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~.
Fight!
"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."
Ryoma nodded in agreement before putting the butt of his scythe on the ground with the blade right above his head.
"You are going to regret every attacking my human partner," Rose growled out tossing her fans back into the bag. "No one, and I mean no one, hurts a creature of myth's partner!"
"What?" they all heard the tennis players yell with wide eyes. "A creature of myth?"
"What does that girl mean?" Meiling questioned with a narrowed glare at said girl.
"A partner? Do you think she's the dragon's partner?" Tiaw whispered into Shao's ear.
"There is only one way to find out," he whispered back before stepping back along with the others to see what Rose was about to do.
"By the contract formed between myth and reality, I hereby release the divine powers of the ancients," Rose started to chant as she held her arms in the air. Turning her head to face toward the sky, she continued, "Release the elements from their everlasting slumber and release the powers of the heavens from their confinement. The myth that forever belongs to the sea and sky join together and fight with the reality that is the fire and earth. "
Everyone saw Ryoma's and Rose's figures start to glow a pure white in color. The light blinded everyone until it shattered revealing two figures.
"Release our true intentions to show the one belonging to the light," both figures finished the chant at once as they both opened their eyes to stare at the hunters in front of them.
"What the!" Eiji yelled stepping back from the courts.
"That's definitely not normal," Oishi commented staring with wide eyes at the courts.
They could obviously tell that one of the two new figures was Ryoma because of the hair and golden-eyes.
Instead of the Seigaku regular tennis jersey however, they saw that he wore a black sleeveless top along with a pair of black pants. His tennis shoes were replaced with black armored shoes, and his cap was nowhere to be seen on him. The shirt had purple lining the collar and along the hemming. There was a dark purple stripe from his left hip all the way down to his left ankle where the pants ended where the line continued on the shoes.
The other figure revealed from the light…that was a sight to see. No one could actually believe it was there, right in front of them, breathing, living…there…
A creature of legend stood in front of all of them.
"I can't believe that they still exist…" Kawamura said with wide eyes.
"So she was the dragon huh?" Meiling commented to the hunters as she stared at the creature in front of them.
"Seems about right!" Tiaw cheered happily. "We finally found our prey!"
Shao hummed as he stared at the girl turned creature.
A serpent-like creature with scales the darkest black he had ever seen. There was a purple mane on what seemed to be the neck of the dragon. It had two pairs of skinny legs where the mane ended and before the tail of the dragon began. White claws and teeth gleamed in the light and contrasted with the dark colors of the dragon. On its head were two horns that curved inward as they pointed in front of the dragon.
The dragon glared at them all before allowing its purple bat-like-wings to spread out over the court. Now that the hunters took a good look at the length of the dragon, they noticed that the wingspan of the dragon was large enough to cover the entire court and even further if needed. They also noticed the dragon's body winding in a zigzag pattern around the court. If straightened out, they guessed that the dragon would be long enough to wind around the perimeter of the tennis court at least twice.
"So she is the dragon," Betaes announced to the entire crowd, "which means that boy," here he pointed at Ryoma with a dagger, "is the partner."
"Hey kid!" Tiaw yelled across the courts.
"What?" they heard him reply with an angry tone and a glare which was mimicked by the dragon behind him.
Here Tiaw smirked before replying, "If you don't want to die young, then I suggest that you leave the dragon for us to destroy!" She thought she had him with the threat. There was no way that the kid would stand up for the dragon. Practically everyone in the world had heard about the myth of the dragons. No one would dare stand up for a-
"There is no way you are even going to lay a finger on Rose!" the tennis team heard Ryoma yell back interrupting Tiaw's thoughts while raising his scythe and positioning himself to fight.
"What are you thinking Ryoma?" they commented to themselves as they continued to stare. "Run!" they yelled out to the boy. "There is no way you can fight them all off at once! Rose isn't here anymore! Just run! Don't risk yourself for a myth! Don't risk your life for something that will hurt you in the end!"
"You're wrong!" they heard Ryoma yell back.
Before Ryoma could do anything else, they heard a female voice yell out, "You are in no way endangering my partner! You may think of me as an evil creature of hell, but if you even dare try to hurt my partner, you will have to kill me first!" she ended with a roar.
With that said, more like roared, the team saw the dragon release a mist-like vapor from its mouth which surrounded the entire area.
"It's freezing Oishi!" Eiji yelled before clutching to his doubles partner for warmth.
"What is going on?" Kawamura asked looking around the area.
Pretty soon the group got their answer.
"Dragon Flight," two voices said at the same time once the fog cleared away from the area.
"What in the world?" they heard Betaes comment once he saw what was revealed.
On Ryoma's back were two wings with several single feathers sticking out from the base of his back. The feathers spread out and were curved and pointed at the ends. They looked like birds' wings except for one thing. These wings were made of ice.
"So that is what dragon armor given by the dragons is like," Meiling said calmly. "It seems powerful. Now I see why humans would dare accept a creature of hell's partnership."
"Must they say such hateful words," the dragon growled out shaking its head as it stared at the ground.
Ryoma just shrugged before flying on top of the dragon's head between its two horns.
The dragon raised its head to be easily above the tennis fence around them. Staring at the dragon hunters, the dragon growled loudly with narrowed eyes.
"Let's do it," Ryoma commented placing the butt of his scythe on top of the dragon's head right above its two angry yet caring eyes. The scythe blade was facing toward the dragon hunters in front of the group.
"Let's," the dragon said opening its mouth showing off two large fangs where a white orb formed.
Ryoma closed his eyes and concentrated on the scythe in his hands until a red orb appeared in front of the scythe tip.
"Scorching Strike," Ryoma said raising the scythe above his head before swinging it down to throw the red orb in front of him.
"Heavens Cannon," the dragon roared at the same time as it released the white orb from its mouth.
The two orbs were sent crashing into each other before releasing the elements within them.
The fire orb released fire embers which were blown stronger by the wind released from the white orb.
"A heat wave?" Tiaw yelled covering her face from the waves of heat flying toward the hunters.
"Let's move!" the dragon yelled forcing its head up to throw Ryoma off and then flew off at the hunters. Ryoma stopped in mid-air above where the dragon used to be and readied his scythe. He spread out his wings to create a wingspan around ten feet long.
Stopping in mid-air, the dragon threw its tail at the group from the side hoping to knock them out.
Two hunters however saw the attack and successfully got their other teammates out of the way by jumping above the tail.
Ryoma had already seen that coming and flew at them all with his scythe raised above his head.
"You aren't going to defeat us that easily," Shao commented raising his sword blocking Ryoma's scythe and throwing the freshman back toward the tennis fencing while Tiaw sent darts flying at Ryoma successfully hitting him. Betaes had also sent some daggers flying at the boy which hit him in the arms.
"Argh!" Ryoma yelled as he was thrown back against the fence.
"Ryoma!" the dragon yelled before extending one wing to catch him gently before he crashed into the fence. "Are you alright?" the creature asked as it gently let Ryoma down onto the ground before it moved back closer to him and away from the recovering hunters.
"I'll be fine," Ryoma replied shaking his head to get rid of the dizziness in his head.
While the two were distracted with checking Ryoma's well-being, the dragon hunters charged at the pair and swung or fired their weapons at the two.
The dragon snapped its eyes in their direction before coiling its tail around Ryoma to protect him while covering itself with its wings.
As soon as the weapons made contact with the dragon's body, it roared out in pain.
"Rose!" Ryoma yelled from where he was being protected. He could hear the anguish and pain in her roar when the weapons struck.
"That's Rose?" the regulars asked once more before looking around the area. Rose was nowhere to be seen. Ryoma called the dragon 'Rose' and even those so called 'hunters' believed that the dragon was the girl.
"What do we believe nya," Eiji asked his doubles partner as he stared at the battle.
"I don't know Eiji. But I think that it's true that the dragon is Rose," Oishi said staring worriedly at the dragon. He couldn't help but be worried about all the slashes and wounds that were on the dragon thanks to those attacks.
"Rose! Come on! Throw them off!" they all heard Ryoma yell.
"Come on Rose! Beat them!" Momo yelled startling the rest of his teammates. After getting a look, he explained, "If Ryoma trusts that creature to protect him, then I will too!"
"Come on Rose! I know you are stronger than this! Fight them off!" Ryoma yelled at his partner.
"Right!" she yelled back before forcing her wings to spring open sending the hunters flying toward the fence.
When the five hunters stared at the dragon-human combo, they saw the two glaring at them.
"We are currently overmatched aren't we?" Aloc commented as he glared at the two.
"It seems so…" Shao replied dropping his gaze from the duo to turn around. "We'll leave now, but be sure that we will get you later creature."
Before they could even walk away, they heard the dragon roar, "If you want to kill me, make sure you get your facts right hunters! Your people were the ones that attacked my species first you fools!"
The hunters decided to store that in the back of their minds. They couldn't help but think about the way she said that last sentence. Something was wrong, but they weren't going to dwell on it now. They left without another word said to the fighting duo.
With them gone, Rose was finally able to sigh in relief before looking around the tennis courts. "It's not that much damage," she commented fixing up any broken fences and dusting off any debris from the court.
"That was tiring," Ryoma commented as Rose released the transformation. The two immediately collapsed from exhaustion. "Is every fight going to be this tiring?" he asked her partner who was on sitting on her knees on the ground.
"Just the first one considering it's the first time we partnered as fighters," she replied back before taking deep breaths to calm herself down.
"Are you alright?" Ryoma asked seeing the wounds on Rose's arms, shoulders, and legs.
Rose hummed in confusion before looking down at herself and blinking at the wounds. "I guess I could use a patch up," she commented with a small laugh made to lighten up the situation.
"You are crazy," Ryoma said shaking his head before he noticed their teammates walking toward them.
"Do you two need some help?" Oishi asked holding out his hands for the both of them to take. He smiled at them when they each grabbed a hand and pulled themselves up from the ground.
The two were a bit worse off than he realized because as soon as the two let go of his hands, Rose immediately slumped over only to get caught by Ryoma.
Kaidoh and Kawamura helped Ryoma and Rose get onto the benches in order to get Rose patched up.
"When did this start Echizen?" Momo couldn't help but ask as soon as Oishi finished bandaging the last wound on Rose's arm.
"When did it? When did it?" Eiji asked jumping around the two like usual hoping to get an answer.
The two both sighed before glancing at each other. When they glanced back to the regulars, they were shocked to see the serious expressions on all of their faces. It looked as if one wrong word would set the group off.
"I'll explain it because it is my fault after all," Rose said with a sigh. Taking a deep breath, she started to explain. "This all started at Lake Virtue. You have all met me before actually at that lake."
"You were that creature I saw in the cave!" many of the regulars yelled in surprise.
Rose nodded before continuing, "I am sure you have all heard the myth of the dragons." When she got nods, she continued, "I am that last remaining dragon from the rumors about that story. Ryoma is my partner and will be in the only partner in this world now that the other dragons are gone."
"So that is the reason why there were no more kidnappings after Echizen was kidnapped," Inui whispered to himself as he continued to write in his notebook.
"I am sorry for lying and betraying you. As you can tell, I am not his actual girlfriend but his partner," Rose commented looking down at the ground. "We had to keep it a secret to avoid putting you in any danger with the hunters."
"Why don't you explain how you were able to fight so well," Tezuka commanded with a stern glance at the two.
Rose gulped at the stare and realized she would have to choose her words carefully. "It all started the day we came back to Seigaku after the training at Lake Virtue…"