The dragon charged forwards, its footsteps were as thunder on a silent night, a bolt of bright blue energy flew across the dome striking the creature square in the forehead, the dragon ceased its head on charge, opting to stand still, it could see its antagonist, the creator of the bolts, there was more than one, five in fact.
As the dragon contemplated its enemies energy was hurled at it in a steady stream, the bright blue of sniper fire issuing forth from Crimsons weapon the light green of Tatsu's slicer blades and the darker color of handgun fire from the other three. The hail of energy fire did little to the dragon's tough hide, except maybe enrage the beast. It drew its head back and then thrust it forwards belching forth a cascade of liquid fire that caused the air to sizzle. The hunters scattered in all directions narrowly avoiding the napalm spray. The dragon extended its magnificent wings and took to the air, scorching the earth with its fearsome breath. It landed and regarded its closest foe, a tall human dressed in black and red.
Crimson was no further than 20 feet away from the dragon, closer than he would have liked to be, he moved backwards still firing ineffectually at the creatures head. It roared with rage at the attack, spinning full circle and lashing its tail at its assailant. Crimson ducked the attack and resumed firing, hoping that he could distract the monstrous animal for long enough that his friends might do something. Tatsu was closing in on the beast from the side, but was spotted as a result of the dragons advanced peripheral vision, a downbeat of gigantic leathery wings later and Tatsu was taken off his feet by a wall of air, instinctively he rolled to his left instead of climbing directly to his feet, a lucky move as a huge tail slammed into the place Tatsu had just vacated.
The dragon returned its focus to Crimson who had been attempting to maneuver himself into the dragons' blind spot near its feet. The beast leveled its wicked tail aiming it at Crimson over its shoulder, surprising the helpless hunter, the tail sprouted barbed spines. Not knowing the true extend of his peril Crimson stood his ground awaiting the swing, there was none. A ripple pulsed through the dragons tail as the muscles contracted, just as it reached the end of the appendage Crimson realized what was about to happen and dived out of the way, the projectile spines embedded themselves firmly into the ground missing Crimson by scant inches. Crimson smiled to himself, a complete surprise and yet he had anticipated it, damn he was good. At that moment the spines detonated, the shrapnel tearing through Crimsons armour, and his flesh.
Alice was on the job as usual and healed the injuries the moment they occurred, but she was worried, none of the stories she had heard or any of the hunters she'd talked to had ever mentioned dragons having explosive tail spikes, there was too much about this thing that she didn't know and the thought of being in a battle that she was entirely unprepared for scared her, but still she fought. Spinning her staff Alice executed a zonde technique, which diffused harmlessly along the dragons hide, did nothing affect it? The massive head swung to face her, the dragons vast maw open, ready to inflict flaming death upon the adolescent girl who dared threaten the king of beasts. Alice was scared, terrified if truth be told, but she did not show it, she had to be strong, she launched a rabarta attack at the dragons face, not expecting any results. But there definitely was a result, the dragon aborted its attack and reared backwards, roaring in pain, a shard of ice was lodged in the creature's eye, damaging its vision and flooding its primitive cerebrum with messages of pain. In a wingbeat the beast took to the air once more, gliding high above the cause of its wound, this was an error that the creature would soon regret, as a blue bolt struck against its soft underbelly. With another roar the dragon circled round to face the origin of this most recent attack, the dragon caught another blast, this one striking harmlessly against its shoulder. It flew low, passing just over the hunters heads, swiping at Crimson with its talons, as the dragon came around once more for another attack it was struck by two more blasts of energy, Crimsons sniper planting a shot inside the beasts nostril, and Tatsu's slicer ripping a small hole in its left wing. Between the pain and the imbalance caused by the puncture, the dragon was forced to land before it veered into a wall.
Ryzada bounced upwards slightly as a consequence of the vibrations the dragons' ungainly landing caused. She stumbled a little in her run towards the wing but kept going, she had noticed the alteration in the dragons flight when Tatsu made the hole, she had also learned from his mistake and was approaching from behind, with its damaged eye, the dragon would not see her. Crimson however did see Ryzada dashing over the dirt and did his utmost to keep the dragons attention focused on him. A risky maneuver it turned out as Crimson scrambled backwards, in a most undignified manner, avoiding the sharp teeth that threatened to devour him.
Ryzada reached the wing and took out a saber, hurling in an overarm fashion she watched the blade tumble through the air towards the thin membrane that made up the dragons wing, striking as Ryzada hoped it would the blade tore a long line through the leathery skin, the dragon was effectively grounded, the dragon once more roaring at the stinging of these annoying insects spun sharply, catching Ryzada off guard, its tail whipping round, catching Ryzada across the chest as her inhuman reflexes allowed her to turn in time to avoid having her spinal column shattered, instead of being propelled across the room Ryzada clung tightly to the limb, swinging her legs on top she straddled it, hanging on for dear life.
The dragon slammed its tail into the floor in an attempt to dislodge its assailant but it failed, growing more and more agitated the dragon belched forth another jet of fire, Crimson moved rapidly to avoid being burned and Alice cast barta, the ice canceling the flames, Tatsu was not quite fast enough and he screamed as his arm was charred by the blazing fluid. Ryzada could here the pained cries of her comrade, but could not go to his aid, Alice would see to his wounds, she was sure of that. But Ryzada had something else in mind, she drew her daggers and stabbed them into the dragons flesh, using the weapons as a form of ice-picks and her legs to steady her grip Ryzada began to climb.
Alice cast resta on Tatsu, trying to heal his burned limb, but resta cannot restore flesh that is no longer there, and so while the bleeding stopped, Tatsu's left arm was still blackened and useless.
"My left arm" he cried "You BASTARD! THAT WAS MY FAVORITE ONE!" Tatsu could feel his muscles fill with strength as the energy of his Mag surged through him "When I'm done with you, you'll fear me as a god! FEEL MY WRATH AND FEAR MY RIGHTEOUS FURY!" Tatsu roared rising from the floor.
Alice blinked as Tatsu struggled to his feet, his arm dangling uselessly at his side, he slashed the air with his brand and everything seemed to darken as energy was pulled to his body, there was a blast of heat and above Tatsu's head appeared a stag, energy coursing along its body it glowed with a strange light, then it charged, gathering speed it lowered its head and struck the dragon, their skulls colliding in a gargantuan headbutt. The stag disappeared leaving behind no trace of its existence, except a deep cut that scored the dragons head, biting into the bone.
The dragon stumbled backwards, stunned by the impact, the same impact almost shook Ryzada from her position, now most of the way up the dragons back, not too far from the base of its neck. Hanging on by a single dagger Ryzada refused to release her tenacious grip, summoning up her strength she pulled herself back up and resumed her climb, she had reached the dragons neck when it had recovered sufficiently to leap up and once more take flight, the large tear in its wing made controlled flight nearly impossible. Instead the dragon circled around the group of hunters still on the ground, launching its fiery projectiles every now and then, and ignoring the photon energy that the hunters sent in return, dragons were the lords and masters of the air, in flight they were invincible. A fact that Ryzada dearly wished to change, riding the dragons back while it gained height, and while she gained confidence Ryzada began once more to climb, high above the ground, on the neck of a VERY angry dragon, Ryzada Ermintine was scared, so scared that she could hardly continue, but she did, she had to, everyone was counting on her. She was nearly there, the dragon was violently shaking its head in an attempt to dislodge this most persistent of foes, Ryzada maintained an iron grip. Finally she made it, despite the dragons wild attempts to remove her, Ryzada sat the point where skull met spine, holding a dagger in her left hand Ryzada hacked away until a small patch was no longer covered by scales, she could feel the dragon vocalizing its objections, roars so deep that they caused the walls to shudder. But Ryzada was undaunted, drawing a saber she thrust it deep into the unprotected space, the beasts nervous system and its brain were separated and it lost all movement.
It wasn't until they began to fall that Ryzada realized her mistake, getting to her feet she began to run towards the other end of the dragon, a normal person would have fallen, but Ryzada's inhuman balance saved her, she made it to the tail just as the dragons head hit the floor, grabbing hold using her hands Ryzada swung underneath the tail, the collision with the floor sending waves of motion through the dragons body, the tail flicked upwards, and as a result of her chosen grip, Ryzada was sent spinning round and around, but she did not let go, as that would result in being launched high, and coming down hard. The tail came back down and Ryzada neatly slid off the end, she fell maybe 6 meters in all, and landed on both feet.
Her comrades rushed to meet her Tatsu was grinning broadly "That was amazing Ryz, acrobatics worthy of the first hunters!" he enthused
Ryzada smiled in return "And you Tatsu? A photon blast? That will be a tale told round every tavern on pioneer"
Crimson however was furious "YOU KILLED IT!" he yelled "WE SPEND ALL THIS TIME AND EFFORT LOOKING FOR ONE AND YOU KILLED IT!"
Ryzada was unfazed by the high decibel berating "It's not dead Crimson, It's just paralyzed, a good resta technique will knit the tissue back together and it will be fine, there was no lasting damage done"
"At least not to the dragon" Tatsu looked remorsefully at his useless arm
"I'm sorry Tatsu" Alice mumbled "I really wish there was something I could do"
"Well there isn't Alice" Tatsu said politely "So there is no use in worrying about it" The Dragon blinked one huge eye "Do you not think we should do something about getting that creature out of here?" he said obviously still nervous about the dragon continuing to be alive. Crimson pulled a communicator out of his belt, it wasn't standard equipment, but it was a gadget, the only thing Crimson loved more than money was gadgets. He pressed a few keys "Hello?" he said a little too loudly "This is Crimson, I'm reporting a success on our mission, the dragon has been immobilized send somebody down to get it please" he put the comm. Device away and turned to his friends "you can bet that the receptionist is pretty surprised" he said cheerfully
"My head really hurts and everything is really bright, the colors are so pretty and shiny, but they make me dizzy" It was Mei, in the excitement of the battle they had forgotten about her
"Mei?" asked Crimson "Are you okay?"
Mei smiled brightly and laughed, a childish and musical sound "I'm fine thank you Mr Crimson, but I think I might have been hit in the head, because like I said it hurts and I'm dizzy and I can't remember what I was supposed to be doing, do you remember Mr Crimson? Because I think it was really really important." It may have been Crimsons imagination, but Mei certainly sounded less mentally fit than before, if that was at all possible.
"You were supposed to catch up with Raven and the others before they finished their job" Tatsu reminded her
"OH YEAH!" exclaimed Mei grinning "Thanks Mr Tatsu sir" And with that she ran off, then she corrected her course and ran in the right direction, falling down the stairs as she reached them
Crimson shook his head "There is something very seriously wrong with that girl" he said with a tone of slight amusement
Just then a man in a white coat teleported in and began busily setting up beacons around the motionless form of the dragon
"Excuse me?" asked Alice inquisitive as ever "But what are you doing?"
"Vhat am I doink?" the white coated stranger parroted "I'm settink up zee beacons so zat zee teleportz kan pick up zee dragon, zats vhat I am doink" The man had an accent unlike any that Alice had ever heard before. But she recognized it
"Doctor Ermintine is it?" more of a statement than a question "Would you please drop the accent?"
"Oh, you know me?" the scientist said, "Who would you be?" all traces of the accent had disappeared
"I'm Alice Arke, or as you probably know me, sample 4552"
"Ah sample 4552, yes I remember, err you were the one requesting the operation yes?"
"Yes and please call me Alice"
"Okay if you insist, but I think sample 4552 has a nice ring to it, better than your mothers name at least" Doctor Ermintine said jokingly "Flopsy wasn't it?"
Alice blushed a furious shade of red "Yes, but could you please keep your mind on business?"
"Business? You have the money for the operation then?" The Doctor pulled a control pad from his coat and jabbed a few buttons.
"Well yes" Alice said uncertain, "But a friend of mine also wants to undergo the same operation"
"Who is this friend?" asked Doctor Ermintine
Ryzada stepped forwards "I believe you know me as sample 6371, but my name is Ryzada, it's been a long time Asrith"
Asrith Ermintine blinked appearing to concentrate "Oh it's you! The one created from my cat?"
Ryzada also blushed slightly with embarrassment "Yes that's me"
Asrith looked a little sad "Gizmo died last year you know"
"I'm sorry to hear that, but please, about the operation?" Ryzada said growing impatient
"Yes, Yes it's not a problem at all, you two do have six thousand meseta between you don't you? And what did you do to this dragon, we'll need to revive it when it is properly contained"
Six thousand?!? Crimson was not going to be happy at the sum. Ryzada turned to Alice and whispered, "How much have you saved anyway?"
"Two thousand" Alice whispered back "The thousand from this job was going to cover the rest"
Ryzada turned to Crimson and Tatsu who were chatting idly
"Crimson? Tatsu? I need to ask a favor, a big one, I need the money from this job, all of it, its for the operation" Crimson and Tatsu both nodded and readily agreed that Ryzada could have the money once they received it, Crimson feeling slightly depressed about not being able to go on a manic spending spree.
Ryzada returned to Doctor Asrith and nodded in the affirmative "We have the money"
"Excellent" Asrith beamed at them "You can stop by the lab later, the operation only takes a minute or two, and you can see my new cat, Gizmo mkII"
With that he took his control pad back out and punched some more buttons on it. In a flash both he and the dragon were gone, leaving only a popping sound as the air rushed into the vacuum created by their sudden disappearance.
Crimson gathered the team round for his "end of the mission" talk. He cleared his throat.
"Congratulations everyone, we can all be proud of ourselves, few hunters have ever accomplished what we have, I believe we have secured our places in history, or at least as a rumor that will circulate round the taverns" he said the last with a smile.
Alice stood up and began to speak "I can't thank you all enough for helping me, I thought for sure that I would never raise the money in time, my rent was due and there were bills to pay, and I would never have made it if it wasn't for you all." Her eyes glistening with tears Alice sat back down trying not to cry. Tatsu placed a friendly hand on her shoulder and handed her a tissue. Smiling reassuringly he looked her in the eyes and said
"You're one of the team Alice, anything you need, we'll help."
Alice looked away a little, uncomfortable with Tatsu looking at her like that, but it was nice to know that she was welcome with these people, now to ask something that she really didn't want to ask.
"Tatsu?" she whispered to him "I don't have anywhere to stay, I don't have enough money to pay for my room or food or anything" She bit her lip "Can I umm, stay with you?" Tatsu was surprised at the proposal, but readily accepted
"One condition" he whispered back "You have to cook"
Alice smiled, cooking she could do, thank god he didn't want her to do the cleaning.
"I got it!" came Crimsons triumphant cry "Damned telepipe, finally got it working" He was clearly pleased with himself "No walking back through the beast infested forest for us, come on everybody, its perfectly safe." Ryzada had her doubts as she stepped into the glowing blue ring. Crimson liked technology, this didn't mean he knew how to use it.
Alice feel very sick as the party emerged on Pioneer 2, having every atom in your body pulled apart, moved at the speed of light and then put back together again was not a pleasant experience. Ryzada was checking that all her limbs were in the right place, and belonged to her. Telepipe accidents were rare, but every now and then one would be faulty and accidents would happen. The blue ring at their feet imploded silently disappearing without trace. That was the problem with single use items. They were impossible to test.
After receiving their reward from the Guild counter, Ryzada and Alice made the visit to the lab. True to his word Asrith performed the operation flawlessly, although the physical exam seemed to be completely unnecessary.
"I don't feel any different at all" commented Ryzada
"Zat is bekauz nothink haz happened yet" Asrith explained, slipping back into his feigned mode of speech
"What do you mean?" asked Ryzada, she was unsure of the exact effects of the operation "And please explain using standard English"
"Why does nobody like my accent? I think it makes me seem so much more like a scientist." Asrith sighed "I mean you just know somebody is a scientist if they talk like that"
"Idiot" Alice muttered under her breath "Well you have the lab coat, so everybody knows anyway, now please explain exactly what you did
"Vell I zimply-" Asrith began
"STANDARD ENGLISH!" Ryzada yelled, the eccentric scientist was trying her patience. How could this man have revolutionized genetic engineering? Well he hadn't really done it right.
"Fine" Asrith grumbled, "When you force 2 kinds of DNA together that aren't really compatible, it's like welding two pieces of metal together. It can be done, but the result is not as strong as the original pieces, only with genetics the flaw becomes greater over time and eventually it breaks apart. So without the operation your DNA would break apart, cells would no longer divide, there would be no new tissue and so you would die about a month or so after total genetic failure, the effect is similar to decomposition, except that the person is still alive as it happens."
"EWWWW!" said Alice and Ryzada in unison
"Oh and you girls will need to take these" He handed them a pair of intravenous chemical injection guns "You'll need injections once a week every week, you can let it slide by a day or 2, but if you miss too many injections your DNA will destabilize and you'll have to come back for another operation."
Alice nodded "Where do we need to have the injection?"
"It's best to inject directly into the blood stream, I suggest your wrists, or the back of your neck, on the other hand if injections scare you, you could be guinea pigs for my latest project, nano medicine! These tiny tiny robots will live inside your bloodstream and periodically release the genetic stabilizer." His face was alight with hope
"Umm no, I don't think we will be doing that" said Alice a little nervously. This guy was pretty weird. Asrith's face fell at her polite refusal, it was so hard to get lab subjects now. A grey streak darted across the room, spiraling up Asriths leg and back it came to rest on his shoulder, eyeing Alice with suspicion
Ryzada jumped "What on ragol is that THING" she yelled pointing at it, the creature, if that was what it was, regarded Ryzada its bionic eyes appearing to squint.
"Oh" said Asrith cheerfully "This is your mother Ryzada."
"But its made of metal!"
"Well yes, like I said before, she died last year. I was really sad and lonely, so I revived her and made it so she would even outlive me."
"What the hell did you do to it?" Ryzada was completely creeped out by the mecha zombie cat thing
"I connected electrodes to the major muscles, used the same cell preserving technique that I just used on you, built a metal framework and ran the cerebral routines through a microprocessor" Asrith seemed hurt by Ryzadas reaction to what he believed was his crowning achievement, victory over death
"Asrith, that's wrong, you can't just do that, you can't go around re- animating corpses" Alice was also distressed by the creation
"You didn't seem to complain when science created you two, abilities superior to others, mental enhancement, I don't recall you saying that you were never supposed to be."
"That's different" Alice said hotly "And by the way, it is wrong to be messing around with genetics and things, you're not a god Asrith. You shouldn't be tampering with evolution and you certainly should not be tampering with things like death."
"Haha, and what about that is not god-like? I'm not there yet but I'd say i'm pretty close"
"You're delusional, insane and a danger to the natural balance of the universe, and I don't want to talk to you for a second longer" Alice stated evenly.
With that Ryzada and Alice took their injectors and left, they would be sure to take their medicine on time. Anything to avoid returning to that labAsrith turned to gizmo and petted her steely head, the cyborg creation purred contentedly, or rather a small speaker generated the sound of purring.
"They just don't understand my genius" he said softly "But they will, oh yes they will, I'll make them understand I will. Then when they are left with no other option they will HAVE to bow to my superior intellect. I vill rule over Zem all!" he threw his head back and laughed
"BWAH HAHAHAHA!" Asrith frowned "No no, that's not right at all, lets try it again. MUAH HAHAHAHA! Dammit, still wrong. Oh forget it, I'll work on the laugh later" With that the decidedly strange and possibly unbalanced Scientist returned to his work
Alright, this officially ends the dragon chapter of this fic, Next up is the tournament chapter, which promises to be just as long, if not longer. Ah well It'll give me something to do at 3 in the morning. Oh and Matherson is not from the PSO storyline, actually none of the characters are. I figure its best to stay original (except with stolen quotes) Matherson is the character belonging to Eriths' brother. Oh and Erith is my friend who owns Mei lung and Tatsu and a few other characters. Any questions you need answering, just ask away, anything requiring a long explanation please email me.