Chapter 1: The Arrival

The blonde teenager leaned against the wooden wall, staring at his weapons rack. He was considering hard on his weapon of choice. The duel was at 2, and he was already dressed, but has yet to decide on which weapons to bring. Encompassed by various swords, knuckles, axes, and spears that he had made throughout his 3 years of apprenticeship, but none of them was suitable for today's duel. Majority of them were made by his master, Blaire, and with only him looking along side and hammering a bit here and there.

The only ones that he had truly made himself were one simple spear, with no special engraving of that sort, another simple shorts word which was beginning to rust, and a pair of knuckles, he was proud of that pair of knuckles, mainly because he had forged it all by himself, but also with a ore that he found in the Woods. The ore was blazing hot when he found it, but for some reason, the nearby grass did not catch fire. It was a rare find, and he brought he back.

The teenager sighed. Living at Cliff Village was fun, being a CraftsKnight apprentice and all. CraftsKnight itself sounds like a job for the high and mighty, but it was actually just another type of job. Merchants sell, farmers grow food, and CraftsKnight forge weapons. And fight of course. If not where did the "Knight "portion from?

Edge had dearly wanted to borrow one of Blaire's axes. He had been practicing on it for days when he was out for mysterious errands and found that he was able to use it pretty well. Blaire had forged it using materials from a box containing what he called" full of doodas and whatchamallits".

"But I don't think master will allow me to use his precious axe…Even though he's not in now and I could just take it …"

And so he decided. He plucked out one spear that Blaire and he had forged a year ago but still in usable state, one sword and his own pair of knuckles and stuffs them into his side pockets. That would be his trump card.

"Hey Clockmite, what's the time now?"

The owl-like summoned beast rose from his sleep and replied groggily.

"It's a quarter to two, my deary…"

Edge scowled. He hated the old owl calling him her "deary". Summoned Beasts were supposed to provide service to the CraftsKnight who summoned them. But this particular one had been in Blaire's household for a long time and liked it here so much that she stayed willingly. Other summoned beasts that were summoned were either by CraftsKnight or the others using a summoning charm in conjunction with summoning circle up at the higher parts of the village.

"Okay, I'm leaving now!" Edge shouted into the house. Blaire's daughter replied.

"Don't you dare come back after 6, I am preparing dinner now"

"Already? It's not even 2 in the afternoon and she's preparing DINNER?" Edge thought to himself. Tatiana was not exactly a good cook but they had to endure it. Her mother had passed away long ago and she was the only one who knows how to cook.

Edge ran all the way to where the duel was supposed to take place, at the starting area of Entry Woods where little stray summons reside .Ryouga was there waiting for him.

"Remember our promise, CraftsKnight? You must bring to Goura's seal if I beat you"

Edge retorted quickly.

"Of course, A CraftsKnight promise is stronger than steel! If you should lose, you have to get me a proper dinner for one week and eat all the stuff that Tatiana cooks for me!"

The older male shook his head." I pity that girl…"

"Quit the babbling and start fighting, Ryouga!"

"My pleasure, dear Edge Fencer." He drew out a pair of Gimmick Knuckles and shifted into his attacking stance.

"Now…" Edge tensed as Ryouga raised his weapons.

"Let us begin the ancient art of dueling." Then he rushed at Edge.

At the village gate, the sentries spotted their usual crew of fisherman with their Summoned Beasts, mostly of the aqua type. He seems to have a big haul today, which included... A GIRL???

The Village Chief strode calmly out of the shadows." Relax, my good man. A message was sent beforehand, and look who else is not supposed to be in that group?"

The sentry squinted with his eyes. Then he saw the ever grinning face mashed with red hair.

"Sir, it's Master Blaire isn't it?"

As the group neared, the sentries saw the girl properly. Her hair had a slightly lighter shade of pink, tied up neatly at the back. She had a matching pink dress which ended at her thigh. Her eyes of dark green looked downcast, but nevertheless she looked extremely innocent on the whole. The white stockings that she wore seem to portray an aura of pureness from her, lightening the mood of everyone around her.

"That's one sweet girl, wonder if she's related to Master Blaire…" The sentry thought wistfully… until he saw the bow and a quiver of arrows strapped to the girls back. Within the quiver of arrows' fletches the sentry saw the regular grey feathers from a regular Cuckoo, but some of the fletches were also made from a green feather. The sentry flinched at the sigh of them. The green had to be from a fearsome bird which lived at the cold mountains up North. The bird had a wingspan larger than a regular hut, and would whip up gales which once caused an avalanche.

The group arrived at the gate, and the sentry pulled the lever. The gate swung open, and the fisherman headed to their drying houses and others to the market to sell their goods fresh. Only Blaire and the young girl moved in the opposite direction, towards the Chief.

"Leiter, my old friend! How nice of you to come and fetch us!" Blaire let out a laugh as the old man spread his arms in a welcome gesture. Blaire often calls the Chief by his first name, though that didn't bother the Chief at all.

"And this must be… "

Blaire whispered into the girl's ear." Go and have a look around, but don't stray far!" Then he gave the girl a little push and she started off.

"Poor girl… shipwrecked and the only one alive. Her mother lost in the wreck too." Blaire ruffled his hair as the Chief and he entered the sentry's rest house. Blaire poured cups of tea for both of them as they sat down of the wooden stools.

"What did the fishermen say? What did they say?" Leiter asked carefully.

"The fishermen said they saw a big two-headed lobster chomping up the ship in frenzy. They found the girl clinging on a piece of driftwood floating, but the lobster was coming at her too. Their summoned beasts couldn't take care of the lobster until I arrive and set Brent on the task of fighting it off, and after one Hail Storm the lobster was half frozen and had retreated…"

Chief Leiter shook his head in dismay.

"She's the apprentice CraftsKnight, you said? The one who was coming to get a Guardian Beast using our summoning circles?"

"Yes, her family had come with her to help her choose one, but along with the rest of the travelers, they suffered an evil fate…"

Leiter rose from his head and looked towards the sea. "Then I suppose… Can you take her as your apprentice? As you did with Edge."

Blaire's face was expressionless.

Back at Entry Woods, the duo was fighting it out. Ryouga had his Gimmick Knuckles and was raining blows on Edge relentlessly. Edge tried to block his attacks but they were too fast him. His sword was badly dented after the first five minutes, and Ryouga jumped back laughing mockingly.

"Is that the best you can do, Edge Fencer?"

Switching tactics, Edge drew out his spear. If he could just keep Ryouga out of his attack range and have a ranged fight with him, he might win this. Ryouga charged again, straight at Edge. Smiling, Edge made to jab forward, but his assailant was no where to be seen. Whipping his head around, Edge looked frantically for him.

"Up here, fool!"

Edge looked upwards where the voice came from, but his eyes were immediately blinded with the afternoon sun. He had fallen into a trap! Swinging his spear wildly, the spear butt found its target and his opponent landed on the ground with a thud.

"Beginner's luck…" Enraged, Ryouga dashed at Edge once again, and calling upon the spirit of the weapon, unleashed the inner ability of his weapon.

"HUNDRED FISTS!!!!!" The knuckles gleamed and became a blur. Edge was taken aback. He had completely forgotten the lessons that Blaire had thought him. A weapon which was forged using a body part of a stray summon, say a horn of a demon, can attain the original ability of that particular stray summon. His spear would be useless against such fast attacks. He had to use his last weapon.

Twirling his spear and throwing it at Ryouga and hoping it would at least delay his arrival, Edge jumped backwards as he stuffed his hands into his side pockets. The knuckles slotted itself onto Edge's hand, and as he whipped it out, it burst into life, literally. The knuckles were balls of fire. Edge stared in wonderment. Now THAT had never happened before. But now wasn't the time to be spellbound by his won weapons. He had 100 attacks to deflect, if not he was a goner.

Ryouga mashed his fists together and the special attack came. His punches were a blur, but he did not hear the sickening sound of the knuckles making contact with Edge. His target was gone.

"Up here!" Edge had copied Ryouga's blinding tactic, and Edge now had the upper hand. Making a downward punch with both his hands, his fists became a huge ball of fire as it crashed in Ryouga.

The pair landed on each other and gripped their respective opponents hard. They rolled over each other, trying to get atop of the other to land the finishing blow. Finally, Ryouga managed to pin Edge to the ground.

"Now DIE!" Ryouga screamed in Edge's face.

"Wait! Isn't this supposed to be a duel? No killing… !?"

Ryouga's punch stopped in mid-air. An arrow flitted between the boys and landed a metre away from Edge. Then Edge notice Ryouga's fringe had been cut off, and the hairs were floating lazily down.

"Get off him, or the next arrow will be sticking out of your throat." The mysterious shadow beneath the tress shouted. The sound of a bow being drawn was heard by all. The silence that followed was audible.