[League of Legends] Annie and Friends

[Ryuu]

this is a fun game


    Annie leaned against the tower and thunked the side of her head against it in a slow rhythm. She crossed her arms and watched for anyone popping out of the bushes ahead of her. Waiting for minions to spawn was her least favorite part of League matches(aside from dying--dying really really sucked). Annie sighed and started tapping her foot. She had grabbed her items--an amplification tome and a healing potion--and charged through the bottom lane, straight to the tower. Her partner hadn't even arrived yet. She wasn't even sure who her partner would be, and her summoner hadn't thought to inform her.
     
    "Hello." A very level voice greeted her with such sudden and detatched politeness that it almost made Annie jump out of her skin. The girl turned to see a taller female-looking robot person towering above her.
     
    "Uh, hi Miss Orianna." Annie gave a sideways smile. This was Annie's first time meeting the Lady of Clockwork directly. She had heard other champions and some summoners talk about how eerie Orianna was. Annie tilted her head as she looked over Orianna for the first time and decided that she didn't know what they were talking about. After all, Mr. Blitzcrank was a robot and everyone liked him, right?
     
    Orianna's head twitched to the right, and her arms twisted behind her to wind the large key sticking out of her back. Annie decided she knew exactly what they were talking about. Orianna's head stiffly twisted back to face Annie. "You are Annie, The Dark Child, yes?"
     
    Annie couldn't surpress a frown. She didn't really like her champion title. "Yeah. Just call me Annie."
     
    "It is nice to meet you." Orianna's head twitched to the left this time, wearing a rigid smile. "I am a fan."
     
    Annie smiled awkwardly and nodded, unconsciously holding Tibbers to her chest. It wasn't often someone said that they were a fan. Usually, people would cross the street to avoid walking near her. Annie kind of liked this change.
     
    Orianna bent over to look at the stuffed bear, a process that caused several loud ticking sounds to emerge from the inside of the clockwork girl. "Hello, Tibbers." She waved.
     
    Tibbers shivered a bit in Annie's hands. He told Annie that she was unsettling. Annie pat him on the head and she eyed up the large sphere floating next to Orianna. "Um, what's that?"
     
    "This is The Ball." It floated next to Orianna and she stroked it lovingly. "The Ball is very excited for todays match."
     
    "I see." Annie watched as a large stalk popped out of The Ball, the eye on top of it oberving her cautiously. "Is it your pet?"
     
    Orianna paused for a moment, her skirt making a single rotation around her. "Yes."
     
    "Minions have spawned!" The announcer lady's voice boomed across the battlefield. The Ball crackled in response.
     
    "This will be fun." Orianna said with a crooked grin.
     
    Annie focused on the magic in the field and readied her spells. "Let's be friends and do our best." It was her phrase for every time she met someone knew on the Field(Annie briefly recalled saying it to Amumu--he burst into tears upon hearing it).
     
    "Yes." Was Orianna's short response, and the minions charged past them into the combat zone. Without sparing a moment, Orianna stepped in front of Annie with an awkward and twitchy gait. Annie moved forward hesitantly, watching the bush to their right. Ever since she met Mr. Garen, she's been afraid of looking in it.
     
    The Ball whizzed by Annie's head and straight into the bush. There was a screetching sound and a high pitched yelp. Moments later, she could see Miss Ashe and Miss Sona retreating behind the purple minions.
     
    Annie shouted a greeting at them. Orianna paused in the middle of attacking an enemy minion and followed suit. Ashe looked up and waved tentatively. Sona fit in a few notes of melody that Annie recognized as her greeting, and the battle between the two groups started for real.
     
    "Are they your friends?" Orianna asked as The Ball charged forth through the minions towards Sona. She barely blocked the blow with her instrument.
     
    "Yeah." Annie nodded and blasted a minion away with a large fireball. "I try to be friends with everyone."
     
    "That is nice." Orianna threw a strange triangle blade into a minion charging at her, knocking it to the ground. "Friends are fun."
     
    "Yup. I really like my friends." Annie picked off another minion.
     
    The Ball rushed from Sona to Ashe, and Orianna twirled as if she was a ballerina--the most natural looking and fluid movement Annie had seen the girl do yet. A charge of energy shot out from The Ball, striking both Ashe and Sona.
     
    Within minutes, Annie and Orianna had pushed to their enemy's tower. Ashe and Sona were using the large structure as cover, trying to pick off minions as the tower's barrage ripped through the wave. Ashe was having trouble leveling her bow, and Sona appeared exhausted already. Not even Sona's healing songs could keep up with the pinpoint strikes of The Ball.
     
    "Your pet is really cool." Annie flung another large fireball at the first minion that left tower range.
     
    "The Ball is having fun." Was Orianna's reply.
     
    There was a crackling in Annie's ears. "Annie," a distant and unfamiliar voice called to her, "watch the river. Udyr may take advantage of your position."
     
    Annie didn't recognize this summoner's voice. She surmised that he must be new. Annie turned towards the river, and sure enough, Udyr was charging at her, fist raised. She didn't have time to react--there was no way to avoid the blow. She shut her eyes tight.
     
    The blow never came, however. Annie opened her eyes to see The Ball in front of her, blocking Udyr's fist. It pulsed energy and Annie felt light on her feet. She took advantage of that feeling to almost literally fly away from Udyr, while The Ball flew around him, leaving deep lacerations with each pass.
     
    Annie turned and skid to a stop, charging another spell. Udyr made to retreat, but the energy of The Ball made his limbs heavy. Annie hit him with a fireball, blasting him off of his feet and to the ground. When he didn't get up, she assumed that her spell had killed him.
     
    "The Ball will protect my friends." Orianna said with a smile. Annie smiled back.
     
    "Miss Orianna, do you know how to tower dive?"
     
    Orianna paused again, almost looking tense. "Yes."
     
    "Okay." Annie giggled. "Let's do that, then."
     
    Annie ran ahead, pushing through her minions into tower range. She could hear Ashe shout "oh no, not again!" and a disjointed tune from Sona. Annie rushed on the back of a cannon minion and climbed to it's top. The Ball blasted forth into Ashe and Sona once again. The two moved away from it--right into Annie's sight.
     
    Annie leapt from the top of the cannon minion and released Tibbers. The bear fell from above in a great burst of flame, landing upon both women. Annie turned away from the carnage and ran opposite of the tower as fast as her legs could carry her. The tower's magical blasts tore apart the ground behind her. She knew she wasn't fast enough--she'd get hit at least once. She just hoped it wouldn't kill her.
     
    The next blast sounded strangely muted. Annie looked over her shoulder to see that The Ball had absorbed yet another attack. It burst with energy, and Annie felt as if she was gliding across the ground. She ran out of the towers range and towards Orianna. Annie jumped up and hugged the clockwork girl around the middle.
     
    A cold, metal hand patted her on the head. "That was fun." Annie smiled. Her new friend was a little weird, but Annie liked her all the same.

[Esifex]

I hear things tick-ticking...

[Ryuu]

I hear things tick-ticking...

I know what makes them tick. I know how to make the ticking stop.

[Ryuu]

WHO NEEDS A MAP



It was a groggy summer afternoon. Annie decided to take a walk into the forest surrounding the village on Tibbers' shoulders to pass the day. They eventually came to a path and the lumbering bear came to a stop. He told Annie that there was some "weird juju" beyond that point, and that his clan never went further along this path.
 
Annie told him to go anyway.
 
When he refused, she sealed him in his teddy bear form and continued the walk herself. "Gee, Tibbers," she continued down the path glancing slightly at the large stone sculptures on either side, "you can sure be a scaredy-bear sometimes."
 
Tibbers pointed out that he felt extremely uncomfortable. Annie ignored him and continued farther down the path. Tibbers pointed out that the ground ahead seemed really weird(and also that he was really really uncomfortable). Annie ignored him and kept going.
 
The ground very suddenly gave way beneath the two. Annie panicked and tried to reach safe ground but found herself falling quickly beneath the earth. Her heart racing, she threw every wind spell she could think of to break her fall. She collided roughly with something, but the falling had stopped. She was safe.
 
There was an angry groan from underneath her. "What was that...?" Annie righted herself. She was sitting on the chest of a rather pretty looking person covered in dust.
 
"Annie." Ezreal spoke slowly. "What the hell are you doing here?"
 
Annie coughed up some dirt from the fall. "I dunno."
 
"You--" Ezreal cursed and pulled himself up, pushing the girl off of him. "Just my luck."
 
Annie stood shakily. Her leg hurt a lot. She leaned against a wall and pulled aside her strangely wet dress. Her leg was soaked in blood. She must have gotten hurt in the fall. Annie shifted her weight to one side and her knee buckled. This was not good.
 
"What's wrong?" Ezreal looked the girl over. "Oh. That looks like it hurts."
 
"It does and doesn't." Annie said in a weak voice. "It's weird."
 
"That's even worse." Ezreal flexed his left hand a few times before shooting an orange light out of his gauntlet, covering Annie in it's glow. Annie felt less weary, and the wound on her leg closed.
 
"Oh, wow." Annie smiled widely. "I forgot you could do that!"
 
"You dropped this, too." Ezreal extended his other hand, holding a stuffed teddy bear.
 
Annie grabbed Tibbers--who promptly informed her that he wanted to go home and eat the rest of the pie that Morgana had sent them. Pie sounded pretty delicious. "So, Ezreal, where's the way out?"
 
Ezreal sighed and rubbed the back of his head. He pointed to a passageway blocked off by rubble and debris. "It caved in when you showed up." He pulled Annie to a large stone door on the other side of the room. "This is our only hope of getting out, now. So we have to figure out how to open it." Ezreal's voice had a very electric note to it. "This door is huge, so there must be some mechanism to raise it." He paced about, examining the walls and muttering to himself.
 
Annie examined the door. It was big. Very big. But it wasn't TOO big. She released Tibbers and cast an enhancement spell upon him. The bear wound up, and blasted through the door with a single punch. Ezreal let out a loud yelp.
 
"Don't smash things around, you dolt!" He rushed to the door and listened for a moment. "These ruins are fragile. You could get yourself crushed."
 
"Oh, uh, sorry." Annie clasped her hands together. "...but wouldn't you get crushed, too?"
 
"I can teleport." Ezreal stepped into the passageway beyond. "C'mon, let's go."
 
As the passageway darkened, the gem on Ezreal's gauntlet lit up. After several minutes of walking through the winding passage, Ezreal groaned. "All this work, and I haven't found a thing." He muttered.
 
"Tibbers says this place has weird juju." Annie said pointedly.
 
Ezreal jumped slightly, as if he had forgotten about Annie's presence. "Is that so? Maybe something will be here, after all." A hundred feet later and the two could see a light at the end of the path. They rushed to meet it and were greeted by a large chamber filled with elaborate statues and a pedestal. The two were standing on a balcony overlooking what seemed to be a ritual area. The ceiling had several ornate skylights flooding the room with the summer daylight.
 
Annie smiled and opened her mouth to speak before Ezreal grabbed her and pressed a finger to his lips. With the same finger, he pointed to the back skylight. Two ropes hung down from the edge. "We're not alone." He whispered. The two crouched low and scanned the room for any sign of people. "Look there!" Ezreal pointed at one of the long pedestals. A piece of cloth bearing the emblem of Noxus laid upon it. "Noxians." He scoffed. "I hate those--"
 
"Shhh!" Annie tugged Ezreal down as two people entered the room from one of the passageways.
 
"See," one of the voices came from below, a female. "This WAS fun, now wasn't it?" It was a familiar voice.
 
"Hmph." The second responded. "Dear, I don't think most people would consider spelunking ruins to be an appropriate date."
 
Ezreal turned pale. "That voice..."
 
Annie peeked over the railing to see Katarina and Garen strolling down the length of the room, hand in hand.
 
"Better than trying to kill each other, isn't it?" Katarina laughed. "And we have all the privacy we could want here. To do whatever we want." She dragged the last sentence out as she traced Garen's jawline with one of her fingers.
 
Garen's face tightened, and he sputtered out a response Annie couldn't hear. She decided that Garen looked really weird without armor. Annie looked down at Ezreal--who was now sweating profusely--and remembered something.
 
"Aren't you dating Miss Lux?"
 
"H-How do you know about that?!" Ezreal stammered frantically, trying not to be heard.
 
Annie tilted her head. "Everyone knows."
 
"Are you--" Ezreal's voice was cut short by the sound of crumbling rocks, and the balcony the two were perched on suddenly gave way. Annie felt Ezreal grab her hand and then an instant later they were upon the ground, the balcony crashing down behind them.
 
Annie growled, clenching her fists so hard that little embers spat out from between her fingers. "I am sooooo sick of falling!"
 
The only sound that responded to her was the sound of Ezreal gulping. Katarina and Garen had quite obviously noticed the two, and Garen had an extremely pleasant look upon his face. It was calm--serene, really--and very welcoming. It was, Annie decided, an incredibly terrifying look to be on Garen's face.
 
"Ezreal." He spoke evenly in a nice sort of voice that sent shivers down Annie's spine. She unconsciously stepped away from Ezreal and held Tibbers close to her chest. "How good it is to see you."
 
"U-Um." Ezreal stumbled over his words, stepping back slightly. "Hi. Wh-what brings you here?"
 
"Me?" Garen's smile broadened slightly. "Oh, nothing special. Just a..." he paused intentionally, "date."
 
Ezreal tugged at his collar.
 
"Say, Ezreal, I'd like to show you something. In the other room." Garen took practiced steps towards the explorer. "Now."
 
Ezreal could only nod as Garen grabbed his shoulder and led him into one of the antechambers.
 
Katarina walked up to Annie and leaned against one of the statues filling the chamber, looking towards the two men exiting the room. "That poor, poor boy."

[Esifex]

And yet we never found out what the weird juju is :O

[Ryuu]

And yet we never found out what the weird juju is :O

well it is the voodoo lands

[Ryuu]

Annie was used to a lot of things, due to the Fields of Justice. Between the killing, the dying, the positioning, the strategies, Annie had long since felt like a really, really good chess player(at least, if chess players set their opponents on fire a lot). However, something she could never get used to was being pressed back to back with someone she barely knew, being hunted in the enemy jungle.

Annie wasn't sure what exactly happened. The enemy team hurt a lot more than she anticipated. She winced as she used her magic to cauterize a bullet wound on her shoulder. Behind her, Riven wrapped her leg with a piece of torn cloth. They were the only two left of their team.

Annie had seen Riven a few times before, but this was her first time fighting together with the mysterious woman. Annie was a bit apprehensive of her; she heard the woman was Noxian, however Annie was amazed at how the frail looking woman charged deep into fights and tore through her enemies.

There was one thing Annie noticed about Riven that was different from all the other Noxians. People like Miss Katarina or Swain would get creepy smiles on their faces whenever they fought, but not Riven. She just looked sad. Annie kind of felt bad for her, even though she was from Noxus.

Rustling bushes and an unsettling, gruff voice echoed out. "Spread out and find them! Qucikly, before they escape!" Swain barked commands to his remaining teammates. Annie tensed, and her chest tightened. She hated Swain's voice.

A hand fell gingerly on Annie's shoulder. Riven kneeled and turned Annie around to face her. "I'll get you out of here," she spoke in a whisper, with a hardened expression on her face. Annie recognized that expression, one frequently worn by Jarvan and Garen. Riven looked over her shoulder for a moment before returning and locking gazes with Annie. "I promise."

"Found you!" A spell circle appeared beneath them--Swain's Nevermove. Riven grabbed Annie and threw her out of the spell's radius as large claws sprung from the earth, digging themselves deep into Riven's thighs. Swain rushed around the treeline, tossing aside his cane as his face warped and feathers sprouted from his flesh. Ravens materialized and began swarming Annie.

Annie bathed herself in flames to ward off the creatures. She swung at them and shot spurts of fire in the air. Through the swarm, she could see Riven slashing at the demon Swain, but it was clear that she would be overpowered eventually. Swain lunged forward, pecking at Riven with his beak. Riven deflected his attack and shoved his beak into a nearby tree.

"Leave me!" Riven shouted to Annie. "I'll be fine!"

Annie struggled to her feet against the ravens. It was obvious to even her that Riven would inevitably die in this engagement. She could hear Swain's laughter and knew he was smiling underneath that ugly beak. Her blood boiled in her chest. She rushed forward and conjured a gargantuan fireball, blasting it into Swain's face. The demonic bird lost his balance and stumbled to the side.

"Oh, you wanna play, too?!" He rolled over, each of his six eyes glaring at Annie. She roared as loud as she could, jumping on his chest and shoving her hands in his beak. She hated him. She hated him so much. Magic surged through her and a volcano of flames shot from her hands down Swain's throat. The older mage choked and writhed on the ground, attempting to grab at the girl. With each movement, Annie's flames grew stronger. The heat was so intense, Annie was beginning to burn her own hands.

The bird fell silent, and the ravens about them both dissipated. Annie let out a long breath before collapsing to the ground. Her head was spinning and her vision was blurring. The ravens had torn her flesh in more places than she could count. She was afraid to look at herself; her clothes and the ground beneath her felt all wet. She was a little bitter that she was going to die, but at least she killed Swain.

"Hey." Riven's hand cupped Annie's cheek. The child blinked slowly and turned her head towards the woman. "I'm going to get you out of here. Just hang on."

Annie could see another figure behind the woman. It took all of her strength to lift her arm and point. "Behind you...!" Annie croaked.

Riven whirled around--the Grandmaster at Arms was charging at her. She barely deflected his blow in time. He struck again and again, growing faster with each strike. Riven slowly lost ground--it was only a matter of time before he landed a blow.

Annie tried to pull herself off of the ground. The world was spinning and her head hurt, but she didn't want to let Riven die. She tried to throw a spell at Jax, but all she could manage was a tiny ball of embers that quickly faded away.

Jax raised his lamppost high. Annie could see the opening for his strike--there was no way Riven could block this one. Annie shut her eyes tight. She heard the clanging of metal, and felt a forceful breeze blow across her. When she opened her eyes again, Riven's sword had grown three times it's normal size, enough to block Jax's blow.

Annie's vision began to darken, but she could still see Riven's face. It had changed somehow. She still looked sad, but it was a different sort of sad. Riven looked stronger. Blackness engulfed Annie's sight. The sounds of metal. Something snapping. A strong gust of wind, and wet splashing. Something lifted her up.

Annie heard footsteps, and the splashing of water. She heard wooshing magic. Slowly, color returned to her sight. She lifted herself up and saw the shopkeeper dozing off in his chair. She rolled over and sat against the fountain laser.

"Um." Annie looked down, watching her wounds close and her clothes repair. "Thanks."

"Thank you, too." Riven sat next to the girl. "You're pretty strong."

"I guess." Annie shrugged. The two were silent for a few moments.

"Say." Riven's face darkened as she turned towards Annie. "Why do you fight?"

Annie turned to meet the woman. "Huh?"

"In the League." Riven clarified. "What purpose could a child have here?"

Annie bit her lip and looked away. She stared hard at a rock in front of her. "A long time ago, Swain showed up at my home." She balled up her skirt in her hands, heat welling up in her chest again. "He told my parents that if they didn't return to Noxus, he would destroy our village."

Riven's eyes narrowed and her fingers tightened around the handle of her sword.

"So, I went up to him and I said that if he attacked our village, I'd kill him. That I'd kill him and everyone with him." Tibbers finally reappeared in Annie's hands and she hugged him close. "He didn't believe me, so I joined the League to show him how strong I was."

"How old were you?" Riven's voice was a low whisper.

"Five." Annie released her hold on Tibbers and looked back at the woman. "Ever since then, I've hated Noxus and everyone who fights for it." The child's eyes misted over a bit. "So if you're fight for Noxus, we can't be friends."

Riven paused and looked away. She became keenly aware of the blade in her hands. It was still full--a memory of it in it's former glory. She lifted the blade above her head and traced the first rune on the blade with her finger. It's light faded, and the blade returned to it's shattered form. "I'm not of Noxus." Riven replied. "Not anymore."

Annie's brow furrowed and she stood up. "Being an adult sounds complicated."

Riven grinned ever so slightly. It was the first time Annie had ever seen the woman smile. "It is."