on the back and two to his gut, a pair of tonfas sent him falling to the ground with a thud.

“Shit,” Ryouji muttered as he mustered up his speed and teleported away. He reappeared at the top of the steeple. “I can’t deal with close range, at least not with these guys.”

Ryouji extended his arms as two circles of purple energy spun around his wrists, generating purple energy in his palms. Soon the balls of energy shot downward into the courtyard, like a rain of violet fire. Each blast exploded on contact, filling the cold air with dust and debris. The shockwaves of each explosion shook the steeple.

“Damnit,” Ryouji bit his lip. “I can’t damage the place much more; otherwise that bastard won’t be happy.” He didn’t like helping such a man but the challenge would provide a valuable combat experience.

(WC: 255+1132=1387)

The boy wasn’t on the roof by himself for long as the monks had quickly found their way up to the top as well. The fighting holy men had him surrounded and each one drew their hands as ki balls formed in their palms. These guys weren’t nearly as strong as Ryouji, but he knew of the truth behind the saying ‘strength in numbers’ and their numbers were high. Even though he had taken several of them out already there numbers were still overpowering; he barely had time to think.

Ryouji jumped high into the sky just as the monks shot their energy balls. The orbs flew off in all directions, crashing into the mountainside and disappearing into the cloud filled sky. He was lucky that just a few days before he discovered that he could make his body as light as a feather by anchoring his magical energy at key points in his body and then at the precise moment he jumps, forcefully shifting that energy upward.

Ryouji landed in the courtyard, in the very center of the mass of monks. Several energy orbs as well as thrown weapons came flying in his directions. The boy threw his arms to each side, palms out, and the orbs crashed into an invisible barrier, sending spark of purple everywhere. The weapons simply hit the barrier and bounced off, falling to the ground.

Ryouji let his arms fall to his side, causing the barrier to fade away. He raised his arms once again as violet magic circles formed around his wrists. He shot forth a volley of magic blasts as he spun around. The intense spinning caused Ryouji to lose sight of all of his opponents which was a risk that he had decided to take. The monks however, had also noticed the opening and one of them jumped from the rooftop, sword in hand, and went for an assault from above.

The boy looked up as he sensed the attack, but unfortunately he was not quick enough. The blade had wedged itself deep in his collar bone. With a loud yell of immense pain, a powerful aura shot up around Ryouji, sending all the monks flying backward, including the sword wielder.

”Curse you all!”, Ryouji roared as his aura swirled around him.

Ryouji’s magical energy tripled in strength and the sword that was lodged in his shoulder started to disintegrate.

”How dare you try to stop the winds of change! You will never bring an end to my dream. I will take this corrupted, festering world and turn it into a world that would make even the gods envious.”

(WC: 438+1387=1525)

Ryouji had never been this angry before. Perhaps it was the large gash in his shoulder, perhaps it was the fact that he was only doing this as an apology to an old man or perhaps it could simply be the thin air and the lack of oxygen, but whatever it was, it pissed him off.

With a roar, the young man teleported behind two robed monks. He grabbed hold of their heads and smashed them together. The sound of their skulls breaking echoed through the mountains. Another monk attempted to strike him from behind with a long staff. Ryouji quickly shifted to the right and grabbed the pole between his arm and his torso. He then spun around to rip the pole from the grip of the warrior monk. He then released the hold on the pole, snatched it in mid-air, snapped it over is knee and impaled the monk with the weapon.

Two more monks came from what seemed like out of nowhere. Each of them grabbed one of his arms.

”You’re going to wish you hadn’t done that.”

This time a yellow magic circle appeared beneath Ryouji. The symbols were different and the lines that made up the circle were also arranged differently. With a crack of thunder, bolts of electricity shot forth from the circle and engulfed the young man. Arcs of electricity jumped from him to the two men sending them stumbling backward as they were forced to let go.

A portal opened once again and Ryouji reached inside and grabbed hold of the weapon. He spun around, removing a large warhammer from the portal and slammed the hammer up against the side of the first monk, sending him flying to the floor. The second monk jumped back to avoid the attack, but Ryouji released the hammer at the presice moment to send it flying into the ribcage of the warrior.

”Is that all you have monks?”

(WC: 322+1525=1847)

The ground began to rumble. The tiles loosened from the battle vibrated on the ground. The dirt caused by the explosions fell from the temple walls with every loud thud.

“What in the-“, Ryouji paused as the source of the noise came out from around the edge of the building and into sight. It was a beast of a man, even larger than the warrior he had befriended only days before. He stood half as tall as the temple itself, a good ten feet tall with long jet black hair reaching down to his knees. The brown robe he wore was far too small on him; it was almost comical as it barely covered his crotch. “So you must be the final boss then,” Ryouji kid as he felt almost relieved to know he would soon be able to leave.

“I stomp you down,” The teen foot tall man threatened in his booming voice. “I beat you and save the worship building.”

“Great, you barely speak a proper word. I hope you can take a hit better than you can talk.”

Ryouji jumped back as bright violet magic circles formed on his wrist again. The spun wildly as he launched a volley of energy blasts directly at the giant. Each one collided with the monk in a series of explosions, which shook the very foundation of the temple.

“That was close,” Ryouji discontinued his assault and waited for the tremors to die down. “well that’s that. I guess I will just go-“, but the boy was interrupted as a large hand smacked him on the backside of his head, sending him flying face first into the outer most wall of the courtyard. The attack was so strong that when Ryouji crashed into the wall, it came crashing down around him.

“Yay,” The giant hopped up and down waving his hands around. The entire mountain shook with every jump. “I win, I win.”

The air was peaceful. The countless corpses of the monks lay scattered about the courtyard and rooftop, silent and still. The giant turned to retreat back into his cave just on the backside of the temple, but before he could take any steps closer to that haven, a bright purple pillar shot up through the rubble and into the sky.

“Pretty,” the giant commented as he turned around to watch the pillar rise into the sky.

With a large beam of energy, the giant went from staring to flying. He flew, however unwillingly, into the side of the mountain. The very instant he collided with the mountain side a small rockslide buried him underneath a pile of boulders.

“Not so pretty when your underneath a pile of rocks huh?” Ryouji mocked as he slowly crawled out of his own pile of stone. His left leg was broken and several of his ribs broken. He may have also suffered a minor concussion from the initial blow, but nothing he couldn’t handle. The boy took a seat atop one of the larger stone blocks and hunched over. “This was by far my least favorite afternoon.”

(WC: 515+1847=2362)

“Well I suppose I should go inform the old man that the deed is-“ Ryouji paused as the sound of falling rocks echoed throughout the courtyard. “You have got to be kidding me.”

The purple haired boy got back onto his feet, though with great difficulty and slowly made his way toward the rubble the giant had been buried under. No sooner had he taken that first step than the monk burst through the rocks shouting in anger.

How could such a man exist, even the mighty warrior from before would have fallen to such an attack. His magical energies have been depleted and he was seriously injured. How could one man, with no power defeat a beast of this strength? He had to run. The pain in his leg was bearable as long as he didn’t apply any pressure to it, but the broken ribs stabbed him with every stride he made. The wound on his shoulder started to bleed again and the loss of blood slowly started to take its toll on him.

Luckily for the purple haired orphan, the giant had suffered major injuries as well. With a dislocated arm and broken foot, the last remaining monk had very little to bring to the fight as well. Still, a ten foot tall behemoth against a five foot ten inch scrawny boy, there really was no comparison. The beast had only to sit on the boy to crush his body and at this rate, that looked to be a strong possibility.

“Running is pointless,” Ryouji concluded. “we are both far to injured to get far and besides, his strides are far larger than mine. There’s no way I can out limp him.” The boy chuckled, he couldn’t believe himself. Why was he still making jokes at a time like this? “My only option is to defeat him with my abilities, but how?”

The giant monk was closing in slowly and Ryouji looked around for anything that may be of any use. It was tough to find anything through the pile of brick and stone that lay scattered about. Even the bodies hid potential means of defeating the oversized monk. That’s when it came to him.

“The monks!” With a grin Ryouji slowly walked to the other side of the courtyard, out of site of the giant who continued his slothy approach. “Hopefully he is as dumb as he appears.”

Ryouji bent down and in great pain he was able to lift up one of the monks. He had chosen the one who was pierced by a spear as he looked the least dead. He removed the spear and cleaned the wound as best as possible. The boy genius heard the giant’s footsteps nearing and new he had little time and if he wanted to make this work, he had to do it perfectly.

Ryouji mustered the last bit of magical energy he could harness and tied the monk to his body by the wrists, ankles, waist and forehead with an invisible string so that he would be pressed up flat behind him. He pulled the hood down so that the giant couldn’t see his closed eyes.

As the giant rounded the corner he paused, obviously surprised to see a monk still alive.

“M-Ma-Master?”, the big brute questioned, shocked when instead of Ryouji he saw one of the monks.

“Yes it is I, your master.” Ryouji spoke in a voice altered by magic to disguise his own. Luckily the hood had also cast a shadow over the mouth of the dead monk. “I have killed the intruder and thrown him off the cliff.”

“Yay,” The colossal man swayed in jubilance. “Master so strong. Even Zorkar had trouble with tiny man.”

“Yes, I know Zorkar.” Ryouji responded, relieved to see that the giant had fallen for the ruse. “Do you believe in our lord?”

“Of course Master.”

“Good, now do you believe in me?”

“I believe in Master.”

“Great, now would you like for your pain to be over?”

“Oh Master,” Zorkar began to weap as he tried to talk. It was obvious he was in a copious amount of pain, but so was he. “I would like free of pain.”

“That is good Zorkar. All you need to do is a leap of faith.”

“A leap faith Master?”

“Yes, Zorkar. Simply leap from this cliff with the faith that our lord will come to your aid and rescue you from the pain.”

“Master, thanks you.” Zorkar wiped the tears from his eyes with his one good arm and slowly made his way to the edge of the cliff. “Save me oh Lord.”

Ryouji simply watched as his greatest enemy had just taken his own life. The magic bonds broke as he and the corpse fell to the ground. Though he was in much pain, he couldn’t help but look to the sky and smile. For it was not strength that one the battle that day, it was his imagination.

“A world filled with imagination. That’s the world I want to create.”

(WC: 842+2362=3204)