Breath of Fire III: Of Gods and Dragons
Chapter Eight: The Genius Scientist
Written by Estrelita Farr
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Her first camping night out was, of course, fun. Being a princess, she had never stayed overnight in the wilderness before, and the only time she stayed anywhere but her room was during vacation at the seaside town of Rhapala with her parents. Even though it was rather dark outside at night, she wasn't afraid at all; with Ryu nearby, she always felt safe.
She didn't complain when all they had were fruits, since neither of them had the heart to kill an animal to eat, nor did she complain when they had to sleep on the ground since Ryu lost his sleeping bag at Castle Wyndia when they escaped. In fact, she felt it was a fun change from the usual rich food she had at the castle, and it was fun to sleep outside with no worries of classes and duties tomorrow.
…yes, she felt she would rather be here with Ryu than at the castle as a princess.
The next morning, after they woke up to discover that the fog was gone, between the trees they saw a tall tower in the distance.
"Darn," Ryu said, shaking his head. "If only we've gone a little further last night, we could've sought shelter there… but it's a bad idea to walk in the fog at night."
Nina giggled. "Don't worry, Ryu, I had fun last night!"
He smiled. "Glad to hear it."
It took an hour for them to find their way out of the forest (and Ryu admitted it was much easier without the fog) and to arrive at the tower's entrance. As they climbed the stairway that led to the entrance of the tower, the first thing they saw was a large outdoor pool with carved stone sides, with a look of elegance that belonged to a rich person's mansion. Passing it, they climbed yet another set of staircase to brown double doors that seemed to be the entrance into the tower.
"It's a pretty big house, isn't it?" Nina commented.
Ryu gazed upwards as well. "Yeah, nothing like the one I live in…" He turned towards her. "Maybe we can ask whoever staying here how to get back to Wyndia?"
She nodded. "Yeah, okay."
The interior of the tower was exceedingly brown, with brown bricks forming the walls, where there were ivy growing despite the fact it was indoors, and darker bricks forming the floor that was decorated with sun-like patterns. A red sign hung on the wall just opposite the entrance door and caught their attention.
"Danger, high-grade chrysm," Ryu read. "There are a lot of monsters that have come looking for it, so enter at your own risk. Momo."
"That doesn't sound nice…" his companion remarked. "What does the owner do with all that chrysm though?"
"Who knows." He gestured towards a door at the end of the hall to the right. "There's a door over there, so I guess that's where we're heading… don't worry, I'll protect you."
She smiled. "I know you will, Ryu!"
Despite the fact they were in a building, there were monsters – and strange-looking robots – roaming the interior as though they were in the wilderness. They sprung out of nowhere to attack the children, but they were no match for Ryu's improving swordsmanship and Nina's magic.
At the next floor, they saw a door to the right and a staircase to the left. They tried the door, checking if anyone was there, but all they found were two beds, some tables surrounded by chairs, and walls shielded by numerous bookshelves crammed full of books. The sheer number of books in this room alone was staggering, and Ryu found himself staring at them in awe.
"The person living here must really like reading," Nina observed.
But there was no one here, and they went on their way.
After climbing a staircase to yet another floor, just as they turned around a corner of a hallway, they heard a sudden crash of something shattering beyond the nearest door, and then something small came out from the room.
It was a round doll with colour like a blood ruby, but unlike the dolls that Nina owned, this one was just round, with a short head, arms and legs coming from it, and it walked on its own. As it stopped near the wall, it covered the side of its head with its hands, as though it expected to hear something loud.
At that very moment, a dazzling beam of yellow light came out from the slightly ajar door, and then, the ear-shattering roar of an explosion shook the floor, causing a thin cloud of smoke to escape into the hall. Seemingly satisfied now, the doll turned and entered the room once more.
"Um… what was that?" Nina wondered.
Both of them went to the door, peeking inside, and they found the room in – though not surprisingly – a terrible mess. The walls, floor and ceiling were partly black from the explosion, and even the messy cupboards and counter were dirty. Broken pieces of glass were scattered all over, beakers on the counter were overturned and coloured liquid came seeping out from them.
At the back of the room, before the counter, was a young woman, probably around nineteen years of age. She had on a loose blue and white robe over baggy pink pants, with a matching blue scholar's cap on her head. Her hair was fiery red, thick and long, and they were tied into two large braids that brushed the top of her brown boots. Her ears were strange, for they were not a human's, despite the fact that she looked human, and they looked more like a bushy pink rabbit's ears with dark ends.
At a quick glance, Nina thought her ears were feathers in her cap, and she giggled to herself when she saw how cute they were.
"Hm… I guess the key lies in somehow stabilising the pure chrysm…" the red-haired girl muttered to herself, adjusting her spectacles, then her eyes shone with an idea. "That's it! If the gasification pressure is kept down… huh?" She turned when the small doll pulled at her robe lightly, pointing towards the duo who had just entered.
"Hi, um…" Nina started. "We just came from outsi–"
"WHAT?" she shouted at the top of her lungs. "YOU'RE FRIENDS OF HONEY? NICE TO MEET YOU! I'M MOMO!"
Ryu was absolutely taken aback by the high volume of her voice – he had never been yelled at that loud before.
"Ah, um…" The princess curtsied a little, searching for the right words to say. "Yes, it's nice to meet you too, but… um, you see…"
"WHAT?"
"I was trying to say that… well, we're not really friends of this… Honey, we're just trying to find the road the Wyndia…"
They stood around in a momentary silence.
"…WHAT?" Momo shouted again. "I'M SORRY, MY EARS ARE RINGING AFTER THAT EXPLOSION!"
Nina sighed and turned towards her companion, shaking her head. Ryu nodded at her, as though telling her to go on with the idea, and she nodded as well, facing Momo again.
"HELLO!" she yelled as loud as she could. "CAN YOU PLEASE SHOW US THE ROAD TO WYNDIA?"
At first it looked like she heard. She seemed puzzled as though she would ask why they were heading to Wyndia, and even the small doll on the floor looked hopefully at her. Ryu and Nina gazed at her as well…
"WHAT?" came Momo's yell.
Ryu slapped his forehead in exasperation.
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-o-o-o-o-o-
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"I'm sorry, my ears are better now…" Momo stated a few minutes later, shaking her head. "So you want to go to Wyndia?"
Ryu nodded. "Yeah, we've gotten a little lost coming this way… can you tell us how to get there?"
She grinned. "I'll do better than that! I'll take you to Wyndia myself!"
"Wow, thank you!" the princess said, beaming. "Are you sure it's not out of your way?"
"Nah, I need to go there to buy something anyway!" She paused. "Now… what was it that I need to buy again?"
The boy stared at her; she seemed a little absent-minded…
"Oh well." Momo shrugged. "I guess I'll remember when I get there!"
Nina gave a slight bow. "Thank you so much, I'll be sure to make it up to you when we get to the castle!"
The older girl seemed confused. "…castle?" Almost instantly, a look of utter shock washed over her face as she staggered backwards with her mouth wide open. "W-wait a minute! When you said your name's Nina, you mean Princess Nina?" She bowed repeatedly. "Y-y-y-your highness! Please forgive me! I had no idea at all a-a-and–"
Talkative too, Ryu noted.
Nina shook her head. "Um, no, it's all right, you're helping us, after all… please call me Nina, okay?"
Momo stopped bowing as she blinked. "Are you… sure?"
"Yes! Well… I don't really like the formalities anyway," the princess admitted.
"Okay then!" Momo was back to her initial cheerful self. "By the way, my name is Momo, and this–" She gestured to the little doll thing that the children had caught sight of earlier. "–is Honey. She's a machine soldier, she came looking for chrysm here, but she has no offensive capabilities, and she's kinda cute!"
Nina nodded. "I agree, she's really cute even though she doesn't look anything like a doll at all!"
She grinned. "Well then, I have to get some things ready, so why don't you rest here while I get them?"
The only boy nodded. "Thanks so much."
She took a few steps towards the door, knelt next to the little doll on the floor, which had started sweeping the floor with a broom bigger than itself, and called, "C'mon, Honey, we're going downstairs."
Honey abruptly dropped the broom it was holding and jumped onto Momo's outstretched hand. With that, the girl left the room.
"It's good that we met a nice person for once," Nina commented.
"Yeah, she does seem nice." Ryu shook his head as he sat down on a clean spot on the floor. "I was getting tired of constantly meeting bad ones…"
"I suppose we would meet both good ones and bad ones…" She smiled. "And I know you're a good person too, even though you're a Dragon."
He turned slightly red. "Y-you're a good person too."
She giggled as she sat beside him, and both of them waited for Momo to return.
It took only a few minutes for the older girl to return from wherever she went to, and she had a small bag full of items with her.
"Thanks for waiting," she started, and then trailed off, not knowing how to continue. Then she continued, "Say… you two aren't being followed by some scruffy-looking guys, are you?"
Nina looked confused. "Scruffy-looking… guys? No, I don't think so… why?"
"That's funny… when I went outside to buy something from the merchant, I saw some real rough-looking characters there…"
Ryu stood up immediately, his expression hard. "Must be Balio and Sunder's men!" He had thought it would take them longer to find them after the incident at Mt. Boumore…
The princess seemed scared. "Oh no…"
Momo glanced at both of them and grinned. "Hey, there's no need to be afraid!" She gestured towards the broken things on the counter. "I mean, inside this tower, I've been doing experiments, so there are lots of monsters here, not to mention chrysm machine soldiers, and traps to protect me from them…" She beamed, her ears perking up. "And all sorts of other things! Don't worry, they won't get up here so easily!"
"But… Momo…" Nina shook her head. "We were able to get this far, and we didn't see any traps at all…"
She gasped in realisation. "Oh, that's right! How did you get up here, anyway?"
The boy stared at her.
"Um, let's not worry about that now…" The princess got to her feet. "We have to get out of here!"
"R-right… wait…" Momo thought for a moment. "Well, since we can't get out by going down… let's go up!"
"What?" Ryu said.
"Don't worry, don't worry!" she told them cheerfully, ushering them out of the room. "There's a way out up there! I'm sure of it! C'mon, let's go!"
With Momo in the lead, the trio quickly made their way towards the top floor, encountering more of those monsters and robots that the older girl had mentioned before. To the others' surprise, her Earthquake spells were deadly and her weapon, a large portable bazooka, would fire pellets of chrysm energy that dealt a lot of damage, but very inaccurately.
From the room they had just left, they continued down the hall, ignoring a door they passed, and took a staircase. After passing two halls and another staircase, they then arrived at yet another door, which led to the strangest puzzle the two children had seen.
The puzzle consisted of four rotating colourful cubes on pedestals aligned together in a line in front of them, and beyond these four stood another one. Three of those cubes, including the isolated one, were similar while the other two were not, but the differences were so small that it was rather hard to see.
Momo grinned. "This is one of my finest puzzles!"
"How do you solve it?" Nina asked, curious.
"Oh, it's easy! Watch!" She went over to the second pedestal from the left, pressed a switch there, and did the same to the fourth one. "There! Now we can cross!"
"Huh?" Ryu was puzzled. "That's it?"
"That's it," she confirmed, leading them across the room, past the isolated pedestal. "You see, all you have to do is find the two cubes that are exactly the same as the single one… but the cubes are so colourful that people find it hard!"
"Oh… well, uh…" He disagreed with her, but decided not to say it out loud. "I guess."
After a winding road that led through two set of staircases and another door, they arrived at a huge hall that was separated into four sections by a cross-shaped hole, which was so wide that they could not jump over and land safely.
"How do we get through here?" The princess shook her head. "I can't jump that far…"
"You see those two panels with one blue switch and one red one?" Momo stated, gesturing to the said panels nearby. "These control the two elevators, and depending on which you flip, they'll let you access the other parts of the floor!"
The other two doubted that this would deter their pursuers much, but they said nothing.
Every floor of the tower had many puzzles that were, sadly to say, easy to solve even for the children – lasers that could be turned off and on with a diamond-shaped crystal that ran on chrysm energy, tiles on the floor that had to be stepped in a certain order… but out of respect, they didn't say anything about it to Momo. They just hoped that she was right in finding a way out of the tower at the top floor.
Once they had solved the last of the easy puzzles, they were free to access the stairway at the end of the top floor, which had a door that led to their destination. The first thing they saw past the door was rows and rows of bookshelves, crammed full of books, and behind that was a grey elegant desk. In the back corner of the big room was a single bed that was dusty; it seemed that it had not been used for a long time.
Momo gazed around the room with fondness in her eyes. "This is where my father used to work…"
"There's a hidden exit in here?" Nina asked.
The older girl turned back towards them, grinning. "You bet! My dad was really something! He was the greatest engineer in the whole world, and all his inventions are the greatest!" She did not seem to notice their uncertainty as she continued, "And before he died, he told me he made an escape device and hid it in the tower!"
Ryu perked up. "There is? Where is it?"
"Well, that is…" She smiled sheepishly. "I don't know myself."
The other two stared at her.
"But I know where the switch is!" Momo went excitedly over to the grey desk, went around it, reached beneath it and pushed a button that was hidden under it.
Suddenly, the whole tower began to shake with a low rumble, and an alarm rang through the room. In front of the trio, two of the numerous bookshelves slid away, revealing a square hole, and a huge rocket made of a gleaming bronze-coloured metal emerged. The three of them gazed at the rocket in wonderment.
"Wow!" Momo exclaimed excitedly, her eyes shining. "Only my dad could've made something like this!"
Nina shook her head. "But why did he build something to get away like this?"
She shrugged. "Just because, I guess… my dad loved machines." She grinned. "C'mon, let's take a look at it!"
She stepped forward, examining it with an enthusiasm that the two children found themselves lacking in.
"Let's see, we ignite it here…" she muttered to herself. "I wonder what it does…" She did a little jump. "I'm so excited! Oh boy!"
"Uh… should we board it now?" Ryu asked, a little hesitant.
"Yep, all we need to do is to hang onto it like a ladder!" She did so immediately, soon followed by the reluctant and nervous two, and put a hand over the ignition button. "Everyone ready?"
"Um…"
Even if she received less than enthusiastic replies, she continued, "Okay! Taking off in three…"
"I don't know about this…" Nina muttered.
"…two…"
Ryu gulped.
"…one…" Momo grinned. "Here we GO!"
The rocket gave a sudden jerk, filling the room instantly with white smoke from its bottom, then jerked once more as it slowly eased its way out of its dormant position.
"I was expecting it to immediately shoot upwards…" Ryu began.
He just had to say it.
The moment it was inches from the ceiling, it suddenly gave a violent upward lurch. Nina gave a cry as it shot through the roof and into the sky at an incredible speed, taking all their breath away for about five seconds.
Then it slowed down.
The engine spluttered.
Not good.
A chorus of screams rang through the sunny afternoon sky as the heavy vehicle fell to the earth like a great comet.
And it landed with a huge crash just outside the tower.
Dust rose for a few minutes, then settled down to reveal a wrecked rocket in the middle of a huge crater, surrounded by three people sprawled on the ground. Honey, the little robot doll, jumped out of her mistress' pocket and nudged her arm to wake her up.
"Ah… ouch…" Momo groaned, slowly sitting up. "Looks like the landing… ouch… needs a little work…"
Satisfied, Honey moved over to Nina and nudged her the same way she did with her mistress, while Ryu let out a groan as he sat up.
Just as her younger companions stood up, Momo spied a small red book fallen beside her. "Huh? What this?" She picked it up and red the cover. "Oh, it's the rocket's instruction manual! Let's see…"
Confident that they weren't hurt, Ryu and Nina stood in front of her, curious to hear what the book had to say. However, from the red-haired girl's embarrassed expression, they knew it wasn't good news at all.
"Whoops!" she exclaimed. "It says there's only supposed to be one passenger!"
Nina stared at her.
"It also says…" She looked even more sheepish. "…to make sure to open the roof hatch before takeoff…"
Ryu shook his head exasperatedly.
"Well, aside from that, it worked, didn't it?" Momo closed the book and looked up at them. "I mean, it worked… pretty good, right?"
"No way!" both of them cried simultaneously.
"Oh well…" She shrugged as she picked up Honey from the ground, beaming. "C'mon! If we stand around all day like this, they'll catch up with us!"
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-o-o-o-o-o-
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It took them less than a minute to find the road they would follow back to Wyndia, and they travelled for an hour or two before Ryu spied a small building on a hill.
"What's that?" he asked, pointing.
"Oh, that's the coffee shop," Momo explained.
"A coffee shop?" Nina smiled. "Why don't we stop for a drink?"
The boy nodded. "Good idea."
It took another fifteen minutes or so before they were finally on the winding slope that led to top of the hill where the coffee shop is, which was just a wooden house with cloth-covered tables and chairs arranged neatly under the open sky. There were quite a few customers here, even though it was just a small place, and the waitresses seemed rather busy serving them. Ryu, who had not been in a coffee shop before, felt a little awkward standing there, as though everyone were staring at him.
Once they arrived, a middle-aged waitress there brought them to an empty table just in front of the building, and she chatted merrily with them as she took their orders.
"My, my! What darling children!" she cried, making Ryu turn a bright shade of red. "Are you stuck here as well?"
"Stuck?" Nina echoed, puzzled.
"No? Well, I asked because there are some strange fellows blocking the road and no one can get through to Wyndia…" She grinned, waving a hand nonchalantly. "Of course, that means we get more customers! Now, what would you like to drink?"
Momo ordered tea while the princess chose orange juice. Ryu, who had never taken any drinks other than plain water before, pondered a long time before finally deciding to have orange juice as well. The waitress took down the orders enthusiastically and left for the wooden house.
"Hm…" The red-haired girl seemed thoughtful. "The road's blocked, so it must be the men who're after you…" Waving a hand, she grinned. "Well, no point worrying about it, I'm sure they'll give up soon enough!"
The other two doubted that it would happen, but said nothing in reply.
The trio sat silently as they waited for their drinks to come, which seemed to be taking quite some time. Soon Momo became bored and pulled out a book to read, quickly becoming engrossed with it. Ryu and Nina looked at her, wishing they had something to pass the time as well.
"Why don't we play a game?" Nina suggested, after a moment of fidgeting.
"Huh?" Ryu blinked, not quite knowing how to answer; the only game he had ever played in his life was hide-and-seek with Nina and other kids, back in Wyndia. "What kind of game?"
"Since we don't have any board games with us…" She thought for a while, and then beamed. "I know! Let's play rock-paper-scissors!"
He blinked. "Rock-paper… what?"
She giggled. "Don't worry, it's a simple game! In each round, we'll both count to three and show one of the three hand gestures." She raised a fist. "This is rock…" She opened her hand, showing her palm. "…this is paper, and…" Lastly, she clenched her hand again and extended two fingers. "…this is scissors."
Ryu was listening raptly. "Uh-huh."
"Each gesture beats another; rock beats scissors, paper beats rock, and scissors beats paper."
"So we count to three, and if I show scissors against your paper, I win?"
She clapped. "You've got it!"
He smiled. "Okay, let's give it a try!"
She nodded. "Right! One…"
"Two…"
"THREE!" both of them yelled simultaneously.
Ryu's rock versus Nina's paper.
"I win!" Nina squealed.
"No way, how'd that happen?" Ryu shook his head, evidently dissatisfied. "Again!"
She giggled. "One!"
"Two!"
And together, they shouted, "THREE!"
Ryu's scissors versus Nina's rock.
"No!" The boy shook his head. "Again!"
But no matter how many rounds they played, Ryu always seemed to be on the losing end. Each round always concluded with Nina giggling (and eventually bursting into laughter) and Ryu exclaiming in disbelief.
The game went on so exciting that they did not realise when an old man, with a bald head, a white beard and a long white coat – that indicated that he was a researcher – approached their table. He faced only Momo and apparently decided to ignore the other two.
"Excuse me, but… are you Momo?" he asked in a slightly hoarse voice, yet filled with authority that usually belonged to a high-ranking person. When Momo nodded, he said, "Long time no see! It's me, Palet!"
She seemed uncertain. "Yes, I'm Momo, but I don't know who you are! Maybe you got the wrong Momo?"
Palet shook his head quickly. "No, no, I'm sure I got the right one! I'm the director of the plant your father built!"
At that point, the two children stopped their noisy game, listening to the conversation.
"Plant?" Ryu said, thinking of trees and shrubs.
Momo turned towards her companions. "You see, before my father died, he came up with the idea of using chrysm energy to breed stronger crops and started a project to build a plant for it, but he never saw it completed…"
"Yes, exactly!" Palet cried and then heaved a sigh. "Ever since your father Repsol passed away, we've been having nothing but trouble with the machines…"
She grinned unexpectedly. "I'll bet! Only my father would be able to make and use a complex machine like that!"
The old man seemed to disagree completely with her statement, but he swallowed it in and spoke smoothly, "I won't… or rather, I can't deny that…" He gazed at her. "That's why I wonder if you could help us? You're familiar with your father's work, aren't you?"
She seemed rather excited. "Yes, of course I'm glad to help! I've been wanting to look at those machines for a long time!"
For a moment, he looked triumphant, then he put on a smile. "Oh, thank you so much, Momo! I'll see you at the plant, then!" With that, he moved away from the table, towards the slope leading back to the road, and left without giving the other two as much as a glance.
Momo turned sheepishly at her companions. "Sorry, I should've asked you about it, should I?" She shook her head. "Since they're my father's machines, well, I thought maybe I'll help them out a little… I mean, it's not like we'll be getting anywhere on the road for a while, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so," Nina agreed, and grinned. "If there's anything I can help with, I'll help!"
Ryu felt that Palet wasn't to be trusted. He felt the same bad vibes from him as he did from Loki back in McNeil Village. Still, he said nothing, not wanting to worry his companions.
Once their drinks had arrived, they stopped their conversation and drank, relaxing in the lively atmosphere of the coffee shop. The boy found that he liked orange juice very much, and decided to order this again if he was ever here again in future.
After they were done with the drinks, Momo paid the waitress and left and led them west, along the road, then took a left turn that led to a winding path towards metal the cluster of metal buildings in the distance. Ryu somehow felt that the place seemed out of this world, as though it was a monstrosity that should not have been made, but he shrugged it off, thinking that it was just his mind playing the fool with him.
It took only ten minutes to walk to the plant, and the moment Ryu stepped into its vicinity, the first thing he saw was a wide conveyer belt, so wide that he could easily lie down across it without his feet dangling at the side. His red-haired companion explained that the conveyor belts are placed all over the plant in place of roads and stairs in order to prevent monsters from entering to look for the chrysm energy, and the trio used them to explore the area.
This place seemed to be more like a farm than anything else; Ryu saw farmers caring for plants grown in tilled soil and greenhouses, with researchers in white coats making notes on crates of fruits and vegetables, and large stacks of hay scattered around. At every patch of vegetable, however, there was a large tower-like machine with a chrysm crystal at its top, which glowed on and off as the machines drew energy from them.
"Now, where's Palet?" Momo asked no one in particular as she looked around.
As if on cue, a loud voice came from behind them, "We've been expecting you, Momo!"
The three of them turned, facing the white-coated old man who came grinning at them. Ryu drew back a little; he still didn't like the bad vibes from him…
"I tell you, it was pure luck to meet you there, Momo!" Palet continued, and then gestured to the chrysm machines. "As you know, I worked as your father's assistant when he build these reactors, and–"
The older girl shrugged, looking a little bored. "Whatever… now, which machine needs fixing?" She was evidently itching to touch those machines.
He seemed a little annoyed at being interrupted, but soon he gave a low laugh, which Ryu felt sounded too much like Loki's. "Heh heh heh… well, I've been meaning to tell you that… we managed to fix the machines ourselves."
"What?" Nina said. "Why do you want us here then?"
With a partly-sinister grin, he gestured them to a vegetable patch nearby. "Well, take a look at this."
He pointed to a humongous onion, which was even bigger than their heads. Its brown body was almost perfectly spherical, except that it had green leaves at its bottom and a small opening on it with a green leaf poking out of it.
"How cute…" Momo remarked, looking curiously at the plant. "What is it?"
The two children stared at her, flabbergasted… how could she find an overgrown onion cute?
Apparently Palet was just as flabbergasted as them, for he cried, "C-c-cute? How can you say that?"
She shrugged. "How can I not? It IS cute…"
He cleared his throat, not quite knowing how to reply to this, but decided to return to the topic at hand. "…anyway, we can't sell failed crops like that, so we take them to the disposal area." He heaved a distressed sigh, but it seemed put on. "But several days ago, when we collected the crops to be processed and disposed of at the dump… well, um, how should I say it…"
"You found a mutant like this one?" the red-haired girl suggested.
He perked up immediately. "Exactly! Now everyone's afraid of it and wouldn't go near the dump anymore."
"Hm… what exactly happened?" She rubbed her chin. "A plant got mixed in with the chrysm ore and became a monster?"
The director nodded in agreement. "We have no idea what we should do with it…"
Momo thought for a moment, and then beamed. "All right, we'll take care of it! I mean, it wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for my father's reactors, right?"
Ryu shook his head; it seemed this new companion of theirs liked making decisions rashly…
"Thank you so much!" Palet cried. "The disposal area is just west from here, and I'm sure you'd be able to take care of it perfectly!"
Momo gave a thumbs-up. "We'll be back before you know it!"
As the trio walked away from the old man, she realised what she did and turned to her companions.
"Oops, sorry, I guess I should've asked you two first, huh?" she stated.
Nina shook her head and smiled. "No, it's okay, we did agree to come here and help you after all."
The boy nodded. "Yeah, and since you're helping to take us to Wyndia as well, we should repay you back somehow."
Momo grinned. "Thanks!"
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-o-o-o-o-o-
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Even while carrying the large onion rather awkwardly, it hardly took them five minutes to arrive at the entrance of the dump, which was actually a large cave at the foot of a mountain. Unlike the cave at Mt. Glaus, the paths in there were rather straightforward, so they faced no difficulty in navigating around aside from meeting some strange-looking monsters that shaped like either a bouncing slug, a rubbery swaying thing shaped like a finger puppet with limbs poking out of it, a round blue and grey creature with rapidly flapping mosquito wings, and a hairy creature with a single eye and a red orb on its head.
However, after a short series of caves, they soon entered a huge cave area with giant crates sitting on a long still conveyer belt, which led into a large pit of boiling hot lava; it was probably used for disposing the useless crops, so they left the large onion on it. As they ignored the great heat coming from the pit, they travelled on, eventually reaching a hole in the cavern wall that gave way to a smaller area that was completely filed up with ivy-like plants.
Right in the centre of the plants was a gigantic partly-humanoid monster, with a pink hood-like head with darkness where the eyes were, connected to a round pink and purple body. Its arms were connected to its body by something that looked like pink and red shoulder pads, and there were claws on its hands, decorated by a green band at its wrists. The lower part of its body, however, was a series of round purple and pink parts that were connected together like a chain link that swayed round and round in a circular motion.
Ryu and Nina stared upward at the mutant with their wide eyes, stunned. To think that such a thing existed…
Momo's eyes, however, gleamed.
"Wow!" was her reaction. "Look at that! That thing is… moving!" She shook her head, grinning excitedly. "Who would've believe that chrysm energy could mutate a life form like this?"
The other two had no comment.
"If my father were here to see this, what would he say? Too bad you never met him…" She then gave a soft sigh. "Oh well, it's a shame to get rid of it, but…" She shook her head again. "I guess we should chop it up and throw it into the magma."
Just then, a deep voice spoke softly and uncertainly, "…'get rid of'?"
It took a moment for them to realise where the voice came from.
The plant.
They gasped and drew back in surprise.
"It… it spoke…" Ryu muttered.
"So it did!" the oldest of the three exclaimed, her eyes shining in joy. "A mutant plant that talks! What an amazing discovery!"
"…mutant plant?" the voice came again. "Am I… a mutant?"
"No!" She then hesitated for a moment. "Well… um, actually, some might call you that, but I think you're wonderful!" She shook her head. "It's a shame to dispose… I mean…"
It was too late; she had said the wrong thing.
The mutant's body trembled. "'Dispose'… you mean you're going to kill me?" Its two arm-like limbs covered its hooded head. "Please don't… please stop… I don't want to die…"
Abruptly it gave a loud cry that echoed along the cavern wall, and sent a wave of dangerous-looking purple fumes at them.
Ryu reacted quickly, transforming into the large borrowed form of the Force Dragon, and threw himself right in front of the girls with a loud growl, determined to protect them, uncaring of whether their newest companion should be shocked or not. He inhaled deeply, coughing a little as the fumes touched his nose, and released a powerful flame breath that would be able to incinerate anything living.
It was so strong that it blew all of the fumes back towards its owner and burnt anything in its path, which included part of the ivy-like plants along the floor and wall of the cave as well as the body of the mutant. As the flames grew larger, the plant gave a terrible scream of pain that echoed loudly through the cave, making Nina cringe.
Pain.
The Dragon inhaled sharply, staggering slightly.
Pain burned him from the inside, like the great flames that burned his opponent.
He glowed faintly as he slowly reverted to his human form. His knees weak, he fell heavily into a sitting position, his numb hand clutching his chest. His breath came in a series of short breaths that sent pain into his lungs.
"R-Ryu!" the princess cried, kneeling beside him. "Are you okay?"
"Ugh…" he groaned. He blinked, trying to focus his sight again, but it only grew even hazier as the pain grew.
Momo, however, acted quickly. Kneeling next to him, she examined him quickly, and her hand glowed as she cast a spell on him.
The pain subsided, and he took a deep breath. He was surprised to find the pain already gone, and that his eyes were focusing properly again. Moving his fingers, he found them no longer numb, and he looked up at Nina's worried face.
"Ryu, are you okay?" she asked.
He nodded. "Yes, I'm okay." He looked up at Momo and smiled in gratitude. "Thanks, Momo."
The older girl returned the smile. "No problem! The gas you inhaled earlier seems to be a very potent poison gas, so it's great that my Purify spell worked." She looked thoughtful. "But I never knew you were a Dragon…"
His heart skipped a beat. Yet another person found out he was a Dragon…
Nina protested immediately. "No! Momo, don't tell other people!" She shook her head. "Ryu's a good Dragon!"
When Momo continued to look thoughtful, Ryu was afraid for a while… and was relieved to find her smiling.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about it. But in return…" A grin spread on her face. "You'll have to let me study you!"
He was taken aback. "S-study?"
Nina hesitated, looking nervous. "You're… not scared of him?"
"Who could when it's such a scientific discovery?" Momo's eyes gleaming, she continued, "Dragons are the only creature to be able to change forms without any drawback or the use of tricky spell incantations and complicated chemicals!" She stopped herself. "Wait, caterpillars can turn into butterflies too, but hey, Dragons can transform instantly!"
Both Ryu and Nina were too surprised to reply to her.
However, they did not need to, for at that moment, a low groan came from the mutant, drawing their attention. All three of them gasped when they say that all that were left of the plant were its head, torso and the ivy-like plants on the wall and floor… the rest had been completely burned away.
"I'm sorry…" the deep voice came from it, softer and more subdued this time. "I couldn't stop myself from… attacking you… my body just moved… on its own…"
"It's… it's okay…" the younger girl muttered woefully.
Ryu regretted putting too much power into his Dragon breath. He didn't need to burn him that much…
"No worries!" Momo piped up cheerfully, as though she was speaking to an apologising kid who had been naughty rather than a mutant plant. "Besides, a mutant that can talk and move, it's such an amazing discovery!" She sighed a little. "If only my father could see this…"
"Discovery…?" it echoed and shook what was left of its head. "No… you cannot tell them about me…" It hesitated for a moment, then continued, "Please, I have something to ask of you…"
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-o-o-o-o-o-
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It took them quite a while to move the remaining body of the plant to their destination, for it was quite heavy despite having only a head and torso. However, with all of their combined strength, they managed to carry and placed it on the still conveyer belt they saw earlier. The giant onion, the one they brought earlier, was rather small next to the mutant.
All three of them said nothing, not knowing quite well what to say… and Ryu had began to feel that deep feeling of regret in his heart, the same feeling that came when he, together with Rei and Teepo, killed the Nue…
"Are you… sure you want to do this?" Momo asked uncertainly, as she stood next to the conveyer belt.
"Yes…" The mutant shook its head. "After all, you came to 'dispose' of the 'mutant', haven't you…?"
"But… we didn't know you're alive…" Nina said tearfully, her gaze focused on the ground.
"No, I should be destroyed… I was the mere result of a failed experiment… I was never meant to be born…" It turned his gaze to Ryu. "Please… turn the conveyer on…"
The boy hesitated, his mind screaming to him that it was wrong, that this decision was wrong, but knowing that there was no turning back now, he quickly flipped the switch for the conveyer belt before he changed his mind.
The mutant nodded, seeming as though smiling in gratitude. "Thank you… and farewell."
The conveyer belt jerked for a moment before moving, bringing its passengers towards the hot lava pit.
Then Momo blurted out, "Wait! You don't have to do this!" She did a short run along the side of the belt, following the moving plant. "I promise I won't tell anyone about you! Just let me study you!"
It shook its head slowly. "The desire to know is not necessarily wrong, but…" Its voice trailed away, trembling a little despite its attempt to sound calm as it headed towards the lava pit. "Remember that if you're not careful… one mistake… and you'll create monsters… far worse than I…"
At that very moment, as though Time had slowed down right before their eyes, the mutant hovered in mid-air for a moment before falling into the lava like a dropped rock and sizzled to its death. Ryu took a step forward and reached out with a hand, as though stop it, but it was already too late.
Another innocent creature… another death.
He turned away, his back facing the lava pit, as tears streamed down his face and dripped onto the ground.
"Why… why can't I do a thing to change it…?"
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End of Chapter Eight.
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Author's Note:
Just like the Nue scene, I find the last scene very sad. T_T
Oh, and thanks to Lord Kain who mentioned I missed the part where Ryu and Nina made faces at each other and eventually Nina made a face at him while Ryu fell over and cried! I missed it on purpose, since I found how Nina bullying Ryu very out of character (even if they're just playing). But after some time, I got the idea of making them play rock-paper-scissors where Nina keeps winning against Ryu, but the game eventually becomes exciting and doesn't involve Nina bullying or Ryu crying. Yeah, I think it looks better this way! Too bad it took the time to reach Chapter 17 though. Yes, I reached chapter 17 before I fixed that part of the chapter. x_x
Hopefully it looks better now!
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Review Replies for Chapter Seven:
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To Rogue Kaiser:
I guess I always have doubts with my writing. o_o
I'm glad you like my writing though; I like putting random stuff on this novelisation so that I can have a better feel for the characters, not just shallow characters. Problem is, while I'm trying to do the same for Suikoden 2 (whose novelisation I plan to write), I still feel the characters are pretty shallow… T_T
Thanks for the review!
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To Lord Kain:
Glad to hear you like the chapter! I was trying to make the scene you mentioned dramatic. xP
Yeah, I'm limiting the number of combinations possible in my story, but I don't exactly stick to elements; I take their basic form. For example, the reason why I chose the "Force" Dragon (a.k.a. the Dragon in-game) after they come down from Mt. Boumore is because you get the Defender gene automatically after protecting Nina. You get the Reverse gene in the forest after Mt. Boumore, but it just doesn't sit well with my idea so I took the Defender gene instead.
I'll also have the Trygon, which is the Flame / Frost / Thunder gene; the Warrior Dragon, which is gotten using the Force gene, the Tiamat, using the Shadow / etc gene... you get the idea. I use their basic forms, but not the elemental forms of each different form. I also tend to ignore some of the forms, due to lack of space. o_o
Thanks for the review!
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To Airess Byrd:
Garr probably didn't bother much about kids sneaking out of custody and stuff like that, because it didn't involve him, anyway… but it's still funny! Ryu's protective of Nina to a fault, and Nina's too pampered to not to naïve… but that's why they're good together. :D
And you said you caught the thingy about the first game in there… but how sure are you that it's actually part of the first game and not the second or some other self inserted scene? xP
Thanks for reviewing!
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To Windscreen Wipers:
Thanks!
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To Nina Windia:
I'm guessing Teepo was spirited away by Myria's… servant. Possibly a machine that could teleport, since she's able to "create" the portals that work and other machinery that the world can't comprehend.
As to how to how he got separated from Rei… I tried to cover up that plot hole by making Balio and Sunder "have" some fun by suggesting tossing Rei into the rushing river, Teepo up a tree and Ryu down a cliff. As to why they don't see each other until years later… I'm guessing they woke up at different times and only just missed each other when they tried searching for their companions, then Rei went off to search for the "killers" and Teepo to Wyndia. Does it make sense? o_o
Great to see that you like Teepo's extra scene and Nina's vision, and thanks for reviewing!
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To darkgryffon:
Yep, the Dragons are called the Brood, though at this moment I just call them "Dragons" since Ryu wouldn't have known the name before Garr tells him in the later chapters, and especially since the rest of the world just calls them Dragons; no mention of the name at all. Thanks anyway. :D