Chapter 19 An Ancient Dragon's return match
"Wanna explain who this is, Ragna?" IF's tone was a cold one, and, for Compa and Neptune, they could see a dark aura over her smiling face. In a way, Neptune should have seen this coming; after all, returning with Tekken stuck to Ragna asking all sorts of questions about how he trained and when they would have their first fight wasn't going bode well considering IF's feelings.
Not seeming to perceive the murderous aura IF was giving off, Ragna rubbed the back of his head as Tekken introduced herself with a shy smile, "I...I'm Tekken, We..we'll be traveling together now it's nice to meet you both."
"It's nice to meet you; I'm Compa." Compa smiled happily at Tekken, who smiled at her back.
IF told her with a strained voice, "Name's IF it's good to meet you." Tekken still didn't seem to feel the pure bloodlust burning in IF's eyes and, made a scared noise as IF pushed in between her and, the grim Reaper saying, "Now, please give Ragna some space stick to him too much and, his grumpiness might infect you."
"The hell's that comment for Squirt?" Ragna asked with a growl as IF looked at him sticking out her tongue to antagonize the Reaper to focus on her. Compa giggled silently at the display while Neptune gained a sly grin as well.
Tekken was a bit off-put by suddenly being pushed to the side, but Neptune came over and told her, "Don't worry about Iffy being that way. She loves Rags soo much she might have become a bit jealous."
"Eh? Di...did it seem like I was flirting or something?" Tekken asked with a worried look.
Neptune patted her on the back, before telling her, "Nah, IF's just jealous cause of her maiden heart hehe." The goddess could see so many new avenues to screw with Ragna and, IF with their new arrival, it wasn't funny...for them at least. "but I'm sure that Rags would fight you eventually if you complimented his skill and physique during combat, a lot."
"Wou...wouldn't that cause another misunderstanding, though?" Neptune nodded no while laughing on the inside, as Tekken looked at her with a look of trust saying, "Al...alright, I do want to fight Ragna after all I'll put my trust in you."
Compa, having watched the exchange sighed at Neptune's antics before clapping her hands together to gain the group's attention, "Everyone shouldn't we get going before they close the shop."
Ragna turned his head looking at Compa, before dropping IF, who he was holding up by the scruff of her jacket to bark at her at eye level. IF kept herself at Ragna's side while replying, "Yeah, let's head out to...where we headed to again Neptune?"
"It's MS Mountain," she said confidently before looking at Tekken and asked, "right, Tekken?"
Tekken nodded with a smile, telling the party, "Yes, I've been training there while I was here." Taking Neptune's advice into account, she turned to Ragna, saying, "Though if Ragna can catch my punch so easily, I..I'm sure he'll be able to crush any monster we encounter."
"Don't think some praise will get anything from him." IF thought at Tekken, the big breasted beauty who had come back latched to Ragna's side. Her eyes aimed towards her chest, scowling in her mind thinking, "Tch, who needs those big slabs on their body anyways, Ragna would prefer someone holdable like me."
(On MS Mountain)
"Anyone else starting to feel like we got told bullshit by that driver?" Ragna scowled out; the group hadn't run into any monsters since they started on the mountain path to the town.
Tekken nodded while saying, "Th...this doesn't make any sense there were monsters all around the last time I was here," IF looked at Tekken with a little smile at her confusion.
"Well, it's mostly because of ," Compa shrugged while saying, "if it isn't unusual or has someone giving orders, most monsters tend to avoid us because of his powers."
Tekken seemed to look at Ragna with eyes of admiration while the Reaper himself thought, "Yeah, thanks Compa make her want to fight just what I need," he then told Tekken with an intense glare," Quit looking at me like that damn it, the Azure isn't something you should admire."
She seemed to shiver for a moment, her cheeks flushing red, turning her head she hugged herself, making Ragna think he seriously scared her. Feeling the robust looks of his other members barring IF, who wore a small smirk of satisfaction he rubbed the back of his head, saying "Hey, uh Tekken didn't mean to scare you there, just trying to make sure you understand the power I have isn't something you should wish for."
I..its fine," she took a breath that was hot enough to see, recovering her usual composure, shyly thinking, "Su..such power from his voice alone, haa no one's ever talked to me in a way like that."
IF rolled her eyes telling them, "Look, can we keep moving, we're never gonna make it there in...whoa!" A shadow swooped over the party, creating a jet wind that caught them off-guard, and, with a loud crash, something landed in front of them. "What the heck?!" IF yelled out, as the wind died down enough to let her open her eyes slightly.
"Tch it's a dragon, like before in Lastation," Ragna growled out, looking at it with a glare he noticed its left eye was blinded, with a suspicious splash-like scar. "Wait a minute," Ragna scratched his head in annoyance, continuing his scowl, "It's the same dragon from before."
Tekken looked at them in surprise, asking, "You've fought this dragon before?"
Neptune nodded before saying, "Yeah, it turned in ran when the creature we were told hunt for a quest turned up, and Compa shooting it in the eye didn't help much." Most people would aim to stay out of the way of a raging ancient dragon, and this group had gone casually talking about making it an enemy.
"Now run away like a good little girl so you can leave my..err Ragna alone." IF thought mentally hoping for Tekken to cower away like a child. That's when Tekken's fighting spirit shone through, with her doing a few practice punches.
She then told the others, "Alright, let's do our be...best to beat him then."
Neptune nodded with a bright smile on her face, replying, "Heck yeah! Let's show'em what we got girls and, Rags!" she transformed into HDD form with a small smile he pointed her sword at the dragon continuing, " now how about we finish what you started?"
"Revenge will be mine, Raaagh!" the ancient dragon roared out, cracking the ground and causing it to shake violently.
(Play P4A: Shadows of the Labyrinth)
After the dragon finished roaring, it released a wave of fire toward the group. Ragna threw up his barrier while Neptune swept into the air carrying Compa. IF had leaped behind the Reaper while Tekken leaped to the side to dodge the wave.
The flames slammed into the barrier, with Ragna not even blinking as the dragon's head was diving for him. The wave of fire dispersed, Ragna turned his head, nodding toward IF to dodge to the opposite side to where he was rolling. The plan never went into action as Tekken rocketed from the right side, delivering a strong punch to the dragon's face.
"Leave them alone!" She cried out her punch forcing the dragon to catch itself with it's left claw. The dragon growled in irritation, going to regain its balance from the punch only to hiss in pain suddenly.
IF followed up, slicing at the dragon's left arm to make it harder for it to recover while thinking, "The hell is up with her!? She nearly topples the damn thing in one go, is she even human with that much strength?! More importantly, though," her eyes went to Ragna, who had also gone on the attack with a jumping knee to the dragon's nose.
"Nice punch kid, though shoulda aimed for the other eye, we could have blinded the damn thing completely." Ragna complimented Tekken's strength while toppling the dragon with his attack. Neptune let Compa go a small distance away so she wouldn't be in harm's way as Tekken rubbed the back of her head with a glowing smile that drove IF mad.
A deep growl escaped the dragon's mouth as Ragna called out, "Watch it!" It did a quick sweep with its tail while rolling over and twisting while on all fours glaring towards the group. The dragon roared before swiping down with its right claw, Ragna flicked his sword up, stopping the attack quickly.
"I've got you!" The dragon roared, going to pour a stream of flames down on Ragna, only for Neptune to send a purple wave of energy to slam into the dragon's mouth. An explosion erupted in its throat, smoke rolling from its jaw while Tekken circled to the back of the dragon.
Ragna tossed the claw to the left side, quickly making the dragon's body turn awkwardly. Neptune dived between its left arm and the dragon's body, dragging the blade across its chest as Tekken delivered a mighty blow on the back of its left leg, sending it tumbling backward once more.
Tekken dodged away as IF yelled out with her hand glowing with white light, "LA DELPHINUS!" the beam of pure light blasted out of the ground lifting the dragon off of the field, Compa also fired small blasts from her syringe into the dragon's body as it was raised into the air.
"My turn, lizard breath!" Ragna leaped into the air, calling out, "Bloodscythe!" his sword fully turning into its true form of a large scythe with a blade made of wicked red energy. The scythe ran across the dragon's stomach before he reached the monster's face.
It wanted to attempt breathing fire once more, only for Ragna's right arm changed into a claw of darkness that wrapped around its jaw. Using his full strength, he twisted the dragon in the air before slamming its face into the ground with darkness shooting from the field; it's weight increasing the power of the slam.
"not done with you yet," he started squeezing down on the dragon's face, following a pulse of power from his claw clenching it as it exploded peppering the air with unneeded red orbs.
(Music end)
Adjusting his collar Ragna looked at the dragon and said," That's the end of Lizard Breath at least."
"Uh, you sure Rags, I mean, don't the monsters generally despawn after dying?" that was true most of the time, the creatures of gamindustri tended to dissipate into data. Yet, the ancient dragon remained in front of them, not breathing or moving.
Taking a look at the soul, it was there n the creature but, considering things it was likely lingering or that's what Ragna believed. The grim Reaper decided it was dead or close enough to it that he didn't care to overthink, telling the group, "Let's get going , we've got places to be."
Moving on, the group left the dragon corpse on the ground. However, the moment they had left the area entirely, the dragon coughed, thinking, "Incredible, such strength for a small group and, that man, he seemed especially powerful." Lifting itself into the sky, it's reptilian eyes narrowed before growling out lowly, "I shall return, once I've become adequate to handle such a thing as you, a visage of death."
Chapter 19
Kerrowe - Yeah, she's a cutie in my opinion and, huh didn't think about it that way but makes a lot of sense.
M Touhou Magicus - Don't worry, such things don't annoy me I welcome them whole heartedly after all, constructive criticism lets me fix my mistakes and, educates other writers who might read this in how not to make them. She first encounters the group in this area and, I thought it'd be an excellent addition to the party + with Ragna's unique personality and roughness, I could get a lot of use of her Masochistic side.
Archive4465 - thanks! I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter. I'll just be rolling with the punches A.E. if I feel like the Harem route, it'll go that way, or it'll be just a love triangle of Ragna x Blanc x IF.
ArmantusCummPinnea - I have many plans for dear little Tekken and, many fluffy and cute misunderstandings because, as far as I'm, Ragna's never dealt with a real Masochist before.
Kamecolin - It'll happen I guarantee just wondering when to throw it in.
RedBurningDragon - Now I'm thinking of Tekken but, with a more Azrael style design and a bloody red glow around her, thank you.