Author's Note: This story takes place JUST after Legend of Dragoon ended, about 3 or so months. Dart is the Divine Dragoon, Rose, Lavitz, and Lloyd are still dead, and Miranda's still got the White-Silver Dragoon Spirit.

Chapter Three: First Mission

-----------------------------------------------------

The city of Bale was something out of an old story from the Renaissance. Wooden buildings and homes, instead of the familiar brick and metal of Los Angeles…or even the stone walls of Indels Castle, surrounded Carlos. Wandering around, he realized something very quickly.

"Exactly how the hell am I going to get my hands on anything? I'm broke! I'm gonna have to go five-finger discount…"

He walked into a large shop. Inside, several people were buying various things. Carlos could tell immediately that there was no way to get out with anything here. He couldn't see one spot in the whole place where he could avoid being seen. Sighing, he turned to leave. As he did, he bumped into someone.


"Whoa! Sorry about that."


"It's cool. Hey, wait a second…" The man was about the same size as Carlos, and couldn't have been very much older than him. Maybe about five years. He had heavily spiked blond hair and wore red armor on his shoulders. "Oh, hell…it's you, ain't it?"

Carlos raised an eyebrow. "Uh…maybe? What are you referring to?"

"The term 'drop-in' mean anything to you?"

Carlos groaned. "You were another one of Albert's guests…"

"Yeah. And you damn near broke my neck." The guy chuckled.

"That pretty much coincides with what Albert told me. So…"

The man shook his head. "No, I'm not mad enough to wanna kill you, either. The name's Dart. Dart Field."

"Carlos Martinez." He then noticed the large sword Dart was carrying. "You some kind of soldier?"

"You could say that. What about you?"

Carlos chuckled. "Well, I've never had an actual job, even before I got here. I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do now."

Dart raised an eyebrow. Before he could say more, however, a voice interrupted the conversation.

"Help! Someone help!" A middle-aged woman rushed into the shop. "Is anyone here a soldier?"

Dart sighed, and turned around. "I could help. What is it?"

"Some bandits kidnapped my son! Please, you've got to help!"

"Calm down, calm down. Where did they go?"

"Not far. They were fleeing to the west of the town. Thank you so much for helping!"

Dart didn't reply, just nod. He turned back to Carlos. "Well, I guess I'll see you later." With that, he left. As he walked out, he heard footsteps behind him. Turning around, he found Carlos right behind him.

"What are you doing?"

Carlos sighed. "I usually don't do this, but…I'm going with you."

"…Suit yourself. What do you have for a weapon?"

Carlos pulled back his coat, showing Dart his knives. "These."

"A knife-fighter, eh? You must've had a tough life."

Carlos chuckled. "That's one way of describing it."

The trip didn't last very long. Dart and Carlos found a small camp a few miles from town. Dart immediately drew his sword.


"You should probably get those blades out now," said Dart. "If I'm guessing right, we've got maybe two seconds before they find out we're here."

"How do you know?" asked Carlos. Suddenly a voice sounded from inside the tent.

"Hey! Who's out there!?" Five large men, all carrying swords, rushed out from the tent.

Dart turned to Carlos. "Told ya."

"Ha, ha, ha…" Carlos swiftly drew his knives.

"Looks like somebody sent in a little rescue squad," said one of the men. "Look, just go away now, before you get hurt."

Dart chuckled. "Pal, you don't have a damned idea who I am, do you…?"

The man raised an eyebrow. "Come to think of it, you do look familiar…ah, well. Kill them!!" Three men rushed Dart, and the other went after Carlos.


"Oh, please." Dart quickly counterattacked his opponent, sword raised to strike. Before his closest enemy got anywhere near in a good position to strike, Dart was already there. He slashed once, then again, then a turnaround slash, and finished with a hard uppercut swing.

"Volcano!!" The man was on the ground faster than you could blink, cold and dead.

Carlos, meanwhile, was exercising a more defensive approach. He blocked the first sword strike with crossed knives. Next, he pushed the man's blade away and slashed at him with his left knife, then the right. The right blade found flesh and came away stained with blood. Enraged, Carlos' opponent tried to run the teenager through with the sword's tip. Carlos sidestepped the attack and drove his left blade into the man's shoulder. Then, he pulled it free.

"Adios…" Carlos cut his enemy with his right knife, then the left knife. He then spun both blades in his hands, and brought them into a downward slash with both blades at once. This was enough to take care of the guy for good.

Dart saw Carlos' victory even though he was locking blades with another bandit. "He handles those things better than I thought he would…" Dart quickly got the upper hand over his opponent and took him down with a lightning-fast slash across the midsection. The fourth bandit managed to get behind Dart during this exchange, and attempted to take him out with a blindside attack. Dart spotted the shadow of the man behind him and whirled around. He raised his sword, ready to block and counter, when something unexpected happened.

"Urk…!" The man grimaced, and staggered. Dart stepped back, and let the bandit fall forward to the ground. Buried in his back was Carlos' white-handled knife.

The leader of the bandits gulped. "All of them…dead in less than twenty seconds!!"

Dart turned to him. "Give up the kid, now."

"…Okay! Okay, you win! Take him…just don't kill me, too!" He fled as fast as his feet could carry him.

Dart looked over at the man with the blade sticking in his back. He pulled out the weapon, and looked at it.

"Not bad, Carlos. How long have you been using these things?"

Carlos sighed. "About eight years. Why?"

"The way you wielded them, it was like you were born to use them." He looked at the handle. There was a word inscribed into it. Dart tried to pronounce it.


"L-…Lu-…" He raised an eyebrow.

"Luz," said Carlos with a slight chuckle. "Where I come from, there's a language called Spanish. 'Luz' means 'light' in that language." He pulled out the other knife. "This one's also got an inscription. It says 'Fuego', the Spanish word for fire."

"Ah. Strange…I've never heard of any species that refers to their language by that name," said Dart.

"Species?"

"Yeah, what species speaks this language?" Dart gave Carlos a look that suggested that he couldn't believe Carlos hadn't known what he meant.

"Humans, of course! You're telling me there are others besides humans here that are…what's the right word…sentient?"

Dart gave Carlos his weapon back, and sighed. "I should've guessed. C'mon, let's get the kid. I'll try to explain everything to you as best I can…"