| | | | (Cough cough) Hello. I am Bradley EmeraldThorn. I have chronicled reports on many happenings here at Ravenwood, such as the truth behind the war of the Titans, and the loss of Bartleby's eye and the Death classroom. This time, however, I have a very...different story to tell. One about myself, one of the Spiral's greatest warriors. Me, and, of course, my team of powerful Diviners. Yes, I speak of the StormChasers. This happened long ago, years before I was known as Bradley EmeraldThorn.
The StormChasers were all but unstoppable, as I was their leader. At the time, I was known as Bradley StormChaser, hence the name of the team. Now, at this time, I can't tell the entire story, but I can get you acquainted with all of my allies. Of course, the leader was myself, as I stated earlier. My second-in-command and close friend was Clarissa ThunderCloud. I found her in a distant world, farther then Dragonspyre. She participated in rigged fights for petty cash. As the fights were rigged, she could always amaze people. The people who "owned" her and her services tried to set up fights where she couldn't win, as they had trouble rigging fights where she couldn't lose. The way she would always amaze people shook me, as well. She could summon marvelous creatures to interrupt her fight, while she won with her intense comprehension of multiple styles of Martial Arts. I found her one day, walking down the roads of her world with her, unbeknownst at the time, brother, Zachary ThunderCloud. I heard the call of a trio of Lighting Bats, and I looked in their direction. I saw a large crowd of people, all screaming. As I shoved my way in, I caught a glimpse of the Lighting Bats fleeing. As I moved in further, I saw Clarissa, standing triumphantly over a large man, who looked unconscious. I thought I recognized her, for she looked almost exactly like her brother. As she saw me, with my Bolt Blade in hand, she called "Is this my next challenger?! Who would dare wield a weapon against me?!" I shifted my grip on my blade to conceal it more thoroughly. "I am not a challenger" I replied. "I am from a long, long distance."
"What would your origin have to do with anything?! I expect a fight!" She lunged. I caught her at two feet away, and threw her to the ground. "I will not fight you. You would get hurt." She spat to the ground, and lunged again. I caught her, turned her around, and threw her into the ground again, front-fist this time. "If you attack me again, this blade might just be in a different position." I threatened. She lunged once more. I reached for my blade, but it was gone. I looked, and saw she had it. She slashed at me, multiple times. She missed each one. "I...will...not...lose...to...you!" She grunted, slashing again at each word. As she stabbed toward my center, I shifted left, moved, caught her arm, spun her around, and disarmed her of my blade. Multiple Lightning Bats appeared, and gathered around my head, screeching. I commanded them to leave. Before they went, Clarissa had climbed to the top of a streetlight, and was ready to drop onto me. As the Lightning Bats left, she fell. I threw my blade in a random direction and caught her. And so, the first member of the StormChaser joined the team.
Clarissa's brother, Zachary, had only just enrolled at the time. He was not very powerful. Being one of the greatest warriors the Spiral had ever seen, however, I had special permission from Professor Brewstrom to tutor him. One day, during a scheduled training session, however, he discovered the full power of the Storm school. As he had just reached his adept status in the eyes of Balestrom, I decided to teach him to command Krakens. He was a fast learner. He knew how to control them with ease within minutes. However, I had left him to practice alone for a while to deal with something. When I got back,the school of storm was in ruins. I sifted through the rubble, frantically trying to find my friend. I couldn't. Everyone was gone, storm students, other students, professors, everyone. Much to my surprise, when I left Ravenwood, the rest of Wizard City was fine. Students, professors, everyone was back. I asked Ambrose what happened with Ravenwood, and he said he didn't know what I meant. I went to show him. I walked through the gate, with Ambrose right behind me. "I don't see anything wrong." Ambrose said. Then the strangest thing happened. He walked through the gate, and vanished. I couldn't hear him, couldn't see him, he was just gone. "Ambrose! Ambrose! Where are you!?" I shouted. I turned to face the tunnel, and Ambrose was there, walking away. I gathered all the students I knew, and the same thing happened with all of them. I thought I was insane. Then, Zachary called me to his dorm. He told me that he had summoned something he had never seen before. Stronger than a Leviathan. Larger than a Triton. We didn't know what it was. I called Clarissa to the dorm, and told her what happened. We went to Ravenwood to investigate. Everything was still in ruins. This time, however, Clarissa and Zachary could see what I saw. Ruined classrooms, dead plants, fallen trees. We didn't know what happened. We moved around what was left of Bartleby, and saw a massive flood, running of where the death school was. We didn't know where it led to, so we did what all diviners would do.
We jumped.
Falling, I looked up, and saw the twisted remains of Ravenwood revert to their original forms. It was a forced image. Something was trying to get us down there. Something that only wanted us to come.
As we fell, the running water turned into a waterfall, which opened up into an ocean. The team landed in the ocean, and we plummeted to the deep seafloor. As we are diviners, we could hold our breath for enormous amounts of time, some could even breath underwater. I was one of the lucky few. As we fumbled our way through the dark ocean, we stumbled across a cave with a pocket of air. We surfaced, and I told my team to wait. I went exploring through the ocean, and I came across a dome-like structure. I looked for an entrance. Nothing. I called my team to my position. We searched, and searched, until finally, I found a way in. We went in, and came across a beautiful utopia. We explored a bit, and found what seemed to be magic schools, sun, moon, and star. That is the way I discovered two things, the newest StormChaser, and the lost utopian dreamscape that was, and still is, Celestia.
One of our more recent members, Blaine StormStrider, was relatively weak until I found him. One day, when I returned to Celestia, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked. Nothing. Movement again, in the other direction. I look. Nothing. Suddenly, a great force hit me from the back. I turn around. I see something-or someone-diving into the flooded entrance. I go to investigate. When I am no further than 3 feet away, I see something I never expected to see. A wizard. A diviner. He jumped on me with his full force, and pointed his blade to my throat.
"Leave this place!" He shouted. I threw him off me, careful not to seriously injure him, and staggered to my feet. He knew, with that kind of force, I was a Diviner.
"I will not let you ruin this world like you did mine!" He said, not making a bit of sense.
"Ruin this world? Like I ruined yours?" I asked. "I am Bradley StormChaser, leader of the StormChasers.
"No, you ruined my world! You can't be him!" He said. "I refuse to believe it!"
He lunged. Blade first, he aimed for my chest. I drew my blade, and stopped his. I remember the technique that had worked for me thus far. Slash left, stab, retreat blade, stab. slash right, retreat blade, slash left, slash right, repeat. He knew the way I fought him that I would refuse to kill him. As I thrust my blade once more, something hit the dome, and pierced it's way through. Distracted, I looked in the direction of the noise. Blaine saw I was distracted, and threw a blow to my head. I was on the ground, dumbstruck, and Blaine was running to the noise. Something was trying to cut its way into Celestia. The world was secret no longer. I got up and ran in the direction Blaine went. I saw Blaine, struggling his blade against three others. I knew he was outmatched. I rushed in to help him. I drew my blade, and sent a slash down where the four blades met. The three invaders sent some sort of signal to their vehicle, and a small army piled out. Me and Blaine back into each other. We knew we were outnumbered. We knew we were outgunned. We knew we were outmaneuvered We knew they were outmatched.
And then, two of my closest friends. My Manta Ray, who I found one day exploring the outside of Celestia, named for the world itself, Celestian. And my Storm Hound, who I found, abandoned, outside the school of storm, as a mere pup, named Maximus.
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