I don't own anything except the Takahari family
Most of the rest of the trip through the Valley of Corrupted Gravity was uneventful, but when we neared the end of the valley, we saw something that nearly stopped my heart: a Virage, this one fully grown. It appeared to be fossilized, but then the one in Volcano Villude had been buried in lava. I had every reason to believe that this one was still alive as well.
Karen and Ryan noticed my pale face. "What is that thing, Ian?" Karen asked.
I glanced over. "Oh, right. Neither of you were at Villude. Well, the answer is not encouraging. It's a Virage."
Ryan paled, too, for he recalled what I'd said about them, but Karen hadn't been with us long enough for me to fully apprise her of past events. "A Virage?"
"The Winglies' answer to the Dragons," I replied shortly.
"Well, it's dead, isn't it? Nothing to worry about."
Rose snorted. "If you think it's dead than you've never encountered one. Old age doesn't kill them, and their hatred of Dragoons will revive them unless they're completely destroyed." She looked speculatively at Karen. "Have your Dragoon Spirit ready. We will have to fight it."
Dart nodded. "Rose is right. The Winglies bred them for one purpose: to prevent Humans from freeing themselves. A hatred of Dragoons is a part of them. Besides which, any of these creatures is a danger to every that might come near. It's our duty to destroy them if we find them."
Shana unexpectedly sank to her knees. "I hear the voice again. It's calling me…" While Dart rushed to her side, the rest of us continued toward the loathsome monster. "No! Don't go near it!" Shana was beginning to sound frantic.
"Shana, we have to if we're going to stop the bandits," Albert said. "The Virage is directly in our path. Besides, Dart's right. We have to kill it."
She slowly stood. "You're right."
It took us mere minutes after that to reach the base of the enormous Virage. I hadn't realized until then just how large a fully-formed Virage was.
"Be careful of its left arm," Rose said. "It has an attack that will kill instantly. Dart," she added, turning, "you should probably hang back, since you don't have your Dragoon Spirit."
Dart nodded reluctantly. "Well, we at least have someone to pick up the slack," he said, indicating Karen. "Good luck with your first battle as a Dragoon."
The rest of us, with the exception of Meru, advanced on the Virage. I drew the Masamune with my right hand and reached for my Dragoon Spirit with my left.
I was distracted momentarily when Karen began her transformation. There was a bright flare, as if she were at the heart of a supernova. When it faded, Karen hovered several feet above the ground, wearing armor that looked like Shana's, but blue-white in color, reminding me of the star Rigel.
"Star Flare!" The heat of a sun struck the Virage in the left arm, disposing of the threat of instant-death.
Ryan turned toward me. "Haste!"
Suddenly, everything around me seemed to slow down, and I was moving through the air at an incredible speed. Ryan's spell had sped me up relative to the rest of the universe. It only seemed that things had slowed down.
In the limited time I had before slowing, I inflicted deep wounds on the foul monster. Unfortunately, I happened to slow to normal time right in front of the Virage's right arm. The subsequent blow, while it couldn't penetrate my diamond armor, succeeded in knocking me back into Ryan.
"Astral Drain!" Rose's thoughtful spell hurt the Virage and got us back on our feet, while Haschel charged a spell of his own.
"Thunder God attack!" He drilled repeatedly into the ground, finally charging straight up through the monster.
"Rose Storm!" Albert added his protection spell, something which could easily mean the difference between life and death.
After this had gone on for a while, Karen finally decided to end it with one of her most powerful spells. "Nova!" With the power of an exploding sun, the Virage was pushed back near the edge.
But before it died, it reached toward Shana, powerful claws outstretched. "Shana!" Dart screamed. We knew we could never reach her in time…
And then, the same thing that had happened to the Guardian of the Limestone Cave struck the creature, light emanating from Shana and pushing the Virage over the edge of the cliff.
We ran over to Shana. "Shana, what are you to the Virages?" Rose demanded.
"I don't know… I don't know anything!" Dart slowly led her away.
We three ninjas stood a little ways a away from the others. "Congratulations, Karen," Ryan said.
"Interesting spells, and powerful ones," I added.
"Thanks." Karen looked exhausted, but also exhilarated at having fought as a Dragoon for the first time.
We rejoined the others. "Well, I guess the path is clear now. Let's go kill some bandits."
It took only hours to reach the hideout of the bandits after exiting the bizarre valley. We had incentive, after all, what with Dart's Dragoon Spirit having been stolen.
The traps were easily dealt with, and we made swift progress. Until, that is, we were stopped by a large round boulder and pelted with arrows.
When they tired of shooting arrows that were promptly broken in half by my forearm guards, three of the bandits came down to challenge us directly.
Haschel gasped when he saw the fighting style of the bandit in the lead. "That looks like the Rouge School!"
"We'll discuss it in a minute, Haschel," I said. "In the meantime…" I whirled, drawing my pistols from my waist and plugging the two lesser bandits in the head and chest.
Haschel had quickly knocked-out his opponent and was interrogating him. It didn't take long, and Haschel was quickly standing. "The man in charge of the bandits is a former student of mine. I expelled him twenty years ago for being irresponsible." He turned to the stone blocking our path. "Now I'll show you the true Rouge School." Without further comment, he punched the wall.
It fell into dust.
After entering, Haschel complained of a backache. We left him with Meru and explored another section of the ruins. When we returned, Meru was on the ground and Haschel was nowhere to be found.
"He must have decided to take on Gehrich by himself," I said. "Blast it! We shouldn't have left him like that." I headed up a nearby staircase. "This way."
I entered the next room just in time to see Mappi jumping at Haschel. Not this time, Mappi, I thought. Before the bandit could land, he was flying back with a hole in his wrist where his claws had been, a hole in his chest that blew him backwards, and bloody paste where his head had been.
"Not bad," an old-sounding voice said. "But I'm disappointed. Firearms, where swords would have done the job?"
I spun in shock. Give me a break! If one more person I thought dead shows up, I'm just gonna commit hara-kiri!
Aloud, I said, "Sensei. Another man I thought dead is alive. Though I admit to being disappointed in you, as well. You once adhered to the Samurai honor code, and now you're working for bandits? You lost your honor, and have thus forfeited your life. I claim it, and you shall die." Glancing back at the others, I said, "You guys deal with Gehrich. I have a personal score to settle with my former teacher."
Without waiting for a reply, I swept the Masamune out of its scabbard and fell into a guard stance. "Alright, Sensei, come and get me."
The old man shook his head. "Did you learn nothing from me? You cannot win on the defensive. You must attack!"
"Mind games. You're trying to use my former respect for you to befuddle my memory. But I have learned much in three years. You'll have to do better than that if you wish to defeat me."
"As you wish." Without warning, he struck at me, then struck again and again, a fast flurry of blows that I was quick to intercept with my own katana. "Hmm. You've learned somewhat. But you are no match for me."
"Pu-lease. You've forgotten one thing, old man. Even the mighty Samurai looked over their shoulders when they heard that a ninja was in the area." On the heals of that statement, I lowered my guard long enough to use a kuji spell, sending a blast of energy at him.
"You actually believe those old wives' tales? You're more of an idiot than I thought. The Samurai were the mightiest warriors the world has ever seen." He took another swipe at me, this time grazing my face.
"A hydrogen bomb might argue that point," I said dryly.
"I see you've also lost an eye," he said, ignoring my previous comment. "You've gotten careless."
"So have you. You're an old man who hasn't even had a proper duel in twenty years. You're no match for a young ninja." I feinted a couple times. "Enough of this nonsense. Let's finish this now!" Simultaneously, we rushed each other, blades up for the killing cut…
And I emerged on the other side, the old man whose name I had never learned falling headless behind me.
Author's note: Fairly short, but more action than I've included lately. And here we have yet another in a long string of headless corpses left in the dust. In case you didn't figure it out on your own, the old Samurai was the same one who gave Ian the Masamune. Keep reading and reviewing, if you please.
