Howling Dragon
Chapter 13-Pan and Beau
Back at the ruined Siryo, Pan and Beau arrived at a temple in ruins. In the middle of the temple, there was a small pool of water.
"So… this is how we will get to Ryu-Sama?" Beau asked
"Yes, we only have to activate it…" Pan answered
"And how?"
"Let me think… oh, that's right."
Pan headed for a nearby pile of powder. He took some in a nearby burned leaf and poured it in the pool. Suddenly, the pool of water turned white and a strange light emanated from it.
"Ready," Pan said
"And how does it work?" Beau asked
"Easy; just think in a place or person and the portal will teleport you were that place or person is located."
"Oh… so we have to think on Ryu-Sama?"
"Exactly!"
Pan and Beau got in front of the pool of water and looked at it…
"Think in Ryu-Sama; think in Ryu-Sama…" Beau chanted to himself in his mind
"Three, two, one… NOW!"
The pups dived into the white pool of water. The light that emanated from it eventually dissipated.
XOXOXOXOXO
The sun had risen up, and Calcifer was still asleep.
"Why hasn't he woken up?" Naruto asked confused
"Don't worry; he just isn't used to waking up so early…" Saiko answered
"Early? But it's 10:00 A.M.!" Jiraiya exclaimed
"That's early for him" Ryu commented
"Who will wake him up?"
"Are you crazy? Waking Calcifer up is like signing a death wish in blood!"
"What? Come on, he can't get so angry just because we wake him up!" Sakura added
"Ha, you don't know him! The last time we woke him up he almost turned us unto a barbecue!" Saiko said
"Let's just end up with this!" Gamakichi added annoyed
"All right, who will wake him up?" Jiraiya asked
"Don't look at me! I don't want to turn into a Earth Wolf Dragon Babekyu (N/A- Barbecue)!" Saiko replied
"I don't want to have another burn again!" Ryu added
"Oh, come on! What do we do then?"
"… We can soak him with a bucket of water, but we'd be committing suicide"
"Leave that to me" Gamabunta grinned "Teppodama!"
He spat a bullet of water at Calcifer. The poor Fire Wolf Dragon woke up abruptly when he felt the water hit him
"WHAT THE-?" he said enraged and alarmed as he shaked to dry himself off "WHO IS GOING TO DIE FOR THIS?"
Everyone quickly stepped back when they saw Calcifer had entered an awful mood. Gamatatsu hid behind his father, Ryu sighed frustrated and Saiko hid his tail behind his legs, showing fear.
"WELL?"
"That'd be… me" Gamabunta answered
"WHY THE HECK DID YOU LAUNCH ME A LIQUID BULLET?"
"You were sleeping for too long."
"Guys, hate to interrupt your argue, but we have more important things to deal with-" Naruto said before being interrupted by a white portal that suddenly opened above them. Two pups came out of it and fell over Jiraiya
"ARHG!" Jiraiya yelped as he fell, the two pups now lying on his back rubbing their heads. Suddenly, Ryu and Calcifer's eyes went wide open.
"Pantalaimon?" Ryu asked shocked
"Beaucephalis?" Calcifer soon followed
"Ryu Sensei!" Pan exclaimed
"Hi, Calcy Sensei!" Beau exclaimed happily
Calcifer suddenly became frustrated when his Gakusei (N/A- Student) called him by his silly (or what he considered ridiculous) nickname.
"Please, don't call me like that in public…" he hissed angrily
"Whatever you say, Calcy Sensei" was the reply
Calcifer smacked himself in the head
"Excuse me, who are they?" Tsunade asked
"They are Pantalaimon and Beaucephalis," Saiko answered "they are Ryu and Calcifer's Gakusei respectively"
"Gakusei? You mean that YOU teach THEM?" Gamakichi asked curiously, as if an idea had popped out in his mind
"Yes"
"Hello? We must find the other two!" Sakura exclaimed
"Oh, that's right!" Ryu remembered "I think we should go search for Rayver"
"Rayver?" Naruto asked
"He's from the Shadow Tribe," Saiko explained, "but… his attitude is quite… negative…"
"What do you mean?" Tsunade asked
"He tends to act pessimist… like saying he is stupid, he can't pass five minutes without saying something negative."
"But he is very skilled in battle; I don't know why he has that attitude…"
"Well, where do you think he will be?" Sakura asked
"Well, I can't give you the details, he could be anywhere. In fact, he doesn't care where he is, as long as it's dark and comfortable."
"Dark and comfortable… that sounds like Dokutsugakure (N/A- Village hidden in the Cave)" Jiraiya said
"Uh? Oh, yeah! I have heard about it! It's located in a giant cave!"
"That's the kind of places Rayver would go to" Ryu added
"It's settled, then. We depart now for Dokutsugakure!" Naruto added excited
"Yeah!" Pan said happily
"Hey, who told said you are coming?" Ryu asked him
"But Ryu Sensei…!"
"No, buts, you two have to go back to Siryo in this instant!" Calcifer added
"Oh, come on!" Beau said "we can't go back! What would we do there anyway?"
"Stay out of harm's way, that's what you would do!"
"Alright, if you don't want your stuff back…" Pan grinned
"What?" Ryu asked confused
"We found your things, Ryu Sensei"
Pan and Beau left the weapons they had found earlier in the ground.
"Our weapons!" Saiko said happily
"Where did you two find them?" Calcifer inquired
"In a pile of ash, Calcy Sensei!" Beau answered with a wide smile
Calcifer resisted the urge to give his Gakusei a smack in the head and instead grabbed his sword belt and wore it, like Ryu and Saiko.
"Well, this should make things a bit easier, don't you think?" Jiraiya asked
"Well, Ryu Sensei, since we brought you your weapons…"
"Forget about it, Pantalaimon! You two would only make thing harder! We can't fight while watching over you at the same time!"
"Oh, I just remembered!" Beau added, "The Alphas declared you traitors and ordered the Tribes to catch you"
"WHAT?" Calcifer asked shocked
"Oh, yeah. We forgot to mention it to you" Saiko said "Kaminaru and Mo tracked us down and said they had to take us back to Siryo for our execution."
"And why didn't you mention it before?"
"We forgot…" Ryu answered
"So, if we go back and they find out we helped you, we will be executed. But you want us to go back, so…" Beau grinned
"… You're a dirty persuader, you know" Calcifer told his Gakusei
Gamakichi noticed a pained look in Pan's eyes, what had happened to him? He looked at his father, but he apparently hadn't noticed.
"Alright, alright, you can come." Ryu finally budged "but don't get into harm's way, got it?"
"Got it, Ryu Sensei" Pan answered
"Can we go now?" Calcifer asked irritated
"All right, all right! Just try not to light yourself on fire!" Saiko added
"Ha-ha, very funny"
The group departed for Dokutsugakure
XOXOXOXOXO
Kaminaru felt a different, familiar scent in the air and stopped.
"Hey, what's wrong? Why did you stop?" Mo inquired as he stopped right next to his partner
"I just caught another scent…" Kaminaru answered as he sniffed the air once again and peered up his ears
"And whose scent is this?"
"… Pantalaimon."
"What? Pantalaimon?"
"Yes"
"But how did he enter into the human realm?"
"He must have used the Shizunpotaru…"
"I knew we should have sealed that thing before leaving!"
"Let's find them, NOW"
Both continued on their journey, Kaminaru had a weird look in his eyes, like worrying about something.
XOXOXOXOXO
In Dokutsugakure, a shadow lurked in the darkness. He looked like a giant dog, but in reality he was a Wolf Dragon, a Shadow Wolf Dragon to be more precise. He had a deep violet fur with light purple underbelly, paws and the tip of his tail and sleek tail. His ears were pointy; a long stripe of a light violet shade ran from his eyes and down his body. He had light orange eyes, a silver Mohawk combed frontwards, and a fine, round eyebrow lied over his eyes. He wore a
Orange sword holder with a sword attached to it along with its fund. Rayver looked exactly like when he was a pup, except that he was bigger, his Mohawk larger and way tougher than before.
"I should have gone in search of the others, but I' too stupid to have thought of that… it would have been useless anyway, they sure must be dead by now…" he thought to himself coldly as he rested on the cold rock and looked around. He thought how he could have gotten this far, he thought that he should have already been killed by one of the Giant snakes or captured and killed by some shinobi… it was… painful… Rayver sighed as he fell asleep
XOXOXOXOXO
The gang continued to journey towards Dokutsu. Their feet ached, but they couldn't stop now ad risk to reencounter with Kaminaru and Mo. Pan and Beau were having trouble to keep up, they were not used to run for hours without resting, eating nor drinking anything.
"*pant*… *pant…* Ryu Sensei, can't we rest a bit?" Pan asked his sensei tired
"Pan, just a little longer…" Ryu replied softly
"That's what you said about an hour ago!"
"Listen, I'm going to be sincere with you!" Calcifer added, "If we stop and rest, Kaminaru and Mo might catch up to us and believe me when tell you that is very hard for those two to lose a trail!"
"But Calcy Sensei, my feet are aching!" Beau complained
"Okay, let's do this: we rest a bit and then continue, okay?" Sakura suggested
"Good idea" Saiko added "let's stop before my paws start bleeding"
The group stopped in a clear of the forest and sat down, Naruto and Jiraiya rubbed at their feet while Pan and Beau licked their paws.
"Finally we get to have some rest…" Calcifer muttered to himself as he rested in the ground
"Don't get too comfortable, we're just staying here for a while" Tsunade reminded everyone
"Okay, got the message…" Pan replied
"Try not to waste any more energy…" Ryu suggested everyone
Gamatatsu yawned and jumped to his father's arms, cradled in them and fell asleep shortly. Gamakichi just looked at his little brother, wondering when he would become independent. Gamabunta looked at his son and then back at Gamatatsu.
"…pops…" Gamakichi whispered
"What is it?" his father inquired
"… How was I before I was born?"
Bunta couldn't contain a smile
"Well, how can I describe it? You didn't move as much as your brother…"
"Uh?"
"The only times when you moved was when… when I touched your mother's belly…"
"What…?"
"I can tell you more… If you want…"
"Sure, pops…"
"That time I was working in my office…"
*flashback*
Gamabunta was doing his paperwork when he heard his wife's voice.
"Bunta, dear, it's kicking!" she called
Bunta immediately went to the living room where his wife was and looked at her; her belly was bigger due to the Toad baby that grew in her womb. He sat next to her.
"What are you saying? It's kicking?" Gamabunta asked anxiously
"Yeah, though I don't know why it doesn't kick very often… it stopped" Lyra replied
"What?"
"It's not kicking anymore…"
"Let me see…"
Bunta touched his wife's belly softly and nothing happened. But when he was about to retire his hand, he felt something…
"Lyra, it's touching me…"
"What do you mean, dear?"
"I'm not sure, but… it feels like the baby's touching me…"
"I heard that means he will love you very much…"
"Do you think?"
"Oh, dear, if I love you, why the baby wouldn't?"
Lyra giggled as she kissed her husband in the lips. Gamabunta smiled as he began to kiss her back, both closed their eyes. Suddenly, the baby moved slightly, as if complaining. Bunta unnoticing placed his hand on Lyra's belly once again, the baby was apparently satisfied, as it began kicking once again.
*end flashback*
Gamakichi couldn't contain small smile… it was heartwarming to hear that… and yet painful at the same time. After thinking for a moment, he hopped and cradled next to his father as when he was little. Gamabunta was surprised, Gamakichi hadn't done that in a lot of time… the last time he had done it he was one year old. He wondered why Gamakichi had changed a lot since his mother died, maybe… suddenly, Bunta's eyes went open wide. What if Gamakichi had hit… puberty? So soon?
"But I haven't even given him the talk yet!" he freaked out in his mind.
He still thought about Gamakichi's words…
"I'm not a child ANYMORE!"
Gamabunta knew that very well, but… it was hard to accept, and it pained him to do so. He wished he could go back in time when Gamakichi was a baby, and Lyra was still alive…
"Well, guys, we should go now" Sakura suggested
"You know, I'm already sleepy…" Beau replied yawning
"In fact, Calcifer is already sleeping" Saiko added
"What do you think, guys? Should we stay here for the night?" Jiraiya inquired with a yawn
"That'd a good idea" Saiko answered as he fell asleep
"… alright, off to sleep, then" Ryu added as he rested and fell asleep
Soon everyone had fallen asleep. Gamakichi yawned and fell asleep soon enough too, Gamabunta took him in his arms and wrapped him and Gamatatsu with a piece of his coat before he himself fell asleep also.