Haven Trials

Act 1: The Fox Jumped Over the Moon

Chapter 14: Silver Dragons

Lucas's eyes opened wide, the wind blowing fast past his face as he rode on the tram. He sat up and looked around, seeing all of his friends still there with him. Benton, Sam, Yul-rid, all of them were still alive. And then he looked ahead, seeing his mother standing there. She smiled, opening her arms wide for him. He felt the urge to jump at her, to embrace her and to weep and cry for days, wishing that it was all real. But it was just a sad illusion, many of which had been accompanying him since he had entered Fox's mind the other day.

When they had vanished, he somehow sent them into Fox's mind, and there, he saw his story, his past, what hardships he had been through. He saw why Fox was the man he was today. But, something else happened in there. Aside from the troubled memories of times past, or the helplessness he had felt even now, he felt someone else was there with them. Someone that had connected themselves to his mind, and blocked any way of him realizing it. Lucas knew who it was, after all, he witnessed all of Fox's memories. But now he believed that person was inside his mind, and now they were projecting Lucas's memories out into his reality.

Fox had decided to rest since the incident, and he had hardly said much since then as well. Luigi helped fix meals and tend to them since they were all fazed by the other day. And then there was Falcon. Lucas tried to look away, but he kept his eyes locked on him. He felt another urge, this one wanting to just kill him while he sat there, watching ahead in the dark tunnel. But he tore his gaze away, knowing that, despite the pain that man caused him, Fox would protect him from any more of it. It took every ounce of his words to make Lucas understand that no matter what, he wouldn't let Falcon take him back to him.

Him.. The bastard that did this to all of them. To Fox, to himself. He sent those mercenaries to Lindblum, and now, who knows what the hell is happening there. The worst part about it, is knowing what exactly it was that Dagger was going through. When she said how she could just turn herself in to her mother, to make it all stop. He could have given himself up to them, letting him take him back to that place. The same place Ness is trapped at. But he wouldn't be able to save him. He was brainwashed, turned into a puppet for Deficio to use to lure more helpless men towards them.

Luigi moved towards Lucas and nudged him, holding up a ration of food along with a tin cup of water. Lucas sighed and took it from him, sliding around to look away from them. He ate in silence, as it had been for the past three days now. Within the next day, they should arrive in the Mushroom Kingdom, and hopefully, they will come up with a plan from there. To rescue Falco. To rescue Ness.

The tram screeched to a stop as it reached the end of the tunnel. A dimly lit stairway stood in front of them as they got off, with the tram clicking, moving itself and returning back to Lindblum. They all stretched and moaned, as it had been days since they could actually get up and move around freely, what with the conditions they were set in on their ride. Luigi felt excitement to finally be home again, but at the same time, worried. It was days and days ago when Mario had originally sent a distress message to him, asking him to come to the Shooting Star Summit.

"Just so we're clear, no hard feelings kid, right?" Falcon bent down and faced Lucas, holding his hand out towards him. "We were both victims of circumstance. I did what I had to do to survive, to get to this point."

Lucas frowned and looked away, instead looking towards Fox. Fox shrugged his shoulders, and moved towards the two. "It's fine Lucas, don't worry. Anyways, if we are going to work together, we can't have any hard feelings against one another. And besides.." He moved close to him until he was in earshot range, whispering. "I've got my eye on him if he tries anything fishy."

Lucas smiled and nodded towards him, with Falcon now frowning. Fox grinned and shrugged his shoulders again, motioning for them to move on. Falcon paused and turned another before they continued on.

"Now that we're back in home territory, I should give this back to you," he said, pulling a wrapped object out of his knapsack. He handed it to Fox, who unwrapped it and saw his blaster, well, the one Falco and him had ordered back in Fourside. "Might as well use the weapon since we won't have to worry about the UP3 any longer."

Now it was Lucas who paused, his fists clenched. Fox turned to face him and became worried, thinking Lucas was over his anger towards Falcon. Lucas faced Falcon, tension drifting from him towards the two.

"What happened to Snake. When we took off from Dali. You were there after all. And since we are talking about it.." he moved closer towards him, a few sparks dabbing off him. "How did you get to Lindblum, and why did you go?"

Falcon shook his head, and before he could speak, a rumbling was heard from above them. The ground quaked, as if something had struck it. Fox turned to face Luigi, but he was already gone, running up the steps to the top of the passageway.

"The hell was that!" Fox shouted.

"No idea. But we should probably go check out what's happening." Falcon began to run up the steps as well, before turning back to face Lucas. "And I will answer all your questions in due time. For now, we need to see what's going on out there!"

Lucas nodded, chasing after Fox and Falcon now, the bag on his back smacking against him as he ran further up.

As they reached the top, they paused before attempting to take in the scene before them; it was all in ruins. The passageway took them up inside the castle, but there was no longer a castle where they stood. Something had come through and annihilated everything. The homes and paths, everything, destroyed. Some sort of great force had swept through, clearing everything in its path, searching for something it seemed. Luigi was no where to be found, and it worried Fox. He knew what sort of trauma he must've been going through.

Fox stepped forward and tried to make sense of what was going on, before something caught his eye on the ground. He moved towards it and picked up a somewhat large silvery feather. Unusual.. he thought to himself. He tried to think of what sort of creature a feather of this size it belonged to, but nothing appeared at the top of his head. Falcon moved towards him, examining the same feather Fox held on to.

"Curious specimen that is," he said, moving his hand towards it. Fox handed it to him and continued to walk along what little path there was for them to move on. "Belongs to a species of dragon, believe it or not."

"Dragon? What?" Fox was a bit shocked, almost in disbelief. Falcon nodded his head, stroking his hand along the edge of the feather.

"The 'silver dragon', they call it. A very exotic creature, raised in reclusive areas of the Forgotten Continent. Sell for quite the penny in the black market trade." He raised the feather up and held it in front of the sun, the light beaming off of it. "To see one here, that's quite a strange ordeal, especially since they are a very vicious beast."

"Could that be what caused all of this then? A silver dragon?"

Falcon turned and frowned, shaking his head. "Unfortunately, I don't believe that a single silver dragon would cause all of this, nor would five. It would take hundreds of them to take down a castle, let alone the Mushroom Kingdom's keep."

A voice could be heard groaning, and immediately they dashed towards it, tossing off the bits of debris and rubble that covered the poor soul. It was a toad, one of Princess Peach's own advisers. The elder coughed and hacked up gunk from his lungs, panting. His brown spotted mushroom cap was badly bruised and damaged, as well as his white mustache singed from what could be assumed to be fire.

"W-w..." His voice was weak and timid, exhausted. Fox leaned in to try and listen to him, as the elder toad whispered. "W-water.."

Immediately, Fox grabbed a canteen with the remaining water from their trip and poured it into the elder toad's mouth. He lapped it up, drinking in every drop. He sighed in relief, and coughed again. He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket out and held it tightly in his hand as he smiled at Fox.

"Th-thank you.. k-kind sir.." He panted heavily, Falcon now bending down to listen to his soft voice.

"What happened here?" Fox asked, softly, to try not to further tire him out. "Who did this?"

"The p-princess.. i-is sh-she safe..?" He asked, his eyes beginning to close. "Y-you must.. n-not let him.. t-take h-her away.."

He collapsed, and his breathing stopped. Fox closed his eyes as well, lowering his head to rest it on the body. Falcon stood up, rubbed his temples together, and kicked his foot into a piece of rubble, sending it flying. He screamed out, frustrated. Fox laid the elder toad's body down, grabbing a note from his hand as well. He opened it up and examined it, his eyes running back and forth along the letters:

"Dear Marth,

The Mushroom Kingdom is under attack right now, by golly, from some unknown force. I cannot say who it is, but I can say that this strange man, well, this bloke dare say I, demanded quite the ridiculously preposterously outright impossible request! He requested the capture of the princess, else he would lay our keep to ruins. This champ must be outright insane to think he could defeat the force of the Mushroom Kingdom! Unfortunately.. he has done so far, and all the remains standing is the castle. He wields a power that rivals any we have ever seen. I do not know how much longer it is until we fall as well, so I am sending this letter to you in hopes that you receive it before you begin your assault against Alabasta again.

Protect the princess! We are sending her via the underground tram system to Cid Fabool in Lindblum, where afterwards, he will send her by ship to you, on the island of the Alabasta Kingdom. Protect her in any armour or whatever you folks do to keep people safe! She is the last remaining bloodline of her family, and surely this perpetrator wishes to harm and end that line. But, before I do end this letter, I've two more things to say to you!

Quit this nonsensical attack against your own homeland! You will not retake Alabasta, and all you will end up doing is killing your own people, as well as yourself! Think of what Princess Vivi would think of this! What King Nefertari thinks of it in general! Just talk with the man, don't risk your life for something that you and I both know to be pointless! And for the last thing..

Watch out for this strange boy.. His powers are beyond our understanding. Our spies relayed what they had saw happened to the other one.. Deficio is planning to create this.. this human-weapon army. You need to stop trying to defeat your own kingdom, and instead help them prepare for whatever it is that Deficio is planning.

I can only pray that I send this letter in time, before anything else happens.

-Toadsworth "

Fox and Falcon looked up at one another and frowned.

"We never passed by Princess Peach on the way here.." Fox said, folding the note and placing it in his pocket. "Which probably means.."

"She was captured by this 'unknown force.' Great. It's just perfect." Falcon continued to clench his fists, kicking around more rubble and rocks. Lucas moved up towards Fox and held onto the straps of his bag, his face too pouting.

"What does this mean now Fox..? What do we do now?"

Fox turned to face him and pat his head, smiling. "Don't worry. We'll figure out our next move, befor-" He wasn't able to finish his sentence, and instead, dragged Lucas with him, dodging the blast that was shot down from the sky. He pulled him further from the assailant, and before he thought they could stop briefly, a giant fire ball had formed in front of them and erupted, shooting them both backwards. Fox quickly jumped up and looked for Falcon, who too he saw was knocked down by this force.

He looked back up into the air to try and see what was attacking them, and that's when he saw him. Another silvery feather dropped down from the air and landed near Fox, right as he was sent flying backwards into a rock, a shockwave attacking him. The silver dragon roared and drooped down, letting the man standing on him jump off and move towards him. Fox groaned in pain, holding onto his side as he glanced at the attacker, his long silver hair shaking alongside him.

He was about medium height, maybe slightly taller than Fox. He didn't seem too old either. His pale fair skin almost matched the white long sleeves that he wore on his arms, which linked with the violet mantle he wore. He had a white cloak that was linked to a codpiece he wore, the cloak extending from his waist to his ankles. His deep purple pants dropped down to his black shoes, which stepped almost slightly as they moved closer and closer towards Fox.

"What have we here? A rodent, lost from the woods, traveling in a small pack, hungry for food?" He slowly turned his head sideways slightly, moving his hand gently towards his mouth. His face grinned, but his mouth remained barely moved, almost trying to conceal his amusement.

"Are you the bastard that did this!?" Fox shouted out to him. He tried to move but his body was still shot from the shock wave earlier. The man moved closer towards him and stepped on his leg, causing pain to shoot up his body. He tried to cover it, but he yelped out, gritting his teeth.

The man chuckled, brushing his hair to the side. "Just like a dog, begging for relief. Pathetic, really. I should put you all out of your misery," he said, kicking Fox in his gut, causing him to bend over. "But why bother?"

The note had slipped out earlier when Fox was blown away, and the stranger stopped it. He stepped on Fox's hand as he tried to grab it, and he took the note, reading it as well. Fox gulped, and the man smiled, dropping the note on the ground. He brushed his hair away again, looking up into the air and whistling, with the silver dragon immediately dropping back down next to him. He hoisted himself up and stood on the back of the beast, giving one last look at the two.

"So that's what they planned to do.. hmm? Too bad I've already captured the princess." He turned his back towards them and held his arms out, stretching them. Fox glanced ahead, spotting Peach laying on the dragon's back. "I suppose I can go stir up some things in Alabasta. I was planning to head there next, after all." He turned his head back, a grin spotted on his face. "Do let them know I'm coming. Should try to give them a chance, would be less boring that way."

Fox tried to shout after him, but it was to no avail. His body ached terribly, and there was nothing he could do about it. The silver dragon began to soar back into the air, the man disappearing along with it.

Fox awoke as Lucas continued to dab a wet cloth onto his forehead. It was night time now, and there was a campfire near him. Falcon had been awake as well, solemnly sitting, thinking. Fox tried to pull himself up, but instantly moaned out in pain as a sharp jab shot up from his chest. Lucas pushed him back onto the makeshift cot and shook his head.

"You need to rest Fox!" He dipped the cloth back into the bowl of water and dabbed it back on Fox's face.

"W-what happened?" Fox asked, but he knew pretty much what had went down.

"When that dragon began to attack us, I hid behind some rocks. I had hoped you guys would be fine but.." He tighten the grip on the cloth, gritting his teeth. "B-but I was wrong, and I let you get badly hurt.." He frowned now as well, his grip still tight. "I-I was afraid that h-he was trying to capture me.. l-like those other guys.."

Fox shook his head and shushed Lucas, smiling. "It's fine, you did what you had to do. I would be beating myself up right now if I let you get hurt." He placed his hand on his stomach, groaning as he inspected some of the damage done.

"That guy Fox.. h-he's really strong.." Lucas moved over towards the campfire, tending the flame. "I thought about it, a-and I realized that I've s-seen him before.."

Fox pulled himself up, moving himself towards a rock, resting his back against it. Falcon stayed in his spot, but his head cocked slightly as to listen to what Lucas was beginning to say. Lucas came back towards Fox and brought with him a bowl of soup he had been heating on the fire. He handed it to Fox, who gladly took it and began to drink it.

"Back in my homelands.. on the Nowhere Islands.. I r-remember this guy my dad always told me about. He described him a-as a sot of.. dragon tamer."

"Dragon tamer? So he probably has more of those dragons, huh?"

Lucas nodded his head. "I actually remember that n-night now.. when Tazmily Village was raided.. it was him." He moved his arms to wrap himself with them, rubbing himself as well. "He had b-begun the initial attack, with those dragons burning everything.. and then t-that's when Deficio had came.. to finish the job."

Fox glanced over at Falcon, who's head had dropped lower now, probably upset if he had to guess. Lucas kept on talking now, again with his past, with Deficio, all up until the point to when he met Fox and Falco.

".. That's why I haven't ran again yet. B-because I know you'll keep me safe." He looked up to Fox, who looked back at him. Fox smiled and nodded his head, but inside, he knew it was a lie.

"How can I keep him safe if I can't even protect myself.. It keeps happening, we meet some stronger foe, and we end up having to run away or.. get lucky.." Fox shook his head, and began to stand up, wincing at the pain. Lucas tried to stop him but Fox shook his head, asking for him to let him do this.

"Lucas, I will tell you the truth, really. I'm not the strongest guy out there, and these guys we keep meeting? They're ten times stronger than me." He pointed over towards Falcon, who now was also standing up, moving towards the two. "Heck, that guy is even stronger than me. But I will tell you what I can do."

He moved towards the fire now, and he pulled out a small folded note from the inside of his jacket pocket. He unfolded it, glancing over it one last time before he tossed it into the fire. The flames engulfed the paper, with small bits dancing off and on to the ground. Fox lifted his head, his eyes scanning over the stars. "I won't run or lose to anyone ever again, Lucas. So long as you are in my care, I won't back down from a fight like that again."

Falcon now was grinning too, moving over towards Fox and slapping him on the back, followed by a loud groan. "That's the spirit, McCloud. I was wondering when that fire in you would kindle again."

Fox turned to face him, his face stern. He moved back towards Lucas and looked at him. "But, for me to do this, we're going to need allies. And lots of them. We're going to face a lot more guys like the one earlier, and we're going to need people to back us up." He pulled another note from his pocket, this one the one written from Toadsworth, the one he snagged after the silver dragon tamer left.

"So, let's start by recruiting this Marth guy into our cause. And you want to know how?"

Lucas and Falcon looked at each other, shaking their heads.

"We're going to help him retake Alabasta!"