Glyde will upgrade (Killing it with) Fire, and learn Aero.
Glyde boarded the ship as quickly as he could without pushing anyone out of his way. Knowing, this time, that he would little to no time to secure himself safely, he did the next best thing: crouching low, bracing himself against rushing take off and grabbing hold of whatever he could find that didn't seem movable. Despite these precautions, he was still lurched about between the velocity of the vessel and the shockwaves from the explosions outside. When the ship made its final escape from the bursting planet, Glyde found himself rained upon by debris from the explosion and loose pieces from the ship itself. He fell back hard against the deck, narrowly avoiding scraps of metal shrapnel. Landing backside down, he stayed lying until the commotion was, mostly, concluded. When he pulled back up, his first sight was that of Aria pushing a canon off of Take. She had made quick work of getting him out from underneath, and quite the job of holding on long enough for him to escape. Glyde climbed to a stand, and maneuvered towards the pair. "You've definitely seen better days," he said, watching Take's injured hand as he cast a relatively fruitless Cure on it. "Maybe second one will do more?" Glyde suggested, taking the liberty of casting another Cure to broken limb. "If that doesn't help any, you'll probably need a splint." He looked around for Jim or the Captain. "We have a medical supplies on this ship?" Might need to improvise one. "Are you alright?" he added, poking his head around to Aria.
It was over. The battle had come to an end by Silver’s hand, the Heartlessified Scroop put down with a markedly improved efficiency of Glyde’s teammates. Meanwhile, Glyde kept himself to ponder how his lack of action might have protracted the conflict. Of course it had come from a somewhat more noble place than his previous hesitations; all the same it had proven to be of little value in the long run of the altercation. Had he known Silver would rebound so quickly as he did, he would have been more forward in his approach. It couldn’t be helped, he knew. He couldn’t predict and could only scarcely anticipate the future. But this only seemed to weigh on his conscience more heavily, telling him that he would have to expect such things. There was no time to continue this introspective. Nor was there time for the others to celebrate in the wake of their victory. A violent quake shook the planet. Glyde nearly buckled and fell against the tremor, saving himself with the front end of his Keyblade. He pushed off of it just the same, propping himself with his Keyblade as a balance. It took a bit of doing against the shuddering ground underfoot, but he managed just enough to make a run towards the the ship, shielding his face from the surrounding explosions. He would come to converge into a jumbled formation of his fellow apprentices bounding toward their escape. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he spoke, forcing his voice over the din, in a tone begetting a confession. "Shouldn't have waited so long."
For Glyde: +AP & +HP If I'm not mistaken, I'm not yet at the point of another ability.
There was little as a sliver of explanation given to Jim's dealing with Silver and his crew. Glyde, having made no attempt to veil his interest in knowing anything was, at first, disappointed and upset with the lack of a concise response. It was a fleeting feeling, though, passing in and out in the same moment when the understanding came about from the continued conversation: Jim intended to lead Silver's mutinous band of pirates to the treasure. Glyde's thoughts defaulted to a sellout; Jim was going to let a rabble of thieves have their way. In a few hours, if not minutes, they'd dismiss any agreement of truce and execute everyone that had stood against them. He struggled to shake this feeling off. He yearned to send a shot from his Keyblade straight to Silver's head... He might have done exactly that if he didn't have guns to the back of his own head. After sometime flying, they had arrived at a cliffside. Amid hostilities from Silver, Jim opened the way to the resting place of Flint’s treasure. But there was no time to marvel at the wondrous mountains of richest around them. Almost as soon as they had passed through the portal, Scroop had dealt the (literal) backstabbing blow to Silver. A darkness enveloped the traitorous creature, and before his eyes, Glyde witnessed the transformation of an otherwise normal being into a Heartless. With that, they had been drawn into yet another battle. Glyde immediately rushed towards Jim, and retreated with him as he hauled Silver’s injured body to a safer distance. He relegated himself, then, to observing the battle from a distance; it seemed that there was little need for him to jump in at all, given that the other Keybearers seemed to be handling the fighting without much issue. Thinking it worthwhile to fall back further, Glyde began to step back, thinking to make a beeline towards the ship that they had planned to repair; if he couldn’t be of help in the fighting, he could at least do something to make sure that the repairs wouldn’t be hindered. Then, however, a shot flew passed him on his left side and striking the Heartless. Glyde looked over his shoulder to see Silver, revitalized and fighting-fit. Hearing the rallying words of the veteran sailor, Glyde spurred on… not backward towards the ship, but forward, towards the battle. He knew he was late to get into the battle; but maybe that would be when he was most needed. He was, after all, unspoiled from the previous bouts, and the others had seemed to arrive at a recouping point, with cure spells being cast between one another. Glyde, taking to a tactic that had seemed to work well for him in previous skirmishes, made a circling path aligning himself to the side of the Heartless Scroop. While still moving, he took aim, firing a Shot at the enemy. He continued moving, until he would find himself staring down the Bright Eyes’ back. Raising his Keyblade once more, he cast Fire, hoping that it could work to enough effect on a single target. HP: 35/35 AP: 22/22 MP: 11/20
The journey through the brush was uneventful. Glyde clung to back end of the team as they proceeded across the field, still carrying his Keyblade, which he persisted to use as more a walking stick. Every dozen or so paces, he stole glances back, watching for any signs that they might have been followed; they were fortunate enough to have not been pursued by foot. As they arrived in B.E.N.’s home, Glyde found a place to lay his legs out, and quickly massaged and comforted his still throbbing limbs until he remembered that he could easily heal the injury with magic. He cast a Cure spell on himself, and the soreness from the violent landing faded away to nothing. He spent the remainder of the time in silence, investing his time into stretching his now healed legs. Between motions, he took sizeable bites out of the breakfast Aria had handed to him. A feeling of nausea passed over him, but did so quickly; eating a meal for the first time after a long span always threw his body for a loop. Stomach filled, legs and arms feeling as strong as ever, he commenced a search for an adequate place in the hideout to catch some extra sleep before they moved out… "Uh guys! I think we've got company!" Dang. He had just picked out a good spot on a soft plot of soil to lay for a nap when he heard Jim’s warning. Getting up, he turned his head about the hiding space, uncertain, at first, of what to do. Illiana was looking for another way out of the room; he could run. But then Jim and Aria were still outside; they’d need help if there was a threat, which, by the tone of Jim’s voice, there was. Eventually, his plan settled into lying in wait just inside of the front entrance, but just off to the side; if the pirates rushed through, and none of them noticed him, he could pick one off and try to splinter their crew. It was all unnecessary though. Not two minutes later, Jim called again, requesting that everyone gather outside. Begrudgingly, Glyde abandoned his idea. Resting his Keyblade up across his shoulders, he stepped out to the scene: the pirates, Silver at their head, holding Take and Master Choma hostage. “What?” Glyde asked, failing to conceal an irritated tone. “We’re not fighting? Negotiations? What’s the sitch?”
Treasure Planet… Flint… Treasure… Glyde ran the information through his head as Jim explained it all. An inn. His mind ground to a halt at that one word. His stomach turned, and the pulsing of heart beat intensified. A strange, uninvited, but somewhat welcomed sense of responsibility overcame him. Out of almost nothing, the task at hand felt suddenly personal. You’ve got to help him, you know. A voice in the far back of Glyde’s mind shouted into the foreground of his thoughts. It won’t be easy, he thought. It would have been easier to run away, another voice chimed in. I’ve got to try, I suppose; it’s too late run now. He ducked down at Jim’s call for silence. He fell more violently than he’d have liked, given his sore legs, sparing himself a complete drop by the balance from his Keyblade-crutch. On one knee, he held his Keyblade out, aiming towards the rustling grass; he was sure that one shot could deal with anything that jumped out at them. When the time came, he held his fire, seeing no threat in the rusted, worn out robot that came forth. Inquisitively, he approached the mechanoid being as it scooped Jim up into a tight hug. This only put him within reach of the robot as well, and he too was taken up in a suffocating embrace by the robot’s unexpectedly strong arms. “Glyde,” he said, gasping for air as he replied to the robot.
True to the form he seemed to have set for himself, Glyde trailed as the last to jump aboard the lifeboat. With nothing more than a second to spare, he desperately gripped the side of the boat as it flung down and out from the larger ship. His last second grasp just barely latched him to the vessel as cannon fire further impacted the rapid fall towards solid ground. The landing came in a crash. The boat skidding across the ground and turning over Glyde, relinquished what little grip he had upon it, and flung out. Rolling hard across the ground, he came to his final landing caked face-down in the dirt, hands splayed out to either side of his head. His arms and legs had managed to absorb the brunt of the force, sparing any trauma to his head, neck, or spine. Regardless, it was a act of labor to rise to his feet upon sore, shaking legs. What few steps he managed after arriving at a stand, he took to situate himself upon an aptly-sized rock nearer Jim and the Captain. There, he dropped to a slightly more comfortable seated posture, and massaged his legs. “Nothing broken…” he muttered, unsure of whether or not he should be grateful or disappointed. He looked to Jim, who had taken point in scouting the area ahead. He called forth his Keyblade. Uncaring for etiquette, he stuck the business end into the ground, levied himself to his feet, and proceeded after, using his Keyblade as a walking stick. “Thanks,” he said, abashedly taking a sudden plate of food from Aria; lacking a free hand, he carried it along untouched in spite of the grumbling of stomach. “So… where exactly are we anyways?”
"Well, I--" Glyde started to speak, only to cut himself off... Just as Take had a moment before, Master Choma dashed up the steps to the main deck. Not again, Glyde thought, running up the stairs after the Master. He summoned out his Keyblade near the top, preparing for a possible attack from the mutineers. No such attack came, as the rebelling crew were more concerned with getting into the Captain's cabin. He quickly caught sight of Choma, and followed him in a path around the rear of the wave of pirate mod before going back down to the lower decks. Soon after, he too found his way back to the lifeboat docking. "Good. I'm not the only one that was looking to jump ship," he commented, noting the others making their way down as well.
"Huh?" Glyde broke from his train of thought. Casting a glare across the room he noticed Take and Master Choma emerging from concealment. "A mutiny? I figured there was some unrest up top when I heard all that jeering. Should have guessed there'd be a mutiny; Silver reeked of backstabbing." He cocked his head sideways, retracting as Choma and Take divulged their plans to enter the situation. "Wait, wait!" he attempted to call after Take as he ran up to the top deck. Rolling his eyes he looked to the Master. "Are we serious about this?" he asked, half groaning. "Isn't this mutiny, you know, not really our problem? I mean, if it's just the crew and the captain and whatnot, should we really get involved? We could gather up the others and move on with our task, couldn't we? I mean, isn't what we were looking into bigger than a squabble with pirates?"
I can definitely echo the point on rereading things. Even something so small as reading a sentence, or a paragraph, a second (and maybe third time) can help reinforce the content. I don't know how frequently you reread entire books; I know I used to reread everything I had in cycles. Over time, I found that more of the details of the books a I had read stuck with me more after multiple reads. I honestly feel that people that can pick out and retain even the majority of a book's details (quotes, specific wording of sentences, and such) are more the exception rather the rule. If you find yourself retaining information better when you have a visual, then you could also try visualizing what you're reading. I'll take a guess that you're mostly concerned about retaining the information in novels and short stories and such (as text books usually have no shortage of visual information). Basically, utilize the descriptions given in the texts as your basis, and practice letting your imagination fill in the rest.
"No, no. That's not it either." Glyde retracted his head out from another room that proved not to house any of the lifeboats. He had checked any and every unlocked door he had come by since leaving his bed, only to come across either storage space, doors leading to other areas of the middle deck, or other, unused, cabins. Dissapointed yet again, he stopped outside of the last room, and gathered his thoughts. We went further down, I think. They were somewhere near the bottom of the ship. Glyde looked around, scratching his head, contemplating where he would find the stairs. Overhead, a roar called from the main deck. It sounded less than pleasant though. Perhaps another battle; maybe something even worse. He shook his head dismissively; the throbbing had begun to subside for the time. He still wasn't up for joining whatever jubilation was staging up above him. As long as the ship wasn't about to make a crash landing, or get pulled into black hole, he could stand to be out of the loop. He continued his search. Now with the better recollection of where the boats had been, he sought out a stairwell. Though he was intent on finding such an amenity closer to the sides of the ship, it seemed that the quickest route away from the ruckus was to move closer towards it. Keeping from ascending any stairs to the main deck, he made for the ship's midsection. Soon after, he arrived in a space directly underneath whatever was happening on deck. From that close, it only struck him as more apparent that the proceedings up top weren't anything he fancied getting involved in. "Stairs down?" he asked himself... not noticing Take or Master Choma always holding out mere feet away.
Black eyes opened upon a faintly lit night. Lying upon his backside, a young boy stared in horror into the fading night sky as a mass of pitch-black clouds cascaded over the window into the cosmos; soon, even the light from the stars and moon would be swallowed by the mass. The boy ruffled his dark hair, parting its unruly strands away from his eyes. Still lying, he looked around. In every direction, the only scene was that of ruin and chaos. The spreading Darkness had all but destroyed the town, possibly the world itself. All the buildings stood in shambles at best, left smoldering piles at worst. Above him, still clung to the remaining framework of the once proud hotel, hung the rustic sign reading: “Homestead.” In a billow of air, a long creek and sudden crack pierced above the calamity as the last strength of the supports gave under the pressure of the storm. The Homestead began its crushing descent towards the ground, driving the proverbial final nail into the world’s coffin. If nothing else going on had been enough to spur the boy to rise and move, the falling of this sign did the trick. He sprung from the ground, a feat that surprised him. Narrowly evading his untimely demise beneath the wreckage of his old home, he trudged some distance away as the entirety of the hotel framework collapsed in tow with its name. When the last of the building had reached the ground, and the last echoes of its crash faded into the wind, the boy turned back. Peering into the whirling dust and smoke, his eyes shed tears over this loss. He began sprinting back, running towards the cloud of debris and shadow; if he was going to die here, he might as well die with his home… “Ah…” he tripped, falling face first to the packed, dirt road. He threw a look to his feet, searching for the cause of his fall. There upon the breaking earth, still glimmering despite the surrounding darkness, sat a key-like artifact. “Keyblade,” he said, scorning the name and the relic on equal terms as he clasped the thing in his right hand. “It’s your fault this—” He started, but cut himself off, shaking his head. “But it was my hand—…” The ground shattered and collapsed beneath his feet. He, like the Homestead sign, descended, falling through the Darkness to whatever resided on the other side. As the last of the nigh sky fell out of his view, his face distorted into a blind fury. In a primal yell, he spoke his final words towards the out-of-sight sky. “DAMN YOU GLYDE!” Glyde shouted, bolting upright in his bed. He breathed deep, staggering breaths, trembling as he fought to keep his upper body propped on the support of his arms. Slowly, arms shaking, he wiped his forehead with his forearm; a cold run of sweat, or tears, or both, had flushed from him as he emerged from his sleep. He took a long look around the room as his vision adjusted to the first glimpses of the waking hours. The other occupants of the cabin, specifically Jim, Take, and Chrono, had all awoken and departed already. Glyde sighed, and let his breathing steady. Feeling safer, he set his feet to the floor. Not wanting to linger in the empty room, he shot up. In a split second, his hand clasped his forehead, squeezing tightly as though to counteract the outward throbbing of his brain. “Air,” he muttered, “need air.” Still massaging the aching head, he left the cabin, wandering aimlessly for several minutes before a thought occurred to him. “The Lifeboats…” he said, softly. He wasn’t certain how useful they would be. They had to be better than nothing though. “How did we get to them last night?” he wondered.
"Well then..." the dark pupils of Glyde's eyes darted back and forth; he into his upper lip, restraining from any further comment. Illiana's sudden outburst, for the brief stir that it had caused, shifted the mood to a place that didn't seem ideal. The group stood in a brief moment of silence. As per his custom, Glyde took in this silence, only to learn that it was one of a different sort than what he preferred. It wasn't thoughtful silence that came in solitude. Nor was it the relaxing sort of silence that came with the night's rest. This silence was of the awkward sort; the sort that came in the wake of a shocking or embarrassing moment. It was the silence that clung to the air when no one present could muster into words what to say or how to respond. He turned his head, looking wide-eyed towards Chrono. "I think I'll do the same," he said, gesturing towards Take's direction. He looked up towards Master Choma, whom he had forgotten was still there, and bowed hesitantly. "I'm spent, Master. I believe I'll be going to get some rest now." In a relative hurry, he left the deck. Fortunate to have found a helpful crew member to point him in the right direction, he found the lodgings that had been arranged for him and the others. Within moments of laying down upon the bed, he was drifting swiftly to sleep.
"Well, he said they're Princesses of Heart, right?" Glyde spoke up from the back of the group. Rather, he spoke softly, in an effort to keep the discussion confined within the range that only the group of Keybearers could hear; no one else on the ship needed to know their business. He pressed his way closer in to the middle of the cluster created by his peers. When he spoke again, his voice dropped a bit lower. "Seems to make sense that, if we're looking looking for them, it couldn't hurt to start by finding people who are simply princesses in terms of royalty. I mean, it worked that way for Kida. Maybe that's just how it is?"
"Is it... is it over?" Glyde gazed, pigeon-like, around the boat. From the looks of it, the battle had been won; the Demon Tower, and any remnant thereof, was nowhere to be seen. He let out a relieved breath. His arms, which had been propping him up where he sat, slid in to his sides as he laid down flat on the lifeboat's floor; the Keyblade fell from his hand, vanishing. "That was an experience," he said, yawning out the last word. He rubbed his eyes out, heaving a sigh and setting a hand on a rumbling stomach. "How long ago was Eventide?" he wondered aloud, thinking of the last time he had gotten any rest. Don't go falling asleep now... He followed the others, trailing at the back end as they made their way to the deck. He would come to a stop upon the arrival of Master Choma, and sulked at the news he brought. "So we're on our own, then."
Glyde will take 3 AP boosts and 1 HP Boost. Glyde will gain the ability Fire Boost.
Glyde swallowed down an empty throat when he heard Illiana order Jim to charge into the swarm. He tightened his grip to the lifeboat, holding for dear life as Jim veered in and raced towards the horde. Glyde rolled his eyes at his ally's scornful tirade. If she gets us killed... The boat slowed slightly as it reached its target. Making the best of the situation, Glyde sprung up, releasing his hold to grasp his Keyblade with both hands. Being largely depleted of magic, he had little choice but to slash and thrust his blade into the Heartless as the lifeboat passed through their dispersing ranks. Though a difficult undertaking, Glyde managed to stave off the attacks, and deliver his own flurry of cuts and jabs with less hassle than he had expected. The end of the charge left him physically drained; he collapsed to the floor of the lifeboat, propped up by his arms, trying to catch his breath again. HP: 20/35 AP: 0/16 MP: 2/20
I would highly recommend The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss. It's the first book of a (hopefully soon to be completed) trilogy. It's a bit of a different take on the fantasy genre(s). I recently finished reading it for the first time myself, and have started the second book (The Wise Man's Fear), which is also starting off to be a great read.
The swarm lashed out, striking in mass like a colony of disturbed ants. Despite having braced against the momentum of the vessel, Glyde was caught out of form by the attack. Shaken, he lost his grip upon the lifeboat, just managing to catch himself before being tossed overboard. He pulled back up quickly, if still with a stumbling posture. When he resumed his hold onto the boat, his grip was more firm, expectant of another wave from the horde of Heartless. "If we get too close right now, we won't last long," he shouted, mostly looking to Jim, who seemed to nod in agreement. "Let's hang back for now and wear them down a bit before moving in." The lifeboat drifted, holding away from the swarm. Looking ahead, Glyde caught on to the movement of the other lifeboat as it followed a spread of orbs released from the swarm in the previous attack. "Magic," he said under his breath. "Let's try to give them some cover," he called to Illiana. He directed his Key towards the enemy, attempting to set his aim closer to where an attack on Take's lifeboat might come from. "Fire!" A second burst of fire shot out towards the shadowy mass. HP: 25 AP: 16 MP: 2
