CHAPTER 14:
THE DRAGONS AND THE APOSTLES
Meeting with the Dark Elves was, admittedly, somewhat fraught. Yao had gone on ahead, only for some of her people to try and attack their group, thinking them intruders. Anakin had to disarm them, stealing their bows and swords with the Force, before they would listen.
Itami also had to persuade the Dark Elves not to come along. Anakin understood their need to, what with their honour, but while they were trained warriors, they weren't trained soldiers, and while Anakin wasn't a soldier, he felt he could work alongside the JSDF better than them.
The plan was fairly simple. Rory was going to stand watch at the entrance to the cave in the extinct volcano that the Flame Dragon had taken up residence, and notify them via radio when the Flame Dragon arrived, assuming it wasn't already present. Rory was staying as a lookout because of her fear of Hardy. Anyway, if the Flame Dragon was present, they'd try to sneak up on it, and use as many Panzerfaust-3 rocket launchers as they dared on the beast. If not, they intended to set a booby-trap using a plastic explosive called C4. Personally, Anakin would have loved to have had a few dozen thermal detonators and lob them down its gob, but, well, unfortunately, he didn't.
However, Anakin decided to add an extra part to the plan. The radios may not work in the cave, but using some technology he had salvaged from the crashed starfighter, as well as his adhoc comms system, he made Rory's radio capable of sending a signal through hyperspace, albeit only for a short distance. A merest blip compared to the light years it usually did…but it would be enough to allow it to go through the cave.
The motley group carefully made their way through the cave, and found what had to be the lair of the beast…empty. Well, empty of the Flame Dragon. But there were plenty of swords and weapons from previous attempts to kill it, it seemed.
Anakin actually got an idea. Itami and his team were busy setting up the C4 charges, so Anakin directed the others to gather up the swords. Lelei, to his delight, seemed to understand what he intended. Tuka, Yao and Tyuule, however, didn't. "Why these swords?" Yao asked, examining one.
"Lelei has levitation magic. I can use the Force. I think between us, we can do what is effectively a flechette gun," Anakin explained.
"More like Unlimited Blade Works or the Gate of Babylon," Itami said. On their confused looks, Itami frowned. "Didn't you watch that anime yet, Anakin?"
"I've been busy, Itami. I've only watched the first few episodes. I stopped about the time that Archer guy backstabbed Shirou after they fought off that Caster woman, and Saber saved him," Anakin said. "What's Archer's problem with saving people, anyway?"
"Spoilers," Itami said with a shrug.
"Nerd," Shino scoffed. "Anyway, can those swords penetrate that monster's hide?"
"Force equals mass times acceleration," Lelei said. "Better known on Earth as Isaac Newton's Second Law of Motion. I intend to accelerate the swords at speed towards the Flame Dragon. Anakin, with the Force, can increase the speed the swords are going at. I may even be able to get them moving as fast as a bullet, and as they have greater mass than a bullet…"
"...Dragon mince for dinner, then?" Anakin asked.
"Hokay, well, make sure we're out of the way first. Friendly fire is an oxymoron, after all," Itami said.
Suddenly, there was a crackle from the radio. "Itami, are you there?" Rory asked in an urgent hiss.
"Reading you loud and clear, Rory. Is the Flame Dragon coming?"
"More than that," Rory said quietly. "There's two dragon whelps…and Giselle is here."
"Giselle?!" Yao yelped. "The Apostle of Hardy?" She ran over to Itami and spoke into the radio. "Lady Mercury, are you sure that Lady Giselle is with the dragons?"
"Of course I'm sure!" Rory snapped. "Listen…the Flame Dragon is heading your way, but Giselle and the whelps have spotted me. Get ready to send that thing to Hardy."
Anakin swore quietly but harshly in Huttese, while Tuka began to hyperventilate. "Okay, withdraw," Itami said, signalling. The motley group hurriedly withdrew to the cave mouth, Tomita unspooling some wire from the C4.
"Do you think you've set enough?" Anakin asked.
"Anakin, we've laid down enough C4 to turn a whale into pink mist," Itami said. "That being said, Lelei, get ready to do your Unlimited Blade Works thing. Injuring it could help."
The blue-haired mage nodded, and began levitating the swords with an effort, a blue aura surrounding her. Tuka said, quietly, "I'll help too. My nature magic…I can summon up lightning." Her own aura surrounded her. "And while we live in the forest, we Elves know that a lightning bolt is attracted to metal."
"Right. Pincushion, lightning rod, and then blow him up," Itami said quietly. "And if he's still standing after that…rocket launchers, but remember, be mindful of the backblasts."
Suddenly, there was a roar, and a beat of massive wings. The Flame Dragon descended into view, peering around balefully. But just as it spotted them with its sole functioning eye, Lelei acted. And feeling her actions in the Force, Anakin acted too.
The swords were already moving at an impressive speed as Lelei flung them at the beast. But Anakin lending as much of the Force as he could spare accelerated them to supersonic speeds. The swords embedded themselves deeply into the massive beast, and it staggered back, roaring in agony. Anakin smashed at it with the Force as hard as he could, causing it to stumble near the C4 charge.
And that was when Tuka acted. As it stumbled near the C4, Tuka screamed, "FOR MY FATHER!" Her magic swirled around her, and suddenly, a massive lightning bolt smashed down into the Flame Dragon from the sky above the crater, causing it to convulse. And then, a stray spark went into the wires of the C4 charge.
The explosion ripped through the cave, ripped through the Flame Dragon. Dust blinded them as the beast roared in agony. Part of the crater collapsed…but they soon found that the Flame Dragon had collapsed with it, its body torn to gory shreds by the C4 and the shrapnel from the rocks. Itami caught Lelei as she fell.
Anakin felt its life recede through the Force, dwindling down to a tiny spark…and then, nothing. "It's dead," he said grimly.
"That seemed altogether too easy," Tyuule said, grimacing. "But what of Lady Mercury? There's another Apostle attacking her, along with those dragon whelps."
"Then we help her. Use the Panzerfausts on the dragons. We've got air support waiting nearby," Itami said.
They came out in time to see Rory rolling to a stop at Itami's feet, looking bloody, her dress torn up. And standing in front of them was what could only be Giselle, flanked by a pair of dragons. She looked somewhat human-like, albeit with blue skin and white hair, apparently in her twenties. But she also had horns, wings, and a vicious expression on her features. Her body was clad in what looked like elaborate lingerie, and she wielded a scythe. "You should give up quietly, sister," she sneered. "It took me long enough to raise these whelps to have an edge on you, and to awaken the Flame Dragon, and what my mistress wants, she gets."
"Your actions slaughtered all those people," Rory retorted, getting to her feet, her wounds healing. "Then again, didn't you hear that explosion, Giselle? I daresay that Flame Dragon is now dead."
Giselle sneered, but then looked uncertain, and then at the JSDF. "Which of you did it?"
The JSDF, along with Tuka and Yao, pointed at Itami. Anakin rolled his eyes. "Team effort," he snarked. "Incidentally, Yao, Tyuule? What do you say to giving these three gifts?"
"I'll take the left," the Dark Elf said.
"I'll take the right," Tyuule said.
"Then I take the winged witch," Anakin said, the three of them kneeling and readying their Panzerfausts, the others scattering to avoid the backblasts.
Giselle stared at them, blinking. "What are you doing?" she asked in confusion. "Are you going to beg for mercy or something?"
"No," Yao said, glaring at the Apostle of the deity who betrayed her people. "You are." And with that, she fired the rocket launcher, as did Tyuule and Anakin.
The HEAT rockets smashed into the dragon whelps, annihilating most of their internal organs. Giselle, however, seemed to realise the danger at the last moment, and leapt over the round, and then whirled to face the dragon whelps, who were screaming in agony, writhing. "No! Towato! Mowto!" she screamed, before turning back to face them. "You…!"
But as she flew at Yao, Anakin interposed himself between Giselle and Yao, his lightsaber ignited. He held Giselle in midair with the Force, struggling to hold back this powerful being, his blue eyes cold. As Yao scrambled away, Anakin suddenly lashed out with his lightsaber, cutting Giselle's head off. Her body collapsed…but the head rolled over to it, and fused back to her neck. "Gah!" she snarled, dashing back from Anakin. "What the hell is that thing? How did it cauterise my neck? That made it harder to regenerate!"
"Good," Anakin said coldly. "You will not harm them. I am Anakin Skywalker. And you will remember that name, Apostle."
"For all of a day at most!" Giselle sneered, before launching herself at Anakin. He intercepted her weapon with his lightsaber, and her eyes bulged in surprise, before he lashed out with a Force-enhanced kick. Given that she was an Apostle, and thus able to regenerate, the kick probably would have given someone fatal injuries. She merely sprawled back, vomiting blood.
"No…for the rest of your life," Anakin said, before he lunged, putting her on the defensive.
Rory, her wounds mostly healed, joined in, and Giselle found herself on the receiving end of two attackers, working in near-perfect sync. "It doesn't feel good to be outnumbered, does it, sister?" sneered Rory after a short while.
Giselle merely flew into the skies, sneering at them, her wings flapping. "You can't reach me, can you?"
"I can reach you wherever you go," Anakin retorted, before he reached out a hand. "GET OVER HERE!"
With a yelp, Giselle was pulled to the ground by the Force…and impaled on Rory's halberd as she moved it to intercept her. Itami, after a moment, asked, "Did you just quote Scorpion?"
"…What?" Anakin asked, looking at Itami briefly.
"Now, Giselle, this is how it's going to be," Rory said conversationally. "You will leave now. You will no longer harass me. You will not hurt anyone I care about. Otherwise…well, Itami, dear, do we have any spare C4?"
"Umm, some. Why?"
"Oh, I'm just wondering what force-feeding it to someone like Giselle and then detonating it would do," Rory said. "Or maybe I want an insertion method that's somewhat more…alimentary. All in the spirit of experimentation. Now, I'm sure you can regenerate from exploding, sister…but I'm sure it will be intensely unpleasant. Do we have an accord?"
"Ghhrk…hhrk…gahhh…"
"I'm sure that counts as a yes," Rory said flippantly, before she flung Giselle off her halberd, causing the dragonid Apostle to tumble onto the ground, leaving a gory trail of blood and entrails behind her.
Giselle clutched at the hole in her belly as it began closing over, staring at Anakin in horror. "What are you?"
"I am Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Padawan…and Rory's pupil," Anakin said, glaring down at the dragonid.
"…What the actual fuck is a 'Jed-Eye'?" Giselle asked, getting uneasily to her feet.
"Oh, just a group of hidebound paladins who can use something like psychic powers called the Force," Rory said cheerfully. "Anakin seems to be the most fun of the lot. Now…do you really want to piss us off more than you already have? Between us, we killed the Flame Dragon, your little pets, and we've probably made you feel more pain than you have for a few years. We could have called in flame and fury from the skies to take you, things the likes of which this world has never seen before…things that my master find pleasing. We Apostles may be immortal, but we still feel pain, and our bodies getting damaged is an inconvenience. Tell me, are you willing to endure all that, just for the sake of bringing little old me back to your mistress? After all, I'm sure even Hardy would prefer to have her servant able to carry out her bidding than inconvenienced."
Giselle looked at them, before finally deciding that discretion was the better half of valour. Instead of making a final taunt or anything, she just used her wings to fly off, taking her scythe with her. "…Hardy betrayed us by allowing the Flame Dragon to attack us?" Yao asked quietly.
Rory nodded solemnly, coming over to the Dark Elf, and placing a hand on Yao's upper arm. "I'm sorry."
Yao shook her head. "No…you have no need to be sorry."
Tyuule scoffed. "It's not the first time gods have abandoned the people they worship to the whims of others," she said bitterly. She looked down at the used rocket launcher in her hands, before looking back at Itami. "Still, such destructive power…and yet, you refrain from using that full force against the Empire."
"…Tyuule," Itami said quietly. "We're not here to conquer the Empire, or to exterminate it. We're not here for that."
"Then what was the point of bringing your army here? Especially after the Empire kidnapped your citizens and made them into slaves?" Tyuule asked, her voice heavy with anger.
"…If it was just one warlord, we would have dealt with them. But…we're just trying to get the Empire to agree to a peace they can live with. Besides, with the Galactic Republic watching…we need to do our best, to prove that we can be part of a greater galaxy. We will fight when necessary…but only when necessary." Itami came over to her, and smiled. "And hey…we might be able to help restore your people's home. Even if you don't want to lead them anymore…you guys deserve that much. I mean, peace and harmony is a dream…but we can still do what we can to try and get there, right?"
Tyuule, after a moment, turned away. "Dreams don't come true. I learned that long ago, while serving as Zorzal's fucktoy."
"…Didn't you ever dream of being free of Zorzal?" Anakin asked quietly. "That dream came true. I dreamed of being free myself, and even of being a Jedi…and those came true. Not all dreams come true…but a few do." He looked at the smoking crater. "To many, killing the Flame Dragon would be an impossible dream, and yet, it's happened. Tyuule…I can't promise you that the rest of your life will be a good one…but I promise you, I will do my best to make sure that the past three years are the worst years you will ever have in your life."
Tyuule looked at Anakin, her red eyes glistening suspiciously, before a faint smirk twitched at her lips. "You young fool," she said quietly, though there was no venom in her words. "Don't make promises you can't keep."
"Eh, he'll do his best, or die trying," Rory remarked. "Now, come on. I believe we need to speak to your people, Yao, and assure them that their nemesis is dead."
They all nodded. Anakin noted that a major weight had been lifted from everyone's shoulders, especially Yao and Tuka. Then again, Tuka had extracted revenge for her people, and her father's death. Still, slaying the Flame Dragon and the whelps was a diversion from the real battles to come, and nobody could tell if they were prepared for those…
CHAPTER 14 ANNOTATIONS:
So, there you have it, the battle against the dragons and Giselle. I had in mind, while writing this, the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children version of J-E-N-O-V-A, though I'm not quite sure it fits now. Still an awesome piece of music.
I wrote in that bit with Tyuule at the end to show that she's still cynical and damaged by what Zorzal did to her. She's still beginning to recover from all that. She's been free for a few days at most, and that's not enough to get over what happened over three years.
Anyway, I should tell you that this will be the last chapter for a while. I need to figure out what to do next with the story.
Review-answering time! Guest: Missed opportunity there, sorry. I forgot about Darth Bane.
KnightOfZaku: I think some will see it that way. However, I think others would be ambivalent. Yoda and Obi-Wan, for example, will actually consider that Rory, despite her dark or at least chaotic leanings, has actually been a good influence on Anakin. Neither are quite at the stage, post-Republic, where they believe those who fall to the Dark Side can't be drawn out, and Yoda, while wary of Rory, will view her as objectively as possible. It helps that Rory, despite her dark nature, doesn't actually have Anakin follow in her footsteps. That being said, I wonder if a certain Mace Windu might cause trouble…Samuel L Jackson versus Rory Mercury, taking all bets!
No numbered annotations this time.