After four months, it's finally here - the second installment of Maple Leaf! :D I feel bad that it took me so long... Especially since this is supposed to be my main story aside from Blue Dragon Beyond. XP Anyway, I'm not feeling so good at the moment, so I'm just going to cut to the review replies.
Growlmon1: Thanks; glad you like it. :D Ah... I would tell you, but that would spoil a big chunk of the story if I did. ;) Yeah, I guess it probably is... Normally I wouldn't spoil things, but I think I'll reveal this little thing: Unfortunately, there's a worse fight coming, though it won't be until towards the end of Maple Leaf. Yes, though it's also just because she's gone in general; it's put everyone on edge a little, but especially Shu and Jiro. Me, too - it might be a while, but I'm looking forward to Zola coming back as well. :)
Prince of Tennis' Shaman: An!! (Game Jiro: Wow, look at Yamadori panic.) (Jiro!) Ah... If you're recovered... *relieved sigh* (For the record, Jiro, I wasn't deafened. :P) (Game Jiro: W-well... I... Ack! *walks away*) Yeah... I seem to be doing longer chapters in general lately, but Maple Leaf is actually supposed to have them. I, um, might have made this chapter a little too long, though... *sweatdrops* A-ah, no, please don't faint... I'm glad. :) (Not necessarily - "nya" is fun to use. XD) An!! (Jiro! NOT helping!!) (Game Jiro: Ow, not my ear!) B-but it seems like you're okay, so... *relieved sigh (again)* Thank you. :D There's several more just ahead, though they're not exactly what I thought they would be... I actually have a lot of doubts about this chapter, but I am happy about a Jiro/Jina scene towards the end. :) (Kaede: *mumbling*) (Oh. Right. Sorry. Jiro/Kaede. Sorry.) Well, I don't think she would- (Kaede: Kill you? Of course I'm not going to kill you! Why would I kill you? *takes deep breath* No, I won't kill you. Just... Try to keep to Kaede if at all possible.) Ah... I think she put it in better words than I would've. :P Thank you; that's good news. :D I just hope that stays true for this chapter... Because I don't know if it did... (It made perfect sense to me, Jiro. :P) (Game Jiro: *lidded eyes* That's because you don't make sense.) Really? Me too! We think alike so much sometimes... *sweatdrops* Ooh, I'd love to see that in Holding On. :D Yes. *nods sadly* (Kaede: Thanks. I appreciate it. But, I do promise that I won't kill you.) Same here. :) I don't want to spoil too much, but... there will be tons of stuff involving Kluke and Kaede throughout the story, definitely branching off into Maple Sky. *blushes* Thank you... Thank you... And thank you. :D Sorry for the terribly long wait, but the new chapter is finally here. :) ... Oh, SHOOT. Ah, An, I'm so sorry!! I forgot that I was supposed to be sending you those excerpts... I'm so sorry... But, my DS is shot right now - the screen keeps flickering, so I haven't been able to play Plus for a long time. For some strange reason, it doesn't flicker with Game Boy Advance Games... But, I forgot a lot of stuff that happened, so I don't know if I can really send anymore excerpts right now. I did get all of the data I needed for the prologue of the adaptation, so I should be able to finish it... after some major, major editing... That hasn't been going well at all. I'm still going to try, though. As soon as my DS is either fixed, or if I get a new one (feel free to cue laughter at this point), I'll be able to collect information for the first chapter. Until then, I'll try to work on the prologue.
Ultimashadow: Thanks! :D Yeah, it seems that way... I think so, too. :) (Jiro: Thanks, I-) (Shu: HEY! Who said the you get to be leader?!) (... *scoots away nervously*) (Jiro: Well, it's not like you're going to lead us!) (Shu: What?! I'd be way better at being leader than you!) *fighting in the background* Ah, that's not good... Anyway... ;) Thanks! :D Like I mentioned to Prince of Tennis' Shaman, I'd been worried that people would think her "pyon-ing" was annoying, but it seems like I've once again worried in vain. :) Sorry for the wait, but it's here at last. :D
WindGoddess Rune: Well, I wouldn't say it scared Zola. Startled, yes. But not scared. As for what it is... That's a big chunk of the story, and it's too soon for me to give it away. ;) It'll be revealed eventually, though.
YuukixZero16-in-yellow: Thank you; glad to hear it! :D I'm sorry it took so long, but the requested update has finally been fulfilled. :)
Rosella95: Thank you! :D *blushes* *takes deep breath* Thank you... Thank you... Thank you... Thank you... Thank you... And thank you. Oh... dear... *sweatdrops* XD XD XD (Well, Jiro, dear... Just treat this as a life lesson.) (Jiro: That's... Not really helping me right now...) Thanks; I'm happy to hear it! :D I am, too... *sigh* The kiddies... Ooh, I like that; it has a certain ring to it. :P (Jiro: No. No. Please, no.) Yes. *nods* :) I often feel bad for Jiro, but I did especially in both the first second and chapters. (Jiro: Hey, if Yamadori keeps this up, it may not be the last time either. *glances at script* *shudders* What did I do to deserve this...?) (*pulls out another page of script* There's still this, though.) (Jiro: True... Very true... Silver lining, I suppose. *looks away blushing*) Thank you; that was a scene I really wanted to emphasize, so I'm glad that you noticed and liked it. :) (Thanks! XD) I'm sorry to keep you waiting, but it's finally here! :D Thank you - I'll try to do my best! :)
And the long-delayed review replies are done! Wow... It's been so long since I updated this, I don't even know what to say. :P There are a couple of notes I need to bring up, though, so I guess this is a good time to do that. With that, here they are:
Kaede's Appearance: Kaede doesn't actually look much different from the time Jiro last saw her in Mafe, which for us watchers would be Episode 31, but there are a few things I should probably clarify. She's wearing the bigger tunic/skirt/sweater like she did in Episode 31, but she's wearing black pants/leggings like she did when she was a young child (see Episode 13 for reference) - the only difference is that they're darker than her original leggings, closer to the color of Jiro's but still lighter. Also, her bag is very similar to the one she had when she was little, except it's fairly larger. And the last thing is that she's a couple of centimeters taller than she was in Episode 31.
Shadow Attacks: Though everyone's probably noticed by now, I'm writing this for the Japanese version (as I always will for the Blue Dragon Anime). As such, there may end up being some confusion about which attacks are which. To hopefully clear things up, I'm going to make a quick chart of the current groups attacks.
Shu: Rusty Nail, Fire Crisis
Jiro: Dotou, Seiha, Mijin (see below about this one)
Kluke: Protect Feather, Eternal Breath, Dance in the Dark, Teleportation (not officially named)
Marumaro: Blitz Claw, Fire Ball
Bouquet: Transformation (not officially named)
Kaede: Fire Attack (not officially named), Healing Skill (not officially named)
To save space, I won't be adding descriptions, but if you'd like to know more about any of the attacks, just ask me. Oh, about Jiro and Minotauros' Mijin - I found out that this was one of Jiro's attacks, but I can't remember him ever using it (probably because my memory is so horrible). If someone happens to remember what it is, please let me know. Also, about the attacks marked "not officially named" - Kluke and Phoenix's Teleportation and Bouquet and Hippo-chan's Transformation probably won't be given names, but Kaede and Panda's skills will definitely be given names. Because Kaede has only used her Shadow once, there hasn't been much of an opportunity to come up with a name. But it will be coming soon. ;)
Eyecatches: The eyecatches remain the same as they did for the regular season one, with the exception that there are now two additional eyecatches of Kaede and Panda. The second eyecatch of Kaede and Panda won't appear until the final set of eyecatches do, which I believe was around the time of Episode 39 or so, but the first one will be cycled through with the other ones. There's nothing I can really do to describe the eyecatches, so you'll have to use your imagination a little. Just keep in mind that most of her poses are similar or identical to the Game Jiro's, with the addition of her own unique mix, and you'll likely come up with better eyecatches than I did. ;)
Kaede's Shadow Summoning Sequence: Even more so than with the eyecatches, there's little I can do to describe this, but I will try. (Keep in mind that Kaede's "signature color", so to speak, is a kind of light gray/white, so that's going to be all over the place while she's summoning her Shadow.) It starts out with Kaede folding her arms like Jiro does in the game when he's charging a spell, than lifting them up a little similar to Marumaro (in the anime). Panda comes out a little similar to how Hippo-chan does - she always "pyon-s" at the very moment she comes out - and then the picture would pull back, with both Shadow and User having their arms folded. ... Ugh, I think that's the worst description I've ever done. Feel free to come up with a better Shadow Sequence if you like, or try to better illustrate this one.
Okay, those are the notes I needed to leave. There's also one more important thing I need to mention: My profile is getting a little too big, so my next focus is going to be on trying to finish the prologues or first chapters of some of the planned stories on my profile (once they're uploaded, I'll remove the descriptions, so that equals more space). After one or two (or a couple) of the fan fictions from the planned stories list have been uploaded, I'll be resuming the poll updating style. Speaking of that, I'm aware now of the problem, but I know how to fix it, so it should be working properly when I put the poll back on my profile. All of that aside, though... I'm... not actually very happy with how this chapter turned out, but I'll let you guys decide on the overall quality. I don't think there's anything else I really need to mention... And besides, I think you guys have waited long enough for this chapter. ;) Read on! :D
Jiro woke up to sunlight stabbing at his eyelids, blindingly bright; he closed his eyes tightly before they were barely even open.
Waking up further, he could hear voices. "He's never slept this long before..." That one sounded distinctly like Shu.
"Well, he's been through a lot lately," Kluke, probably talking to Shu. "He's owed some extra rest."
And then he realized what his rival had said. I... overslept...? He forced his eyes open, squinting them against the light, and pushed himself up.
"Well, he's awake now." Bouquet said dryly.
"Shut up." Jiro responded groggily, his eyes closed again, obviously still half-asleep. He heard them resume their talking, but he was too tired to bother to make it out. He yawned and stretched. "So, where are we going next, Zola?..."
Everything went deadly silent. After a few more minutes passed without response, he opened his eyes. He immediately saw Shu and Kluke near him, looking at him with something akin to pity. Just beyond them stood Marumaro, next to someone sleeping... His sister. Jina. Kaede.
And then he remembered everything.
He closed his eyes again, but he was wide awake this time. He breathed deeply for a few moments. He opened his eyes, then stood, shaky on his feet. He forced his feet to move forward, stumbling on nothing. (Shu, watching him, thought of how graceful and balanced Jiro usually was, and despite whatever animosity was usually involved with the two of them, felt his heart sink.) "I'll..." Jiro started, swallowing through a sudden thickness in his throat. "I'll go check the map."
旅の開始 (たび の かいし)/Tabi no Kaishi (Journey's Start)
While Bouquet cooked breakfast - which seemed might it like take a while, since she was making a bigger meal to compensate for all of the energy they would be using up today - everyone else sat in a relative circle around a rock where the map had been laid.
"So, the outpost is here," Jiro put his finger down. "And we're over here." He moved it diagonally to a spot not that far away. "We made some good distance yesterday, so we should be able to reach the outpost pretty soon, probably sometime later today. Once there, we'll scope out the area, then infiltrate the base. We'll have to plan out a battle strategy as well; we're trying to sneak in, but that doesn't mean something couldn't go wrong, so we need to be prepared in case of that." After a few nods and affirmative noises, Jiro continued. "We're going to get the information from the database first, because once we have the mechat, we'll be using it to get out of there. Besides, the database can probably tell us the exact location of the mechats, so we won't have to search for it." He looked up from the map. "Everyone understands this so far?" After that was confirmed, he said, "Alright, then - let's focus on the battle strategy for a little while..."
About thirty minutes later, they were a little more than halfway through with the planning. There was, however, a topic that had yet to be broached...
Kluke decided that she would be the one to bring up that said topic. "Um, Jiro..."
"Yes?" He didn't look up as he drew their positions on a sheet of paper, seeming quite involved with what he was doing, yet at the same time aware of everything around him.
"Well, it's just..." She bit her lip. "It's about Kaede..."
"What about her?" There was an edge in Jiro's voice that hadn't been there before, almost as if he knew exactly what she wanted to tell him. She could see that he'd tensed up as well.
Suppressing a groan, Shu took over. "You haven't mentioned Kaede in the battle strategy yet."
"Of course I haven't," Jiro spoke matter-of-factly. "She has no part in it, because she's not going to be fighting."
Kaede's features were a mix of stun and horror. "B-b-but-"
"You can't do that, maro!" Marumaro shouted at him in indignation. "Kaede-chan is a Shadow User, too, maro!"
Jiro looked up, his gaze as sharp as a knife. "I know she is." was all he said. In his mind, he added, That doesn't make me want her to be one.
"Oniichan," she held a half-fisted hand over her chest. "I can help, too. I know that I just got my powers recently, but I promise I won't hold anyone back-"
"It has nothing to do with that." He looked down again.
Shu leaned forward. "Then what does it have to do with?"
"It's none of your business." He erased a line on the paper, then drew one that didn't look much different; his hand movements were rushed and angry.
Shu ground his teeth. "You-"
Kaede stood abruptly; she trembled slightly, but her expression was blank.
Marumaro reached towards her. "Kaede-"
"I'm going to go get ready for when we set out." She took a few steps away from them, then stopped, her head turned to the side so she could see them from the corner of her eye. "I have no part in this," Jiro winced as she threw his words back at him, and also from the bitterness evident in her voice, "so there's no point in me listening in, is there?" Without waiting for a reply, she continued towards her sleeping bag.
Jiro watched her go, thought of his fight with Shu back at the inn, and thought, I seem to be chasing people away from me an awful lot recently.
"Kaede!" Kluke called after her, hand outstretched, but the young girl didn't turn around, or make any indication that she had heard.
Marumaro stood up angrily. "You didn't have to be like that, maro!" He pointed at Jiro. "You've been acting even worse than usual, maro! What's your problem, maro?!"
"Nothing!" Jiro snapped at him. "Besides, this doesn't have anything to do with you, so why don't you stay out of it?" He really wished Marumaro wouldn't push this.
"I'll stay out of it when you treat Kaede-chan fairly, maro!" With that, he stomped off in the direction Kaede had gone.
Jiro sighed and pinched between his eyebrows, feeling like his head might very well explode. It's too early for this... But, even as he thought it, he knew it was only an excuse.
Kaede shuffled things around in her bag, but without much enthusiasm; she already kept things well organized, so there wasn't really much she could do to improve. Then again, it wasn't likely that she would have felt much enthusiasm anyway; she couldn't remember ever feeling so down.
She gripped her bag tightly. It wasn't supposed to be like this. Jiro... He was supposed to be proud of her, of her newfound strength, not... well, not how he had acted. She had never envisioned it going the way that it had.
"Kaede-chan."
She turned around quickly at the sound of her name, and saw Marumaro standing there. "Oh... Hi." She didn't really know what else to say; at the moment, she didn't feel much like talking to anyone.
Wordlessly, Marumaro came over and plopped down next to her. Once he was seated, he began to speak. "Kaede-chan, you have to try to ignore Jiro, maro. I don't know if he means it or not, but he's just like that, maro. He usually isn't that bad all of the time, but he still gets like that, maro..."
Kaede looked down. She thought of her brother, memories from only six months ago that felt more like six years, and even further back than that... Jiro, holding her hand carefully and securely as he walked her to school; Jiro, laughing, almost a musical sound, at something silly she had done; Jiro, following in their father's footsteps and working carefully at the potter's wheel in the shed; Jiro, skillfully carving some project he'd worked on for half the summer, and wouldn't tell her what it was because, "It's supposed to be a surprise."; Jiro, reading to her for hours while she sat on his lap and leaned her back against his chest, still continuing to read for her even when she started to doze off, hearing the echo of his voice in that place between sleep and consciousness; Jiro, scowling at her with very little malice when she teased him about anything and everything; Jiro, smiling at her in that loving way that only big brothers seemed able to do.
Very quietly, her voice barely above a whisper, she said, "Not my Jiro."
Marumaro thought a moment before answering. "Kaede-chan, you have to keep something in mind, maro. The Jiro you knew... might not be the same as the Jiro I know, maro."
Shu sat with his arms crossed, glaring at Jiro viciously. "You're a jerk."
"And you're an idiot," the irritation was clear in Jiro's voice, and he hoped Shu would take the hint and back off. It switched to irritated sarcasm as he added, "What else is new?" After all, they had that exact same exchange almost at least once every day.
"No," Shu said firmly. "I mean it this time. I mean, come on - with what you said, you might as well have just shoved your sister towards the sleeping bags. And she didn't even do anything. Really, Jiro, what's gotten into you? You know we could use her help getting into the outpost. It's usually just you, me, and Marumaro, since Kluke and Bouquet have more defensive type Shadows. But, even though they have that healing ability, Kaede and Panda are outright fighter type; with a little training, eventually they could probably beat any of us. You saw how she held off Nene back in his fortress-"
"Shu." Kluke interrupted him very sharply, a warning in her voice. "That's enough."
"What?" He turned his head, glaring at her, his tone seeming to say, Why are you taking his side?
What Shu had failed to notice, but what Kluke had, was that ever since Shu had started mention Kaede and her Shadow, Jiro's hands had started to shake violently.
"She will not be fighting," Jiro's voice trembled, mirroring the rest of his body's movement. "And that's the end of it."
He stilled immediately when Kluke placed a hand on his arm, feeling an odd and slightly foreign sense of calm come over him. "Jiro. It's okay."
"It's not okay, Kluke!" Shu snapped at her, seemingly for more reason than one as his eyes darted back and forth from her to the spot where she was touching Jiro. "Kaede is one of the team now, and he has to learn that! How fair is it to her if we don't let her use Panda to help? It would be one thing if she didn't want to fight, but you heard her - she wants to!" Shu folded his arms and leaned back. "And I say we let her."
"It doesn't matter what you say!" Jiro shot forward, unintentionally away from Kluke. "I'm her brother, and I'll be the one to make any decisions concerning her!"
"That's enough, you two!" Kluke moved so she was between them. "We've had enough fighting amongst ourselves for one day. Both of you, just cool off." When it seemed like they wouldn't bite off each other's heads, she relaxed. They didn't used to fight this bad when Zola was around... But I know that's not the whole reason Jiro is so upset right now. Just as she finished thinking it, she glanced at him.
Shu had been looking like he was contemplating something, but then he seemed to come to a decision of some sort; he looked carefully at Jiro. "You know... When I first saw Kluke use Phoenix, I was terrified. Really, really proud - more proud than I've ever been in my whole life - but terrified. Especially when I saw that it hurt her to use the Protect Feather. I was scared for her." He swallowed, lowering his head slightly.
Kluke and Jiro were both listening to him with surprise - Kluke, because she'd had no idea of Shu's side of the story, and Jiro, because he hadn't expected Shu to understand.
Shu lifted his eyes again. "But, I knew that Kluke was glad she finally had her Shadow; I knew she had wanted to help, ever since she said she was going to come with us, and this meant that she could finally do that. I decided then that I would do everything within my power to protect her, just like she tried to protect all of us, but I wouldn't hold her back." He grinned widely. "Just like Phoenix, I'd let her spread her wings."
Kluke felt herself blushing. "Shu, that's so cheesy." Honestly, she didn't think it was - she actually thought it to be incredibly sweet - but if she teased him, she never felt as embarrassed when he said things like that.
"Is not!" Shu huffed, looking away. "I was trying to be nice, too!"
Kluke and Shu started bickering then, but Jiro wasn't really paying attention - he was focused on what Shu had just said. Is that... Is that what I need to do?... For a moment, he considered it; maybe he did need to let go.
But, then he remembered - Chimera's Graviton Ball, hurtling towards Kaede... Had Kluke and Phoenix not used the Protect Feather at just the right moment, and had Kaede not been a Shadow User, his sister would have died. He supposed that should make him feel better about her having a Shadow, but it had the opposite effect - it only made him think that next time, it could be something worse, something that she wouldn't escape from alive. No. I won't let that happen. Shu doesn't understand - Kluke is his friend, not his sister. It isn't possible for him to understand... But, that's exactly why I have to stand by my decision - whatever it takes, I won't let Kaede fight. I will not lose her again.
Everything happening with Shu, Kluke and Jiro came to an abrupt halt when a sound echoed in the air.
Laughter. Kaede's laughter.
The three of them whirled around in the direction of the sleeping bags, and gaped at what they saw. Kaede, holding her sides as she laughed, seeming like she was trying very hard not to fall over. Next to her, Marumaro was gesturing broadly as he told her about something; the trio, so to speak, was too far away to hear what he was saying.
Kluke let out a relieved sigh. "Well, at least he got her smiling, right?" Immediately after saying this, she yelped in surprise as the sound of something banging on a pot echoed through the camp.
"Okay, everyone!" Bouquet stopped making noise with the cooking utensils, then raised the serving spoon in the air. "It's time to eat!"
After breakfast, everyone immediately collected their things and set out; time was precious, and it wouldn't be wise to waste it.
As they walked, Bouquet glanced from Jiro to Kaede, the former in front of her and the later behind. Though she couldn't place it, there seemed to be some tension between the siblings that hadn't been there before, which seemed to be made even more obvious by the fact that they'd put distance between each other. She had thought of finding out what was going on, but decided against it; if it was truly important, someone would tell her, or at least talk amongst themselves about it and she'd manage to hear it then.
The thing Bouquet couldn't understand was why Kaede walked alongside Marumaro - for the life of her, she couldn't figure out why any girl would want to stand next to that pervert. And the thing even more baffling than this was that Marumaro hadn't tried anything with her - he only talked to her, and seemed strangely happy and content with only doing that. If it wasn't for herself, Shu and Kluke acting normal, Bouquet would've thought that everyone had lost their minds.
Suddenly, Jiro broke the relative quiet. "Over there." He pointed ahead, where a grayish building was just barely visible. "It looks like the outpost."
"Hang on; I'll check it out." Kluke knelt down, simultaneously swinging her backpack in front of her. After retrieving what she needed, she stood, coming over to where Jiro was. Once next to him, she lifted the pair of binoculars to her eyes.
Jiro folded his arms. "What can you see, Kluke?"
"There's a small wooden watchtower on the eastern side of the outpost, and it seems to be blind to the western side. They've got guards at all the entrances, though they're usually just one or two. And some of them are moving around, so they're not always standing directly in front of the ways inside." That seemed a bit sloppy to her, but she thought that now wouldn't be the time to comment about it. After increasing the magnification, she added, "Most of the ventilation system appears unguarded as well. So..." She lowered the binoculars. "It should be pretty easy for us to get in."
"Good," Jiro nodded, then turned to the rest of the group. "Get ready, everyone - we're heading inside."
End of Part One
*eyecatch of Jiro and Minotauros*
End of Part Two
For the guards of Grand Kingdom Outpost 3375, the day had been uneventful, as per usual. Not much ever happened in this particular outpost - the rest of the army didn't even call on them to send out a mechat, and the place was filled with them, more than most in fact.
Several (translation: most) of the soldiers were considering quitting their jobs - anything had to be better than staring at distant canyons all day.
Though their boredom was understandable, maybe if they were a little more alert, they would have noticed the six kids that infiltrated their base.
"Ow!" Jiro let it out as only a whisper, so as not to alert anyone of their presence; he held the finger that he'd cut while trying to pull off the grating. Would it kill them to do something about the rust?
"Let me try." Kluke scooted forward from somewhere behind him, screwdriver in hand. He pulled back; if anyone could get it off, it would be her.
And Jiro was completely correct in his assumption - in a matter of seconds, Kluke was quietly removing the grating and setting it aside.
One by one, the Shu-tachi jumped down the hole and into the hallway, being as silent as possible.
After everyone was through, Kaede craned her neck up to look at the grating above them. "I can't believe you got lost in the ventilation system in Nene's Fortress, Maro-kun - it's so easy to get through those."
"Maro..." Marumaro looked down, kicking at the ground sheepishly.
Bouquet giggled. "If anyone would get lost, it would be Marumaro."
He ducked his head slightly, clearly embarrassed (though this was a surprise to everyone else, Kaede was oblivious). "It's true, maro. If I didn't get lost all the time, I probably wouldn't have met everyone, maro."
"... Maro-kun?" The venomous whisper made everyone turn their heads, and they were immediately met with the sight of Jiro glaring dangerously at Marumaro. Shu, having seen a ghost of that look on occasion, took an instinctive leap backwards.
Kaede shrugged nonchalantly, eyes closed. "Maro-kun has been very kind to me; a very good friend. And if you have a boy who is a very close friend, or more rarely a girl, it's appropriate to add the honorific of '-kun' to their name. Or have you forgotten that, Oniichan?" She opened her eyes again, looking right at him.
Jiro sputtered angrily for a moment before Kluke stepped in. "Come on, you two," she stretched her arm between them. "We're in enemy territory, where we could be caught at any second - we can't afford to do this right now."
Kaede sighed a little, but complied, immediately going over to stand closely beside Kluke.
Jiro angrily muttered something unintelligible under his breath, then strode past the two of them.
Kaede let him go for about fifteen seconds, before dryly saying, "Opposite direction, Oniichan."
Jiro came back, passing them again, looking more flushed than a few seconds ago.
It was only a short while after that when they managed to find the door to the database. Kaede found it right away, being familiar with Grand Kingdom's coding system.
As she pulled the Grand Kingdom keycard from the pouch at her side, she thought, Even if Oniichan is going to keep me from fighting, at least there's something I can still do to help.
Once the door was unlocked, the group of six entered inside.
Excluding the side from which they'd come in, the walls were lined with flashing consoles, with keyboard panels directly beneath them.
Kaede took a few steps further in. "We need to hurry. It won't be long before the guards come back from patrolling the other side." She turned and looked up at Kluke. "You're good with computers, right?" When the older girl confirmed this, she continued by saying, "I'll need your help, then. I know the passwords, but I don't know how to use the technology."
"Okay." Kluke nodded, and then the two of them hurried over to one of the consoles.
Marumaro folded his arms behind his head with an irritated sigh. "What are the rest of us supposed to do, maro?"
Jiro leaned back against the wall. "We should probably watch the door in case someone tries to come inside."
"What boring work." Shu folded his arms.
"Hey, guys," Kluke called over her shoulder. "Some papers are going to be coming out of a slot on the right-hand panel, and I need one of you to grab it."
"I'll get it!" Bouquet offered, going over to the spot and searching for where they were supposed to come out. She had come close to the panel so she could try to get a better look and find it more easily, so she cried out in surprise when a sheet of paper popped out right next to her head. A little too close and that could've been my eye.
After pulling the sheet out of the slot, she furrowed her eyebrows once she saw what was on it. "What is this?"
"The coordinates of General Rogi's ship." Kaede explained. "We're going to try and get a schematic of the inside of the ship next-"
"I think you're going to have to skip ahead to the mechat location!" Jiro whispered loudly.
Kaede looked over at him in confusion. "What do you-"
"Someone's coming!" Shu and Marumaro said simultaneously in the same whisper-yell as Jiro, both of them flailing their arms.
Kluke cursed quietly, typing rapid commands into keyboard. That schematic would've come in handy, too... "Alright, Bouquet, the directions to the mechat are coming!"
Now knowing where the paper would come out, Bouquet wasn't caught unaware this time, and retrieved it right away. "Got it!" She lifted it in the air.
"Bouquet, too loud!" Everyone cried out (except for Bouquet herself).
She cringed. "Sorry."
As if on cue, there was a series of hard knocks on the door. "Hey, who's in there?" A muffled voice came through. "That room is off limits."
Shu and Marumaro grabbed the doorknob, in a vain attempt to block anyone from coming in. Shu shut his eyes tightly. "Oh man, we're so screwed!"
"Don't panic." Jiro whispered to him. "Keep a cool head and we'll get out of here." Turning to the door, he raised his voice as he said, "Just maintenance!"
"We weren't notified of any maintenance," another spoke from behind the door. "Let us in at once!"
"Shoot," Jiro muttered. "I guess we don't have any choice." He looked to Shu and Marumaro. "Both of you, get ready to back up - I'm going to punch the door down!"
"Punch the door down?" Shu gaped at him. "This thing is metal, you know. Since when did you get that strong?"
"Not me, you idiot!" Jiro yelled. "Using my Shadow!"
"Oh." Shu blinked. "Why didn't you say that in the first place?"
Jiro pinched between his eyebrows and groaned.
Kluke stood from the chair in front of the console, Kaede at her side. "Bouquet," she said, getting the other girl's attention. "Whatever you do, hold onto those papers."
Bouquet nodded, holding up a fisted hand. "Leave it to me!"
"Hey!" The guards outside banged on the door again. "Let us inside now!"
Jiro stood his ground. "Alright! Here we go!"
As the guard next to him started banging on the door again, the other looked down when he noticed something very... abnormal. "Hey, uh... Do you see that...?" He pointed to the space underneath the door, where there was a-
"What the-?!" The other guard reeled back. "Is that... Is that glowing green?"
And then suddenly, a shout from the other side of the door: "Dotou!!"
The metallic door was thrown forward, torn from its hinges, flattening the guards underneath. The two soldiers were mostly uninjured, but they were struggling to lift the door off.
The group came rushing out of the database room, slipping and sliding - Marumaro actually rolled momentarily - before managing to regain their proper footing.
"Not good, maro!" Marumaro was struggling to keep up with the others; feeling bad for him, Kaede lagged slightly.
"Bouquet!" Kluke started. "You have the papers - which way to the mechat?!"
"U-um..." Bouquet turned the paper around in her hands; the thing was so confusing... "Where did we start?!"
"The yellow box in the lower left corner!" Kaede supplied.
"Oh!" Bouquet flipped the map completely upside-down. No wonder it didn't make sense. "But where is the room with the mechats?"
"Orange rectangle!" Kaede added again.
Bouquet's eyes widened. "But... That's in the upper right corner - it's almost completely opposite from where we are! Oh, we'll never get out of here!" She shook her head from side to side.
"It doesn't matter how far we have to go!" Jiro interrupted her. "They'll know where we are in a matter of minutes; a mechat is our only chance out of here!"
"Alright," Bouquet sighed, looking down at the paper again. "We need to take the next left!"
Fortunately, the turn was only a few feet away.
However, there was also a problem.
"There they are!" Three soldiers, armed with the standard Grand Kingdom rifles.
"Look out!" Bouquet yelled, making a harsh turn, everyone following suit.
Except for one.
"Help!" Shu slid across the ground, right towards the soldiers, unable to find a solid grip to the slippery metal floor.
"Shu!!" Moving fast, and at the same time, Kluke and Jiro each took hold of one of his arms, and pulled.
But they hadn't pulled quite fast enough.
"Ah!!" Shu cried out, obviously in pain, as he collapsed on top of Kluke, dragging Jiro to one knee.
Kluke pulled herself into a sitting position, half-holding Shu, and when she looked down- "Shu!!" She clutched his shirt next to a newly made tear, showing the red mark where the Grand Kingdom rifle fire had connected with its target.
"What happened to him?!" Bouquet was rushing to kneel down next to Kluke.
"They hit him." Jiro said grimly. "There's no time for this - we need to go. Now."
Kluke began protesting. "But, Shu-"
"It feels like it's on fire, but I can live with it for a few minutes." Shu managed to pull himself into a crouch.
Marumaro, who had went over to the corner to peer around it, immediately darted past everyone. "Run, maro!!!"
Everyone took his advice, got to their feet, and sprinted after him.
They took several turns left and right, not bothering to check the direction - their current focus was only on getting to a place where they could rest for a minute or two.
Eventually, they managed to get to that point - as soon as they had stopped, most of the group collapsed on the ground, trying to catch their breath.
Shu winced as his hand touched just below the cut on his back. "Ugh, it hurts..."
Bouquet place a hand on his arm. "Shu..."
Seeing Shu in pain like that... It made something inside of Kaede snap. "I won't let this go on!"
"Kaede-" Jiro started forward, with intentions to stop her, but not soon enough.
With a good deal of grayish-white light, and a "pyon", Kaede summoned Panda.
The Shadow blinked a few times, trying to get used to her surroundings. "Pyon-pyon...?" She looked down at her User. "Kaede-chan, what's going on?"
"It's Shu - he's hurt!" The urgency in her voice was clear. "Can you help me heal him?"
"Of course!" Panda paused for a moment, taking a deep breath, then- "Pyon!!" The blinding flash appeared like it had before, following by the blue swirling light, and then the following flash... The only difference was that there were less balls of light than there had been last time.
"It's gone!" Bouquet gasped, her hand near the tear in Shu's shirt.
"She healed him!" Kluke added, her voice a mix of surprise and happiness.
"Kaede..." Shu was smiling at her warmly. "Thank you."
Her arms folded behind her back, Kaede could feel herself blushing. "I'm glad I could help."
"Kaede." Jiro cut in, his tone and eyes equally sharp. "Why did you do that?"
She glared at him. "Because he was hurt, and I could help-"
"No!" He interrupted her. "You shouldn't have done it!"
"If someone's hurt, and I can help them, then I'm going to!" She argued.
Jiro shook his head. "You can't! Do you understand? You can't!" I can't lose you. Why won't you understand?
"Guys," everyone stopped when Marumaro's voice broke through. "I think we should get out of here, maro."
"He's right," Kaede turned to everyone, pointedly away from Jiro. "We've spent too much time here. They'll find us if we stay here longer." She nodded to Panda, who "pyon-ed" in agreement, and started running forward.
"No!" Jiro grabbed her by the arm and moved her backwards, being carried ahead of her by momentum. "Unsummon your Shadow and stay back-!"
But he moved forward too much, past the corner.
"There! One of the intruders!" Jiro turned his head, seeing a line of armed soldiers.
And then, as they opened fire, something pushed him to the ground.
When he opened his eyes, he was met with the sight of his sister and her Shadow, Panda covering the two siblings as the ammunition hit her and did essentially nothing.
As Kaede sat up, she winced and grabbed her arm. "Ow. One of them actually stung a little."
"Kaede..." He stared at her in shock, as she brushed off the damage being dealt to her as nothing.
The noise from the rifles ceased. Panda maneuvered her head so she could look at Kaede. "They stopped-pyon."
"Good." She nodded, then stood, Panda uncurling. At first appearance, Kaede seemed to just be standing. But, seeing her feet, her heels were off of the floor, keeping her ready to pounce at any second.
One of the soldiers took a large step back, eyes bugging, hand trembling in the air as he pointed. "She... Our weapons didn't do anything!"
"Enough!" Another one of them snapped. "She's just a little girl! She can't do anything to us!"
Kaede chuckled then, moving some of her hair away from her face - in this moment, she was so much like her brother, that the Shu-tachi, including Jiro himself, were utterly stunned - and then quietly, humorously saying, "Just a little girl..." She opened her eyes then. "Don't you silly adults know by now that everything isn't as it appears?"
Moving so rapidly that the soldiers only registered her movement seconds after it happened, Kaede swept her arm in a wide arc. "Hah!" With that battle cry, she went into a full charge.
Following this immediately after, Panda took in a huge gulp of air, and blew it out as fire.
The soldiers cried out in fear, but there wasn't much point - both Kaede and Panda took extra care to make sure none of them were harmed.
When Panda stopped breathing the flames, it had left behind a tall fire wall.
Panda placed her hands on her "hips". "Well, that should take of them for a while, right-pyon?" She looked down at her User.
Kaede grinned up at her Shadow, arms folded. "You got it."
Jiro stood. "You... You purposefully didn't hurt them... Didn't you?"
"Well, of course," she blinked at him. "I don't want to hurt anyone unless it's necessary. Well," she added as an afterthought. "Except for Nene."
Jiro blinked once, twice - the phrase came to him unbidden: Just like Phoenix, I'd let her spread her wings. - then rushed forward and caught her in a tight hug.
"Pyon! Pyon!" Panda flailed her arms in embarrassment.
"Ji-Jiro-" she stuttered, blushing red.
"Kaede..." He interrupted her gently, though his voice sounded tense. "I..." He held her even closer then. "Oh, Sis, I'm so sorry."
Kaede swallowed past the sudden lump; Jiro hadn't called her "Sis" since he was six years old. "I-it's okay... Y-you don't have to..." She sighed a little, trying to calm down enough so she could speak properly. "I-I should be the one apologizing. You told me not to use my Shadow, and I didn't listen-"
"No," he cut her off. "You may be young, and you may even need to be looked after every once and while, but you aren't helpless. You never really were, and you especially aren't now. I think it just took me a long time to realize it. And that's why I'm sorry - I held you back when I had no right to do so." His hands tightened on her shirt sleeves. "It's just that... I'm so scared of losing you... If I lost you again.." His voice trembled especially bad at this point. "... I don't think I could take it."
She blinked rapidly, eyes stinging. "I know... I know, Jiro. I'm sorry... I didn't want to upset you like that. But, you have to keep something in mind," she looked up at him. "If you feel that way, how do you think it's going to be for me when I see you use your Shadow?"
Jiro gasped a little; he had honestly never thought of that, and it only made him think that he should have thought of it. He managed a smile, though. "How about this - why don't we just try to use our Shadows to keep each other safe?"
She smiled with him. "Sounds like a plan."
"Uh, Jiro, Kaede," Shu cut in suddenly. "I really, really hate to break this up, but I think somebody's coming."
Jiro muttered something angrily and quietly; the others were too far away to hear, but Kaede seemingly had, since she giggled.
After Panda had been unsummoned, the group collected and broke off into a run down the hall.
It took several panicky minutes to figure out where they were, but panic soon turned to relief once they realized that they were close to the mechat dock. A few more right and wrong twists, plus an almost-encounter, and they were in.
Kluke clasped her hands in front of her, eyes starry. "So many mechats..." She squeezed her eyes shut, cheeks rosy. "So cool~..."
Shu sighed, hands spread in front of him. "Here we go..."
"Kluke," Jiro began. "Can you pick out a good mechat for us?"
She nodded cheerfully, hands behind her back. "Of course! I'd love to!" With that, she practically skipped towards the nearest ship.
"We should keep our guards up," Kaede looked around the room. "They'll be in here soon."
"Kluke, hurry!" Shu shouted, hands cupped in front of his mouth.
"This one should do!" She waved the others over.
When they had made it to the mechat Kluke had indicated, she was already climbing up the ladder from the cabin to the deck.
Just as she had stepped off, and the others had begun to climb, there was a shout from the other side of the dock. "They're getting away!!"
Kluke grabbed the railing, leaning over it. "Everyone, get inside!!"
She waited until everyone was at least inside the cabin, then hurried to the pilots chair, snapping her seatbelt on.
By the time everyone was on deck, the mechat engine had already been started. Around the time that the soldiers were halfway to where they were, Kluke took off.
Kaede, unused to flying, cried out as she was thrown backwards.
"Kaede-chan!" Marumaro grabbed her by the wrist, holding onto the railing.
Once she was kneeling on the ground, holding to the side of the ship, she managed a smile at Marumaro. "Thanks."
He grinned. "That's what friends are for, maro! Now, wait here, maro." He charged towards the machine gun. "It's time for the Defender of Justice to protect his companions, maro!"
Kaede heard a gusty sigh escape from Bouquet, followed by a murmuring of, "Crazy pervert..."
At that moment, their mechat exited from the mechat dock - and they were immediately fired upon.
"Gah!" Shu hooked his arms around the railing. "Kluke, dodge! Dodge!"
Jiro leaned over the side of the ship, looking behind them. "They're sending two mechats after us!" Narrowly missing some ammunition that passed close to his head, he then made his way back next to Kluke, holding tightly to the pilot's chair. "There's nothing we can do about the ground units except get away from them, but we can use the missiles to take care of the ships following us."
She nodded. "Alright. Can you take care of the lock on for me?"
"Sure." Having done it the last time they'd snatched a mechat, he was already familiar with the controls for the targeting system, and quickly had the two mechats in the lock on circle. "Okay - whenever you're ready, Kluke!"
"Let's do it!" The target circles beeped in confirmation of being locked on. "Missile shoot!" Kluke pressed the button on top of the mechat controls, sending out two missiles.
The mechats attempted to dodge, but were too slow to escape the hit - both missiles hit the ships' sides, causing them to smoke, and then start to descend.
Shu lifted up a fist in triumph. "We got 'em!"
The rest of the ammo coming from the ground forces was easy to dodge, and they sent no more ships after them.
When they'd been flying clear for a little while, Jiro turned to Bouquet. "Can I see the papers? We need to match up the coordinates of General Rogi's ship with the mechat radar."
"Here." She passed them over. For a moment, she thought of peering over his shoulder to watch, but decided against it - Kluke would be preoccupied with piloting the mechat for who knew how long, and that meant that Bouquet could spend time with Shu uninterrupted... Giddy at the thought, she sidled up to her Darling, who was only a few feet away...
But when Kluke gasped, and Jiro asked, "What is it?", Bouquet found out that her time with Shu would be interrupted after all.
"We're..." Kluke swallowed. "We're close... Really, really close. In fact, we may be seeing the ship in just a few minutes."
Shu moved forward, unintentionally away from Bouquet, until he was close enough to look at the radar. He could see it - a large, flashing dot. He lifted his eyes. The Extra Seven is in there... But, we might have to face General Rogi to get it. But, if we do get it, we'll be able to gain our Power Ups. And then we'll fight Nene... He gripped the railing tighter. Hang on, Zola. We're coming.
End of Part Two
*eyecatch of Kaede and Panda*
Chapter Preview
*cue scenes from next chapter in background*
Narrator: With the mechat, the Shu-tachi can now board General Rogi's ship. The battle for the Extra Seven has begun!
Marumaro: I don't want to jump, maro!
Shu: I won't let anything stand in my way!
Bouquet: I don't have to get the Extra Seven the way I did in the regular series, do I?
*cuts to black* *music stops*
Shu: (whispering) Bouquet... No one is supposed to talk about that.
Bouquet: Oh. Sorry.
*everything resumes*
Kluke: It's General Rogi and his squad! It looks like we'll have to fight!
Shu: Wait... Is that... Zola?!
Next chapter of Blue Dragon: Maple Leaf - Rogi's Ship.
And chapter two is finally done! :D Man, this turned out really different from how I thought it would... The thing between Jiro and Kaede was completely unplanned - the whole time I was writing it, I had no idea where it would go, until I finally managed to find a proper resolution to the hostility. It kind of evolved from the thought that Jiro couldn't possibly want his sister to be fighting with a Shadow, especially after thinking she was dead for all of that time, and the risk of losing her again, and it kind of just snowballed from there... Anyway, that was most of my worry for this chapter - I was actually pretty pleased with how the rest of it turned out. :) Though it was a bit longer than it was supposed to be... Anyway, please review and let me know what you thought - I have mixed feelings about this chapter, so I'm interested in seeing what everyone thinks of it. I'll try to update after 10 hits - despite the fact that most, if not all, of my stories are late, Maple Leaf takes a long time to write anyway, so it may be a while before this is updated. I'll try to hurry, though. See you soon! :D