Breath of Fire 3: R Edition
by Roll-chan
Disclaimer: This is my novelization of Capcom's game "Breath of Fire 3, plus a few twists I added into the mix. So, as usual, I don't own any of the characters. However, the main character's personality was my idea, seeing that the main character in the game never talks. Enough of the boring stuff, now it's time for you to R&R!
Chapter 1: The Untamed Child
In the little town of McNeil, the peaceful villagers make their living by farming and harvesting fruits in the nearby Cedar Woods. However, even this village has it's problems. The people always find themselves short on gold, due to the taxes of their greedy mayor. Also, recently, the harvests haven't been yielding as much food as usual. This seemed like a dark time for McNeil village.
One day, the serenity of the village was abruptly broken by the sound of breaking glass and the sound of a rifle shot. The sounds came from a small house next to the village square. The door swung open, and a little boy with blue hair, who appeared to be about ten, clad in light leather armor, came running out with a large sack over his shoulder, followed by an angry looking man with a rifle in his hands.
"Dammit, Ryu, come back here with that food!" the man shouted at the boy loading his rifle.
"You'll have to catch me first!" the boy yelled back, sticking his tongue out at him. The man stopped, took aim with his rifle, and shot at the boy again. The pellets from the gun zipped right past Ryu's face as he ran off into the woods.
"One of these days you'll get yours!" The man shook his fist at him. Another villager came up to him. "What's going on here?" they asked.
"It's Ryu again, robbing me blind! Don't that kid have anything better to do than bother us!? Life's bad enough without him!"
"I agree, but you mustn't but all the blame on him, he's just a kid. Besides, there's hardly enough food for anyone, with the bad harvest and all. We can only hope that the traders from Windia are willing to sell their stock for what little money we have."
"I suppose you're right," the man said. He took one glance at the woods, then slowly walked back into his house.
Meanwhile, in the Cedar Woods, Ryu ran down the dirt path of the forest. After realizing that he was not being followed, he pace slowed down to a walk. He breathed a sigh of relief, pulled an apple out of the large sack, and took a bite out of it.
"Today payed off big time," he said with a triumphant smile. "This should last for quite a while." Just then, he heard a rustling in some bushes nearby, then a growling sound. He jumped back, and a pair of black wolves jumped out into the open, saliva dripping down their bared teeth.
"Great, just what I need," Ryu said. He dropped his sack of food, and pulled out a small sword. "Sorry, but this is my meal! Go find your own!" Suddenly, one of the hounds pounced towards Ryu. Ryu ducked under it and thrust his sword straight up, piercing the beast's heart. It let out a howl of pain as it fell to the ground. He pulled his sword from the carcass and looked at the remaining monster. It growled and charged at him. Ryu braced for the attack, but at the second, it leapt off to one side and then tried to pounce on him. Ryu was able to sidestep it and swinged his sword, cutting off its left legs. It fell over as black blood rushed out of its disconnected limbs.
"That'll show you who's boss," Ryu said as he wiped the blood on his sword on the ground and returned it to its sheath. He then picked his sack back up and proceeded deeper into the forest.
When Ryu arrived at a clearing in the heart of the woods, there was a large tree surrounded by a small creek. In the tree was a small log cabin, enough to house about two people.
"Home sweet home," he said as he headed towards the wooden shack. Inside, there were no decorations, except for the furniture. A wooden table, wooden chairs, a wooden cabinet, and a wooden bed with one matress on it. Ryu was about to put his sack of food on the table, when he noticed a bit of purple hair under the table. He pretended not to notice as he opened up the sack and layed all the food out on the table. He sat sown at his chair, and picked up a strip of beef jerky. Then, he smiled as he kicked his legs under the table.
"OW!" A boy about Ryu's age crawled out from under the table, with long purple hair, dressed in peasant's clothes.
"How long were you planning to hide under there, Teepo?" Ryu asked the boy.
"I'm sorry, Ryu," Teepo replied, "I wanted to see if you were here. When I saw that you weren't, I tried to leave, but there were some monsters outside, so I hid until you came back."
"Defenseless as always, aren't we?" Ryu took a bite of the beef jerky in his hand. He picked up an apple from the pile of food and handed it to Teepo. "Here, take it," he said, "I bet you're hungry from waiting for me."
"Thank you, Ryu," Teepo said, gladly taking the apple. He sat down in a chair across the table from Ryu, and the two youths ate the food together. After all the food was gone, Ryu patted his stomach.
"That was good! I haven't ate that well in a long time," he said. "But now all my food is gone. I'm gonna have to go out and get some more."
"You're not going to rob from the villagers again, are you?" Teepo asked him. "They don't like you very much, you know. Especially since the fields aren't doing so good this year, there isn't enough food to go around."
"Nah, they're probably expecting me after that last run," said Ryu. "I'm thinking about going to the lumberjack's place for a meal."
"You don't mean old Bunyan, do you? I heard he's really strong, and could rip a tree in half with his bare hands. If he catches you..."
"Don't worry about that, nobody could catch me in a thousand years, even if they tried! C'mon, wanna come help me?"
"I can't, Ryu. I've been gone from the village for a while, and they might get worried if I don't get back to the orphanage." Teepo got up from the table and headed for the door.
"I can at least see you to the edge of the woods to make sure no monsters attack you," said Ryu. "And Bunyan's cabin is near the exit, anyway. Let's go."
When Ryu and Teepo reached the edge of the woods, they said their farewells to eachother as Teepo went down the road to town.
"Now to pay a visit to old man Bunyan," said Ryu as he headed off. Meanwhile, when Teepo was just about at the village, he bumped into a large man, with long brown hair and a big bushy beard, carrying a large axe over his shoulder.
"Careful there, son," the man said. "you should watch where you're going."
"H-hi, Mr. B-Bunyan, sir," Teepo said, looking scared.
"Why, you're Teepo, aren't you?" Bunyan said with a chuckle. "What are you doing here, so close to the woods? Have you been fooling around with your friend Ryu again?"
"N-no, sir, o-of course not," Teepo stuttered.
"Well, that's good to hear. I don't think you should hang around him too much, or else his bad habits might rub off on you. Well, I've got to get back to my cabin and have me some dinner after a long day of work. Oh, and if you run into Ryu again, tell him to stay away from my cabin, or else. Take care now, Teepo."
"Yes, s-sir." He looked worried as Bunyan headed off into the woods. 'Ryu, I hope you'll be okay...' he thought.
At that time, Ryu was already inside the lumberjack's home, scrounging around for any little morsel of food he could find. "Man, I've looked everywhere, and there's no food! The only place I haven't looked is in the cellar." He looked at a ladder leading down. He climbed down it and into the cellar. There was nothing in there except a cupboard and a few barrels. Ryu opened up the cupboard and found a large, juicy ham.
"Jackpot!" he said as he snatched the ham and stuffed it into his sack. "Tonight, I eat like a king!" Just then, he heard the sound of a door opening and closing from upstairs. Old man Bunyan was home. "Uh-oh," said Ryu, "this isn't good... Looks like I'll have to make a run for it." He slowly climbed up the ladder and peeked around upstairs. There was no sign of Bunyan.
"Hmm, I could've sworn that I heard him coming... Must be my imagination." He climbed up the rest of the ladder and headed for the door. He opened the door and calmly walked out. Suddenly, Bunyan jumped out from around the corner of the house and chopped Ryu in the back of the neck before he had time to react. He dropped his sack as his vision began to blur, and he fell to the ground and passed out.
When he regained consciousness, Ryu couldn't move an inch. He looked around and saw himself tied up, just outside Bunyan's house. "I don't believe it," he said to himself, "I finally got caught!" Just then, Bunyan came out of the cabin and walked in front of Ryu.
"I knew you were up to no good," said Bunyan, "but I didn't think you'd sink this low!"
"It was just a ham! What's so wrong about that?"
The lumberjack cracked his knuckles. "At a time like this, when everyone's suffering... Don't you know that if you don't work, you can't eat?"
"Hey, I was working!" Ryu barked at him.
Bunyan shook his head. "You just don't get it, do you? Robbing people isn't honest work! I have half the mind to run you out of the woods, but... If you say you'll mend your ways, I could forgive and forget."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Work, Ryu. If you want to eat, you have to work... Understand?" He pointed behind him to an old stump and a large pile of logs. "What I want you to do is chop firewood. It's really simple... I'll set up the log, and you'll cut it with your sword. You are good at handling a sword, aren't you?"
"Of course I am! Is that a challenge? Because if it is, you're on!"
"Well, let's see just how good you are." They both approached the pile of logs as Bunyan sat down on one side of the stump and Ryu stood on the other. Bunyan grabbed the first log and set it on the stump. The moment he released his hand, Ryu unsheathed his sword and swung it across the log, cutting it clean in two.
"See, I am good," Ryu said.
"That's good," said Bunyan. "Keep it up, there's still plenty more." He took another log and stuck it on the stump. The time seemed to fly past as Ryu cut log upon log, trickles of sweat running down his face and hands. It was about sundown when they had finished with the last log. Ryu could hardly stand up or carry his sword.
"::huff:: That was ::puff:: exhausting..." he said, trying to get back on his feet. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, while Bunyan sat in the same position he was in since they started, not a single bead of sweat on him. "There, I worked. Now you won't complain if I steal, right?"
Bunyan shook his head again. "If you keep that up, one of these days you'll be sorry. Don't you see that?"
"Ha! Who cares? One day, real soon, I'm getting out of here, and going to a big city like Wyndia! I'm not afraid of anything!"
"Is that so? Well, then, I have one more job for you, then. Follow me." Bunyan got up, and walked off towards the north edge of the woods. Ryu quietly followed. At the edge of the woods lay an enormous mountain.
"I've never seen this before," Ryu said. "What is this place?"
"This is the base of Mt. Glaus," said Bunyan. "I want you to go up there. Find a cabin up there, and stay there for the night. What you have to do next will be apparent. Do you understand?"
"I guess. This seems easier than the last thing you had me do."
"Believe me when I say, this will be a much more difficult task. Are you sure you're up to it?"
"I'm positive. Bring it on!" Ryu then took a deep breath, and ran straight up the mountain path.
"Good luck, boy. You'll need all you can get." Bunyan turned around, and slowly walked back into the woods.