Welcome back, guys! My internet went out near the end of the summer and I've been working on chapters as we speak. I took some constructive criticism from someone (the girl who posted the most recent review) and also spent most of the time fixing some mistakes and altering some scenes to make it readable for newer viewers. Check them out if you want to see how great the changes were. In the meantime, we shall begin the epic Dragon Canyon arc for this fiction to kick things off for the college year. You'll love it since it's based on one of Sega's crown gems from the Saturn Era.
Off in the distance, a massive black warship is searching the skies like shark looking for an unsuspecting victim. This is a third of the Legion of Subspace looking for the next Chaos Emerald in Dragon Canyon. Many wild dragons are alarmed by the ship's appearance and flew towards more safe grounds. A massive white warship is seen on the opposing side with many dragon riders orbiting it as self defense. These brave warriors were aware of the appearance of these intruders and were prepared to fight back and secure the Chaos Emerald. In the main deck of the draconic white ship, a young man with a dark beard is a seen standing above a green Chaos Emerald that he promises to protect dearly from anyone else who wanted it. He gave orders to his men to prepare the laser cannons for heavy weapon fire and told the dragon fighters to prepare for defensive maneuvers. In the opposing black ship; toy soldiers, Valuan troops, Wood Oak City thugs, Chinese soldiers, Orbs, samurai warriors, dark henchmen, and European troopers walked the halls to prepare for the battlefield. Their leaders stood in the briefing room to prepare for battle in honor of the Legion of Subspace. Greedy beats his fists together with electricity, the Black Shogun unsheathes his katana, Guan Yu points his massive spear into the year, Napoleon does an epee pose, Trouble Bruin activates the claws on his mech body, Mr. X activates out his machine gun fingertips for battle, Ramirez twirls his rapier, and Selvaria takes out her massive Valkyrur weapons for combat. They stood as the cargo hatch opens for them to drop from the ship like most of their henchmen did. Azel flew past the opened door on her massive blue dragon to let them know that it's time to fight. Selvaria scoffs at the sight of her since Azel is only in this because she can take out Sonic herself if he were to interrupt their fight.
"Alright, guys! We fight for the Chaos Emerald and for the glory of the Legion of Subspace! Move out!" Ramirez shouted.
They all jumped out of the door and dived towards the solid ground like a group of sky diving performers would do. Selvaria looked down at their enemy, who seems to have their ground army prepared for battle. These soldiers were the skilled ones you'd normally expected in the Panzer Dragoon world. They were all wearing brown military outfits with white desert hands and wielded specialized guns. They could either shoot lasers (like they normally would) or form swords, whips, and boomerangs. This was a good sign that technology really advanced this time around with the army. There are also several dragon riders on the ground that are either walking on their two hind legs or hovering above the army for aerial defenses. Whoever lived in this country really wanted to protect this special gem at all costs since they know how powerful such a birthstone was and what effect it could have for their army. Perhaps they already had used some of the gem's energy to upgrade their weapons and give their dragons such strength already judging by the fact that such "outdated guns" were able to pull off such tricks. This made Selvaria even more serious about her goal after analyzing the situation and thinking what outcomes of the battle they might have with such improvisations this opposing army had. Most of the Legion of Subspace's army were waiting at ground level already, thanks to their levitation or Greedy's inventions, and stood their ground until their commanders landed. Greedy grew tired and teleported to ground level to wait for the others to land. Mr. X activated the thrusters on his back to speed up his falling so that he could reach the ground as Trouble Bruin did the same. Napoleon, Black Shogun, Guan Yu, Selvaria, and Ramirez still fell slowly since they didn't want to crash into the ground. Greedy uses his gravitational abilities to slow his fellow members' fall so that they could reach the ground safely. Selvaria checked to see if Ramirez was alright and looked towards the approaching dragon army with a serious look on her face. Her group's soldiers are lined up in their battle formation and awaiting orders form their commanders beforehand. The soldiers readied their weapons, the thugs clenched their fists, aliens glared at their targets, and samurai held their blades out in a threatening manner. Ramirez gave the signal at last!
"Legion of Subspace, attack those that stand in the way of our goal!" he ordered while holding his rapier into the air.
The entire army charged at the opposing dragon army with their weapons ready and their fists to their side for the bloodiest battle they've ever had. A random commander told his fellow men and dragon riders to charge as well since it's time for them to crush the Legion of Subspace before they attempt to retrieve the Chaos Emerald from the ship. Speaking of ship, the black warship is closing in on the white ship in the distance since it was on auto pilot the whole time and half of the LOS stayed behind to guard the ship. This was one of the many strategies the 2 silver haired commanders Selvaria and Ramirez came up with before they had arrived at their destination. Azel and her dragon Atolm served as the protector for the outside of the warship since they can easily take out the other ship's dragons due to the massive size and strength of the dragon. Two Valuan soldiers are in the main control room, with Ashra as the captain and operator of the computer desk, to receive any further messages from Ramirez in case of emergencies or further orders during the battle. Abadede and Electra stood near the Shadow Fiend Stations to release the fiends in case of an emergency when ordered to do so. Other than how the ships were, the battle rages as both sides clashed with each other. Big Ben burns a dragon before it was able to attack him as a few Red Orbs took it down easily. Several dragon soldiers managed to defeat a few of Guan Yu's men thanks to their plasma whips and were shot by a few Corporal Lance soldiers. The samurai slashed a few soldiers before being blasted away by their energy blasts. A few of Napoleon's strongest henchmen dodges a few whip lashes and punched out a few soldiers. A few toy soldiers were easily destroyed by the blast from the Chaos Emerald enhanced guns that the dragon soldiers wielded. Roo hopped and punched a nearby dragon to the point of making it drop to the ground and attacked the riding soldier. This is a really heated battle and the eight Subspace commanders stood afar and watched the entire war.
"Despite their advanced technology and winged beasts, our men are even stronger than theirs and much more experienced at such chaos and violence," said the excited Mr. X.
"I couldn't agree more, my good man. These insects are pathetic if they honestly thought that they could win this war for long," said Kaiser Greedy.
"Now if only several of our nemesises, like that infernal Phantom R, could be here to step up to the challenge," said the arrogant Napoleon.
"He's right, guys. It's starting to be pretty boring if we just sit here and watch our men fight instead of enjoying the bloodshed," said the Black Shogun.
"It is a part of our orders. I'll say when it's the right time to do so since I'm an experienced general!" remarked Ramirez.
Selvaria looked away from them and stared at the plateau that's many feet away from her. She held her drill-like lance tightly and glow with a massive array of blue aura. She seems pretty angry and grunts loudly to the point of getting the rest of her group's attention. Ramirez was the first one to turn and looked in her direction and scowled once he noticed what angered her so much. It was Sonic and his friends peering from the plateau in search of the Chaos Emerald since they were aware of its appearance. Selvaria eventually powered down and lowered her weapons since it's not the time to pick a fight with the wrong target. She looked back at Ramirez to ask him about what needs to be done with the intruders. Ramirez understood her and nodded as the other commanders stood their ground for further orders.
"Stand down, commanders. I've got someone special to take care of him and his worthless crew," he shouted.
He looked at the transmitter on his wrist and activated it to speak to someone about Sonic's arrival.
"Azel! You know what to do," he said silently.
She nodded with a serious look on her face in response to his request and guided Atolm away from the ship to go in for the kill. The massive dragon dove towards the plateau at a speed so fast, that strong winds pushed Azel's crewmembers that were below him. Most of them, especially Ramirez and Selvaria, shrugged it off as it were nothing and allowed the vengeful artificial being and her draconic steed to finish the job. This is a good sign that things weren't going to be good. Sonic viewed the entire situation from here and jumped back quickly at the massive dragon heading towards the plateau that they're standing on. Gilius walked to the ledge to get a closer look and couldn't believe his eyes at the dragon's intimidating appearance.
"Aye! This one's more different than the one we defeated earlier and it appears that he even has a friend riding him," he said.
Azel had the look of a cold blooded hunter who's chasing his prey as her dragon dives even closer to their targets. The monkeys Aiai and Amigo wanted to check it out and jumped in fear upon seeing its massive fanged face. Tails was too busy fixing his Tornado to even care about what his friends were worried about. NiGHTS, who was worried for his friend's lives, swooped down near the Tornado and tried to get the young fox's attention.
"Tails! Tails! There's something really urgent that you have to see!" he yelled.
"I'm sorry NiGHTS, but I have to add more adjustments to the Tornado's motor system," he responded.
He eventually gave up due to lack of patience and snatched him before carrying him where the rest of the group stood. During the process, Tails eventually saw what was heading their way and dropped from the Nightmaren's grip in order to fly away.
"Everyone, get back before it bites us off the ledge!" Sonic shouted.
He ran away quickly as Gilius, Aiai, and Amigo rushed behind him to evade the winged behemoth's attack. Atolm flew into the air and turned around for another dive at the hedgehog for another attack. In the process, it opened its mouth and charges a massive amount of energy in it.
"Atolm, attack that rodent!" she commanded before her scaly companion fires a series of lasers.
Each beam scattered and shrunk before aiming for multiple targets, including all of Sonic's crew. Sonic desperately doges every shot just like the rest of Sonic's friends in order to save themselves from being fried. Tails thought of an idea and flew to the Tornado as quickly as possible, leaving Sonic and the others to keep the dragon busy. Atolm did another loop before initiating the previous attack, prompting the gang to find a new hiding spot before it shoots again. The yellow fox hopped into then plane and shifted the gear to prepare for a crazy dogfight. The blue plane flew of into the air and aimed for Azel and Atolm as they prepared for another laser volley. Sonic stopped desperately and wondered if Tails was really willing to sacrifice his own life to save him.
"Tails, what are you doing? There's no need to be their target if they are after me!" he shouted.
Tails looked back at his blue friend with a concerned look as he dodged every beam.
"Sonic, I have a plan that's pretty crazy and will work. Trust me on this one!" he said.
Tails maneuvered the plane past Atolm's massive head and aimed for the dragon's underbelly for his wily idea. He fired a series of homing missiles at the dragon's belly, causing the blue behemoth to roar in pain and Azel grow angrily. She eventually commanded him to turn around and chase Tails into the skies. He shoots more lasers in an attempt to attack the high flying fox, as they really engage in a real dogfight. Tails did a massive barrel roll to get behind the dragon and lowered the plane some more for another homing missile assault. The dragon is now lowering down to the severe damage done to its vulnerable underbelly and Azel glared back at her underage attacker. Atolm quickly turns around to attack Tails head on before its ultimately humiliating defeat. Azel still made her rather pissed off look since she doesn't want to fail her team and lose that easily.
"Now unleash the best beams possible to kill that fox!" Azel shouted.
As ordered, Atolm shot a series of lasers that warped and homed in on Tails and more non-homing blasts. Out of the blue, a large blast destroys all of Atolm's laser fire and caused a massive explosion. A large cloud of smoke appeared afterwards, this caused Sonic to worry for his friend even more as Aiai and Amigo stood behind him feeling the same way. Gilius and NiGHTS looked at the cloud in shock and still wondered if he survived the attack. Then the purple Nightmaren gasped slowly when the smoke cleared and couldn't believe his eyes. Sonic went wide eyed like the rest of his group when it turns out that the Tornado and Tails were unscathed with no problem. A massive Blue Dragon, like the one Sonic and friends ate earlier, had appeared in from of Tails and seems to be piloted by a young girl in black and red clothing and had short silver hair. She looks back at the black haired attacker with a look of determination and anger as her blue steed roared fearlessly. Tails sighed in relief, but still wondered who this mysterious female dragon rider was and why did she save him from such devastating attacks.
"Are you all right?" she asked seriously.
"Yeah, I am thanks to you. You must know who she is since you are both dragon riders," he said gratefully.
"Despite that, I'm not familiar with who this aggressive rider is. By the way, my name is Orta and your "friend" Prince Ali ran into me earlier," she responded.
Prince Ali rushed back onto the campsite with some supplies that he needed for his summons like plants, rocks, campfire sticks, and bottles of water. Gilius growled and walked up to him with angriest expression that you'd see on a dwarf like him.
"Where were you this whole time? You could have been here helping us against this vile woman and her cursed dragon!" he shouted.
"I needed to get more supplies for my spirit summons if I ever wanted to prove my usefulness in battle," he responded.
Gilius took a deep breath and sighed as he calmed down a bit after that answer.
"Lucky if it wasn't for me running into Orta, Tails would have been dead!" he corrected.
During the chattering amongst her enemies, Azel stood with a look of bewilderment, mostly due to her new foe saying a familiar name.
Orta? Orta? I haven't heard that name in a while. Since I've been alive a few weeks, I'd never thought I'd here that name from my enemy? What? What if it isn't my enemy, but the daughter that I gave birth to and loved before my eventual death?
While thoughts came to her head, she slowly started shedding tears with the same expression. Orta wondered why her enemy would be sad at a time like this and few even closer to her dragon with her own. Azel quickly leapt to her and gave her a hug with tears steaming down her eyes. This left everyone confused and Orta had started to feel concerned for this black haired woman.
"Orta? Remember me? It's your mother Azel, who had raised you before I died," she said in sorrow.
This left everyone else in shock, even Orta who started to feel sad as well. She tried her best to hold in her strong feelings, but it was too painful due to feeling like she is out of air and that she's exposed to onions. Orta eventually teared up and cried along with her revived mother, who she had missed after all these years. This was a rather heartwarming scene between both dragon riders and made Tails and Sonic feel happy for the both of them.
"I really missed you, Mom. It's good to see you alive and well," she said in her choking voice.
Sonic sighed and grinned since he's no longer Azel's target and she's realizing that everything she did was wrong. Tails still hovered in the Tornado next to NiGHTS, who had reappeared near him, to get a good look at the scene while the others had watched below in awe. This could mean that Azel's time being with the Legion of Subspace is officially over.
Was I right or was I right? That turned out better and spot less compared to the last few chapters, which is a great thing. Azel's reunited with her daughter Orta and she might possibly explain her mission to Sonic's group and decide to quit the Legion of Subspace. That war sequence at the beginning was well done too since I took some inspiration from 300 for the set up and actual battle clashes. As you can see, some else knows how to harnest the Chaos Emerald's ability with further research and he won't give up without a fight. The next chapter's coming soon, so stay tuned! Remember to rate and review if you enjoyed it.
