Flames of the Brave

Flames of The Brave is the thirtieth chapter of Season 1 and the thirtieth chapter of the Lorecraft series. It started on January 6, 2019 and finished on January 11, 2019.

Plot
Back at the Academy, Proto is in his room, by himself, staring out the window. When he slighty shifts his sitting position, he suddenly feels a piece of paper sitting in his pocket. He takes it out and opens it. It turns out to be a letter, from Jocelyn, supposedly. He reads the letter, which details a plan of sorts, including handing the letter to headmaster Darklaw. The measures in said plan seem a little drastic to Proto. He wonders why Jocelyn would go this far, which is conveniently answered in the letter directly after. Then he looks out the window and sees the Deathtalon that's flying near the girl group, and realizes that's on their route to the Sacred Sanctum. After a panicked realization and reaction, he storms off, out of his room and out of the academy.

Back to the travelling group, the Deathtalon is still flying near where they are despite it not having noticed them and the group's effort to avoid the giant bird safely. While Jocelyn and Amelia quietly complain about this, Sara is, while also quiet, panicking internally at the prospect of the Deathtalon coming for them. When Jocelyn tries to comfort Sara, she does so a little too loudly and Sara's fears come true: The Deathtalon spots them and screeches loudly. Sara, in fear, yells to run, which everyone does. The Deathtalon catches up with them easily however, though all girls dodge it as it flies past them. Jocelyn and Carol ready themselves for battle in order to defend themselves, but Sara is too concerned with running away, running up to Jocelyn and grabbing her arm, trying to convince her to not take the fight and run instead. The Deathtalon swoops in and smashes its head into Sara, knocking her into a tree very hard. Jocelyn criticizes Sara's decision to run closer to the Deathtalon in trying to get her to run away, before picking her up and fleeing from the Deathtalon. Everyone sans Sara fires attacks at the Deathtalon to hopefully keep it at bay. The Deathtalon flinches slightly at Carol's lightning bolts, causing Jocelyn's icicles and Amelia's water balls to miss. Jocelyn dashes further away from the deadly bird creature and initially asks Carol to hold it back before retracting the request and telling her to just run instead. Jocelyn then puts Sara down as she's recovered from the hit she took earlier. Sara notices the Deathtalon is exactly in the direction they need to go to to get to the Sacred Sanctum, and wonders how to get past it. Jocelyn, realizing there is no option to not fight the Deathtalon anymore, asks Sara to use her Resonance and make the best of it. Sara concedes and does as asked. The student try their hardest but are unable to do any significant damage to the Deathtalon. The best result they're achieving is slowing it down a little with all the icicles that Jocelyn manages to get stuck in it. Amelia tries controlling some tree branches to grab the Deathtalon's limbs. It has little effect as it shakes off everything with one mighty flap of its wings, shattering both the icicles and branches to pieces. A second flap blows all four girls back. A third one follows, but instead of a mighty gust of wind, it sends out big, sharp feathers. The girls manage to dodge them, save for one pinning Jocelyn's dress to the ground. The Deathtalon then charges in directly at Jocelyn. Jocelyn uses Bacarida to put up a shield to try and protect herself. At the same time, Sara intercepts the charge at the cost of taking the hit instead. Jocelyn rips her dress so she can move again, and runs in front of Sara. As the Deathtalon launches its feet at the pair, Jocelyn kicks Sara backwards to get her a safe distance away but is unable to dodge the attack herself. The shield absorbs the damage but Jocelyn is knocked back, crashing into a tree. When both she and Sara get up, Jocelyn is holding her knee in pain. The fight starts to take its toll on the combatants, and Sara is unsure how long she can keep her Resonance up. Amelia asks if Jocelyn is okay. She says she's hurt, but fine. Then questions why they're not running. Sara points out they've tried to, but that they keep getting cut off by the Deathtalon. Amelia exclaims it's not possible for them to beat the Deathtalon and they should escape it instead. Jocelyn looks around, and finds an area where the forest gets fairly dark. She points it out to the others and Sara comes up with the plan to attack the Deathtalon's eyes together at the same time. The plan works as some of the attacks hit, stunning the bird monster temporarily. Amelia quickly commands the group to run for the area Jocelyn pointed out earlier. After running for a about a mile, they seem to have succesfully escaped.

Sara breathes a sigh of relief before deactivating her Resonance, Jocelyn immediately refreshes herself with water from a nearby pond, and Amelia leans on a nearby tree to catch her bearings. Jocelyn seems to give everyone a stern look once she gets up from her refreshing. Sara asks how long it takes to get to the Sanctum from here. Jocelyn's response is to tell them they're heading back, to the surprise of all three of the other girls. Jocelyn states she no longer wants to be the one to protect them. She tosses her bag, who is suprised by this but still catches it. Carol argues against returning to the Academy, having come so far. Jocelyn responds by saying they're screwed if the Deathtalon comes back after them. Sara says this is why they have to keep moving. Amelia adds that they're more likely to run into the Deathtalon again if they head back now. Jocelyn denies this, saying it's just as likely. Carol questions why they're stopping, Jocelyn asking them if they want to trap themselves at the Sanctum with the Deathtalon roaming near. Carol argues it will leave if they hide at the Sanctum for a while. They're temporarily interrupted by a faint screech coming from the Deathtalon. Amelia stresses that they have to get going. Jocelyn twisting these words as them going back to Lorecraft Academy. Sara tries to remind Jocelyn why they're here: to find out how to defeat Lilith. Jocelyn then asks them if they value Lilith over their lives. Carol gets more aggressive, confronting Jocelyn by calling her caring for her friends into question. Amelia takes Carol's side and agrees with her roommate. Jocelyn tries to justify her stance on the matter, claiming she cares to keep everyone alive, still convinced that carrying on is a suicide mission. Carol points out they knew the risks, and Sara begins to beg Jocelyn. Amelia backs up Carol's statement. Jocelyn gets a little more hostile, threatening to force them to come back with her if she has to, assuming a fighting stance afterwards. Sara is quick to point out the Deathtalon getting attracted to here if they were to fight. While Jocelyn takes a shaky step forward, somewhat scared to fight her friends, Sara backs away a few steps, not wanting to fight her friend for more reasons than one. Jocelyn attempts to take another step forward, only to collapse from the injuries her leg is suffering. Sara approaches Jocelyn to make sure she's okay. Jocelyn once again tries to negotiate them into returning to the Academy and not risk their lives any longer. As Jocelyn is going off, turning to yelling at the end of her rant, a shadow looms over the three girls' backs. When they turn around, the sight they're met with is the Deathtalon's return. Jocelyn fails to notice, continuing her rant. Sara frantically looks back and forth, between the Deathtalon having returned and her injured friend on the opposite end. Then, a dark purple aura seems to form around Jocelyn, who has closed her eyes and is holding her chest. Amelia and Carol both ask what is going on with Jocelyn. Jocelyn then opens her eyes, now a dark purple similar to the aura, instead of the usual black. She begins to speak, yet not moving her mouth nor does it seem she's using her telepathy. She orders the others to head for the main path, claiming she'll lure the Deathtalon away. Despite the argument, Sara puts instant trust in Jocelyn, and tells Carol and Amelia to get going. Jocelyn zips up to the Deathtalon in an instant and punches before zipping back equally fast. As the tree run for the Sacred Sanctum, Sara still takes the time to tell Jocelyn to be careful as she passes her. Jocelyn's simply scoffs in response, to Sara's surprise.

Jocelyn is now face to face with the deadly bird monster, and seems rather confident in her newfound power. After a short standoff, the Deathtalon charges in. Jocelyn wraps around it, cutting off a few feathers with her counterattack. After Jocelyn jumps onto its back, the Deathtalon flies up to shake her off but Jocelyn stabs it to hold on. The bird lets out a screech in pain, resorting in a barrel roll with frantic wing flapping to get the sharp harp blade out. Jocelyn jumps off the bird of her own accord and tucks and rolls upon landing back on the ground. Jocelyn takes a defensive stance, expecting another charge and readying herself for it. The Deathtalon attacks with its feathers instead, though Jocelyn effortlessly slices them all in half using her super speed. She taunts the bird, who repeats the attack. Jocelyn easily deals with it again but is taken by surprise as the Deathtalon rams into her directly after. The strong hit knocks Jocelyn's new powered form out of her. She's rendered helpless now, struggling to even stand. With her unable to move, she eyes the Deathtalon, who rears its head up, in preparation for a fatal strike. Jocelyn accepts her fate, thinking about how she at least met her end protecting those she cares about. She closes her eyes in embrace of her incoming demise. She hears the sound of the Deathtalon's head rearing down, but instead of getting pecked to death, she hears the sound of a staff whacking something. She opens her eyes, seeing Proto stand directly in front of here. All she can do in response is utter his name. Proto expresses relief that he arrived just in time, and conjures up a cloud of darkness to conceal themselves from the Deathtalon. Proto takes her safely hidden away from the killer bird. Proto takes care to keep himself and Jocelyn quiet for long enough for the Deathtalon to give up and flies back to the mountain range it emerged from.

Jocelyn can only cry at the happiness of having her life saved by Proto. Proto comforts her before she passes out a short while after. Proto spouts a few quips about the situation at hand before teleporting himself and her back to Lorecraft Academy. Proto brings Jocelyn to the infirmary before reluctantly informing Darklaw of what Sara, Carol and Amelia are doing. Darklaw responds in shock of hearing this. Before Proto can try to clear himself, Darklaw leaves immediately.

Debuts (in order of appearance)
None

Cast

 * DoubleDubbel – Sara, Deathtalon, Proto, Darklaw
 * AGNerd-Bot – Carol
 * Mistrala – Jocelyn
 * The Phoenix – Natalie, Amelia

Trivia

 * Chapters 29 and 30 were originally a singular chapter that was redone and split into two; Its original name was Jocelyn's Plan, and its original run was from April 26, 2018 to April 28, 2018.