chapter 9: Ace and the strauss siblings

A week later Ryu and co. arrived in a strange town that had mechanical buildings with giant gears sticking out of each structure.

"Ryu what is this place" Hex asked. Ryu waved to a few civilians that waved back joyfully.

"hey Ryu"

"sup Ryu"

"welcome back dear" were several warm welcomes that Ryu received from the people. They walked into a breakfast dinner and sat down at a large table. A man with an apron and a short sleeve t-shirt walked up to the table and laughed.

"with if is'nt ol' red whats up pal?"

"nothin much mitch just here for some breakfast"

"i see and are these guys with you?" Mitch asked.

"yup, their my friends"

"well then everything's on the house!"

"what seriously?!" Ally gawked.

"yup, Ryu here saved our town, we've been indebt to him for years" Mitch walked back into the kitchen and begane to cook.

"he never took our order" Fu said with confusion.

"I sorta eat pretty much everything so he makes everything on the menu"

"does'nt that take forever?" Hex asked.

"this down is called creator town, everyone here has magic that helps them with their profession wether it be cooking sowing or building, but if you excuse me i have to visit a friend" Ryu stood up and walked over to the door.

"hang on, i'm coming to" GT hopped up from his seat and followed his rag wearing friend.

"Mitch, i'm heading over to Ace's shop"

"oh, i hear he's been waiting for ya!" Ryu nodded and took off in a hurry. The others watched Ryu run off with curious expressions.

"who's Ace?" Mace asked.

"he's the son of the deceased mayor, he's the best bulider in town, he can build some of the best armor and weapons but since the event four years ago he's refused to make any kind of weapon but when it comes to armor or clothing he's the best"

Ryu and Gt ran up to a large building that looked very important. The two walked in and met with the girl at the front desk "hey Mary, whats shak'n" GT called as he lean on the desk. She had long brown hair and wore a Buisness skirt, she was around eighteen and was very beautiful.

"hello Ryu, GT, Ace is in the shop, i'll show you in" Mary srood up and walked the two into the workshop of their friend. the door was blown open by an explosion and black smoke poured from the doorway.

" Sir!" Mary yelled.

"its alright false alarm" a boy around the age of ten no taller the 3 feet with short blond hair and oil covered T-shirt with brown overalls and dirty gloves he wore a brown bandanna around his neck and a pair of goggles over his eyes. He pulled the goggles of his soot covered face.

"Ryu is that you!?" he jumped up in surprise.

"who else has claw marks on the side of his face?" Ryu joked. Ace went to hug his long time friend but Ryu grabbed the boys head.

"hold your horses, no offence pal but you might wanna shower first" Ace chuckled nervously and sped off.

ten minutes later Ace returned with a pair of brown jeans and a yellow t-shirt. Mary left for her daily responsibilities as the three friends sat down "so what brings you here?" Ace asked.

"we made a stop by lightning city and were attacked by someone"

"that explains Ryu's clothes, did you find out who it was?"

"no he was wearing a cloak that was covering his face, and he managed to steal the lightning core"

"thats bad" Ace replied.

"and also, i need a new outfit" Ryu gestured to his torn rags of whats was once his signature outfit. his jacket was gone and his shirt just a few scraps that exposed his left side from his left shoulder to his ribs, his pants had several holes in them and his foot wear were long gone and his pants hung loosely around his waist.

"i'll make you a new outfit in no time, just come this way" Ryu followed Ace into another portion of the building as GT left to check on the other jinchuriki.

After finishing breakfast the group thanked the cook and left. Mace made attempts to hit on a girl but ended up face first in the dirt. GT arrived at the scene and laughed. Everyone arrived at the town hall as Ace and Ryu walked in with Ryu's new outfit, it was a red sleeveless jacket with a black short sleeve under shirt, a pair of black jeans and black and red steel toed boots, without his heavy clothes his mild muscular build was visible.

"nice threads man, taken after your old man" Gt lightly punched his friend in the shoulder.

later that day as everyone got settled for bed Ryu heard a scream with his dragon slayer hearing, before anyone could question him he left the hotel they were staying in and dart off at godly speeds out of town.

Ryu raced through miles of trees until the scent of smoke reached his nose "smoke means fire, and thats usually not a good thing" Ryu followed the scent and stopped at a ledge that overlooked a burning town. Ryu sensed two other magic energies and strange third, and all three were very familier to him.

"the Strauss siblings!" Ryu roared as he hurried to their location.

Mira sat wounded a few yards away from her sister and the large beast that was her brother. Attempting to reach out to her brother Lisanna held out her arms welcoming him into an embrace. To Mira's horror, the beast realed its arm back and swung. But Lisanna opened her eyes and sat up from her postion of being thrown to the ground to see a figure with Spiky black hair and wearing a red sleevless coat holding back Elfman's arm.

Ryu turned his head and smiled at Lisanna "i leave for a two months at least and you guys get yourselves into trouble"

"Ryu?!" Mira called out to her friend. Ryu grinned as a red aura formed around him, it soon flared into an intense inferno as his hair turned a crimson red and the marks on his face did so as well as his eyes. With a mighty roar Ryu fired a crimson flame styled Dragons roar at Elfman sending him flying back. Ryu moved at super speed and rammed his fist into the beasts gut.

"Crimson Dragon's Exploding fist!" a powerful blast erupted from Ryu's punch, which sent Elfman farther back and rendered him unconscious. Elfman returned to normal as Ryu hefted him up and carried him over to his sisters. Ryu cast a summoning spell and called Shinzo from his mind scape.

"Shinzo can you heal them?" the teen asked. She nodded and cast her benevolent goddess healing spell.

"you guys must've had a hard time?" Shinzo asked.

"thank you for helping us"Lisanna bowed her head with a smile. Ryu turned to face Mira as she looked down at the town below.

"hey Mira?" Ryu walked over as his body returned to normal.

"it was my fault" she mumbled.

"what...?" Ryu cocked an eyebrow.

"i was the S-class wizard, i should have been strong enough to protect them" Ryu looked on at his guild mate as tears began to pour from her eyes.

"Mira you of all people should know that S-class missions are never easy, even if you were prepared there's always something unexpected waiting for you" Mira turned to her junior S-class wizard as he sat down on the ledge.

"even if your friends are hurt in battle because of you, you should'nt freeze up in fear, you should fight harder to protect them from getting hurt again" Mira sat down next to her friend she she looked into his eyes sky blue eyes, as if she could see the time he was refering to...