Naraku dug into the stone walls of his cave, expanding it to numerous passages and new chambers. The deepest part of the caverns was his hoard of treasure. A small pitiful pile now, but once he ascended to a dragon, his magic shall serve as a boon as the precious metals and jewels will multiply within weeks.
Having fun, Naraku?
The wyvern felt that voice he longed to hear again. His main core self.
Dragged into the mindscape, sitting on a black throne as the gray and white thrones lay empty. Naraku was in a human form, resembling his original self as Naruto Uzumaki if he had black hair before looking at the fiery red throne where he sat. But to his horror, while it was him, his appearance was a drastic turn for the worse. A living corpse.
He lacked organs, his body was nothing but bones with muscle and sinew remaining to give him a mummy-like appearance, but still 'juicy'. His eye sockets glowed with a blue light in them. The spiky blond hair was still there and to Naraku's anguish, was looking at Naruto himself. "My original self…what has…?" Naraku questioned, trying to comprehend what has become of their magnificence since the forced division of their being.
"The Abyss was unkind to me, I almost faced oblivion from being thrown in there. But that is not important. What is your current status?" Naruto demanded, worried in his tone and hints of desperation.
"I've been reborn as a snake, evolved into a wyvern, and Deus has an eye on me. I'm to be this 'ultimate evil' for him so he can 'defeat' me and claim many converts to his cause. But I have to evolve even further before he can let me out of his gaze." Naraku explained as best he can while Naruto clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"I see…Tenryū is busy in Skyrim honing his abilities as well. He was lucky to escape thanks to Akatosh's interference but now I understand why Deus is keeping an eye on you. He doesn't want to lose his other 'test subject' to outside factors." Naruto realized as Naraku growled at the notion of being some lab rat to a god. "Get strong, escape his gaze, and then reunite with me. Those are your main tasks right now. Think you can do it?" Naruto asked his Yin half.
Naraku smiled with teeth to them, "I'm you after all. This'll be a breeze for me. Oh, and don't complain if I happen to…sire any offspring in my free time." he told his original self as Naruto merely smiled.
"That's right, you wanted to rebuild your race if you could. Since we're divided like this now, perhaps this is the chance you needed. Good luck, Naraku." Naruto told him as the link was severed. When Naraku came to, he was back in his cave carving out tunnels and pathways to certain areas of comfort. Renewed vigor surged into the wyvern as he began carving deeper into the mountains and discovered a reservoir of water within. It gave the wyvern an idea as the reservoir would serve as a place of drinking. He'd move some of that water to another cavern to create a bath chamber.
Next was securing his future prisoner, the Sailor Guardian of Mercury Ami. By using the human's criminal underworld to capture both the girl and her mother and keep them in separate locations he'd gain the advantage over Ami. While Beryl kept the mother hostage and at a knife's edge, Ami cannot aid her fellow allies or dare escape without risking her mother's life. That was the easy part.
The hard part is to make sure she doesn't get any ideas and Naraku planned to make sure that little trinket of hers won't be available for usage once she's trapped here. She's a smart cookie, and once he's evolved into a dragon, will have fun challenging her to games of wits. He licked his teeth at the thought of the Dragon Ascension Ritual, and consummated the bond with Ami, binding the princess to him for all time. Once she's his, he'll target either Venus or Mars via their loved ones. He partially knew the identity of Sailor Mars from the year before, sensing her dormant power when the young miko hunted him as a snake. Finding which girl lives in a shrine is narrowed down drastically and to target. But then there was Venus, the faithfully loyal other of Princess Serenity. She had to go as well and Naraku knew her identity.
With careful consideration, once Ami is tamed and belongs to him, Minako Aino will be the next target. Taking out the brains of the group was top priority, and then the veterans being second. Her experience would help improve the Sailor Guardian's fighting capabilities and Naraku would need to evolve before fighting them. He hoped those youma put up good fights before perishing, or else Beryl is in need of new competent warriors…Not that he planned ahead of time with his own secret knowledge.
He'll summon his own allies if push comes to shove. But for now, let them flounder about a little more…
*Dark Kingdom*
"So…We've lost one of our own this time around." Queen Beryl noted with a tap of her finger on the armrest of her throne. The three remaining Heavenly Kings winced at how calm she was. "Nonetheless, with the help of our 'acquaintances' in the criminal underworld, one of the Sailor Guardians will be neutralized tonight and presented to Lord Naraku." she stated as a hint of a smile drew upon her lips. The wyvern would become a dragon, and with legendary flames of ruin, the demise of the Sailor Guardians will be nigh.
*Naraku's Lair*
As Ami awoke from her chloroform induced sleep, all she could see was darkness. The air was cold and wet, the texture of the area around her was rough and hard. It took a nanosecond to know she's in a cave somewhere in the mountains with that 300 IQ she has as she tried to search for her pen. She needed it to transform just in case, and to her horror, it and all of her other belongings were missing.
Hot air suddenly blew behind her, the sound of a beast flaring its nostrils caused Ami to freeze as she began to tremble in fear. She was going to die, the beast would brutally maim her and start eating her alive. The rumbling of the creature behind her made her flinch as she forced herself to turn. Perhaps if she knew which animal she was dealing with, perhaps she could escape and find help even if it was unlikely. What she saw made her eyes widen and mouth part ways in shock.
It was a wyvern, oh she knew wyverns were distant relatives to dragons, and their depictions detailed the difference between the two so she would know since she studied various things, including legends and mythologies. Said wyvern slowly opened its jaws as its long tongue caressed her cheek before a second tongue revealed itself hidden at the bottom of the jaw. This second tongue was tubelike in appearance as it was heading straight for her face. She closed her lips tightly, fearing poison as the appendage pressed softly against her lips and squirted a clear liquid against them before withdrawing it and observing her.
It smelt of berries, that was what the liquid was as the creature turned its neck and began to bite into a small heap of berries neatly piled next to it. She watched as the inside of its lower jaw was crushing the berries into a liquid paste as the wyvern's body temperature was rising with steam escaping from its nostrils.
She was fascinated by this, this mythological creature was cooking some sort of rudimentary food inside itself…to feed…her. Now her cheeks were burning red, because this thing either considers her its offspring or a potential mate. In the animal kingdom, those that don't eat are considered dead and are to dispose of or something that might be invading its territory. Without her pen to transform her into Sailor Mercury, she's helpless against this ancient predator unless she does something.
The tubelike tongue returned, dripping with fresh berry juice in it as the wyvern's yellowish orange reptilian eye gazed at her. Willing herself despite her reservations, she carefully took in the tongue at the tip with her lips. Then the juice sprayed a gentle amount as her tastebuds exploded with the impact of the flavor. Ami unintentionally moaned at the flavor as she subconsciously put more of the beast's tongue into her mouth and began to suck it. Letting the refined flavors of the berry juice it made dance inside her mouth as she swallowed the liquid.
He won, she was slowly going to give into him with due time. The secrets of keeping maidens at a dragon's side was a special secretion mixed into liquid foods fed to them, an addiction of pleasure only they could provide. Most western dragons before their extinction no longer used this tactic, priding more on warrior might than cunning, which he will not make a mistake of doing.
The girl thought him merely a beast, but he was playing a long game with this little smartie. There is no way out but the ceiling entrance, especially since she lacks the means to get up to the entrance. She'll have to rely on him on everything, to be pampered until he is the only thing she can think about.
Her emotions were confused and scared, and those are what he played with today. Once she wakes the next day trying to bear with the situation at hand, she'll understand in due time that no prince charming is coming for her. She was going to be his captive for the rest of her life, both in heart and soul once he's done with her. He forced a little more of his tongue into her mouth and the girl obliged, liquid dripping out of her lips as her eyes were in a daze. Naraku inwardly chuckled at the sight, picturing how she'd look once he finally breaks her in and claims her completely as his woman.
This was all but the first step, as he will now finally evolve into a dragon the next day.
A/N: At long last, Enter the Dragon!