Hunt 38: Storm Dragon
Valenster Guild: Early Morning
Lyra and Raylin enters Link and Zedept's room. "Morning." Raylin says waving. Link looks over to his left while sitting in a chair. "Morning." He replied back. Lyra looks around. "Where's Zedept?" She asks. "I don't know. He wasn't here when I woke up." Link answered. Raylin places her right hand on her chin to think. "Maybe the Grandmaster knows." She said coming up with something. "Good idea. Let's ask him." Link says and gets up. They leave the room and head towards the Grandmaster's room.
Grandmaster's Room
Xross Blades knocks on the door. "He may not be up at this time." Raylin said remembering how early it is. "Enter." Garito's voice said. They open the door and enters the room. They see Garito reading a book. He looks up and sees Xross Blades. "Morning Xross Blades. How may I help you this early in the morning?" Garito asks.
"We was wondering if you know where Zedept is at?" Lyra asks. "At Reimu's grave." Garito replied without thinking. "Reimu's grave huh? I'm not surprised that he'll be there." Link said. "He came and asked me last night where her grave was." Garito replied as he continued reading. "Mind taking us there?" Raylin asks. "Sure." Garito replied and closed his book and they left the guild.
Valenster's Outskirts: Gravesite
Garito takes Xross Blades to a gravesite. "Look at how many there are." Lyra said as she looks at the graves. "This tells you how dangerous this island is." Garito said. "Horrible." Link said. "So many lives lost." Raylin said. Garito stopped. "Up there." He said and pointed up to a tree on top of a hill. "Thank you." Lyra said. "Take care of him and each other." Garito said. "We will." Link said and they bowed and went towards the tree. "Reimu, watch over them." Garito asks as he looks up towards the sky.
Reimu's Grave
Xross Blades walk up the hill and arrives at the grave and sees Zedept sitting in front of the grave. "Zedept?" Raylin asks. Zedept lifts his head up and looks right and behind him. "Morning." Zedept said in a blank tone. They walk towards him and he turns his head back towards the grave. "Have you been out here all night?" Lyra asks.
Zedept looks at her and then back to the grave. "Yeah, I guess." He said. "It's time to go." Link said. "Ok." Zedept said and stood up. "Goodbye Reimu." Zedept said to the grave and turned to walk away and starts walking. The others look at the grave and bows to the grave and runs to catch up to Zedept.
Mountain Gate: Morning
Xross Blades walks to a gate with 2 guards in front of it. "Halt. No one can pass without the Grandmaster's approval." One of the guards said. Zedept walks up and hands one of the guards a letter of approval and they open the gate. Xross Blades walks through the gate. "Hey Zedept." Raylin said. "What?" Zedept asks. "What's the name of this mountain by the way?" She asks. "Skystorm Mountain." Zedept replies.
Skystorm Mountain: Mid-Day
It's been 2 days since Xross Blades started up the mountain. They are resting in a cave while it's raining. "This rain hasn't stopped since yesterday." Lyra said. "And it doesn't look like it's going to stop for a while either." Raylin said looking at the rain. "I read that the dragon that lives up on top control storms and it's always raining wherever it is." Link said. "Let's go." Zedept said as he goes towards the entrance.
"Hold it." Lyra said. Everyone looks at her. Lyra walks up and punches Zedept with her right hand and knocks him over. Raylin and Link are shocked at what just happened. "What did you do that for?" Raylin asks as she quickly stands up. "You back to you senses yet Zedept or do you need another one?" Lyra asks seriously.
Zedept stands up and doesn't reply. Lyra sees a blank look on Zedept's face and gets mad and punches him again but with her left hand this time. "Stop Lyra." Link said. "Stay out of this." Lyra said to them and looks at them with her left eye.
Raylin and Link stop when they see the seriousness in her eye. Lyra looks back at Zedept who just lays there. Lyra walks over and grabs him with her right hand by the chest and slams him against the cave wall.
"Ever since you read that letter from Reimu, you've been like this and it's starting to piss me off." Lyra said. Zedept looks away to his right. Lyra slaps him. "Snap out of it already. We have a strong dragon as our opponent next and there's no way we'll survive when you're like this so quit blaming yourself for her death and come back to us." Lyra said seriously and angry. Zedept looks and her sees the anger and sadness in her eyes.
Zedept closes his eyes and breaths out heavily. "I know that you're right but." He said before Lyra interrupts. "But nothing. I never met her but I can tell from that letter that she wouldn't want you to be like this. Especially when you're about to hunt this dragon." Lyra said to encourage him.
Zedept looks at Raylin and Link and then back at Lyra. Zedept closes his eyes and shakes his head. He then takes his hand and slaps his cheeks. "You're right. She wouldn't want me like this." Zedept said in a better tone. "That's better." Lyra said in her normal voice. "By the way." Zedept said.
"Hm?" Lyra asks. "Those punches of yours really hurt." Zedept said rubbing his cheeks. "Glad you're back." Raylin said. Zedept nods. "So, when will this rain stop?" Link asks. "It won't until we hunt it." Zedept said.
"So we're going to have a wet hunting field. This will be fun." Lyra said sarcastically. "A hunt in a storm." Raylin said. "This will be our toughest yet." Link said. "Xross Blades, let's go." Zedept said clenching his right hand by his head. "Yeah!" They said and headed towards the summit.
Skystorm Mountain Summit: Mid-Day
Xross Blades reaches the summit. "We're soaked." Raylin said stating the obvious. Link looks at the terrain. "Our footing is going to be bad here." He said feeling the ground. They walk towards the middle of the summit. A roar echoes through the sky and they look up and sees a white dragon fly down towards them.
"Is that the dragon?" Lyra asks. "Yes. That's Amatsumagatsuchi." Zedept said grabbing his Shikaiza. The others grab their weapons as well. Amatsu fires a water ball at them and they dodge. Zedept and Lyra dodges left while Raylin and Link dodges right. Raylin and Lyra slip due to the wet ground.
As they get up, Zedept and Link goes in to attack. "Haaaa!" Zedept and Link said as they swing their weapons. Amatsu swings its arms and hits them. They use their weapons to prevent them from sliding off.
Raylin fires a barrage of fire shots and hits Amatsu in different areas. Lyra jumps to slash but Amatsu's wind aura pushes her back. "What happened?" Link asks. "Amatsu has a wind barrier. All attacks the get hit by the current gets push back." Zedept said. Amatsu takes a deep breath and fires a high powered water beam. Zedept and Lyra barely dodges in time.
The beam misses Link but Raylin's shield gets penetrated and she gets hit. "Aaaaah!" She says as she bounces off the ground. "Raylin!" They yell as they rush towards her but Amatsu fires a water ball in front of Zedept. Zedept guards then turns around and Amatsu charges at him. Zedept charges as well. Lyra and Link get to Raylin and helps her up. "What happened?" Lyra asks. "That blast cut through my gun's shield." Raylin said getting up. They look at her gun's shield and sees that it's been cut through. Amatsu roars and they look and sees Zedept trying to hold Amatsu back.
They run to help Zedept but Amatsu curls and wind gathers around it. "Run!" Zedept yells but the strong wind is pulling them towards Amatsu. Suddenly Amatsu spins around and a large tornado appears and hits them. "Aaaaah!" They all scream as they lifted up and slammed onto the ground. They start to get up when Amatsu charges at them and spins as well and hits them.
They lie there injured by the combo attack. "Too…. strong." Link said. "We… can't…. win." Raylin said. "It's….. over." Lyra says. "NO! IT'S NOT OVER!" Zedept yelled as he stands up. The others look at him. Zedept stabs Shikaiza into the ground to help stand. "As long as I still breath. I will NEVER GIVE UP!" He says as he yells towards the sky. They look at each other and stand up as well.
"You're right." Lyra said readying her Frost Dragon. "We still have to hunt Alatreon still." Raylin aiming her Cross Pyro at Amatsu. "I'm right behind you everyone." Link said readying himself with his Volt Dragon too. Zedept closes his eyes and takes a deep breath in and out. "Alright, let's go." Zedept said as he quickly opens his eyes as they turn bright red.
"This feeling is." Lyra said. Zedept charges Amatsu and Amatsu charges at him as well. Zedept slams his right foot and blocks Amatsu's charge. "Now!" Zedept yells and Lyra and Link attacks its head and break its left horn. Raylin fires and damages its right wing fin. Suddenly the storm picks up and gets stronger. "The storm just picked up." Lyra said. "Look at Amatsu!" Link said.
Everyone looks and sees that parts of Amatsu has turned red. Zedept smirks. "Now the real fun begins." He said happily. Zedept swings and pushes Amatsu back. Lyra and Link slash Amatsu's legs. Raylin continues to fire at its head.
Zedept dashes underneath and attacks the tail. Amatsu spins around and summons 3 small tornadoes and hits Zedept, Lyra and Link. They get pushed back towards Raylin. "What do we do now?" Raylin said. "We keep attacking of course but we need to be careful of those tornadoes and that beam of his." Zedept said. "Right behind you." Lyra said. Link switches to Sword Mode.
"Same." He said. "Leave the firing support to me." Raylin said. "Go!" Zedept yelled and they charge and slashed Amatsu. Amatsu goes to fire its beam but explosions happens and stops it from firing. "There!" Lyra yells as she slashes horizontally Amatsu's yellow chest area leaving an opening. "My turn!" Link yells as he slashed downward at a 45 degree angle from right to left.
"This hunt is OVER!" Zedept yells as he slashes nearly vertical from left to right forming a triangle shape slash on its chest. "TRI FINISHER!" They yell. Amatsu roars and flails about then falls to the ground. Amatsu raises its head slowly but then dies. "Is it over?" Raylin asks as she gets closer. The storm starts to clear.
Everyone but Zedept looks up. "The storm." Lyra said. "It's clearing." Link said. "That means." Lyra said getting happy. "We." Raylin and Link said together. "WON!" The 3 of them said happily as they jump up and down. "Reimu, I did it. I've hunted Amatsumagatsuchi." Zedept said in his head smiling as his eyes return to their original dark red color. Zedept falls backwards and hits the ground.
The others stop jumping when they heard the fall. "Zedept!" They yell as they run over to him. "I'm fine, just extremely exhausted." Zedept said smiling. He then starts to laugh. "What's so funny?" Raylin asks. "We're so wet right now." He said still laughing. They look at each other and starts to laugh as well.
"Great hunting Xross Blades." A male voice said. They stop laughing and look towards where the voice came from and they see Garito standing there. "Grandmaster." Raylin said. Zedept sits up then stands. "You watched us the whole time." He said sheathing Shikaiza. "Huh?" Link asks confused. "I saw him out the corner of my eye turning a charge." Zedept explained.
"Sharp eyes you have there." Garito said. Suddenly a part of a wall breaks off revealing a small cave. "Let's check it out." Lyra said sheathing her weapon. Raylin and Link sheaths theirs too and they all head to the cave. Inside there's a shrine. "I knew there was a shrine up here but I could never find it." Garito said. Zedept gets closer to the shrine and opens a drawer and finds a folded piece of paper.
He opens it showing an ancient map like the one the 4 pieces made but with an island in between the Eastern and Southern continents on the far bottom right of the map. "This island isn't on our old map. It must be where Alatreon is at." Raylin said. "There's even a dragon with multiple element markings around it above the island." Link said pointing to the picture above the island. Zedept rolls up the map and places it in his bag.
"Now we know where we need to go but for now, let's return to Garetaten to rest." Zedept said. "Agree but we need to rest at Valenster first." Lyra said. "No, we're heading to Garetaten now." Zedept said as he turns towards the entrance of the cave.
"But we all are soaked, exhausted and injured from Amatsu's attacks." Raylin said. Link places his right hand on Raylin's left shoulder. Raylin looks at him. "If he stays here any longer." Link said. Raylin's eyes widened and looks at Zedept realizing why they have to leave now. "Ok Zedept, I understand." Raylin said.
"Then let's go." Zedept said and starts to walk away. "Zedept, one thing." Garito said. Zedept stops and turns to look at him. "Reimu will be proud of you right now and I'm sure she always will be." Garito said. Zedept closes his eyes. "Thank you Garito." Zedept says as he turns around forward. He opens his eyes and they start to leave Skystorm Mountain. "Good luck on all your future hunts, Xross Blades." Garito said to everyone in his head as he watches them leave.