Ninja Demon

The team began to head south, to the area that the leader of the demons had said he would be taking the princess. Every once in awhile, a monster would attack. Sierra and Lyle were cutting through the enemies with their swords, while Jacob cast Lores. As they got closer and closer to the cave, the demons were getting stronger. It appeared as if they were guarding their leader, trying to make sure that he could keep the princess as long as he need to in order to further whatever plan he had.

Once inside, they encountered a sort of wolf/lizard hybrid guarding one of the tunnels. Since it looked bigger than most of the monsters, they assumed it to be some sort of major member of the enemy attack force. It struck out with a swipe of its tail, which threw the team backwards. From that, Lyle began to get an idea. The creature's tail resembled a sword, so why couldn't he use his own weapon in such a manor. As he began to concentrate, he found a new Fast Draw Hint. By practicing it on the monster, the Sonic Buster skill was learned. Not that it was any more effective than Meteor Drive, since Sonic Buster was meant to weaken a group, while Meteor Drive was for single combat.

Sierra aimed her rifle, and shot at the beast. It wasn't a very evasive monster, so she didn't have to Lock On. That was good, it would save her FP in case she needed to Summon Moor Gault to her aid. She could see Jacob trying to cast the Red Beaut spell, the beast was apparently weak to fire.

Soon, they could hear it beginning its death agonies. Sierra and the others all stood back, not wanting to get hurt when the beast collapsed. When it fell, it made a huge crashing sound. They began to worry that some of the other demons would hear the beast's death, and come to investigate.

"That was close," Jacob stated, "Let us just get the princess and get out of here. I don't know about the two of you, but I'm frightened. This place isn't somewhere you'd want to be on a normal day. And the demons could return at any moment in full force, and destroy us all."


"Don't be such a baby! We can take care of any demons that come at us. Honestly Jacob, I don't know why I teamed up with you, you're such a whiner," Sierra stated. She began pacing, muttering about her wishes to return to traveling all alone, with only Kyoku by her side.

Suddenly, a voice rang out, "How in the heck did you manage to kill Bloodlust? That demons was one of the best ones I've ever trained. And a trio of HUMANS kills him in only a few minutes. Now all of you will die by my hands." A man, or what appeared to be a man, entered the room. He had purple hair, pale skin, and red eyes. A gray ninja's jumpsuit was on his body, with chainmail underneath. Leather gloves and boots were also present, as well as a leather belt around his waist. The man's weapons were a pair of daggers, that looked as if he sharpened them every day in order to maximize their power.

Sierra looked at him. "What's it to you if we killed the beast or not? You've been holding the princess of Neo-Adlehyde prisoner, and we've come to get her back. If you want to live, you will just return her to us. Else, we will have no choice but to kill you, ninja boy."


"Quite admirable," he replied, "I am Kogatana, the fourth member of the Knights of Death. We are under divine orders from Lady Shihaisha to take this planet from you puny humans. But we need the powers of the Guardians to do so, that's why the princess is under our guard. If you give me that little gem of hers, then I might be persuaded to give her back to you losers." He tried to strike them down, but found he couldn't. Sierra had brought up her Handgun, and fired. Although the wound was minor, he appeared to be frightened for some reason. Then, with no explanation why, he ran off.

'Weird, all I did was shoot him. For what reason would he decide to run off from such a minor wound as that? Or is it some sort of force that he could sense from my ARM? Could it have some reason to do with why I was abandoned as a little baby?' wondered Sierra.

* * *

They continued onwards, through all of the corridors. Soon, the trio arrived at the jail cells. The guard, a humanoid lizard with blue skin and a tan underbelly, was sleeping. So it was an easy task for Kyoku to slip his belt off, and take the key. She handed it to Sierra, who opened the cell.

Suddenly, magic flew out from the back of the chamber, hitting Sierra with the powers of Ice. A voice stated, "If you demons come any closer, I'll kill you. I swear it, there's no reason for you to hold me. Only a woman who is pure of heart can wield the Teardrop. And I don't think you have any women with hearts other than stone in this wretched place. If you let me go, I'll spare you."

Sierra looked further in. "I know that voice. Sasha! Is that you?!" She walked towards the back of the cell, and saw her friend sitting in a corner, ready to fight if needed be. But when the princess saw who exactly had come to visit, she got up. Now that she knew it was only Sierra, she healed the shoulder wound that had been inflicted when she'd cast her Ice spell on the gunner.

"Sorry," Sasha apologized, "I was just a little jumpy. What with all these demons here, I thought they'd come to rough me up a little bit more. And I'm sorry for lying to all of you again. It's just, that I was worried that people would only like me because I am a princes, and not because I am Sasha."

"It doesn't matter to me. I didn't go into this for the money, just for the mutual help getting back home. Baskars have no need for monetary gain, just completing the work of the Guardians. We're a lot like Shamans in that sense, if you want to think of it like that," Jacob replied.

Lyle said, "Yeah, maybe I'm always looking for a buck or two, but I'd never use a lady in order to get it. I do have a code of chivalry that I must follow at all times, so not to dishonor my father's memory, or cause my mother any unnecessary hardships or strife."

Sierra shrugged. "Even I have a code of honor, if you so believe it. I don't work for free, but I would never sell myself out to harm another living being. Believe it or not, I don't like killing at all. If at all possible, I want to spare the lives of those I fight. Unless they're evil, then I have no choice. What do you say, we all head back to Neo-Adlehyde, and get Sasha back to her father."

- - - -

Teefa's Last Words

You know, that scene with Bloodlust and Kogatana was like what we were watching when my dad played Legaia 2 yesterday. I've been thinking, Sky, since I named all PSX RPGs after the Tales of Destiny cast (that being my first PSX RPG and all), I want to name all PS2 RPGs after WA3 (as it's the first PS2 game I beat and also own, Grandia II was the first one I beat but I did it in the week I rented it)

Translations

Kogatana=dagger

Shihaisha=ruler