Within the metal corridors of an unknown base, a blast of flame penetrated the wall. In its wake, Keitaro was at the receiving end of the blast. He suffered no burn or major damaging wounds, as he used the small vault door he cut from earlier as a shield. As he tossed the heavy door off of him, an alarm triggered with red blinking lights, and the a recorded voice that yelled, "Warning-Sector Eight-Floor Two-Security Breach-Overload-Defense System!" Draconian burst through the new opening with the cylinder in hand. Keitaro took to his feet in pursuit of the enemy.
As he chased Draconian, the door ahead of him began to shut. Draconian managed to slip through the closing exit, but Keitaro was left behind on the opposite side. The Urashim punched the door in frustration as he looked for another way around. There was a second automatic shutting door that Keitaro slipped past with his greater speed. He was able to maneuver past a series of doors in succession. However, that was only the start of his problems. From the ground emerged three turrets, all pointed at Keitaro.
"Oh great", Keitaro thought in his head.
Each one fired a green blast of energy at Keitaro. He had some practice trying to dodge Su's weapons before, so he was used to this. However, this time he was dodging for keeps. With no weapons strong enough to counter these machines, all he could do was keep moving. One of the energy beams destroyed the door to another hallway. The hole was big enough for Keitaro to squeeze through. With a risky quick jump over the large guns, Keitaro jumped through the hole, narrowly missing a laser blast.
Once he was through and around the corner, Keitaro held his left arm. The energy attack had singed some of his long sleeve, but didn't damage the skin. He heard a loud crashing sound ahead of him. As he looked on, Draconian ran perpendicular to his location. He still had the isotope in tow, giving Keitaro a good enough reason to pursue him.
"Draconian", Keitaro yelled as he chased after him.
Down the hall he could see the project dragon subject making a run for it. Keitaro drew his gun and fired three shots at his target. One bullet nailed him in the shoulder, but the others zoomed past the target. Draconian turned around and deeply hissed at Keitaro. His tail reemerged as Keitaro took better aim. Before he could fire at him, another bullet zoomed past Keitaro. The Urashima turned around to find four other mercenaries shooting at him and Keitaro.
"Target's located, Sector Seven, Floor Two!"
Keitaro took cover behind some metal crates as Draconian continued to escape. As one of the mercenaries chased after Draconian, Keitaro grabbed him by the arm before knocking him out with a good kick to the skull. Before the others had time to fire, Keitaro was already upon them. He was trained to fight in close combat, it's something Avianna and his Dojo Sensei taught him. Once these four were taken care of, Keitaro continued the dragon chase. Down one of the other hallways, there was a hole, obviously created from Draconian's fire breath.
Keitaro drew his gun again as he looked through the dark opening. The new area wasn't a room, but an elevator. Keitaro looked down to see only blackness and the cables. As he looked up, he say an exit that a red scaled tail went through.
"Freeze, on the ground", Keitaro turned around as three more mercenaries approached.
Not wanting to stick around any longer, Keitaro leap into the elevator opening. The mercenaries turned on the flash light at the end of their automatic weapons. Their eyes eventually told them to look up. Keitaro was working on climbing the elevator cords. He was almost at the top when the mercenaries began firing at the intruder. Keitaro made it through alive, but not without receiving a bullet though the leg. He applied a quick tourniquet to the leg using some of his sleeve cloth. He used no more time to patch up the wound, which he would most likely pay for later.
Keitaro searched around for the enemy and the isotope, but found neither of them. However, he was getting closer, as he found more wounded and unconscious mercenaries.
"You're not getting away this time Draconian", Keitaro mentally noted.
The project dragon subject continued to run through the base with the Plasma Enhanced Isotope under his arm. There was a large door up ahead that his fire breath simply could not handle. He clasped the cylinder with his tail as Draconian pried the door open with his muscles and claws. The door creaked and struggled before finally opening. Ahead was Draconian's destination, the hanger bay. It was filled with different vehicles from choppers, jeeps, private jets, and construction trucks.
Draconian walked through the hanger bay, looking for the door. After only a few steps, he was struck in the back by Keitaro's flying kick. The impact put the dragon to the ground, and the isotope rolled off into another part of the bay. Keitaro was ready for a rematch as Draconian stood up again.
"So, you showed up to die", Draconian said to Keitaro.
"No, I came back for the isotope", Keitaro said menacingly.
"You want the plasma enhanced isotope? Now why is that?"
"That isotope was stolen from a governmental science lab", Keitaro said as the two circled each other, "The question is why do you want it? You're not smart enough to use that isotope to its fullest extent, you must be working for someone else. The question is who exactly? Is it Neon?"
Draconian chuckled with a serrated grin.
"It is true that I'm working with Neon on a new project. However, he and I are merely partners. There's one more of us that works for our boss."
"Who's in charge of you three?"
"Wouldn't you like to know", Draconian said sarcastically.
"At this point it doesn't matter who they are. All I have to do is defeat you."
"Defeat me huh", Draconian said. "That's exactly what Masuka said before she died."
Keitaro's temper flared into rage. In the blink of an eye, Keitaro collided his pocket knife with Draconian's claw. The villain's was merely bone, but it sparked against the knife as if it was made of metal too. Draconian grinned in satisfaction as Keitaro gritted his teeth in anger.
"Don't you dare talk about her like that! You didn't know her, so don't think you can talk about her like that!"
"Oh I know her a lot better than you think", Draconian said as he shoved Keitaro off of him.
The Urashima continued to slash at the dragon. However, each attack was either a miss, or blocked by the red scales of his tail.
"You DIDN'T know her! You didn't know what she was like! You didn't know how kind she was! You didn't know what she wanted in life...AND YOU DIDN'T KNOW WHAT SHE MEANT TO ME!
"Yes I did...", Draconian grabbed the wrist Keitaro held his knife in"...Because you watched me kill her.
With a good jerk of his arm, Draconian tossed Keitaro across the hanger bay, causing the boy to lose his knife. Keitaro took to his feet as he tore his mask, shirt, then vest off.
"You didn't just kill her! You killed Metaru, and Simon, and Yangu! They didn't deserve to die!"
Keitaro used his now enhanced speed to land a straight punch to Draconian's jaw. Draconian tried to fight back with his claws and tail, but Keitaro's speed kept him in a safe zone. He continued to assault the dragon as he continued to yell at his enemy.
"Metaru trusted you! He respected you, and you murdered him in cold blood! Simon had just become a father, his daughter will never know the kind of man he was; And Yangu! You killed Yangu, he was only five years old! He had his whole life ahead of him, and you killed him!"
Keitaro gave a last strong spin kick to the Dragon's chest. As he skidded across the hanger bay floor, Keitaro found his knife. He took the weapon in his hand before jumping into the air as high as he could. The weapon's sharp edge and Keitaro's impact would be enough to pierce through Draconian's heart. However, the dragon had an emergency safety card to play. Keitaro's knife was blocked by a large wing, the same color of scales that were on his tail.
"You speak of these people so highly", Draconian said under the wing.
Before Keitaro could react, Draconian's feet transformed into talons. One of these talons was large enough to grip Keitaro's entire waist. As the Urashima struggled in the trap, he neglected to move his hands away as they were caught in Draconian's fist. The Dragon balanced on one talon as he held Keitaro with the other.
"They were once good people, but now they're dead people...just like you."
Keitaro screamed in pain as Draconian ran the jagged side of his tail against Keitaro's back. The green spines cut through Keitaro's skin like scissors through paper. Keitaro cried in agony, something Draconian nearly fed from. As bad as it hurt, Keitaro didn't want to give him the satisfaction of winning. He used his freed legs to kick the opponent in the jaw. The blow sent a shock wave through the dragon's body. In the midst of the attack one of Draconian's spines broke off of his tail as Keitaro was now free.
Keitaro landed face first on the hard floor as Draconian ended up on his back. Keitaro struggled to get up, but the pain was too great. The wound on his shoulder, his leg, and now his back had finally caught up to him. Draconian stood over Keitaro as he tried to get back up and fight. The enemy raised his claw in the air for the dead blow, but was disturbed by a series of gunshots. Draconian blocked his face with his wing as more mercenaries fired upon them. Draconian seized the isotope as Keitaro crawled behind a crate for cover.
"Until next time Keitaro", the dragon yelled as he sprouted another wind. "Don't die yet, we still have some unfinished business to take care of.
The dragon ran for the open bay door while the mercenaries still fired on him. Draconian took flight with the prize, and was home free at that point. However, Keitaro was still in his own situation. He was pinned down by these mercenaries, with only a hand gun, a knife, and three wounds that were draining him dry of blood. This was one of those situations where he could either run in guns a blazing, take the suicidal route, surrender for capture, die running for the door. Some choices these were.
Keitaro cocked his gun back for his next move. Then, a miracle happened. A missile fired at plane close to the enemy mercenaries. This caused the aircraft to explode in a blaze. Keitaro Urashima looked to the bay exit, and could see a familiar black helicopter, with a familiar pilot, giving a familiar finger to the enemy.
"Nentou, he always shows up just in time", Keitaro thought as he made a break for the chopper.
"Get to the Chopper", Nentou jokingly yelled through the megaphone.
As the chopper door opened for Keitaro, Nentou had finished destroying the last of the flying aircrafts, to avoid any pursuit. With the job done, Nentou piloted the helicopter away from the base. Keitaro took an uncomfortable seat in the chopper as he strapped himself in.
"Dude, what the hell happened out there!?"
"It was Draconian", Keitaro said as he tried to remove the bullet from his leg.
"Draconian, damn", Nentou said as he knew how bad Draconian was. "And the Isotope?"
"He got to it first", Keitaro grunted as he finally removed the bullet.
"Damn, Avianna isn't gonna like this. Don't worry about it dude, I'll take you to the infirmary and..."
No, no infirmary", Keitaro said, "Just take me home."
"Are you sure, cause you look like dude."
"Yeah, I'll be fine", Keitaro reassured him. "Just take me home."
"Alright", Nentou said uneasily.
Nentou continued to pilot the helicopter as he contemplated what to do with Keitaro. As a soldier, he was technically above Keitaro's ranking, and he should just make Keitaro see a doctor. Even as a friend, it would be best to make him go. However, Avianna warned him that Keitaro might do unusual things after he was demoted. Nentou was a brother in arms, he wasn't his father. Keitaro could make decisions for himself. Maybe they weren't always the best ones, but Nentou was going to have to trust him as a friend.
"Keitaro", Nentou called out.
"Yeah", Keitaro said as he concentrated on fixing his wounds.
Nentou wanted to say something, but couldn't find the right words. He choked and said, "Be sure to use alcohol and not antiperoxidase."
"Sure thing", Keitaro said back.
They didn't speak for the rest of the ride home. The chopper ride back was long, and too quiet.
I hope I didn't disappoint in this one. Keitaro's first encounter with Draconian in this fic, and more questions about Keitaro's past have been raised. What happens next, stick around and find out.