I don't own anything except the Takahari family, their Dragoon Spirits, Kenji Okamura, Cassius, and Hideo Suzuki
***
The day after the blitzball tournament was attacked by fiends, we waited at Luca's gate for Auron and Tidus to join us. My fellow Dragoons and I were getting odd looks from Yuna's party, but they had agreed to wait on an explanation until Tidus and Auron returned.
When the arrived, Auron turned to Yuna. "I wish to offer my services as a guardian."
Wakka jerked back. "What?"
"You decline?"
Yuna hastily shook her head. "No, no, we accept. But… why?"
"I promised Braska. And…" he added, grabbing Tidus' arm and pushing him forward, "he comes, too."
I bowed to Auron. "I am honored to meet you, Sir Auron." I turned to the others. "I suppose you want to know what happened yesterday."
"Yeah. What was that, yah?" Wakka demanded.
Karen raised a hand. "No, please. Don't get him into lecture mode. He'll never stop talking if you do."
I glared at her. "We are the Dragon Knights, the Dragoons. And, hard as it may be to believe, we are not of this world." I paused, letting that sink in, then continued as the stared. "Rose is from the world of Endiness, and my siblings and I are from a planet called Earth. As for the Dragoons, well, that's a somewhat longer story." I idly pulled out my pipe and lit it. "Eleven thousand years ago, in Endiness, the Winglies ruled all other species. Their domination was challenged, however, by humans, led by Emperor Diaz. And Diaz's army was lead by seven incarnations of Dragons, the Dragoons. They each represented an element: fire, wind, water, light, darkness, earth, and thunder. There were also four non-elemental Dragons, but they were only killed in modern times. Anyway, after a struggle literally of epic proportions, humans won their freedom."
"And that was the end of it?" Tidus asked.
I smiled slightly. "Not exactly. Fate had something else in store, for the so-called 'deity' Soa, who some in Endiness believe to have created the world, also created the God of Destruction. The Winglies had already known of this, and took steps to prevent its birth. They separated the soul from the body, but, unfortunately, the container of the soul was destroyed in the final battle of the Dragon Campaign. Thus the soul was let loose, and became the Moon Child, possessing human bodies and attempting to return to its body. Fortunately, one Dragoon found out about it, and became the Black Monster, hunting down the Moon Child every one hundred and eight years, until six years ago."
"What happened six years ago?" Yuna asked.
"It seemed that the Black Monster had missed the Moon Child eighteen years before, and things all came to a head. To make a long story short, the seven Dragoon Spirits were taken up once more, with three additions, and the God of Destruction was finally destroyed in a titanic battle against the former ruler of the Winglies, Melbu Frahma." I stared into the smoke from my pipe. "I nearly died there."
"That's not possible, yah?" Wakka shook his head. "You expect us to believe you're from another world?"
I scowled at him. "That's exactly what I expect you to believe. And I should think you'd be less skeptical, since yesterday you saw us grow wings and fly!"
"So what are you doing here?" Lulu asked.
"Well, it just so happens that we're on a mission. King Albert, a close friend of mine and the Dragoon of the Jade Dragon, sent us to investigate this world, and try and put a stop to Sin."
Wakka scoffed. "Hah! I told you, only repentance will get rid of Sin, yah? One day, a summoner will finally defeat Sin, but nothin' else is gonna do it."
I looked at him with contempt. "And I suppose you were told that by those idiot leaders of 'Yevon'? At least the practitioners of Tiberoa's star worship or the worshippers of Soa have brains." Before he could explode, I continued. "Believe me, Wakka, this world has seen nothing like the Dragoons. If it hadn't been on our side, we'd have chopped up that aeon of Seymour's in seconds. I don't imagine Sin will be any match for the warriors who defeated the God of Destruction itself."
Wakka finally managed to say something coherent. "But you're talking about defying Yevon! You can't do that, yah!?"
I snorted. "We've defied deities before. This won't be any different." I turned to Yuna. "Anyway, that's why we're here. May we accompany you? We seem to be heading in the same direction anyway, and we could be of some help."
"If my guardian's have no objections…" she paused, glancing at Wakka. "Aside from, Wakka, of course."
"If Yuna wishes it," was Auron's quiet reply.
"The more along, the safer Yuna is, right?" That seemed to be Tidus' primary concern.
"I still don't like it," Wakka muttered. So much for his initial friendliness. "But I guess I'm outvoted, yah?"
"Then it's settled," Lulu said. "And we should probably leave soon."
***
The gate of Luca led directly to the Mi'ihen Highroad, the first step towards our next destination, the Djose Temple. It was a fairly quiet place, for a highly-frequented road, but it still that the enormous monster population that I'd come to expect on Spira. Unfortunately for us, fiends weren't the only nasty denizens of the Highroad.
I was talking quietly with Rose when Karen suddenly shouted. "Vampires! Vampires!"
I spun around. There was a veritable hoard of them, apparently lead by a cloak-covered vampire in the rear. Where they had come from, I didn't know, but I did realize that my group would be the only ones capable of dealing with them. Even if Yuna and her guardians had had any idea what they were dealing with, I doubted they had silver or garlic with them.
"Ian!" Ryan shouted. "I think that's Suzuki leading them!"
He was right. When I concentrated, I recognized his aura. It had taken six years, but Hideo Suzuki had finally returned to try and make my life miserable.
Emphasis on try.
It was time to stop hiding our advanced technology; I flung my coat aside, then drew my Ingram Model 11 machine pistol from its holster and opened fire. It was loaded with silver hollowed points filled garlic; if the allergy to silver didn't get them, the garlic would send them into anaphylactic shock. Either way, anything I hit would die, and I rarely missed.
Above the sounds of battle, I heard Wakka's indignant shout. "That's forbidden machina!"
I spared enough attention from the battle to pistol whip him, then reloaded and resumed firing. There had to be at least a hundred vampires coming at us.
Karen swept by, spinning her katana, Buke-Kontan, through the air, cutting a swath through the menace, while Ryan calmly fought off those near him with Soul Cleaver. Yuna's group, with the exception of Auron, were clearly confused, unable to decide what to do.
Amateurs, I snarled to myself. If we weren't around, the vampires would turn them into mincemeat. Lacking time to reload again, I holstered the Ingram and drew Raiden-Ken. "Crush Dance!" I shouted, using an attack I'd learned from Dart, the Red-Eye Dragoon. "Blazing Dynamo!"
I missed one, who got past and tried to attack Yuna. But Rose was there. The beautiful warrior struck the foul creature numerous times with her rapier. "Die! Demon's Dance!"
The sight distracted me a moment too long, and I felt a weight land on my back. "I told you I'd be back, Takahari," Suzuki said. "Still think it was worth the risk?"
Before he could say anything more, there was an incredibly loud boom, and Hideo Suzuki flew away from me, disintegrating.
Suzuki's abrupt departure from the mortal plane knocked me off my feet, and I hit the ground, hard. I turned to see what had happened, and there was Ryan, hold a smoking revolver in both hands, barrel pointed to the sky thanks to the recoil. "Ryan?" I asked weakly. "What the bloody blazes was that?"
He grinned. "Ruger Super Blackhawk, loaded with .44 Magnum silver hollow points. Seemed the right time for it."
Rose helped me to my feet and put her arms around me. "Are you all right?"
I returned the embrace. "Yes, my love. Just a little shell-shocked. Next time, Ryan, you might consider firing that thing from a little farther away from my ear, okay? I know you can't put a suppressor on a revolver, but you could at least try not to break my ear drums when you use it." Ryan just grinned.
Wakka stalked over to us, rubbing what was promising to be a very painful bump on the head. "What do you think you're doin', using forbidden machina!? You're defying Yevon!"
Keeping one arm around Rose, I turned and glared at him. "I've had enough of your true-believer claptrap, Wakka. First of all, I don't believe in this 'Yevon', so I don't think I'm bound by his restrictions. Second, it was use them or die. In fact, if we hadn't stopped them, it would have been a fate worse than death. You think we should have accepted being turned into vampires?"
"What were they?" Tidus interjected. "They looked like people…"
"They weren't," I said grimly. "I neglected to mention my primary occupation. As one of the last surviving Kyuuketsuki Ryoushi ninja and the founder of the Oukoku Fukei, I am a vampire hunter. So are Ryan, Karen, and Rose, though the Black Monster, as she was once known, has more experience hunting Winglies and deranged 'gods' than vampires. As for what they are, they're bloodsuckers. They have to drink blood to survive, because their blood can't support a hemoglobin."
"Hemoglobin?" Tidus asked, frowning at the unfamiliar word.
"You wouldn't understand; our medical technology is also far in advance of your own. Anyway, what's worse is that anyone who is bitten by a vampire becomes one himself. Originally, this problem was limited, because sunlight killed them, meaning that they could only go abroad at night. Unfortunately, vampirism is a virus, and viruses mutate. Around the time my clan began to hunt vampires, the virus had changed sufficiently to give immunity to sunlight."
Yuna gasped. "And now they're in Spira!?"
I nodded grimly. "Yeah. I can see that unless we wipe them out on the journey, I'm going to have to send some apprentices here to deal with them. It is my sworn duty to protect people from their kind. There are certain exceptions; in Endiness there's one coven that feeds off animal blood; drinking the blood of sentient people is a capital offense among them, and the sentence is carried out immediately. The only exceptions to that are those who, for some odd reason, want to become vampires."
Wakka shook his head. "This is great. You guys come here, disparage Yevon, defy Yevon, and now you bring a problem like this with you!?"
"Hey, you can't blame us 'infidels' for everything, Wakka," Karen said. "In fact, true-believer religious fanatics have caused more problems over time than almost any group. Look at the Spanish Inquisition back home. They were responsible for some of the worst atrocities of all time, all 'in the name of God'. Now, certainly the majority of people who believe in that faith are the most decent people you'll meet, but the fanatics simply cannot be reasoned with. When you're dealing with someone who knows God is on his side, the only way to stop him is to kill him."
Wakka's face turned an interesting shade of purple. "You saying we're all fanatics!?"
I sighed and shook my head. "No, Wakka, what she's saying is that the 'true-believers' in Yevon can cause a great deal of damage, not that all believers in Yevon are fanatics. Now kindly be quiet so we can recover from this little battle and get back on our journey."
***
Not long after that, we ran into a young woman who as arguing with a Crusader. The Crusader said something sharp, then walked off, while the girl stood, looking confused. "They won't even listen to me," she murmured.
Yuna walked over to her. "Is there a problem?"
The girl looked up. "Lady Summoner! I am Shelinda."
"My name is Yuna. What's the matter?"
"The Crusaders are going to use forbidden machina on Sin!" Shelinda said. "But that's the against the teachings!"
"Let them use whatever they want," Auron said. "They still won't defeat Sin."
Shelinda turned to him. "Defeating Sin isn't the point! The teachings must be upheld!"
"Yeah! That's right!" Wakka agreed.
"Do your best, Shelinda," Yuna said. "Perhaps you'll yet convince the Crusaders."
Shelinda nodded. "You're right! Thank you, Lady Yuna." She continued on her way.
"Sir Auron's right," Wakka said. "They'll never defeat Sin with machina! You'll see."
"Wakka, you're not impressing anybody," I heard Ryan mutter. "You'd better shut up before you get hurt." From under his coat came a pair of ominous clicks, the distinctive sounds of a revolver's hammer being pulled back and then slowly lowered.
This concerned me. Ryan took very few things seriously. As a ninja, you had to find ways to cope with the killing or you went mad, or became a psychopath. Ryan coped with gallows humor, and Karen with sheer exuberance. I managed by keeping in mind the fact that, with one exception, every person I had ever killed had deserved it.
That one exception was a painful one: the former fiancé of the woman I loved. Zieg had been possessed by Melbu Frahma, former leader of the Winglies. Unfortunately, we didn't discover this until just after I beheaded him. It was thus with great satisfaction that I, with the help of Rose, finally killed Frahma, just hours later.
***
The trip was uneventful for the rest of the day, until we reached the local equivalent of an inn. "We rest here." Auron said.
"But that place is run by an Al Bhed!" Wakka protested.
"So?"
"They don't believe in Yevon! And they, they kidnapped Yuna!"
Auron turned. "Where were her guardians?"
Said guardians (with the exception of Tidus since he hadn't yet been one at the time) looked abashed. "Then let's go."
"I'm not tired one bit." Wakka said stubbornly.
"Well, I am." Auron replied, and that ended the discussion.
***
Author's note: Sorry this one took so long; had some word processor problems. The next chapter shouldn't take as long.
In response to Seriyu-the-ice-dragon, Cassius's appearance without passing through Endiness will be explained in a later chapter. Besides which, I haven't thought of it yet.
To respond to Ye Say Ye Fool, they used Dragoon Spirits for the same reason they would have failed without Anima: they would easily have survived without them, but innocents would have been killed before they could kill anywhere near enough fiends.
In response to Songwind: I don't see why Dragoon magic wouldn't work in another world. The laws of physics are theoretically the same, no matter where you are in the universe.
To respond to Sword Master Jeff, I don't understand Tidus's status either, but later chapters will put a different spin on things.
That should about cover things. Thanks for the reviews, and please keep them coming. ~Solid Shark
