JUST LOVE

Chapter Twenty Eight

Ryudo walked down an empty street with Skye on his shoulder. He had just defeated the Cathedral Knights at the town square and managed to obtain a blood sample from them as well. The Geohound made a left turn and saw a familiar figure ahead of him. Black, sleeveless trench coat, dark blue Ninja gi, turquoise hair... it could only be one person; Lance. The Ninja stood in the middle of the street while he looked up to the sky. "What the hell is he doing?" Curious, Ryudo ran up to Lance and tapped him lightly on the shoulder.

Lance turned around slowly with a cold expression plastered on his face and arms crossed over his chest. "What do you want?" he hissed.

"How did it go?" Ryudo asked.

"How did what go?!" Lance pretended he did not know just to irritate him. He then whirled around and started to walk away.

Ryudo suppressed an annoyed growl and followed him. "The Cathedral Knights, oh silent one," he answered with mild sarcasm as he walked next to him. "Did you get a blood sample?"

"No... and don't worry, my katana didn't touch them one bit," the Ninja supplied. "A White Dragon came out of nowhere and took the Cathedral Knights away before I could take any blood."

"I got one but the same thing happened to me."

"Coincidence?"

"Knowing that childhood friend of mine, probably not. Hmm... let's go to the school to see how Melfice and Millenia did," Ryudo suggested.

Lance nodded.

The Geohound and the Ninja headed towards the school in silence and got there in mere moments. The two found Melfice and Millenia by the school's doors or what was left of it with people gathered around them.

"Melfice!! Millenia!!" Ryudo called out.

"Could you please excuse us?" Melfice asked the crowd. The crowd split in half and let Melfice and Millenia walk towards the Geohound.

Ryudo noticed that Melfice could not stop smiling. "What's the matter Melfice? You seem awfully happy."

"The school thinks he's a hero..." Millenia scoffed. "...even if I did MOST of the work."

"This feeling... it's wonderful. I... I haven't felt this way for a long time," Melfice said. "These people look up to me Ryudo, especially their children."

Ryudo rolled his eyes. "Glad to know some people here are having fun." He could care less whatever people thought of him. But to Melfice, having people admire and look up to him was a great big deal. To see his brother regain what he had lost made the Geohound happy though his comment concealed it. "Say, you guys get any blood from the Cathedral Knights?"

"Hmph... those cowards ran away before I had the chance to take any," Millenia snorted.

Ryudo nudged his head towards Lance. "He failed to take some too. I wonder how Roan and Tio did."

Melfice noticed that a huge shadow hung over them and looked up to the sky. "We'll find out soon enough."

Ryudo, Skye, Millenia, and Lance looked up as well and saw the Granasaber Ship up in the air. A big red sphere then shot out of the ship's rear, which carried Roan and Tio, and landed right in front of Ryudo and the others. The red sphere disappeared and Roan and Tio took a step forward.

"About time you guys got here," Ryudo said. "So... how did you do?"

"We got a sample," Roan answered. "But it proved to be harder than I thought it would be. How about you Mister Ryudo? Did you and the others get some?"

"I did." Ryudo eyed Melfice, Millenia, and Lance. "But they didn't."

"That is just fine. Two samples will do," Tio stated.

The Geohound reached inside his pocket and took out a vial. "Here, you keep this," he offered to Tio and handed it over to her.

"We must head back to Cyrum immediately so I can utilize these," Tio suggested.

"Sure, there's no need for us to stay here anyway," Ryudo agreed.

The group gathered around Tio but before they could return to the Granasaber Ship, the principal and the whole school went up to them.

"Mister Melfice, Miss Millenia, and... Mister Ryudo, was it? Thanks to you and your friends, we and our town were left unharmed from the Cathedral Knights. We are deeply grateful for what you have done," the principal said.

"Don't sweat it pops," Ryudo replied.

"Glad we could help," Melfice added.

"Just start carving my name on this year's Teacher of the Year Award," Millenia joked.

"If the Cathedral Knights attack you again, just send a message to Cyrum and we will be here to assist you in no time," Roan assured. "But for now, we bid you farewell."

"Thank you, Your Highness, and please do be careful, all of you." the former priest smiled.

Tio's antennas sparkled and a red sphere incased her and her friends. They soon started to levitate off the ground and flew into the Granasaber Ship in a flash. The ship let out a gentle hum and blasted to the horizon.

***

Gatta dismounted off his White Dragon as the creature landed in front of a church in St. Heim Papal State. The swordsman entered the church and was greeted by a priest. The priest looked anxious and excited and could barely contain it.

"I do not see Cardinal Uru so I assume everything went according to plan?" he asked.

Gatta nodded with a smile. "The Cardinal is no more."

"And what of the Cathedral Knights?"

"I left them in Liligue so they could play with Ryudo and his friends," Gatta chuckled.

"Do you think they could do it?"

"Of course they can. I know exactly what they'll try to do. If Ryudo and his friends do their part right, we'll have the last piece and everything will be ready."

"I hope you are correct Sir Gatta."

"I hope so too."

***

"Ugh!! I HATE this forest!!! Too many bugs!!" Nekura snarled after he cleaved a Mottled Spider in half, the tenth one foolish enough to attack him as he traversed through the Witt Forest Path. With a smug look on his face, he sheathed his katana and continued walking.

"Beaten again... I can't believe Lance sided with the Geohound and his friends against me. To makes things worse, he's a Granite... like the red head with the black wings and the blonde with the angel wings. How could he do this to me?! After all I've done for him, is this how he's going to repay me?!" Nekura looked up to the sky and cackled. "...can't blame him. The fool is just doing his job. Hmph... just you wait Lance... just you wait... you and your friends. Once I get what I'm after, I'll destroy you, your friends, and this world... everything!!"

The Dark Ninja finally emerged out of Witt Forest and paused to examine the small village ahead of him. "Carbo. This back water village better have what I'm looking for."

Nekura crossed the small bridge and entered Carbo. As he walked around the village, the Dark Ninja noticed that the people gave him suspicious looks but he just shrugged it off. "Ah, here it is," Nekura said to himself when he reached the village's church or what used to be a church.

The Dark Ninja entered the building and found a blue haired man dressed in a white robe with children around him. "Is this a church of Granas?" Nekura asked out loud.

The blue haired man turned away from the children to answer the stranger. "It used to be. This church is now an orphanage to children who lost their parents on the Day of Darkness. My name is Carius and how can I help you, young man?"

"Do you still have any scriptures, scrolls, books, or anything about Granas, Valmar, and their history?"

Carius gave Nekura a puzzled look. Granas and Valmar were rarely spoken of around Carbo. People, including him, have moved on with their lives and learned to depend and rely on themselves instead of waiting and praying for miracles. What could this young man possibly want? "Yes, this place had many valuable books and scrolls about Granas and Valmar."

"Where are they? Give them to me!" Nekura demanded.

Carius winced a bit from Nekura's harsh tone. "I... I do not have them anymore... I donated them to the library for historical purposes because I do not need them."

"The library, eh?" Nekura whispered to himself and turned around to leave.

Carius watched the Dark Ninja exit the room and noticed something on the back of Nekura's gi shirt. "The Crest of Valmar! Oh dear..."

***

Ryudo and comrades set up a makeshift lab in one of Cyrum Castle's spare rooms as soon as they have returned to analyze the blood samples they have gathered.

"Do you think two blood samples will be enough?" Roan asked curiously.

"Yes, it is more than enough," Tio answered as she put the vials to rest on a test tube rack.

Melfice put on an inquisitive look. "I find it strange that the Cathedral Knights just took off like that with those dragons. Sure, we beat them badly but they could have used healing spells on themselves to even the scores or they could have called the White Dragons for help. Why do you think they retreated so abruptly?"

"We would've been finished if those giant lizards came to play," Millenia remarked.

"Perhaps it was a form of distraction so Gatta could make his escape," Roan supplied.

"Speaking of Gatta, why do you think he killed the Cardinal?" Skye asked.

"Yeah... why did he do that? And why did he hire me to kill those priests in that church back in St. Heim?" Lance questioned himself mentally.

"Beats me," Millenia shrugged.

"What do you think Ryudo?" Skye said. No answer came out of the Geohound's lips. Instead, he looked dazed, spaced out. "Ryudo!!" The bird pecked his helmet as he always did whenever Ryudo slacked off.

"Hey! Cut that out!!" Ryudo protested with a scowl.

"Did you hear what I said?" Skye stated.

"Yeah, I did... how am I suppose to know about what Gatta is up to?!" Ryudo retaliated.

"For one thing, you're his best friend," Skye commented.

"WAS my best friend," Ryudo corrected. "Now that those Granas fanatics have some control over him, I don't know who he is anymore."

"Do not worry Ryudo, once we take care of the Cathedral Knights, we will figure some thing out for Gatta," Roan assured.

"Tio, is that stuff you're cooking up really going to work?" Ryudo asked.

"Yes, it will," the Automata nodded. "Now, please leave this to me. I will take care of this while you guys go ahead and rest."

"Whatever you say," Millenia said and left the lab. Lance and Melfice soon followed her out of the room.

"I will go talk to the weapon smith and have him make us new weapons," Roan announced.

"Thanks Roan," Tio smiled and watched the Young King leave the room.

Ryudo was the only one left with Tio. Reluctantly, he exited the lab as well and headed towards Elena's room.

Skye read the Geohound's intentions as if they were written on the walls. "What if Lance is there?"

"I don't care. I need to see her Skye, make sure she's okay." Damn the world, damn everything. Why did trouble always follow him? It felt like trouble was at every corner, just waiting to pounce on him and ruin his already ruined life? First he lost his parents at a young age, his brother ran around and killed people, his best friend is now up to something vile and diabolical, and then there was Elena, who was out cold with an overprotective brother. "I'm not going to take my eyes off of her again. I won't take her for granted anymore."

"That's very good. But you realized that a little too late."

"I know, I really screwed up, didn't I?"

"I hate to say this but, I told you so. I told you you'd regret ignoring Elena earlier."

". . ." Ryudo said nothing to that and kept walking until he reached Elena's room. Hesitantly, he opened the door and entered the room. Ryudo gasped and his eyes widened as they fell upon Elena's bed. "Elena... she... she's gone."