I don't own The Legend of Dragoon, any of the characters except the Takahari family, or the Choose Your Own Adventure book I got the concept of kuji from.
Upon leaving Volcano Villude, it was a relatively short trip from there to the Dragon's Nest where Feyrbrand laired.
When we arrived, we detected something foul in the air: Dragon poison. No normal human could endure it for long. This wasn't a problem for Dart, Rose, and I, since we were Dragoons, but Shana and Lavitz were not. Thus, we had to hurry.
We found the entrance to the Dragon's Nest accidentally: beneath a large spider web, which snapped when we tried walking across it.
I managed to land on my feet using a simple kuji levitation technique, but the others weren't so lucky. Fortunately, they escaped with only bruises.
I looked up when we heard a roar. "Please tell me that's not Feyrbrand," I groaned.
"That's him, alright." Rose said. "You know what else we'll have to face, don't you?"
"You mean...?"
"Yes. A Dragoon. Every Dragon has a master, after all."
I was not pleased by this news. I knew from my own experience that a Dragoon would be tough to kill. "What next? Well, I've got a kuji trick to use on him. He'll never know what hit him." I loosened my blade in its scabbard. "Well? Let's go."
The moment we entered the chamber with the Dragon, Lavitz's face showed fury. "Greham!"
"You know this guy, Lavitz?" I asked.
"He used to be my father's best friend. Then he betrayed and murdered him!"
The man on the throne laughed. "So you are Lavitz. Do you think that you can beat the power I have obtained?" With that, he transformed into a Dragoon.
Rose looked surprised. "Where did you get that Dragoon Spirit?" she demanded.
"So someone in Basil knows of it. Fine. You will know before you die. Emperor Doel received it from Emperor Diaz. This is all his plan."
Rose snorted. "Are you insane? Emperor Diaz died during the Dragon Campaign, 11,000 years ago. But enough of this. Now you will die!" We transformed, hovering a few feet above the ground.
As I had told Rose, I had a trick for dealing with Greham: I teleported, materializing right behind him. "Traitors never win!" I grabbed him by the neck, and…
I was knocked to the ground by Feyrbrand. As I picked myself up, Lavitz charged Greham. "Guys! Leave Greham to me!"
"He's all yours!" I turned my attention to Feyrbrand, leaping back into the air. From there, I was in a position to see Lavitz get hit by a glob of poison from Feyrbrand. "Lavitz, catch!" I tossed him a Body Purifier, waited to make sure he was alright, then dove on the Dragon to help Dart and Rose, who weren't having much luck due to Feyrbrand's tough hide.
When my diamond blade entered the fray, we started making some progress. Even then, though, it was slow going.
I succeeded in destroying one of its eyes, but it retaliated by knocking me flying into Lavitz, leaving both of us vulnerable to Greham's attacks.
"Nice try, Lavitz. But futile. Now you die!" He began a Dragoon addition, something that no normal Dragoon could have survived.
What Greham didn't realize was that my armor was made of diamond, which is virtually indestructible. I managed to block his first thrust, then did the only thing left available: I summoned the Diamond Dragon itself. It first blocked Greham's attack, then blasted forward, knocking him to the ground.
Lavitz had gotten up by this time, and rushed forward to finish him off.
With Greham mortally wounded, Lavitz knelt to speak with him. "Greham, why did you kill my father?"
"No one could be stronger than Servi. I began to grow fearful, then jealous of his strength. Eventually, I betrayed him to the Sandorans in exchange for this power." His breathing was becoming more ragged. "Now I go to be with Servi. Lavitz, farewell…"
By this time Feyrbrand had been killed, and Rose drifted down to Lavitz and I as Greham's body faded. "He's lucky to be dead now. Greed like that leads only to sorrow."
Immediately after Rose finished speaking, a glowing green sphere floated over to Lavitz. "What is this!?" he exclaimed.
"It's the Dragoon Spirit of the Jade Dragon," Rose told him.
"You mean I 'deserve' to rule Dragons?"
"You have no choice. Once the Dragoon Spirit begins to glow, you must accept your fate as a Dragoon."
Shana abruptly fell to the ground, saying something about not being able to breath.
"Shana!" Dart yelled.
"Come on, Dart." I said. "We have to get her to a doctor. Didn't Dabas say something about a town nearby?" Dart nodded. "Then let's go. We'll have to fly, but I don't think it's far."
When we arrived in Lohan, we found a doctor by the name of Sanator, who examined Shana. His diagnosis was grim.
"It's not her body that's poisoned. It's her mind. I've never seen anything like it. I'm sorry to say that there is no cure." He shook his head sadly.
"You mean there's nothing we can do!?" Dart looked stricken.
"Well… If you could find some Dragoni Plant, that might cure Dragon poison, but the plant is mythical."
I shook my head. "Myths often have a grain of truth. Besides, we have no choice." I turned to Dart. "Maybe Dabas knows where some is."
"Good idea. Let's go ask him."
After navigating through the labyrinth of the town's streets, we finally located Dabas's shop. He told us that he had heard of some Dragoni Plant being in a place called the Shrine of Shirley. We set off at once, pausing to buy a water bottle to carry healing water in, in order to kill a bizarre plant blocking the way.
When we finally reached the entrance to the Shrine of Shirley, we spotted a dragon etching on the wall. Rose directed us to take out our Dragoon Spirits. After we had done so, they began to glow.
"Does this mean we'll have to face another Dragoon?" Lavitz asked.
"We'll see when we get there," Rose said cryptically. I shrugged and we went in.
Shortly after entering, I heard a soft chuckling from the top of a stone pillar. When I looked up, time seemed to stop. There, standing as casually as if on level ground, was a ninja like myself, one hand at the hilt of a katana strapped to his back.
"Well, well, well…" The figure looked amused. "It's been a while… Brother."
I stared at him, shocked. "Not… possible… You're dead!"
The others looked at me curiously. "You know this guy, Ian?" Dart asked.
"Know him? He's my brother!" I looked back at him. "Ryan… I thought you were killed by the assassins that night…"
He shook his head. "No. I got away. But before I decide to tell you anything more, show me your skill!" He jumped down, drawing an unfamiliar katana from its sheath and slashing in the same motion.
Instinctively, I drew my own blade and parried, knocking him off balance. As he flipped backward and out of the way, I jumped back shouted to Dart, who was readying his own sword. "Stay out of this, guys! This is my fight, and mine alone!"
Ryan was back on the offensive, swinging the katana at my head. As I blocked, I noticed that the blade glowed red, as if from its own internal fire. I had no idea where Ryan had been or how he had gotten this sword, but it was clear that his skills had been improved since I had last seen him.
"You've improved," I told him. "But even before the night of the assassins, you hadn't seen the full range of my abilities. Are you sure you want to test me now?" I asked him, a slight grin on my face.
He grinned back. "Show me what you got!"
I shrugged, parrying his attack. "You asked for it. Dancing Death!" The attack that had pulverized the guardian of the Limestone Cave should have turned my apparently insane brother into paste, but he managed to quickly block every strike, despite being unable to attack through it.
While I recovered from my attack, Ryan jumped, attempting to bring his sword down on my head. I leapt to counter him, blocking his katana and delivering an axe kick to the top of his head, sending him crashing to the ground. I landed behind him, already preparing for my next attack.
"Admit it, Brother. You're still unable to defeat me. Even with that fancy sword of yours, I have the advantage. There are some arts that you were never taught, arts that only the direct heir of the Rage Demon Art is taught." My eyes narrowed, and, after a moment of concentration, I vanished, reappearing behind him and hitting him in the back with a quick slash.
By the time he turned around, I had vanished again, only to emerge above him, bringing my sword down on his shoulder before vanishing again. This went on for several minutes before he finally dropped his sword in defeat.
"You win," he said.
"Now that that business is out of the way, why don't you join us? As it is now, we're short a party member."
"You sure? I mean, I did just do my by best to make sure you didn't get out of the hospital for the next six months."
"So? That was business. From what I've heard, it's something of a family tradition anyway. You should know that, too." It didn't matter to me in the slightest that my slightly younger brother had just tried to maul me. I even welcomed it. It had been too long since I had sparred with someone trained in the Rage Demon Art.
Ryan unslung the sword he had used from his back and tossed it to me. "Do you still have my old sword?" he asked. I nodded, took it from my pack, and tossed it over. "Thanks. The sword I was using really ought to go to you anyway."
"What do you mean?"
"It's an heirloom of the Rage Demon Art. As such it goes to the heir of the Art."
I didn't recognize it. "Never heard of it. How do you know of it?"
"I went back to the dojo after you left. It was in a secret compartment in the floor. I found some notes on the blade's history and abilities there as well."
"Just a sec." I turned to Dart, Rose and Lavitz. "Go on without me, guys. I have some catching up to do here."
Dart nodded. "Right."
After they left, I turned back to Ryan. "You were saying?"
"This sword is a magical blade. From the notes, I believe that the blade, as well as our family Art and possibly our family line, is from this world."
I could hardly believe my ears. "You know, Ryan, you're lucky you came back from the dead to tell me this. Otherwise, I'd never believe you. On the other hand, it would explain a bizarre prophecy I fulfilled a few days ago."
"Prophecy?"
"You've heard of the Dragoons by now, right?"
"Yeah…"
I pulled out my Dragoon Spirit. "This is the Dragoon Spirit of the Diamond Dragon. I killed the Diamond Dragon myself. That's also where I lost my eye."
Ryan's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. "You're a Dragoon?"
"Yup. My armor is impervious to normal weapons. Of course, the sword you were using would've affected it, since it's a magic blade, but not much else will."
Ryan suddenly snapped his fingers, reached into a pouch, and tossed two metallic objects to me. I caught them and whistled: it was a pair Desert Eagle .50 caliber Magnum automatic pistols. "Where did you find these?"
"In the gun cabinet at the dojo. They were covered in dust."
I snorted. "This is news? Our family has always preferred swords anyway. More elegant."
"True. But it does pack a heavy punch. And I found two more, for my own use. But you were saying something about you being a Dragoon?"
"Yeah. I killed the Diamond Dragon with a home-made hand grenade, at the Seventh Fort. I suppose you heard it was destroyed?" He nodded. "That's also where I lost my eye. Before I could blow the thing's head off, it caught me with one of its claws. Oh, here," I added, tossing him a healing potion. "That'll take care of the slashes I gave you."
He drank it, then tossed the bottle back to me. "Guess we'd better get going. Gotta catch up with your friends. By the way, you do still have the Scroll of the Nine Hands, right?"
"Naturally."
We caught up with the others on their way back. They hadn't found any Dragoni Plant, but they had gotten the White-Silver Dragoon Spirit. I introduced Dart and company to Ryan. "Ryan, the guy in red is Dart, Lavitz is the knight in green, and Rose is the woman in violet. Guys, this is my brother, Ryan Takahari." That done, we headed back to Lohan.
When we returned to Sanator's house, we brought the White-Silver Dragoon Spirit close to Shana. Just as we were preparing to use it, however, it began to glow, drifting over to Shana.
Ryan glanced at me. "Does this mean what I think it means?" he whispered.
"Looks like it. So… Shana is a Dragoon. That's five in this group… It can't be a coincidence."
Shana sat up, apparently completely healed. "Dart, what is this?"
"The Dragoon Spirit of the White-Silver Dragon," he responded. "Now you're a Dragoon, too."
"Who's he?" she asked, indicating Ryan.
"I'm Ryan Takahari, Ian's brother. To quote a writer from back home, 'The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated'. Another ninja, of course."
I nodded. "We ran into him at the Shrine of Shirley. Naturally, he decided to fight a duel with me."
Before we left, Sanator suggested that Dart enter the Hero Competition, a local fighting contest. After Dart said that he'd consider it, we left.
Author's note: Thanks for all the reviews. As a matter of fact, the battle with Greham and Feyrbrand started out much different from this, but I think the way it ended up is much better.
