Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.
Notice to Readers: To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required.
The DarkTower:
Anime's Unite
Chapter 12: The Northern Group
The Beast Master
The night was very unbearable to the Senshi and Evangelions. It was hard to sleep in a cold dark place, but with the rain beating down the night before, they really had no other choice. The first one to awaken that morning was Shinji Ikari, who went to the mouth of the cave to see that the rain had stopped and there was a cloud of mist rising from the plains and springs with the morning sun coming overhead. He took in a very deep breath and smelled the morning air, so fresh and cool. Cool…it wasn't like how it was back in Tokyo-3, where it was warm a lot of the day, then again, why would he want to think about that place again? Everything was dead back there, no one existed anymore, at least existed on a physical level. He tried to not think about it and headed back inside the cave to wait for everyone to wake up.
Then suddenly he felt something, a prick in his mind. Not his brain like a sharp head ache, like a feeling of presence somewhere else. Shinji, who had been alone most of his life would generally know when there would be someone else in the room with him. Hearing their breath and almost feel them taking up the space behind him. That was what he was feeling, yet it was deeper than that, the presence he felt was familiar…like he had met it somewhere before. Yet, it was only a sharp instant when it came upon him, but it vanished like a dream that he would try to remember as he brushed his teeth in the morning. He went back inside to be with the others as they woke up.
He sat down and was about to put on his headphones for his walkman but then remembered that the batteries were dead. So, he resorted to trying to remember those song lyrics in his head once again. He tried to sing them in his head, but yet again repeating things in one's mind is nothing like hearing it.
Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
More of the song was lost since he came to this place. He thought to himself that he would give anything to have another set of batteries for his player. In the quiet of the caver Shinji sat down upon a rock and looked into the fire. Until there was a stirring, Shinji looked and with the light that was coming into the cave he saw that it was Rei Hino who was waking up. She got up and dusted off the ceremonial kimono that she was wearing and looked to Shinji.
"Good morning." She smiled, despite the fact that her hair was a mess and her kimono was covered in dirt. She walked to the mouth of the cave and out into the place where the springs lay. Shinji was about to ask what she was going to do, but his mind was smarter than that so he knew what she was going to go do.
Only a few minutes later did Rei come back into the cave trying to adjust her hair as she sat down next to Shinji Ikari.
Shinji looked at her and wondered why she did such a thing but then again he was out of his element and so too were they. He knew full well that he could no longer shut anyone out, not this time since they need one another to survive in this place. His stomach rumbled, but thinking about surviving made him hungry and images of things like toast and coffee made it even worse. He clenched his stomach hoping that he could sooth the pain.
"You're feeling hungry aren't you?" Rei asked
"Yes." Shinji answered with a small grunt and then there was silence in the cave. Until Shinji had to break the ice again, "Why do you think we were brought here?"
"I don't know." Rei answered curiously, "What happened to us was that I went to an old tree at my temple. I placed my hand to it and fell through, before I knew it I was in this place and my friends were with me."
"I simply fell asleep and found myself here with Asuka and Misato."
As Rei spoke with Shinji, she could feel the deep pain within Shinji Ikari like a lost soul or an angry spirit that refuses to rest. She was about to say something to Shinji to try to bring him around but something caught her attention.
Rei looked to where the fire used to be the night before, and she couldn't explain what her mind was sensing. It was hard to relate it to something else because there was no other experience in her life that could have compared to it. No analogy or simile that could explain it. It was just there right in front of her saying, "Hello, I'm here."
She reached her hand out as if she were reaching for a doorknob to where the fire used to be, which only had coals, and ashes there, and with a great spark a flame appeared in the middle of the remains of the firewood. It flickered and danced with its resources below it like the flame on a match that was burning down its stick. She then turned her hand around as if she were holding precious water that she was to drink from a desert oasis. With her hand cupped the dancing flame jumped as if it were a diver off of a high platform and into Rei's hand where it stayed, never touching her or burning her skin. It was there like a faerie in the forest that she was inviting to come closer.
Shinji felt shocked by this, "That's amazing." He said with great awe, "How did you do that?"
Rei stared deep into the flame as it danced and she herself couldn't figure it out in any way, "I don't know."
It was within a matter of an hour and the morning sun had already come up over the mountains illuminating the plains with the hundreds of springs beyond that the Senshi along with Asuka and Misato woke up. They did it slowly one by one, and of course the last one to awaken was Usagi. It was funny how someone so energetic could sleep so much, then again that was Usagi summed up. Sometimes her life did seem to be like a dream, but she needed to wake up because of what Rei had discovered.
Seiya knelt down and shook her, "Usagi…Usagi."
Usagi stirred, "Just let me sleep a few more minutes' mom."
Seiya couldn't help but smile at this young girl at such innocence that she had, but it wasn't the time for such things. He shook her again, "Usagi, it's time to get up. We have to get going."
Usagi sat straight up as if she had been shocked into position, "I'm late for school!" She said but then looked around the cave and came back down from panic. "So, it wasn't a dream."
"I'm afraid not." Seiya said as he offered Usagi his hand to get back up to her feet.
As Usagi took Seiya's hand she was rubbing the sand out of her eyes but then clenched her stomach, "I'm hungry." She said very quietly.
"I know." Seiya said, "So am I."
"Everyone." Rei called out to the group, "I've discovered something."
"What is it, Rei?" Makoto asked with curiosity while still rubbing the sand out of her own eyes.
Rei held out her hand and with a flash of light, the flame appeared in her hand. Just like in that early morning hour that she had shared with Shinji, the flame had danced and flickered in Rei's hand is if it were the depths of a camp fire. In the glow of the fire in that dark cave, Rei could see the amazement of all the Senshi and the Evangelions. They were like children seeing a magician perform his tricks for their smiles and applause. It wasn't just holding it in her hand that Rei did, she also allowed the flame to dance from one hand to the other like a master juggler. Until at last the flame landed back in her hand and she closed it. Then opened it back up to show that she had extinguished the fire as well.
"Incredible." Misato said with surprised awe, "could you do that before?"
"No." Rei answered, "You see we could only manipulate our own elements when we are in our Senshi forms. It's only recently that I've been able to manipulate it without transforming."
"So, if I'm following your logic right." Ami postulated, "Then that means in coming to this place our powers have been increased to a certain extent."
"Exactly." Rei complied
As the discovery was going on, Minako clenched her hand to feel the warmed up metal of the ring that she had found the night before. She did find it but she wasn't about to show it off just yet. It wasn't that she was selfish (although she did act it a couple of times), it was more along the lines of the fact that she was concerned about this new development. The fact that Rei could manipulate fire without even being transformed into a Senshi, could this mean that the others have had this blessing? And what about the Evangelions, had they been given special powers too?
"At least with this," Rei pointed out to the others, "we have a way to start camp fires."
"Do you think the rest of us have a similar power?" Haruka asked
"I'm thinking so." Rei acknowledged, "But that is something that
will remain to be seen."
"This is a fascinating
discovery" Misato agreed, "But right now our top priority is to try to find
some kind of civilization."
"My previous scans found a small settlement to the East of here." Ami informed the Major
"Then let's get going."
"Why do we have to go now?" Usagi asked almost whining
"Because it's not going to do us any good by staying here" Misato stated as she, Shinji, and Asuka headed toward the mouth of the cave and down the slopes of the hill. The Senshi quickly saw their point and joined in their trek across the unknown land.
They had trekked for hours across the unknown land with the mountains that stretched ever onward to their left while there were the infinite springs to their right. Though the trip became even more arduous when they became thirsty from the long trip, but that wasn't the worst part of it all. Since neither the Senshi or the Evangelions carried any water, Usagi and Minako had the brilliant idea that they could drink from one of the countless springs that were all around them.
"Like the poem says," Usagi tried to quote to validate her point, "Water, water everywhere, so let's have a drink."
The two of them went to the edge of one of the springs, seeing the crystal clearness of it. They were both swimming in the idea of lapping all the water that they could drink and lavishing in the idea of swimming in them. They knelt to the side of the spring, their mouths open, dry, and ready to lap all of the water the spring had to give them in one gulp. Yet, before they could even come close to one inch of the waters surface they were yanked away from it and onto their backs.
They looked up to see that it was Rei.
"What'd you do that for?" Minako asked very testy about what had just happened
"I told you two not to drink from the springs!" Rei scolded them both like an angry mother.
"But we're so thirsty, Rei!" Usagi whined
"Listen to me," Rei refuted, "There's something very wrong with these springs, do not drink or go in them. Ever."
Of course, Usagi was never one to suffer quietly, but Minako on the other hand had just pouted quietly.
All of them continued onward towards the East, while the sun was beginning to slowly set behind him like a friend that had said good bye.
Misato stopped to look back at the setting sun, "It'll be dark soon," she announced to the others, "We should make camp."
With that, several members of the Senshi as well as the Eva pilots Shinji and Asuka went to look for stones to circle the fire and pieces of wood for it. Oddly enough, there were a few sparse trees that specked the places between the springs and some pieces of dead wood that were lying among the wild grass.
They had all brought the wood and stones back to the place that they had called their camp site and constructed the fire. It was only Rei who provided the actual flame for the wood to start with. They all had sat silently around the camp fire, each of them lost in their own thoughts about what's happened to them.
It may have seemed like they were thinking about it too much, but really, how would anyone else react to a similar situation? It wouldn't do any good to run around screaming, "What are we going to do?" Even though a few members of the Senshi felt like doing just that to let loose some of the internal tension.
"Ami." Misato called from across the camp fire
"Yes?" Ami answered
"How far away from the settlement are we?"
Ami pulled out her computer and looked at her readings with tired eyes, "I estimate that it's about three days away from here if we continue to travel on foot, but the likeness of finding some kind of transportation seems very minimal."
"Oh, I wish it were closer." Usagi moaned
"Now, now Usagi." Luna spoke up, "There's nothing we can do about it now except progress onward."
The cat Luna did survey the members of their odd fellowship and couldn't help but see the deep through look on the face of Shinji Ikari. She leapt down from Usagi's lap and walked over to Shinji who was looking deeply into the flames of the camp fire.
"What are you thinking of, Shinji?" She asked the Eva pilot
Shinji looked down at Luna, he was shocked the night before with the prospects of talking cats when she and Artimus spoke in the palaver that the Evangelions and the Senshi had. But Shinji had come to accept the bizarre things that were happening all around. After all, Misato had appeared to him when he thought that she was dead.
He spoke to the cat, "I don't know, but ever since I came here I've felt a presence."
"A presence?" Asuka asked, "What are you babbling about Third Child?"
"It's difficult…to explain." Shinji tried to grasp the words, "As if there's something or someone else here in this land that I've met before."
"It could just be déjà vu." Luna offered her rational council
"No." Shinji shook his head, "It feels much deeper than that. It feels like…"
"Shh!" Haruka interrupted Shinji's thoughts
All attention then shifted quickly to Haruka Tenou who had a very unusual look on her face. The only time that the other Senshi had seen that look on her face and in her eyes was when she was getting ready for a battle. Staring down and sizing up her opponent to see if they could stand up against her strength.
"What is it, Haruka?" Michiru asked
"Does anyone else hear that?" She asked as she cupped her hand to her ear to listen to what her ears were detecting above the roar and crackling of the camp fire. She heard it just after the fire started, at first it was only faint like hearing the engine of a high speed car that was coming closer and closer on a long stretch of road.
At first the sound was just a rustle, like the wind blowing through the grass on a cool summer's eve. Then it became repetitive, like the flapping of wings. Not extremely fast like the wings of a humming bird or a sparrow, it was more like something bigger as the seconds progressed and the sound came closer. It sounded like a thumping kind of sound when trying to spread a bed sheet over a bed, flapping it over the bed so that it would come down evenly upon the mattress. That's what the sound was like to Haruka's ears.
With the sound growing louder and louder, Haruka began to look up to the sky as well as upon the ground to find whatever it was that was coming closer. Her blood was pumping faster and harder than any vibrations of any race car that she had felt. She reached down into her suit pocket and pulled out her transformation pen as did the other Senshi, even the Starlights pulled out their transformation devices, their microphones.
All of the Senshi and Evangelion were taking after Haruka in that they were looking up to the sky and looking all directions with the low light of the setting sun coming closer and closer to night. Yet, they didn't see anything at all, but Haruka saw something.
It was toward the East that she saw something in the sky. It was a dot when her eyes had locked upon it like the targeting system in a fighter plane. It came closer and closer, and her eagle eyes were beginning to map out the shapes of whatever it was that was heading towards them. She gripped onto her transformation pen even tighter ready to speak the words that would transform her into Sailor Uranus. Though in the back of her mind she thought about something very apt, which was that if Rei could manipulate her element (fire) then could she manipulate the wind?
There was no time to think of such things since the sound was as loud as could be with its rustling flap-flap noise and the shape against the darkening night sky was something that Haruka, the rest of the Senshi, and the Evangelions were trying to grasp.
Some of them had heard stories about people seeing monsters in forests as well as upon lakes. The thing that was in the sky was just like one of those kinds of monsters. They couldn't see any detail because of the setting sun and the night sky against it, but it's outline was very distinct. It had a very long neck and a tail that stretched out behind it and upon either side of it were wings that were flapping up and down like those of a bat. Last of all underneath it there were things that they could only describe as claws. Seeing the outline of it, they were frozen in fear, all of them, even with the terrible experiences that most of them have had in facing horrible monsters. None of them were like that thing in the sky and just when they thought it couldn't get worse…it did.
The thing in the sky had moved it's neck and it was coming down at them.
"Get ready" Haruka said as she uttered her transformation command, "Uranus Planet Power!"
"Neptune Planet Power!"
On and on it went through all of the Senshi, Pluto, Saturn, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, Moon, and the Starlights, Fighter, Healer, and Maker. The Evangelions couldn't help but watch them all transform as they had heard them speak of it the night before. It was incredible to Shinji when he saw all of their clothes just evaporate off of their bodies while they were being replaced with new ones. Colored skirts, bows, gems, and tiaras for them all, but that wasn't the end of it.
The event that really amazed Shinji as well as Misato and Asuka were the Starlights. They watched when their clothes evaporated they could see their male forms. Their thin waists and slightly built torsos, but all of that changed when their gaunt and angular masculine features began to curve. Like a bent piece of wire being pulled into a curve, the boys that were named Seiya, Yaten, and Taiki were changing. Their chests growing larger and developing breasts and their hips becoming rounder, and even their faces were becoming tender and delicate. It didn't take too long for them to realize the obvious that they were becoming women.
The only thing that took their attention away from the gender changing boys was the monster that was coming down to the ground. The transformed Senshi and the Evangelions looked with the light of their campfire at what the monster was. There was no other word for it, and only one word for what it was. It was a dragon, an honest to God dragon.
It's long neck snaking across the grass like a snake, while its head was large horned, eyes that had slits in them like those of a lizard, and a mouth that opened to show rows upon rows of teeth like knives in some mechanical atrocity. Its great body scaled with thick places that could easily be used as shields if some one were to take one of them off and they worked their way down to its tail that was bladed like a medieval mace. The great skinned and leathery wings that were once spread out to show the faint signs of the bones that supported them were then folded up on either side of the dragon. Underneath each wing were things that the Senshi and Evangelions could only think of as bags. There were three on each side of the dragon, all of them were large, pouch-like, and most of all leathery, looking nothing like the scaly body of the dragon itself. Its claws were digging into the Earth when it landed but it then it stood upward like a dog going back onto its hind legs. Its forward claws off the ground like a bipedal animal. The leathery bags that it had upon itself fell to the ground in one large thump. Yet, the dragon never gave it any second thought; he did it as if he wanted to set it down in the first place.
The creature looked down upon the Senshi and oddly enough it was smiling down at them. Yet, it wasn't malicious; it was friendly like a man who was meeting someone that he had not seen in a long time.
"You've all come." The dragon spoke to them
The Senshi and Evangelions froze in place where they were, seeing a real live dragon was shocking enough, but to see and hear it speak to them directly, and in such a manner…it seemed too much to take in one day.
The dragon himself, his face seemed to take on an expression amongst the numerous scales that surrounded it. The expression seemed to show some concern, or perceiving something amongst his newly acquired friends.
"I apologize for coming to you in this form," He apologized in bowing his head, "hold on a moment." He stood up upon his hind legs and raised his arms to the sky and spread his wings and he changed. He changed in the same way that the three boys changed into their female forms. The numerous scales upon the dragons' body seemed to merge into one like ice cubes melting into one puddle. The scales all became one piece all over the dragons' body, while the tail and wings retracted into his body as if they were made of wax that were melting into his body. His neck growing shorter and shorter like a power antenna retracting back to its original position and the dragons' face that was once horned and had reptilian eyes was becoming human. The eyes were forming white corneas, black pupils within irises that had a dirty shade of blue to them and the horns growing thin and fine like hair that blossomed from his head, hair that was the shade of sand.
It was there right before the campfire that the Sailor Senshi and the Evangelion watched as a great winged dragon had transformed himself into a man. Not just any man, it was the very same man that Shinji Ikari had seen in his dream.
We will need people you, Shinji Ikari…You and all your friends.
"It's you." Shinji uttered as they saw that the man who was the dragon was very naked. He covered himself as he went to the large leather bags that were the size of small cars compared to him, the Senshi, and Evangelions. He reached into one and began to dress himself in clothes that seemed as if they were made out of animal hides. As soon as he got himself dressed he came back to the camp fire and addressed his new acquaintances more properly.
"My name is Draco the Beast Master." He introduced himself.
"Beast Master?" Asuka asked
"Yes, that's just what I said." Draco had said once again, "I've been looking for all of you."
"It was you who was in my dream, weren't you?" Shinji asked immediately demanding the answer from this strange man.
"Yes, I was." Draco answered, "How I did it is a little complicated, but I'm sure you'll have some questions that I can answer for you, but first things first. I'm sure you'll need some food and water, but I have one question for all of you."
"What's that?" Misato asked
"Did any of you go into the springs or drink from any of them?"
They all looked at each other for one moment, but then Rei stepped forward, "No, I told them not to, because it feels weird around here."
"Good." Draco exhaled as he grabbed his chest, "Because this place is the land of a Thousand Cursed Springs."
"Cursed?" Michiru asked, "How are they cursed?"
"Every spring here had someone or something drowned in it and so from that moment on, every spring is cursed that anyone who would fall into it would take the form of whatever drowned in it. I had a friend who traveled here once and he fell into one of the springs."
"What happened to him?" Minako asked inquisitively wanting to know what would have happened if she and Usagi had even dipped their hands in those springs.
"He came up as a young girl." Draco explained, "As it turned out, he fell into the Spring of Drowned Girl. He lived the rest of his life changing from his male form to his girl from just with hot and cold water."
Minako gasped, "How terrible."
"It was even harder for him to go swimming." Draco said as he turned around to go back to those car sized leather pouches. He rummaged through one of them like a man going through the trunk of his car and came back with bundles in his arms. He set them down by the edge of the fire and pulled out loafs of bread, pieces of uncooked sausage, and a metal grate that he placed over the fire and slapped the sausages onto the grate.
"I know that I'll have enough for everyone." Draco said as he pulled out a fork from his bundle and continued to cook the sausages.
"Alright, now we would like some answers." Haruka spoke up, "Who you are, what we are doing here, and how do we get back?"
Draco paused for a moment as he was tending to the meat on the fire.
"Star talking!" Haruka demanded
Draco smiled, "There's no need to get so wound up, besides I already told you who I was. Draco the Beast Master, Guard to the One True King of Mydar."
"So, this place is called Mydar?" Misato asked
"Yes it is." Draco answered and continued to explain everything. Little did they know that to the East as well as the west, two similar groups had the same explanation given to them, the land that was called Mydar, the people that came to the Ivory Tower in its center, taken their king for his talents, and how he spread his power into seven different objects. As well as why the Sailor Senshi and the Evangelions were brought to the lands of Mydar.
"So, what you're telling us" Misato restated, "Is that we're here to help you free your king from his captors. A group of people and creatures called The Obsessed. Is that right?"
"Yes." Draco answered, "I know it may seem hard to believe, but I'm sure all of you have felt something when you came here. It may be stronger for some of you but for others it may be very faint."
"He's right." Rei answered immediately. "I've felt it too."
"But you haven't answered my last question." Haruka restated, "How do we get back home?"
Draco nodded, "I see how anxious you are, well my master does have ways of getting all of you back home, but most of them lie within his tower, which is why we need to go there."
"So, how do we get there?" Ami asked
"We'll keep going East, we'll find a town in that direction." Draco returned his attention back to the meet on the grill. "Good, the meat is done."
He reached back into the bundle and took out a few plates, "I don't exactly have enough for everyone so you're going to have to share."
The dinner around the camp fire went rather oddly, especially since two or three people had to eat from one plate. Still, what was there to complain about? There was water, food, and information about what they need to do next. Then again, several of them were still unnerved by the fact that this man had changed himself from a dragon into a human. How could they tell that this man was either in his true form?
Shinji sat next to Draco to find this out, "Um…excuse me." He said very quietly.
"Yes?" Draco answered in a very kind voice as he continued to eat.
"How did you do that?"
"Do what?" Draco turned his eyes to Shinji which still seemed very much human.
"Change into a dragon?"
"Oh that." Draco recognized, "It's a little trick my master taught me. There is only one other person amongst us seven guards who can do that."
"Who's the other?"
"Her name is Callina." Draco smiled, "She can transform herself into the most beautiful unicorn you could set your eyes upon."
Only a few seconds later, Misato had to ask, "Wouldn't it be a little conspicuous going around looking like mythical creatures."
"Oh no." Draco shook his head, "Around here, they're pretty common. Dragons, Unicorns, Elves, and so on."
"Dragons?" Usagi asked with fear
"Yup." Draco answered, "They're all kinds here, Land Dragons, Sky Dragons, Sea Dragons, and Wyverns. But none of them come around here."
"Probably because they know of the cursed springs."
Draco shook his head, "Not really. They were told that."
"Told?" Makoto asked, "How can a dragon be told something like that?"
"It's a little family history of mine. My father once told me as a little boy that my great, great, great, great grandfather, Peter the Great had tamed the wild dragons and taught them to speak. Thus the dragons that exist in the wild do speak, but sometimes it takes a Beast Master like myself to speak dragon to them."
Shinji began to laugh.
It was something that Asuka and Misato had never heard from Shinji Ikari. This was a boy who was so morose and pathetic in all that time that they knew him that it almost made them wonder if he ever smiled in his entire life. So, it was rather disturbing to hear someone like him start to laugh that it begged the question.
"What's so funny, Third Child?" Asuka asked very snootily
"Draco, you really are a bag of surprises."
"Yes, that's what makes me a Beast Master." He explained as he finished his sausage, "I can speak all kinds of beast languages, Hawk, whale, horse, dragon, and the list goes on and on."
"I'm glad we did find someone to help us." Ami said, "Don't you think so?" She asked the rest of the Senshi but then she noticed something about Minako. She seemed rather occupied with what she was holding in her hand. At first Ami leaned over to see that Minako was hunched over and staring at whatever she had in her hand. The curiosity was too much as she got up and came over to her friend.
"Minako?" She called
Minako looked up and asked, "Yes?"
"I was just saying that it was a good thing we found someone to help us, don't you think?"
"Yes, yes." She said quickly as she went back to whatever it was she had in her hand as if it were the most precious thing in the world to her.
"What do you have there, Minako?"
"It's nothing." Minako said snappily as she closed her fist
"There's no need to hide." Ami said gently
Minako then opened up her hand and showed it to Ami, "It's a ring that I found in the cave last night."
Ami looked at it in Minako's Senshi gloved hand, "It's not exactly a ladies ring, is it?" She asked, "It looks more like a man's ring."
"A man's ring?" Draco asked as he got up from where he sat and came over to Minako and Ami who were all looking down at the ring with the others gathering around. Draco took one long look at it as if it was something that he had spent his whole life searching for.
"Where did you find it?" he asked
"In the case we stayed at last night." Minako answered diligently.
"May I have a closer look at it?" Draco asked
Hesitantly, Minako handed the ring over to Draco who then looked at it's golden simplicity, the band, and how simple it truly was. It looked so ordinary but Draco knew that there was more to the ring that what met the eye. With the ring in his hand he tossed it into the coals of the fire.
"What are you doing!?" Minako shouted at Draco
"Testing a hunch" He said as he brought about the fork he was using to cook the meat on the grill. He poked around in the coals, ash, and soot. He threaded the prong of his fork through the hole and brought it about out of the fire. He brought his hand close to it.
"Hold out your hand Minako." He said to the Senshi,
Minako looked at him oddly thinking that he was asking her to hold a hot piece of metal in her hand.
"Don't worry, it's quite cold." He said reassuring the girl as he allowed the ring to drop into her gloves hand.
To Minako's amazement, she felt no warmth at all from the ring. "You're right." She said
"But can you see anything on the band?" He asked her
"No." She shook her head, "Nothing…" She paused for a moment but then said, "Wait, there's something coming through."
Upon the band of the ring, Minako was starting to see something burning through it or burning from within it. She saw writing burning in bright orange letters on the band. Yet they were letters that she couldn't understand. Nothing like Japanese that she had ever seen, they were only lines and little circles both outside and inside the band itself.
"There's something written in a strange language on it." She reported to Draco
"It is an old language, one that only a few people can read, write, and speak; a language that my Master still uses to this day."
The other Senshi as well as the Evangelions gathered around Minako to catch a glimpse of what prize she had in her hands, seeing the burning glory that those letters had blazed across the golden surface of the ring.
"Well," Asuka asked, "What does it say?"
"In the common language it says I am from the One, I am bounded to the One, I am ruled by the One, and I shall return to the One."
"Alright." Misato asserted, "You're not telling us everything are you? What's this all about?"
As the campfire continued to burn brightly into the night, Draco had explained the purpose of the ring. He told them everything about how his master had taken a bulk of his power and split it into seven different items. That each item contains a special property. He and the other guards knew of them, which is why they went looking for them. He had told them that the ring was only one piece of their master.
"And so it needs to be taken back to him." Draco had finished
"That settles it then." Misato answered back, "We'll head to the Dark Tower and give back the ring.
The night went very quickly, the sausage and the bread did fill up everyone in the strange party. That's how it usually is, food helps make the nights go faster, especially being deprived of it for more than a day. In which case, for Usagi, seems like a week. But it was thanks to the sleeping bags and pillows that Draco had in his enormous dragon pouches that helped them stay warm, which helped them through the cold night.
It was only in the morning that Shinji Ikari was the first to wake up again. Then again, Shinji wasn't exactly a heavy sleeper, never was in the first place. Though to him, he felt more at ease in this place called Mydar. Despite how weird everything was all around him. He woke up smelling the fresh mist coming off of the cursed springs and feeling the sun upon his face. He got up from his sleeping bag and stretched.
He looked around and he found Draco, but what he was doing snapped him to being fully awake. Draco was undressing himself.
"What are you doing?" Shinji asked rubbing the sand out of his eyes.
Draco turned around to look at Shinji, "I'm going to transform back to Dragon form."
It was during that whole time that Draco was talking to Shinji that he never gave any second thought to cover himself up. Either it was because he was so secure about his own nudity that he didn't care about being like that in front of anyone. Or that he's done this so many times that he's not going to stop just because of some idea of modesty.
"Why?" Shinji asked
"Do you think you can lift these bags?" He thumbed over to the enormous leather bags behind him.
Shinji didn't have to answer since it was a rhetorical question. He only stood there and watched as Draco got down on all fours and the reverse of what happened last night had occurred. His neck and head elongated like a snake, both eyes became reptilian with those black slits in them, his skin became broken and scaly, a tail grew from his lower back, while wings grow from his shoulder blades, and he grew in size as his dragon appearance had completed itself.
In his dragon form, he got up onto his hind legs and threw the bags over his back like a kid slinging a backpack onto one shoulder. The bags rustled with whatever odds and ends that there were inside and the rustling had stirred the rest of the Senshi up from their sleep. Some of them bolted upright thinking that they were under attack by those Obsessed that Draco was talking about the night before. Then they saw Draco in his dragon form and most of them calmed down enough to hear the plan that Draco had in store.
"What I'll do is this." Draco started, "in my dragon form I know we can cover more miles."
"Are you suggesting we fly?" Usagi asked with the fear showing through in her voice and body language.
"As a matter of fact, yes." Draco answered back, "I'll need each of you to climb into the bags. That way none of you will have the danger of falling out….God forbid."
Of course the idea of flying in the dragon's saddlebags didn't exactly appeal to some of the Senshi or the Evangelions, but then again, what's to argue about? It's either ride in the bags or walk. The risk of riding in the bags did seem a little bit better than the alternative.
Following Draco's instructions, the Senshi and Evangelions each climbed into one of the four dragon saddlebags. Since there were nine Senshi, three Starlights, and the three Evangelions, it made it an even twelve. That meant four people per bag, while the cats Luna and Artimus climbed into the bag with Usagi and Minako hoping to God that they wouldn't be crushed. For Shinji, being the only man in the group, he already felt uncomfortable being in such a confined space with three other women.
The insides of the bags weren't so confining as that time that Shinji, Asuka, Misato, Kaji, Kenuske, and Suzahara were cramped into an elevator together so tightly that it was hard to move without touching someone. There was some space in those bags to roll around in, but it seemed a little inadvisable since they would be flying soon. As they had all climbed into the bags, they were waiting with great anticipation for the dragon to take flight. It was in the very same way that a person first steps onto a roller coaster, as the leathery flaps of the bags came down over them and they heard Draco's voice.
"Is everyone ready?" He asked
There were muffled replies all giving the go ahead with the plan.
Shinji already felt the fear clasp around him, his fingers griped into the tent material that he was sitting upon. He heard and felt the rustle outside as Draco had spread out his wings and they began to flap. At first it felt like a great wind gust against the leathery wall of the bag, but it quickly turned into a helicopter ride when the feeling of gravity had jumped up and down for those in the bag. Soon, the rustling outside became constant, like an engine roar of a car or the clan-clan of a train against the tracks.
"Everyone enjoying the ride so far?" Draco asked jokingly
Except no one from any of the four bags were laughing about it. In fact most of them were hanging on for dear life hoping that they don't get one glance downward (For one) or that the bags don't come loose and fall God knows how many miles to the ground. IT did feel like they were pretty high up from how chili it was getting and how thin the air had gotten, like breathing at high altitude. That was when the train of thought had to be stopped, thinking about altitude only led back to the fear of how high up they were. It was one of those things that were unavoidable to think about, like thinking about how long it'll be to the dentist appointment.
The journey had then become hypnotic for some of them, just like falling asleep on a long family trip. The parents up in the front looking out at the road making sure that they were going in the right direction, while the kids were asleep in the backseat from the constant nothingness outside, and the soothing rocking motion of the car.
The more accurate way to feel about it was that it was like being in an airplane. Though the cold air that came into the bags was a little much for some of them, especially for some of them who wore such revealing uniforms.
The grueling endurance didn't last very long as the Senshi and Evangelions inside the dragon saddlebags suddenly felt a drop, much in the same way when someone goes down from the top floor to the ground floor inside an elevator, that sudden shift in gravity. Of course none of them wanted to even look outside the flap of the bag. Even some of the more fearless of them had that small human twinge of it, but it wasn't long until they felt that upward thrust and knowing that they had landed.
"You can come out now." Draco said, "We're on the ground."
Slowly, the Senshi and the Evangelions threw themselves over the lip of the dragon saddlebags to see where it was that they landed. Of course, some of the fearful ones who wanted nothing more than to be on the ground (Such as Usagi and Minako) knelt down to the ground and kiss the grass and dirt thanking God that they're down safe.
Bringing themselves back to the situation at hand, the Senshi and Evangelions looked to Draco whom had not transformed back to his human form. He simply stood there on his four claws looking up. They looked and saw what it was he was looking at.
In front of them was an enormous wall of stone. It stretched northward and southward, God knows how many miles long it was. To their eyes it seemed as if it had rivaled the Great Wall of China itself. The wall itself stretched upward to an estimated distance as high as a small building. The kind that seemed to border upon a sky scraper and where they stood they saw that the point at the wall they were at was a castle. A castle embedded into the wall, like a watch tower, its turrets stretching further up from the wall and down at its base where they stood was the large wooden door that seemed as tall as the apartment building that Misato, Asuka, and Shinji had stayed in. A pair of doors so large that it seemed like an engineering marvel of medieval technology that it stayed the way that it was, with the iron braces stretching across them like branches of a tree with iron spikes holding it there.
The Senshi looked up to Draco
"Why didn't you transform?" Minako asked
"I know some people here." Draco explained, "I'd like to see if they're still here." He looked up at the castle of stone built into the wall and cleared his throat, "Hello…" No answer from the castle parapets, "HELLO!" His voice echoed
From behind the parapet came the head, arms, and torso of a man who was leaning over the wall. From the distance they could see, he was wearing armor, as well as gauntlets and a smooth shining bullet-like helmet.
"'ello! Who is it?" He asked. Already the Senshi and Evangelions could tell that he was foreign from the accent he had. It sounded very Latin based, but it was obvious to some of them. It was French.
"It is Draco the Beast Master!" Draco called, "I am friend with the guardian of this castle and wall, Carolinas the Green Wizard! Go and tell him that I have some friends who will help me in my endeavor."
"Well, I'll ask him, but I don't think he'll be very keen….because we've captured him you see?"
Draco paused to take in what he had just heard, "What?" He asked
"I think he said that they've captured your friend." Misato stated to the dragon
"Who are you and whom do you serve?" Draco demanded from the man on the parapet
The Frenchman was quick to respond to the question, "I serve my master, the leader of the Obsessed, Dark Eagle!"
"This is bad." Draco thought, "They've occupied Barret's Wall."
He then thought of something, "In that case, can we come in and see him?"
"Of course not!" The Frenchman declared, "You are Mydar types."
"Well what are you then?" Asuka shouted up the wall with that snooty attitude that she always had.
"I'm French! Why do you think I have this outrageous accent you silly girl!"
Draco's frustration could be clearly seen on his scaly face as he tried to think of a solution to this small problem. At last he decided to give an ultimatum, "If you won't let us in peacefully, we shall take over the castle and wall by force!"
"You don't frighten us, Mydar pig-dogs!" The Frenchman answered back, "Go and boil your bottoms sons and daughters of a silly person! I blow my nose at you Draco Beast Master, you and all your silly Mydar knnnnnniggggits!"
The Frenchman stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry at the Senshi, Evangelions, and Draco as he patted the top of his smooth silvery helmet. He even went as far as to stick his hands at his side as he blew his last raspberry at them.
"What a weird man." Asuka uttered
But Draco wasn't about to back down, "Now look…"
"I don't wanna talk to you no more you empty headed animal food trough whopper! I ffffffffffart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"
There was a pause amongst the crew, but the commanding Misato Katsuragi tried to use a little of her academy taught diplomacy.
"Is there someone else we could speak to?" She asked
"Ah no!" The Frenchman answered, "Now go away, or I shall taunt you a second time!"
"This is your last chance to come out without being burned!" Draco called up, but his warning fell upon deaf ears as the Frenchmen upon the parapet were concocting a plan of their own. As Draco was stating his ultimatum, the Frenchman who spoke with him had issued an order to the rest of his men. He spoke with two other men who were leaning against the parapet as he was speaking with Draco down upon the ground. He issued the order and the two of them went down into the stables and pulled out a cow.
"I just want to give you one last chance before…." Draco said before he heard a sound from within the castle.
FUNG!
It sounded much like a catapult being released, that the tension in the rope that was holding back it's payload had just been released. That whatever it had was coming right at them, and what that thing was became very clear as it came over the wall of the castle.
MOOOO!
The creature called out as it came down upon Draco's fellowship.
"Jesus Christ!" Draco shouted, but then he smirked, "Lunch."
The Senshi and the Evangelions ran for cover, some of them ran under the belly of Draco while others continued to run with the cow falling to the ground like a great stone. As it came tumbling down still mooing, Draco extended his neck and wrapped his dragon jaws around the body of the cow and within one gulp he swallowed it like a little piece of candy.
"Is that the best you can do?" Draco called up to the Frenchmen, but they said nothing in return. Perhaps they were just shocked as could be to see a dragon swallow up an entire cow in one clamp of its jaws in one gulp.
"Right!" Draco declared, "I'll free my friend in the same way I'll free the one true king of Mydar!
To be continued…