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The Dragon's Musical Challenge
Stepping outside the Live House, no one really needed psychic abilities to feel that neither Ken nor Anna thought that highly of Teddy, or the fact that he almost forcedly took Lloyd's place on their team. What Anna really didn't like, though, was this brute calling Lloyd "weak" - at least when she and Ken teased Lloyd, she could tell that he knew that they weren't being malicious with their comments, and those were few and far between, but the never poked fun at his physical shortcomings. But what Teddy did back there was just…
Stopping ahead, Teddy scanned the area for a set of wheels to hijack.
"Hold it!" Ken said.
"What!" Teddy asked.
"Before we 'avenge your parents' and all, Anna and I have some unfinished business to take care of elsewhere."
"We do?" Anna asked, surprised, suspicious, yet somewhat hopeful.
Sighing, Teddy conceded, "Alright… What I need to do can wait."
Ken and Anna exchanged glances, almost having a telepathic conversation with one another, reluctantly agreeing to take Teddy with them wherever it was Ken was planning on heading to. As he took out the Onyx Hook from his backpack, the pair, and their new ally, were whisked away to the mystical land of Magicant.
Once there, as soon as Teddy's eyes began to refocus, (by now, Ken and Anna were already used to the transition between realms, the effect on them wasn't as severe.) he was beyond astonished to see what he saw. To him, this place made him feel like he was on some kind of bad acid trip. True, he didn't use any illicit drugs, or anything, he did have his gang push them out on the streets of Ellay.
The second they got there, The team checked into their private motel. Turning on the light to the boys' bedroom, Ken was shocked to see it had been completely redecorated. Lloyd's possessions were gone, only to be replaced by things Ken found foreign. However, what Ken saw as junk made Teddy feel right at home.
On the table where Lloyd's computer used to sit now had a guitar stand placed on top of it, holding a classic Gibson electric guitar. Where Teddy was supposed to sleep (Lloyd's old bed) was an autobiography on the Japanese rock 'n' roll star, E. Yazawa, that Teddy got from a former Black Blood Gang member, known only as Koyano, who reformed and went back home to the Land of the Rising Sun several years back, after handing the reigns of leadership over to Teddy. Though he couldn't read a word of Japanese, like the rest of the kids, Teddy felt a kind of… strength, knowing of rock 'n' roll's worldwide influence. There was even a leather jacket draped across the chair and a pack of cigarettes that sat on the nightstand between the boys' beds (something Ken couldn't stand, for obvious reasons.)
"I don't believe this." Teddy said, taking off his signature sunglasses to make sure he wasn't seeing things. "Who'd go through all this trouble…?"
"We don't know." Ken replied, "But whoever it was that set this place up for us wants us to be as comfortable as possible."
Sitting on the bed, Teddy turned on the radio, almost overjoyed with the fact it was playing his favorite rock 'n' roll tunes from times gone by.
Relaxing, Teddy's eyes shifted toward the corner of the room, where they spied an occupied terrarium.
"Fonzie!" Teddy cried, getting up and practically rushing to the enclosure, taking out his prized pet iguana.
"Friend of yours?" Ken asked.
"Yeah…" Teddy replied, "Soon after I took over the Black Bloods, we got into a little tussle with our rivals, the Jet Lizards. Naturally, we slaughtered 'em. The beaten Jet Lizards swore undying allegiance to us, and this little guy was a peace offering."
"Fascinating…" Ken replied, somewhat unimpressed.
"Well… personally I hate reptiles, but I'm rarely anyone who'd let anyone's kindness go to waste," he boasted, "so I started raising him, and it somewhat grew on me."
"I can tell it's attached to you." Ken replied, as the lizard enjoyed having its chin scratched.
"*Heh* yeah…" Teddy replied, putting "Fonzie" back into its cage.
"What's with the jacket?" Ken asked.
"It was my Dad's…" Teddy replied, solemnly.
"I'm sorry…" Ken replied. So far, everyone who's joined this party has either lost a parent or at least had one that was absent (almost) all the time…
"Boys?" Anna asked, entering through the access door that combined their two rooms, "I'm going over to the diner. Any of you two coming?" Seeing her question fell on deaf ears, instead of leaving, she takes a seat next to Ken.
"My old man was a grease monkey, one of the best ever around." Teddy said, "He actually named me after his garage. He and my old lady often told me I used to entertain the young mechanics that worked for him by sitting on the hood of some old T-Bird that was in for repairs, just waggin' my finger in time with the rock music playing on the car's radio with a choco-cig hanging from my mouth. Most of 'em called me 'Mini-Elvis.'
By five, I learned how well I could fight. I came home in the rear of a black and white for the first time when I was eleven. At twelve, I snuck into the Live House for the first time, before they started lettin' minors in before ten. And, I became the Black Blood's leader as soon as I turned fourteen. I even got a brand of sunglasses named after me." he said, twirling his private pair by the handle, "Proves what a good right hook'll do." Laughing, "In other words, I decide how I live my life…" With that, he took a cigarette out of its pack and lit up, only to have Anna douse it with a miniature psychic blizzard.
"Hey! What gives!" Teddy demanded to know.
"In case you didn't know, Ken has asthma." Anna sternly replies.
"I didn't…" Teddy replies, tossing the now useless cigarette into the trash, "So what? You have your girlfriend stick up for ya?"
"Whether I do or don't do isn't any of your business." Ken replied, fuming, using his telepathy to give Teddy a massive headache.
"Fine, fine! I'll take it outside." recovering.
"Thanks, Anna." Ken said, as soon as Teddy closed the door behind him.
"Think nothing of it." she replied, smiling as she left for the diner. "Now, you coming or not?"
"Right behind ya." Ken replied, always eager for Magicant's steak special.
That night, Teddy could be seen moaning, tossing, and turning, before waking up in a cold sweat. (Though Ken was too sound asleep to notice…) Outside, it was almost dawn, so Teddy takes a cigarette and his lighter and steps outside. Lighting it up and sitting down on a park bench, the events Teddy has been desperately trying to forget just won't let him be.
Almost like it was yesterday, though almost a lifetime has passed since then, his parents were testing this pickup truck his dad had finished repairing up on Mt. Itoi, like he'd always done. Teddy knew this drive doubled as a date for the couple, who were out reliving their teenaged years driving up to some make out point high on the mountain. He was only ten at the time, and the sight of seeing that old truck being torn in two was an image he's been trying hard to forget, but the memory of the newsflash the next day would never leave his mind.
According to the anchor, the police said they were speeding, but Teddy knew better - that old truck could barely make it past fifty. That, and he swore that he saw some kind of monster tearing the vehicle apart, but people just passed it off as him mourning over his parents, coupled with his inexplicable feeling of powerlessness. It was also around the time he finally traded chocolate cigarettes for the real ones. He gave his last choco-ciggies to a bunch of high school kids…
Normally, if he were back in Ellay, he'd walk into the Live House, drink a bottle of beer or two bone dry, smash the glass bottle on the bar, and get into some meaningless fight. He wouldn't get into much trouble for it; naturally, the police were afraid of him and his bloodthirsty street gang as they roamed the street like a pack of unchained rabid dogs. Still, even though he is, or was, their leader, he kept as much distance between himself and his gang as he possibly could. Even the Live House's owner, who'd known Teddy since he was twelve, along with anyone else who really knew him, couldn't seem to console the young man.
"Teddy?" Anna asks, snapping him back to reality, unaware of the fact that the cigarette was now burnt down to the filter.
"It's time to go." Ken adds.
Flicking the cigarette aside, Teddy gets up from the bench as he and his new traveling companions leave for the Valley of Wells. Along the way, at least Ken and Anna were grateful that they didn't need to enlist the aide of the Flyingmen - Teddy proved, with his new katana, that in a fight that he had the potential to be this team's most powerful ally.
Exploring the caverns underneath Magicant, on their way to their usual exit, they (seemingly) took a wrong turn and wound up face-to-face with that sleeping dragon.
"If we leave real slowly and quietly, I don't think it'll notice us." Ken whispered to his two traveling companions as the oversized lizard continued with its loud, blissful slumber.
Unfortunately, however, the bubble formed by the dragon's nose popped as its eyes shot open. Suddenly aware of both Ken and Anna's combined mental powers, the dragon began to stir.
"Run!" Anna cried, as all three of them bolted towards the only clear exit, only to be blocked by the dragon's massive tail. Anna screams, narrowly being crushed by the dragon's oversized appendage.
Roaring, the dragon bellowed, "If you wish to earn my musical melody, you must defeat me in battle!"
"What the Hell is that thing talking about?" Teddy asked. But before either Ken or Anna could explain, all three had to dodge the dragon's fiery breath. Like it or not, they had no choice but to fight the dragon, or die trying…
Putting his 'swordsmanship' skills to work, Teddy took a decent slash at the beast with his trusted sword, as Ken aided, although not as well, by clubbing the beast with his bat. Though it hurt the dragon, the only purpose this served was to make it mad.
Emitting a strange cry, the dragon's wail managed to lower Ken's defenses with its earsplitting call. Meanwhile, Anna got a decent shot with her psychic beam, causing the beast to recoil.
Taking another hacking slash at the dragon, Teddy's offensive prowess was increased by Ken's psychic powers. Unfortunately, however, the dragon let out a massive blast of its fiery breath, causing the team some critical damage. Anna, pissed, let loose another psychic beam.
As Teddy continued to slash at the dragon with his trusted blade, Anna and Ken restored each other's will to fight, allowing each other to continue with their life or death battle. However, the dragon let out another earsplitting wail, bringing Ken's overall defenses down even further.
As Teddy stabbed the beast, Ken took the opportunity to go on the offensive, clubbing at the scaly beast with his bat. However, unfortunately, after the bat made contact, the dragon swung its claws, striking Ken, sending him falling back, where he finally collapsing to the hard, rocky ground, unconscious as life sustaining blood was starting to ooze out of Ken's wounded chest.
"Ken!" Anna cried. Then, glaring at the winged reptile, "Damn you…" she sneered, firing off a psychic blizzard, which the beast simply shrugged off, before she knelt by Ken's seemingly lifeless body, fighting back tears.
Equally mad, Teddy charged at the beast, sword at the ready and letting out a "Banzai!" war cry unlike none anyone has ever heard before. Leaping high, the blade of Teddy's katana made contact with the dragon, slashing past it. Landing, Teddy shifted the blade as the dragon fell to the earth, allowing Teddy to seethe his sword in its makeshift leather hilt.
Though still in tears, Anna placed her hands together in a praying fashion as the aura around her began to glow as what was left of Ken's also began to react. After whatever she'd done to him was over with, Ken started to moan. Propping himself up on his elbows, all he could ask was, "What hit me?" before being engulfed in Anna's tight embrace, leaving him stunned.
"I'm so glad you're alright…" Ken could barely hear Anna say.
Without much hesitation, the dragon started crooning out its heavily guarded melody…
…~"All Day Long Now"~…
With that, Ken smiled. Six fragments discovered - only two more left to go.
"Well… we got what we came for." Ken said, "Let's go."
"Wait!" Teddy said, catching up, "This was planned?"
"Somewhat…" Ken replied.
"What do you mean, somewhat!" Teddy bursts out, "You mean to tell me that we risked our necks just to hear that dragon sing some song!"
"That's about it…" Ken replied.
"Why!" Teddy demanded to know.
"Teddy…" Anna explained, "The only reason the people of Magicant are letting us have free reign of this place is that Ken promised their ruler he'd find this song, fragment-by-fragment."
"I don't get it!" Teddy said as they left the dragon behind to lick its wounds, "What was so important about that song?"
"I don't know." Ken replied, "All I do know is that it's the least we can do for her and her people being such over-gracious hosts."
Sighing, Teddy continued muttering, "I don't get it. I just don't get it…" Teddy added, as they took the path back to the real world. Now, it was finally time for Teddy to avenge his parents, or die trying.
Arriving at the spire inside the cave that would've led them to Youngtown.
"Great!" Teddy said, slightly familiar with the area, "We're miles away from Ellay!"
"Don't worry…" Ken smugly stated, "We'll be there in no time."
"What're you talking about, kid?" Teddy asked, unaware of Anna's giggling reply, as Teddy and these two young kids suddenly sped up, breaking barriers as they suddenly arrived in the middle of Ellay.
"How in…?" Teddy asked, stunned, after he recovered.
"What?" Anna smugly replied, almost demeaning the older teenager, "You didn't know we could teleport?"
"Impossible!" Teddy shouted back. He'd heard of such things, but (outside of Star Trek) he'd always thought such things like teleportation were just that… impossible.
"Teddy…" Ken replied, in his 'as-a-matter-of-fact'-like tone, "When you travel with us, you'll learn that almost nothing is impossible. Lloyd had to learn that, and so do you…"
"Lloyd…" Teddy asked, "…he's that four-eyed runt, right?" The tone of his voice showed less than the least amount of respect for their former traveling companion.
That remark stopped Ken in his tracks. Prepared to teach this brute a 'mental lesson' in respect that only a psychic can dish out, Anna suddenly placed a concerned hand on his shoulder.
"Forget it, Ken…" she said, telepathically, "King Kong here isn't worth it."
Looking over his other shoulder at the accused party…
"Let's go and get this over with." he said as they continued.
Heading southwest from the other end of Ellay, taking the river north (via Teddy's guidance, based on his knowledge of the area) the team were immediately attacked by a trio of alien robots - two Starmen and an Ultra-Barbot.
Deciding to fight it out, they each applied a divide and conquer strategy, each focusing on a separate opponent - Anna and Ken each taking a Starman, while Teddy handled the Barbot.
A quick jumping slash from Teddy and his katana sliced the Ultra-Barbot in two, as Ken's smashed into one of the Starmen, forcing it to stagger back as it prepared for an attack, while the second Starman fired a psychic beam at Ken from behind. In a "no one treats him like that and gets away with it!" state, Anna fired an even stronger beam at the assaulting Starman. Teddy even joined in on the hate parade as his sword finished the said Starman off as Ken's bat/club finished off the other one, allowing the team to pass through.
"Are you OK, Ken?" Anna asked, concerned.
"Yeah… I'm fine." Ken replied, as a light blush covered his cheeks, "Thanks."
"N-no problem." she replied, wearing an even darker shade of red as she tried in vain to avoid his gaze.
"Hey!" Teddy called out, snapping the two teens out of their trance, "Either get a room or come on! We're wasting valuable daylight!"
"Oh, how I'd like to get him alone again for just one minute…" Ken grumbled.
"Just remember to save some for me." Anna replied, albeit telepathically. At least the smile she gave him brought him out of his mood as they continued on.
Continuing north…
"It'd be safest if we stay near the river." Teddy said, following the brook's twists and turns. The only thing they had to worry about were the vicious flocks of seagulls that flew around the area, each fighting for their own flock's territory.
Again, taking a 'divide and conquer' strategy, Teddy's sliced at a dive-bombing seagull, hearing it squawk as the bird fell to the ground like a plane that had just lost a dogfight. (Or a duck that's just been shot…) As one of the seagulls managed to serious peck at Anna's head, the other seagull pretty much bobbed and hovered midair, preparing for an attack, while Ken knocked at it as Anna fired a (tempered) psychic beam at the assailing bird - however both (though hit) birds were still flying.
"Incoming!" Teddy cried, as one of the seagulls dove towards him. However, a strike through the bird's breast area skewered it as Teddy cockily removed the dead bird from his sword with the sole of his boot. As for the remaining seagull, All Ken had to do was swing at it, knocking it out as it fell to the ground.
Distraught that they were in the presence of someone who'd slaughter innocent animals like that, Ken and Anna held their tongue as Ken used his Life-Up spell on Anna - those last two battles combined took their toll on her.
"I've been meaning to ask." Ken asked, as they made their way to their next destination.
"Shoot, squirt." Teddy replied, not even turning his oversized head.
"What're you going to do? I mean, after we help you avenge your parent?"
Sighing, wishing that he had a cigarette, "Turn myself in." Teddy replied.
"You will?" Anna asked, skeptical.
"Yeah… This life of crime's getting a little bit too boring for my taste." Teddy replied, "Besides, once I've avenged my parents - I won't have any more reason to be runin' 'round like this any more, so…"
"Really?" Ken asked, not too sure about what he was saying was true - even both his and Anna's mental skills a human lie detectors were coming back as 'inconclusive'…
"And if you die before you do any of this?" Anna asked.
Teddy shrugs his shoulders in reply, "I guess I just saved the state the expense of a trial, then."
That remark chilled his two traveling companions to the bone. Still, it proved to them that he was determined to have his revenge, or at least die trying.
Still following the river's shoreline path, they crossed a bridge to this old hermit's cabin. The old man, a retired doctor with a love for the outdoors, allowed them to sleep in either one of the cabin's two bedrooms. Like in Magicant, Ken and Teddy were forced to bunk together while Anna got her own room.
Thanking the old man for his hospitality the following morning, the gang headed west from the house, taking the long and winding pathway, until they finally reached a cavern.
"Mt. Itoi…" Teddy said, looking towards the sky at the massive mountain - one of the highest and widest mountains in the area.
"Is this where…?" Anna asked, however Teddy shrugged them off.
"Come on…" Teddy said, "What we're after's through this cave."
The cave was naturally carved throughout the interior of the massive Mt. Itoi. Traveling blind, Ken and Anna had this sickening feeling that whatever they had come to face didn't want them here. It even sent a pair of its BlueStarmen, a more powerful upgrade to what they'd been fighting, to attack.
Going on the offensive, Ken and Teddy ganged up on one of the BlueStarmen, effectively destroying it as Anna caused the other one to go into a critical situation, even though it got a weak punch at Ken from behind. From there, all Teddy had to do was thrust his saber into the BlueStarman's chest, causing it to spark and explode.
"That was almost too easy…" Teddy said, seething his sword.
"Don't underestimate whatever it is we're facing…" Ken said.
"Right… Whatever you say, kid." Teddy replied, as he continued on with his personal blind vendetta.
Hastily using his Life-Up spell, Ken sighed as he and Anna rushed off to catch up to Teddy.
Spelunking, it seemed that these BlueStarmen were the only major threat these kids had to get through. Another thing they'd noticed about these things were that they only seemed to attack in pairs.
The next time a pair of these interstellar robots attacked, Teddy slashed at one while Ken destroyed the other with a single, critical blow from his baseball bat. Anna, who aimed her beam at the remaining BlueStarman, was stunned to see that it had missed, while Teddy effortlessly finished it off like he did with that other one a little earlier, a straight thrust through the robot's chest, causing it to spark and explode.
"I don't get it." Anna said, worriedly looking at her hands, "My beam missed… that's never happened to me before."
"We all strike out sometimes…" Ken replied, reassuring her, "We just have to walk back up to the plate and keep on swinging."
Deciding to take it as it was, (though feeling somewhat better from Ken's baseball reference about life) all Anna could reply was, "I guess…" as she followed the boys through more of the mountain's vast system of cavern.
Taking cavern after cavern in the long and winding pathways for what seemed like hours, they finally had some more action, and a bit of variety, as they were attacked by this walking brain.
Before the trio could attack, Teddy was struck by creature's lightning bolt, which his sword somehow deadened.
"Damn you!" Teddy yelled as his return attack was even more fierce, though it failed to pierce the brain's glass protective shell. Ken, in the meantime, knocked the monstrosity off its feet, while Anna froze it in its tracks with a psychic blizzard, making the glass surrounding the brain extremely fragile. The final blow came when Teddy jabbed his sword through the glass, shattering it as his blade viciously impaled the walking brain in its main body part as it melted away, defeated.
"Gag me…" Anna said, about ready to puke.
Still, Ken used his healing powers to settle her stomach, much to Anna's relief, as both of them used their psychic abilities to restore some of Teddy's overall fighting health - that lightning strike he took did take quite a bit out of him…
Finally making their way out of the cave, Ken breathed a sigh of relief.
"Finally!" Anna said, tired.
"Don't celebrate yet, little girl." Teddy said, unfazed, "We still have a long way to go to reach the top."
"You mean…" Anna replied. As she and Ken looked up, they were dismayed to see they'd only made it about less than halfway up the mountain.
"That's right…" Teddy replied, almost like a sympatric US Army Drill Sergeant, (if there ever is such a thing) "We've only scratched the surface. It's all uphill from here." Looking to the horizon, "We'll have to set up camp, soon. This place is even more dangerous at night."
Moaning and groaning, the team carried on, all the while looking for a more suitable place to spend the night…