I don't own anything except the Takahari family, their Dragoon Spirits, Count Draco von Schneider, and Kenji Okamura
The next morning it was time to head into the forest to find the missing boy. I was ready before any of the others, having spent the night meditating rather than sleeping. Naturally, I made no mention of conversation with Rose, even to my siblings. A ninja respected confidences.
As I headed out, I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned. It was Ryan, a concerned look on his face. "What is, Ryan?" I snapped. My mind was on other matters and I had no particular desire to speak to anyone right, even my twin.
"Are you alright, Ian? You never turned in last night. What were you doing?"
"Meditating," I said shortly, and brushed past him. I had too much to think about right then. My meditation had been less than restful, which was probably what had concerned Ryan. The implications of Rose's revelations had greatly disturbed me. The possibility of the entire planet being blown out from under me had both made me grateful that I had the Dark Mirror, which would allow myself and my fellow ninja to escape, and unwilling to use it.
I had obligations here now, both as a Dragoon and as a friend and comrade of Dragoons. Earth no longer held anything for me, and I wasn't about to let my new home die.
* * *
It was deep in the forest that we found Teo and Kamuy. They had first run away from us, but we finally cornered the wolf in a small clearing. At first, Teo himself tried to stop us from fighting Kamuy, claiming that it was a different wolf that had gone berserk. Despite his efforts, however, Kamuy abruptly jumped at me, jaws going for my throat. I barely managed to jump out of the way, sweeping out Migi-no-te midair.
"Ninja! Atakku!" I lapsed into Japanese again as I shouted to my fellow ninja to attack.
"Shimeto!" Kenji acknowledged in the same language.
"Hai!" This from Karen, leaping to a tree and transforming into the Starburst Dragoon.
"I'm on it!" Ryan leapt straight up, dodging Kamuy and transforming into the Time Dragoon.
As soon as his transformation was complete, things began to get strange. Objects appeared and disappeared randomly, as if time itself was being warped. Which was exactly the case. Ryan was using his abilities to an extant that I had never before seen. Soon things stop appearing and even the ground itself disappeared. The black of space surrounded us, and gravity ceased to effect us.
"Ryan!" I shouted. "What did you just do!?" Incredibly, there was still air to breathe, after all else had vanished. "Where are we!?"
Ryan was far calmer. "You mean, 'where and when'," he replied. "And the answer is nowhere, nowhen. This is between time, a pocket in the universe where time has no meaning. There is only us, Kamuy, and the air. And Kamuy will be weak here. He doesn't know how to function without gravity. Think of this as a space of breathable water, and you'll know how to fight here."
"We have no time to discuss it now," Rose interrupted. "The wolf will soon have his bearings. We must finish this quickly."
"Right. Final Burst!" Dart was the first to attack, torching the berserk wolf with his fire magic.
I finally had the opening to use my own Dragoon Spirit and began to move more naturally in the weightless environment, confident that my armor would protect me from anything Kamuy could throw at me. That done, I turned to see how our resident vampire was doing.
I needn't have worried. Kenji was fighting as if he'd been born in zero-g, "swimming" through the air and slashing when the opportunity presented itself.
I spent a moment too long checking on the others. Kamuy finally regained its bearings and swatted at me. While it couldn't penetrate my armor, it did send me flying to the edge of the space… and beyond it. I found myself in vacuum, unable to breathe or do anything else but hold my breath and panic.
Just when I thought that I was either going to freeze to death or suffocate, I was yanked back into the pocket. Albert had risked freezing long enough to pull me back.
"Thanks, Albert," I wheezed, still trying to return my breathing to normal. "Now how about we teach this wolf not to mess with Dragoons?"
"Why don't we?" Briefly letting go of his spear, he catapulted me back into the fight, directly at Kamuy. I spread my wings and soared at the creature, both swords drawn.
Snarling, I stabbed Kamuy with both weapons, then sheathed one and flew back slightly. "You asked for it! Shun Goku Satsu!" The ultimate attack of the Rage Demon Art knocked the fierce wolf unconscious, and Ryan, noting it, returned us to the normal world.
* * *
After the battle, it was merely a matter of cleaning things up. Shana's magic returned Kamuy to normal, and he was allowed to return to Furni with Teo.
With that mess cleaned up, we headed through the forest to Deningrad, the capital of Mille Seseau, with the Crystal Palace. We needed to safeguard the Moon Mirror, since Lloyd had all but said outright that that was his target.
Near the edge of the forest, Rose abruptly stopped. "You guys go on without me. I… have an errand to take care of."
Meru nodded. "Me, too. I want to visit home."
"We'll meet you in Deningrad, then," Dart agreed. "Anyone else have things to take care of? I think we got here ahead of Lloyd, so we should have some time to prepare."
"As a matter of fact, Dart," I said, "there is somewhere I need to go. When we've dealt with Lloyd's conspiracy, I intend to begin training ninja here, and I think the perfect place would be the Shrine, back in Serdio. I need to make sure that the Shrine is left alone until then, and get rid of the monster population. I'll probably be gone for a few days."
"We're going, too," Karen said, indicating herself and Ryan. As usual, she didn't bother to consult Ryan on the matter.
Dart shook his head. "Okay, okay. Three of our ninja are going. What about you, Kenji?"
"Not me, actually. After all, you need at least one ninja to keep you guys out of trouble while they're off relaxing." Kenji mock-glared at us.
"We'll see you all in Deningrad then. Be careful."
* * *
We flew most of the way back to Serdio, resting in Fueno for a night before moving on to Fletz in Tiberoa. From there, it didn't take long to reach the former Shrine of Shirley.
"So this is more you two met up again," Karen mused as we landed just inside. "Nice place, at least once it's fixed up and the monsters are killed off. But how do you propose we keep out the next batch?"
"With this," I said, taking out the Scroll of the Nine Hands. "I'm going to create a magical barrier at the entrances and overhead. Ryan," I said, turning to him, "I'm going to need your Dragoon magic."
"What for?"
"So that it doesn't take people forever just to get here, I need you to essentially compress space in certain areas, creating 'warp points' that link the Shrine to places like Bale and Fletz. Can you do that?"
Ryan thought for a moment. "Yeah, I think so. You're basically asking me to create wormholes. Might take a little while, but-"
"Unfortunately, you won't have the time to do it."
I whirled at the voice. "Von Schneider! You gaichou! When will you cease trying make my life miserable!?"
The count laughed. "When you are either one of us, or dead." He glanced at Ryan and Karen. "I see you have brought help. But it won't help." Von Schneider snapped his fingers.
Our katanas were out quickly. Pouring in over the walls were a large number of lesser vampires. Lesser, but still capable of turning others into vampires.
"Ian," Ryan gulped, "does this mean what I think it means?"
I nodded slowly. "'Fraid so. Von Schneider has spread his plague to Endiness. The scourge of the vampires has returned, and we're right in the middle of it." As we stood, back-to-back, I pulled my helmet out of my pack and put it on. "Just keep them away from your necks." A thought struck, as the menace moved in on us, and I sheathed my sword. "Forget the swords. Pistols first!"
Putting words into action, I drew my guns, tossed one to Karen, and opened up, aiming only for the heart. I brought down seven of them before the slide locked back on an empty magazine, then hurled the now-useless weapon into another's face. Then the battle was joined.
Migi-no-te was in my hand in an instant, cutting a vampire in half in the process. He was down, as the blade had gone through his heart. The melee that followed was fast, furious, and almost impossible to keep track of.
I caught a flash of Ryan, spinning through the mass of enemies with an improvised quarterstaff, sending them flying out of his path. Karen was throwing garlic-coated shurikens, knowing they couldn't get help in time to avoid their rather painful demises.
That gave me an idea, and I cleared a circle around myself long enough to pull a container full of garlic from my pack. Moving quickly, I pulled the top off and upended over my sword. With it garlic-coated, I no longer had to take the time to aim for the head.
Nevertheless, after a half hour of fighting, it was clear that we were losing. Three ninja could not hope to prevail against a hundred vampires. I could see Draco laughing, off to the side, and knew we were doomed.
And then the last thing I could have expected occurred.
"Demon's Gate!" The highly unexpected, very deadly darkness-based attack sucked in the vampires, leaving only a very surprised von Schneider, who quickly fled.
As he did, Rose calmly descended to the ground. "I thought he might show up here."
"Rose!? What are you doing here!?" I sheathed my sword, almost collapsing in relief.
She sheathed her own blade, expression grim. "He attacked Deningrad shortly after I rejoined the group, turning several people into vampires. We managed to drive him off, but as he left he spoke of getting revenge on you, and that he knew where you were. Dart sent me to head him, and to tell you that you need to return. Things have gotten worse."
I didn't like the sound of that. "Worse? How worse?"
"The Divine Dragon, the King of Dragons, has awakened and escaped from its imprisonment. It attacked Deningrad just before von Schneider did. The Dragoons are all needed in Mille Seseau. Now."
Author's note: Finally, another chapter finished. I thought it was time for the count to make another appearance. Anyway, please continue to read and review.
