Chapter 25:
"Hello! The ranger of love and light is here to save the day!" she dramatically poses. Where's the explosion?
"Where's Nepgear and Uzume?"
"Oh, they're right… Nepu! Where are they?!" she just noticed that there isn't anyone behind her.
"I think I got them lost? Ehe~" that's even worse of a situation.
"No biggie. We can look for 'em together!"
"*Sigh* Well, at least I got some backup" I have to admit, I can't take on this dragon with just my bare hands. And seeing that it withstood Uzume's punch, even caving this place in along with me would just add more irritation on its forehead.
*ROOOOAAAAAAAR!*
The dragon roars at us. Roars from the pain of having its claw sliced off. Roared from the irritation. And roared at the person that cut off its claw.
"Nepu! This one is really pissed!"
"Not really. He just wants our attention. He's been demanding a good play before you arrived"
"Oh? Really?"
"Yep. We could humor this guy or just leave him be"
"Nah. I think he'll just follow us"
"That's true. So? Let's play?"
"I'm rarin' to go!"
Just as she said that a sword appears in front of me, I take it before it starts to fall. Taking a stance, both of us face the one-clawed dragon. The dragon stops screaming and looks at us with eyes of a bull readying its horns. Without waiting for some sort of signal I lunge forward.
I reach the dragon in only 2 strides. It fires a fireball at me. I quickly take a step back and dash forward as I duck low to the ground. As I recover, Neptune is already in the air, from a jump I presume, and is about to stab the sword on the dragon's head.
"..!"
*CLASH!*
Seeing that attack, the dragon swings its tail at her. She readjusts the placement of her sword and blocks the attack, throwing her back a few feet.
*ROOOOOOOAAAAAAR!*
"Don't look at away at your enemies!" because they just might stab you.
Angry. It fires a stream of flames at me. I pulled the sword and jump back just in time. Its stream of flames doesn't stop as it readjusts its aim from the ground and towards me. But just as the flames get close, Neptune comes flying from out of nowhere and stabs the dragon on the back.
*ROOOOOOAAAAAAAAR!*
It stops spitting fire and flinches. I take the chance to run towards him. It raises its only claw and smashes it on me.
*BAM!*
Instincts pulled me to the side, avoiding me turning into a meaty paste. I run up on his chest and jump as high as I could over his head.
*ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAR!*
From above I can see Neptune has her sword stuck on the spine of the wingless dragon. She must've realized that and started twisting and jerking the sword, causing unbelievable pain on the dragon's part. I let gravity do my thing and swing my sword down on his head.
*CLASH!*
"Tsk I missed" the dragon's twisting caused me to miss my mark.
*ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAR!*
The dragon flinches, flails, and rampages, trying to get Neptune off his back. I don't waste time and start cutting the dragon's skin in any way I want.
*SLASH!* *SLASH!* *SLASH!* *SLASH!*
*ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAR!*
I cut its chest first, opening it up until I can see the muscle under its thick hide. Instincts pulled me towards the stomach, as the dragon smashes the ground where I was at. Landing I continue cutting the dragon's skin.
*SLASH!* *SLASH!* *SLASH!* *SLASH!*
*ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAR!*
"Nepu! I don't think I can hold much longer!" hearing my wife say those words, I back off and duck while in mid-air, the tail went over my head.
The moment I land I dash forward towards its head. Neptune can barely hold on as she resists the force of physics being thrown at her. The dragon rises, pivots as it lands on the ground. Blinded by pain, I managed to sneak in under it.
"Neptune!" hearing my voice, she removes the sword from the dragon's spine and runs across the spine towards the head. She jumps high into the air, as she reaches the height of her jump, she raises her sword.
As she falls, I run up the dragon's chest and jumps towards its chin. With both of our weapons ready, we both cut the through the dragon's hide. Decapitating it. I jump away avoiding the rain of blood that's about to pour. Neptune does so as well, managing to keep her jacket white.
It's headless body slowly falls with a thud.
"Big Siiiis! Slow do… Oh my goodness a dragon!"
"Hey, Nepsy… Wait, what the hell happened here…?"
"Looks like the gang is all here then…"
On top of the first landing of the stairs, I see 2 familiar girls. Their eyes are glued to the dead wingless dragon and the surroundings being so charred and smell like burnt steak. One look and they already know what had just occurred. They scan the area and found Neptune and I walking towards them.
"Big Brother… So that's why Big Sis ran…" Nepgear said as she comes down.
"I honestly don't know what happened though…"
"Isn't this the mutt that we failed to finish off, how did it get here?" Uzume asked.
"I can only guess, but perhaps it ran away from us and ended up here" Nepgear guessed.
"And it's dead now because of Jared being cool and all" Neptune adds.
"Nah. Neptune did most of the work"
"...That's pretty impressive taking the mutt down…" with suspicious eyes, Uzume praised.
"I had some help…" I answered honestly.
"What are you doing here, Big Brother?"
"I happened to stumble in here… or something like that" I honestly don't know what happened.
"I could ask the same to you guys, what are you doing here? Last I check you three were patrolling"
"Well, something came up and we had to go save Umio" Nepgear answered.
"Umio? Who's that?"
"It's the deep manly voice from beyond the speaker!"
"Really? Now that I am very interested in" I do wonder the face of the man with a deep and calming voice that is coming out of the Uzume's speakers.
"And we've made friends with a lot of Baby Bugs too. Let's take you there!" Neptune excitedly pulls.
"…"
"Tada! Here's Umio!"
"…Uh… huh" what exactly am I looking at. It's a fish… a blue fish with yellow fins and a human face. And it's floating in the air. No, wait, swimming in the air. What kind of fish are you? How do you breathe? How do you have a larynx? Can you grow arms and legs? A billion questions in my head and just staring at you is not going to get me the answers.
"Ah. And you must be?" it's a deep and calm voice that I am all too familiar with from Uzume's calls escapes his mouth.
"I'm Jared, a passerby" I answered. I want to give out my hand for a handshake but Umio doesn't even have hands.
"So you must be the 4th friend that Uzume has made friends with"
"Indeed I am" I take a look at Uzume's face, she doesn't seem too bothered.
"Despite his fishy appearance, his voice is godly and his lines are so refined and smooth!" Neptune exclaimed.
"Hrm…" taking a look at my surroundings, I take a peek at the crowd behind Umio. A crowd of what seems like fish with 8 legs. I think I remember that we have monsters as friends and that we were defending their escape route.
"…Ah. So that' why…" they were suddenly attacked and somehow contacted Uzume to help them out.
"It seems you've understood our disposition," Umio said.
"Well more or less. Were you attacked by a fire-breathing mutt of sorts?"
"Though I don't know if you could classify it as a dog yes, we were attacked by a fire-breathing monster"
"It was scary!" one of the fishes with 8 legs adds.
"But thanks to Uzume and friends we're saved!" another adds.
"How could we ever thank you all…?" another fish-with-8-legs adds.
"It's no big deal. You guys found a share crystal for me after all" Uzume responds to their heartfelt thanks.
"Uzume, here. This is what the Baby Bugs discovered" from Umio's, uh, somewhere? He pulled out a rock glittering with an array of colors. Uzume takes it and puts it in her pocket like it's a matter of fact.
"Thanks, everyone"
"Let us return for now. I'm sure you're all tired" Umio suggested.
A/N: Hello guys. I'm back. Something happened to me personally and I was bummed out from writing. And yes, it happened right after I posted the last chapter. It took me some time to get my mojo back. So I'm really sorry for making you guys wait. Don't worry, the worst of the storm had just passed.