This chapter is rated PG-13 or higher due to details. In other words, if you have a weak stomach, you've been warned….

This chapter is long, but its also the last one. If I had stretched it into 2 chapters then this one would have been short. So instead, I decided to end it here with a Longer chapter. Hope you enjoy, and please review.

Ch.3 Alone?

Shadow awoke to dark silence. She lifted her head off of her knees to look around.

"Where am I?" she thought. "wait….oh yeah, the dragons. I wonder how long I've been down here. Wait a minute, I don't hear anything, maybe the fighting's over! But if it is, why don't I hear people talking or moving things around?"

Forgetting the fact that she had promised Luke she wouldn't move until someone came for her, Shadow got up and pushed on the door to open it. Surprisingly, it wouldn't move.

"Its stuck!"

Trying a few more times, and pushing even harder, the door finally opened. Once she climbed out of the door way, Shadow noticed right next to her was a dead Grand Dragon.

"That must be what was holding the door down." She thought.

Still afraid of what the silence would bring her, Shadow walked slowly out of her home and into the street. There she could only gasp in pure horror. Bodies of Akishans and Dragons littered the streets of a ghost town she once called home. Some lay in their own pools of blood, some where just mangled remains, but most where burnt from the Dragons Thundara attacks. The village houses where in ruins, the Temple was nothing more then a few broken walls. Shadow's once beloved home was now a wasteland of death.

Among the bodies, Shadows fears became true. She located the twins, Candy and Kassy, together near the village entrance, bloodied and burnt. It seemed as though they had tried to make a run for the forest when a dragon spotted them and used its flame breath on them. Shadow stood beside her fallen friends for a few minutes, praying for their souls.

Continuing her search around the village remains, she also found Andy as well as her own cousin Kitari. Both seemed to be victims of a Thundara attack. Andys body just laid there, like any innocent would in death. Kitari however, seemed to die that way she always wanted to. Shadow found Kitari in the jaws of a Grand Dragon, her swords blade jammed into the beasts skull.

"Just like Kitari, died fighting…" Shadow whispered to herself, wiping away her tears.

Shadow paid respects to her friend and cousin with a small prayer before continuing around the village. Unfortunately as she rounded the corner of the temple, she found too more bodies. She found her father, buried among a pile of dead dragons. He, like Kitari, had also died with his blade through a dragons skull.

Turning away from her father before she broke out in tears Shadow finally found her brother. The fighters spirit had run through her blood line, through her father, cousins, and her brother. Luke, like his father, and like Kitari, had also died fighting. His bloodied body hung from the fanged mouth of a dead dragon. A silver dagger, dripping with crimson blood, hung from Luke cold left hand. This was it, her friends, her family, her brother, where all gone.

In pure rage and anger Shadow pulled the silver dagger from her brothers bloody hand and continuously stabbed it randomly into the dragon. While doing this she started screaming how much she hated dragons, Gaia, and cursing at her so called goddess. This continued for about 30 minutes before she dropped the dagger, fell to her knees, and just cried. Even after she had no tears left, she continued to cry.

*********

It took almost over a month, but Shadow finally finished marking the last villagers grave. She had buried every villager she found in a circle around the Temple. Her father, Kitari, Candy, Kassy, Andy, and Luke were buried at the foot of the Temple steps. Each grave marked with beautiful flowers she had gathered from the surrounding forest. It was over now. Everyone she knew was dead. Well, not everyone. After searching around the village remains many times, Shadow failed to find any trace of her lost cousin Hunter.

"Hunter, if your out there, please be safe. I'll find you, some day, I swear it…"

With that, Shadow secured her brothers dagger to her belt, turned, and headed towards the village entrance. There was no longer a village here, no villagers, no life. All that remained to Shadows home was a dead wasteland and memories. With no reason to stay, she left. She left her village, her home, her life, never to return again.

************** 4 Years Later **************

"Leave Me Alone Beasts!!!"

The young girl ran through the forest, jumping over roots, and pushing through branches. Her long black hair blew through the branches as she ran. A sparkling violet stone on a chain around her neck bounced back and forth on her chest every time she jumped. And above her, above the trees, 3 Grand Dragons continued their chase. The dragons had been chasing her for over an hour now. The now 16 year old Shadow was almost too tired to continue running.

"Maybe I should just give up now." She thought.

Just then she noticed a clearing ahead of her. As she got closer she noticed something standing in the clearing. This stranger, at first, seemed to be some sort of, Demon. From where Shadow was she could see that the demon appeared to be female. She had large blue dragon like wings, Black armor, and fiery red hair.

At the edge of the clearing Shadow stopped. Behind her were 3 Grand Dragons, ahead of her was an unknown demon girl. Either way seemed to bring death to her. But before she could make a decision, the 3 dragons burst into the clearing. Once they spotted the demon girl they had no hesitation before blasting her with 3 powerful Thundara attacks. The attacks struck the girl before she even knew if was coming. A cloud of dust appeared after the attacks hit, when the dust cleared a massive crater was all that could be seen where the demon girl once stood. Shadow stood behind a tree and looked on as the battle was about to begin.

Suddenly the demon girl shot out of the crater and into the sky with incredible speed. She shot up towards one of the three dragons. Then, with out warning, sliced the beast right in half with a spear that seemed to appear out of no where. The two halves fell to the ground as the other two dragons charged towards the demon. One attempted to bit at her, which she easily dodged. The other whipped its tail at her, but instead of dodging, she simply brought her spear around and sliced the dragons tail clean off. The beast cried out in pain, but that did not stop their attacks. However, as if they had been suddenly ordered, both dragons descended to the ground right near Shadow.

When the dragons got closer Shadow got scared. She tried to make a run for it, but stupidly ran right into the clearing. One of the dragons saw her and shot its lightning at her. Using some newfound speed, thanks to her Power Crystal, Shadow easily dodged the attack. Then the other dragon used its own tail and whipped it at Shadow in an attempt to knock her down. Shadow however, simply jumped over the dragons tail and landed on its back. Once there, she removed her brothers dagger from her belt and jabbed it into the beasts back. As the beast cries in pain, the other charges towards Shadow with plans to crushing her in its jaws.

Above the new battle, the demon girl looked on. Very amused by the Fox girls abilities and fighting spirit, the demon girl decides to help her out. Once again using her speed, the demon flies down to the dragon about to attack Shadow. However, before it can reach her, the demon girl drives her spear right into the dragons skull, dropping it instantly. Seeing this, Shadow removes her dagger from the other dragons back and thrusts it into the beasts skull. Now with both dragons defeated, Shadow drops to the ground exhausted.

"You're a pretty good fighter." An unknown voice states.

Shocked by this new voice, Shadow opens her eyes to see its source. Finally remembering the demon girl, Shadow discovers that that same girl is standing over her smiling down at her. What shocks Shadow even more is how different the girl now looks. Now wings, No spear, No Armor. The demon was now dressed in dark brown pants and a black shirt. Her bright red hair pulled back into a lose pony tail and her dark violet eyes still watching Shadow, still waiting for a reply.

Once realizing the long moment of silence between the two, Shadow smacks her forehead and sits up.

"Sorry, I kind of dazed off there. Oh and thanks for saving be back there." Shadow said, feeling like an idiot.

"Don't thank me too much. I only fought because they started it" The girl stated as she sat down next to Shadow.

"Oh, well thanks anyways. By the way, my names Shadow. What about you?" She asked, extending her hand to the girl.

The red head paused for a moment, then accepted Shadows hand in a hand shake.

"Names DA. Nice to meet you Shadow"

"DA?"

"What?"

"N-Nothing, its just, well that's kind of a strange name" Shadow said to the now, a bit offended, red head.

"Oh and Shadows a normal name!?"

"Hey, it stands for Shadow Fox!"

"Oh, that's so much better" DA said sarcastically.

Shadow paused for a moment, then busted out laughing.

"Guess you've got a point. So whats DA stand for?"

"Dragoon Amber" DA calmly stated.

"……ok…..forget I asked" Shadow said, still laughing lightly.

In an attempt to change the subject, Shadow turned to the dead dragon beside her and kicked it.

"Stupid dragon" She said, her voice full of hate, "All they do is bring destruction."

"That's because their mindless beasts that only know how to destroy things" DA said, "Without a dragoon, they are destructive monsters."

"Dragoon?" Shadow asked, some what interested.

"You don't know about us?" DA asked.

"Us?"

"I'm a dragoon"

"Oh, so whats a dragoon?" Shadow asked again.

"Dragoons are half human, half dragon. Thousands of years ago, to dragons, dragoons where gods. A dragoon of a certain element had the power to control any and all dragons of that element."

"So what happened?"

"We abused our powers. Some dragoons created dragon army's to take over, or destroy the world. Then because of that, the goddess striped all dragoons of their powers to control dragons. All but a select few. The goddess created 8 dragoons, all of a different element. They are known as the 8 immortal guardians. Those goody goods use their powers to protect Gaia."

"Nice story" Shadow said, stretching out in the grass.

"Its not just a story, it's a true legend!"

"Whatever"

Shadow laid in the grass as the clouds floated by. After a few minutes DA also decided to rest. The two just laid there for about 20 minutes without a sound. That is until a loud flapping sound was heard. Both girls sat up to find that they had been surrounded by a group of 30 or more Grand Dragons.

"Looks like they want to avenge there friends" DA said, getting up.

"Think we have a chance?" Shadow asked, also standing.

"Not a chance in hell" DA simply stated.

"So, its over?'

"I never said that"

"What are you talking about?" Shadow asked, a bit confused.

"I know a place we can go to get away from these dragons. My…..friends, should be there too."

"Sounds good, but where is this place? How do we get there?"

"Ever been teleported?" DA asked, extending her hand to Shadow.

At first Shadow thought about this, then finally understanding, the grabbed DA's hand with her own.

"Guess theres a first time for everything." Shadow said.

Then, in a small flash of light, they were gone. The dragons looked around confused before just flying off.

*************

Shadow and DA appeared out of no where and found themselves in a large bright room. Looking around Shadow noticed 3 large couches spread out through the room. She also saw strange black boxes with glass like screens on the fronts. On the walls were large paper pictures of different people and other strange creatures. Shadow had never seen anything like this before.

"Welcome to Chaos HQ." DA said, looking around, "the idiots should be around here somewhere."

"Chaos HQ?" Shadow asked.

"The head quarters of the crazy authoress dragonia" a new voice said.

Shadow turned around to find two more people standing behind her. One looked identical to DA, except that she had her hair down and was wearing short black pants and a blue shirt, as well as what seemed to be a dice on a chain around her neck. The other girl had dark brown hair cut off at her shoulders and dark brown eyes. She was wearing dark blue pants, black boots, and a black T-shirt with a bright blue dragon on it. The DA twin stood there with a blank look on her face while the other stood there smiling happily.

"Shadow, meet my baka hikari dragonia, and my other half Amber" DA said, pointing to the two girls, "idiots, this is Shadow."

************

From that day foreward Shadow remained at Chaos HQ and became one of our well known friends. However, the loss of her friends and family still weighs heavily on her heart. And still, she vows someday, that she will find her lost cousin Hunter. But until that day comes, she'll just stay here and help out with the stories.

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Well, hope everyone enjoyed that little story about Shadows past. Some of the things in this story also had to do with my story "20 years Later" my FF9 story. But that's being re-written right now. Anyways, please review and tell me what you thought. Later.^_^