Disclaimer: I do not own Star Ocean and Rurouni Kenshin techniques.
A/N: So far, the story has been a slight modification of the actual storyline, but I will try to add more original stuff soon!
Chapter 9: Duel in Peterny.
The group had just finished registering at the Inventor's Guild and was leaving the headquarters. Everyone was still murmuring about Shuyin's age, to which he was totally indifferent. They decided to grab something to eat at the town center. As they exited the west side of the town of Peterny and got to the center, a loud voice brought them to a sudden halt.
"SHUNY!" There was a blur as something crashed right into the red head's back.
"You're so mean! How could you leave without us?" Rena pouted.
"Sorry Shu, the moment she found out that you left, she came pelting over here." Drake said apologetically.
"...what is it now?" Shuyin asked.
"Aw... Come on! Did you forget? We never finished our fight back there!" Rena whined. Shuyin raised an eyebrow towards Drake.
"Heh, you know what she's like, stubborn beyond belief like some sort of demon ya kno-" He was cut off by Rena who whacked him across the head.
"OW!"
"Hmph, serves you right!"
"Fine, but what about you Drake? I don't think you're one to pass on a duel to your sister..." Shuyin asked.
"Bleh, I would love to fight you, but I had to CARRY this little beast all the way here from Aquios! Got no strength left." Drake muttered.
"Did she give you 'The Look' again?"
"...yeah."
"Sigh... Well, I have nothing to do anyway."
"Yay! Let's do this!" Rena said cheerfully.
Shuyin and Rena faced each other while everyone else backed off. Soon a crowd had gathered to watch the match. Shuyin held his lance vertically in front of him while Rena unsheathed her twin blades. The design of her two swords was identical, except the fact that there were different symbols inscribed in each blade. Each of the hilts also had some sort square extension on the bottom of it. They stood facing each other for a moment, Rena's face was gleaming with excitement, then they charged.
"I don't know about this fight, won't she get hurt?" Fayt asked his companions.
"Seriously, Shuyin is darn strong after all, does she even stand a chance?" Cliff added.
"Don't you worry about her. Sure, I doubt that she can best him, but Shu won't be able to beat her so easily." Drake replied calmly.
"How can you be so sure?" Maria asked him.
"Because," Drake said, "She used to be one of Greeton's Four Beasts, the Soaring Hawk."
"What! SHE is the Soaring Hawk!" Nel was stupefied. The others looked at them in confusion.
"The Soaring Hawk? Four Beasts? What's that?" Roger asked.
"The Four Beasts were Greeton's best warriors during the Invasion 14 years ago, don't you even know THAT you useless maggot?" Albel sneered at the little Menodix.
"Hey! Shut up!" Roger snapped back.
"The Four Beasts were warriors of incredible abilities who could match the Captains of the Airyglyph brigades and the Crimson Blade back in those days. I suppose one from that group can certainly hold their own against the Black Lance." Nel explained while the other two were locked in a battle of insults.
"Haha, it's a bit more than that. You see, Shu used to be one of us too." Drake clarified.
"Really? Wow, guess he really is strong, the best of Greeton... Wait a minute, did you say 'us'? Maria inquired.
"Yep. I was the Lashing Viper," Drake said proudly, "Shu there was called the Rising Dragon, and the other one, was called the Prowling Lupine".
"Fancy names." Cliff remarked.
"Hehe, I guess so. Anyways, it was said that only the other three Beasts and a few of the Aquaria and Airyglyph warriors, such as the Crimson Blades and the Captains of the Three Brigades could face him and survive."
"My father?" Albel and Nel said at the same time.
"Yeah, although now that Woltar and Adray are old, and the others are all dead, I guess only my sister and I stand a chance against him as of yet."
Meanwhile, the two warriors were engaged in a fierce fight. Shuyin dropped to the ground and sweeped at Rena's legs, but she leapt high into the air. As she fell down headfirst, she brought her twin blades in front of her and began to twirl very fast, which turned her into a miniature tornado as she came crashing down on top of Shuyin. He dodged quickly, and the spot he was standing on a split second ago had a small crater carved in it. Rena immediately moved into the offensive, slashing and stabbing at blinding speed. Shuyin held his ground, parrying the blows with his lance with equal swiftness. The two then jumped back in opposite directions, away from each other. Shuyin stood sideways so that his left side faced Rena and held his lance horizontally in his right hand, pointed straight at her, while he placed his left hand just below the blade of his lance. Maria recognized that stance from 7 years ago, on the Planet Telix. It had pierced the heart of Shuyin's foe back then. In response, Rena slid her left leg to the side while bending her right one, and raised both arms to the side.
Shuyin dashed towards Rena at an incredible speed, thrusting his lance towards her at the last second. But Rena had bent down even lower then leapt into the air once again, and this time she moved even quicker, which made her look like she was flying at high speed. As she landed behind Shuyin, he quickly spun around and slashed horizontally, which she blocked with her swords while her back was still facing him. She then flipped as she crossed her blades and landed behind Shuyin again. Upon landing, she swung both blades to the either side, which would've cleaved Shuyin in half if he hadn't leapt up into the air away from her. They continued to trade blows for a few minutes. Both panted slightly as the crowd cheered in amazement at their performance.
"Wow, she really is good." Fayt said, awestruck.
"You said it, he has the power to dispose an air dragon with ease, yet she can keep up with him quite easily." Nel agreed.
"Oh you haven't seen anything yet, because the real show begins now." Drake smirked.
Rena brought the end of the hilts of her blade together. The extensions in the bottom of them acted as a sort of latch, connecting the two swords into one single double-edged blade (Think Darth Maul from Star Wars). She then muttered something that caused one blade to glow red and the other blue. In the meanwhile, Shuyin discarded his cape and held his lance by his side with one hand, while raising the other hand right before his face. The two then charged at each other yet again.
"Molten Wave!" Rena swung the red blade at Shuyin, which caused a wall of flames to charge at him. Shuyin raised his free hand above his head.
"Aqua Sphere!" A huge blue ball of water appeared above him, and he hurled it at the wall of flames before him. The fire and water struck each other and dissipated.
The entire crowd, excluding Fayt's group and Drake, scattered after witnessing such powers.
Shuyin continued to run towards Rena and then struck with his lance.
"Dragon's Maw!" Three copies of the lance appeared, one slicing upwards, the other slicing downwards, and the third stabbing straight, which made it look like a jaw of some beast chomping (the stab was probably the equivalent of the tongue). Rena quickly jumped back away from the reach of the lance. She then spun her dual blade so fast that it appeared to be a round disk.
"Feather Fury!" She swung the spinning blade side to side continuously, sending multiple thin white bolts towards Shuyin.
"Granite Spire!" Shuyin placed a palm on the ground and huge pillars of rock rose up and took the blow instead. When the spires turned to rubble, Rena was already close to Shuyin. The two swung at each other again for a while, and then backed off.
"Whew, let's take a break now shall we?" Rena gasped as she disconnected her blades and sheathed them. Shuyin nodded and retrieved his cape. The rest of the group was rooted to the spot.
"Wha, what the heck was that!" Cliff exclaimed in surprise.
"Awesome!" said Roger.
"Hmm…" Drake scratched his chin as the Shuyin and Rena approached them.
"Weee! That was fun!" Rena squealed.
"Hey Shu, it seems like your skills got rather rusty." Drake commented. Shuyin simply shrugged as people began returning to the center. Amazingly, despite all the ruckus they caused, there were no damage to the town, except the pile of rubble in one corner. He then went towards one of the table and sat down.
"Rusty?" Fayt asked.
"Yeah. Normally, he wouldn't have had this much trouble with Rena. Either he was holding back or he hasn't trained properly for a while now."
"You mean he could've easily beaten her?" Cliff inquired.
"Well, not easily, but I'm surprised Rena gave him such a hard time." Drake shrugged.
"We can think about that some other time, let's have some food like we planned" Maria said as she went to join Shuyin. The others followed and ordered some food. Once everyone was done with their little supper, they headed back to the inn to get some rest.
The next day, they proceeded to the Mountains of Barr, where the Marquis was supposed to reside within a cave. Numerous dragons blocked their way, and by the time they reached a clearing, everyone was totally worn out. Suddenly, huge feral dragons swooped down and grabbed the entire group. Shuyin and the two former Four Beasts put up a fight, but seeing that the rest of the group had been ferried off (and Shuyin had a good idea where), he told the siblings to stop resisting and they too were carried away. Just as Shuyin suspected, they were dropped off at what appeared to a nest of little dragon younglings. They began charging up towards the summit, slashing apart anything that got in their way. Eventually they reached a cave, where they fought a Zombie Dragon, then retrieved a dragon's windpipe, which they forged into a special flute.
Afterwards, they finally reached the gates to the chamber in which the Marquis resided. Of course, getting there took quite a bit of work. They had to activate some strange floor panels in a dragon lab of sorts, fight through a fiery cave, meet Vanilla the rabbit, go back to the Airyglyph aqueducts, bring a special material back to the rabbit, who forged a Ring of Disintegration, a necessary item in removing the boulders barring their paths to the Marquis' chamber.
"Huff huff, we're… finally… here… dammit…" Cliff panted.
"What? Tired already, worm?" Albel said in a strained voice.
"Oh shut up Albel, you're falling apart as well" Cliff retorted.
"So, we're here at last…" Maria said, facing the huge twin doors. At that moment, a horde of fiends came charging at them.
"Great, what now?" Fayt said exasperatedly.
"We'll handle it, the rest of you move on ahead." Drake told them as he, Rena, and Shuyin turned to face the horde.
Fayt and the others nodded and entered the chamber, while the three Beasts began slaughtering the monsters.
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"…he has been located at last." A female voice spoke.
"About time too, he has managed to elude us for the past few months." A young male voice said.
"It is time, now that the ritual has been completed, we are ready to deal with him ourselves…" another male's voice, an older one, informed the others.
"There will be no escaping this time…" the younger male said.
"We must be cautious, if the darkness is unleashed, it would be problematic even for us."
"Let's worry about that when the time comes shall we?" The female suggested.
"Very well, let us go… to Elicoor II." The older male declared.
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"It's been a while, warrior." The Marquis, or Crosell, said to Shuyin.
"Indeen Crosell, though I never thought we'd meet again" He replied to the majestic air dragon.
While the Beasts were fending off the monsters of the Lava Cave, Fayt, Maria, and others had managed to somehow subdue the lord of air dragons. It appeared that Crosell and Shuyin were acquaintances, which further increased everyone's curiosity about the mysterious warrior. The fact that Crosell regarded Shuyin differently than he did with other humans was interesting as well. Drake had suggested that perhaps Shuyin's supposed experience in Dragon Lore has something to do with it. Crosell had given them permissin to ride on his back, and so they flew back to Aquios, where the Thunder Arrow was prepared.
"I know that this might be quite insulting to you Crosell, but please bear with it." Shuyin requested.
"I have agreed to it, and breaking one's word is despicable." Crosell replied.
The moment they landed in Aquios, the runologists of Aquaria immediately set to work on attaching the weapon to Crosell's back. Meanwhile, Shuyin and the others, including Mirage who had been helping with the Thunder Arrow's construction, gathered in one of the guest rooms. Drake and Rena, on the other hand, were observing the process of the weapon preparation outside.
"So... I guess the battle will start pretty soon." Nel broke the silence.
"Yeah." Maria said.
There was a moment of silence.
"Say... I've been wondering Shuyin, just how do you tie into all this? I mean, can you tell us what happened here 14 years ago with the war and all?" Fayt asked.
"Yeah, you seem to be quite involved in a lot of things here..." (Mirage)
"Even Ameena seemed to know you, remember what she said? 'I'm glad I saw you again Shu'. Right before she died." (Cliff)
Shuyin stiffened and didn't say anything.
"It's okay if you'd rather not talk about it." Maria said hastily, and everyone else nodded in agreement. After a few seconds, Shuyin sighed.
"Very well, I suppose I should clarify some things. I'll tell you about my life 14 years ago here in Elicoor II."