I don't own anything except the Takahari family, their Dragoon Spirits, Count Draco von Schneider, and Kenji Okamura

The flight back to Mille Seseau took less time than when we were leaving there. Given the urgency of the situation, we paused only when absolutely necessary.

Even so, it took us a couple of days to return, and events had moved more rapidly than expected by the time we arrived. And not all the news was good.

We landed just inside Deningrad, and were met by a grim-faced Dart. "I'm glad you're back. Things have gotten even worse." He took a deep breath. "Shana won't be traveling with us anymore."

Ryan and I glanced at each other. "What!?"

"The White-Silver Dragoon Spirit has transferred itself to the First Sacred Sister of Mille Seseau, Miranda."

Rose inhaled sharply. "That's unheard of. A Dragoon Spirit changing masters while its previous master is still alive?"

Dart nodded. "Shana feels that she can no longer travel with us." He brightened slightly. "But it's not all bad news," he said, as Meru approached. "Meru thinks she knows where a weapon to combat the Divine Dragon is. Something called the Dragon Block Staff, made by Winglies and hidden in the Forest of the Winglies, a remaining colony of them."

I smiled. I bet you do know where it is, Meru. Which one of your ancestors created it, I wonder? I glanced at Meru. "I bet she does know about it, Dart, seeing as she's a Wingly herself."

Dart's jaw dropped. "She's what!?"

Meru, too, was astonished. "How'd you know that!?"

"Not even trying to deny it, eh? Good. As for how I knew it, think about it. Lloyd has platinum hair, and can fly, and Lenus had platinum hair, and could fly. What other conclusion could I make? Don't worry; I don't think anyone here has any lingering prejudice against Winglies. Is fear of that the reason you didn't tell us?"

"Something like that." Meru had begun to recover from the surprise, as was Dart. "But right now, we've got another Dragon to stop, right?"

Yeah. Another one. The sixth. I just hope that it really is the last of the Dragons. Every time we fight one, somebody gets hurt. I touched the patch where my left eye used to be. But we're the Dragoons. We have no choice.

* * *

The path to the Forest of the Winglies took us back into the forest where we had fought Kamuy, but this time all we had to fight were the usual assortment of monsters found in such places all over Endiness.

The path ended abruptly, with apparently nothing beyond, but I could sense that there was more to the area than met the eye. I glanced at Meru. "A magical barrier?"

"Yeah. The only problem is, I was kinda thrown out the last time I came home. They don't like it when others leave the Forest." She sounded slightly nervous.

"I wouldn't worry. This time, we're all here. And as for the magical barrier…" I performed a kuji technique, took a deep breath, and walked right through the barrier, with only as much resistance as if passing through water.

"A human!? Here!?" I turned at the startled voice, and barely managed to jump out of the way of a Wingly-cast fireball.

"Relax! I'm not here to fight. But if you keep trying to kill me, I might reconsider trying to stop the Divine Dragon!" For emphasis, I drew Migi-no-te and swung it into a guard position.

The mention of the Divine Dragon seemed to stymie them for a moment, and the others finally came through behind me at the same time.

After a few minutes of confusion and threats, word finally came from "the Ancestor", apparently their leader, that our particular group of humans was welcome, and that he wished to see us.

"They always this hostile to outsiders?" I asked Meru quietly.

"I don't know. We haven't had outsiders here in a long time. But they're not very kind to Winglies who leave the forest."

"That why you were kicked out?"

Meru nodded. "Yeah. They said that since I left the forest, I couldn't come back." Her voice turned angry. "But we can't just hide in this forest forever! We'll die out if we do. And humans don't hate us so much anymore! Now, we hate them, when we're the ones who did the enslaving!"

* * *

Ryan and hung back while the others spoke with the Ancestor. He'd said there was something he wanted to talk to me about.

"All right, Ryan, what's up? Some odd fact or something that only you have noticed?"

He grinned. "Yeah, something like that. I guess you were too busy to notice, but our birthday was two weeks ago."

I stopped short at that. Ryan was right. I'd been busy enough since arriving in Endiness that the date had slipped my mind entirely. "I guess you're right. Not that it really changes anything. We've been fighting for years; age doesn't matter."

"Ian, Ryan," Dart called. "Let's go. The Ancestor has agreed to transport us to the Forbidden Land, where the Dragon Block Staff is kept."

Once we reached the roof of the Ancestor's home, he used some type of magic to teleport us to our destination. After we arrived, I hung back with Rose while the others moved ahead.

"This place looks like a ruined city. What happened here?" The place seemed eerily silent.

"This was once the flying Wingly city Kadessa. The final battle of the Dragon Campaign was fought here." Rose paused. "The other Dragoons died here." She gazed into the distance as she remembered. "Kanzas destroyed himself, killing a Super Virage in the process; Damia, killed by a large group of Winglies; Syuveil, cut in half while trying to save her. Belzac was impaled by a Virage while keeping a pillar from falling on Shirley; she was crushed after destroying Belzac's killer. And Zieg… Zieg was turned to stone after mortally wounding Melbu Frahma, the Wingly leader." Rose fell silent again. "Their sacrifices freed Humans from Wingly domination."

"But your mission is still far from complete?"

She nodded. "Yes. Unless The Moon That Never Sets is somehow destroyed, the cycle will continue. Every 108 years, I will have to find and kill the Moon Child, and everyone who witnesses its passage. I don't enjoy it, but if I don't do it, the world will be destroyed."

* * *

As we searched for the Dragon Block Staff, we came across something that filled me with dread: a Super Virage. It appeared to be dead, but I knew from bitter experience that Virages could survive for a very long time.

"That's the Virage that killed Kanzas," Rose muttered. "I thought it was vaporized."

"Careful, everybody," Dart said. "Remember how hard these things are to kill."

The newest addition to our party, Miranda, snorted. "What are you worrying about? It's been dead for thousands of years."

Ryan laughed harshly. "Don't bet on it. These things have a nasty habit of coming back to life when Dragoons are near. And in case you haven't noticed, we've ten Dragoons and one vampire here. I'd say it's a good bet that this thing is about to wake up."

Immediately after he finished speaking, the Super Virage began moving. "Ryan," Karen groaned. "I hate it when you say things like that. Don't you know not to tempt fate?"

"Forget to tempting fate," Albert yelled, "first we've got to kill this thing!" He used his Dragoon Spirit, becoming the Jade Dragoon, and cast Rose Storm, his protective spell.

"Right." I held up the Diamond Dragoon Spirit, transformed, and drew Migi-no-te. "I've had enough of fighting Virages! Diamond Storm!"

"Supernova!"

"Final Burst!"

Flying slightly out of the battle to get a better look, I spotted the Super Virage preparing for a nasty blast of magic against a Dragoon. "Rose, look out!" Realizing that there wasn't time for her to get out of the way, I folded my wings and dove back into the battle, knocking Rose out of the way…

Just in time to catch the full blast of magic myself. I so hate Virages, I thought, just before the injuries I sustained knocked me unconscious…

Author's note: Kind of short, but I hope it was interesting. As for Sword Master Jeff's question, all I can say is wait and see. Please keep reading and reviewing.