Hi, everyone. After some glitch with the site that wouldn't let me sign in, I'm finally back. And, as you can see, I brought a new Blue Dragon story with me. :) First of all, I would like to say that this is a prequel to my upcoming story, Maple Leaf. The first chapter actually takes place a little later from where the story was supposed to start, but I'll provide a quick summary of what happened:
Instead of sending Rogi's squad, Nene decided to intervene the Shu-tachi's advance. Shu, Jiro, Kluke and Zola have been collared and captured by Nene, with Bouquet and Marumaro just barely escaping (Bouquet nearly being killed during the fight). Regaining confidence and mapping a plan, the two attempt to save the others, even if they're not sure how successful they'll be. And Nene seems to have an ace up his sleeve.
That's mostly it. The reason I did this was because I was having trouble writing out the fight scene with Nene, and I wanted to upload this soon, since Maple Leaf and its sequel will probably be my main series for the Blue Dragon anime (like most of you probably know, my main one for the game is Blue Dragon Beyond). I'd also like to mention that finding the title for this chapter was a nightmare to find. I won't even get into it. If the title is wrong, and you know what the proper romanji is, please let me know. Other than that, there's nothing else to really mention. Although, I'll give you a little spoiler for this story and Maple Leaf: I have changed who the seventh Warrior of Light is. I wrote this story before I knew who the seventh one was, and I've even altered it slightly from my original plan now that season one of the anime is over. But it's mostly the same, and will hopefully be an enjoyable read. And I'll give you another spoiler of sorts (well, more of a preview actually): the seventh warrior has a Panda Shadow, and can use a few Black Magic and White Magic based attacks. It's someone who you've seen before if you've kept up with the series, but I think it will come as a surprise to you. ;) Actually, there's a funny little thing behind the shadow. You see, I had thought of this a while ago, but I ended up finding out that on the TV Tokyo website poll, Panda was in fact the winner of that poll. But I had picked Panda before I found out! :O Scary. Anyway, there will be a disclaimer for this chapter (the only one for The Final Warrior of Light), and then we can get on with the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Blue Dragon. But I do own some of the ideas of this story; I don't own any characters, save for the occasional OC that will appear. You'll know who they are. Probably.
Chapter 1: Kan Sukuu! (Daring Rescue!)
The dark purple and red clouds loomed over the Fortress, as they always did. For some reason, it had landed in its old spot. The two cloaked figures who watched the activity in and out of the Fortress (mostly loading things in like supplies and loading out broken robots and equipment) figured that it must have landed to refuel and replenish their supplies. The two cloaked individuals were also in their previous spot, when they had first approached the Fortress.
The smaller figure turned to the taller one. "Bouquet... How are we going to rescue the others without anyone finding out, maro?" he said.
The taller figure pulled back their hood, revealing dark hair tied at each side of her head. "I don't know... The same way we got in, I guess. You won't do anything this time to alert everyone of our presence, will you, Marumaro?" she looked at him with lidded eyes.
Marumaro smiled sheepishly. "You don't have anything to worry about, maro. There's too much at stake this time, maro." he said the last part with more seriousness, looking toward the fortress.
"Well, I'm more prepared than I was before. It'll take more than that to beat me and Hippo-chan. I... I'm still not sure if I can do it, though." Bouquet, looked down, frowning.
"Don't worry, maro! This time I'm with you, maro!" Marumaro smiled up at her.
"Well, I'd like to hope that you don't mess that up like last time, either. Like you said, we can't afford any mistakes this time." she looked toward the Fortress.
"No mistakes, maro." he repeated.
"Everybody is counting on us. No... For Darling's sake, I won't fail!"
"Let... us... out!!!" Shu screamed as he banged the iron cell door with his fists, probably for the hundredth time.
"You do know that there's no point in doing that, right?"
"Shut up, Jiro! I can't just sit and do nothing!"
"Shu, Jiro's right. The last thing we need now is trouble from the guards."
"But, Zola..."
"Why don't you come sit over here, Shu?" Kluke patted the space next to her. "We can talk about home..."
"No thanks." Shu slumped to the ground near the door.
Kluke frowned. As time went on, Shu seemed to be drifting farther and farther away from her. They used to be so much closer, and now, this distance... honestly, it frightened her.
"Just ignore him. He's having one of his moods." Jiro leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Shu could be so annoying sometimes.
"I am not!"
"You are, kind of."
"Why are you siding with him?!"
"Everyone, quiet!" The three were silenced by the urgency in Zola's voice.
Quietly as she could, Zola made her way over to the door and peered through the small, barred window near the top.
Listening carefully, she could now hear the approaching storm of footsteps more clearly, slowly becoming louder, shouting becoming understandable.
"... must find the location of the intruders! Anyone not in uniform is to be taken captive for questioning! But it is essential that you don't fatally wound anyone! Lord Nene needs the prisoners alive!" They shouted the last part as they passed the door, now officially identified as Grand Kingdom soldiers.
"Zola, what's happening?" Kluke stood as she spoke, followed by Shu and Jiro.
"It sounds like the fortress has been breached. I think we might be getting out of here."
Bouquet cringed as her bare foot touched the cold floor again. She wished that she could turn invisible with her shoes on.
She and Marumaro had split up before entering the fortress. Their plan was relatively easy; the two would sneak around the fortress until they found the others, Bouquet with the advantage of her invisibility, and Marumaro with his short height and agility. Then, they'd simply make a run for it.
They knew that something would probably go wrong, but as long as they could avoid getting captured before reuniting with the others, they would be fine... hopefully.
Suddenly, she heard talking. Barely stifling a gasp, she peered around the corner.
"... and if that brat makes anymore racket, I swear I'll kill him myself."
"Keep your voice down! If someone else hears you, its both of our heads!"
"Look, I'm not that stupid. I want to get paid, you know."
The two soldiers continued down the hall in the same direction. When she finally couldn't hear their voices, Bouquet let out a breath that she'd been unaware she was holding.
"If the soldiers came from that direction, then maybe the others are somewhere over there..." With a quick nod to herself, she went down the hall that the soldiers had come from.
"This is either going to be really good or really bad..."
"This is awful, maro..."
Because of his small stature, Marumaro had ended up with the unfortunate task of being the one to go through the air duct.
Don't get him wrong, it wasn't like he didn't want to rescue the others. Not at all! As mischievous as he was, he was still part of the Devee tribe, and a friend of a Devee is a friend for life! But...
Why did he have to crawl in the air duct?!!
Half a minute later, he came across a vent, dim light shining out of it.
"Finally, maro. I hope this is the right one, maro..." he peered down into it.
The dim room was filled with boxes pilled high. A few of them were open, one revealing weapons, another showing armor.
"A storeroom, maro? But, that means... I went the wrong way, maro!"
Another unfortunate thing, Marumaro had ended up going about two floors down from where he was supposed to be. And he'd thought he should've been suspicious when he saw a vent above him.
"I'm pretty sure there's a way up if I keep going this way, maro." He'd started moving forward, but as soon as he had both of his hands on the vent, it gave in.
"Maro!!!" Both he and the grate fell into the storeroom, hitting the ground with a loud crash.
He groaned as he sat up. "That hurt, maro..." Suddenly, the door opened.
"That's as far as you'll go!" The voice that yelled at him was very young sounding. And female.
"Maro?" Marumaro looked over towards the voice.
Standing in the doorway was a small, cloaked person.
"On your feet!" she yelled at him.
"But you're just a little girl, maro!" He stood.
"Don't underestimate me! I could finish you off in seconds if I wanted." She walked closer to him. "But... you're just a child. A Devee child, but still."
"You are too, maro." Marumaro peeked at her from underneath her hood.
"W-what... what are you doing?" she stuttered, a forming blush visible on her mostly concealed face.
"What's your name, maro?"
"Excuse me?"
"Your name, maro?"
"I'm not going to tell my name to an enemy!"
"I'm Marumaro... But what's a cute girl like you doing in an awful place like this, maro?"
"I..." she stopped when she heard someone approaching from down the hall. "Quick, hide behind a crate!" She shoved him over to it, barely concealing him as the door opened. A Grand Kingdom soldier stepped into the room.
"What's going...!?" He stopped when he saw the girl. "Oh... Lady Kaede... Forgive me, I didn't realize it was you... Have you found anyone?"
"No. There's nothing here. I thought I heard something, but it was a rat." she faked a shudder, and Marumaro had to keep from bursting out in laughter.
"I see. Well, if you should find anything, please report it as quickly as possible. Otherwise, I'll continue in my search." He saluted her, which she returned, and then left the room.
The girl sighed as Marumaro came out from behind the crate. "That was kind of close..."
"So... Your name is Kaede, right, maro?"
"... Yes." she answered reluctantly.
"You still haven't told me why you're here, maro."
"I live here."
"You live here, maro?!"
"That's right. Nene-sama offers me shelter, so in return, I do what I can to help him."
"But why would you want to stay here, maro?"
"Like I said, Nene-sama has given me a place to stay. He rescued me, when the Warriors of Light took everything away."
Marumaro was starting to think this girl was horribly confused. "But, the Warriors of Light are good, maro."
"That's a lie!!"
"Maro!" he cringed at her sharp tone.
"The Warriors of Light took everything from me! They destroyed everything I knew and loved! They killed my friends and my family... My mother, my father... even my big brother!... But... but Nene-sama has been kind to me. The Warriors of Light have hurt him too, and he says that we'll fight them someday and get our revenge. I look forward to it. It's the only thing I have left to live for."
After her little outburst, even though she'd obviously been misled, he thought that it would be wise not to mention that he was one of the Warriors of Light.
She noticed his discomfort. "Sorry. I suppose I said too much," she stood before he could respond. "Come on, let's get you out of here. This floor will be swarming with soldiers soon."
"You mean... You're going to help me out of here, maro?"
"Don't think too much of it. I don't usually do things like this. I don't even know why I'm helping you..." she shook her head.
"It's because you have a good heart, maro!" Marumaro jumped up so suddenly that the girl nearly screamed.
"R-right... Let's go." she quickly walked to the door, her newfound Devee friend tagging along behind her.
Zola pinched her forehead between her eyebrows, the unbearable pressure forecasting a migraine. Despite however she may have acted, she liked Shu and Jiro. She really did. But she really wished they wouldn't fight quite so much.
"Idiot!"
"Moron!"
"Jerk!"
"Imbecile!"
And it went on like that. Over, and over, and over... And over.
"We have to get out of here." Kluke held her head, her hands muffling her voice. "I can't take this anymore..."
"You're a..." Shu was suddenly at a lost for words; he'd run out of insults.
Jiro smirked. "I'm a what?"
"You're a..." he looked desperately at the floor, as if it would give him an answer. But the only thing there were rocks... Wait. "You're a rock head!"
"I'm a what?"
"You know... You're head's full of rocks." Shu knew it was a ridiculous argument, but he decided to go with it anyway. What did he have to lose?
"... That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard of. Even I didn't think your IQ was that low."
"Sh-shut up! It's... it's your fault we're in here!"
"What?!"
"You heard me! If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be in this mess!"
"How do you figure that it's my fault? If it's anyone's fault, it's probably yours!"
"That's enough!" Kluke stood, trembling slightly. "Can we please just drop it? Fighting won't solve anything. It hasn't done anything for us so far."
The two boys looked down at their feet, both of them a little ashamed. Their fighting was a usual thing, but this wasn't a usual situation.
"If you can't stop fighting, then you should just stay away from each other." Kluke nodded, mostly to herself.
Everyone quieted when a guard outside cursed loudly. "No one's found anything yet?"
Zola peered out the barred window to watch again. Two soldiers stood outside the door.
"No, not that we know of, sir."
He cursed again. "I can't believe this! Nene's going to punish us severely if we can't find them!"
"Captain!" a new voice yelled, and another soldier came into view. He held out his hands to the captain. He was holding something blue and white. "These were found in Hallway C of Section 47-A."
The other soldier, not the captain, peered down at the find. "It looks like a maid's outfit..."
"Bouquet!" Shu rushed to the door, standing next to Zola and trying to get a look.
Kluke felt her heart twist. Since when did he care so much about her?
"Alright, take those clothes to General Szabo so he can inspect them. He's fought the intruders before, so he might know if one of them was wearing that."
With a quick salute, the soldier ran off down the hall. The captain and the other soldier concluded that checking out Section 47 was probably a good idea, so they left as well.
Shu leaned against the door, looking down. He never saw Kluke look away from him, nor the pained look in her eyes. After a moment, he turned to Zola. "Do you think Bouquet's okay?"
"Probably. They only found her clothes, so it's likely she's invisible. Only people with a high amount of magic can detect an invisible member of the Ra Clan."
"Kluke, are you okay?" Jiro asked a little awkwardly. He could tell she wanted to say something.
"Of course I am," Kluke turned her gaze toward Shu. "There's nothing wrong with being worried about your fiancé." More venom leaked into her voice than she had intended.
"Look, I am not worried about her..." She turned away from him again. "Come on, Kluke, don't get mad. Besides, I only said that back then by accident, yet she's blown it up into this whole big thing. What, you think I'm enjoying this? She's driving me crazy!"
"Oh, I'm sure she is."
"Kluke..."
"Can you just leave me alone now?"
Shu tried to hide how much it had hurt when she said that. "...Sure."
Zola sighed. She wished they wouldn't fight quite so much.
Kaede let out a sigh of relief. They had narrowly missed one of the captains and a soldier with him. Apparently, someone else had been found. But she didn't want to get involved with anyone else at the moment.
"Close call, maro!"
"Would you keep quiet?" she hissed at him. How was she supposed to hide someone so noisy?
"Sorry, maro..."
"Just come on." she pulled his hand eagerly, turning left at the fork. Her mind busied itself with trying to find an excuse if one of the guards saw him.
Meanwhile, Marumaro was oblivious to her inner turmoil; he was ecstatic to be holding a girl's hand. He'd even forgotten why he was here.
Kaede recognized this place now; they were in Section 47. That meant that they were about to pass the cell where the Warriors of Light were being held.
She glared at the door as she passed with Marumaro. Soon, very soon, she would carry out her revenge.
Jiro gasped sharply, using the wall to support himself. It felt like something had snapped inside of his head.
"Jiro, what is it?" Zola was at his side in a moment, her hand on his shoulder.
"I feel weird..." He recognized the feeling, though - the same one he had discovered during the battle with Nene. "I'm sensing a shadow user that I've never sensed before, but the aura is familiar. I can't place it."
"Try to relax. You're probably sensing a magic signature like before."
"Magic signature... I feel like a radio..." he thought irritably. Still, he did as Zola said, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes.
His mind being more open allowed him to sense more things. He could make out emotions for one thing. This person... They were filled with rage. A strong desire for revenge. He tried to find out more, but it felt like it was getting weaker.
"I'm... I'm losing it."
"The person might be moving away."
"No one ever thought to look outside!" Kluke realized belatedly.
"Shoot!" Shu rushed to the barred window, but he couldn't see anything when he looked out. "I don't see anything..."
"It's my fault," Zola said. "I was supposed to be watching the window."
"No one ever said you had to watch the window," Kluke said, trying to make her feel better. "You were just the first one who did it."
"And the only one tall enough to do it." Jiro added.
Shu wanted to say something really badly. He should have; his height had always been a touchy subject. But he didn't. Instead, he went to go sulk in a corner. He wasn't going to let Jiro get the best of him!
Jiro just sighed. He never minded getting into a fight with Shu, but he was grateful that they hadn't this time; his head was still killing him. He glanced at the door. Who could that person have been?
"Stay calm... stay calm..." Bouquet repeated it over and over in her head, like a mantra. She'd had several almost-encounters with guards, and in her panic had almost lost her invisibility.
She hadn't found much. All of the doors were basically dead ends, each one holding a certain kind of supplies. She had found a cafeteria. She had helped herself to some stew, but found that it tasted awful and left the rest.
She was just about to give up hope, when she came across a door that looked different than the others. It was a purplish red, boarded by what looked to be gold, but could've just been a similarly colored metal.
After taking a quick look to make sure no one was around, she edged the door open. Not finding a trace of a person inside, she opened the door with more confidence.
She closed it behind her, looking at the room with awe. It was a very pretty room, one that held certain things that would make a girl love to live in it. Everything from the walls to the furniture was purple velvet. Little bottles of what seemed like makeup and perfume lined a lavender-colored dresser with a dainty mirror. There were some stuffed animals at the foot of the bed, so the person who lived in this room was probably young. Also, the person likely enjoyed reading, as there were several piles of books strewn about the floor.
Bouquet looked around the room for any clues of who might live here, but found none; the room spoke of this individual's personality, but not who they were. She had thought the person might be Delphinium, but unless she had a secret hobby of collecting stuffed animals, it probably wasn't her.
After a while, she left the room when she still couldn't find anything of interest. She could worry about who the room belonged to later; for now, she still had to find Shu.
Whew! You have no idea how long it took me to write this... If you don't like long chapters, sorry about that. I hadn't originally planned for it to be that long, but it read better like this. Also, I don't really know how this chapter went; I wrote this before my writing really developed, so it probably wasn't that good... I don't know I'll let you guys decide... So, what will happen next? Will the daring rescue be a success? Will the group every find out the mystery behind this strange girl? Will Shu and Jiro ever stop fighting? Will Kluke continue to be jealous? Will Zola ever get rid of her headache? Will Marumaro do... well, what he does, to the mystery girl Kaede? Will Bouquet's feet ever be warm? Will I ever stop asking these questions? Hopefully, once I update after 10 hits, we'll get some answers! If you get the chance, please review. :)