Have You Seen A Dragon Around?

Disclaimer: I'll admit this story came into my head while playing the (then) new Fire Emblem Warriors, and debating how screwed that game made the small semblance of a timeline the series had. There will be little in the way of experience, talent, or competence. You have been warned.

Prologue: Two Strangers Arrive.

It was a quiet day. With nary a cloud in the sky, the sun shone brightly down upon a nearly empty forest. Devoid of any humans, the wild animals scurried around, searching for their next meal while avoiding the only other occupants.

The creatures of Grimm. Beasts of pure malice, created in pale imitation of the creatures of the land. They were hunters of humanity, a seemingly endless army set only on the annihilation of all sentient life. Just like the animals they resembled, they stalked the woods, looking for prey to kill.

Yet, there was no one there. As such, the beasts were content to simply wait, until they could feel the negative emotions that spurred their instincts. As macabre of a peace as it was, it was still tranquil. It was still quiet.

That quiet was shattered with a low rumble. Reverberating throughout the forest, the rumble grew in volume until it brought the attention of every beast it could reach. At the center of it all, a small blue light formed. Steadily growing with the rumble, the light soon formed into a large shape. And then, just as soon as it started, the rumbling stopped. With the disturbance gone, the distracted beasts returned to their rounds.

However, the shape still remained. If a human were there to observe, they would notice the ovular shape seemed to be made of water. Water suspended in midair, but still water. The placid surface moved barely an inch, and remained as still as the quiet of the forest, unperturbed by gravity. However, if one were to take a closer look, they would find something even odder. Despite the width of the oval being minuscule at best, one could not see through to the other side. Instead, all the oval offered was light blue water, seemingly endless.

If they were to look even closer, they would see a small figure, slowly approaching the edge. Within seconds, the figure reached the edge of the water, and put their hand towards the surface. The hand breached the water, and the body soon followed, tumbling face first into the ground.

"OOF!"

The figure was obviously a young female, judging by the pitch of the voice, but the hood she wore over her head made that hard to discern. Despite just coming out of a portal of water, her purple robe was remarkably dry, and her gloved hands reached out to push herself up into a sitting position. Rubbing her head, the figure stood up, taking stock of her surroundings.

"Ok… Still can't open a portal over a body of water." She began, "Maybe I should just let Lilith handle it next time, huh?" Her voice sounded expectant, but when no one answered, she turned back towards the portal that brought her here, only to note with disappointment that the portal was already closing. Within seconds, it was completely gone, leaving only her as any evidence it had existed in the first place. With a disgruntled sigh, she turned away from the portal, reaching into her cloak.

After rummaging for a bit, she pulled out a small compass. Curiously, there were no markings of the cardinal directions, only the point held within glass casing. Tapping upon the surface, she waited as the small dial turned towards northwest. Revolving her body so that the point aligned with what would be north, she began to walk. As she strode through the forest, the point would occasionally tip towards another direction, which she corrected with a quick turn of her own.

Unfortunately for her, her movements were not quiet enough, and she soon found herself approached by one of the forest's inhabitants. A wolf-like beast, hunched downward and with a dreadful snarl. It slowly approached her, its red eyes trained intently on its prey. The girl, for her part, simply tucked away the compass, and locked eyes with the creature.

"Huh… So, I guess you're the common monster in this world, huh?" She tilted her head, "Pretty average strength… Bit of defense… But your resistance… Just a grunt, then?" The wolf refused to answer, if it even could, and prepared to charge. "Just a quick question: Are you a Beowulf, a species of Grimm; or are you a Grimm, a species of Beowulf?"

Her only answer was a roar, as the wolf grew tired of waiting and dashed forward. Despite the difference in size, the girl remained calm, even as the beast raised a claw aimed at her head. In an instant, there was a flash of light, and the beast flew past her…

With its head missing.

"And that speed…" She clicked her tongue, and let her arm rest at her side, now holding the weapon that killed the beast. The weapon certainly looked silly, as it appeared to be a sword fashioned to look like a lightning bolt. However, no matter what it looked like, the fact that the beast only had a stump for a head, already cauterized, showed that there was more to it than it appeared.

Turning towards the corpse, she was mildly surprised to see it disappearing into the air. Black wisps of smoke seeped from its remains, and with it the black mass of the creature began to shrink away. The girl walked up to it, poking it with the tip of her sword, but the smoke did not stop. Soon, the corpse disappeared, leaving the ground spotless. The girl seemed mildly disappointed, but turned around, returning the sword to her cloak and fishing the compass back out.

Looking at the compass, she was surprised to see the pointer moving erratically towards northeast and northwest. That was usually a good sign, as it meant he was close enough that slight movements would trigger the compass. This was also a bad sign, because he was moving a lot, and that usually meant fighting.

Any questions she had, however, were soon put to rest as a low hissing sound emerged from the trees in front of her. Moving her gaze from the compass, she came face-to-face with another beast. While the last specimen was less-than-impressive, the one in front of her gave her pause. A large serpent, pure black except for the red of its eyes, the white of its fangs, and the emblem on its head. Creeping towards the girl, a long black tongue escaped its mouth, hoping to enjoy its next meal.

The girl took a step back, placing the compass back into her cloak and rummaging for something else. The snake continued its approach, rearing its head back slightly in preparation for an attack. "So…" the girl began, "Grimm it is then…"

Before she could utter another word, the snake lunged, its maw open to snatch its prey. The girl, thinking quickly, dodged to her right, side-stepping the serpent with impressive speed. Despite her life being in danger, the girl had a smile upon her face as she pulled her hand from her cloak. Spinning on her heel, the girl faced the beast, now with a large book in hand. The beast swiveled its head to look at her, preparing another lunge.

"I will say though, for a monster so big, your resistance couldn't be smaller." She opened her book, holding it steady in one hand, with her other raised above her head. If the beast had the intelligence of its elder brethren, it would find the action suspicious, especially given how her hand seemed to have a faint green glow.

However, it was still a relative newborn, only focused on its hunger. With nary a thought, the beast launched its head towards the girl, who again simply smiled at the eminent danger.

"ELWIND!"

With a proud cry, the girl swept her arm in an arc, producing a green blade seemingly out of thin air. Flying with the speed of the wind it was named after, it cut through the snake with complete ease, cleaving off a good third of its head with a single stroke. The beast, all momentum lost from the spell, fell limply to the ground, without even a last flinch of life.

The girl, seemingly disappointed again, simply closed the book and began walking towards the corpse. Before she could make it, a rustling from behind her got her attention.

"Sssssssssssss… You killlllllllllllllled my brotheeeeeeer…" A high-pitched voice spoke out, causing her to slowly twirl around to face the speaker. It was another serpent, just like the one she had previously killed, only colored pure white in complete inversion to its 'brother'.

"Preeeeeepare yourseeeeeeelf…" It spoke again, slightly shaking, "For I will get reveeeeeeenge…" The girl seemed to roll her eyes, walking towards the serpent with crossed arms. While she should have been suspicious of the fact it could speak, unlike its companion, the fact that it had no resistance to speak of left her with no fear. Besides, it wasn't even moving its mouth, so frankly she wasn't buying it.

Well, that and the giant gash where she assumed its right eye - and a majority of its face - was at some point.

"Start beiiiiiiiing afraaaaaaaaid… I'm going to eaaaaaaat you… Grrrrrrrrr…" It continued.

"Snakes don't growl y'know."

"…Hisssssssss… Of course I knoooooooooow that… That was my stomaaaaaaaach… 'Cause I'm huuuuuuuungry for yoooooooou…"

"You're such a dork, Kana."

"Aw, how'd you know it was me?" The snake was thrown aside, revealing the young boy speaking from underneath. He was obviously younger than the girl, being only eleven or twelve at the most. He had spiky white hair, framing red eyes. His arms were crossed behind his head, and he was smiling with glee. It gave any observers a good view of his pointed teeth, as well as his slightly pointed ears. He wore a rather intricate suit of white armor, capped off with a cape of blue tied around his neck in a bandana. Peeking out of the bandana was a small necklace, containing a dull grey stone.

"Where'd you end up?" The girl answered, pulling down her hood. Her messy head of hair was colored blue, and her brown eyes looked upon the boy with amusement.

"Sorry, Morgan, but I didn't trust your portal…" Kana averted his gaze. "I waited 'till you went through and had Lilith make one instead."

"Y'know, when someone says, 'Looks good, follow me', aren't you supposed to, I dunno, follow her?"

"…Sorry." Kana looked down, dejected.

"Stop that. It doesn't work on me anymore." Despite her words being somewhat harsh, Morgan soon gained a grin as she spoke. Morgan gave his hair a small ruffle, causing the boy to bat her hand off.

"Hehe." Kana's original mood returned almost instantly, scratching his head with a nervous laugh.

"Anyway…" Morgan's expression suddenly turned serious. "We're both here, so now we just need to find the Hero, the Oracle, and the Dragon."

"Any ideas?"

"Well, there's always the way these tales usually start…"

"Hm?"

"We fight some bandits."

Raskin was not having a good day.

It was one of those days that, as soon as he woke up, he knew it would be nothing but trouble.

Waking up with a massive hangover? Sucks, but hardly enough to ruin your day.

Getting chewed out by Bart for drinking late at night? Hell, that was practically routine at this point.

Punished by forcibly being sent on morning patrol? He could deal with that.

Waking up with a hangover, and getting caught by Raven of all people, though, was enough to tip the day into a disaster. The worst part was, it had barely even gotten to noon.

"All clear on this end." A clear voice spoke from his left. He turned to see his buddy, Kaine, walking up to him. "Seems we can head back early."

"Dunno about that." Raskin answered back. "We haven't gotten a good haul in a good while. Think it's starting to get to the Chief. We should probably keep searching 'till we find something to bring back."

"You in hot water or somethin'?"

"Shut it."

"Oh shit, you are. Spill it, what'd you do this time?" Raskin grumbled in reply, but soon continued.

"She caught me this morning after our little party last night. Was not too happy to see me half-asleep and hungover."

"See, I told you to stop while you were ahead."

"Nah, pretty sure you were the one callin' me a lightweight."

"Then you need to practice your escape routes better."

"Come off it." Despite his reply, Raskin had a small smile forming on his lips.

"So, you think people are startin' to catch on?"

"Probably. Knowing the Chief, we'll probably have to pack up and move on soon. Head for greener pastures and all that."

As the two spoke, another pair of scouts began to return from their mission, and judging by their relaxed conversation, they had just as much luck. Still, Raskin, being the paragon of leadership that he was, still felt the need to ask.

"You find anything?"

"Nah, man." One of them returned, "'Bout as empty as my stomach. Why don't we head back?"

"Doesn't work like that." Raskin lied, "Chief said we need to find something soon, else we don't get dinner."

"I don't remember her sayin' anything 'bout that." The other scout said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"'Course not. Comes with being made leader of the scouting party. Some things you just don't tell to the grunts."

"Who made you leader?"

"I'm sorry, wanna take it up with the Chief?" Noticing the scout's silence, Raskin smiled. "Didn't think so. Now listen up! We've gotta find somethin', or we don't go back. Now get movin'! The perfect catch ain't just gonna wander into our hands!"

"Oh, look. Told you I heard someone!" A new voice entered the conversation, and all four scouts turned to look at the new entrant.

It was a little kid, just barely reaching up to their stomach height. While his white hair and red eyes were pretty striking, what really caught their attention was the clothes he was wearing. Some sort of pseudo-armor, polished clean and held together by expertly tied bands. The kid obviously wasn't from around here, and judging by the quality of his armor, he was probably some lost rich kid. Well, if that was the case, then surely his parents would be so happy they found him, they wouldn't mind paying a small… finder's fee.

"Nice work, Kana." Another voice rung in, and the owner soon followed after him. It was a girl, taller and older than him, but obviously wasn't related due to her dark blue hair. While her own clothes weren't nearly as impressive, they were obviously expensive, so that meant she was probably his nanny or something. Well, here's hoping his parents valued her as much as him.

"You were saying?" Kaine spoke next to him, already reaching for his knife.

"Well, howdy folks. You seem lost." Raskin started to approach them with his arms outstretched, and to his delight, they didn't even flinch. That meant they were easy targets, probably never been in danger their entire lives. "We'd be happy to escort you back home, so why don't you come with us?"

"Yeah, before we start this, just want to make sure: You guys are bandits, right?" The girl, impassively, pointed at Raskin, causing his grin to widen slightly.

"Well, not many 'round here don't know about our Chief. We work for Raven Branwen, ring any bells?"

The girl, for her part, simply tilted her head, as if in thought. "No, not really. In case you didn't notice, we aren't really from around here. So this Raven person, is he the main guy to talk to for information?"

"She's the boss 'round these parts." Kaine answered, "If I were you, wouldn't want to get on her bad side."

"Got it." The girl continued, giving a thumbs-up. "So, you mind taking us to meet her?"

"Well, sure. Long as you don't mind giving up your clothes, any lien you got on you, and… hmm, wonder if we have some rope."

"Well, as much as we would love to listen to you blather on about how tough, and dangerous, and scawy-wawwy you are, we've got things to do. So please, take us to the Raven lady, or face the consequences."

"You ain't in no position to give orders, hon. Here's mine: Give up your shit, or we strip it off your corpse."

At this, the young boy's face suddenly grew serious, and he began to walk towards the four. How cute, kid trying to be a hero for his nanny. Too bad he doesn't realize the trouble, but hey, have to blame the parents for hiring such a terrible nanny.

"Wait up, Kana. I have a question." The girl grabbed him by the shoulder, stopping his walk and causing him to look backwards. Turning towards the four, again, the girl asked:

"Hey, have any of you seen a dragon around?"

It took them a couple seconds to register what she said, but Kaine seemed to recover the fastest. "You mean the flying kind?"

"Yeah, big, usually fire-breathing, preferably without some damsel in its clutches."

The four scouts turned to each other, as if to affirm they all heard the same thing. They then began to laugh, causing the girl's face to darken, slightly. The laughter continued for a few seconds, and they soon stopped, Kaine even taking the chance to wipe a fake tear from his eye.

"Guess that's a no." The girl said, capping off with a dejected sigh. "'Kay, Kana… These guys seem… Hm?" She stopped in her tracks, and her bored face was replaced with a look of confusion. "What's with your strength and defense? Those are some pretty decent buffs…"

"You trying to back out?" Raskin asked, condescension clear in his voice.

"Oh, don't worry about her." The boy said, "She's just making a plan."

"Well, have fun with that. In the meantime, why don't you come with us?"

"The hell's a Semblance?" The girl cut in again, but quickly shook her head. "Questions for later I guess. Kana, these guys are decent enough, but there's barely an ounce of skill between the lot of them. Only one with the strength to even dent you is the big guy back there, so hit him first and hit him hard. Looks like there's two more coming in from the east as well. Make sure you take care of these guys by the time they get here. Otherwise, have fun."

"Got it!" The boy returned, joyously. With a skip in his step, he began a walk towards the four.

Raskin really felt sorry for the kid, but hey, at least he was brave. He was going to need that for the next few days. Then again, even with his own age and experience, he wouldn't walk face-first into four armed bandits. Maybe it was less 'brave' and more 'stupid.' Ah well, he wouldn't rough him up too much. Kid deserved that, at the very least, for finally giving him a good haul.

That may have been the last positive thought Raskin had for the next few days.

Prologue End:

Author's Notes:

Hello, all.

Thank you for taking a look at my first story. While it may have taken a bit to get started, it's actually really gratifying to get something out.

Anyways, I'd love to know what you think so far. Of course, please be perfectly honest with both any approval and criticism. Don't worry about me: There's nothing I encourage more than pedantry!

In all seriousness, though, I do not enjoy unsubstantive comments. It doesn't really leave anywhere to go. As such, I would like to ask if you all could keep this in mind as you read on: This story is not just to entertain. It is a sort of practice to me in order to balance comedy, character, and narrative without compromising one for the other two. So, in all honesty, I'd like your opinion on that. Let me know if any scenes just don't work. Let me know if a joke is mistimed and stops a scene, or if I'm compromising a character as I have written them for a cheap one.

I feel like I should also leave something for you all to speculate about, as well. Here's a question: Who do you think Morgan's mother and Kana's father is, since I've gone with male Robin and female Kamui? I think it's fairly obvious, since I mostly gave it away with their hair color, but let me know what you think.