Author's note: For the disclaimer, see Chapter 1. Please, oh please, give a review. Or two. Or twenty. I don't care. Just review me. End of story.
Chapter 2
They went to Ulara to consult with Charle about why the Virages awakened. It was Kyra's idea. "Charle was of a good amount of assistance to the other Dragoons and invaluable to Rose during her 11,000 year plus life. Plus she told them about the first Dragoons and Melbu Frama, her brother." The others had agreed. Now, sitting in Charle's parlor, Kyra found she couldn't speak. The words just wouldn't come. Fanoc spoke for her. "Miss Charle, I am afraid that two Virages attacked from under Deningrad and have done it grievous damage but were defeated by Kerbris, whom you know, Kyra, the lady of our party and myself, Fanoc. Our other companion here, Jack, was not present. There is no apparent reason why these Virages awakened. We would like to know if you had an idea of why the attack occurred." Charle, for once, did not reply. Fanoc continued. "Please, Miss Frama, if you know anything, do tell us." "Well…" Fanoc gave her one of his rare incredible smiles and she blurted "It has to be my nephew Merli. He is the son of my brother Melbu. He was came by here yesterday to try and recruit some of the people here for his group. He wants to restore his father's honor and resurrect the Wingly Empire." Everyone-including Fanoc this time-was shocked. Jack found his voice. "Where did he go?" "There is a Wingly colony in the forest south of Deningrad. Most of them have moved to Neet, but a few are still left there. He said he was going there." Kerbris and Fanoc spoke in unison. "Let's go there." Kerbris had a question. "Can we fly there?" Kyra answered "You and Fanoc don't have enough endurance yet." "Endurance?" Fanoc wanted to know. Jack told him "In the beginning, you can only remain transformed for a short time because your mind and body are not used to the strain. In essence, being in Dragoon state is tiring if you're not used to it." The four left Ulara on foot.
They entered the Wingly village, Kyra in the lead. There seemed to be no one around. Kerbris remarked on this. "Where is everybody?" The others didn't know. Jack had an idea. "Why don't we split up and search for people." Everybody else thought this was a great idea.
Fanoc moved around in his assigned area, his experienced eyes scanning ever nook and cranny. His area was the very back of the village. His warrior sense was telling him something was wrong here. He came across a faded circle with designs in it and recognized it from his research. It was a Virage summoning circle. He began to run for the others.
Jacob noticed a similar circle in his area, the left. He studied it, not remembering the design. It came to him as the world seemed to explode in light.
Kyra was worried as she searched the front of the village. It was just too quiet. Waaaay too quiet. A few steps away she saw the ground light up in a circle. She drew her swords and began to transform as something stepped out.
Kerbris was confused. There really seemed to be nobody here. He stopped for a moment a scratched his head then he saw something familiar. It was the Dragoon transformation effect, but it was gold, not blue or green or white. The thought that there was another Dragoon here and as yet had not been seen, scared him. He tried to calm himself by thinking that he/she was just unsociable, but it didn't help. He transformed and got his saber up just in time to block the male Golden Dragoon's sword stroke. "Hey!" Kerbris said, "What are you doing?" Then there was no more time to talk as the man attacked furiously, slash after slash.
Fanoc stopped dead as he felt more than heard the igniting of the circle behind him. He whipped around and saw the Virage step out of its summoning circle. He drew his katana, transformed and flew up to dispatch it.
Jack stepped back and shook his head from the dazzling light coming from the circle. He backed up another few dozen steps as he realized what the circle actually was. He pulled out his lance and transformed. Jade energy writhed about him in tornado form as more jade energy inside the tornado coalesced into armor and wings. He split the jade energy tornado with his lance and it dissipated.
Kyra staggered from a spell from her Virage and slashed it again. She flew around it like a stinging insect, slashing away. Then she got an idea. She landed right on top of it and performed Lunar Storm. The explosion catapulted her through the air to a rough landing on one of the stone roads. She blacked out, her armor fading away.
Kerbris was franticly blocking the Golden Dragoon's attacks, looking for an offensive opening and finding none. Then it hit him. He flapped his wings and flew up and backwards. His opponent smiled, thinking he was running, and dashed up after Kerbris. Kerbris stopped and reversed direction abruptly catching his opponent by surprise. Astral Slash was performed. The Golden Dragoon hit the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, an expression of complete and total surprise on his face. Kerbris looked around for another opponent and finding nothing but the Virages his fellow Dragoons were fighting, landed. He turned off his Dragoon powers and sat down and rested. He barely even looked up when Kyra performed the Lunar Storm on her opponent.
Fanoc was growing irritated. The Virage he was fighting was not showing the effects of the horrible amount of damage he had inflicted. So he decided to throw caution to the winds and use his best attack as a samurai. He floated to an even position with the body and head of the Virage, and disappeared then reappeared behind it so that they were back to back. While he was not visible, Fanoc slashed the Virage more than a thousand times. He whipped around in a powerful diagonal slash that, while out of range, produced a wave of blue energy that sliced clean through the Virage, calling "Rao's Vengeance!" The Virage fell apart in to several pieces. Fanoc, exhausted of all energy, slammed into the ground. He transformed back to human after hitting the ground. He was not even semi-awake when Kyra performed Lunar Storm.
Jack had just finished destroying his Virage when Kyra performed Lunar Storm. He had driven his lance deep into the creature's head and then kicked the lance so that it popped out the other side. He then sent a powerful wind into the hole that was created, widening it until the Virage split in half. The pain from the steadily widening hole had paralyzed the Virage. Hearing the explosion, he glanced in its direction and saw Kyra flying like a rag doll. He flew over to where she landed at top speed. Midway, he spotted that her Virage was still alive. First things first, he thought and changed course for it. He saw that its head/body was holed like Swiss cheese. He sliced bigger all the small holes and sent in wind to finish the job by ripping the Virage apart. With that bit of business finished he flew over to Kyra.
Kerbris blinked. He saw his defeated opponent's armor fading away. The Golden Dragoon Spirit lay on the man's chest. Kerbris forced himself up and tottered over to when the former Dragoon lay. He picked up the Spirit and was contemplating it as he passed out.
Kyra woke up in a fluffy bed with a killer headache. She tried to sit up and instantly regretted it. The world grayed for a moment so she lay back down. Without moving her head, she looked around, seeing only Jack leaning against a wall, sleeping, with his spear beside him. Kyra smiled. 'Devoted, isn't he?' spoke her Dragoon mentor in her mind. Quiet, you, she replied. 'Just because I was an evil Wingly is no excuse for rudeness.' Blah, blah, blah. So much talk from a dead person. 'Politely blow it out your you-know-what, dearie.' Shuddup, I'm going back to sleep. Kyra slept.
Clang! Clang! Kerbris and Fanoc were practicing with each other. "You know," said Kerbris, "this is great. We should do it more often." Fanoc only nodded and sliced again. Later, when they were done, Fanoc went out in search of a good restaurant and Kerbris just walked around on the streets of Neet where the group had gone to rest up and take stock. Kerbris walked and walked. He became aware that the pouch on his waist had become warm. He kept the Red-Eye and Gold Dragoon Spirits in that pouch. He opened up the pouch and there was the Red-Eye, shining bright as can be. He began to worry that Deningrad was happening again, but the other Spirits were dark. He thought about it and realized what only one shining meant. Kerbris looked around trying to find the new owner of this spirit but with no luck. All he saw was the Wingly population of Neet. He held the spirit out and began to follow the path it made by growing brighter when going the right way and dimming when going the wrong way.
Ghenga, a broad brown-eyed tanned 7foot woman with short black hair tied in a ponytail, sat in the local tavern feeling bored. She started when a dark-haired man came in carrying a gem that was shining so brightly that it was almost blinding. "What the?" she said. The dark-haired man responded "This is yours. Take it." "What?" Ghenga was still clueless. The man pressed it into her palm. "Uh, there you go. Enjoy? I dunno." "Who are you?" "Kerbris. You?" "Ghenga." Two new voices spoke up in her mind. One identified itself immediately as Dart, but said that it would allow the other, who Dart called Zieg, to assist her. It then was quiet. The other voice told Ghenga all about what was going on in the space of five seconds. Ghenga suddenly knew that this was Kerbris standing in front of her and that something was wrong.
Fanoc knew something wasn't quite right. The wrongness danced at the periphery of his warrior sense, teasing that everything was fine when it wasn't. He gritted his teeth. What was going on?
Kyra woke again, headache gone, with her Dragoon mentor screaming at her. 'Get up, get up, get up!' Oh, what is it you old bat. 'Is that how you address your early warning system?' I was sleeping, you know. 'No time for sleep when evil's come to town.' What? What do you mean? 'Just that there's an evil wind blowing and you're dead in the path of it. I'd get out of the way, if I were you.' Fine, fine, you win. I'll get up and see what's the matter. Kyra got up, wincing from the now lessened headache and saw that Jack had slumped to the floor during his nap. She dressed quickly. 'Don't forget your weapons, dearie.' Yeah, yeah. She strapped on her sword belt and stepped outside.
Jack heard the door shut and awoke. His warrior sense screamed at him that something was wrong, very wrong indeed. He glanced over to the bed and was shocked to discover that Kyra was gone and she had gone armed. Jack got up and worked out the kinks, took his lance and was out the door.
Kerbris dashed outside, the new Red-Eye Dragoon hot on his heels. He looked up and saw a human figure dressed in some seriously strange armor fly by. It was green and black-Virage colors.
A few seconds later, Fanoc saw the same figure plow into a two-story building and explode straight up out of the ruins like something divine. Fanoc's ire grew. He drew his katana and transformed. He followed the figure through the air.
Kyra was further away than Fanoc when the building was leveled, but she drew her swords and transformed anyway. She followed Fanoc.
Jack had spotted a different figure flying in the same direction. As he watched its left arm formed into a barrel. Jack realized what it was doing too late. The blast carved a path down the center of a line of houses and shops. Jack transformed and flew up to attack.
Kerbris and Ghenga ran away from the tavern as it was destroyed by a third figure. The explosion flung them a few feet. Kerbris was dazed for a moment. "What in Soa's name is going on?" Ghenga wanted to know. Kerbris shook his head to clear it and replied "Vengeance." He drew his saber, transformed and flew toward the third figure, leaving a befuddled Ghenga behind.
Fanoc chased his figure through the sky, his wings looking more like jet boosters than actual wings. He noted than the figure had spotted his pursuit so Fanoc sped up.
Kyra landed, now knowing that she could never catch Fanoc, much less the guy he was chasing. "Nice try" spoke an upper-class voice from behind her. Kyra whirled around. The voice belonged to a Wingly gentleman, dressed as such. "Who are you?" hollered a frustrated Kyra. "Oh…, just your executioner." The Wingly transformed into the now familiar green and black armor. Kyra prepared for battle.
Jack brought his lance against his female opponent's yet again. He had tried to get past her defense, but so far was having no luck. She appeared to be as good as he was. And that was beyond good. In fact that was straight into the land of true greatness. It was such a pity he had to kill her. They broke from their fast lance fighting. His opponent called "What's the matter? Are you tired?" Jack didn't reply. Instead he generated a massive wind by aiming his open hand in his opponent's direction. She struggled to keep her place in the air. Next, Jack created a wind of the exact same speed from the exact opposite direction. His opponent was trapped in between powerful winds. Jack turned around and closed his fist, calling "Crusher Typhoon!" The two winds intensified, crushing his opponent to the thickness of a dime. Jack opened his hand and the winds ceased at once, dropping his flattened enemy to the ground below.
Kerbris clashed with the figure that was his opponent. He slipped left and felt his opponent's sword glance of his armor as his own saber skipped off the foe's armor. Both Kerbris and his opponent were completely surprised when there was a flash of red from below.
Fanoc had finally caught up to his foe and had begun fighting. The fight seesawed back and forth from one to the other with neither of them having a clear advantage. Fanoc snarled, in full battle frenzy, and tried a Tenken. His katana bounced off. He snarled again. They broke from fierce combat and Fanoc summoned a tsunami behind him. The tsunami rose over Fanoc and he merged into the middle of it, posed with his katana at his side in slashing position. The tsunami rushed at Fanoc's foe. The top of it froze into a massive blade that was razor-sharp. As it grew closer to the figure, more of the tsunami froze. The blade smashed into Fanoc's foe, splitting it in half as Fanoc himself called "Cleaving Tsunami!" from inside the attack.
Kyra retreated more under her "executioner's" furious double sworded attack. She fought back when she could, which was proving to be not often enough. So, she employed a dirty tactic—she kicked her opponent in the crotch. Unsurprisingly, he went down. Kyra backed off a few yards, and then performed Holy Tornado. Seeing that he had survived, she performed Lunar Storm. Her would be executioner lay in the middle of a ravaged circle, armor singed and dented. Kyra landed next to him. "MY executioner? I don't think so," she said. Following that statement, Kyra planted both of her swords in his head and neck.
Ghenga was on fire. She could tell that Kerbris couldn't believe his eyes. As he watched the fire solidified into the armor and wings of the Red-Eye Dragoon. Ghenga picked up her ax and flew up to join Kerbris.
Kerbris quickly regained his composure and struck at his opponent, but his saber actually bounced off. The left arm of the figure morphed into a barrel. It aimed it at the approaching Ghenga. Kerbris's eyes widened.
Ghenga saw the massive shot coming at her. She chopped it down the middle, shattering the blast into harmless small pieces. She then proceeded to bury her ax head in the top of the figure. That proved to be a mistake as the ax chopped something important and the figure's armor detonated, sending both Ghenga and Kerbris flying.
Kerbris smashed through a window and landed on the second floor of a house. He shook his head to clear it. He looked out of the gaping hole when the window had been and spotted Ghenga picking herself up from the ruins of the front of the tavern. He darted over to her and brought her along to meet the others.
When everyone was together and in human form, Kerbris spoke first. "Everyone, this is Ghenga, the new Red-Eye Dragoon." No one else spoke. "Come on, introduce yourselves." Fanoc was first. "I am Fanoc. It is good to have another Dragoon on the team. Welcome." Jack was next. "Well, I'm King Jacob of Serdio but around here I'm just Jack." Kyra was last. "The name's Kyra. Nice to meet you." Ghenga responded in her husky voice. "Thank you everyone. I am so happy to be a part of the group." Jack had an idea. "Let us go to Bale Castle in Serdio. The harvest festival is coming and I never miss it. It will be a good chance to relax and plan our next move." Everyone agreed.