A/N - Yeah, yeah, you're probably pretty tired of me updating this one. However, I just couldn't resist! I've been waiting to get to this chapter sooooo bad! I mean, it's the chapter where you-know-who dies and it's just so sad and heartbreaking and...and...ugh! I've been wanting to write this chapter sooooo bad since I started this fic and I couldn't hold it in anymore! So...yeah. Forgive me? *puppy dog eyes*
Anyways, hopefully you all enjoy this chapter. I worked really hard on it.
Chapter 7 - The Death of a Friend; Rebirth as the Jade Dragoon!
As they approached Hellena Prison along the rocky path, Naruto couldn't help but feel a pit of dread enter his stomach. For some reason he just couldn't shake it. It was as if he knew something terrible was going to happen very, very soon, but he just couldn't place why he was having this feeling. Doing his best to shake it off, he continued along, keeping pace with the others as they made their way towards the drawbridge.
Hinata and Shana, however, noticed Naruto's strange behavior and quickly approached him, halting the others in the group from continuing on. "Naruto-kun, w-what's wrong?" Hinata asked, clearly worried over him.
Naruto shook his head and grabbed at his chest. "I...I don't know. I've just got this really bad feeling that something terrible is going to happen if we go any farther than this, but I don't know why. Don't worry, I'll be fine. I just need to shake it off and I'll be good to go." he said, quickly shaking his head and smiling at everyone. "I'm good guys. Come on, we need to hurry up and save King Albert, right? So let's go!" he declared, trying to hurry everyone along.
Dart frowned at this and looked to Lavitz, seeing his friend looking back at him, the both of them clearly concerned now. Naruto's instincts were spot on and if he felt something bad was going to happen, they both knew to trust in him. "Let's be careful in here everyone. Naruto's right though, we should hurry. Onward!" Dart said, hurrying on ahead with everyone rushing off after him.
Once they arrived at the drawbridge, they saw that it was in the raised position, preventing them access to the interior of the prison. Frowning at this, Lavitz was about to ask what they should do when Naruto stepped forward and cracked his neck. "Alrighty then, looks like it's time for me to take care of things again. Stand back guys, I'll have this bridge down in a jiffy." he said with a grin on his face.
Dart and the rest of the group nodded and watched as Naruto leaped onto the raised drawbridge with one powerful jump before leaping down on the other side. A short time later the bridge lowered and they saw Naruto waving them across. Looking at him as they crossed over to him, they just had to ask, "What happened to the guards who were manning the drawbridge, Naruto?"
Naruto pointed the two of them out and motioned to their necks where two bloody lines could be seen drawn in their necks. Nodding in understanding, Hikari looked to Dart and explained. "We ninjas do things stealthily in both worlds I see. Impressive work Naruto." she said with a smile.
The blonde shinobi grinned at Hikari and rubbed under his nose. "Nah, it was nothing. C'mon, we've still got a long ways to go." he said before leading the way into the prison.
Top of Hellena Prison
At this same moment in time, on the top of Hellena Prison, we can see a big bear of a man named Fruegel standing over the worn down and tired form of King Albert. Albert was shirtless and on his knees while this beast of a man towered over him. This creature was the warden of Hellena Prison and his name was Fruegel. He was definitely more beast than man and he liked it that way.
Approaching King Albert, he looked down at him and smirked for a moment before he barked out in laughter. "Hee hee hee hee! It will be dawn soon! I am such a nice guy, aren't I? Letting you see the sun before you die!" When King Albert didn't respond to him, Fruegel waved his giant club around in the air threateningly and shouted, "Say something!"
Behind him, one of the Hellena wardens nervously fidgeted in his spot and stammered out, "Bu, but the order says leave him alive."
Fruegel turned around and turned his ferocious glare on the warden that dared to question him. "Shut up! When the sun rises, this guy will be mine from that moment!" Fruegel turned around to face Albert again at this point and grinned. "Say something, huh!? King!"
Albert simply remained stony-faced and looked at the ground before him, refusing to look Fruegel in the eyes or anywhere else on the man's body. Finally, he spoke a few simple words, but they were words that were sure to get under the head warden's skin. "I don't have a means with which to speak with vulgar men."
Fruegel snarled at this before walking up and thrashing his club around for a few seconds. After taking a breath to calm himself, he glared down at Albert and said, "And you will be killed by that "vulgar" man! Well at least you are not alone. Those guys from Bale will come after you soon!"
Albert's eyes widened at this and he looked up into Fruegel's eyes at this point, frantically looking for any sign that this man was lying. When it appeared that Fruegel was, indeed, telling the truth, Albert snarled and bit out, "How...how villainous! What about the promise to not hurt people!? I didn't know Doel had become so ruthless!"
Fruegel snickered and looked down into King Albert's eyes with a menacing gleam in his own. "We just want your "body"! I don't know the rest! Hee hee hee hee!" he laughed gleefully.
It was at this point that another Hellena warden rushed in in a state of panic and shouted out, "Intruders are here! They are coming this way headed by Lavitz and a man in red armor! They have some of those ninjas from the new world with them too!"
Albert's eyes widened again, this time in hope. "Lavitz!" he exclaimed. He was concerned for his friend, but at the same time he couldn't help but hold out hope that Lavitz and his friends would rescue him from this current predicament he found himself in.
Fruegel reached his free hand up and rubbed at his chin in thought. "The head of the knights and the red one! That's interesting. Even more, we have some of those ninja, you said? That's even more intriguing."
The pudgy warden turned and walked to the edge of the platform, staring out into the distance before he began to speak again. "They might be the saving stars for you, but you won't have a chance to see them." he said, speaking to King Albert. "Both the stars and you will be gone when the sun rises! Hee hee hee hee!" he laughed joyfully.
With Naruto & Company
Back down below, Naruto and his friends had just defeated a Hellena Warden and a Senior Warden and were now questioning them about the location of King Albert. Finally, this is what the Hellena Warden said, "You will never be able to get to the top floor alive. Gwa!" before finally passing on into the next life from his injuries. The Senior Warden quickly passed away soon after without saying a word.
With a shrug of her shoulders, Hinata looked around at the others and offered up a smile. "Well, at least we know where they're keeping King Albert now, right? That's a good thing!" she supplied helpfully.
Naruto chuckled a bit and nodded in agreement. "Agreed. Now, what do you say we get going?" he said. Once everyone had nodded in agreement, they hurried around the corner and rushed on, quickly dispatching another Hellena Warden and Senior Warden before making their way into the nearby room where Dart ran into a very familiar merchant.
The merchant looked at Dart and shouted out, "It's you again, making noise like that!?"
After a moment of pacing around and looking around frantically, the merchant walked up to Dart and whispered conspiratorially in his ear. "Call me again if you want something, okay?" and walked off to continue restocking the supplies of Hellena Prison.
Rose raised a curious eyebrow at this and looked to Dart. "Something you want to tell us, Dart?" she questioned curiously.
Dart chuckled nervously and rubbed at the back of his head. "The first time I infiltrated this place, he and I kind of bumped into each other. He allowed me to buy goods off of him when I needed some help. It's not free, but when you need some extra restoratives or something potent to help in battle, he's got some good stuff." he explained.
Hikari nodded her head in understanding and looked at the merchant appraisingly. "I see. If that's the case, perhaps we should make this room a safe haven of sorts and return to it should we ever need to peruse his wares? I'd rather we only have to visit him this once though. So let us buy what we can and be on our way, agreed?" Getting nods of agreement from everyone around, they each walked up to the merchant and began to take a look at what he had in stock.
After making sure they had a healthy stock of everything he had to offer, especially considering the cheap prices considering what half of the damn stuff back in Konoha-Lohan cost, the group continued on their way.
As they came to the end of the path, they saw the lift that would take them up to the next location and frowned. "Alright, it seems we'll have to go up in groups. Dart, you take Lavitz, Rose, Haschel, and Shana up with you. Hikari, Hinata, and I will come up next." he said as he pointed to a lever located just off to the side of the lift that would allow them to operate the lift.
Shana frowned at this and looked at Naruto worriedly. "But what if more wardens show up? You three will be on your own down here while we're being taken upstairs by the lift."
Hinata smiled kindly at Shana and shook her head. "Don't worry about us Shana-san. We're ninjas, we can handle ourselves just fine. Besides, we've already cleared out most of the opposition down here. If anyone does show up, we'll finish them off, I promise. And like Naruto-kun, I don't break my promises." she declared passionately.
When Shana looked about ready to protest some more, Rose grabbed her by the shoulder and dragged her into the lift. "They'll be fine. Let's go." was all she said before Naruto hit the lever to send the lift with Dart's group up to the floor above them.
Just as Shana had predicted would happen, a group of four Hellena Wardens and five Senior Wardens appeared a short while after the lift began to rise. Thankfully the others were out of sight by now, so Shana didn't have to see this, otherwise she'd probably have something to say about this.
Regardless, right now the three ninjas had a fight on their hands. Flipping through a quick set of hand seals, Naruto brought his hand up to his mouth and said, "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique." and unleashed a large fireball upon three of the Senior Wardens, incinerating them on the spot.
Hinata, on the other hand, quickly drew a few arrows and notched them, taking aim and, with the help of her active Byakugan, released them, hitting her foes directly through the heart each time. She wasn't about to aim anywhere else, lest they get the chance to rise up and attack again.
As for Hikari, she was dashing in and out of the enemy forces, cutting them down with lethally precise strikes of her kunai knives. By the time she was done, her foes didn't even know what had hit them as they collapsed dead to the ground either from their throats being slashed or a stab to the heart or some other vital area.
After waiting for a few more moments for anymore enemies to show up, the trio soon heard the sound of the lift coming back down and looked behind them to see Rose standing there in the lift, looking at the three of them with an amused look on her face. "I see you three have been busy. I offered to come back down here to see if you needed any help. Shana was going to come herself...actually, she seemed quite insistent on it," she said, sending a pointed look at Naruto, which he only blinked dumbly at, much to her annoyance, "but I decided to come instead. It looks like you had everything handled just fine though. Hinata, collect your arrows and let's go."
Hinata nodded and quickly retrieved her arrows from the dead bodies, using their clothes to clean the arrowheads to the best of her ability before she rushed back to the lift and hopping in with the others. Once they were inside, Naruto ordered his Shadow Clone to flip the lever and they were off.
As soon as they reached the floor above and were safe and sound with the rest of their group, Shana was quick to ask, "So you three are okay? Nothing happened?"
Rose sighed and shook her head in exasperation. "Naruto, you might as well just come out and tell her the truth."
Naruto shot Rose a betrayed expression before he sighed and looked at Shana tiredly. "The three of us are fine Shana-chan. We were attacked, but we handled it just fine. Yeah, there were a bunch of 'em this time, but it was nothing we couldn't handle. See? We're fine. No harm done to any of us. I told you that you could trust us." he said with a grin.
Shana looked the three of them over carefully before hugging Naruto tight. "I'm glad you're all okay. I don't like the idea of us splitting up like that, especially in such a dangerous place like this. I don't want to have to do that again. I understand that there are likely times where we'll have to, but I don't have to like it!" she shouted out, clearly upset by what had just happened.
Frowning at this, Naruto hugged Shana close and gently patted her back. "It's okay Shana-chan. If we have to do this again, we'll try to split the groups up differently each time we have to, okay? That way we don't wear anyone out by having to fight too often y'know? We'll play it safe and we'll all be extra careful."
Shana leaned back and looked into the fourteen year-old's eyes and nodded once. "Alright Naruto. I'll trust you." she said before she stepped back and took hold of Dart's hand. "Now, let's get going! We have a king to save, right?" and with that, they were off again.
Thankfully, this next area seemed to be nothing but a tangle of lifts, doorways, ladders, ropes, and ledges that all led to varying kinds of treasures, so the group agreed to let the ninjas handle running around collecting everything since it would be easier for them to figure everything out than for the rest to run around doing it all themselves.
When it was finally time to move on, they ascended in the same lift they used to get up here in the first place to the next floor, thanking their lucky stars that this floor was, at least, safe to be on. Surely the next one wouldn't be such a safe floor to maneuver.
Now that they were on this upper floor, they collected the Healing Potion from the chest nearby and moved into the next room as cautiously as they could. As they moved into the center of the room, they were suddenly blindsided by a hidden warden and knocked into the center of the room onto a large grate. The ninjas immediately got a bad feeling and were prepared to act at a moment's notice, but they didn't want to risk their friends and so stayed put, waiting to hear what would be said.
One of the wardens on a walkway up above began to speak to them. "Thank you for coming all the way here!"
Lavitz cursed quietly to himself as he looked around at all the enemies before speaking up. "An ambush, huh?" Swinging his lance around, he looked around at all of them before focusing on the speaker once again. "Take us to King Albert or it'll be your last breath!"
The warden made a small wave of his hand and nodded a couple of times as he said, "Hmm. Brave, brave." Then he brandished his spear and pointed it downwards at Lavitz and company. "You still don't know who you are and where you are."
Dart turned to face the Hellena warden at this point and shouted at him. "I don't want to have a needless battle! Shut up and get out of our way!"
At this point, the Hellena warden walked across the walkway to a nearby switch, putting the three ninjas on high alert, and said, "We know how strong you are. But it doesn't make any difference because you are still just feed!" and flipped the switch, causing the grate underneath the party to swing open.
The three ninjas, sensing the trap about to be sprung, had immediately leapt to safety, each of them taking out one of the Hellena Wardens upon landing. However, when they heard Dart shout out, "Shoot!", they turned and saw that their five friends had plummeted down below into the depths while the Hellena Warden up above laughed hysterically at what he had just done.
Scowling at this, Naruto leapt up onto the walkway and quickly dispatched the Hellena Wardens rushing at him to try and stop him. Hinata and Hikari were killing the Wardens down below and elsewhere in the room, which left him with the bastard that dared to hurt his friends.
Reaching him, Naruto ducked under his sloppy spear attack, reached up, and kicked the man under his chin, rattling his teeth and causing him to go reeling back in dizziness. Attempting a thrust this time with his spear, Naruto dodged to the side before catching the spear against himself and breaking the spear in half and ripping both halves out of the Warden's hands and throwing them away.
Now, with the Warden disarmed, Naruto gripped him by the neck and slammed him to the floor hard. "You're going to tell me exactly what you just did. What do you mean by 'feed'? What's down there?! Speak!"
The Hellena Warden was scared shitless at this point and quickly shouted out, "T-The Jiango! It's a fierce beast that we feed our prisoners too if they get too unruly or...or…"
Naruto snarled out, "Or what?"
"Or if Lord Fruegel is feeling especially cruel! He doesn't need a reason, he'll just throw you in with Jiango if he feels like it!" he exclaimed fearfully.
Naruto sighed and shook his head. "This Fruegel guy sounds like a real bastard. And you willingly work for such a man? Scratch that question, you're a bastard yourself." Naruto said before he took out a kunai and imbedded it in the man's eye, stabbing it all the way through into the man's brain, killing him instantly.
Sighing to himself, Naruto looked down at the grate as Hinata and Hikari joined him where he was at and just hoped that the others down below would be alright.
With Dart & Company
Dart groaned a bit as he rose to his feet. Looking around at everyone, he quickly noticed that the three ninjas of their group weren't around. Still, he decided to ask, "Everybody alright!?" as he rushed over to Shana to check on her first.
Shana smiled and brushed herself off. "I'm fine."
Lavitz smiled and looked himself over before looking back at Dart. "This is not even a problem."
Haschel frowned at this point and looked up above. "It would seem our ninja allies did not fall with us. Do you think they're alright up there?"
Rose chuckled at this and shook her head. "I'm more worried for our enemies than I am for them. Knowing Naruto the way I do, I'd imagine he's pretty pissed right now."
Dart chuckled and nodded his head. "I would imagine so. If anything, they've probably routed the enemy up above and are simply waiting for us to join them."
Haschel nodded his head in understanding before sighing and shaking his head. "Sandora is such a coward. Making a trap like that without fighting…."
Rose shrugged her shoulders. "Well, it is one way to fight. It's our own fault for being trapped." she said simply.
Haschel chuckled and replied with, "You are harsh."
At this point, everyone broke off to look around for any signs of a way out or to find out what that blasted growling noise was. Dart first walked over to Lavitz to check on how he was doing.
Lavitz sighed and shook his head angrily. "We have to go save King Albert as soon as possible!" he exclaimed in frustration.
When Dart spoke to Rose next, she said, "I feel something is wrong." This didn't help Dart's nerves any and he couldn't help but feel a slight shiver go down his spine. He had a bad feeling as well and was definitely not liking that damned sound!
Haschel wasn't saying anything, so Dart went to speak with Shana instead. She was standing in front of the rock wall staring at it funnily. "I feel a draft from the gap." she said, pointing to the gap between the rocks in the wall.
Walking around in front of Shana, Dart began to examine the space between the rocks curiously. "It's true. The draft is coming from here!" he exclaimed excitedly.
Lavitz ran over at this point and shouted out, "Then, if we move the rock, there should be a way out!"
Haschel frowned and shook his head before turning to face an oncoming threat. "It seems we have to welcome unwanted guests before that."
Rose chuckled mirthlessly at that and rushed forward, drawing her Demon's Stiletto in the process. "Well, we are supposed to be feed. We have everything we need."
Dart and the others rushed forward with weapons drawn. "It's coming!" Dart exclaimed.
When Dart got a look at the beast, he recognized him easily. "This is Jiango! If we put him to sleep, we can beat him easily!" he explained, quickly reaching into his pouch to pull out the Sachet he had found just moments ago. Throwing it at the beast, he watched as it fell asleep. As soon as that was done, he looked to the others and they immediately got to work on felling the mighty creature.
Those that could quickly activated their Dragoon transformations, these being Dart, Rose, and Lavitz. Shana was waiting to transform in case she was needed for healing later if the beast woke up before they could kill it. Dart immediately used his Final Burst spell, inflicting a great amount of damage on it, while Lavitz used a full-burst D-Addition on it before, unfortunately, he was forced to revert back to normal, as he could only maintain his transformation for one attack or spell. Rose, meanwhile, stayed back for a short while, allowing the two of them to unleash everything they had on it.
When the beast finally started to come around, Rose moved in for the attack, unleashing two full D-Additions upon it before her time was up. Dart, in a last ditch effort to finish it off before it could finish waking up, used up the last of his magic to unleash two Flameshot spells and, when they connected, he breathed out a sigh of relief as he watched the beast disintegrate into ashes, right as he reverted out of his Dragoon transformation. It would be a short while before they would be able to transform into Dragoons again, but this was definitely worth the effort. Or at least they hoped it was.
After taking a moment to just breathe and settle themselves, Lavitz looked around at everyone before settling his eyes on Dart and chuckled for a moment. Then, "We made it!" he exclaimed.
Dart nodded and said, "There is no enemy in front of us!"
Lavitz nodded in agreement. "Yeah!"
Haschel stretched out his back and took a glance over at where the rock wall was that had been blocking their way, only to see it gone. With a chuckle, he spoke up. "Look at that! The monster fell and the rock collapsed!"
Everyone looked at each other and nodded as one. Lavitz said, "Let's go!" and they all began to run off towards the stairs. However, Shana lagged behind, and Haschel noticed this. So, remaining behind as well, Haschel turned to her and asked,
"Shana, is something wrong?"
Shana sighed and frowned at Haschel. "Men can have a great friendship."
Haschel smiled softly at her and nodded his head in understanding. "It's about Dart and Lavitz, isn't it?"
Shana sighed again and nodded her head slowly. "They understand each other without a word. Man and woman cannot be like that. I envy them a little bit." she admitted shamefully.
Haschel frowned at this and looked sternly at her. "What about with Dart?" he asked.
Shana frowned again and shook her head. "I...still don't know yet. He seems to have been thinking about me as his "sister"."
Before Haschel could say anything in reply and before Shana could say anything more on the subject, Dart came rushing back down the stairs and shouted out, "Shana! Is anything wrong!?"
Shana quickly shouted out, "No! Nothing! I'm coming!" and hurried off after them with Haschel bringing up the rear.
As he followed them, Haschel couldn't help but sigh to himself and watch the two younger folk ahead of him with a frown. Dart, if you don't pull your head out of your ass soon and see her for what she's worth to you before it's too late, you're going to lose her. You're pushing her right into the arms of Naruto and I won't blame her one bit for it if she does fall for him instead of you. You don't realize how much you're hurting her with your actions and words. He thought to himself in disappointment for his friend.
As the group ascended, they had to fight their way through a few more Hellena Wardens and Senior Wardens, but eventually, after collecting another Healing Potion, they reached the room where the trap had first been sprung. Once there, they looked around and saw no signs of their ninja friends. Instead, they saw three Hellena Wardens blocking their path.
Preparing for a fight, the group was not expecting for the group of three to suddenly fall over dead to the ground mere seconds later with kunai sticking out of the backs of their skulls. Appearing in front of them was Hikari, who simply smiled at them and put a finger to her mouth in a signal for them to be silent. "It took you five long enough to get here. Naruto and Hinata went on ahead to scout the rest of the place out and see what our opposition looks like. They should be back any second." she explained for them.
True to her word, Naruto and Hinata appeared a few scant minutes later and looked at everyone, happy to see they were all okay. "Damn, are you guys okay? That sure took you guys a while. What happened down there?" Naruto asked them.
Dart shook his head and laughed a bit. "Nothing that we couldn't handle. How did you fare up here? Any trouble?"
Naruto smirked and looked around the room they were in. "Well, all those men that ambushed us were dealt with easily enough. We kind of had to stash the bodies though so nobody would get suspicious if they came wandering through here. That part was a bit unpleasant. I'd rather not have to do something like that again, thank you very much." he grumbled out.
Hinata decided to interrupt at this point. "Anyways…" she said, giggling a bit afterwards. "As Hikari-san no doubt told you, we scouted things out up ahead. As expected, there's a few enemies in our way, but we already expected that. But more importantly, we found where King Albert's being held. We also found that Fruegel guy that the Hellena Warden that Naruto interrogated mentioned. He's...not a pretty person, that's for sure. We heard him talking about how he's going to execute King Albert when the sun rises. That means we still have time." she said.
Lavitz breathed a sigh of relief at this and looked the ninjas in the eyes before he brought them both into a hug. "Thank you both so much for this. You have no idea how much hope you've brought me. It does my heart good to hear that my liege is alive and in good health. Now, let us hurry onwards." he said.
As they continued onward, the group couldn't help but question how Hinata and Naruto had managed to slip by these foes of theirs undetected. They were in the damned way and there was literally no way around them! Freaking ninjas and their ninja-like ways of doing things!
After dispatching what remained of the enemies in their way, the group finally made it to the top of Hellena Prison and began their march towards where King Albert was being held. Unfortunately for them, the sun was rising, which meant they were running out of time!
With Fruegel & King Albert
Fruegel smiled as he saw the sun beginning to rise on the horizon. Turning to the bound King Albert, he looked down his nose at him and laughed for a moment. "The sun is rising. It's good for you! You die and the war ends! That was your wish, wasn't it? You want to end the war, don't you? I'll make your dream come true very soon. Hee hee hee hee!" he laughed hysterically, unable to control himself.
Albert lowered his head and closed his eyes. "Agh, I am vexed!" he exclaimed, clearly frustrated with his current situation.
Fruegel paced around for a moment and shrugged his shoulders. "It's unfortunate for Lord Doel, but I cannot wait for the one with silver hair! I just want to kill you so badly!" Looking maniacally down at the king, Fruegel let out a gleeful laugh. "When I see the smallest glimpse of the sun, I'll cut your head off for ya!"
It was at this point that an arrow suddenly flew into his side, piercing him between his ribs and just below his heart. "UURRRGGHH!" he exclaimed in agony.
"King Albert!" Lavitz exclaimed as he and the others hurriedly approached them. "I won't forgive you!" he exclaimed angrily as he glared at Fruegel.
Fruegel, shrugging off the pain he felt as he ripped the arrow out of his side, walked closer to the group and glared down at them. "Tut. Those rats came on time. It doesn't matter." he said casually. "I'll get you all before Albert!" he exclaimed hysterically.
At the very start of the battle, Fruegel called forth two animal companions, a strange bird-like creature he called Rodriguez and a weird lizard/dog-like creature called Guftas. Immediately these two put the ninjas on edge, as if Fruegel was calling them for aid in this fight, it meant they were dangerous entities and not to be taken lightly.
Naruto, sensing that the dog-like creature was the more dangerous of the two, motioned for Hinata and Rose to assist him in taking it out. "While Hinata and I try to kill Guftas, Hikari, think you, Haschel, and Shana can take out that Rodriguez thing? Dart and the others can go after Fruegel directly while we're focused on taking out his pets. It's probably best we keep him distracted, especially if these pets are as dangerous as I think they are." he said.
Everyone nodded in agreement with his plan and quickly set to work on dispatching their foes. Hinata quickly notched a few arrows and fired them at the dog-like creature, watching as it leapt out of the way, only for a kunai to pierce it in the eye, causing it to squeal out in pain. This was enough for Rose to dash up and slash at the creature a few times, causing it to growl out in a mixture of both pain and anger.
When Guftas went to attack, Naruto prepared to throw another kunai, only to suddenly clutch his ears when Guftas, instead of attacking, unleashed a loud wail. Looking around, he could see that his allies were all reeling from the strange attack, but none looked like they had been affected by it other than a ringing of the ears. Looking back at the strange creature, Naruto flipped through hand seals and yelled out, "Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullets!" before spitting out a bunch of bullets of air that had sharpened points that drilled into the creature, causing it to howl out in agony for a while.
Rose, deciding to finish the damned thing off for good, rushed forward and unleashed her More & More Addition while Hinata hit it with one last, chakra-infused arrow straight through the brain. When all was said and done, the damned thing finally fell dead to the ground.
Meanwhile, Hikari, Haschel, and Shana were quickly growing annoyed with Rodriguez. The damn thing just would not sit still! That was, not until Hikari and Shana both pierced its wings. Hikari pierced its left wing with three kunai and Shana pierced its right wing with an arrow, causing the damn thing to crash to the ground, shrieking in agony.
Haschel, deciding to just finish the poor thing off, rushed up and unleashed a flurry of martial arts on the beast before finishing it off with a Double Punch Addition, crushing its head in the process. All-in-all, it wasn't that tough of a fight.
However, the real challenge was Fruegel. Dart and Lavitz were having to dodge thrown boulders from the bastard, they had to watch out when he tried to grab them, and when they couldn't get away in time, he'd beat the crap out of them, which was always painful as hell. Then there were the times when he'd attack them with his giant club, which was painful to block and hard to dodge. All-in-all, it was proving to be a tough fight for just the two of them.
This was why, when the others showed up to back them up, they were more than grateful. However, this also meant that there was less room to avoid the thrown boulders, but Naruto took care of those with one of his wind techniques easily enough whenever Fruegel threw one. Another problem they faced is trying to avoid his grab attacks. The ninjas were able to evade these attacks quite easily, but not their friends. Finally was his damned club. If they could just get that away from him, they'd have it made!
Still, they fought on and fought hard, each of them unleashing their best attacks until finally the Dragoons had built up enough Spirit energy to transform again. However, only Dart and Rose transformed this time. Rose quickly used Astral Drain to not only deal damage but to heal everyone as well. Dart, on the other hand, unleashed a full D-Addition to deal as much damage as he could to Fruegel. Fruegel finally collapsed to his knees when Rose used Astral Drain one last time to heal everyone just a little bit more before reverting back to normal.
Seeing this, Dart reverted back to normal and watched as Lavitz rushed forward and thrusted his spear forward, piercing Fruegel's chest and ending his life once and for all.
However, what came next caught everyone off guard. They heard a scream off to the side, "Argggghhhhh!" When they turned, there, standing over King Albert, was a man shrouded in a black cloak with his hand through King Albert's back, pulling something out of him. After doing so, they watched as Albert fell face first to the ground, clearly spent. Though it appeared he was dead to some, he was, in all actuality, still alive.
"I knew it was here." the cloaked male said in a calm tone of voice. "Moon Gem." he said with a smile on his face.
King Albert glared back at the cloaked individual and wished he wasn't currently bound so he could do something about this bastard!
Dart was wide-eyed as he shouted out, "Moon Gem!?"
Naruto, however, felt that bad feeling from before return to him now a hundred fold. Something absolutely terrible was about to happen and he wasn't sure if he could stop it.
It was at this point that Lavitz began rushing forward in a blind rage. Naruto quickly reached out to stop him, but it was far too late. "Ahhhhhhh!" Lavitz screamed as he jumped into the air, transforming into a Dragoon and brandishing his weapon.
Naruto cried out, "Lavitz! Stop! Please don't do this! Something really bad is going to happen! Please!" But his words fell on deaf ears. Looking down at the cloaked man, Naruto saw his hands moving and swore he could see something appearing, concealed underneath his robe.
Seeing Lavitz falling towards this man, who was clearly ready for Lavitz's attack, Naruto began to dash forward as fast as he could, hoping to intercept this man's attack. However, he was far, far too late. By the time Naruto got halfway there, Lavitz had reached the man and the cloaked man had thrust his hidden weapon straight through Lavitz, catching the man off guard as specks of blood flew out of his mouth, hitting the ground behind the cloaked man.
The blonde ninja stopped dead where he was. His eyes were wide and he began to shake. Collapsing to his knees, he stared in disbelief. Right before his eyes, he watched as one of his best friends was stabbed, unable to do anything about it. He knew. He just knew this was a fatal wound and there was absolutely nothing anyone, not even Shana, could do to stop it from taking Lavitz's life away. Tears began to roll down his face and he couldn't help but glare in anger at the man that was responsible for doing this to his friend.
Dart, meanwhile, shouted out for his best friend. "Laviiiiitz!" he cried, watching as Lavitz fell to the ground with a thud.
Rose, on the other hand, was stunned by what she saw the cloaked man holding. "The sword!" she exclaimed.
The three ninjas picked up on this, but decided to file that information away for later, as it was unimportant right now.
It was at this point that the cloaked man's hood fell down, revealing his identity to everyone present. When it was revealed who he was, Naruto snarled and pointed at him. "You! I knew it was you! You're the one that followed us! I don't know what the hell you wanted with us, and I don't know why the hell you're here either! But I will make you pay for this! Mark my words Lloyd! I'm going to fucking kill you for this!" Naruto declared angrily as the Kyuubi's chakra cloak began to form around him.
Dart, on the other hand, upon seeing Lloyd, shouted out in recognition as well. "Lloyd!"
Lloyd, sensing the danger he was in, tried to flee, only to suddenly have to dodge as Naruto slashed at him from behind. Spinning around to face the enraged Jinchuriki, Lloyd drew his Dragon Buster sword and held it at the ready. "I'm not sure if this will work on a being such as yourself, but I warn you child, I will kill you if you stand in my way." Lloyd warned.
Naruto growled and quickly formed a familiar hand seal, creating numerous Shadow Clones that surrounded Lloyd, preventing his escape. "I told you I was going to kill you Lloyd. I don't care what it takes, I will follow through on that promise." he declared.
Meanwhile, Dart ran towards Lavitz, shouting out, "Laviiiiitz!" once again.
Upon reaching him, Dart held Lavitz in his arms and shook him a few times, shouting at him. "Lavitz, hang on! Hey!"
Lavitz weakly looked up into Dart's eyes and reached for him. "Is His Majesty Albert alright?"
In the background, the sounds of Naruto battling Lloyd could be heard, as well as muttered curses and shouting, but that was nothing to them in this moment.
Dart nodded once and smiled sadly at his friend. "Yes, yes."
Back with Naruto, he had managed to land a hard punch to Lloyd's gut and a cut underneath his right eye, causing the man to grow quickly annoyed with the blonde before him. Nobody had ever bested him before and this blonde bastard was actually going toe-to-toe with him and fucking harming him! It was pissing him off! So, with one quick flourish, Lloyd tripped up Naruto, dispatched the rest of his clones, and pierced Naruto between the ribs, through one of his lungs, and kicked him away. Then, giving him a mock salute, Lloyd turned and fled, leaping away from the location, though he was still furious with the boy for delaying him as long as he had.
Rose, Shana, Hikari, and Hinata quickly rushed over to Naruto and watched as his chakra cloak receded. Shana quickly went about healing his wound, wishing she could do the same for Lavitz. Unfortunately, it was far too late for that. His wound was fatal whereas Naruto's was not.
Once Naruto was healed, the group stood up to watch Lavitz's final moments, Hikari and Hinata moving over to Albert to free him of his bindings.
"I see." Lavitz said with a smile on his face, happy that his liege was safe and sound. "I can entrust you with everything." he said to Dart.
"Lavitz…." Albert said sadly as he watched his dear friend's final moments.
"Dart...survive…" Lavitz said. "And…" he tried to say before finally passing on, his hand falling limply at his side.
Upon seeing this, Albert looked away, unable to face the sight before him.
Shana, unable to look upon her deceased friend, turned and buried her face into Naruto's chest, tears cascading down her cheeks. Naruto allowed tears of his own to fall as he held Shana close, gently stroking her hair in an effort to calm her and himself at the same time. They had both just lost a dear, dear friend and it was ever so painful.
Rose looked on sadly, far too used to seeing friends die by now to cry, but it still hurt to see one die like this before their time. Lavitz still had so much to live for. This was just...so wrong.
Haschel couldn't help but sigh and shake his head in sadness for the loss of one so young and brave. He was a good man and an even better soldier. The world would be lesser now for his loss.
Hinata and Hikari, despite barely having known him, both felt saddened by his loss. From what little interaction they had had with the man, they knew he was a very kind man and worthy of respect. They would miss him.
Dart, meanwhile, stared on in disbelief for a moment. "Lavitz…?" he asked questioningly. When the Jade Dragoon Spirit left Lavitz's body and began to float into the air, that's when it really began to sink into him that Lavitz was really gone. But even more perplexing to everyone by now was who it was going to.
Everyone looked up and watched as the Dragoon Spirit of wind slowly floated up before floating down into Naruto's outstretched hands. Blinking at this, Naruto looked around at the others Dragoons and questioned, "Um...guys? What does this mean?"
Rose went wide-eyed and looked at him in disbelief. "I...didn't think anyone from your world could possibly become a Dragoon. But...it looks like I was wrong. Naruto, you have been chosen to become the new Jade Dragoon. You are the new Dragoon of Wind!"
Dart, meanwhile, saddened by his best friend's loss, shouted out, "Laaaaaaviiiiiiiitz!"
Naruto, wanting to honor his deceased friend's memory, walked over to Lavitz and kneeled down beside him, grabbing his lance and lifting it into his hand. "Lavitz...I take up your lance now and promise to you to use it as my own in honor of your memory. From now on, I fight in your name and in your memory using the very weapon you used in life. You were one of my dearest friends...and I loved you as I would a brother. You will be missed dearly. You...will always be remembered my friend." he said sadly. "I hope...I hope that you will look down on us from Heaven and watch over us. We'll make you proud. We'll end this senseless war. We...we fight in your name." he said as tears began pooling up in his eyes again. "It's...so hard now that you're gone. I tried to avenge you...but he got away. I promise that we won't let him get away with this. We'll get him for you buddy. We'll stop him before he can hurt anyone else."
Before anyone could say anything else, Albert walked over and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, offering him a kind smile. "If you're planning to take up the spear, you're going to need an instructor. I happen to be quite skilled with the lance myself. If you and your group would permit me, I would like to journey with you and be your instructor in the way of the spear. And perhaps you wouldn't mind learning more from me as well? I'm always willing to teach you whatever else you'd like to know about the world and its culture or anything else you'd like to know." he said with a smile on his face.
Naruto smiled and shook Albert's hand. "I'd like that very much my liege. Thank you."
Dart smiled at them both and nodded. "You're more than welcome to come along King Albert. And...thank you Naruto. For honoring Lavitz's memory like this." he said, standing up and putting a hand on Naruto's shoulder.
It was at this point that the rest of the group walked up to say their goodbyes to Lavitz and speak their minds to Naruto, Dart, and Albert. They would soon have to make their way out of Hellena Prison with Lavitz's body and find a safe place to rest and relax, but right now they would just take a quick breather so they could calm themselves from their horrible experience before leaving. In their minds, the sooner they got out of here, the better. It was such a horrible place to be, especially after everything that had just happened.
Seles
It had taken some time, but the group had made it to the town of Seles. Now that they were here, they planned to take it easy for a time before moving on again. Upon reaching the center of town, the group stopped and Albert said, "I still have someplace for shelter…."
Dart examined a nearby pile of debris that was blocking the entrance to an underground shelter and then looked to the others. "We can hide underneath here."
As Shana, Naruto, Hinata, and Haschel set to work removing the debris, Albert walked over and began to help as well, saying, "I'll help."
Dart immediately protested, saying, "I cannot let you!"
Albert frowned and protested right back. "Let me do it. When I am moving like this, I don't feel pain."
Dart took a moment to think on it before nodding. Afterwards, the two men went to work assisting the others in removing the debris. After it was all gone, the large group descended into the underground shelter where they began to have a meeting.
"I owe you and Lavitz a debt of gratitude." Albert began.
Dart shrugged before releasing a sigh of sadness. "Lavitz is no more…." he said solemnly.
Shana thought on it for a moment before she turned to Dart and spoke up, gaining everyone's attention. "But we are still alive. Being alive means we can do anything we want, right? I think it is enough for now." she said as positively as she could. "...I think Lavitz would agree with me." she added.
Albert grinned at this and spoke up. "It reminds me of what Lavitz happily told me about you. That he had met "guys he could finally call friends." Now I understand why." he said sincerely. "Dart, Shana, Haschel, Rose, Naruto, Hinata, Hikari...Lavitz was my most loyal and strongest knight, and at the same time, he was my precious friend. Yes, he was a great "guy". I would like to show you my gratitude. Thank you." he said, genuinely happy that his dear friend had made such wonderful friends in these people.
Rose sighed and shook her head at this point. "He was out of luck. I didn't know he had the Dragon Buster. If I had known it, I would have stopped Lavitz." she said, frowning to herself at such an oversight on her part. She was still pissed at Lloyd for stabbing Naruto with it!
Everyone was looking at Rose at this point, so Dart asked the obvious question on everyone's mind. "Dragon Buster? What are you talking about?" he asked curiously.
Rose pushed herself off of the wall and shrugged her shoulders. "It's a weapon from the old world made only to kill Dragons. Even with the almighty Dragoon Armor, it is a mere shroud in front of a Dragon Buster." she explained sadly.
Naruto, sensing Rose's discomfort in discussing such a thing, approached her and placed a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. No words needed to be said between them for the message to get across that he was here for her and that she needn't blame herself for Lavitz's death.
Dart clenched his fist tightly and shook with rage. "Lloyd…. What kind of plot is he weaving?" he asked angrily.
Afterwards, everyone just went to different parts of the room and began to either talk amongst themselves or began to think on what had happened. Dart went around the room to talk with everyone, starting with Shana first. "We are not going to be like this forever, right?" she asked.
After this, Dart walked over to Haschel to talk with him. "Now it is more complicated than simply looking for your daughter." he said to Haschel, a small smile on his face.
Haschel smiled ruefully at this and shook his head. "I am okay. I can go look for her some other time. But we have something we have to do now. You found the way thanks to Shana, didn't you?" he asked, a small grin on his face. Dart nodded once in reply, so Haschel continued on. "The only thing left is...which way to go."
After saying this, Haschel sighed and shook his head. "What is a strong swordsman like Lloyd conspiring?" he asked in wonderment.
Choosing to speak to Albert next, Dart walked over and said, "Your Majesty Albert, what did Lloyd take from you at that time?"
Albert frowned at this and shook his head. "I need a little time. I need to think more." he said apologetically. Nodding in understanding at this, Dart went off to speak with Hinata.
"Hinata, how are you holding up? You haven't been with us for long, but I wanted to check up on you and see how you were acclimatizing with our group." he said with a kindhearted smile on his face.
Hinata smiled up at Dart and shook her head. "I'm alright Dart-san. I'm...still in shock over Lavitz-san's death to be perfectly honest with you. I never expected such a thing to happen to such a nice guy. I'm...really worried about Naruto-kun though. He seemed really close to Lavitz-san." she said sadly as she glanced over at Naruto. "Do you think that maybe...you could talk to him Dart-san? Maybe talking with you would cheer him up a bit." she said hopefully.
Dart nodded at this and walked over to Hikari next. "Hey Hikari. Is everything okay? You've been rather silent since Hellena Prison."
Hikari frowned and shook her head at this. "I'm simply worried for my beloved. He has lost someone dear to him, as have you. I do not know how to console him and it troubles me. But more than that, I am thinking about this war we are a part of and how to bring it to its end. The only thing I can think of is assassinating Doel, and doing so is no easy feat, even for me." she admitted somewhat shamefully. "But...more importantly to me is seeing my future husband happy. Talk to him Dart and help him through this."
Dart slowly nodded before he left to go speak with Naruto. Walking up to him, he placed a gentle hand upon Naruto's shoulder, getting his attention. Looking into his dull, blue eyes, he frowned at him. "Naruto...I know it's been hard on you, but I need you to pull yourself together. Okay? Losing Lavitz has been hard on me too, but I'm trying to push through it and fight on. I'm setting out to end this war once and for all, for Lavitz's sake. Do you want to let Lavitz down and just give up? Or are you going to get up, buck up like a real man would, and fight on?" Dart questioned.
Naruto sighed and nodded once before he let out a chuckle. "You're right Dart. But y'see, it's not quite that simple for me. I know what I need to do, and my heart and mind are in it, believe me. But at the same time...it hurts knowing he's gone. I've lost my Gramps and now my brother too. I've been through so much shit lately that it's ridiculous. But…" here, the light returned to Naruto's eyes and he clenched his fists angrily. "I'm not going to just sit here and mope damn it. I'm going to fight on, kick some ass, and make sure the world becomes a better fucking place through it all. I refuse to sit back and watch the world fall to pieces because I refused to act." he declared passionately.
Dart chuckled and nodded at his dear friend. "I'm glad to hear it. Now you should probably go and speak to Hinata and Hikari, they've been worrying over you." he said with a smirk as he watched Naruto chuckle sheepishly before rushing over to go and speak with the both of them.
At this point, Dart decided to go and speak with Rose and see how she was doing. "I feel sorry for making you accompany us into such a mess." he admitted somewhat shamefully to her.
Rose smirked and quirked a brow at him in amusement. "I am the one following you." she said. "Anyway, Basil will be finished soon if we don't do something." Seeing Dart nod in agreement, Rose continued on. "I am looking forward to watching what you will do in the future."
Albert pushed off of the wall he was leaning against at this point and spoke up. "I guess I have to talk about it with you." he said. "The truth about what Lloyd took from me…. Everything about it…."
Taking a deep breath, he waited until everyone was comfortable before he began his tale. "The story goes back 11,000 years...Winglies who ruled the earth were defeated in the Dragon Campaign and disappeared. However, their sacred objects were scattered around the world. They contained their magic power concealed in them which only they could use. One of them was handed down in Serdio, and it has been sealed inside the body of each crown heir, because of the fear that the power could bring evil. The sacred object is the secret treasure of Serdio which has been taken. The Moon Gem." he explained.
Rose pushed off the wall she was leaning against at this point and asked a question she had been wondering for a while now. "Where did Lloyd find out about it?"
Albert sighed and turned to face her. "I was foolish. I bought his intelligence and employed him as an advisor. Probably, he was employed by Imperial Sandora."
Rose shook her head in disbelief. "That's right. Once he obtains the secret treasure, he is the crown heir of Serdio both in name and reality. The birth of the Conqueror King Doel. That would be the end of Basil."
Dart grew angry at this and stomped his feet. "His Majesty King Albert is still alive here. The war is not over yet! Basil is not finished!"
Rose quirked a brow at him and asked him rhetorically, "What is a king to do if he doesn't have a castle to go back to and a large force to protect him?"
Albert nodded at her words and answered for Dart. "Indeed, I am hopelessly alone. However, as the Dragoons of yore led Humans to victory…. We still have a chance to overcome." he declared with a smirk as he looked around at the four Dragoons in the room, his eyes lingering on Naruto as the last that he looked at.
"We have only one target. Emperor Doel in the Black Castle." Albert stated with a determined glare on his face. He was ready for war, even if there was only a small force consisting of the people in this room, he was ready.
Rose smirked and nodded her head. "You have such a daring strategy. But it's not bad." she complimented, clearly liking the way Albert thought.
Shana excitedly exclaimed, "Let's do it!" as she practically bounced up and down in place.
Dart exclaimed, "We can do this together!"
"My iron fist might be able to help you." Haschel said with a grin on his face.
Hinata smiled kindly at Albert and nodded her head with a determined look in her eyes. "I'm going to show them what happens when you mess with a Hyuga. They're going to regret ever crossing us!" she declared.
Hikari smirked and nodded her head. "They will feel the wrath of a true ninja of the night."
Naruto grinned and punched his fists together. "For Lavitz! We're going to crush those stupid bastards and make 'em all pay!"
Albert smiled at everyone, happy that they all seemed so confident in their chances. "I will show them the full force of my lance, which I learned how to use from Lavitz!" he declared passionately.
Dart nodded and looked up. "Lavitz! We won't let your death be in vain!"
Meanwhile - Black Castle
Emperor Doel sat upon his throne with his head propped up on one of his fists, a bored look on his face. "It seems Hellena fell." he said.
Lloyd replied with, "Don't be so anxious. I got what I need."
Doel looked into Lloyd's eyes with a fierce glare and said, "Leaving the girl at large is one of your schemes, huh?"
The platinum-haired man shrugged his shoulders and said, "It's none of your business."
Emperor Doel shrugged his shoulders and waved his hand in the air in a dismissive gesture. "Doesn't matter. I will soon hold sway over all Serdio. And your plan will be completed."
Lloyd turned away and shook his head. "No. It's just the beginning." he said. "At least be careful not to get carried away. Don't be burned in a red fire." he said as he walked away.
Doel smirked as Lloyd left and said, "Nobody can stop me. I will not fall, even if I sell my soul to the devil."
A/N - Okay...as you can see, Lavitz died. I'm sorry, I wanted to save him, but...he needed to die just like in the game for plot purposes! I'm sorryyyyyyy! I love Lavitz! He's such a great character and that part always makes me saaaaad! But...but...Naruto's the new Jade Dragoon! That's something at least! Right? Right?! Maybe?
Anyways, I do hope you enjoyed the chapter. Sorry if the battles weren't anything special. I wrote this while being tired, sooo...yeaaaaah. And my cat's being a pain-in-the-ass too, so that doesn't help. lol.
Anywho, please review if you can. I'm looking forward to receiving comments and reviews. I want to see what you all think! Love ya! Have a good day peoples!