I don't own anything except the Takahari family.
I walked over to where the others were, tying the Masamune to my belt at the same time. "Ready to go, guys?"
"If you're finished discussing the history of that old relic, yes," Haschel joked.
Before he could make another move, I had swept the Masamune out of its scabbard, sliced through a hardwood pole, and put it to Haschel's throat. "Not bad for an 'old relic', eh?" I let him stew for a moment longer, then half-smiled and sheathed the sword. "Never underestimate an old weapon simply because it is old. Masamune was the greatest swordsmith of all time. A thousand years from now, this katana will still cut through flesh and bone as easily as the day it was forged. And never joke about it. There are some that do not have quite the sense of humor I do. I know some assassins that have such respect for the blades that they would kill you without a second thought for such a remark."
"I see," Haschel still looked slightly unnerved. "I'll have to remember that."
Dart laughed aloud. "There, Haschel, there's something even you have to take seriously. Remember that some people truly consider their swords to be their companions."
Even Rose seemed less grim than usual. "Now you know that even jokes can be deadly."
"Now can we get going!?" Meru was getting impatient. "We have to get all the way to the Valley of Corrupted Gravity, you know!"
"You know where the gang is based?" Ryan looked relieved. "That tracer of mine conked out last night. Corrupted gravity, you said?" Meru nodded. "That explains it. Probably some warped gravitational field. That'll cause problems with just about anything."
I stared at Ryan. "How did you…"
He smirked. "While you were off studying Samurai fighting, I was studying physics. Sometimes that knowledge comes in handy, particularly with kuji spells."
"Whatever! Can we just get going!?" Karen sounded even more impatient than Meru. "We do have to get to King Zior and get permission to enter the Valley, don't we? So let's go!"
We arrived back in Fletz three days later. While the others went to try to get in to see the king the direct way, I acted on a hunch and went to see an astronomer we'd met earlier that worked for the royal family. The astronomer, Fester, led me to the castle, where we met up with the others. In the company of Fester, the guard immediately let us through.
In the Chamber of the Sun, throne room of Tiberoa, we met King Zior. "I think there's something wrong with my eyes," Zior complained. "I see several Festers!"
"No, Your Majesty, there is only one me," Fester replied. "These are people that sought an audience with you."
The king turned to Dart. "And what do you need of me?"
"Your Majesty, we request permission to enter the Valley of Corrupted Gravity," Dart said.
"I think I've heard of the Valley of Corrupted Gravity," Zior thought aloud.
"Your ears are fine, Your Majesty," Fester said.
What the blazes? This guy seems really dumb for a king. What is going here? Could it have something to do with the change in Princess Emille? This was starting to make me very nervous. There was something very wrong going on. Even Albert was starting to get an odd look on his face. He'd met Zior before, so he knew something wasn't right. Well, at the moment all I care about is that we get the senile king's permission to enter the never-to-be-sufficiently-accursed Valley of Corrupted Bloody Gravity.
The king seemed to at least temporarily regain his senses. "Very well, you may travel there if you wish." Zior nodded to a guard, who handed Dart something that looked somewhat like a passport.
Finally, we can get out of here. I don't like senile old men, and a middle-aged king who's senile is something truly scary. I'm just glad I don't live here where his senile mind could cause me trouble.
We were almost out of the castle when we heard someone calling to us. "You Majesty Albert? I am Libria, Princess Lisa's maid. The princess wishes to speak with you."
"How did she know who he was?" I mused quietly.
Libria apparently heard me. "She speaks with the stars. Astrology is her guide."
I had been willing to give Princess Lisa the benefit of the doubt before, but the reference to astrology caused me to snort in disgust. "You guys talk to the princess if you want. I'm going somewhere more sensible."
My brother and sister fell into step on either side of me. None of us had any respect for astrology. We had been raised in a tradition that included so-called "mystical" elements, but kuji was science. Astrology was semi-religious gobbledygook.
"Dumm," I muttered. Anyone who believed in astrology was an idiot.
We had explored most of the accessible castle when Libria tracked us down, saying it was time for the banquet.
The banquet itself was not very pleasant. If Princess Emille was rude normally, she was an absolute pig when it came to table manners. I quickly lost all appetite after watching her eat.
I began to wish that I could simply leave in the middle of it all, but even if the princess was being a slob, I had to keep up appearances. I did find some solace when I evidently offended Emille. She had called my siblings and me weird, and I had taken it as a complement. Ninjas aren't really supposed to be normal. Normal people don't make very good assassins. Albert, for instance, would probably consider it dishonorable, and Shana would be horrified by the very thought of having to do such a thing.
When the banquet was finally over, I wandered away from the others in order to do some private experimentation.
After reaching an unfrequented area, I took out the Scroll of the Nine Hands. Setting it on the floor next to me, I took out my Dragoon Spirit. I had a theory that the Dragoon Spirit could be used to aid in kuji spells.
Concentrating on the Dragoon Spirit, I thought of a kuji spell that I had used on couple of other occasions, but made none of the hand motions.
As I had hoped, but only half-expected, I promptly became invisible. My theory had been correct: using a kuji technique through a Dragoon Spirit allowed the user to forego the usual preliminaries, something that could be very useful indeed when neither hand was free.
I returned to the guest room early the next morning, looking much as I had when I had split off the previous night.
As we left the castle, I pulled Ryan aside. "What's up, Ian? Something to do with why you didn't get any sleep?"
"You might say that, Ryan. As a matter of fact, I was doing kuji experiments. Watch." By this time, we had exited the town, so I selected a nearby bush for a demonstration.
A bush that abruptly burst into flame. Ryan turned to me with wide eyes. "Did you do that?" I nodded. "But how? You didn't make any of the usual motions…"
"I discovered last night that a Dragoon Spirit can serve as… well, call it a focusing point. Remember that kuji isn't magic. What I did was concentrate the energy that kuji uses into the Dragoon Spirit. Since the Dragoon Spirits are essentially 'attuned' to us, we can then discharge the energy as normal kuji spells. The only difference is that we use the Dragoon Spirit instead of just our own innate mental abilities."
"That would be useful, at that," Ryan said thoughtfully. "Karen won't be able to do it, of course, since she doesn't have a Dragoon Spirit, but…" He trailed off as he noticed a sickly grin on my face. "What is it, Ian?"
I chuckled humorlessly. "Oh, nothing. Just that I've been hearing rumors of another Dragon causing problems. One that not even Rose has heard of."
Ryan paled. "Another?" His mouth worked a few more times without making a sound. He finally spoke again in a hoarse whisper. "Do you know where it is?"
I lost the grin. "The Valley of Corrupted Gravity."
Ryan went white as a sheet.
We arrived in the Valley of Corrupted Gravity several days later. The news of the Dragon, reportedly called the Starburst Dragon, had caused even Rose to become grim. If Rose had known of it, we would have undoubtedly been in higher spirits, but facing something completely unknown wore on one's nerves.
The guards let us through without question after we showed them the pass King Zior had given us. Upon entering, I was struck by the thought that perhaps gravity really was corrupted here. This occurred to me when I noticed that I was several feet above the ground, and I hadn't used kuji or my Dragoon Spirit.
"Wha!?" Not only was I not on the ground, I wasn't really over it. Evidently, I had accidentally walked right of the path and was floating next to the ground. Hurriedly, I took a grappling hook off my belt, swung it onto the rocky ground, and pulled myself back. "Whew! That wasn't fun." No one replied. "Guys?"
With a sense of foreboding, I turned to look where the others were staring. There, flapping its great wings, hovered a Dragon. It was so bright in color that it almost hurt to look at it.
Not again. Why is it we keep encountering Dragons? From what I've heard, there hadn't been any seen for a good thousand years or more, and now we've encountered four of them?
I quickly drew the Masamune, while Karen and Ryan drew their swords. Ryan was carrying the Soul Cleaver, which I had given to him after retrieving the Masamune.
Rose took a deep breath and drew her rapier. "Looks like we have to fight this one, too. Be on your guard. I've never heard of it, so it will have unexpected tricks up its sleeve."
I was about to reply when I heard a snarl off to my right, and Karen launched herself out into the air toward the Dragon. "Karen, wait!" She either didn't hear me or didn't care, because she kept right on going, using the warped gravity to her advantage. "Blast it," I muttered. "C'mon, Ryan! Let's deep-six that thing before our impetuous sister gets herself killed!"
Without waiting to see if Dart and the others were following, we leapt after Karen, transforming mid-air. "What else do you expect from a fifteen-year-old, anyway?" Ryan yelled back to me.
"At least some sense!" I replied. "We weren't that bad at her age, now were we?"
"Oh, I don't know. I seem to remember you once torching a tree just because you whacked your head on it."
"Forget it! Let's just take that thing down before something really bad happens!" I flapped for more speed.
As we were speaking, Karen reached the Starburst Dragon and was throwing shurikens at it. When she realized they weren't doing any good, she drew her katana again and vanished, appearing in brief flashes all around it, inflicting some deep wounds.
But the Dragon was tough, and it finally retaliated by opening its mouth and letting loose with a blast of fire, scorching Karen.
"Ryan!" I shouted. "Catch her! I'll deal with this!"
Ryan was already moving, flying quickly to snatch her out of the air. "Ian! Hurry! She's hurt bad!"
I continued on toward the durable Dragon, preparing a spell at the same time. "Eat this! Diamond Storm!" The hail of diamond stones managed to rip the right front leg off the creature, but it was able to counter-attack, sweeping its tail and knocking me back. I collided with Ryan, and the Masamune sank deep into his chest.
"Oof!" The pain didn't seem to have hit Ryan yet, and he even managed to crack a smile. "Well, Ian, I guess this is it. The last of the Takahari family wiped out by a Dragon. It was fun while it lasted."
Before I could reply, however, someone yanked the Masamune out of Ryan's chest, and then I heard Shana. "Moonlight!"
I'd forgotten she was even there, but the healing spell quickly repaired our injuries. Karen was the first one to come back to her feet.
Before we could stop her, she had resumed her attack on the Dragon. But this time, she went straight for its mouth, moving with blinding speed as she charged down its throat. A moment later, there was a bright line cutting through the side of the creature, and then Karen appeared at its tail.
The bisected Dragon drifted down and hit the rocks heavily. This time I wasn't even surprised when I saw the Dragoon Spirit lift from the carcass and float over to Karen.
Karen, on the other hand, was in a state of shock. It evidently hadn't occurred to her that the Starburst Dragon would leave a Dragoon Spirit as well. "Does this mean what I think it does?"
Ryan answered for me, having been through the same thing fairly recently. "It is indeed. You're now the Dragoon of the Starburst Dragon. Congratulations."
So now we're a family of Dragoons. Fascinating…
Author's note: There! Some more action at last. By the way, for anyone who might be interested, I intend this story to be only the first in a series of stories. I intend to start on the sequel as soon as the first is finished. Suggestions are welcome. Also, for those who don't speak a word of German, "Dumm" means stupid. Thanks for all the reviews, and please keep them coming.
