As they climbed the mountain, the storms started to intensify as it rained down hard as thunder and lightning were raging.
"The storm's getting bad. Must be a result of the Kirin being in this forest." Tigre said.
"Then we must be getting close." Spade said.
"Keep your wits about you, everyone. This creature is probably scared. We don't know how it's going to react." Omnimon said.
"Right." X said.
"I've faced an Elder Dragon before. They're going to react violently against humans." Tigre said. "Same with the Kirin."
They continued into the mountains before reaching the peaks before spotting a large horse-like creature with a long horn, standing there as its body glowed a bright blue as its white mane flowed with the wind.
"There it is, there's no mistaking it." Cheetah said.
"So… That's a Kirin, huh?" David asked.
"Without a doubt." Tigre said. "A Kirin...fresh in its prime."
"It's so pretty." Nuna said.
"Poor thing was probably scared for its life when those smugglers captured it to be transported. That, on top of landing in an environment it doesn't know about… I kind of feel sorry for it, man." David said.
The Kirin then turned its head towards them as it snorted a bit before electricity gathered around its horn.
"Yeah...well...I think it's about to share its love." Subaru said as they moved out of the way as lightning shot past them.
"Okay, first order of business. Lightning attacks obviously aren't going to do a thing to it, so don't think about paralyzing it." Miu said.
"Understood." Veigue said, readying his sword.
(Cue- Gigantesque- Soul Calibur IV)
The Kirin stepped forward, ready to fight them.
Phantom Beast
Kirin
"Well, there's no turning back now. Let's do this!" Hope said.
The Kirin dashed at them as lightning seemed to strike wherever it trotted as electricity surged around its body.
"It's fast!" Bow said.
"And lighting strikes wherever it goes. It definitely deserves the title of Elder Dragon." Ichiro said.
"Well we can't let it do as it pleases, even if it was brought here against its will." Gray said.
"Yes, it has to be stopped." Veigue said.
"Hmm… I might have an idea. Barbara, do you think you can wound it a bit? The bleeding might make it easier for us to track its movements." Leopardmon said.
"It might, but the blood might also wash off in this rain." Cheetah said.
"This thing is lightning fast. We'll need every maneuver we can pull off." Kareem said.
"But there's electricity around it. If she tries to cut it, she'll get shocked." Subaru said.
"Not if there's a good lightning rod nearby." Toya said. "If we can have someone act as a decoy and direct the lightning at them, we might be able to pull this off."
"I have an idea. Some Pokémon have the Lightning Rod ability, right? Why don't we try that?" Kaibara asked.
"That is just completely…" Tigre said as they dodged another lightning strike. "All right...a lightning rod huh? Fine...time to go on the hunt." he said, grabbing one of Ichiro's swords as he charged at the Kirin.
The Elder Dragon clashed with the sword Tigre held for a good while before Tigre swung the sword as he managed to break off the monster's horn.
"The horn is cut off! Now is our chance!" David said.
The Kirin howled in anger as it started to rampage across the area. Tigre hurried to climb to a higher point. The Kirin soon noticed this as it chased him before Cheetah jumped onto its back, digging her claws into it as it bellowed in pain.
"Sorry about this. We'll try to make this as painless as possible." David said.
"It's main weakness is fire. Though, that's probably not going to do much with all of this rain." Miu said.
"In that case… Time for an alternate method." Leopardmon said.
"Right." Veigue said. "Dragonfang Cleave!" he called, imbuing his sword with ice before thrusting through the Kirin and slicing back, this time leaving a fang of icicles in his path.
"Perfuma! Hogtie time!" Hope called.
"I do not enjoy doing this!" Perfuma said, summoning vines to bind the Kirins legs so it wouldn't move around. Kirin tried to send electricity through them but had trouble doing so. "I'm using the vines from the trees. They aren't all that conductive." she said as Kirin howled as the group pounced on it.
"We're sorry...but this is the way of nature." Tigre said before they landed the final strike on the Elder Dragon. It let out a final howl before it lay there, lifeless.
(End song)
"Oh, damn… What a sorry mess this thing ended up in." David said.
"But at least it won't have to be afraid of anything anymore." Cheetah said.
"Hmm...it chased me when I tried to climb that peak. I wonder why." Tigre said as he headed over to the peak. Climbing it, he soon saw a small nest with a few eggs in it.
"Those eggs… Do you think these could be…" Aoesia started.
"Now I see why it was being so defensive." Tigre said. "It thought we came to harm its nest."
"So...what do we do now?" Hope asked.
"Hmm...I've heard you can take monster eggs and train the monsters to be steeds once they hatch. Or we could just leave them with a monster hunting guild." Tigre said.
"How many eggs are we talking about here?" David asked.
"Looks like it's only two." Tigre said.
"I think we should take them with us." David said.
"Are you certain you want to do that?" Tigre asked. "These are monsters. Elder Dragons in fact."
"I know. But it's the least we can do after we did to its parent." David said. "What do you guys think?"
"I think we should go for it." Ace said.
"Same here." Mark agreed. "It just wouldn't feel right to leave them alone, even if they are Elder Dragons."
"Very well." Tigre said as he gathered the eggs up.
They all soon regrouped as they headed out of the forest as it seemed to get a bit lighter as they headed back to the ship as a few villagers stood by.
"So...did you get rid of those awful…" one of them said.
"Yeah...they're...they're all gone." Jexi said solemnly as they entered the ship.
"Honestly, I feel like I should be happy that we cleared the dungeon but at the same time I'm not." Al said.
"Well, what did you expect? Those creatures were overcome with fear. Being transported to a new environment against their will, attempted to be carted off and sold to the black market, who wouldn't be scared after all of that?" Cheetah asked.
"Sometimes the job isn't easy. Things like this happen and we can't always be happy about everything." Hope said.
"Yeah. There are times where we have to make tough decisions. Even ones that end up leaving a bad taste in our mouths." David said. "But with this in mind, we still did the right thing putting them out of their misery, didn't we?"
"I guess so." Nuna said as she looked at the eggs.
"They were monsters after all. If we left them to their own devices, they would have caused a number of problems for many innocent beings." Tigre said.
"Tigre does have a point… but that doesn't make us any less guilty of doing what we did to that Kirin." Glimmer said.
"We'll have to raise them as our own. That is the best we can do about it right now." Cheetah said. "You can handle that, can't you Koda?"
"Uh...I suppose I can try. It's an animal...kind of." Koda said.
"Koda doesn't need to worry. Gonta will help too." Gonta said.
"As will I." Jurota said.
"All right...so the so-called dungeon was just a forest infested with monsters. But I wouldn't say it wasn't too dull. It was kinda fun." Theo said. "Yet sad. But...it'll be fine. The parts from them...will never go to waste."
"Let's hope the next dungeon will be more uplifting." Scarlet hoped. "The next one we clear will mark the halfway point, so let's make it count."
"Hmm… Well, if it's something uplifting we're looking for, I think I have a place in mind." Moltar said. "Maybe this next dungeon should be a bit closer to home."
"Closer to home?" Hera asked.
"Well, we've been looking up the locations of the other dungeons for future preparations, and it just so happens that the dungeon from the Standard Universe is on Cross-World." Moltar explained.
"Hmm...well...we were going to go by there anyway." Jexi said. "I know we've gone there for an interview of some kind...but I don't think we've ever actually explored it."
"Shame, it's actually a really interesting place." Scarlet said. "Not as fantastical as other worlds out there, but as a world near tons of vortexes, it's a melting pot for the Multiverse."
"Ahem." David said.
"Oh, well, one of many, anyway." Scarlet added.
"I-If Cross-World's not your cup of tea, David, you don't have to come with. We know there are some things there that really don't agree with you." Hope said.
"Just keep me out of affairs, and we're golden." David said.
"Right." Hope said, turning to Team Chronicle. "(That means no getting them involved in this, if you know what I mean.)" he whispered.
"(Of course, we'll let him know.)" Mark whispered back. "(No Barry, no Coalition and no Merc Association the entire time we're there.)"
"So, since we're gonna be heading there anyway. Let's saddle up." Lloyd said.
"Yeah...a brand new adventure awaits!" Theo said.