A/N - Yeah, yeah, I know. You probably wanted me to update something else besides this story, as I know I've gotten requests to continue some of my other stories recently. Buuut...I wanted to work on this chapter this time! Sooo...bleh. lol
Anyways, this chapter has battles, story stuff, a new Dragoon, the works. Hopefully you all like it!
Now, without further adieu, enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 14 - The Virage & Gehrich
As they entered the Valley of Corrupted Gravity proper, the group couldn't help but look around curiously. So far it seemed fairly straightforward and normal to a degree, but they couldn't help but get the feeling that it was going to get worse.
Walking forward a few more steps, the group paused and looked around for any sign of their enemies, the shinobi from Kirigakure. Seeing nothing so far, they watched as Meru walked up to a rock and kicked it over the edge. "Oh! It's not bad at all! I was expecting to have some fun!" she exclaimed with an adorable pout on her face.
"!" Dart exclaimed in shock as he saw something flying towards Meru. "Meru, watch out!" he exclaimed.
Naruto, seeing the danger posed to his friend, quickly lifted her in a bridal carry and jumped backwards, breathing a sigh of relief when the small boulder crashed right where Meru had been standing before it flew off deeper into the Valley. "Are you alright Meru-chan?"
Meru nodded slowly and looked at the blonde with a blush. "Th-Thank you, Naruto. I wasn't expecting that at all."
The whiskered blonde shook his head and offered her a smile. "It was nothing. I'm just glad you're alright."
Rose looked in the direction the boulder had flown off in before turning to the others. "It still has the backwash from the Dragon Campaign. The collision of the magic power of the Dragoons and Winglies can distort nature quite a bit."
Bending down, she picked up a rock similar to the one Meru kicked earlier and tossed it over the edge. They all watched as it bobbed up and down as it flew away from their position. Rose once more looked at the others, more specifically at Meru, and said, "I don't think you're gonna have much "fun" from now on."
Meru pouted cutely again before shouting, "I'm not just following you guys for that! Let's go guys! We gotta find the Gehrichs!"
Everyone nodded in agreement with that before they proceeded to continue along the path, keeping an eye out for their enemies, both monsters and shinobi. As they proceeded along the path, they came across a floating platform that looked like it could hold their weight, so they proceeded to jump across the gap using said platform.
Heading down first, they opened a crate and obtained the Speed Up item, smiling as they added it to their collection of items. "Well, that'll come in handy." Naruto said as the group nodded in agreement with him.
Proceeding upwards, they came across some Rock Fireflies which would restore their health, and couldn't help but relish in the fact they'd be able to return here to heal should any of them become injured in the coming battles.
Returning to the platform they used to cross to this side of the Valley, they hopped across once more before continuing along the main path to another platform that would allow them to cross to the opposite side this time. Opening the crate on this side, they obtained a Sachet, which could be used to deal some damage and put a target to sleep at the same time.
Proceeding into the next area, they could see a bunch of small, floating islands throughout the area with smaller platforms floating back and forth between them. Worse than this, however, was the small band of shinobi in the distance, on the small islands. There was nowhere for the heroes to hide, so they were easily spotted by the enemy shinobi.
When the Kiri ninja threw a bunch of shuriken their way, Naruto and Hinata both worked to deflect them and/or catch them however they could, all to keep the party safe. "This is not going to be an easy mission." Naruto said.
"How are we supposed to get over there to fight them without being turned into pincushions first?!" Meru exclaimed in shock.
Hikari shook her head and said, "Leave this to Naruto, Hinata and myself. You all take cover and wait for us to signal that it's clear."
Shana frowned at this and said, "No. If you're going to fight, I can too. I'll shoot at them from here with Hinata. We both have bows, so it should be no problem. You and Naruto can get up close without being hurt, right? So we'll provide you cover while the two of you approach them."
Hinata nodded her head in agreement. "That's as good a plan as any. Good luck Naru-kun, Hikari-chan." she said before she and Shana both began to fire on the enemy shinobi.
As Naruto and Hikari began their approach, leaping from platform to platform, they couldn't help but notice how the enemy shinobi were behaving. It would seem that the Valley's stability being off was affecting their performance. Their movement was hindered by the oddity that was the Valley, and the two ninja took full advantage of this fact to get up close and began fighting the small band of enemies. There were five total, all of them possibly acting as scouts just in case anyone showed up.
When one of the enemies came close to piercing Hikari in the chest with her katana, Naruto quickly used the Replacement Technique to swap places with his girlfriend and grabbed the blade before it could pierce him. Naturally, it cut into his skin, but he quickly snapped the katana in half with brute strength before taking the broken blade and ramming it through his opponent's neck, watching as she collapsed to the ground, bleeding out quite quickly.
Turning to two others that were approaching him, Naruto quickly performed the Shadow Clone Technique and fought his opponents, causing them to back up, almost falling off the edge of the island they were battling on. Naruto and his clones quickly rushed forth, throwing punches and attacking them with his lance. It didn't take long before one of the enemy shinobi was thrown over the edge and went plummeting into the empty abyss below.
Hikari, meanwhile, watched as an arrow pierced one of her opponents through the back of his head, the tip of the arrow piercing through his eyeball. Nodding her thanks to Hinata, she quickly flipped through hand seals before calling out, "Art of the Flashing Blade!" Rushing forward, she seemed to duplicate before she and her clone brought their blades to bear, a small flash sparking off of their blades, blinding their opponent. Slipping in close, they pierced him through the face and his chest, ending his life.
Looking at her boyfriend, she smiled at him as he finished off his opponent, the only female of the group. Releasing a sigh of relief, they soon signaled to their friends that it was safe to cross.
Naruto looked into Hikari's eyes with a frown. "There will be more of them. I'm sure of it. This is not going to be an easy mission."
The group proceeded to continue across the platforms, stopping to get a Meteor Fall from another crate along the way. It didn't take long for them to exit into the next area of the Valley of Corrupted Gravity. It was here that things really started to get freaky. It was a long, vertical climb to the top of the area, and this area seemed to be affected the hardest by the mysterious forces that altered the way gravity worked in this place.
Looking up, Naruto whistled. "Well, looks like we're about to experience this freaky gravity stuff firsthand. Just look at that." he said, pointing upwards. "We're going to end up upside-down at points, it seems."
"Is anyone else feeling a little sick just from seeing all of this?" Tayuya questioned, her eyebrow twitching like crazy. "'Cause I'll admit it here and now that this shit's just a bit too much for me."
Dart chuckled a bit and patted her gently on the shoulder. "Don't worry Tayuya, we'll be alright. Well, so long as we don't run into anymore of those shinobi."
"You do realize you've just jinxed us...right?" Naruto asked Dart, a deep frown on his face.
"Sorry Naruto." he replied before his danger sense suddenly went off. Ducking down, he watched as a shuriken went flying past, right where his head was just a second prior. "Well...this is going to be an interesting experience. I hope you don't mind if we fight this time as well. Don't worry, we'll be fine." he said, seeing Naruto about to protest.
Sighing, Naruto nodded his head. "Alright, just be careful. Tayuya-chan, you and I will strike at them together this time. Hikari, Hinata, Shana, please provide cover just as you did earlier. This is going to get a little crazy."
Hikari frowned as she watched her boyfriend and the others rush off to reach their enemies. Quickly taking out a handful of kunai, she took aim and proceeded to throw them as hard and as fast as she could, watching as they struck down some unsuspecting shinobi.
Meanwhile, Hinata and Shana were both firing arrows upon their enemies who were higher up, some of them upside-down on floating islands while others had taken to using what they could as cover.
The girls watched as their companions fought against the bloodline haters, taking down as many as they could. Sadly, one enemy managed to flee upward before anyone could take him down. "Shit! He's going to alert the others that we're here." Naruto griped.
"Nothing we can do about that now. We'll just have to proceed with caution from this point forwards." Rose said somewhat dismissively.
"It's already hard enough to fight in this Valley as it is. If we get swarmed…" Albert said, leaving his sentence hanging at the end.
"We'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now, we need to press forward. Come on." Dart said before he and the others began to make their way through this area of the Valley.
They proceeded to ride a platform upwards, collecting an item known as a Talisman, which would help the wearer to avoid instant death attacks/spells. Haschel was the one to equip this lovely accessory, before they proceeded to return to the previous area once again.
Eventually they rode a platform up into the next area once again, where they obtained a Knight Helm from a crate. Dart was the one to equip this particular piece of headwear, replacing his Armet. Returning to the previous area, they continued along the path, being careful to watch for their enemies once more.
After a while, they ended up riding a platform up to the next area where they quickly froze, looking up at a rather huge beast. "What a welcome we got." Rose said, a deep frown on her face.
"Oh, look!" Shana exclaimed, pointing at the gigantic beast.
"Virage!" Dart exclaimed in a mixture of shock and horror.
A number of people in the party wondered what the heck a Virage was, the shinobi from the Elemental Nations most especially. Meru decided to voice the question they were all thinking: "Huh? What the heck is that?"
Rose, ignoring the question, said, "What is worse is it has the complete form…."
"Guys!" Meru exclaimed, another pout on her face. "I'm asking you, what is that!?"
Dart, thinking on it for a moment, said, "It might be the real cause of the distortion of the valley."
"Wow! That's scary." Meru said, deciding to give up on asking them to tell her and the others what the heck a Virage was.
It was at this point that Shana collapsed to her knees. Naruto quickly rushed over to her, shouting out, "Shana!"
Shana shook as she stared up at the Virage. "Here it comes again. I hear the voice, again." Looking at her friends and her lover, she shouted out, "Don't go! It's too dangerous to go!"
Meru frowned and shook her head. "Yes, we gotta go. We're not gonna make it to the Gehrichs without going over this thingamajig." When Dart and the others looked at Meru, she shouted, "What are you looking at!? You guys don't trust me!?"
Naruto offered her a reassuring smile. "I trust you, if that counts for anything."
The platinum-haired dancer hugged Naruto tight, pressing her generous assets into his chest. "Awww, you're such a sweetie! Thank you Naruto."
Rose scowled and pried Meru off of her boyfriend. "That'll be enough of that."
Meru pouted at Rose. "What's that all about?"
Shana said, "He's our boyfriend. It's...kind of hard to explain, but we aren't too comfortable with other women getting close to him. It's nothing against you, really."
"Hmm...so he's in a polygamist-like relationship with you all? That's interesting." Meru said, nodding her head in understanding.
Rose sighed and shook her head. "It's...complicated. That's all I'll say on the matter right now."
Dart interrupted at this point as he looked up at the Virage. "Is there no way but to advance?"
Naruto shrugged. "If we want to get out of here and proceed to the bandits' hideout, we're going to have to get past that thing. No other choice, I'm afraid. On top of that, we still have to finish wiping out the Kirigakure loyalists, too."
As they approached the Virage, Shana suddenly stopped and shook her head. "I can't let you go! If we advance, we will have to fight again!"
Meru frowned and said, "Hey, nothing can be done without meeting the Gehrichs, right? What about Lynn, Dart's memento, and this Lloyd that you are looking for?"
Dart sighed and said, "Worrying won't help. Besides, it might not start to move this time."
Naruto scowled at Dart and Meru before he walked up and hugged Shana close to him. Reaching up, he began to gently run his fingers through her hair before kissing her on the forehead softly. "It'll be okay sweetheart. We'll be just fine, even if we have to fight this thing. Just have confidence in us and in yourself, and we'll get through this just fine."
It was at this point that the last of the Kiri loyalists showed up, their leader staring hard at the party. "So you're the ones that have been killing my men? I'll show you what it means to cross the Mizukage and his followers!"
The group scowled at this, but before they could say anything, the whole area began to rumble as the Virage began to awaken. Shana, terrified by this, shouted out, "Everyone run!"
Sadly, it was too late for anyone to run. As soon as the Virage awakened, it shot a laser beam from its eye and annihilated what remained of the Kiri loyalists. Then, it turned its attention to the Dragoons and the battle began.
"Well...that's something." Naruto said as he looked from the smoldering corpses to the Virage that towered over them. "This...is not going to be fun, is it?"
"Fighting a Virage never is, Naruto. Now ready yourself!" Rose said as she and the others in the party began to fight.
At first, the Virage attempted to grab Naruto with his left arm, but the young shinobi was quick to leap up onto the arm and stabbed at it a couple of times with his lance, causing the Virage to recoil. Hikari and Hinata assisted him in destroying the arm, while Shana, Rose, and Haschel went about destroying its right arm.
With those out of the way, it was obvious that the Virage's attack capabilities were decreased by a significant amount. As such, all that was left to destroy were its head and its body. However, before they could attack its body, it fired a laser beam and knocked Naruto to the ground, writhing in agony.
Shana quickly rushed to Naruto's side and healed him while the others proceeded to attack and destroy the body of the mighty Virage. As soon as he was healed, the blonde thanked Shana for her assistance before the two of them began to help the others in attacking the Virage's head.
After a while, however, its arms regrew, forcing the party to attack and destroy those again, lest the arms wipe them out. At one point, before they could destroy its left arm, it grabbed Haschel and attempted to squeeze him to death for an instant kill. However, Haschel's Talisman saved him from this instant death attack and he broke the monster's grip on him, collapsing to the ground immediately afterwards.
As Haschel tried to recover from his near death experience, the others continued their assault on the mighty beast. Its massive size was not helping the Virage, as they focused their attacks on its head. The beast was far too slow, but it managed to clip Shana this time with a laser beam, causing her to scream out in pain.
Hinata quickly rushed to Shana's side and used a Healing Potion on her to heal her wounds and get her back in the fight. Naruto, however, upon seeing his girlfriend injured in such a way, he rushed forward and thrusted his spear into the creature's eye, causing it to howl out in agony.
After a while, when the battle was reaching its climax, it tried once more to nail someone with its laser beam, but it failed to hit anyone this time. When the battle was finished, Naruto rushed up and slashed the beast with his lance.
As it was nearing death, the Virage reached out for Shana, causing Naruto to scream out, "Shana!" as he rushed towards her with Dart and Rose doing the same. However, before the Virage could reach her, a strange mark appeared on Shana's forehead and a bright, blinding light suddenly surrounded her and blew the Virage backwards to the point it fell over the edge and plummeted into the abyss below.
Looking at his girlfriend, Naruto held her close and said, "Shana! You had me so worried. What...what was that strange light?"
Before she could answer, Rose asked, "What on earth are you...to Virage?"
Shana felt tears beginning to trickle down her cheeks and buried her face into Naruto's chest. "I don't know...I don't know anything!" she screamed out.
Naruto held her close and said, "There's no more Virage, sweetheart. It's gone."
The brunette looked into Naruto's eyes for a moment before shaking her head. "It's okay now. I'm okay."
The whiskered blonde held her close and kissed her sweetly on the lips, causing Dart to feel a bit jealous. "We'll be alright sweetie. And whatever's happening to you, we'll face it together. Everything will be fine."
Now that the battle was finished, the group stopped to rest for a while after such a trying ordeal. Rose leaned against a large rock formation and closed her eyes for a moment. The power that can awaken the sleep of 11,000 years…. She thought to herself in silent contemplation. Is that rancor against us? The rancor against Dragoons awakening the Virage!? Or...is that something to do with Shana? She wondered as she looked at Shana with a narrowed gaze.
Shana…. Dart thought to himself as he looked at his old friend. Are you really alright? And...why does it hurt so much to see you with Naruto instead of me?
Meanwhile, as Hinata talked with Shana, Naruto watched her closely. Sweetheart...whatever's going on, I'll be here for you through it all. I truly love you and I will do absolutely anything to ensure your safety.
Dart stood up from where he was sitting and turned to Meru. "Thanks to my guiding you, it was totally thrilling, wasn't it!?" she exclaimed excitedly. Standing up, she looked at Dart seriously for a moment before grinning wide. "Now we can go straight to the Gehrich Gang! We can go rescue Lynn!" Talking with her again, he listened as she said, "The Gehrich Gang is straight ahead. Let's hurry up and rescue Lynn."
Dart then approached Shana and Hinata, first looking to Hinata. "How are you holding up, Hinata?"
Hinata looked up into Dart's eyes and shrugged. "I'm fine. Just trying to process everything we've just been through. The Kiri loyalists are all dead, finished off by the Virage. Speaking of which, none of you told us what the heck a Virage is, yet. I expect one of you to tell us soon."
The red-clad warrior chuckled a bit as he rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, that's the thing. I don't know how to explain it exactly. Rose seems like she knows plenty about them though. You should probably ask her to explain it to you and the others."
Nodding her head in understanding, Hinata watched as Dart then turned to Shana. The brunette looked up into her childhood friend's eyes and said, "After you came back, Dart, a lot of things started to happen. But we have overcome everything, and we will continue. Because I am not alone now. Everybody is with me and, I have Naruto now. He makes me strong." she said, sounding somewhat apologetic as she saw his face contort from the mixture of emotions he was currently feeling. Deciding to halt his train of thought, she shouted out, "I can do it! I can leave any time!"
Dart sighed and asked her if she was sure. Shana replied with, "I can do it. I can leave any time. But...I wonder if other people can?"
The mercenary simply shrugged his shoulders and moved over to Naruto and Tayuya this time. Looking at Tayuya, Dart offered her a smile and said, "So, what did you think? Did you enjoy yourself?"
The redhead scoffed at that and looked back at where the Virage had plummeted to its death. "It was certainly an experience, I'll give you that. Things are never going to be boring as long as I stick with you guys, huh? Not that that's a bad thing, mind you. It's just fucking crazy. But...I like it."
Dart chuckled a bit and nodded his head in understanding. "I hear you. Listen...I don't want you to be hurt. So…"
Tayuya held up a hand to silence him. "If you're going to tell me to hang back and stay out of danger, then you can shove it. I care about you guys and I'm not about to let you idiots fight alone. So, I'm afraid you're stuck with me. Best get used to it." she said with a grin.
The blue-eyed merc chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. "Worth a shot. Just be careful, okay Tayuya?"
"Yeah, yeah." Tayuya mumbled before leaning back against the rock she was laying against.
Dart then turned his attention to Naruto. Before he could say anything, Naruto looked him in the eyes and sighed. "Don't worry about me. I'm in good shape. Just...wish I knew what the hell a Virage really was. Besides that...I want you to know that, while I respect you and I understand how you're feeling about me and Shana, I'm not going to just give her up that easily so you can be with her. You had your chance. That's all I'm going to say."
The blue-eyed mercenary frowned at this and shook his head before he went over to Hikari next. "Hey. How're you holding up?"
The red-eyed ninja looked into Dart's eyes and shrugged casually. "About as well as can be expected, considering we just faced off with a creature larger than anything I've ever seen. I've got to ask though… Why didn't any of you transform into Dragoons to fight that thing?"
Dart rubbed the back of his head somewhat nervously again. "Well I didn't because I lost my Dragoon Spirit, remember? The others? I can only guess at what made them refuse to do so. I think they probably felt it wasn't necessary to fight that thing. We handled ourselves well enough and managed to kill it, so everything's okay."
Hikari slowly nodded in acceptance of that. When it became obvious that she wasn't going to say anything else, he approached King Albert, who stood up to greet him. "We were saved by Shana." he said simply. "But it seems that this is not that simple for her." he continued as he turned to look at Shana, who had resumed speaking with Hinata. Turning back to Dart, he continued speaking, "The existence of Dragoons and the existence of Virages should have ended 11,000 years ago. But they were brought to life around us. I think we have to go forward to find out more about this."
As Dart turned to walk off, Albert said one final thing to him. "Anyway, we have to go forward. Otherwise, we are not going to find out about anything." Dart simply nodded at that before walking up to Haschel.
Haschel rose to his feet and looked at his young friend. "Shana has changed. She has obtained more strength."
Dart nodded in agreement. "I agree." he said simply.
"I don't know what is happening to Shana, but she is trying to solve that alone. She has become a woman." Haschel said with a warm smile on his face.
"I guess so." Dart said somewhat uncertainly.
Haschel looked into Dart's eyes and frowned. "It's not the time to talk about this, but…. It's time for you to change."
"Me?" Dart questioned.
The martial artist sighed before saying, "It's too hard on Shana, if you continue to treat her like a mere baby sister forever." Shaking his head to rid himself of such thoughts, Haschel said, "Doesn't matter. Your Dragoon Spirit is waiting. We have to think about going." Looking back into Dart's eyes, he said, "I can go any time. Did you ask everybody?"
Dart shook his head. "No, not yet. We'll set out soon, I promise." he said before moving on to Rose.
"There must be something wrong with Shana, and she must definitely see it." Rose said as he approached. "Everybody knows that."
The red-clad mercenary sighed, but nodded in understanding. After this, he walked into the center of the path and shouted out, "Let's go everybody! The Gehrichs will be just ahead!"
Everybody nodded in understanding before they each rose to their feet and began to follow Dart out of the Valley of Corrupted Gravity.
As soon as they were gone, Ao stepped into the path and smiled. Well, they're certainly doing well. Still though, I can't help but wonder what that creature was they had to fight…
Home of Gigantos
As the group entered the Home of Gigantos, as this place was called, they watched as a bandit ran off up some stairs. Glancing around at the immediate area, Dart frowned and said, "This place certainly looks like it's seen some better days."
"Have to say, this place makes the perfect hideout for bandits and the like. Plenty of places to hide and ambush anybody that comes into their territory. Plus, they probably have a treasure cache somewhere, most likely underground." Naruto said as he observed the area they were in.
"Then that's probably where they've stashed the Dragoon Spirit. We'd best get moving." Rose said before everyone took a few steps forward.
Naruto, sensing danger, quickly shouted out, "Incoming! Watch out!" right before a hail of arrows descended on their position. Not seeing anybody that they could fight to stop the hail of arrows, the group proceeded to dash towards the nearby building, ducking inside for cover.
Upon entering, Naruto and Hinata quickly spotted something sparkling deeper into the room. "Hey, there's something sparkling over there. Let's check it out." Naruto said as he approached the sparkling object.
Upon reaching it, Dart looked down at the object and realized it was a switch of some kind. Reaching down, he pushed it, though nothing was immediately apparent to them about what it did.
Walking over to the lone chest in the room, they opened it and withdrew 20 Gold from the chest. They then left through the southernmost door and proceeded to open the chest out here for a Bandit's Ring, which, when equipped, increased a person's speed.
Returning to the main area, out in the open once more, they quickly proceeded up the steps nearby and rushed into the next area along the path. Upon entering the next area, the group watched as the same bandit from before rushed through what looked like a giant gate.
Dart frowned as he looked around. "I sense the enemy's presence." he said, causing the group to proceed more cautiously than before.
As they proceeded forward, more arrows flew down at them, forcing them to each jump back out of the way. Looking up on the walls, they listened as a bandit shouted out, "I don't know what you want. And how did you manage to get all the way here!?"
Another of the bandits grinned wickedly as he shouted, "We should play with them a little!"
The third bandit spoke up this time, "Yo men! Don't kill 'em! That's what our boss said! But…."
The final bandit grinned evilly as he shouted out, "Why don't we stomp them 'til they hate being alive!? Haa Haa Haa!"
It was at this point that the bandits began shooting arrows at them once more. Quickly rushing forward, they were about to pass through the gate when it suddenly shut on them. Once it had done so, Bandit A shouted out, "You thought it would be that easy, huh!?"
With nowhere else left to go, the party began rushing back the way they had come from, only for two bandits, one clad in the same kind of garb the others were in, and one shirtless, jumped in their path, blocking their way out. "Hee Hee Hee! Where are you goin'!?"
Scowling at this, they were about to try and cut them down before the arrows began to rain down on their position once again. With nothing else that they could do, the party just dodged all the arrows that they could.
After a while of this, Bandit A shouted out once again. "Darn! Those nimble rats!"
Bandit B looked off to the side and shouted out, "Yo, brother! Take care of them, will ya!?"
It was at this point that another shirtless bandit appeared and said, "Yeah! I got 'em!" before jumping down below to face his enemies. "It's been a while. I'm aching to get 'em!"
Dart sheathed his sword and shouted out, "Let us meet with your boss! We have to talk!"
The shirtless bandit grinned as he said, "There will be no "talking"! You've already ruined our territory!"
It was at this point that the shirtless bandit took on a pose that was very familiar to Haschel, who shouted out, "That pose, it must be from the Rouge School!"
The shirtless bandit froze and looked at the old man. "What!? How do you know about that!?"
Haschel glared at the bandit and shouted back at him. "That's my question! How did you find out about the Rouge School!?"
Once more, the shirtless bandit scoffed and said, "Humph! Who cares!? If you really wanna learn about it, tussle with me!" And with that, the battle was on.
Studying their three opponents for a bit, Naruto frowned. "We'd best take down the smaller bandits first. They'll only pester us with their attacks. It's the shirtless guy we need to watch out for."
"Got it! Shana, cover me!" Dart shouted as he went in for the attack, aiming to take out one of the smaller bandits. As he neared the bandit, the little punk attempted to slash at him, but Dart blocked his blade with his sword before an arrow pierced the bandit's hand, causing him to howl out in agony. The red-clad mercenary quickly put an end to the bandit's life after that.
Meanwhile, Rose and Meru were attacking the other shrimpy bandit, fending off his attacks and dishing out some serious damage of their own. After stabbing him through the heart with her rapier, they turned their attention to the shirtless bandit who had taken on the same pose as before. "And then there was one." Rose said.
"No matter. They were weaklings anyway." the shirtless bandit said before he rushed forward and began to attack with a flurry of punches and kicks, sticking to the Rouge style the entire time.
His target was Hikari, who evaded every attack, slipping around behind the bandit and slashing him across the back with her katana. When he turned back around to continue his assault, Hikari quickly leapt backwards before flipping through hand signs. "Ninpo: Art of the Savage Flame!"
The bandit watched as fireballs appeared in her hands and she quickly threw them forward at him. When he went to dodge, he found that he couldn't move. The reason? Hinata had struck him numerous times in quick succession, paralyzing him in the process. And he was paralyzed just long enough as the fireballs struck him and he was set ablaze.
As the man burned alive, he screamed out in agony. When he finally collapsed a few short moments later, the fire subsided and showed that he was a blackened corpse. "Well, that takes care of him." Hinata said before high-fiving Hikari.
Once they were defeated, one of the remaining bandits shouted out, "R-Run!" before he and the other shirtless bandit took off like bats out of hell.
When the party turned on the remaining bandits, one of them shouted out, "Yeek!" in fright.
When they ran off, Haschel turned to the blackened corpse of their opponent. "The Rouge School of Martial Arts is a tradition found only in my village. All the people who use the Rouge style from outside of my village must have a connection there. If he was still alive, I could ask him if he knew a woman called Claire, my daughter."
After a moment's thought, the name of the gang caused alarm bells to ring in his head. "Gehrich…. If I remember correctly, a man by that name was kicked out of the Rouge school 20 years ago. Now I know!" he exclaimed, eyes widening in realization. "That Gehrich! He must be the man who once was my disciple!"
Dart motioned to the closed gate. "He is over there, right?"
Haschel looked towards the gate and nodded slowly. "These bandits look up to their 'boss'. It's my fist that decides if I can defeat him or not! We're on our way."
As Haschel approached the gate, Dart asked, "What are you doing?"
The elderly man turned around and grinned at the group. "I'll show you what the real Rouge School is like." Tightening his muscles, he shouted out, "YAAAAAAA!" before thrusting his fist into the gate. After a brief moment, cracks began to spread throughout the gate before it collapsed to the ground in pieces.
Turning back to face his comrades, he offered them a bright smile and asked, "Shall we?"
Everyone's eyes were wide in shock. "Holy. Shit." Naruto said quietly. "That...was AWESOME! You can hit as hard as Tsunade-chan! That's amazing!"
Hinata nodded in agreement. "I didn't know you possessed such strength. You're incredible, Haschel!"
Rose smirked at her elderly friend and said, "I underestimated you. You're far stronger than I figured."
"Why thank you. We should get going, though." Haschel said before he turned and walked into the next area, the others quickly following after him.
As they came across a doorway in the next area, they paused and looked around for a moment. Albert spoke up after about a minute. "It seems obvious there are bandits hiding."
"Let's start looking here." Dart said, motioning to the nearby doorway.
Slowly, the group began to enter one by one, but after a second, Haschel fell to one knee. Shana, seeing this, turned and asked, "What's wrong?"
Haschel smiled awkwardly at this. "I think I did too much. My back hurts." Seeing their worried looks, he said, "Don't worry. I'll be alright if I rest a little."
Naruto and the other ninja on the team watched as Haschel walked over and sat down on a piece of rubble. Alright Haschel, what are you playing at? They wondered, knowing that he was actually perfectly alright.
Meru interrupted their thoughts. "Men! You should've thought about your age!" Turning to face the others, the platinum-haired dancer said, "Go ahead. I'll take care of him."
Haschel frowned and said, "Hm. You will? I think I can wait here by myself…."
The beautiful dancer turned to look at him. "No way! We don't know when they will come back!"
Dart looked at the ninja and Shana before saying, "We gotta leave them, then. We'll be back if something happens." And with that, the four ninja, Dart, and Shana all entered the hideaway, leaving Meru alone with Haschel.
"If they come back, I'll destroy them!" she shouted after them. Turning to Haschel, she offered him a smile. "Be good, Haschel."
As Meru began to pace and look around for any sign of the bandits, Haschel snuck up behind her and knocked her out with a neck chop. "Ah…." she said as she fell unconscious.
Haschel sighed and frowned down at Meru. "Sorry about that." he said quietly before he rushed up the stairs nearby and into the building at the top.
Back with the others, Dart could be heard saying, "I guess there are only Rock Fireflies here." As he emerged from the little hideaway, he saw Meru unconscious and exclaimed, "Meru!" before rushing over to her.
Kneeling down beside her, he asked, "What happened!?"
As Meru slowly came to, she looked around at everyone before she was helped to her feet by Naruto. "Ouch… Um… Something bumped into me and…" Looking around a little more, she found a member of their party was missing. "Oh boy. Where is Haschel?"
"Did he go by himself!?" Dart exclaimed in worry.
"I figured he'd pull something like this. Damned old man. Why's he gotta be so reckless?" Tayuya said, frowning deeply.
"You knew he'd knock Meru out and go on by himself?" Shana questioned worriedly as she stared at the ninja.
Hinata sighed and nodded her head in confirmation. "Yes. It was obvious what he was planning. He was faking his injury so he could go on ahead by himself to deal with his wayward student."
"Damn it Haschel. Just hold on, we're coming!" Dart exclaimed in frustration.
Using the Rock Fireflies to heal their wounds, they proceeded down the nearby stairs and opened the crate sitting there, finding an Angel's Prayer within. Afterwards, they rushed up all the stairs until they reached the doorway at the top. Heading inside, they didn't know what awaited them exactly, but they were all prepared for whatever might happen once inside. What they didn't see as they went inside was a familiar Giganto following after them.
Inside the building, a bandit could be seen relaying information to the boss, Gehrich. Mappi, the one who stole the Dragoon Spirit, looked to Gehrich and said, "Hee hee hee! I cannot stop laughing! Boss! They came all the way here! I guess that pebble I took was super important."
Gehrich sighed and spoke, without ever looking at Mappi. "There are too many people who don't care about their lives. The snotnose from Donau too."
Mappi walked around to Gehrich's other side and said, "Let's just kill that kid! I don't care that he's the son of the Mayor! I got that woman with us now!" Walking back to Gehrich's other side, Mappi continued. "Now is a good chance, cuz the woman is in control of the palace…. It'll be a piece of cake to take over this country…."
Gehrich frowned and shook his head. "My fist doesn't desire that kind of thing. I just want to live free. If she wants the power, I'll give it to her."
The smaller bandit walked back to Gehrich's other side, clearly unable to sit still. "Boss! You're gonna be taken advantage of, being a wimp like that!"
It was at this point that Haschel made his appearance, saying, "Gehrich, you haven't changed a bit."
Gehrich quickly stood to his feet while Mappi glared at the intruder. "Who are you!?" Mappi questioned.
Haschel didn't even look at Mappi as he said, "Shut up, you small fry."
"What did you say!?" Mappi exclaimed furiously. It was at this point that the tiny bandit noticed something off about Gehrich's behavior. Turning to him, he asked, "Boss? Is something wrong?"
Ignoring his companion, Gehrich said, "M-Master…."
Mappi once more crossed to Gehrich's other side and asked, "Master of the Rouge School?"
Haschel sighed as he took a few steps forward, looking hard into Gehrich's eyes. "Head of the bandits? How low you have fallen. I was right to kick you out."
"Yes! You were right! Thanks to you, I obtained freedom! I am not the person you remember!" Gehrich exclaimed.
Haschel took another few steps forward. "Martial arts is your heart. When you hit, your fist aches, and your heart aches. Except, it seems your heart has forgotten the ache."
"..." Gehrich was silent, unable to utter a word.
Mappi turned to Haschel and glared. "Shut up! I'll shut you up!" And with that, Mappi leapt at Haschel, only to be knocked back by Dart as the others soon entered the room.
Dart turned to Haschel with a smirk. "Have I kept you waiting!?"
Meru pouted at Haschel and put her fists against her hips. "It's not fair leaving me like that!"
Naruto smirked at his friend and said, "Did you really think you could just leave us behind, Haschel? You should know us better than that by now."
Haschel looked at his friends and teammates and sighed. "You…." he started, only to find that he couldn't utter another word.
Gehrich looked around at all of his foes before turning to face Haschel. "Then why don't you remind me of your so-called aching heart!?"
It was at this point that the battle got underway. Mappi and Gehrich versus the Dragoons and their companions.
It was obvious from the get-go that Mappi and Gehrich were a deadly duo, as Mappi slipped around behind Albert and kicked him forward where the boss of the bandits knocked him up into the air before proceeding to pummel the hell out of the king's back. Afterwards, he dropped Albert and kicked him away, causing the wounded king to let out a cough followed by a groan of agony.
Shana quickly helped Albert to his feet before returning her attention to the fight. Mappi was a fast little blighter and oftentimes knocked one of the party down and proceeded to lash out with his claws, leaving long gashes in their clothing and along their skin underneath.
Meanwhile, Gehrich lashed out with kicks and punches, which the ninjas of the group dodged to the best of their ability. After a short while, however, Naruto was caught by one of Gehrich's kicks and was knocked to the floor where Gehrich landed a brutal punch to his stomach, causing him to spit up a glob of saliva from the sheer force of the blow.
As the group attacked Mappi, trying to take him out first, they had to watch out for any of his counterattacks in the process. When Hikari finally got in close enough and slashed his throat, they watched as the little bastard fell to the ground, bleeding out from his wound.
This left Gehrich, who, despite losing Mappi, was putting up one hell of a fight. Naruto soon created five Shadow Clones and rushed in, getting past Gehrich's guard and kicking him up into the air. His clones continued to kick him ever higher before the real Naruto appeared above him and landed a fierce spinning kick to Gehrich's abdomen, sending him crashing to the floor hard. It was Gehrich's turn to spit up a glob of saliva from how much force was behind that kick and his fall.
When Gehrich rose to his feet, Haschel rushed forward and unleashed one of his super punches, sending his wayward apprentice flying into the statue behind him. Afterwards, with Gehrich defeated, they figured everything was over and done with, Gehrich was defeated, after all! However…
Cracks began to spread throughout the statue and, upon noticing this, Gehrich looked to Haschel and shouted, "Please run! Master!"
Looking up above as a shadow loomed over them all, the group were prepared to be crushed underneath the arm that had begun falling towards them. However, when they didn't feel death coming to claim them, they opened their eyes to see Kongol had appeared and was holding the giant arm above his head. It took a considerable amount of effort, but he soon threw the arm over the edge of the platform they were on, where it quickly fell into the black abyss.
Seeing him there, Dart and the others couldn't help but exclaim, "Kongol!?" in shock.
After it was all said and done, the party watched as Haschel held his apprentice in his arms. "Gehrich…. Now I seem to be helping you remember the ache in your heart with my fist."
Dart frowned as he looked at Haschel worriedly. "Will he make it?"
Haschel turned his head to look at Dart. "Barely, at least for now. But if the Giganto over there hadn't saved us, he would be completely dead by now...and all of us too."
The red-clad merc nodded and looked to Kongol. "Kongol, why are you here? And why did you save us?"
Rose frowned as she looked at the Giganto. "It's a strange way to get revenge on us. What's going on in your mind?"
Naruto offered Kongol a smile and said, "Repaying an act of kindness with one of your own. That's admirable, Kongol."
Kongol nodded as he looked around at everyone. "You enemy no more. Here Holy place of Gigantos. Me survivor."
Shana stepped up to Kongol at this point and looked up into his eyes. "What about the other Gigantos?"
The giant of a man looked at Shana and smiled sadly. "Human killed us. They stole Giganto's treasure. Human thinks other species can die. Human selfish creature."
Albert frowned as he looked at Kongol. "That was the reason why you joined the human's war?"
Kongol shook his head and said, "It's for Emperor Doel. Me still small and ran. He saved Kongol. He fought against bad people." Turning around to face Dart and Naruto, Kongol said, "Kongol comes with you. So Kongol is here. Emperor Doel say he make world where every species equal. World needs strong leader. Whether you can be leader, Kongol will watch to the end. Giganto's sadness should not be repeated…."
Rose sighed and looked at the Giganto sadly. "There is no such world where "equal" exists. What we have is killing and being killed. That's it."
Hinata frowned at this viewpoint of hers, but she couldn't deny the truth in her words. "That's...a morbid way of looking at things, but you aren't exactly wrong. I mean, just look at the civil war taking place here. So much senseless death, and all because the current Mizukage despises bloodline users like myself."
Before a fight could break out between Rose and Kongol, Dart ran up and shouted, "Wait!" Turning to face Kongol, he said, "I have my own objectives. I am just continuing my journey towards them. I don't think I make a good "leader"."
Naruto chuckled a bit at this as he looked at his friend. "Sometimes the best leaders are those who either don't want to lead or are those who didn't have confidence in their leadership capabilities. As it stands, you're the de facto leader of our group, whether you like it or not. Unless you'd rather I lead us instead?" he said jokingly.
Kongol nodded as he looked at Dart. "You defeat Emperor Doel. Strong, Strong Power. Stronger than Emperor Doel. Kongol wants to see where the power goes."
Meru piped up at this point, saying, "Sounds good, doesn't it? Cuz more people makes us feel more secure. Besides….I understand how he feels to be attracted to you, Dart. There must be something wherever you go. I still dunno what it is, but...I wanna be with you and do something. Don't you guys feel that way?" she questioned, looking around at the others, seeing them all nod in agreement.
"...Okay." Dart said quietly. Turning to Kongol, he smiled at him. "We are friends now."
Kongol nodded slowly and said, "...Friend." as if testing the word, seeing how it felt to roll of his tongue. "It sounds good."
"We did it!" Meru exclaimed joyfully.
Rose turned to Dart with a frown. "You have forgotten the most important thing."
Dart turned to her, but before he could ask what she meant, Meru shouted, "Come on! We gotta find Lynn!"
"The Dragoon Spirit too!" Shana added.
Kongol spoke up at this point, saying, "What you are looking for may be down there. You push the thing up there."
Dart walked up the nearby steps to where Gehrich had been sitting earlier and looked around for a switch of some kind. Finding it, he asked, "Is this it?" Pressing it, he quickly jumped off of the stone contraption as it started sinking into the floor.
Once it had sunk all the way, revealing stairs going down, Gehrich groaned. "Ugh…!"
"Gehrich, you have come around." Haschel said, feeling relieved.
Gehrich smiled at Haschel and said quietly, "I'm glad...to receive your fist, Master…."
"Shut up. Talking makes you die." Haschel said.
The bandit leader shook his head slightly before saying, "I gotta tell you...this or...I'll die as a real fool…. It's about the Princess Emille in the Castle…. She's...a fake…. That woman was switched…. Ugh…!"
"Don't say anything!" Haschel pleaded.
"Ugh…! The real one is hidden in...the castle…." Gehrich said before the last bit of life finally left him.
Haschel felt like he was about to burst from the pain he felt in his heart. Slowly lifting Gehrich into his arms, Haschel turned and said, "I'll catch up to you later, I have to entomb him."
The group watched as Haschel exited the building. Once he was gone, Kongol turned to the others and said, "Me wait here. Bandits may come again."
Nodding in acceptance of this, the group proceeded towards the stairs, only for Naruto to suddenly pause as something caught his attention by the torch on the right. Kneeling down, he reached down and picked up a piece of Stardust. "Cool. Lookie what I found guys!" he said, showing it to the others.
"A piece of Stardust, huh? Good. Best hold onto that for now until we can give it to Martel." Albert said with a smile before they descended the stairs to begin their search.
As they entered the room down below, Meru shouted out, "Lynn! Where are you!?"
Lynn's voice could be heard replying, "Meru! Are you here to rescue me!?"
Rushing over to the nearby cell, she shouted out, "Of course! Kate's totally worried about ya!" After a moment, she shouted. "Oh no! I'm letting you out now!" before she began repeatedly kicking the cell door.
Albert walked over to a nearby lever and said, "This opens it." Watching as the cell opened up, he turned to Meru and said, "If your brawn doesn't work, you should use your brain."
Lynn smiled at Meru and said, "Meru! Thanks!" Looking around at everyone, he asked, "Do you know these people?"
Meru tapped her chest briefly before saying, "These are my pals! We are traveling together for a variety of reasons!"
Lynn looked somewhat teary-eyed as he looked around at everyone. "You came all the way to such a dangerous place…. What great people! Thank you!" he exclaimed, bowing to them. "People's courage hasn't dried up yet!"
Dart smiled at him and said, "You showed it yourself."
Naruto nodded in agreement. "It took a great deal of courage to come here by yourself, y'know? Even though it was dangerous, you still put forth the effort to make a difference. So, you're not so bad yourself."
Lynn smiled at Naruto in thanks before Meru spoke up, "But, why did you come alone?! I had lots of things to say to the gang too!"
Lynn sighed as he turned to his friend. "I wanted to solve this by myself. Besides, I thought I might be able to talk to Gehrich if he hadn't changed. But something had changed. Probably, the person who joined him a half year ago changed Gehrich."
Albert nodded in understanding. "And that person is now assuming the form of Princess Emille. We need to go back to the castle quickly."
Rose decided she needed to remind everyone of a certain important something. "That's after we find the stolen Dragoon Spirit."
Lynn looked at her and said, "Any stolen goods should be around here. They were throwing all the stolen items in here."
Shana spoke up at this point, "Now, let's split up and look for it."
As everyone split up to go looking for it, Dart walked around trying to find it. When he saw something sparkling a short distance away, he rushed over and knelt down, grabbing it. "I got it!" he exclaimed, alerting everyone.
When he held the Dragoon Spirit aloft, it began to shine brightly, causing Meru to exclaim, "Wow!"
Rose said, "It seems happy to meet you again."
Dart smiled at this before pocketing his Dragoon Spirit. Looking around at everyone, he said, "Now let's go back to Fletz and see Princess Lisa and tell her everything!"
Ascending the stairs to the room above, Kongol looked at them and asked, "Did you find thing?"
Haschel, who had entered just a moment prior, said, "It seems you found both Lynn and the Dragoon Spirit."
Before they could set out, something in Naruto's pouch began to shine brightly, causing everyone to cover their eyes. Blinking, Naruto withdrew the Dragoon Spirit he had purchased back in Konoha-Lohan and watched as it flew into Kongol's waiting hands. When he was transformed a moment later, they could barely believe their eyes. Kongol was the wielder of the Golden Dragoon Spirit and was therefore the Dragoon of Earth!
"Great power. Me feel good." Kongol said with a smile before he cancelled his transformation. Looking around at everyone, he said, "Me truly one of you now."
"Damn right you are! Glad you could join us, Kongol!" Naruto exclaimed with a large grin on his face. It was time to return to Fletz and confront the imposter. Of course, they'd have to find the real Princess Emille and free her first, before they did anything drastic.
Princess Emille, don't you worry. We're coming to save you! Albert thought to himself as he clenched his fist. I promise we'll be there soon!
A/N - And that's the end of the chapter!
I don't have a whole lot to say, as I'm pretty tired. I wrote this all in one sitting, so I'm pretty exhausted. lol. Sooo...yeaaah. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and are looking forward to whatever the hell comes next! XD