Strange Journey

Dyne Arc: Part I

By Phoenix Hoshika

"Man, I'm starving." Taiko thought as she looked at a cluster of grapes just before stuffing them in her mouth.

"What are you doing?" Ryu asked looking back at Taiko suspiciously.

Taiko's body stiffened. She couldn't answer him without spiting out the food in her mouth. "Nothing." Taiko managed to say after a bit of swallowing though her mouth was still plenty full.

"It's okay, you don't have to hide that you're eating from me."

"Ah! Too obvious. I didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable since he can't eat anything, but it's been two days since I last ate and this is the first food we've come across since then." Taiko thought swallowing the rest of what was already in her mouth, but something went down the wrong way and she started choking. "Oops." Taiko thought falling over and blacking out.

When she came to Ryu was staring down at her.

"Are you okay?" He asked panic and worry written all over his face.

"Yeah." Taiko answered sitting up and coughed.

"Don't be so greedy next time." Ryu said sighing with relief.

Taiko sweat dropped then sighed. "Guess was over doing it." She thought.

"I managed to get the fruit out but you weren't breathing and there was nothing I could do to help." Ryu added wearily. "I can't use mouth to mouth because if I breathe too hard it would have turned into fire. All I can do is destroy things in this form."

"Ryu." Taiko said distracting him from his thoughts. "Thanks. I just wish I wasn't such a bother."

"Don't worry about it. I don't mind, Taiko. I like having you around."

"Really?" Taiko asked uncertain if Ryu was just saying so to make her feel better.

Ryu nodded with a slight smile. He was completely caught off guard with Taiko hugged him and nearly fell over backwards. "Taiko? What's wrong?" Ryu asked noticing she was crying.

"I'm just really relieved."

"Why?"

"Because all this time I wasn't completely sure you really wanted me traveling with you."

"It's kind of self serving." Ryu said looking away from her.

Taiko let go of him a quizzical expression on her face. "What do you mean?"

"I mean if I had not met you I probably would still be on that planet going wild. You being with me reminds me that I'm a person; it's harder to forget."

"You really are a good person." Taiko said then kissed him on the cheek. When Ryu looked at her Taiko doubled back. "Why is he looking at me like that?" Taiko thought anxiously. "Is he upset because I kissed him?"

Ryu blinked his heart skipping a beat. How long had he been out? He couldn't even remember what happened just a few seconds agao. "Taiko?" He said looking at her wondering why she seemed so frightened.

"It's nothing. I'm sorry." She apologized then stood up.

"Sorry? For what?" Ryu asked standing as well.

"I… never mind." Taiko said trotting off. "I've seen that look before and usually something ends up dying. Why was he looking at me that way? That really scared me. Maybe I'm just imagining things, why would he all of a sudden want to kill me?" Taiko thought then stopped in her tracks realizing that she had left Ryu behind. "Ryu?" Taiko called feeling as if she was being watched but the dragon was nowhere in sight. Looking up in a tree Taiko saw a figure in a black hooded robe and gasped. "What the- Who the hell is that!" Taiko thought flying up to it and giving chase when it started running.

"Hey you!" Taiko shouted but the figure kept moving, running over the branches and thick, thorny vines as if they were smooth ground. "It's fast, but…" Taiko thought speeding up until the figure was in arms' reach then tackled it to the ground. "Got you." Taiko said keeping a tight hold on it. "Now just who are you?" Taiko demanded turning the figure over and removing the hood and as soon as she did the person kicked her and took off.

"Damn it, that hurt!" Taiko exclaimed holding her side as she sat up. "Now, where did he go?" Taiko wondered out loud.

"Taiko!" Ryu shouted rushing to her side. "Why did you run away?"

"I was chasing someone." Taiko said grunting. "He hit me really hard I can barely stand up. That bastard."

"What happened? Are you okay?" Ryu asked helping Taiko to her feet. "Where did they go?"

"I don't know he got away." Taiko said breathing heavily. "There is a city that looks like it's a couple of days away from here. I bet that's where he went. Let me see if I can spot him from the sky." Taiko said taking off.

After a while she returned to find Ryu pulling up the grass blade by blade.

"Damn, he got away." Taiko grumbled.

"Do you want to go to that city?" Ryu asked standing up.

"Yeah." Taiko answered. "Ryu do you think anything bad will happen?"

"I don't know, maybe."

"I was thinking the same thing."

"And you still want to go?"

"I do. I don't like being spied on and I want to know why." Taiko said gently rubbing her aching side.

It did take them two days to reach the city and even as they came to the gates they were being watched.

"Welcome to our fair city," said one of the two guards wearing thick chain mail as they entered the gates. The town looked as if it were right from medieval Europe.

"Wow look at this place." Taiko said looking around.

Ryu was just happy to be there since everyone greeted them with a "Good day" or "Hello" and were not at all frightened by his appearance. The city they entered seemed to be a truly peaceful place.

"That's them." A soldier said then Ryu and Taiko suddenly found themselves surrounded by at least two dozen heavily armed guards.

"What's going on?" Ryu demanded.

"And just when I thought we were going to have it easy." Taiko thought slumping to the ground.

"Taiko!" Ryu said looking over at her.

"The king has requested your presence in his castle as his personal guests. Please come with us." A middle aged soldier said sternly.