---- A Harsh Decision ----

Disclaimer : Breath of fire is a Cacom's property. Everything else is mine :)

Chapter Two : Jack, A Powerful Shadow.

Ryu looked at the sky. "It's up to you, Ryu..." he remembered the words that the elder said last, before meeting with his ancestors..."My choice..." Ryu took a rock next to him and held it tight within his right hand "It...WAS NOT MY CHOICE" . Ryu threw the rock violently at the water, scaring out the Jellyfish that was staring at him. "I never wanted to kill anyone,specially...my brother." A little after that, he saw the bushes moving "It must be these darn wild boars" He tought to himself. Suddenly, a huge pillar of frost popped out from the earth, he were able to avoid most of it, but a part of a frozen spike of the pillar still got him on the armor. "Who are you?" Ryu were able to ask that before avoiding another attack "Name's Jack here, fella" The shadow gave him a smile "You're pretty fast, Dragon Boy. But how long can you keep this up?" A man jumped out of the bushes, he was tall, but Ryu couldn't see anything else. "Nice clothing! I hope it's tough enough to..." Ryu quickly charged up the shadow, only to be hitten hardly on the forehead, slamming his face directly to the ground "C'mon, Don't be a fool!...Did you really Tought you could hit me with such...a blind-folded rage? I am not like her!" The shadow aimed something like a staff on Ryu's heart "They told me to take you there alive. Looks like I am not going to have much fun with you!"

Nina woke up. She stood up with difficult, and looked around "These sleepyheads" she whispered.

"Sleepyheads? I don't think so." Nina turned around just to see Momo smiling at her, from her blanket. "Oh, you heard that? Sorry. I need to learn how to think things just to myself" Nina smiled at Momo "So, you're awake, too?"

"Well, i can't sleep. It's awfully strange the way it's so hot inside this tent, and so cold out there" Momo replied, while shivering badly. Momo never liked colderness.

"Yes, the weather's strange again. By the way, where's Ryu? He's nowhere to be found..."

"I don't know"

"That isn't exactly a helpful answer, you know, Momo" Nina tried to sound funny, but concern could be found on her voice.

"Concerned about him?" Momo teased Nina, but got no reply. "Come on, cheer up! He's probably wandering by these fields, you know, Ryu's being a "Deserter" since we defeated Myria. He is always alone...unless you're close by" Momo ended her self-reply, teasing Nina some more.

"What do you mean by that?" Nina blushed hardly.

"Oh my God...i tought i was going to sleep, but it seems you girls aren't letting me do, are you?" Rei got up dazzled and sleepy.

"We're chating about Ryu. He vanished." Momo replied Rei with her arrogant tone. She was like that whenever she spoke to Rei's.

"Doesn't that beat all? Ryu's quite irresponsible these days." Rei replied to Momo, as arrogant as she did.

"HA, look who's saying!" Momo clinched her fists. They would get into another one of their long, persistently battles, if it weren't for Nina. "Let's stop arguing and do something instead!" Her voice was at the same time angry and tearfully.

"Oh, Sorry Nina. I have an idea. What if you and me go looking for Ryu? He can't be too far from here at these hours..." Momo was rather proud of her leading skills.

"Great! Let's go" Nina happily agreed to Momo.

"What about me?" Rei asked. He could not stand the fact that Momo was "leading".

"You will look the other way"

" 'you will'? i guess this makes you the leader?" Rei was starting to get his nerves up at Momo's.

"Well, Nina asked me what we should do..." Momo answered, still arrogantly.

" Really? But i didn't!" Rei and Momo were getting high again. Nina couldn't stand this anymore.

"SHUT UP YOU TWO!" Nina shouted at them.They both looked at her with amusement, Nina never shouted at anybody before.

"L-Let's go look for Ryu" Momo said, and with that she left the tent with Nina. Rei got to the other said, while murmuring some dark curses.

"OK, you're good. But it's not the end yet!" Ryu stood up. A little, but deep wound on his forehead aching like hell "I've survived things much worse than that!" in a fast move, Ryu jumped left to avoid another one of the shadow's iceballs "Damn, he's fast. If i can't get him soon, i will lose the battle" Ryu then started chanting and shouted "MAGIC BALL!". A ball of pure dark energy hit the shadow like a missile, sending it far backwards. Ryu pointed his sword to the creature's oath "Will you give up now?" The shadow silenced for a moment. "Ryu, i have a thing to tell you..." Ryu felt surprised "What?" he asked.

"MeteorStrike"

"A shooting star?" The both said in unison. Rei saw it as well.

"I just hope Ryu's ok" And a sole tear come down from Nina's eyes.

"AAAAAARGH" A loud cry could be heard from distance. The strong earth attack took Ryu off-guard, smashing him on the ground violently "Uggh..." Ryu were shaking, blood all over his now striped clothing "This one was nice, wasn't it Ryu? I guess it did hurt, tough, 'coz i don't feel anything..." The shadow had a cool, evil smile that soon turned into a loud laughter.

"I won't...give..up..." Ryu tried to stand up, but he couldn't. "Oh, you won't? So i guess i'll convince you to do!" Jack's hand started to glow "Mind Sword". A extremelly strong and shiny blade hit Ryu on the chest. It didn't killed him, tough, because of his life armor, but it knocked him unconcious. A few minutes later, lots of extra shadows appeared all around the battle field.

"Let's not take any chances! Master D. wants him alive!" Jack ordered his minions to throw Ryu in a cage.

"Master D. is a tough guy" One of the minor shadows laughed. He threw Ryu on the cage, but didn't noticed something dropped on the floor.

Rei was already tired of walking that much. "Ryu's nowhere to be found" he tought. He saw a river close by and decided to have some water. When he approached he saw pools of blood all over the field, but most importantly, he saw something shinining between all the blood. He knelt to the floor and took the item. He froze. "I guess this is not good" He muttered. There was something is his hand. It was the Dragon-Tear, Ryu's trademark accessory.

So, how's it Now? I would like to thank Nina Windia for the review!

P.S : You all...read and review...or else...