Their Hero Academia: Once Upon a Time
Once upon a time, in a far off land, there lived a boy named Isamu. He was tall and he was kind and he was known for being extraordinarily fleet of foot. It was said that he had a kind word for everyone, though he was possessed of a nervous disposition, given to jumping at the slightest surprise. But in spite of that, he was quick to speak up for those in need and quick to rush to the aid of others.
In other times, he might have been a knight, a protector of the realm, so great was his desire for to help others. But that was an impossible thing, because he was a commoner. He had no noble lineage and parents were ordinary people. It had been said in times past that the common folk could earn knighthood by special deed, but in his small town, it seemed as though that would never happen. Isamu fully expected to live out a normal, happy life, free from the troubles and adventures that had once plagued the land.
But fate often has a way of proving such beliefs wrong, as Isamu would find out one summer day.
His parents had sent him to the neighboring larger city to sell some of their wares and it had been a good day. Isamu was ready to return home and his pack was lighter by far but his coin purse heavier. Just as he finished tying together the bundle of his pack, an ugly voice split the air.
"Give us your purse and we won't hurt you. Much."
His eyes instantly went to the source of the voice. Two big men, both of rough and dangerous, had cornered a girl about his age and had her blocked against a wall. She wore a hooded cloak, despite the summer heat, but from what he could see, she was pale and very slight. There would be very little that she could do to defend herself.
He looked around. No one was paying them any attention. It was just one more facet of life in a bigger city, he guessed. People said it happened all the time. People said things like "somebody ought to do something about it." But right now, there weren't even any members of the city watch around.
He should have just kept walking. It was none of his business. This was just the way of the world sometimes. No one would have blamed him. Both of the men had muscles he could only dream about and both were armed, carrying knives that looked like they had not been cleaned in some time. He was just a gangly young man and no one would have ever expected that he act.
And yet, his body moved on its own.
Before he knew what he was doing, he was running forward, swinging his pack through the air in big circles. He let out a sound that was half battle cry and half terrified scream before releasing it. The pack sailed through the air and hit the nearest of the two with a heavy impact, knocking him senseless. The sound of shattering pottery told him that he would be having a very difficult discussion with his parents when he returned home, assuming he survived the next several minutes.
"What the hell?" the one who was still standing asked, turning to face him. He swung his knife wildly, slicing through the air. "That was a mistake, boy! You're going to pay for that!" He took a menacing step forward, the girl seemingly forgotten for a moment.
It was starting to look even less likely that he was going to survive the next few minutes. Which was, in truth, a relief, because it meant he would not have to explain anything else. He could only hope that the girl would run while the man took his anger out on him.
But just as suddenly, the man paused, stopping dead in his tracks. Fear flashed over his face and the knife fell to the ground, his fingers suddenly gone boneless from terror. "I… we weren't meaning no harm, see?" the man babbled. "I'll just… be going now…"
Isamu did not know what caused the man to turn tail and run, but he was grateful for whatever it was. The girl, who had not fled as he had hoped, stepped over the unconscious form of her other attacker and smiled at him. Up close, he could see that she was very beautiful and had kind eyes. Her smile made him feel as though all was right with the world.
"Thank you," she said, and her voice was soft, barely above a whisper, like someone unaccustomed to speaking loudly. "You were very brave. But there was no need to endanger yourself. I would have been all right. And even if I was not, my friends would have taken care of them."
Her friends?
A grunt behind him made him turn. Behind him was a young man about his age, with a shock of green hair, dressed in well-worn, but clearly high class clothes, a scabbard on his back and a sword in his hands. Next to him was the most terrifying girl he had ever seen, short, but with thick muscles and red eyes that seemed to glow. She had to be from the barbarian outlands, for she was dressed in furs and skins, her arms and stomach exposed to the elements. An axe that looked far too heavy to hold was in her hands and her face was twisted up in rage.
The boy relaxed when he saw that things seemed to be all right. "Thank you," he said to Isamu, replacing his sword in its scabbard. "We could have handled them, but I'm glad we didn't have to."
The scary girl on the other hand, pushed past him and approached the girl, putting her hands on her upper arms with a tenderness that surprised him. "Are you all right, Izumi?" she asked.
"I am fine," the other girl said. "You worry too much, Katsumi."
"I worry exactly the right amount," the scary girl—Katsumi—said. "It's not safe for you here. We need to…"
A stiff breeze chose that moment to pick up, and it flung the pale girl's hood back, fully revealing her pale face and soft features. Hair that was white, but became red, cascaded from her head.
Isamu sucked in a breath in surprise. Even being from a small village, he recognized the princess of the realm.
"You're the… you're… you're…" Isamu stammered, arms flailing through the air wildly. Some powerful instinct dropped him to his knees and he averted his eyes. Of all the people in all the land, he never would have expected in a thousand years to see the princess! What was she doing here? Why wasn't she at the castle? And why was she in the company of a barbarian?
"Please," Princess Izumi said, "rise. There is no need for ceremony here." She carefully pulled her hood back up, hiding her hair once again.
"And you're going to blow our cover, you fool!" the barbarian woman snarled, clenching a fist.
It was the green haired boy who helped him back to his feet, offering him a hand up. Isamu took it gladly. "Sorry about that," he said. "Katsumi can be a little scary, but she is right. We can't afford to draw any attention to ourselves. There's people chasing us who would do anything to catch us."
"Tell the whole flaming world, why don't you, Toshi?" the barbarian girl, Katsumi, snapped.
"I should at least like to compensate you for your troubles," Princess Izumi said, reaching into the pouch on her belt. "We do not have much, but you risked much for us and…"
Isamu shook his head. The click of coins sounded like silver or maybe gold, money that would have more than paid for what he lost in merchandise throwing his pack. "I don't need a reward. It was the right thing to do, even if it cost me."
"Great," Katsumi said, pacing impatiently. "He's fine. You're fine. We're all fine. Can we go now? We need to get to Naruhata by nightfall."
"As soon as we figure out where it is," Toshi said.
The barbarian girl gave him a menacing look, though Toshi did not flinch from it. In fact, he seemed far too used to it. "Which would be a lot easier if you hadn't the lost the maps."
"I apologized for that already! And I didn't lose them! They set them on fire!"
"Naruhata?" Isamu asked. He didn't want to think about who they were. "I'm from there. I can take you."
In the back of his mind, he wondered if whoever they were, they would follow. Was he bringing danger home?
But this was the princess. The boy seemed important too. He didn't know about the barbarian; she was too scary to focus on for long anyway. He would swear that her eyes seemed to glow when she got mad(der), and that he could see little puffs of smoke on her breath.
The barbarian girl looked at him with her wild eyes. "Well, guess who just got himself elected guide."
Princess Izumi laid a hand on the barbarian's shoulder. "There is no need for that, Katsumi. You're frightening him."
Katsumi seethed for a moment, but calmed under the princess's touch. "Hmph."
The princess turned to him. "I am afraid we must ask for your help again. It may be dangerous. But the safety of the kingdom, the safety of our parents, the safety of everything depends on our mission."
That was scary news indeed. But what could Isamu do? His father had always said that if you were able to help someone, you should. Small acts of kindness had the power to move mountains.
"I'll take you," he said.
The light of day was beginning to fade as they walked the road from the city to Naruhata. It wasn't far, only a couple of hours walk, but there were some parts that were tricky if you didn't know the way, where the road ended. Without a map, Toshi, Katsumi, and Princess Izumi probably wouldn't have found it.
What a strange trio they made! Despite being no older than him and all of them being shorter than he was, they all seemed to carry themselves with so much more confidence than he had ever had. The barbarian girl Katsumi in particular seemed to walk through the world as though it had personally offended her and was moments away from feeling her wrath. And yet, whenever Princess Izumi was involved, she seemed to soften for just a moment. Already, he had seen her listen to the princess many times.
The green haired boy, Toshi, carried himself like a knight, taking the lead, and scanning ahead for trouble. The sword on his back had to be heavy, but he carried it was though it was nothing, and though he seemed concerned about something (probably whatever they were running from), he also seemed to clearly believe that whatever happened, it would work out. He seemed neither quite as high class as the princess, nor as rough as Katsumi. His clothes were well-worn, but high-class, a contradiction if ever there was one. It was rare to find a noble who understood the plight of the common folk, and yet Isamu was certain that he did.
Even the princess was surprising. She was easily one of the most beautiful girls Isamu had ever seen. Her reputation as the fairest in all the land was well earned. But so to was her reputation for kindness. She spoke to him as those he were an equal, even though he had to fight every instinct to avert his eyes rather than look upon her. And yet there was something about her, a steel hidden within her silk, that told him she truly could have protected herself if it had come to it. But what was she doing here? The palace was many leagues away, in the center of the land. Surely King Shoto and Queen Momo would not have allowed their daughter to travel so far, especially in such strange company.
"You must have questions," Princess Izumi asked, walking beside him. Toshi and Katsumi were in front, though Katsumi continued to look back to check on her and to glare at him.
"I, ah, yes," Isamu said. "None of you seem like the kind of people you would find around here. And I didn't think people did quests anymore…"
"Would that it were so," the princess said, with a slight bow of her head. "But there is always darkness in the land. And right now, there is far more of it than there has been in many years."
Isamu felt a cold chill go up his spine at her words.
"You know that my parents are the king and queen," she said. "Toshi's father is my father's most trusted friend and knight and his mother a mage of the court. And Katsumi is the daughter of the chieftain of the barbarians who roam the kingdom's outlands, through a mutual arrangement between their chieftain and my father."
So he was indeed traveling with very important people, a commoner among nobles. Of course, the tales said that the king's most trusted knight had once been a commoner himself, raised to his current station by the sponsorship of a golden champion and by his own heroic deeds, but no one knew if those tales were true.
"Many years ago," the princess continued, "our parents banded together with several others and drove back the greatest threat our land had ever seen. A dark wizard had left behind a disciple called Shigarki. It took all of them and many more besides to defeat him. It brought about a new age of peace.
"But Shigarki left behind many tools and weapons of his war on peace. We had thought them all destroyed, but someone has found what was left, foul monsters called the Nomu, and used them to wage war on peace all over again. Already, the outlands have fallen, and many more lands besides.
"Before they took our kingdom, Toshi's and my parents were able to spirit us out of the castle, with maps and the names of towns where it was said we might find weapons and allies to stop the threat. We already found Toshi's sword and Katsumi's axe, but on our way, we were attacked, and lost the next maps we were to use."
"That… that's bad," he said, feeling dumb that he had no better words.
"It is," she agreed. "But I have faith that we will succeed." She grew quiet. "We must."
Before them, Katsumi suddenly stopped and held up a hand. Around them, it had grown darker. Ahead of them, the path wound through dark woods, much more frightening now, somehow, than they had been when he had first walked this way. She sniffed the air deeply, then reached for her axe. "Damnation," she growled. "They've found us. Get ready for a fight."
Toshi drew his sword. "Isamu, we'll hold them off as best we can. But if it starts looking dangerous, I want you to take Izumi and run."
He gulped. "I… I can do that."
"I will not flee," Izumi said, producing a pair of small daggers from her belt. She handed one to him, which he took with shaking hands. He had never wielded a weapon before.
He heard it before he saw it. The sound of something heavy coming from the woods, steps that made the ground shake. And they were upon them, monstrous, twisted creatures, with dead skin, beaks, and their skulls open, exposing the brains within.
One of them let out a monstrous roar that he would remember for all of his days.
Without any fanfare, the creatures attacked. Toshi met them first, swinging his sword in a wide arc, leaving a great gash in the skin of the nearest monster. There was no blood and it did little to stop the creature, so he struck again and again, his sword flashing like lightning.
"DIE!" Katsumi yelled, adding her axe to Toshi's sword strikes. With a single blow, she beheaded the monster. Oily black fluid went flying from the stump and the head landed several feet away, but the body continued to move and fight.
There were four of the monsters all together and the one Toshi and Katsumi were fighting was by far the biggest. Two smaller ones broke past them to attack Isamu and the princess, while the last circled around to try and get at Katsumi and Toshi from behind.
It let out a growl and struck out. In a panic, Isamu stabbed forth with his borrowed dagger. It left a scratch along the creature's skin, which then immediately burst into flames along the scratch. Had he done that? It must have been the power of the dagger.
Princess Izumi dodged out of the way of the other's strike, stabbing her own dagger into its hand. From the point where she had stabbed it, ice spread out, freezing the creature's hand solid, so that when she wrenched her dagger free, it shattered. It let out a monstrous howl, but struck again, forcing her to take steps back.
His own foe seemed no worse for wear for the flames that appeared every time he struck it with his dagger. All he could do, it seemed, was hold it at bay. Thankfully, he was fleet of foot and able to dodge its blows, but he knew he could not do it forever. Unless something changed, he would likely tire long before the monster did.
"Oooh!" Princess Izumi let out a cry as the creature struck out with its remaining hand, tearing through her cloak and knocking her to the ground.
"Princess!" he shouted, throwing himself in front of her. He struck out, stabbing the creature in the eye. As he pulled the dagger back, the creature's head burst into flames. It let out a great roar and when he looked upon its burning face, he saw not bone and muscle under its skin, but clockworks!
"How?" he asked. "It's… not alive?"
Princess Izumi got her feet, standing beside him. "Yes and also no, I think. The clockworks augment something that was never natural to begin with. Foul magics indeed."
The other one had regained its senses, even as it burned. It struck out again and this time both of them stabbed it at once. Their daggers struck home, and flames and ice both spread along its body. The intense heat and cold must have proved too much for it or its clockworks, because it jerked to a stop, twitching as it collapsed.
"Are you all right?" the princess asked. Worry marred her delicate features.
"I, ah, I, I guess?" he said. "I never really did anything like that before. Ever."
"Battle is never easy," she told him. "Even less so your first time. But you did well. I am just sorry I did not have time to tell you about my daggers, and even more sorry to have dragged you into this."
"I volunteered to help," he said. "And it's definitely not your fault those things are after you all…"
Speaking of…
It looked like Toshi and Katsumi had finally subdued the one she had beheaded, chopping enough of its body to keep it from moving. The other one was bigger and slower, but it wasn't going down from any of their strikes. Instead, it struck out again, knocking Toshi away and sending his sword clattering from his hands. Its follow-up blow hit Katsumi hard and it pinned her to the ground. She tried to reach out and grab her axe, but it was just too far away.
"Katsumi!" the princess screamed. Isamu had to restrain her to keep her from rushing forward and attacking that monster. "Let me go! She needs help!"
"That thing will kill you!" Isamu said. They had been lucky with the others. That one had beaten Toshi and Katsumi…
"Don't worry, Izumi," the barbarian girl said, laughing in spite of the danger she was in. "I got this."
And then she began to change.
He couldn't see it clearly, because the monster's bulk was in the way, but Katsumi's skin began to ripple and her features began to stretch and distort, as crimson scales spread across her body. Hands and feet became claws, tearing through her furred boots. She was growing too, becoming larger and larger, the force her of growth enough to throw the monster off her. Leathery wings sprouted from her back and her face began to elongate.
In mere moments, there was no more Katsumi, barbarian girl.
There was, instead, a crimson dragon, big enough that a man might ride it, dwarfing the monster. But the eyes of the dragon still seemed very human and very intelligent. The monster roared a challenge and the dragon roared one right back. Neither seemed cowed by the other.
But the dragon kept roaring and unleashed a powerful blast of flame. It engulfed the monster, setting it on fire. The heat was so intense it took the beast's flesh off, exposing the iron and other clockworks underneath. The dragon kept the attack up, even as the clockwork monstrosity struggled to step forward, until the heat melted it into a messy puddle.
By now, Toshi had recovered. "Katsumi!" he shouted. "I think it's dead!"
One of the dragon's eyes looked upon him, then back the mess that had once been the monster. It stopped its fiery assault and Isamu would swear it was smirking. Then, just as suddenly as it had happened before, the dragon began to change.
"You may wish to avert your eyes," the princess told him.
It took him a moment's thought to realize what she meant, but as he saw scales become skin, he hastily found somewhere else to look.
"In your pack, Toshi?" Princess Izumi asked.
"Ah, yes," Toshi replied. "Over there… somewhere. I can't look right now."
"Allow me, then," Princess Izumi said, walking past Isamu.
There were the sounds of hushed conversations for a moment, before the princess spoke again. "You may turn around, gentlemen. Thank you for your patience."
When Isamu turned around, Katsumi seemed dressed the same as she had been, though her boots were new. He must not have been able to keep the curiosity off of his face.
"Did you think you were missing seeing me naked?" Katsumi asked, sneering. She laughed. "You wish. Most people just don't like seeing me turn back. I'm told it isn't pretty. Murder on my boots though." She retrieved her axe and gave it a few experimental swings, which seemed to satisfy her.
His mind reeled. How had she done that? It was rumored that one of the last dragons served the barbarian chieftain, but how would she have inherited such power? He had already thought her to be dangerous, but now she seemed so much more so.
"Those monsters…" Isamu began.
"The Nomu I spoke of," the princess said. "And where those travel, I fear there may be more."
More? But if they were already this close, then could they have made it…
Isamu ran.
Isamu did not know how long he ran for. At a walk, they had still been two hours out from his village. At a run, for someone was fleet of foot as he was, it took considerably less time. His thoughts drifted to his traveling companions, to brave Toshi, frightening Katsumi, and Princess Izumi, who had surprised him with how well she had fought and taken care of herself. He had not meant to leave them behind like that and he hoped that they had been able to follow.
But when he came upon his village of Narahuta, his heart sank and at last his knees gave out, dropping him to the ground. The village was aflame, many of the structures already collapsed or charred nearly beyond recognition. The baker's shop. The town hall. The church. The… the houses…
There were three of those monstrous Nomu tearing through what few structures remained, one long-limbed and more animal-like, prowling about on all fours, one large and muscular, like one of the creatures he and his companions had fought already, and one pale and winged, with flames dancing all along its body. He quickly ducked out of sight, behind one of the buildings still standing, one of the storehouses, and hoped that they could not see him, or worse, smell him.
It was only then, with the sounds of flames and monsters and his own breath ringing through his ears that he realized what he was not hearing. People. There were no sounds of people, none at all. No cries or screams or pain or fear, not one trying to mount some kind of defense, nothing.
The people of his village were farmers and merchants and craftsmen. There were few, if any, weapons in the village. They would have been helpless when these monsters attacked…
But he had seen no bodies either. No corpses sliced to ribbons, no charred skeletons, nothing. Whatever had happened, it was as though no one had ever lived her at all.
He ran again, this time towards his home, not caring if the monsters saw him or not. When he arrived, his hopes were quickly dashed. Where once there had been his home, there was only ash and scorched earth. Of his parents, there was no sign.
But there, in the middle what remained of the floor of what had once been his home, was what was clearly a trapdoor. Strange. He didn't remember seeing that before. But hadn't there always been a rug there? Had his parents been hiding something? He wouldn't have thought it possible. He thought of his dad as one of the most honest people in the whole world.
Carefully, he crept forward and opened the trapdoor, the wood not even singed and the metal cool. He could tell now that was closer that a protective sigil, a closed fist with a knuckleduster, had been drawn on it. That must have been expensive. Wandering wizards were few and far between and quite costly. What could his parents have possibly had that was worth protecting like that?
Inside, he found a pair of gauntlets, shining and metallic, while looking remarkably flexible. There was something about them that instantly told him they were magical. It just raised more and more questions. His eyes fell on a roll of parchment, perfectly preserved, and nestled between them. Carefully, he grabbed the parchment and unrolled it.
Son,
If you're seeing this, then something bad's happened. I'd hoped to never have to show you these. I'd hoped that, at least, I'd have been able to give you these myself. But sometimes, what we hope for isn't what happens.
What I never told you was, once upon a time, I was known as the Crawler of the Woods. I was never a knight or a squire or a rogue or anything like that, but I did a little bit of good and I helped people. It was thanks to these gauntlets that I was able to do it. They'll give you the power to fight whatever evil is out there again. They won't be as good as some of the magical stuff they give people up at the castle or in other reaches of the kingdom, but they did some good once. And they can again.
No matter what happens, know that I love you and I know you'll make me proud.
Dad
There was no time for tears now. It was too much to think about. He would probably have a good cry later, when there weren't monsters about. Carefully, once again, he reached out and grabbed the gauntlets. They slipped onto his hands easily, not even needing any adjustment. The fingers were surprisingly flexible and he could swear he could see a faint blue-white glow between the joints.
"Look out, you idiot!" A harsh voice—he realized quickly it was Katsumi's—split the air and he looked over his shoulder just in time to see one of the Nomu coming for him.
Isamu rolled just in time to see the Nomu swing its massive arm and hit the ground with a ferocious impact. It was the big one he'd seen earlier. Reflexively, he brought up a hand to try and shield his face should its attention turn on him again. From the palm of the gauntlet, a beam of blue-white light shot out and struck the Nomu, burning a hole right through its skin. He could see the gears underneath and saw that some had melted and ground to a stop.
It was not nearly enough to stop it.
But it was enough to get its attention. The Nomu pivoted and raised its arms to strike again, letting out that terrible roar that he could feel in his bones. Isamu saw his life flash before his eyes.
No! He couldn't die here! He had to find out what had happened to his parents and the people of his village! He had to find out why his father and now he had these gauntlets. He had to live!
"C'mon," he hissed. "Do it again…" He pointed both his hands and wished with all his might that they would fire again. Once more, blue-white beams of light lanced out and pieced the Nomu's body, knocking it back for a moment. He realized that he'd maybe bought himself moments at best.
SCHLICK!
There was a sickening sound, as an axe blade split the Nomu clean in half. As the pieces fell to either side, he saw Katsumi standing behind it. She had a feral grin on her face and, in his opinion, it took a far too long moment for the battle lust to leave her eyes.
"I guess I should thank you for distracting it," she said. "Where'd you get the new toys?"
"I... I found them," he said. "They were buried under my house."
"Your house?" she snapped. And then she looked around, as though seeing the damage for the first time. Her expression softened by several degrees and he remembered that something had happened to the barbarian outlands. Were her parents…? "I'm sorry."
She shouldered her axe and offered him a hand up. He took it and she hauled him to his feet roughly. "Word of advice?" she said. She didn't wait for him to respond. "Any fight you don't end up dead from is a good one." She gave him a slap on the back that nearly knocked him over.
"C'mon," she added. "Toshi and Izumi were going after the other ones."
"And you came to save me?" he asked.
"Figured there'd be a fight," she said. "Don't let it go to your head."
The sounds of battle filled the air. Sword against flesh, the war cries of the Nomu…
Katsumi took off towards the sounds of the fight without even looking back.
They arrived just in time to see Toshi's sword fell one of the Nomu, the one that had been like a giant dog. There were burn marks and signs of freezing, where Princess Izumi's daggers must have struck home. Toshi held his sword tightly, eyes darting around for signs of any further danger. Relaxing only slightly when he was Katsumi and Isamu arrive.
"You're all right!" he called out. "Thank goodness! When you took off… and then when we saw the village…" His voice trailed off, uncertainly.
"We feared the worst," Princess Izumi finished. She held a dagger in each hand, looking ready to use them again if the need arose. Where had a princess learned to fight like that?
"Sorry about that," Isamu said, feeling guilty for having left them behind. Fear had overtaken his heart and now that shamed him.
"I can't blame you," Toshi said. "I'd probably have done the same."
"Is your family..?" the princess began. "We haven't seen anyone other than you."
He shook his head sadly. "Gone. My home was burned to the ground. And there were no people, anywhere." He held up his hands, showing off the gauntlets. "But I did find these."
"They've got some punch," Katsumi replied. "Probably enchanted."
Princess Izumi and Toshi exchanged glances. "Do you think…?" the princess asked.
"I do," Toshi agreed with a nod. "Isamu… I think those were what we were meant to find. The maps said we might find a weapon and an ally here."
Had it meant his father? Was he known to heroes of the realm? "I think you're right," he said. "And you're right… you did find an ally."
He looked around. "There's nothing for me here now. "
"Place is just like everywhere else," Katsumi said, bitterly. "When those damn things came to the outlands, there wasn't anything left."
"Father believed the people were not killed, but taken," the princess said, kindly, and he realized those words were both for him and for Katsumi. "He thought there a very good chance they are still alive."
"If not," Katsumi growled, "then I'm not just going to kill whoever's behind this. I'm going to kill them double dead!"
Isamu took a slight step further away from the scary barbarian girl. "I hope you're right," he said. "But whatever happens, I need to see this through to the end. That is, if you'll have me."
"Of course," Toshi said. "It's said these weapons we find can only be used by the worthy. Those gauntlets must have chosen you. And I can tell already, you've got the heart of a hero."
"I knew it from the moment you were able to unleash the power of my Dagger of Flame," the princess said. "The road before us is hard, but it will be better traveled in the company of friends."
Isamu nodded, the future stretching out before him uncertainly. He knew not what it held, just that it would hold challenges aplenty. But something worried him in the back of his mind…
"Wait," he said, "there was another Nomu, with wings. Where did it…?"
As one, the four of them looked up. In the sky, heading towards the far distant mountains, was the last Nomu. Even assuming Katsumi could turn into a dragon again, there was no way they could catch it.
"It would be safe to say it's returning to its foul master," the princess said. "Whoever they may be… they will know what transpired here today."
That was not an encouraging thought. But from the way his new companions had spoken earlier, it seemed there was little encouraging these days.
"Let them," Katsumi said. "Let them know we're coming for them all."
There was great evil out there. But perhaps, in finding his father's gauntlets, there was some measure of hope as well.
As for whether or not hope could turn back darkness… That was a story for another day.