A dragon very similar to Nefu Garumudo flew by as epic music began to play while Rage spoke. "A god of the desert." The host began dramatically as the dragon came to a halt in the air, revealing itself to have a falcon-like head. "Some say even a God of Creation." Rage continued as the creature let out a roar and landed, wind spiraling around it to swirl the sand around it. "What is known... Is that it is a god... OF THE SUN!" He declared as it opened its wings, which glowed with a red energy as opposed to Nefu's blue, before it flew back into the sky, radiating red hot as it roared yet again, before creating what looked like a small sun above its head as intensely dramatic choir music played.
In a very similar vein to Nefu Garumudo, the cast was blown away by this opening. "Whoa! That was so awesome!" Ruby cried out in amazement.
"Indeed. It's quite a breathtaking creature. Such a majestic and regal appearance. It's beautiful." Winter said in awe.
"Yeah. Nefu is still pretty amazing, but I gotta say, the gold and red works a bit better than the gold and blue." Coco added.
"And listen to that music! So epic!" Emerald said.
"It does indeed give of an emphasis of power." Ozpin agreed.
Then, they were truly shocked when they saw the monster charging up an attack. "Whoa! Look at that heat it's giving off!" Ilia said in shock.
"Yeah! And that fireball almost looks like a tiny sun!" Nora said in awe.
"I need one of these in my life." Cinder declared.
Footage of ships sinking in a storm was shown. "Hello, my fellow hunters and welcome as we examine the next Elder Dragon to call Markja Island home. Markja a now long lost monster-filled island, but DAMMIT, not forgotten! I will enshrine the INCREDIBLE monsters from the island for ALL to see as we dissect the delicious details of this Elder Dragon." Rage declared as several incredible monsters were shown once again, along with glimpses of the island itself. "We have had Anubis, God of the Dead and master of the Earth..." The host began as familiar footage of Nefu Garumudo was shown, along with its epic music.
"I don't care what any of you stiffs say. That dragon is still, and always will be a badass monster to fight!" Yang told the adults who voted against Nefu's inclusion to Remnant.
"Again, Miss Xiao Long, it's desire to terraform the land and expand the desert into other ecosystems is too dangerous to be allowed on Remnant." Glynda told her.
"I know... But it doesn't change the fact that it's awesome." She insisted.
A group of Hunters were then seen running up to the falcon-headed dragon. "It is only fair, then, that we go higher. Up to the skies, the heavens, the father and the master of existence itself. Yes, this Elder Dragon has BIG-" Rage continued, before suddenly being interrupted as the dragon took to the skies and roared, flying at an angle so its wing slid across the ground, hitting a hunter.
Eo Garudia soared high in the air above some ruins during a storm, thunder booming as a break in the clouds allowed a ray of light to shine down on the dragon. "By the power of Ra." A pair of voices said together as a hunter stabbed a flag down on the ruins, claiming the territory.
"So, Ra is one of these Egyptian gods, then?" Pyrrha asked, to which Katana nodded.
"I remember him being briefly mentioned in Nefu's video, but it was only a quick name drop, then nothing. Could you maybe explain more about him?" Weiss requested.
"Hm... Not now. But soon." Katana told her.
"Well, if nothing else, he definitely sounds cool. Ra... Just something about that name radiates power." Neo said.
Back to the fight with the dragon in the air again. "- Energy, for he is connected to Ra himself and, well... He has the power, the style and the sheer awe-inspiring, overwhelming presence to back it up. Meet then, Eo Garudia, the Heavenly Crystal Dragon." Rage declared as a still image of the beast in the air was shown.
"The Heavenly Crystal Dragon... I really like that." Blake said with an approving smile.
"A title of both elegance and power. Very nice." Hazel agreed, getting several nods of agreement.
"Yeah, not bad. And, pretty fitting, considering there are a bunch of crystals coming out of its wings. So you definitely can't say it's false advertising." Qrow added.
That image was then put alongside an image of Nefu Garumudo. "Of course, indeed related to Nefu Garumudo, they are two halves of a coin. And Mr. Eo Garudia here is very much all about the air, the wind, the fire and the flames, the burning sun above the desert, beating down all who would dare to stay too long in its sight. His name roughly translating to 'Sun-Bird' and when we look at him, I mean, it's easy to see why. Now, off the bat, I will say that visually, this is my least favorite of the trio of Markja Elders, the last of which we will look at next time, but he certainly doesn't look AWFUL." Rage said, showing several more detailed illustrations of the dragon, as well as some of its weapons and armor.
Many were shocked and angered when Rage gave his opinion of the design. "What?! How could he not like something that awesome!? The colors are absolutely GORGEOUS!" Coco snapped.
"Yeah. And I like the falcon head, too. It gives it a really distinct and unique look. What does it have to do to impress this guy?!" Jaune agreed.
"Agreed. I know everyone's entitled to their own opinions, but there ARE times when an opinion is just WRONG!" Summer added.
The single image of Eo Garudia was shown again. "The wing shape is a little bit weird, the kind of curve down, back up on the second half, feels... not the most practical and the sprouting crystals are very much, well... in your face, though those crystals are the source of his power, they house his very energy and he draws from them as they charge in the sun's rays, when he is, you know, NOT engaged in mortal combat. The gold, the whites, the reds, very much the color of the God he is most associated with, Ra himself." Rage declared as he showed the image of a falcon-headed man sitting on a throne, holding an ankh in his left hand and a cane with a hook in it.
"I can see what he means about the wings, they are indeed different than the wings of many other creatures, but at the same time, I see nothing that could compromise the efficiency of its flight." Penny said.
"And I'd hardly say the positions of the crystals are much different than the talons on the wings of creatures such as Rathalos, Rathian or Astalos." Ren noted.
"But that's really cool that the crystals actually give him power and charge in the sun." Velvet said, impressed.
"So, if we had them on Remnant and could get those crystals, they could be like mini Solar panels." Roman said.
"Careful Torchwick. You're starting to sound like the general, always thinking of how to exploit these monsters the moment you hear more about them." Adam warned him.
"I am merely trying to think of ways that these monsters could improve the safety and general living situations of the people of Remnant." Ironwood defended.
"At the potential cost of the monster's living situations." Cinder countered.
Another image of Ra was shown, holding up his left hand that crackled with lightning as he held a Khopesh in the other. "Ra being the mythical Egyptian father of all creation. He is the God of just POWER, of light and as I alluded to at the start, said to be the father of Anubis, so in that regard, you could definitely see Mr. Eo as a step above Nefu. Though blue is more commonly associated with Ra than red, so there's a little bit of a swap there, but you know, that's good." Rage said as footage of the fight were shown again. "We don't want monster to one-to-one lift, but be inspired by the gods they share a likeness to, that's why it's a likeness and not an exact mirroring, which ultimately creates something rather palettable." The host continued, before everything went black. "I-I don't know what the hell I just said, but it's probably a cool metaphor or some shit." as He grumbled with an echo to his voice.
"Finally, we get to hear more about Ra." Ruby said, having been curious since the god's mention.
"Hardly very much more, though. Can you tell us any more, Katana?" Weiss asked.
"Ra is the Sun God of ancient egypt, head is usually that of a falcon and he goes through several cycles of the sun. And the only he can be killed is if his ancient enemy, Apep and/or Apophis, the giant cobra demon of chaos, swallows him whole." Katana explained.
"Why do I feel a weird connection to that?" Nora questioned, unaware of her adopted father's connection to a similar giant serpent.
"Still, that's pretty badass if the ONLY thing that can kill you is getting eaten by a giant snake demon." Yang admitted.
However, the teens then couldn't help but laugh at Rage's metaphor. "It makes sense, but it kind of falls apart when you yourself question it." Pyrrha couldn't help but giggle.
"I'm amazed he doesn't question EVERYTHING he does." Neo said.
"Oh, he does it more often than you'd expect." Tekko told her.
The fight continued as Eo Garudia spun in the air to smack away hunters with its tail. "The point is he's, you know, neat. I like the red highlights, I like gold plating, I like the white plumage, I like that his tail has that fray of feathers much like a bird and I like that his head is beak-like as Ra is traditionally shown as a bird. A falcon, in fact and a lot of his interpretations, well- he does go full avian and in that, you can really start to see the similarities with our Elder Dragon here." Rage said, showing the image of a beautiful golden falcon with a rainbow of feathers, ankhs on each foot and a sun above its head. "But enough about his, well- visuals, time for his story." Rage declared as he showed the still image of Eo Garudia again.
"Maybe I should think of adding some nice reds to my armor. Eo definitely makes it look good." Jaune said.
"I really like its feathers and bird features. Again, you wouldn't think that would look good on a dragon, but it just looks so right on Eo Garudia." Blake added.
"Indeed. Once again, I could very much see statues of this creature erected throughout Remnant. Especially in Vacuo." Winter agreed.
The falcon-headed dragon then spun in the air while slashing at hunters with its claws. "Like his brethren, Nefu Garumudo, he was very much around during the Ancient Civilization still standing and, like him, he was fairly left alone, not part of the Great Dragon War, if indeed you believe that to have happened. There are very much conflicting reports, though certainly conflict with ancient Elders was common and brutal. Eo, however, was more in a worshipped, revered role. Discovered when a research team headed out into the Great Desert, the same Great Desert where you face Jhen Mohran on the mighty Dragon Ships." Rage noted as the sand whale monster was shown beside the ships. "And they discovered ruins of an ancient civilization there. Markings on the stone alluded to a strange bird-like creature and then strange bird-like creature descended upon them and they fled. That, of course, was Eo Garudia. And from then, the hunt was indeed on." The host declared as Eo Garudia pounced at the hunters from its position in the air.
"Another monster that was perfectly fine sitting on the sidelines as its brethren were murdered. How could it do something like that?" Adam questioned.
"I mean, it's great it wasn't out there killing people, but that is concerning it didn't stand up for its fellow dragons." Ilia agreed.
"Well, there are groups or nations that choose to remain neutral in times of war. There is nothing wrong with simply not wishing to fight or pick sides." Glynda noted.
"Maybe, but usually those groups have nothing to lose or gain by joining a side. If the dragons had lost the war, Eo Garudia likely would've been subjected to all the things its brethren were." Qrow pointed out.
"In times of war, there very rarely is one true 'right' side, only the side we believe is right. The only time there was a truly 'wrong' side in war is with Salem, as her victory would serve ONLY her and doom the rest of Remnant." Ozpin said.
Eo Garudia landed on the ground and roared as its fiery aura flared out around it. "So, with battle joined, what did that conflict look like? Well, facing Eo was a bit like-" Rage began, before suddenly, a huge fire and sandstorm showed up on screen, making it impossible to either see what was happening or understand what Rage was saying. "I hope that conveyed it accurately." Rage explained as the Elder Dragon landed on the ground after having gone into the air again.
"No, it did not. Literally nothing could be conveyed through that." Ren said.
"Agreed. Even with my Faunus hearing, I couldn't catch any of what he said." Velvet agreed.
"I believe all of that was meant to be a joke, but it does also provide context. We already saw that this creature has some form of manipulation over heat and fire, so that accounts for the fire in the clip. And for the wind and the sandstorms, it may be possible it has control over the Earth like Nefu Garumudo. Or perhaps it can manipulate wind like Kushala Daora and, due to its location being in a desert, any tornadoes or large gusts of winds would pick up the sand as it attacks, creating sandstorms." Penny theorized.
"That is a very astute assumption, Penny. Well done." Ironwood praised. "Although, that is quite the terrifying combination, so I can't help but hope you're wrong." He said in concern.
The beast was now airborne again, making many small tornadoes across the battlefield. "Basically, he whips up sandstorm winds that would make a Kushala Daora blush and has them coat and swirl across the battlefield. Dealing with the pressure of the sheer speed, on top of the battering of anything picked up from the desert itself is one thing. But another is the heat. Drawing energy from those crystals on his wings, he can expel waves of scorching flame and burning air as simply existing near him proves a fight for survival. He likes to spend his time airborne and has the usual arsenal of slams, fireballs and general agility that you might expect from an Elder Dragon of this general frame. One thing he can do is actually FIRE the crystals in his wings at you, turning into blazing mines that detonate, before growing quickly back on his wings. He really is quite the engaging fight and not actually that annoying to say he is constantly in the air. GUYS!" Rage snapped, calling out Kushala Daora and Azure Rathalos for their reliance on aerial combat
"Well, unfortunately, it looks like you were right after all, Penny." Summer said worriedly.
"Man, I've gotten into a few scraps in Vacuo before and let me tell you, fighting in the desert SUCKS! WAY too hot out there. So fighting something that makes it even hotter? That's a big hell no for me." Roman complained.
"Not to mention, it's making the sand even hotter already, before throwing it right at you with the wind. It'd be like getting hit with burning hot shrapnel. And worse, if it can heat up the sand enough to turn it into glass, it WOULD effectively have shrapnel to tear you apart." Hazel added.
"Yeah, I'd definitely say that's problematic!" Neo said in concern.
But then Ruby gasped when she learned of its projectiles. "It can FIRE its wing crystals!? That is so amazing!" Ruby said.
And then most of the cast got a good laugh out of Rage taking a jab at Azure and Kushala. "Ha! Bet that took the wind out of their sails." Emerald said with a smirk.
"Was that a pun?" Yang asked hopefully as she and Neo looked at Emerald with stars in their eyes.
"Yep. And it was better than ANY of your so far." She added.
Eo Garudia then flew forward at high speeds while spinning with enough speed to create a wind tunnel behind itself. "But by far, the most unique and quirky ability of this Elder Dragon is that of wind tunnels, it can create localized vortexes of air that it can use to REALLY get around the place. But the thing is... so can the hunters! You can hop in these, well- transport tubes and get blasted in the direction that it is blowing at high speeds, which- you know, on the surface, that's really quite fun!" Rage explained as hunters ran through the wind tunnels in order to reach the dragon insanely fast.
"What?! No way, that's awesome!" Jaune said.
"Yeah, definitely saves me some time chasing it down." Yang agreed.
"So you can be lazy and don't have to run as hard?" Weiss questioned.
"Yes." Yang answered almost immediately without any hint of shame or embarrassment.
"But then, why would Rage say that it's only fun 'on the surface'?" Penny pointed out.
However, the dragon was at the end of a tunnel and seemed to be WAITING for the hunters. "But Eo Garudia KNOWS that hunters can hop in it and one thing he likes to do is- he is a VERY intelligent Elder Dragon, even for Elder Dragons- is deliberately create a tunnel that heads TOWARDS him, while surging to the end of it himself and waiting, knowing that 'Ah! A hunter's gonna be like 'Okay, instead of running MILES away to the Elder Dragon, I'm just gonna hop in his own tunnel that he used to get there and chase him down real quick!' Well, the thing is, that is exactly what he wants you to do. Because he will LACE the tunnel with his explode-y wing crystal mines that he has deployed on the way, so that as you surge down it, you get ripped into them by the force of the wind. So you essentially have to play this mini-game of 'dodge left and right as you fly down the tunnel', otherwise you get right blown up! And is that not absolutely glorious!? I wish more monsters did that!" The host declared excitedly as the hunters narrowly evaded the fiery crystals inside the tunnel.
Many were shocked at this. "Unbelievable! That is a dangerous level of intelligence even for a HUMAN, let alone an animal!" Glynda said in horror.
"Agreed. Luring hunters in with the chance for an easy way to reach it, only to litter the tunnel with traps is strategic and tactical genius!" Ironwood said.
"Isn't that awesome!?" All the thrill-seekers shouted.
"We've got ourselves a trickster on our hands." Coco said.
"Now I'm wondering if it would be any good at playing pranks?" Nora asked with a devilish smirk.
"Clever girl..." Ruby said in reference to Cretaceous Park.
"Now I just want to go through one of those tunnels even more!" Yang said.
"I know, right? Sounds like fun." Qrow agreed.
"Are you two crazy?! Heck, are you suicidal!?" Summer asked, unable to believe her family members could want to do something so dangerous.
"It adds more challenge to the fight. And the greater the challenge, the greater the thrill!" Hazel declared.
The hunters continued to dodge the fiery daggers inside the wind tunnel. "Now these tunnels appear again on his ultimate attack. As you fight, as you whether the storm in the desert heat, his crystals will charge. And when they're overflowing with energy, shining and glowing, his form along with it, he will rise into the air." Rage explained as the dragon began to charge up heat and power.
"Oh, this is going to be good." Adam said, eager to see what comes next.
"I'm starting to think you have a different definition of 'good' than we do." Winter told the horned man.
"Clearly your definition of 'good' isn't as epic as ours." Cinder countered, earning sagely nods from the thrill-seekers, even though Cinder wasn't exactly among their ranks, they could agree with her statement.
The monster then rose into the air with wind swirling all around it as heat rose off of it. "And as he does so, the heat, the wind, the pressure, it will all intensify, ripping into the ground and all around him, he will create a swirling doom pit of quicksand beneath him, loose rocks and ruins and rubble will get pulled out of the now fine sand of the desert and swirl around as deadly projectiles. On top of all that, wave after wave after wave of INTENSE heat blasts forth as he creates this mini-sun between his wings above him, blasting through the gloom of the sandstorms and radiates across the desert." Rage declared as the dragon did indeed create a massive sphere of fire above itself with broken pillars spiraling around it. "It truly is a magnificent display and one that is near impossible for anything to survive. For when that sun comes down, bear no mistake: you WILL be consumed. And that makes Eo Garudia VERY happy." The host said as the beast threw down the fireball and landed, before showing an image of the dragon with its mouth open as if it were laughing.
Everyone was taken aback in absolute awe of the spectacle before them. "No way. It's making a tornado of fire!" Blake said in disbelief.
"And just look at all the heat coming off of it!" Jaune said, both amazed and terrified.
"And that fireballs getting huge! It actually does look like a mini sun!" Velvet said in shock.
"It's just an exaggeration... Don't go too deep into it." Penny silently told herself, trying to prevent herself from short-circuiting as her processors couldn't handle the concept of a miniature sun.
"Truly incredible. It is a bit unnerving to see a creature with such unbelievable power, but you cannot deny, that power is amazing." Ozpin admitted, in total awe of the creature.
"I'll deny it from now until the end of time! That beast is destroying PRICELESS historical architecture! This creature and Nefu Garumudo are the two most deplorable beasts of any monster we've seen so far and actually DESERVE to be referred to as monsters!" Glynda said furiously.
"So... Did you just forget about Fatalis wiping out an entire kingdom full of innocent men, women and children, or...?" Roman questioned.
The creature took to the sky with the ruins swirling about as a barrier once more. "So that is Eo Garudia. What he does, what he spends his free time doing, his hunting habits... a lot of it is a mystery. Markja Island was not the most concerned with cataloguing their monsters and most of what we have is from expeditions from The Guild. Which was a shame, as like I said, the monsters they had were fantastical and amazing, very visually pleasing. And Eo Garudia is no exception, I love the wind tunnel gauntlet of dodging, that is absolutely fantastic and it certainly can't be denied that his ultimate attack is certainly impressive. And I certainly wouldn't mind being able to hunt him once again, or at least a monster that fights similarly to him." Rage finished as Eo Garudia continued to fly back and forth, knocking down several hunters or getting the best of them with the traps in its wind tunnels.
"It's still amazing it could do all that." Coco said.
"I mean, we have seen creatures do everything it's done before, minus the wind tunnels, but to see all of those things mixed together so well in mind-boggling." Weiss admitted.
"But those wind tunnels are so epic and unique, ESPECIALLY with how it leaves traps in them." Yang said.
"And it's just a beautiful and majestic creature on top of all that." Cinder added.
"You guys know what to do. Tell us what you thought." Tekko told them.
"SO AWESOME!" The thrillseekers cheered.
"It's appearance is amazing, I love its colors, its wind tunnels are really cool, its fire powers are epic, I just love everything about it!" Ruby said giddily, before remembering something. "Oh! And its crystals look like rubies, so that's a plus for me." She quickly added, earning several laughs.
"I'm with Ruby, those wind tunnels were awesome, especially with how it lays out traps in them! I wanna fight one so bad!" Yang said.
"I also agree with how much power it has in its flames. The burning aura, the tornado of flames and the miniature sun, it's all incredible." Cinder added.
"I definitely wouldn't mind trying to take one on. It might ACTUALLY give me a reason to go to Vacuo." Qrow said.
"Assuming they were calm enough and not overly aggressive, I wouldn't mind just sitting out and watching it go about its day." Pyrrha admitted.
"Yeah. It's so majestic and pretty, I wouldn't want to take my eyes off it." Velvet said.
"So can you PLEASE bring them to Remnant, Katana? It doesn't expand the desert, so it's not dangerous like Nefu!" Ruby pleaded.
"Hm... I don't know. Him and Nefu are like polar opposites, different sides of the same coin, like a package deal. It'd feel wrong to bring him in without Nefu." The hostess said uncertainly.
"Then just give us Nefu, too!" Yang pleaded as well.
"Yang, you know why we can't do that." Razara said.
"But wait! What if we just altered its behavior so it DIDN'T do the whole desertification thing? Like how you altered Summer's Alatreon so it wouldn't do the whole 'hate all life and want to live at the bottom of the ocean to avoid living things' thing?" Tekko suggested.
"That..." Katana started, before thinking on it. "Okay, that might actually work. Alright, then. Looks like you're getting them BOTH after all." Katana declared, to which the thrillseekers cheered. [1]
If she does say no, and Ruby, Yang, Nora and Coco sulk while Adam mutters to himself, "Sigh. Another wasted opportunity to face a worthy opponent…"
"So, what's next?" Jaune asked.
"Well, Sai made another video about a monster who's really going to shed some LIGHT on the subject. So here, take these." Katana said, causing a pair of sunglasses to appear on everyone's face, except for Coco, as she already had her own pair. "Now then, I think you guys are ready to see Tzitzi-Ya-Ku." She declared, starting the next video.
A/N: Well, this took WAY longer than I had planned. Sorry about that. So, Sai's video on Tzitzi is called "The Fierce Flash! Tzitzi-Ya-Ku Lore".
[1] Thanks to Appolyon for giving me that idea.