Thornless Rose
Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis or the original canon characters.
Summary: Dragons are the bane of the human race. The dragons nearly killed our ancestors. They are greedy for power. They are violent and cruel and do not care about humans' well-being in the slightest…but is that really true? Rewrite of Dragon's Master.
"Dragon" – Normal Speech
'Dragon' – Normal Thoughts
Dragon – Telepathy (thoughts only)
Special news~ Considering it is December, I've decided to post one chapter per day of the month. That's why I haven't published must. I've been prewriting chapters just for this month heehee. This is the rewrite of Dragon's Master as you can tell. Can't wait to hear what you all have to say~.
Hunter's Goal
The two teams, Seigaku and Shikon, made their way to the net in the middle of the court and shook each other's hands.
"That was a good match," Rose commented shaking Haru's hand as Ryoma did the same to Spade's.
"Same," Haru commented before turning to leave with his team. The Shikon team left the courts first after saying their goodbyes to Seigaku.
Seigaku was about to leave the courts until they noticed something. Turning back to the net, they saw Ryoma and Rose holding hands with their eyes glazed over.
"Echizen? Rose? Is something the matter?" Oishi asked worried for his two younger teammates.
Momo didn't ask a thing and just yelled, "Hurry up Echizen! We are going to be-"
He was interrupted when the two he was yelling at suddenly jumped away from each other and several items embedded themselves into the ground.
"What in the world?" Momo yelled stepping away from the court along with the others in the area.
Looking at the objects, the team noticed that they were several knives. Before they knew it, the entire court was being showered in them as Ryoma and Rose made a beeline for the sides of the court to remain safe along with their teammates.
"Looks like they have finally arrived Ryoma," Rose whispered under her breath so that only Ryoma could hear.
Ryoma nodded in reply before looking toward the court where five people suddenly came out of the trees and jumped into the middle of the court.
"How pathetic," one male said as he looked around the area. Looking at the people cowering at the sides of the court, he said "You should at least know who we are before we exterminate the lot of you."
The main person was wearing red armor that looked to be made from scales and leather. "My name is Shao. I'm a descendent of a famous swordsman and the leader of this group." He had bright red eyes along with short flat black hair to his shoulders. His armor consisted of a chest plate along with armor along his legs and arms with small armor plates covering up his hands and wrists.
Another male walked up with silver armor instead. It looked exactly like Shao's armor except for the color and the fact that this one had a mask over the lower half of his face. "My name is Betaes, and I work with knives." He had dark purple hair in spikes along with black eyes. "I'm the lieutenant of the group."
Next was a female who walked up in light purple armor. The difference in her armor was that instead of having armor over her hands, wrists, or legs, she had a pair of black gloves and black leggings. "My name is Tiaw. I work with poisons and darts mainly," she finished with a mocking tone as she narrowed her eyes at the group in front of them. She had dark black hair that went to her waist and was in a ponytail along with brown eyes.
The other female in the group walked up saying, "My name is Meiling, and I am the descendent of a famous archer." Her armor was a light green color and was only made of leather with no materials that even remotely looked like scales. She had light wavy brown hair to her chest along with hazel-colored eyes.
The last one in the group walked up. He had short blonde hair that was flat against his head to his chin along with light silver eyes. "My name is Aloc. My main weapons are spears." His armor was black in color and the difference between his armor and the others was that it covered his entire body besides his head. On the side of his head was a large black mask that could be easily moved to cover his face.
"We are the Dragon Hunters, and we'll eliminate everything in our way," the group of five said at once getting the attention of everyone in the area…not like they already weren't gaining attention anyway…
"You are telling us this because?" many of the people in the area asked.
"You have the one we want," Aloc said. "Now where are they?" he asked with a glare toward the group of teenagers.
"The one you want? What are you talking about?" Momo yelled out angry at the group of five for interrupting their way of going home.
Looking around the area, Ryoma and Rose noticed that everyone had already left the area leaving only the Seigaku regulars as well as the hunters to be the only ones left.
"The dragon you fool!" Tiaw yelled at the tennis regulars. "Where is the dragon, and where is its partner?"
"Dragon?" the hunters heard the regulars question. "What are you even talking about?"
"They don't know about the dragon?" Meiling asked in a calm voice as she looked toward Shao. "What should we do? They obviously do not know what we are talking about."
Before their leader could even respond, they all heard a yell.
"Hey!" a voice yelled out causing everyone to turn to the source of the voice.
Everyone turned to see Rose standing in front of a large bag with Ryoma right next to her. "Why are you even bothering looking for a dragon? They don't exist! They are only a legend! Even if the legend is true, how can there be a dragon after the massacre?"
"You say it doesn't exist do you?" Betaes questioned turning to the girl. "You couldn't be more in the wrong. True the legend states the massacre, but it also states the rumor of one living dragon. We are looking for it."
"Why?" Rose questioned. She needed to give Ryoma more time…she had to buy some more time.
"That is easy," Tiaw said with a wave of her hand. "We want to exterminate it for its skin of course," she answered with no remorse in her voice in the slightest. She actually sounded…cheerful! What the? "The scales especially make a good profit if they are given to museums and current weapon makers!"
Rose gulped at the new information with a grimace at the thought of it all. She hesitantly asked, "Why would you want to kill a dragon of all things? Surely there are other things you can kill for profit can't you?"
"That's another easy question," Meiling answered with a sigh. "There is another reason that we want to kill a dragon of all things."
"We have a belief about them," Aloc said with a glare. "Dragons are the bane of the human race. The dragons nearly killed our ancestors. They are greedy for power," they didn't notice Rose flinch, "they are violent and cruel," another flinch, "and they do not care about humans' well-being in the slightest."
"That's not true," Rose could only whisper to herself. She couldn't help but flinch at all the accusations made toward her kind. "That's not true," she repeated to herself one more time.
"We are the last remaining dragon hunters, and our goal is get rid of the last dragon in this world at all costs! The dragons will no longer be a creature of legend but a creature of hell!" Shao yelled out for the entire world to hear.
"That's not true," Rose whispered once more. "They're wrong…completely wrong…all wrong," she whispered to herself like a mantra.
She jumped a bit at the feeling of a hand on her shoulder. Turning her head a bit, she noticed Ryoma glancing at her worriedly. 'Don't worry about what they say Rose. You are none of those things. You know what happened. You know what's right. You know what story is the truth and which is the lie. Prove it to them.'
'Prove what?'
'Prove them wrong. Prove to them that the dragons are the creatures sent by heaven like they were once revered to be!'
Rose looked at Ryoma with gentle eyes before nodding slightly. "Right," she whispered to him before taking a deep breath.
Turning to the dragon hunters, she yelled out, "Are you sure that the last dragon, if there is one, is anything like that? Are you sure that it may not be different?"
"There is in no way that any dragon would be different. The dragons were held sacred until the day they attacked us all and tried to destroy us. The old myths from the hunters say so. In order to prevent being destroyed, we had to destroy the very creatures we held dear in order to save ourselves," Shao explained.
"Are you sure that the same holds true for the last?"
"Most definitely. No dragon will ever be different," Betaes answered crossing his arms over his chest.
Rose narrowed her eyes at the group of five in a glare, something that scared her teammates considering she usually had a happy face.
"What are they planning?" Aloc questioned quietly as he stared at the eyes of the girl. They were determined…but they were hiding something…what could it have been?
"We'll just have to protect that last one of its kind won't we Ryo-kun?" they heard the girl question the one next to her as he finally pulled something out of the bag they were in front of.
"You seem to know about the dragon. Tell us, and we won't kill you," Tiaw said with an evil grin on her face. The others had an evil smirk on their faces as they pulled out their weapons.
Shao pulled out a thin white blade with a dark blue hilt with light blue wrapping around it. Betaes pulled out two dagger knives from his armor sleeves. They were both black in color with a red pattern carved into them. Tiaw reached into her leggings and pulled out eight darts in between each of her fingers. Meiling pulled a crossbow from a bag on her back, how did they not notice that? The crossbow was silver with black lining. The last one to pull out a weapon was Aloc who pulled out a spear with a pure white blade at the top with a beige hilt.
"We aren't in the mood to negotiate with killers like you," Ryoma commented glaring at the five in front of them.
"What are you thinking? Echizen? Rose?" the regulars yelled at their teammates. "What do you two have to do with any of this?"
The two questioned decided to ignore them and instead focus on the matter at hand.
"Let's go Ryoma," Rose said to her partner.
"Right," he replied handing Rose two items which she took.
"Looks like we have to fight after all," she commented closing her eyes and putting her hands with the two items close to her face. Soon after, she snapped her eyes open along with the two items in her hand to reveal two fans. They were black with dark purple blades sticking out of the fans at each spoke.
"It seems so Rose," Ryoma said turning to the hunters with his own weapon in his hands. He had a scythe in his hands that was as tall as him with a large curved blade with semi-circle indents at the base. The blade itself was silver with a black hilt and a dark purple swirl pattern on the hilt.
"What in the world is going on here?" Momo yelled at the two who kept ignoring him.
"Hmm," Meiling hummed in amusement. "The two of you versus the five of us. Do you think you have a chance? We have more experience. We know how to fight whereas you have only had maybe a month's worth at most based on how you look. You think you can win?"
"We won't lose," Rose replied with a narrowed glare.
"And why not?" Tiaw said cheerfully. "Obviously we are better than you, so just give it up already and tell us where the dragon is."
"We won't lose. Not against you of all people," Rose replied not backing down in the slightest.
"Good luck trying to win," the hunters exclaimed before charging at the two.
"Let's go!" Rose yelled jumping into the air and diving down toward the hunters.
"Right!" Ryoma replied before charging at Shao with his scythe in hand. He grabbed the hilt tightly swinging it behind him before throwing his arms forward to send the scythe in a forward side slash.
The hunters were stuck either getting hurt by Ryoma's scythe or Rose's fans.
"Not going to get us that easily you pesky fools," Shao commented pulling up his blade to block Ryoma's sword while Betaes used his two daggers to block Rose's fans.
"Scatter!" Shao yelled to his team.
"Right!" they all yelled before separating from each other and moving to their chosen opponent.
Ryoma was faced with Shao and Aloc while Rose was in front of Tiaw, Meiling, and Betaes.
"Why me?" Rose wondered aloud to the three of them.
"You seem like you know how to fight!" Tiaw exclaimed happily before throwing darts at the girl.
"Right~," Rose said jumping onto the gates surrounding the courts.
"Come back here coward!" Tiaw said throwing another round of darts at her.
Rose pivoted on her foot and dodged the darts. Before she could fall off, she bent her knees before pushing off the gate and throwing her two fans at the three hunters.
Meiling pulled up her crossbow before shooting off two bolts at the fans knocking them to the ground.
"Che," Rose scoffed with a small glare. "Now what do I do?" she asked herself as she landed on the ground. Her fans had fallen to the ground in front of the hunters. "Looks like I have no choice," she said crouching low on the ground.
"Aw, is the little girl scared?" Tiaw mocked with a wide grin. Tiaw had another set of darts in her hands waiting to be thrown as Betaes had his daggers with Meiling already loading another bolt.
"Not quite you fool," Rose replied with an angry tone before she shot off surprising the three. Grabbing her fans from the ground, she flicked them open before swinging her arms at them to release the metal blades from the fan.
"Why is this happening to me?" Ryoma questioned as he blocked Shao's sword with his scythe before pulling the other end up behind him to hit Aloc in the gut. "I wonder how Rose is doing," he said before twirling his scythe around his body and hitting the two hunters on their sides forcing them back a few steps.
"You should worry more about yourself than your fool of a partner," Aloc growled out before throwing his spear at Ryoma.
Pulling up the scythe behind him, Ryoma twirled the scythe in his hand creating a shield which deflected the spear to the ground.
"Left yourself wide open kid," he heard Shao whisper.
Glancing in front of him, Ryoma noticed Shao charging at him. Hearing something behind him, he also noticed Aloc picking up the spear and aiming at his head before throwing it again. 'I can't dodge or deflect them both in time!' he thought to himself as he glared at the both of them.
"Ryoma!" the regulars yelled closing their eyes so they wouldn't see what would happen next.
When they didn't hear a scream, they opened their eyes to see what had happened.
"Rose!" they yelled once they saw Rose right next to Ryoma, her back facing his side, as she held up her two fans to block both the spear as well as the sword.
"You idiot!" they heard Rose yell from her position. "Don't get caught in a trap that easily!" she yelled before deflecting the spear back at Aloc and throwing Shao off of her by forcing him away with her fan. "You could have been in serious trouble there!"
Ryoma scoffed before taking his scythe, swinging it in the air, and then swinging it to the ground to block a few knives coming their way. "Like you should talk?"
"What are those two doing? They can't fight!" Oishi yelled out worriedly. He was about to go onto the courts until he was interrupted.
"Don't interrupt them Oishi."
"Tezuka," Oishi said in a near whine. "We have to help them somehow!"
"We don't know what is going on though," Kawamura said shyly. "We might be getting into more trouble than we already are if we rush in now," he reasoned getting Oishi to calm down.
"Stupid hunters," Rose said rubbing the wrist which had held the fan that blocked Shao's sword. "Nearly broke my wrist with that slash. Powerful brat," she commented before twisting her wrist to get rid of any cramps.
"You alright?" Ryoma asked as he stepped in front of Rose.
"I'll be fine. It's just a bit of a scratch," Rose said before tapping her wrist to check it. "You are lucky I was able to get away from that Tiaw, Meiling, and Betaes. You were nearly a goner there."
"Way to be frank," Ryoma commented staring at the five hunters in front of them. "You sure seemed to give them a few scratches."
"Couldn't help it. The daggers were annoying," Rose commented. "The metal spikes from my fans did that to them."
"Do you think we should reveal the truth Rose? To everyone?" he questioned as he continued staring at the hunters for any surprise movements.
"It would be easier for the others to understand what is going on right now," Rose commented closing her eyes with a sigh. "Can't be helped then."
