Disclaimer: I DO NOT own The Legend of Dragoon or any of the names or ideas from the game. I DO own the original characters in this story, which is practically everyone, and no one may use them or their likeness without my consent.
Chapter 1"Hey Boede, time to get up!"
"What the hell Annie, the sun isn't even up yet!"
In a pissy mood as always in the morning, the Lieutenant rearranged himself so he was sitting on the side of his bed. His short blond hair stood straight up, and you could hardly see his crystal blue eyes through his puffy, tired eyelids.
"What could be so important that you need to wake me at this hour?" asked Boede.
"As much as I love waking you up in the morning, I wouldn't have done it if it weren't important. A messenger just came from headquarters and they want you down there ready to leave town ASAP," said Annie impatiently.
Boede grimaced. "It's the bandits again isn't it?"
"I believe so" replied Annie.
"Why the hell do I have to take care of it? There are plenty of other capable soldiers who could take them down. Why me?" asked Boede.
"Call it a wild guess, but I think it's because, oh I don't know, the town is named after our family. We are the offspring of a legend, and the government is going to do whatever is necessary to see you become a high ranking officer as soon as possible. If you take care of this, you'll be one step closer to being their posterboy."
While Boede and Annie didn't necessarily think alike, by looking at them, you could easily tell they were twins. Both had blond hair, blue eyes, and were more than physically capable of taking care of themselves.
"I better get my things then" said Boede.
Boede went to his dresser and put on his usual undergarments. As much as he would have liked to dress casually, he would need to be in full body armor for his upcoming task. He then walked over to the wall next to his bed and picked up his weapon of choice.
His weapon of choice just so happened to be one that proved how physically capable he was. A four-foot long, one-foot wide blade now rested on his shoulder. One side was so razor sharp that if someone's hair were to blow into it, it would be severed. The other side was serrated so much that it looked like a saw.
Boede walked downstairs, apologized to Annie for being such a grouch, opened the front door and started towards headquarters.
Boede arrived at headquarters and was welcomed by his senior officer, Hamberg. Hamberg gave Boede the gist of the situation; the bandits were still running amuck in all of the neighboring towns.
The bandits had been doing this for nearly a year. They would go to Seball, Fletz, and Lashol and commit petty thieving. This normally wouldn't be much of a problem, except that when they stole, they did it at an alarming rate. In one day the band of thieves would be capable of 120 acts of theft in one city. Put all three cities together and that's 360 acts in one day.
"Have you discovered where their hideout is yet?" asked Boede.
"Our inside man has finally discovered the location. They have made their base in the massive bamboo forest twenty miles south of Fletz" replied Hamberg.
"Have someone get me my horse. I'll be leaving at once. Just let me go put on my armor" said Boede.
Boede walked downstairs into the armory and found his armor to be in its usual pristine condition. The armor was an emerald green with an emblem on the chest consisting of a shield underneath a crossing spear and sword. The shield looked like an upside down house and painted white to symbolize peace. The yellow spear and shield symbolized unity and the two founders of the newborn nation, his father Mel Seball and his father's friend Blake Forth. This country that had once been called Tiberoa was now called Forth, named after its founder. Boede's father had the honor of having the city of Donau renamed after him.
After assembling his armor, Boede walked outside and was seen off by Hamberg and any other soldier who was currently on duty at the headquarters. Boede then rode south out of town and towards the Bamboo Forest.
It was an easy ride, nothing Boede couldn't handle. The only hard part was his trek through The Barrens. The dry, arid wind was always bothersome, and the heat caused his armor to almost cook his body.
When Boede finally arrived at the Bamboo Forest, a man in armor exactly like his own greeted him.
"I take it you are the inside man Hamberg was telling me about?" asked Boede.
"Yes sir! I am Sergeant McKay sir. I have been busy infiltrating the bandits for the last five months sir," said the twenty-something year old man with bushy brown hair.
"How many of the bandits are currently guarding the base?" replied Boede.
"I counted five sir. The rest of them left early this morning for another massive set of thefts. If you want sir, I will dress back up so I can go report my rounds as inconclusive" stated McKay.
"That's a good idea. And when I come in to dispatch them you can help. Deal?" asked Boede.
"Deal!" said McKay enthusiastically.
McKay got dressed as a bandit again and headed back to the base to report his rounds. Boede got off his horse and silently trailed McKay to find the location of the base.
Five minutes after McKay had entered the base with four of the five bandits, Boede made his presence known by sneaking up behind the one bandit left outside on guard duty and cleaving him in two with his might sword.
The short but definite scream got the bandits inside on their feet just as Boede kicked open the door.
"You have been robbing the people of Forth blind for the last six months. What do you have to say for yourself?" asked a more than interested Boede.
Silence took hold of the room. Only interrupted by yet another scream. The man to the left of McKay now lay across the table with a mace stuck in the back of his head.
"Eddie? What the hell?" asked one of the frightened bandits.
"My name isn't Eddie, it's McKay. I am a sergeant in the Forth army who was sent to infiltrate your ranks in order to find your base. The crimes you have committed are unforgivable for too much has been stolen. You will now pay for your crimes with your lives."
Two quick swings from Boede, separated by one swing of a mace by McKay and it was over. Boede and McKay now stood over four dead bodies. While Boede did not necessarily agree with what had just taken place, the order he was given by Hamberg instructed him to neutralize the threat and that is exactly what he had just done.
As Boede and McKay walked out of the building congratulating one another, Boede became frozen from the next words out of McKay's mouth.
"One more step lieutenant and it will be your last", said McKay, with a sadistic grin coming across his face.
McKay continued, "Do you honestly think I would allow my band to be penetrated by a spy? I've been playing the Forth army for fools the whole time. It wasn't by band that you all were penetrating; it was you all that I was penetrating. How the hell do you think none of my men were captured in the last year? I knew where the army would be at all times."
"What the hell are you talking about? Do you know who you are talking to?" responded Boede harshly.
"I know exactly who I'm talking to," said McKay "I'm talking to a very promising soldier who, if captured would force the Forth government to finally turn an ear in our direction."
"Good luck capturing me," smirked Boede. He knew that McKay was no match for him physically.
Replied McKay, "You're correct in assuming that I am not as skilled as you as a warrior, but I have one thing you don't have. The element of surprise."
As those last words slipped from McKay's mouth, 100 bandits came down from their hiding place at the top of the bamboo trees. Four of the bandits came ten feet from each side of Boede, bent down and pulled.
The ground came up from underneath Boede and he fell…
Boede fell twenty feet and hit the ground hard. He wasn't knocked out, but he was in excruciating pain. Boede realized he must have broken every rib on his left side, the side he fell on.
Boede looked up in time to see the cover that had been pulled out from under him replaced. As the last ray of light left the pit he fell in, he saw the light make something stuck in the wall sparkle.
Boede crawled over to it in pitch darkness only to realize that the closer he got to it, the brighter the sparkle grew, to where it was no longer a sparkle but a source of light.
As Boede placed his hand on the new green light source, a voice entered his head. " You are the warrior the Jade Dragon has recognized as its new master. He grants you the power of controlling the element of wind. This newfound power can also grant you the power to escape this predicament you are currently in."
The only words able to come out of Boede's mouth were "What the hell?"
The voice continued, "You will find a spring to your right to heal your wounds. To put into perspective what I have said you need to hold the spirit upward in front of your chest. If you wish to find out more, head to Bale via Seles and find a man named Americ."
Boede still didn't know what was going on, but he thought he would try what the voice had suggested.
Boede crawled to his right side and found the stream. He drank a few handfuls of water and felt instantly relieved. The pain in his side was gone.
Boede then decided to hold the orb in front of his chest and as he did, a surge of power came across him. Boede all of a sudden found himself encased in a new, heavier, and what appeared to be impenetrable armor. His sword felt lighter and he had grown wings!
"So this is what the voice meant by having the power to get out of this predicament" thought Boede.
Flying was not hard at all and after a couple minutes of practice, Boede decided it was time to give the bandits a bit of a surprise. Boede flew up to the top of the pit and thrust his sword upwards at a speed he never before thought imaginable. The cover flew open with such force it looked like someone had thrown a stick of dynamite at it.
McKay turned around in time to see what could only be described as a green monster burst out of the pit. McKay couldn't believe what he was seeing. The monster was Boede, except Boede's armor had turned into a jade shell encompassing his body. Boede now had wings that had sprouted from his back, and as hard as it was to believe, Boede's sword looked more menacing now than it had not ten minutes ago. His sword was now gold instead of silver and the teeth on the serrated edge of the blade now consisted of tiny emeralds.
The bandits scattered, but it was all in vain. Boede glided back and forth from one end of the forest to the other swinging his sword from side to side, taking the life of a bandit with each swing. Boede purposefully left McKay for last, and after about five minutes the only two left standing were McKay and Boede.
McKay had decided he was not going to go down without a fight and had prepared himself for the fight of his life while Boede was dealing with his henchmen. McKay had kept on the armor he had acquired as a part of the Forth army, and had added a bassinet to his head to help prevent damage to his head. He was once again wielding his two maces, waiting for Boede to reappear. Then McKay looked around.
There was Boede hovering about three feet off the ground. It was now Boede's turn to do the threatening. "You have made a mockery of the Forth army and myself," said Boede, "and for that I'm afraid I will have to kill you. The public cannot know of this incident so I must make it so you never existed." As Boede raised his great sword to deliver the fatal blow, the voice entered his mind again.
"Boede, there is something else I must tell you…" started the voice.
McKay saw that Boede's head was facing down racked with confusion and figured that this was his only chance of getting the upper hand in the situation. McKay charged Boede with great speed, leapt up and prepared to strike both sides of Boede's head with his maces.
"By controlling the power of the wind, Boede, you now have access to powerful magic that can devastate your foes. Like this."
Boede all of a sudden had no control of his body except for his head; he looked up in time to see McKay swinging his maces towards his head. His voice let out the phrase, "Wing Blaster" all of a sudden and an aura of wind enveloped his body and sent the pouncing McKay crashing to the ground. Boede sent a powerful gust of wind in McKay's direction and held his sword above his head with both hands. The wind then formed around Boede in the shape of a bird and Boede flew towards McKay as fast as he could.
Boede sent McKay flying and ended up pinning his body against a tree with his sword. Boede took off McKay's bassinet and saw the life draining out of his eyes for the sword had actually sliced McKay in two when it pinned him against the tree. Boede unstuck his sword from the tree and felt his newfound power leaving him.
A green glow emanated from the same orb and all of a sudden Boede was back in his armor and his sword was back to normal as well. Boede decided it was time to report his 'findings' to Hamberg.
When Boede got back into Seball and to headquarters, he was greeted with a warm reception. Annie, Hamberg, and the rest of the soldiers at headquarters honored him with a victory dinner.
During dinner Hamberg asked where the inside man was. Boede told Hamberg that that was one of the things he needed to talk to him about in private. They waited until they finished eating, and Hamberg took Boede into his office.
"The thing with the inside man is this; we didn't have an inside man. The supposed inside man turned out to be the leader of the bandits, and in reality he had infiltrated us. When he told me of his actions, he dropped me into a pit as a hostage. It was there that I found this" explained Boede.
Boede held up the orb that was in his pocket and was transformed into the same green menace that he had been before.
"What is this?" asked a shocked Hamberg.
"I still don't know," said Boede," but this is what helped me get out of that pit and kill every last one of those bandits. When I found it, a voice entered my head and said that a Jade Dragon or something had chosen me as its new master. I don't know what that means, but it also told me if I want to find out more I should head to Bale via Seles. So I guess what I am saying is that I request your permission to go to Bale and find out what this is all about."
"Well if what you say is true about being able to dispatch that many men by yourself simply because of this, I think you owe it to yourself to find out what made you so powerful. You have my permission."
"Thank you, sir" said Boede.
Boede went back home, explained the story the exact same way to Annie, and even showed her what happened when he used the orb. Her answer was the same as Hamberg; she was just more reluctant to come to it. She didn't want to see her brother leave for who knows how long, but this was definitely something that needed answers. Boede thanked his sister for her understanding and packed for he would be leaving at sunrise the next morning.
"Next stop, Seles," thought Boede as he went to bed.
Author's Note: Please Read and Review. Any feedback is greatly appreciated even critical. It will just help me become a better writer. Thanks for reading.