Yay! I'm back! Kind of you to leave a review, Dragon. Get the game, quick, before my spoilers corrupt you! –coughs-
Well, today all sorts of crap hits the fan! How will Raine react to the organoids? How will the organoids react to Raine? Will there be a catfight over Lloyd between a certain fangirl and a certain Chosen? Not to mention how Zelos is holding up with two girls beating on him now…
I own nothing but Emily and Cerberus. Flaming Dragon Thief owns Dragon and Storm, and her respective Zoids.
Get ready for Part Two-!
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The next morning dawned bright and sunny. Sunlight streaming in through the windows was the wakeup call for the two pilots from Zi, crammed into Lloyd's bedroom with the organoids. (That in itself was no mean feat, trying to cram two people and two organoids into that tiny little room.)
"Man, what time is it… Oh, good morning Dragon," Emily added, stretching and yawning before shoving some hair out of her face. "Sleep well?"
"As well as I could with Storm on my legs," Dragon mumbled, pushing away at the heavy furry blue lump that lay sprawled all over the lower half of the bed, twitching and whining as his tongue lolled out. Underneath the bed (with his tail spread all over the floor) Cerberus was doing his own version of purring as he slept, whiskers twitching occasionally.
"Hasn't Storm heard of sleeping on the floor?" Emily commented, running a brush (borrowed from Sheena) through her hair before pulling it back in the usual ponytail. Dragon groaned in reply, before giving Storm a last shove. Waking with a yelp, the wolf rolled off the bed to land with a THUMP on the floor.
Oww, Dragon… You're so violent in the morning... He whined, blinking sleepily.
"That's what you get for squishing me with your bulk," Dragon replied, taking the brush from Emily and cleaning it before going over her own hair with it. "I've told you time and time again to sleep on the floor, because the bed is no place for you…"
But Dragon, the floor is so hard! And uncomfortable, Storm continued his whining; until a long red tail came down on his head and shut him up.
Cease your whining, mutt! Honestly, you make it impossible to sleep, Cerberus growled, slinking out from under the bed and shaking his head to clear it of sleep. With the big red cat now out in the open, the room began to get very crowded, so the two pilots went down the stairs to see what was for breakfast. Storm followed, while Cerberus went out on the porch for his early morning grooming, nearly squishing Lloyd in the process (because he had nobly volunteered to sleep on the roof that night).
"Is' too early…wanna sleep more…" Lloyd mumbled, rolling over and pulling a blanket up further around his shoulders. Cerberus looked down and his whiskers curled with a quiet snort, before craning his neck to clean between his shoulders where the bear whacked him yesterday.
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"Morning' Dirk! What's for breakfast?" The two pilots chirped in unison, hopping down the stairs to the table. Zelos and Sheena were already there, as was Kratos. However, he took one look at Emily and jumped out the window to go hide behind Anna's grave.
Poor guy, Storm chuckled, tail gently waving. It's too early in the morning for somebody to be fangirling after him already.
"I'm not starting now," Emily muttered, shrinking away from the look Dragon was giving her. "The old guy's safe until I've had something to eat at least." There was a faint cry of "I'm not old!" from the backyard, which then dissolved everybody in the area into giggles.
"Poor Kratos still denies it. It's kinda funny," Sheena grinned, sitting down at the table and looking expectantly over at Dirk. The dwarf smiled, then reached over and set an enormous plate of pancakes on the table.
"Flapjacks, get em' while they're hot!" He proclaimed, and then the table was swarmed by hungry people. As everybody proceeded to dig in and slather their food with butter, syrup, and (in Dragon's case) steak sauce, Storm slunk around the table with giant puppy eyes and looking pitiful. He was rewarded with several pats, "cute pup"-ies, and lots of pancakes. That wolf sure knew how to get his breakfast.
After about fifteen minutes there were two very loud thumps from overhead, then a loud "OW!" and dust filtered in under the door. Growling, Cerberus stuck his head in through a side window for a moment, and then wires swarmed through the space to grab what was left on the giant plate of food and drag it all outside. During that little incident, everybody stopped chewing and blinked in surprise. "What the heck…was that?" Zelos asked after a moment, giving the window a cautious look.
"Cerberus gets antsy if he doesn't get fed," Emily replied, shaking her head. "Though I've told him not to steal food…"
Padding over to the window, Storm reached up and placed his paws on the sill before jumping out, despite Dragon's protests. "STORM! Don't jump though other people's windows!"
"And don't steal Cer's food, he'll eat you alive!" Emily added with an evil smirk. Sheena and Zelos looked at each other nervously, and then decided that it was time to go.
"Dirk, we're heading back home now. Tell Lloyd for us, will you?" Sheena asked, grabbing her pack and quickly checking through it to make sure that Zelos hadn't stolen anything.
"No need. Why are you guys leaving now?" Lloyd asked, opening the door and looking curiously at his friends. The two Tethe'allans exchanged another glance.
"Well, I've got to get back and oversee the moving of Mizuho," Sheena stated.
"Yep, and I've got to get back to the King. We have a few things to smooth over concerning territory," Zelos added, grabbing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. "Tell my cute hunnies I'll be back, though. Alright?"
"If you mean us, you can tell us yourself," came a highly familiar female voice from behind Lloyd. Outside, Cerberus stiffened and then literally clawed his way up the side of the house to hide on Lloyd's balcony. Storm whined, and then tried to make himself as small as possible against the ground.
"Professor!" Lloyd exclaimed, turning around to behold Raine Sage in her usual orange coat. With her was another former Chosen, and her brother. "Colette! Genis! What are you guys doing here?"
"A lot of the villagers in Iselia said they saw strange people and giant metal monsters appear out of the sky and head this way. Naturally, Raine assumed you'd been playing with the Eternal Sword again, so now here we are to knock some sense back into you," Genis explained, looking around. "So where are the monsters?"
"Hey, no namecalling just yet," Dragon said, poking her head out the door to observe the scene in the yard. "And Storm's no monster."
"Ooo, more people I haven't seen! Lemme see, lemme see!" Emily drooled, trying to look over Dragon's shoulder. "Oh wow, it's Genis! HIIIII GENIS!" The little half-elf stared back nervously at the mess in the doorway that was two sane people and a chittering fangirl.
"Umm…do I know you?"
"Nope! I'm one of those aliens Lloyd dragged here with the Eternal Sword! Hello!"
"Will you get off me, please?" Dragon muttered, shoving at her friend. "Down girl. DOWN."
"Okay, okay. Sheesh, what am I, Storm?" Emily grumbled, switching tactics and jumping on Lloyd instead, since he'd forgotten about her close proximity. "LLOYDIE!"
"OhmyGoddessGETHEROFF!" Lloyd gasped, trying to run. Sighing, Dragon grabbed Emily by the back of her shirt and yanked her off the teenage swordsman.
"I can tell, this is going to be a real pain…" She sighed, turning around to drag her friend inside the house and running smack into Zelos, who was still there with Sheena. Neither had been able to leave due to all the people blocking the door. Both tumbled backward (which lead to Emily's release, which lead to Lloyd running around the yard screaming in terror) and Dragon started to blush. A lot.
"Well, my wild beauty, it looks like you really have fallen for me!" Zelos grinned cheerfully, getting up and offering Dragon a hand. She stared at it for a moment like it was venomous, then took the offered hand and was hauled to her feet. Neither noticed Sheena bristling…
Meanwhile, while Emily was chasing Lloyd around the yard and Genis was trying to help, the Professor was looking very confused (a rarity) and Colette had discovered Storm trying to bury himself in the ground.
"Aww, look! A dog!" Colette chirped happily, patting Storm on the head and looking his light blue fur over. "I think I'll call you… Pinkie!"
PINKIE? What the hell? The wolf organoid howled, getting to his feet. You're freakin' COLORBLIND! My name is STORM, lady. S-T-O-R-M.
Colette blinked, uncertain as to what the little voice in her head yelling at her was. She had no idea that it was Storm and his telepathy. "Gee Pinkie, you sure got upset all of a sudden. What's wrong?" Storm blinked in amazement at her stupidity, then howled loudly and started chasing his tail.
The blur of blue fur got Raine's attention, and she stared at Storm with eyes wide. That was never good… "I didn't know Lloyd got another dog…" She muttered, walking over to observe Storm more closely. The blue wolf paused in his tail-chasing to note Raine coming ever closer, and whined at the fanatical look in her eyes.
Run Storm! Run for your life! Cerberus called from his safe perch on the roof. That's the mad Professor, Raine!
Oh, you've got to be kidding me, Storm barked, backing up and looking for an escape route. While he looked for a way out of this, Raine brought out her staff and tackled him.
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Dragon jumped in alarm as her organoid suddenly started squalling at the top of his artificial lungs.
AHHHH! DRAGON, HELLLP! GET HER OFF ME! GET HER OFF ME! HAHAHAHA STOP THAT TICKLES!
"Storm! What's wrong?" She yelled, dashing out of the house with Zelos and Sheena. The three skidded to a stop to witness the tangle of half-elf and organoid scrabbling around on the ground, one with a mix of excited yells and the other with pure panic.
"FASCINATING! I've never seen such a creature before!" Raine drooled, yanking Storm's mouth open and pulling out his tongue to examine it and peer down his throat. "It appears to be a dog, but made of metal! And what amazing fur! It looks real but is clearly of a different composition than the rest of the species! Oh, this is simply WONDERFUL!" Storm yowled and yanked his tongue back in before snapping his jaws together and locking them. Undeterred, Raine went back to running her fingers through his fur before flipping the organoid over and examining his belly.
ACK! CRAZY LADY! LEGGO OF ME! Storm yelped, thrashing around wildly. But it was too late, Raine had discovered the panels lining his chest and belly.
"AMAZING! I wonder what's in here…" Raine mused, cackling evilly as she pried open the panels to expose Storm's hollow interior, lined with wires. "OOOO! CIRCUITRY!"
Hey, wait, stopthat… NO! NO, THAT'S MY CORE- OW! Raine's fingers had brushed the large, slimy glowing orb suspended in the very back of Storm's chest, right near his shoulderblades, and the blue wolf wrenched in agony.
"Hey! DON'T TOUCH THAT!" Dragon cried, running forward and giving Raine a shove. The Professor stumbled, and Storm seized that chance to snap his paneling shut and shoot behind his owner, ears flat and eyes wide.
"What-my research subject! What was that for?" Raine snapped, regaining her balance and coming after Storm again. However, she was stopped by Dragon's straining to keep her from her distressed organoid.
"Stay…away…from Storm! …He's not…something…that can be messed with!" Dragon grunted, feeling her strength go. "Storm, get outta here!"
Howling in distress, the blue wolf jetted away to hide behind Noishe in his pen.
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"Well, that's something I've always wanted to see," Emily commented from the log bridge, holding Lloyd in place by the ribbons on his shirt. "Dragon vs. Raine, all over Storm…poor wolfie." It took her a moment to realize that instead of holding ribbons, she was holding pieces of rope and Lloyd was gone. "LLOYDIE! NO!"
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From up on the roof, Cerberus snorted over the railing and twitched his ears. Better lock the door, he advised a certain swordsman, who nodded eagerly from a window before piling his furniture up to form a barricade.
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With Lloyd gone, Emily trotted over to lend some moral support to Dragon, who was being berated by Raine for holding back advancements in learning.
"Such an organism is a wonderful, wonderful specimen and deserves to be studied further-"
"No!" Dragon snapped, blue eyes flashing. "You almost killed Storm! You touched his core!"
"His…core? So that was that luminescent orb!" Raine exclaimed, looking excited once again. "I must have another look! Here blue wolf thing!" Storm, being the sensible organoid that he was, stayed in hiding.
"Arrgh…what am I going to do?" Dragon muttered, clearly frustrated. Emily patted her on the back, a wicked grin on her face.
"Don't worry, I have a plan! One that will hopefully discourage her from trying to gut our organoids…"
"If you can pull that off, the world will hail you as a national hero," Sheena remarked, looking interested. Emily chuckled.
"Trust me, this is foolproof…"
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I can't believe I'm doing this… Cerberus grumbled to himself five minutes later. But after having Emily, Dragon, Sheena, Zelos, and Genis band together under the balcony and plead with him, there wasn't much the cat organoid could do except comply.
Twitching his tail one last time, Cerberus carefully put his front paws on the railing and then jumped down to the ground, landing in a poof of dust and quickly bringing up his tail blade to block a tackle from Raine, who was nearly foaming at the mouth. "DEAR GODDESS. ROBOT!" She squeaked, hair standing on end.
Back off if you want to live, Cerberus snarled, trying to sound threatening. He was a lot harder to overpower than Storm, being bigger and heavier, and his tail blade was laser-charged. Using the side of his tail, he flung the half-elf off and lunged forward, snapping his jaws shut inches in front of Raine. In retaliation, she whacked him over the head with her staff and then jumped on his neck, pulling on the red cat's ears.
Managing to put a bit of foam in his mouth, Cerberus brought up the tail blade and sliced at Raine, forcing her to jump off his neck and back to the ground. She looked a tad nervous now, he noted. Good, that meant the plan was working.
Raine took a breath and went in for another pounce; Cerberus growled and went on the defensive…
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"You know, I do believe your plan is working," Zelos mused from the roof of Noishe's pen. The six of them (Colette was there too) were crammed up there watching the ongoing fight, and rooting for the big red organoid all the way.
"Yep, sure is. Nothing like a half-ton angry robot cat to curb a bit of curiosity," Emily said, delighted. "Pass the popcorn please." Sheena passed over the bowl after taking a handful for herself.
"Now if only we can convince Storm that Raine will be harmless after this…" Dragon sighed, pouring more steak sauce on her popcorn.
"Don't worry, we'll help," Genis assured her, before whooping in delight. "C'MON RAINE! GET THAT OVERGROWN HAIRBALL!"
"Hey, whose side are you on?" Emily growled, throwing a popcorn kernel at the younger Sage. Genis swatted it away with a laugh.
"It's my brotherly duty to pretend to be on her side, y'know…"
"Oh, I do hope the Professor will be okay!" Colette whined, shaking her hands up and down. "That kitty looks mean!"
The other five just shook their heads. Colette clearly didn't get that Raine was in no real danger…
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Down below in the thick of the fight, it was becoming clear that Cerberus was going to be the winner. Raine was starting to slow down and become a bit more cautious of the big red organoid, leaving him to step the action up a bit.
"This time…YOU'RE MINE!" Raine squealed as she flung herself forward in another last-ditch effort to tackle and dissect Cerberus. Sitting down boredly, he grunted and brought the flat of his tail up to block. Raine latched onto it and immediately started trying to pry between the gaps in his armor as the cat organoid snorted in disgust.
You never give up, do you? Cerberus commented, slamming his tail down on the ground and pinning Raine under it. She gasped as her breath whooshed out, and her staff flew off to the side to clatter in the dirt. Up on Noishe's pen, six people held their breath.
"Oooo, he's got her now," Emily breathed, forgetting about the popcorn halfway to her mouth. Genis had his hands over his eyes and was peeking through his fingers.
"Is it over?"
"Nope, not yet," Zelos said, looking a bit nervous at the sight of Raine in danger. "Emily, you did tell him to go easy, right?"
"Yep, and this ain't easy. This is more like…" Emily shrugged. "Lackluster." She got several bugeyes in return. "What?"
"Woo, I had no idea. I'm never making him mad again," Dragon shivered, peering through a crack in the roof to look down at Noishe and Storm. The organoid and the protozoan had their heads stuck out the door with their tongues lolling, eyes wide.
YAY CERBERUS! Storm howled, tail wagging furiously. Noishe was unable to talk, but from the way he was barking it was clear he was saying much the same thing.
Raine scrabbled around to try and get free, but the heavy metal tail effectively pinned her to the ground. Cerberus turned his head to roll his eyes at his audience, before turning back to the mad professor. His lips curled up in a mock angry snarl, revealing sharp fangs as he shoved his snout close to Raine's face.
Let this be a lesson, he rumbled darkly. Leave the organoids alone.
"Y-y-yes," Raine stuttered, and Cerberus removed his tail, turning to trot back to his usual perch on the balcony.
The others saw Raine's sneak attack coming. "Hey, look out!" Sheena yelled as Raine pounced, never one to give up on a research subject. One of Cerberus' ears twitched, and then his tail came down again to swat the crazed half-elf into the ground.
I said to leave me alone, he growled, casting one large luminescent green eye in Raine's direction, before hopping up to his safe perch and going to sleep.
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"WOOT! CERBY! YOU DA BOMB!" Emily squealed, shooting off the dog pen's roof over onto the balcony to tackle her organoid around the neck and hug him. "The only organoid ever to take on the Mad Professor and win! Or at least come out of it in one piece…"
Oof, get off me. You're crushing my throat, Cerberus grunted, curling his lips in mute disgust as he shook his head back and forth slightly.
CERBERUS! MY HERO! Storm yapped, materializing next to the red cat and chewing on his tail. Cerberus growled warningly for a minute, and then laid his head down to let the hyper blue wolf gnaw his tail to death.
"Well, now THAT was a fight worthy of the Grand Tethe'alla Coliseum!" Zelos exclaimed, strolling up the steps with Sheena and Dragon to observe the tired Symphonian "hero." Genis and Colette had already hopped off the pen to go down and help Raine, who was looking a bit bushed and covered in dust. "Where's a newspaper reporter when you need 'em, 'Metallic red Thing takes on Crazed Half-elf and lives…'" Cerberus and Storm both looked up and gave ever-famous 'death glares' at the word 'thing', causing Zelos to squeak and hide behind Dragon.
"For the last time, they're not THINGS. They're ORGANOIDS," Dragon remarked somewhat caustically, before leaning down to yank her wolf organoid off Cerberus' mangled tail by the scruff. Storm whined pathetically, and then his ears perked and eyes narrowed with evil intent as he spied something through a window.
I spy with my little eye, something that is red… He snickered, fangs revealing in an malicious grin. Everybody stared at him.
"Well no duh, Cerberus is red…"
No, I mean something ELSE that's red…
Emily perked. "Storm, you tell me where he is and you'll get A1 for the rest of your life."
Inside Lloyd's room…
Lloyd growled as he eavesdropped, ear pressed to a hole in the wall. "If that mutt sells me out I'll throw him straight to Raine…" The Reuniter of the Worlds then proceeded to entertain homicidal thoughts.
Er, yeah. Back to the group…
Storm smiled cannily. Throw in some cheeseburgers and it's a deal, he woofed. Emily nodded rapidly as Dragon whacked her head on the wall. Cerberus was out cold, sleeping off his big fight with Raine. Zelos and Sheena looked…well…scared. Being in the presence of a fangirl often has that effect on people. Alrighty! Storm said, pointing with his paw at the window. He's in there.
The next few seconds were a blur of motion as Emily shot through the window, somehow managing to bypass the glass and furniture piled against it without breaking anything. For a moment there was silence, in which everybody piled around the window to look in, and then all hell broke loose with assorted yelps, evil cackles, and LOTS of furniture flying. Dragon squeaked and grabbed Zelos when a chair flew through the infamous window, shattering the glass and raining down wooden terror on Raine, Genis, and Colette below.
"Get AWAAAAAAAAY! Stalkeeer!" Lloyd shrieked, darting out the window over the people and organoids huddled below it. Pausing a moment on the balcony railing, the red-clad teen looked behind him and his eyes bugged as a blur of moving fangirl smacked into him and knocked them both off the edge.
Dragon and the others waited for a thump, but didn't get one. So after a moment passed they all looked over the railing to see Colette fluttering in the air, holding Lloyd (who was clinging to her for dear life) while Emily was still latched on. "Y'know, something tells me this is going to get really nasty…" Dragon muttered, still holding on to Zelos. That ended when Sheena pried them apart with a tiger growl, a card out. Evil ninja.
"Colette, please save me! Use your angel powers or something!" Lloyd begged, holding onto Colette with one hand and trying to shove Emily off with the other. The former Chosen of Sylvarant still looked a little confused, but undeniably pissed at the shameless glomping of her childhood friend.
Noticing the shadow in Colette's eyes and envisioning a Judgment attack raining down on Dirk's house, Emily gulped slightly. "Look Lloyd, I'll make a deal. You tell me where Kratty is, and the world goes back to normal, alright?" Lloyd looked shocked.
"You expect me to sell out my dad?"
"It's either that or I permanently superglue myself to you."
It didn't take long for Lloyd to blather out directions.
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Dragon yawned, bored, as she sat in a tree and looked out into the forest beyond. After Lloyd had directed her friend to his father's whereabouts, Emily had taken off like a rocket with Cerberus and now there seemed to be a lot of birds flying out of the trees. That was never a good thing.
On a higher branch, Storm also yawned and stretched, the tip of his tail just touching Dragon's head. The blue wolf organoid had decided trees were a good place to hide from Raine, and to take a nap. Oh look, he muttered sleepily, red eyes flickering, I do believe they're starting to uproot the forest now.
Glancing out into the woods Dragon saw a tall pine and then a couple of beeches go down, and then shrugged. "What else is new?" She asked the air, bored. The others had gone in, probably to pretend that the world was still normal and there weren't two aliens from Zi sleeping in a tree in the yard overlooking some grave.
"No idea, but Sheena's scaring the heck out of me!" Dragon shrieked and nearly fell out of the tree, grabbing onto the trunk for dear life and glaring at a certain red-head who was sitting adjacent on a branch. "Sheesh, I didn't scare you that much did I?"
"Dear Ra Zelos, haven't you ever heard of saying hello?" Dragon growled, slowly letting go of the trunk and managing to settle back down in her original spot. Above her, Storm growled softly and flicked his tail in warning, claws digging into the bark.
"Nope! Manners aren't my forte," Zelos grinned cheerfully, somehow managing to sit crosslegged on his branch without falling. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask about your ears…" Unconsciously, Dragon reached up to feel the slightly pointed tips of her ears.
"What about 'em?"
"Why are they pointed? Have you got elf in you? You don't seem like a half-elf…" Dragon blinked.
"What is a half-elf?"
"Someone who's half human and half elf. Like the Professor and Genis," Zelos explained calmly, keeping a wary eye on Storm all the while as the blue wolf was bristling.
"Oh… Well, sorry to disappoint, but I'm a full human," Dragon chuckled lightly, reaching up to pat Storm. "My ears are the result of an…accident…"
"Oh, well…" Zelos looked embarrassed. "Just curious…"
In perfect conjunction to interrupt this touching moment, there was a cry of "JUDGMENT" and then several extremely large beams of light exploded from the sky to rain down into the forest below. The three in the tree watched, remotely amused, as half the tree cover was incinerated in an instant, and a purple form flew into the front yard.
Dragon gaped at the sight of glittering cerulean blue wings fluttering on Kratos' back. "Those…those aren't real, are they?"
"Yep, sure are. Kratos is an a-" Zelos was interrupted by his own laughter as a red blur shot into the yard after said Seraphim, whacking into him and bowling him over. Rolling her eyes, Dragon watched the bundle of people and organoid separate on the ground, Cerberus stalking out of a large dust cloud to reveal Emily latched onto Kratos for dear life. She was also squealing loudly and trying to touch his wings.
"Off! Get off me! Dammit, what does it take to get rid of you!" Kratos snarled, wrestling with the rabid fangirl. Off from the sidelines, Cerberus snorted in disgust and pulled back in his little halfwings before padding off around the side of the house towards Noishe's pen, most likely to sleep.
"Wow, she survived a Judgment attack from Kratos," Zelos whistled appreciatively. "You people from Zi are indestructible."
"Like roaches," Dragon grinned evilly. Above her, Storm laughed mildly and flipped his tail.
Suddenly, there was a flash of purple and then Sheena crouched on a branch nearby, looking furious. "You! I challenge you to a duel! The winner gets...Zelos!" Sheena declared, going into her pointing pose and jabbing her finger at Dragon.
The challenge-e went saucer-eyed. "What? A duel? Over him? Heck, you can have him." Dragon replied, rolling her eyes. "But if you're so insistent..."
Careful Dragon. She's a ninja, Storm whined, ears flopping.
"Do I care? I've got you with me." Storm howled in terror as Dragon jumped out of the tree and dragged him into the combat zone by his tail.
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Five minutes later Dragon and Sheena stood facing each other in Lloyd's backyard, equal looks of evil upon their faces. Storm cowered behind Dragon's legs, ears flat and tail tucked between his legs. Coward.
The others were all crowded on the fence nearby, betting on who would win. (It was a strange sight to see the other organoid trying to balance on the thin wooden fence.) Zelos was tied up at the end of the yard, next to Lloyd's mother's grave, seeing as he was the prize. "C'mon Dragon! You can do it!" Emily yelled from her perch on Kratos' back. "Sheena sucks!"
"I do not!" The ninja in question hollered back.
Kratos was acting as overseer, to make sure nobody died or got...seriously injured. Hovering in air with Emily still latched on to him, he looked over the area and nodded to himself. "Ready...fight!"
Sheena charged forward with magic cards ready. Dragon gulped, ducked under Sheena's guard, and stuck out her leg as Storm yawned.
"Ack!" Sheena screeched as she tripped over Dragon's foot and fell face-forward into Storm's open mouth. His yelp muffled, Storm shook his head about wildly in attempts to spit out Sheena.
"Stopit, Storm!" Dragon ordered, recovering herself and looking victorious. "So, do I win or what?"
Kratos sighed, shoving at the clinging fangirl and smirking at the unusual circumstance. "Yes, you win..."
"Woohoo! Alright! I get Zelos!" Dragon cheered, waltzing down to the grave and glomping her prize. Storm finally spit Sheena out, and then went over to ask Cerberus on how to best hack a hairball. Speaking of Sheena, she shoved some slobber-drenched hair out of her face, growled, and then stalked inside to clean herself off.
"Very nice, my wild beauty! That's the fastest I've ever seen Sheena go down," Zelos remarked as he shrugged off the ropes and patted Dragon on the head, who blushed.
"I couldn't have done it without Storm…"
"And now, I say we celebrate!" Emily cheered from the air. "TACOS!"
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Later that evening, after a massive taco dinner by Dirk, everybody sat around outside on the grass with full stomachs. Emily was still clinging to Kratos like the world was going to end, while Dragon was laughing at Zelos' stories of the World Regeneration journey. The two organoids were curled in a heap, with Cerberus snarling a warning every time Raine got close.
"Well, I guess now it's time," Lloyd said suddenly, before standing and reaching for his swords. It took a moment for the two Zoidians to figure out what he was talking about.
"What? NOOOO!" Emily squealed, letting go of Kratos and jumping on Lloyd. In the ensuing tussle the Material Blades were knocked out of reach and went skittering across the grass.
"Ack! My swords!" Lloyd yelped as he scrambled to reach them, but Emily effectively pinned him down on the ground. "Oh no…Sheena!"
"Got 'em Lloyd!" The former assassin grinned, darting over and scooping up the Flamberge and Vorpal blades. Raising them above her head, there was a bright flash and then the two fused together to become the Eternal Sword. And above that hovered Origin, arms crossed and menacing as always.
/Pactmaker Sheena/ he greeted with a nod, /What is your wish/
"We've got some guests that've long overstayed their welcome," Sheena said, with a pointed glance over her shoulder at Dragon in particular. "So could you send them home? Like, now?"
/Certainly./
"But… What… No! I'll miss you Lloydie!" Emily squealed, giving him a tight hug before rushing over to Kratos and tackling him. "And you too Kratty! Call us back for a visit sometime!"
"Not if I can help it," Lloyd grimaced, running to Colette in hopes that she could relieve him of the massive mental trauma.
Dragon gave Zelos a goodbye hug, and then ran over to Storm and Cerberus. The big red cat dragged Emily off her intended victim, as well as creating long furrows in the grass, and threw her onto his back. Thus haphazardly arranged, the four were then surrounded by a flash of light and vanished.
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"No! NO! Lloydie! Kratty! Take me back!" Emily squealed as they reappeared in the hallway where they'd vanished. Dragon took a look around and shook her head, fighting off mild vertigo. Traveling through time and space will do that to you.
What time is it? Storm asked, walking over to the open door of the kitchen and nosing it. Cerberus dumped his owner, and padded behind the blue wolf to stick his head in and look.
10:45… But that's the time we left! He snarled in surprise, eyes going wide. Origin took us back to when we first disappeared!
"Gotta hand it to the guy…Spirit…thing, he's pretty accurate," Dragon chuckled, now over her vertigo and patting Emily consolingly on the shoulder as she sat on the floor and mourned her loss of two bishies. "Aww, cheer up Emily. Here, you can have this," she said, pulling a picture out of her pocket and showing it to her friend. Emily glanced at it, then squealed and started to drool like mad over it.
"Ohmigosh Dragon, where'd you get this?" She squeaked, hugging the picture. Dragon sweatdropped.
"Zelos gave it to me after dinner. He figured we'd like something to remember the event by," she explained, "And what's better than a group shot of everybody?"
Well, seeing as that's over… I do believe you were going to go and fix Riku and Leo when we left? Cerberus asked, practical as usual. That malingering Wolf tore them into pieces?
"Well, not exactly pieces Cerb," Dragon corrected, seeing as Emily was too busy fussing over the picture to say anything. "Just mangled legs and a lost Vulcan. C'mon Mrs. Team Mechanic," she sighed, reaching down to haul Emily up, then grab the picture and stuff it in her pocket. "You've got a job to do now."
"I don't know if I'll be able to concentrate," Emily sighed, wiping a tear from her eye and looking down the hall towards the hangar. The other three laughed in unison, as that was probably the funniest statement they'd heard since arriving.
"Oh, trust me, I think you can concentrate," Dragon assured her, steering Emily down the hallway as Cerberus and Storm clanked after.
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A/N: And thus, it ends. The angst –cries- But, this marks the first actual story-story I've completed on this account! Not a oneshot or novel, but story nonetheless x3 I'm so proud of myself.
And this makes one less thing to finish before school starts! W00t!
This is BLM, signing off. See ya'll sometime…