Path From Ascension

[Drago]

My series, based off our members and my interpretation of their activities on here and previous conversations. Meant as a tribute to another site, it will be updated and produced to match this one instead. Despite whatever roles you may have in the story, know I love you all. First chapter will be the next post.

 

[Drago]

Chapter 1

Spoiler

Let's begin...

In the World of Unima Frome (what you know as Earth), Civilization had drastically changed after magic was discovered in the world. Not technologically, but in their biology. Humans developed animalistic features to survive in a harsh and changing world darkened by humans and beasts misusing a power they didn't yet understand. However, a group of humans in two regions and a family of mythical creatures learned to harness and control this mysterious set of abilities. These would become the leaders & governing forces of their respective kingdoms.

The clan who would eventually come to call themselves the Magician's Guild controls the Kingdom of Magnolia. These humans learned to fully control the magic power within themselves and in their surroundings. The leader of the clan is given the title of "Merlin," the original mage and founder of the Treasury system. They invented the concept of money & created an international currency, preventing inflation for the world.

An honorable group of humans who learned to control the magic within themselves, but not the environment would come to call themselves the Royal Guard. They're knights & noblemen who rule over the Kingdom of Camelot, the largest of the nations in the world. The title of "King Arthur" is given to the leader of this clan after the original King. He founded the Bureau of Defense and invented the concepts of Blacksmithing & Metallurgy, creating tough weapons and armor for protection from magic wielding animals.

Our last group is who our story focuses around and is the smallest of the major clans. While still technically human, their DNA is closer to that of dragons and subsequently refer to themselves as the "Dragon's Fangs." They rule over the Kingdom of Bern, which lies between the countries of Magnolia and Camelot. "Bahamut" is the title given to the leader of this clan of dragons. Named after the original leader and founder of "Lycia," a group dedicated to keeping peace & order in the world (This is what the UN is supposed to be on Earth). He is the inventor of meditation & the concept of energy control, leading to many known martial arts in the world.

Our story starts in a throne room with a bodyguard job being reluctantly fulfilled by a young dragon for a important magician from another clan that he knew from long ago.
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"You're so boring." a blonde, hyperactive mage said to her bodyguard, who was currently laying on the ground in front of her. "You didn't use to be this lifeless. What happened to you, Draggie?"

The young, emerald scaled dragon with canine features looks back over his shoulder and gives an emotionless response. "Destruction happened." She squints her hazel eyes at him, then looks away.

"Don't blame the Guild for your animosity." She said annoyed. "You dragons and those knights made Master Shineman lose his way. He was a key representative in Lycia until that condescending jerk Jcoss and the indecisive Krill refused to even try to see things his way. You guys turned him into that incarnation of Destruction." He simply turns his head back around and rests his head on his forearms.

"Whatever you say, Kat." he said before closing his blue eyes. "Neither of us fought in that war because we were locked up at the time. For your refusal to take part in the war, I was forced into an isolated facility to try to take advantage my clan's reputation of peace. I wasn't even allowed to see my sister." Kat starts poking her pointer fingers together. "I couldn't prevent Spi-" His ears perk up, then his eyes shoot open and he quickly stands on all fours, scanning the area.

"What's going on?" Kat asked cheerfully, glad to change the subject.

"We have a guest in the room." Drago responded as he sniffed the air. "Alright, fun's over. We're here to meet with the Royal Guard representative, Tadashi and the Dragon's Fang rep, Sukichu. This is a mission of peace." A large ball of unknown energy appears in front of Drago.

"So sorry to interrupt your important mission, but let's just say I have a problem with some minor details in its design." The ball explodes and reveals two men. One wearing robes who appears to be the mage & her bodyguard's age with weird symbols floating around him. The other was a slightly younger male in his teens wearing knight's armor and a glowing blade at his side. Both are surrounded by an aura of ill intent. "I refuse to allow a proud mage to rely on a lizard for protection."

"Shineman?" Kat says nervously. "It's not like I asked for a bodyguard, but when I was told it was my older brother, Drago, I couldn't say no." Drago stands with his arms crossed listening intently for any sudden movement, stress marks appearing at the word "lizard."

"It's Negative now." He corrected. "Kind of hard to call myself Shineman when my spells no longer use spectral energy as a base. Now calm your pet down before I have the Freak here slay him." Drago drops his arms & Kat puts out hers to stop him as the knight grabs the hilt of his blade, maintaining a serious look on his face.

"You no longer use light energy?" Kat asked, perplexed at why he would stop using the magic he loves so much. "Prove it." He simply smirks.

"Sure." The symbols surrounding him glow a black color as he points to Drago before making a grabbing motion. Drago's neck is wrapped up by a dark energy that begins squeezing on it. He lets out a pain filled roar, falls to his knees and reaches for his neck as Kat turns around to see what happened.

"Drago!" She finds the rings and gets quickly irritated. "Shineman, stop this right now! He's done nothing to you!"

"Yes," he retorted. "...and I intend to keep it that way. A wild animal is a ticking time bomb just waiting to kill someone. And it's Negative."

"Let him go!"

"Hold your tongue! You're a thousand years too soon to be facing off against me!"

"How about me?" a voice said before the rings around Drago's neck break apart, allowing him to breathe."

"Who's there?" Kat asked looking around. She notices Shineman's guard looking around as well. "He can't sense him either..."

"Jcoss..." Drago said regaining his composure.

"Well, at least your ears work, youngling." said the silver scaled, wind dragon as he appeared in a small tornado behind the one now known as Negative and his guard. "Now if only we could work on that trust issue." Negative turns around and faces Jcoss, smirking.

"I didn't expect to see you here." the dark mage points out. "And do what do I owe the pleasure of receiving the Cyclone Fang's presence?" His guard, Kat & Drago are all sweating bullets for the possible clash of these two heavyweights.

"My reasons for being here are no concern of yours. However, your actions towards that young dragon are very much my business. Leave now or I will be forced to cut you down for what you've done." His short, wavy haircut started swaying in the wind he was making.

"I felt threatened, so I defended myself. It's not my fault if you lizards can't keep your egos in check. I'd take him off this mission if I was you to prevent any future 'accidents' that may happen." He smirks, staring him down.

"Is that a threat?" a silver aura rises up around him.

"Maybe." Black runes appear around him before his guard whispers in his ear. He looks annoyed and his symbols disappear. "Ah, another time then. Merlin wishes to speak with me, so I can't enjoy myself anymore today. Perhaps another time." He creates a portal with some magic runes, then walks through with a cocky smile on his face.

"How'd the courts ever allow him to walk?" his aura dies down, then he walks over and kneels down to face Drago. "Are you hurt?" He shakes his head no before Jcoss punches him in the jaw. "What were you thinking? How did you possibly think you could take on someone of Shineman's level when you don't even have your wings yet?!"

Right as Drago was about to defend himself, the doors opened and four others walked in with groups of two. "Yo, Jcoss! Didn't expect to see you here!" said a tall female with short, blue hair and dark blue wings walking in. At her side was a shorter, long-brown haired girl with tan wings who seems to be taking this assignment overly serious.

"Oh, hey Suki. The Lady sent me to overlook the meeting and make sure no unwanted annoyances disturbed it." He said standing back up.

"Isn't that why we brought security?" Asked the white haired knight wearing night black armor with white dots covering it. With him is a muscular knight wearing steel armor with gold edges.

"You can never be too safe, Sir Tadashi. I'll be watching the outside while your individual bodyguards will be watching the interior." He heads out the door to go perform his duty. "Besides, this discussion will have a bit more weight than usual."

"Alright, Loopy. Do your best!" Suki tells her escort who proceeds to salute her and meet up with the other guards.

"Eruner." Sir Tadashi simply said before his escort nods and meets up with the others.

"No need to mention what happened. Okay, Draggie?" Kat points out before the wolf like dragon gets up, pats himself off and meets with the other two looking a bit distraught before shaking it off.

"Now that everyone is here and accounted for, let us begin."
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[Drago]

Chapter 2

Spoiler

Roar! The Sapphire Dragon's Rage!

The escorts convene to place guarding assignments while the reps discuss the respective situations in each of their areas. We'll start with the bodyguards, as it'll be less interesting.
_____________________________
The knight Eruner stands with his hand on his face, annoyed with the arguing female in front of him.

"Why can't you simply take the second floor?" he asks politely. "Since you already have your wings, you could watch over the room w/o leaving your post."

"That's exactly why you should take the second floor!" she replies. "I could just fly up there in case you started having trouble! You wouldn't be able to do the same for me!"

"If that's your reasoning, then Ridley could take the position just as easily as I could. Why send me up there?"

Drago is just standing there, smiling at the two. Loopy grabs his face while still looking at Eruner.

"He's in no condition to take a large guard detail!"

"Then why is he taking any of the details? He should be resting if he's not well."

"I'm here, so he'll be fine." she said smugly, crossing her arms.

"Does anyone care what I have to say about it?" Drago interrupts, causing the confident one to notice how close she actually got.

"Of course. What do you think we should do?" the knight inquires.

"Loopy & I will cover the first floor, with me out front and her in the back." he begins to explain. "You'll take the upstairs and call if you need anything. I'll be able to hear you, then get Loopy to watch this room before heading over." He puts a hand on her shoulder, causing her to start turning red.

"You really believe that's a good idea?"

"Of course. Right, Loopy?"

Loopy shakes off his hand before walking to her assignment. "Y-yeah."

Drago looks to Eruner with confusion, who just shakes his head and makes his way upstairs.
________________________________________ _________________________

"At least he's finally showing some spirit." Kat thought, looking over.

"Miss...Kat, was it?" asks Sir Tadashi, causing Kat to turn back and nod. "I know this is your first time doing this, but could you please pay attention to the important matters here? If anything happens, Eruner will handle it."

"Right, sorry." She looks at the table before Suki speaks up.

"Don't worry about it so much, Sir Tadashi. You'll stress her out." she says, trying to get the mage's spirits back up. "For such a simple task, I'd prefer her to not think we're gonna rip her head off if she says something wrong. Loopy and Drago will be doing that enough themselves..." She looks exhausted at the thought, which makes Kat smile a little bit.

"Ms. Sukichu, these meetings are a little more important than you give them credit for." Sir Tadashi begins, visibly boring Sukichu, who's heard this many times. "They cover any financial, medical, physical and political problems your country, or any country your kingdom has dominion over, may be having. We have these every month so we are always kept informed of each other's statuses. It's one of the most important jobs one can perform for their kingdom."

"I know this, Sir Tadashi." Suki retorts, rubbing her temples. "I volunteered for this position and this isn't our first meeting together. I'm just trying to keep the new rep for the Guild in the right set of mind for this."

"She isn't the new representative." a voice says before a vortex shows up, revealing a witch with fox ears and red hair showing up, wearing a low cut top. "She's just filling in until I could get here."

"How is it the only group who can teleport is usually the one who's late?" Suki asks, clearly annoyed.

"What did I miss?"

"A lecture from Sir Tadashi."

"So, nothing new?" Kat stands up and she sits down. "Kat, you can head back now if you wish. I'll handle it from here."

"Sure, Master Blue!" Kat says before poofing into a pile of fiery feathers.

"Here's the status of Magnolia..." She began.
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Drago is walking through halls in the front of castle, still confused.
"I wonder why she won't say anything to me?"

"Sounds like you like her!" Drago jumps up, surprised. He's surrounded by feathers before Kat hops on his back. "I can talk to her for you. She and I are long time friends."

"Why are you here? I thought you were meeting with the others?" he asks completely ignoring her statements.

"Master Fullblue showed up, so I get to go home now. I just decided to visit my big brother one more time before I left!" She hugs him after saying the last part.

"Oh, okay. Be careful on your way back home, alright?" He hugs her back before letting go.

"I'm an expert mage, you know! I'm probably stronger than you!" She put up a "V" with her pinky and ring finger.

"Glad to hear it, sis." He smiles. "I'll try to visit you soon, okay?"

"Okay! Later!" She poofs away.

"Back to business." He reaches into a hallway, grabs a ninja and slams him into the wall. "If you can't mask your scent, you don't stand a chance." He opens up a window, then throws the intruder out of it.

A gust of wind catches him and he gets pulled elsewhere. "That's 3 for me." He closes the window, then continues his patrol. "I don't see why anyone would want to interrupt these meetings anyway..."
________________________________________ ___________________________

"That's it for the status of Bern and its surrounding territories." Sukichu finishes reporting.

"You say your people are becoming riled up. Why is this?" Tadashi questions.

"I was actually going to ask you two about that. Our citizens speak of rumors involving a dish known as 'Dragon Stew.' This is making them restless and paranoid. Any idea what that is?" she asks, unintentionally covering the table in a bit of ice by grabbing it.

"It's a delicacy in Magnolia." answers Fullblue, who smirks. "It's a favorite of mine as well."

"Please tell me it's just a fancy name and I can reassure our citizens that there's no real danger." Sukichu says, sapphire eyes glowing.

"Of course. It's made of a specific, rare meat." The room starts to grow cold.

"And just what would that be?" The mage starts grinning widely.

"Dragon tail." Sukichu slams her hands on the table and her wings spread wide, releasing a cold gust of wind freezing the chamber behind her.

"I'll kill you, witch!" Right as the blue dragon was about to jump across the table to attack the mage, she finds a shimmering, white blade in front of her.

"Calm down, Ms. Sukichu." He pulls his blade back and looks at Fullblue. "You better be joking, madam. That's a blatant breach of treaty otherwise."

"I'm simply playing with the lizard." she mocks. "I bet their meat tastes terrible."

"Rrrrr, we're done here!" she backs away from the table and "Loopy, we're leaving!" roars through the castle.
________________________________________ __________________________

"Seems as if we may have been right about the rumors." thought the silver dragon, as he appears to stand on nothing in his black Gi above the castle.
________________________________________ __________________________

"Ms. Sukichu, please be rational!" Tadashi speaks up. "Let's try to leave on good terms with one another, as to not spark unnecessary conflict."

The dragon known as the "Fang of the Frozen Sea" simply turns around, releases a surge of power and creates an image of a roaring dragon's head pointing towards the red headed Kitsune. She then turns back around and continues to the exit as the image melts behind her.

The door to the room opens and the tan dragon walks in. "Here, Suki!"

Sukichu walks out the door, past Loopy. "Since Kat left earlier, grab Drago before you head outside. I'm getting Jcoss." She turns right, goes down the hall and turns left to exit the bastion.

"Yes, ma'am!" She doesn't get very far and finds the emerald dragon walking up, rubbing his ears.

"Ugh, what was that all about...?"

"Oh right, your hearing. I don't know what happened, but Suki did NOT look happy. I suggest we wait a while before asking her." Drago nods to show he can hear now.

"Understood. It'll be a more interesting trip back at least. I came here by myself after all..." Loopy goes down the same path Sukichu did and was followed by her companion.

......

"By the way, Kat spoke to me on the way out."

This sparks some interest in him. "What'd she say?"

She turns red and runs up to Sukichu & Jcoss without saying anything. The latter tells the young dragons to hurry up.

"Wait, what'd she say?" He runs up and they go on their way.
________________________________________ ______________________________

"That was unnecessary." Tadashi glares at Fullblue.

"She asked, so I answered." the orange eyed mage retorted, melting the ice to warm up the room. "I don't see the problem."

"You confirmed her suspicions! Even with my interference, Bern will no doubt investigate this further!"

"It shouldn't be a problem. I can handle any gecko that opposes me." she says confidently. "Even if I couldn't, Merlin would think of something."

"You're causing unneeded confli-" he's quickly interrupted.

"Your lectures are boring. I actually agree with her on that." she stated before warping out.

Sir Tadashi leaves the room slightly worried, knowing full well what that image from before meant. He also knew what the titles of the Warrior Dragons (Claw, Wing, Scale, Fang) meant, having fought them in the war.

"Claws" were those whose abilities focused primarily on offense. Typically chosen to end one on one conflicts quickly. A mental image of Drago appears.
"Wings" were messengers. Speed is their forte and they could give orders to troops faster than anyone. Loopy appears as the example.
"Scales" were those with great defensive abilities. Superb warriors who could hold a position for insurmountable amounts of time. A black scaled dragon with red hair appears.
"Fangs" were the scariest though. Images of Suki and Jcoss appear in the same fashion as the others. These were the true definitions of fear for anyone on the battlefield. Stronger than a Claw, faster than a Wing and and tougher than a Scale, these select few were the generals for the reptiles' military. You did not want to end up fighting them. Even for him, had it not been for Sir Pac...

He clears his mind, then leaves the chamber as well.

"Eruner, report back." He walks upstairs and finds the halls more disturbing than he remembered. "Eruner?" He continues until he finds a blood covered wall...
________________________________________ ____________________________________

"You're really not gonna tell me?" Drago asks, still curious.

"I will." Loopy responds. "Why do you wanna know so badly, anyway?"

"You keep turning red." he smiles like an idiot.

"Adfownefjwoef-" she does just that and freezes in place.

Drago suddenly stops, ears twitching, then starts rushing back to the castle.

"H-hey!" Loop yells. "Where are you going?!"

"I got him." Jcoss states, walking back. "You two keep going and-"

"Eruner!!!" a voice in the distance yells, answering why he went running back.

"You guys head back! I'll grab Drago and catch up." He starts flying back to the meeting spot. "Damn, kid. Why do you insist on doing things like this?"

.....

"Are we actually going back?" Loopy asks her sister.

"Of course we aren't!" she responds before going to catch up with the others.
____________________________________

 

[Drago]

Spoiler: (chapter 3)

The Twins, Knights and a Traitor?

Jcoss, followed by Loopy and Sukichu, arrive back at the bastion and find Drago running through the halls and up the stairs to a blood covered hallway. There, they find Sir Tadashi kneeling over a severely injured Eruner. A few meters down are a couple of purple, lifeless bodies on the floor.

"What happened here...?" a stunned emerald dragon asks as the others catch up.

"Drago, assist Loopy, who I know followed me back..." Jcoss starts, giving an annoyed look. She and Sukichu walk up with guilty looks and wait for instructions. "...in tending to our friend's wounds."

"Right!"

"Of course!"

They rush over and begin removing Eruner's armor as Tadashi stands to speak with Jcoss and Sukichu. Drago is searing the wounds closed after Loopy removes any shrapnel. They also remove some unknown substance they find on his wounds. Drago whispers to Loopy. "Something doesn't seem right."

"I agree, but let's keep it to ourselves for now." he nods in agreement.

"The obvious question comes first. What happened here?" Jcoss questions as Sukichu walks up.

"Some assassins came in during the meeting and snuck attack Eruner. I struck them down after finding them boasting in their temporary victory." Tadashi explains. "They seemed to have poisoned him. He isn't waking, no matter my efforts."

"You found them celebrating?" Sukichu questions.

"Over an obvious sneak attack, the fools! Had they continued in their mission instead, they might have been able to get to the meeting in time!"

"How do you know it wasn't a fight? What makes you think it was a sneak attack?" she gives a confused look. Jcoss stands silent the whole time.

"Foul play is the only possible conclusion! Eruner should have easily taken these weaklings out!"

"Calm down, Sir Tadashi, I understand. Good job in taking out the assailants."

"Of course."

"If you don't mind, we'd like to take Eruner back with us so we can treat him. We have the finest doctors around, considering he doesn't trust most mages. We'll allow you to pick one of our dragons to escort you back."

"That shouldn't be a problem. Just keep us updated on his condition." Tadashi walks downstairs and leaves.

"You get all that?" Jcoss asks, eyes appearing from the shadows.

"Yes, sir." A female voice sounds. "I'm more than sure he's lying."

"Xenx'i? When'd you get here?" Sukichu asks, a confused look on her face.

"Jcoss requested my assistance on his way back to the castle. I got here through his shadow."

"You can head back now. Give the Lady your report." Jcoss orders. The eyes close and she leaves.

"We heading back now?" Loopy asks. Drago has Eruner over his shoulder.

"Yes. Let's go."
___________________________

The group heads back to Bern and has Eruner treated properly for his injuries. He's put on life support and is only allowed certain visitors. In the bed next to him is a familiar red headed dragon...

"He was put on life support, huh?" Drago asks a blonde, black scaled dragon in a doctor's coat.

"Yep, he's in a coma from the pain, but his life signs are at least steady now. He was hell when you brought him in." the doctor replies. Drago sighs and looks to the red-head.

"What's the word on Spinal's recovery?"

The doctor looks to the red-head and flips to a page labeled Spinal. "He should actually be out by the end of this month. He's super tough!"

"I'll never get used to a doctor speaking that way, even if it's you, Itsuki." he slaps his palm onto his forehead.

"Well, whatever. Shut up and get out already. I got other patients to tend to."

Drago and Itsuki shake hands, then the former walks outside, rolls up the sleeves on his green & black jacket and meets up with Loopy and two more dragons. A boy and girl with white and blonde hair respectively wearing a yellow & black jacket with red cargo pants and a black jacket with a rainbow skirt. Loopy is wearing an untucked pink blouse with white jeans.

"When'd the twins get here?" Drago asks, high-5ing the dude.

"Dark and Maka got here just now. Krill and Cast said they were on there way to the cafe if you wanna head over." Loopy suggests. "It could help us get our minds off what's happening."

"And you freaking need it!" Dark speaks up. "You're acting so uncool right now, it's making me sick. Hahaha!" He gets hit over the head by Maka, who grabs him and Drago and starts dragging both of them there.

"You're both being uncool right now, so I'll drag you there myself!" she says annoyed. Loopy follows behind, giggling.
_____________________________________

They arrive at the cafe and meet up with Sir Krill and Madam Cast. Krill has a black fade and is wearing a blue shirt with an orange, sleeveless shirt on top of it, along with orange training pants and metal guards on his shoulders, elbows, knees and over his boots. Cast has a long, blonde ponytail and is wearing a pink shirt with a white cat (wearing a bow) on it and a long white skirt.

"Hello!" Cast greets as the dragons arrive. Krill is drinking from a mug, so he doesn't greet them right away.

"Hey, guys!" Maka greets back. "What's up?"

"Well, to get straight to the point, we want to spar." Krill says, his drink finished.

"You wanna fight here?" Drago questions.

"Of course not." the orange knight answers. "Let's take this to the courts!"

Loopy is staring at Cast's shirt with a look of want in her eyes. "Is something up?" she asks the awestruck dragon.

"I want your shirt." she replies. Cast puts her hand on the girl's head.

"That's adorable. How about this, Loops? I'll take you with me shopping next time you're in town!"

Loopy nods excitedly as Dark taps her shoulder to show Krill, Drago and Maka already walking towards their destination.

"Hey, wait up!" the girls yell.
_________________________________

"It seems things are about to become really fun!" says a black mage watching from across the street. He then disappears in a ball of chaos energy.
_________________________________

The group arrives at an enormous purple multiplex and walk in and up to the counter to sign up for a room. The receptionist greets them in a welcoming tone.

"Welcome to Our Gospel Courts, where we fulfill all your recreational needs! From Art & Crafts to Martial Arts, if you wanna try it, we'll help you out! How can I help you today?"

"Hello, we'd like to rent out the large combat room." Krill says, handing her a card.

"Oh, I see you're a premium member! Usually, we have someone come down and show you to your room, but you seem to have a long history with us, so you probably already know your way around one of these places." She hands him back his card.

"Yup! And here's the payment. Don't worry, I already know how much it is." he says, handing her 94 bits.

"Thank you for your patronage." he gives a salute, then leads everyone to the back. They arrive at a set of double doors and walk inside to find a large, white room.

"Now, let's decide teams." Krill says, holding out his fist. "Janken!"
__________________________________

Jcoss and Sukichu arrive in their leader's chamber to plan peace negotiations in order to avoid possible war with Magnolia. They speak with their current Bahamut, known simply as "The Lady." The brown haired, peach scaled dragon is listening to one of her loyal Fangs.

"I apologize for actions, milady." Sukichu begins. "I let my temper get the better of me and made the Kingdom of Bern, and thus you, look unreasonable and quick to anger. I'll accept any punishment you bestow upon me."

"Stand up, Suki." she orders with an emotionless face. Sukichu does so. "Come over here."

Sukichu walks up to the throne with a distraught look on her face. The Lady stands up, stares her in the eyes, then cracks a smile and runs her hand through the sapphire dragon's hair wildly. Right as she reaches up to fix her hair, she gets a big hug from her leader."This isn't like you. Relax a little. I'll go speak with Kanoke and have him smooth things out with Morgana. Everything will be alright." she explains.

"But, I almost caused a war!" Sukichu begins, tearing up.

"Girl, I almost caused 3 wars before lunch! You just have to know how to calm angry politicians down. It's usually Morgana, so I'll just have Sir Pac calm her down. Ever since he retired, she's eased up quite a bit. So relax already!" She wipes her eyes and bows in thanks to her.

"And on the other matter?" Jcoss asks, finally speaking up.

"I'm not sure about Negative's motives, but have Xenx'i send a message to Saber. They may have a traitor in their mists."

"Yes, milady." He bows and leaves.
_______________________________

"This is so unfair!" Dark yells, with Loopy and Krill at his side.

"You won at Rock, Paper, Scissors, so you got to pick first! What're you complaining about?" Drago yells back with Cast and Maka at his side.

"Whatever! Let's go already!"

"Everyone ready?" a girl sounds out through an intercom. "3! 2! 1! Start!"
________________________________

 

[Drago]

Spoiler: Chapter 4

Let the Games begin!

"3,2,1, start!"

Krill pulls out his claymore and clashes with Drago in the center of the room, who swipes his sword away every swing, but can't seem to get a hit in. In fact, he felt more and more sluggish as he swiped the attacks to the side. There seemed to be a light coming from the hilt...

"I can't let that blade touch me!" Drago thinks as he parries another blow.

"I was right. He doesn't know this is a different blade." Krill confirms in his thoughts. "He wouldn't be touching it at all if he knew."

While this is going on, Dark is breathing a shining aura onto Loopy and Maka is forming a multi-colored barrier in front of her and Cast with her hands. Cast, who changed into her white and pink armor, pulls out a white, cat claw chain and hits Drago in the back with it.

"Drago, my holy chain has connected with you! We're now linked, so his blade shouldn't affect you anymore!" Madam Cast informs.

"Wait, what?" Ridley asks, blocking a blow. He seemed to regain his composure. "This isn't your Kienzan?"

Krill shakes his head as he pulls back and jumps over the young dragon to strike Cast. "This blade is called the Solar Flare!" His blade strikes the barrier and he's launched backwards. He's caught by Loopy and covered in a black aura by Dark. Loopy charges Drago during this, but stops in front of him.

"You sure you want to do this?" she asks him. Drago shrugs.

"It's just for fun, right?" he responds, smiling.

Another chain hits him in the head and yanks him back.

"Don't worry! You won't have to fight because I'll do it for you!" Cast announces, now in apparent control of his body. Working her hands like a puppeteer, Drago throws punch and kick at his friend, who flies up to avoid making contact with him.

"Hey! What're you doing?!" Dark yells at her from below. "Just let him hit you!"

"But..." she starts to argue.

"You know you'll be fine!"

Maka whispers into Cast's ear and she redirects Drago at Dark instead of Loopy. Krill jumps in the way and right as the young dragon's fist connects, a black cloud releases from his body and he falls back, smoking.

"Why does this keep happening to me? Hahahahaha!" he thinks, laughing internally.

"Drago!" Loopy screams as she flies towards him.

"Loopy!" Dark yells. She stops mid-flight and looks at him. "He'll be fine! Now, focus on the battle!"

"......yeah, understood." she says firmly. "They know our strategy though, so I can't strike them now."
___________________

"That was an interesting development." The Black Magician, Negative says with a smirk.

He's watching the fight from the arena's broadcast screen. The Courts put up cameras around the room in case of foul play on the part of the combatants. The security team feed out the video in the lobby in for the pleasure of those waiting to be served. The footage is delayed by 7 seconds in order to give them time to stop feedback should anything drastic happen.
___________________

Loopy develops a white aura and the room is covered in magic symbols, growing colder.

"Damn it, bro. Why'd you have to make her angry?" Maka thinks, looking around the room. She looks towards her brother...who's sticking his tongue out at her. ;P

"Suck it!" he yells before laughing hysterically.

"You jerk!"

"You really should learn to stay quiet..." says Drago as he appears behind Dark. The snow covers everyone's sight and a thud is heard.

"Knock out!" an announcement states. "Teams are 3-2!"
___________________

"If he was that fast, why didn't he attack me at the bastion?" Negative whispers to himself. "I'll have to keep a close eye on these guys. Things could very interesting."
___________________

"I forgot they announce when someone is out!" Krill thought, noticing his aura fade away. "I should have been ready when they didn't point out Drago!" A light shines through the room as he prepares his blade. "I won't make that mistake a second time."

"I see it now." a voice in the storm says as a chain breaks. "Cast isn't boosting him anymore!"

"Good job! I'll handle it from here!"

Sir Krill dashes through the storm at where the girls were, noticing that they haven't moved since the start. The light from his sword reveals a crystal like wall between him and his targets, so he stops and charges energy into his gauntlets. A small yelp is heard and two thuds sound through the room.

"Turtle Destruction Wave!"

The energy is launched into a beam that ripples like the ocean tides and strikes the wall. It swirls into an energy maelstrom and disperses back at the source of the attack, though it's dodged by the orange knight.

"I figured as much. Loopy, I'm gonna cut open that wall! When I do, fly in and take out the source!"

"I'm k-kind of b-busy right now!" the snow dragon answers, flustered.

"Bring Drago over here and I'll deal with him!"

He holds out his sword and it changes places with another, noticeably sharper, claymore. He then cuts into the wall, creating an opening in it that would fit one person. Loopy flies by, red in the face, and flies into the opening before it closes. Drago walks up shortly afterwards with what appeared to be...swirls...in his eyes. @_@

"You wanted my Kienzan, you got it!"

"What? Oh yeah, sure." Drago answers, mind clearly elsewhere.

The emerald dragon uses his speed to try and avoid touching the deadly blade. He did not want to be caught on the business end of that sword. Krill knows he has his opponent on the ropes and keeps up the pace, hoping to graze his shoulder or leg. This wasn't a fight to the death. Drago finally sees an opening and puts a palm into his adversary's stomach, sending him back into the wall. However, when he reaches it, he keeps going.

"Knock out!" comes the annoucement, much to Krill's relief. "Teams are tied at 2-2!"

Loopy ends the snowstorm and Maka is seen teleporting out of the room with the smiling dragon above her.

"Got you, Maka!" she says grinning widely.

"Great! Now we're even!" Krill states excitedly.

"Not for long!" Drago yells, charging the knight.

However, Sir Krill is ready for this. He brings his blade back up, cutting through the floor like a hot knife through butter. His opponent's speed was no mystery to him, but that also meant less control during a full sprint. The dragon would see his sword come up, try to stop and run right into it, grazing either leg, immobilizing him. Then he would give him a simple chop to the neck to end it. Loopy sees the chain going towards his opponent that he was too deep in thought to notice. She flies towards the female knight in order to stop it, but the small boost to his abilities is just what the dragon needs to get to Krill before his blade comes all the way up.

"Whoa!" Krill yells in surprise as Drago punches him across the jaw, knocking him out with his now boosted strength. Krill teleports away.

"Knock out!" there it is..."Teams are-Knock out!" the announcement states again quickly as Drago looks over to see Cast frozen from the neck down. "Teams are 1-1! Next K.O. wins!"

As Cast teleports away, her ability boosting chain does as well.

"I guess we finally get to see who's stronger." Drago points out, crossing his arms.

"I guess so..." Loopy responds halfheartedly. "We're alone in here and that's all he can say? Is winning all he cares about?"
__________________________

In the waiting room...

"Come on, Loopy, you got this!" Dark yells at the TV monitor in front of them.

"Would you shut up?" Maka says, annoyed.

"What? I can't root for my teammate?"

"She can't hear you anyway! You're acting so uncool right now!"

"What'd you say?!"

"Guys, can you keep it down? We're trying to watch the end." Krill says, sitting next to a blanket wrapped Cast.

"Yeah, let's see this epic finale!" Both of them agree.
___________________________

"This isn't nearly as interesting now. No need to stay here any longer." says the mage as he disappears in his usual fashion. "I hope y'all are ready for what comes next! GYAHAhahaha......!"
___________________________

"So, are you coming at me or what?" Loopy asks, agitated.

"..." Drago stands silently with his eyes closed.

"You're starting to freak me out. What's going on?"

He raise his hand and opens his eyes. "I forfeit."
___________________________


A/N: No Internet for over a week? Better write the next chapter to my story! Among other things...Sorry for the anticlimactic ending, but I felt it necessary to bug my readers. Because I love you guys.

 

[Drago]

Spoiler: Chapter 5

Early wake up? Late arrival!

"...." Everyone in the recovery room just sat there, staring at the screen in disbelief. Had that really just happened?
_______________________

Citizens in the lobby were staring silently at the screen when Drago forfeited. Even those who had made bets couldn't comprehend their win or loss right away.

Then it hit everyone at once.

"This is complete garbage!" one man yells. He throws his phone across the room in frustration.

"Maybe for you. I just won a ton a bits off that! Thank you, Green Guy!" Another one cheers, gathering his winnings.

"You're not the only one!" cheers a cloaked woman. "I bet that female dragon would be the only one left!" She has her winnings transferred from a guy who bet on Sir Krill.

"He has a weapon that cuts through anything! How did he lose?!" cries the mage who lost.
________________________

Drago teleports out of the room and Loopy just stands there contemplating what had just happened.

"I don't get him. First, he wants to fight, then he immediately forfeits?" she thinks to herself as the announcement comes.

"Forfeit! Team Sunburst is out of fighters! Team Mirror Force wins!"

The doors open and Loopy leaves the room.
________________________

"Why did you just give up?!" scolds Maka. Drago scratches the back of his head and smiles. "How can you be happy right now? We just lost thanks to you!"

"I suppose you're right!" Drago agrees, smiling.

"Alright, sis." Dark interrupts. "Pay up."

Drago, Cast and Krill all give confused looks as Maka pulls some money out of her purse and hands to her brother with an irritated look.

"Hahaha! Oh yeah! Thanks Drago!"

"You're welcome?" The confused dragon answers.

"Holy crap, why haven't you bandaged yourself up yet?" lectures a worried Loopy as she walks in and ignores Dark's apparent bragging. Drago, assuming she's talking to him, looks down and notices that his hands are bleeding. He looks back up and chuckles a little.

"I guess I forgot?" He says, preparing for a lecture.

"I'll do it then." she says, catching him off guard. She grabs his arm and pulls him into the first aid room. She shuts the door and locks it.

"What's with those two?" Cast asks out loud to no one in particular.

"They've known each other a long time." Krill answers. "Even longer than we've known each other." Cast is a bit shocked to hear this.

"They must have met pretty early then, considering we're two years older and met as squires." She takes off the blanket and puts it over the chair.

"Considerably early." Krill confirms. "Their group met before they started developing scales."

"Group?"

"Those two, Drago's sister Kat and Spinal. There was one other, but I don't recall who. I don't know how they met that early. The siblings make sense, but all I know about those two is that King Saber shows interest in them."

"I can kind of see why. How are a dragon and a mage siblings?" Krill stands up and starts checking his armor for damage before speaking back up.

"Beats me. But anything is possible to me since seeing you tame a tiger those years ago."

"You had to tame a rhino though."

"You did with your bare hands! And used 'I know a lot about cats.' as your reasoning!"

"What? I'm kind of a dork about all things cat-related. You should know that by now. Even my weapons are cat claws and a Cat O'Nine Tails."

"That's true. But still..."

"Stop being such a baby!" Loopy scolds from the other room. Everyone looks over at the door.

"I can't help it! It really stings!" whines Drago.

"It would hurt less if you just let me put on the ointment all at once!"

"But you're taking so long to do it!"

"Cause you keep moving!"

The two knights and the twins, who finally stopped arguing, put their ears up against the door in anticipation.
______________________

Drago is staring at his bandaged up hands and Loopy puts away the supplies.

"Hey..." she asks, causing him to look up.

"Yes?" She closes the cabinet, but stays facing the wall.

"Why'd you forfeit? You seemed so anxious to fight seconds beforehand..."

"Oh. I actually didn't want to fight you at all. Never did. I told myself before the match that I would sooner stop fighting than even think about swinging at you."

Loopy's face reddens and she smiles a bit.

"Oh?~ And why is that?" she says, turning around, finding Drago had already left the room. "What the?"
______________________

Drago is standing over the group, who fell over when he opened the door mid-conversation, with an irritated look on his face.

"And what were you guys doing just now?"

Maka stands up first to answer. "You two were in there an awful long time, then we heard you yelling. We grew concerned. Right guys?"

Everyone else just nods and stands up quickly.

"I'm sure." Drago walks out of the room and to the front of the center. Loopy sees him walk out and looks to the others, annoyed.

"You were listening in on us, weren't you?!" she yells, causing them to jump a bit.

"As I just explained to Draggie, we-" Maka starts before getting cut off by Loopy grabbing her face.

"...you're buying lunch."

She lets go of the girl before walking out front. Dark and Cast start laughing to themselves before following her out. Krill puts a hand on her shoulder, laughing a bit, then does the same.

"S-sure, no problem."
_______________________

When they reach the front lobby, they find some random civilians yelling at Drago and others thanking him for the match.

"Yo, jerkwad! Thanks for losing me 3 stacks!"

"I'm cool with it! Keep up the good work!"

"I only came for the match, so you ruined my day!"

"Shove off! It's not his job to entertain you!"

Suddenly, a blinding light fills the room and Drago is yanked out the front door.
_______________________

The sun still high in the sky, they stop somewhere to eat where, to her misfortune, Maka was paying for Loopy's meal.

"Did you have to order the most expensive thing just to spite me?" she asks, crying at her bill.

"I know someone who not only listened in on a private conversation, but tried covering up for the others who did, isn't trying to lecture me on morals." she replied, cutting a steak. "Besides, I'm sharing it with Drago since he can't use his hands."

"Sure that's why." Maka says with her eyebrows bouncing.

Loopy and Drago turn red and look away. "I just don't want him to injure himself further is all!"

He turns back around and she shakily feeds a piece it to him.

"So that's how you two are now? Took long enough." a voice announces from the near the entrance. They look over and see a familiar black dragon walking towards them. He was with a female dragon with navy blue scales and black hair.

"Spinal!" Drago and Loopy both jump out of their chairs and run to their friend.

"Oh, this guy." Dark says, clearly annoyed.

"I thought you weren't getting out until the end of the month?" asks Drago.

"Doc said I could leave early. My recovery was that astounding." he answers, rubbing his nose.

"You're as modest as ever." points out the girl next to him.

"And Yami! It's so nice to see you not working for once!" Loopy cheers, grabbing the girl's hands.

"Yami?" Cast asks, having never met her before.

"I go by Xenx'i during missions. You may have heard that name or my title before." Yami explains.

"Your title?"

"Yes. I'm a Wing Class dragon known for my abilities to manipulate the shadows of others."

"So, you're a darkness elemental?" Cast asks with a suddenly serious look in her eyes.

"That is correct. Why do you ask?"

Before she could answer, a chair from an outside table got thrown through the window at them. Spinal grabbed it before it hit anyone and placed it on the ground. They looked out the window to see a Royal who usually stays by Negative's side.

"I remember him. He'll wish I didn't." Spinal says before walking outside to greet the knight.

"Whoa!" Drago catches up to Spinal to try and prevent a fight.

"Wait up!" Loopy yells, dragging Yami with her. Maka talks to the restaurant owner and Dark puts up a barrier around the area where the 4 dragons and the knight are to prevent collateral damage.

"What's with you guys?" Spinal asks. "I'll take him out myself."

"You just got out of the hospital!" Loopy replies before pointing to Drago. "And you can't use your hands!"

"And neither of you have eaten yet." Yami adds in. "Spinal and I will take him."

"I'm not here to fight..." Freak says, crossing his arms, revealing a rosary on each gauntlet.

"So the chair through the window was?" Yami asks.

"An invitation. My master requests an audience with you."

"And what exactly prevented you from walking in and asking?" Drago asks.

"I'm not answering a filthy mutt." Freak says, not even looking over.

"Then I'll ask again, tomato sucker."

Freak draws his sword, shaped like a tuning fork and aims it at his aggressor. Spinal claps his hands together, but before either could do anything, a vortex appears under Freak and he falls through it, disappearing.
___________________________

"I know this magic..." Freak thinks this as the portal hole closes and he falls out the other side.

"So it seems Negative has no interest in helping me devour those lizards..." a voice says from all around him. He can't tell where the source is, but the sounds of licking lips are heard. It's complete darkness in this area, he knows not how large. He would use sonar, but then he can't keep track of the voice.

"Show yourself, witch!" he yells into his sword, amplifying the sound. He doesn't have time for sonar, but a sonic boom might drop the illusion on him.

"I can't let an ally that beneficial do nothing, so I'll just have to convince him." says the voice, ignoring his words.

"She must not be in the room..." he thinks as he sheathes his blade. It will do him no good here. "Then where?"

He feels a hand grab his shoulder and another rip off his helmet. He goes for an elbow and makes contact, but an explosion happens and throws him to the ground.

"I guess you'll have to do for now." the voice says again before biting him in the neck.
_____________________

A/N: That's it! Not sure how this cliffhanger thing works, but I like it!
Cast's identity is revealed and I sort of show what Yami looks like! XD
I'm gonna bring in a few more members next chapter, but only one dragon since I've already shown a LOT of us.

 

[Drago]

Spoiler: Chapter 6

Bite of the Vampire! Power of the Lords!

After the events that had transpired today, Drago is heading home with Loopy and Spinal with him.

Previously...

"Where'd he go?!" a confused and angry Spinal yells.

"Looked like he got sucked into a void." Yami points out.

"Then it must have been Fullblue." Loopy states. "Suki told me what her powers are like."

"The Representative of Magnolia?" Drago thinks out loud. "Why would she be in Bern?"

"Who knows, but whatever the reason is, she took care of Freak for us."

"We should go find her and ask why." Yami suggests.

"Agreed. What does she look like?" Spinal asks. Drago and Loopy look at one another, then look back and shrug. "You were at the meeting, right? Then you should have seen what she looks like."

"She was late to the meeting and teleported to the inside of the building. Then, she teleported back home after a conflict happened." Drago states. "Kat was filling in for her until she arrived."

"In other words, we never got to see her face." Loopy adds.

"Kat was there?" Spinal asks.

"Don't even think about it." Drago says, cutting him off. "I will put you back in the hospital."

"You can try." Spinal smirks at him. Drago smirks back and lifts his arms. Before they're even halfway up though, Loopy punches him over the head.

"I just bandaged you up! You are NOT getting hurt again!" she lectures.

"Well, if we don't know what the mage looks like, then there's nothing we can do for now." Yami points out. "I say we cool down and continue our day like we were originally going to do."

Then and there, the twins walk up to the group.

"Well, the restaurant owner is pissed." Dark states. "Luckily, there wasn't that much damage. Krill and Cast are helping with the repairs right now."

"Because of us." Maka points out. "And he was so grateful that we prevented any further damage to his business that our meal is on the house!" She jumps up and down in joy at this fact and Drago walks back into the restaurant. Loopy walks up to her and grabs her face.

"Which means you still owe me lunch." she reminds her before following Drago inside.

"Seriously?!" she asks, saddened. She chases after them. Dark, Yami and Spinal walk inside as well.

...flashback over.

"It was nice of you to invite us over." Loopy says.

"It's my pleasure. Besides, I can't cook with bandaged hands." Drago states, chuckling.

Loopy's face -> >:T

"Why'd you invite me? I hate being a 3rd wheel." Spinal asks. "Especially in my own damn house."

"We're celebrating your recovery. Be kind of hard to do that without you here." Drago reminds him. "Besides, Yami said she'd be coming too, so stop complaining."

They arrive at Drago's house to find Yami waiting by the door.

"Cool! You're already here." Drago says with a smile. She doesn't reply and steps away from the door. Drago opens it and is instantly tackled to the ground by a white wolf puppy. "Oof! Hey, Gregia!~ Loopy, some help?"

"Sure." she replies, picking the puppy up. "Hello, babby! You miss momma?"

She walks inside, hugging the puppy to her chest. Spinal and Yami had already made their way in and were sitting respectively on the recliner and couch. Drago walks inside and closes the door, unaware of the rift opening up a block away from his house.
________________

Drago and Loopy are in the kitchen, baking a cake. The former instructs the latter on how to do it and she adds her own touches here and there. Yami is reading on the couch and the guest of honor is playing with the puppy while he waits on them. After a little bit, they sit down, eat some cake and watch a horror movie.

"This part is awesome." Spinal says, excited.

"Don't spoil it for me!" Loopy yells, squeezing the puppy in her lap.

"Feel free to tell me though." Drago says before covering Loopy's ears, who looks grumpy.

"Everyone dies." Yami says. "Like every other horror movie."

"It's not that simple!" Spinal retorts. "Cabin in the Woods has a far better plot than most horror movies."

"It's the same thing. It just does it a slightly different way than most movies." Yami says back.

"You're just being stubborn!" Spinal yells.

"And you're being too emotional." Yami says back.

Right as Drago tries to stop the argument, he hears something from outside. He walks out and is immediately blasted back by a sound wave. Yami runs to check on him while Spinal runs outside to see who did it. Loopy takes Gregia upstairs and puts him in a safe place before coming back down to help.

"Show yourself, Freak! I know it's you out there!" Spinal demands.

The knight steps out of the shadows and reveals himself, his eyes glowing an eerie yellow. He's already holding his signature tuning fork shaped blade, known as the Vampire's Bite.

"You're not being your usual chatty self. Whatever that mage did to you, you'll be sorry you came back here! Carbon Reformation!" Spinal yells.

The black dragon claps his hands and slaps his chest. His body and face change to a deep black color with 2 red lines going vertically from his head to feet and branching off to his wrists. He then punches the ground, creating stone pillars out of the earth below that fly at the knight in front of him.

"..."

Freak swings his blade, breaking the pillars to find Spinal no longer there. His expression doesn't change as he gets punched in the side of the head and sent flying. He crashes into a pile of crates outside of a bar.

"Get up, get up! I ain't done yet!" Spinal taunts, bouncing back & forth on his toes.

Suddenly, he feels stunned and can't move. The crates get knocked aside to show Freak's blade in the ground.

"Sound travels fastest through solid objects..." he explains as he's getting up. "I know of your Ultimate Shield, but know that it's useless against me."

Freak runs up to slash Spinal, who regains enough movement to sidestep the knight's blade as he swings. Without swinging again, Freak yells into his sword, creating a sonic boom and knocking Spinal into a nearby alley. The black dragon quickly jumps up, unscathed, but gets met with stab to his arm by the sound blade. It doesn't seem to pierce, but appearances are deceiving.

"Argh! What the hell is going on?" Spinal questions, unable to move.

"Did you not wonder why my blade is called the Vampire's Bite?" Freak asks. "When I stab my enemies with it, they're paralyzed while I drain their energy. Your armor may be sturdy, but it allows free access to my sound based weapon."

"Damn! I need to get out of this thing's reach! But how?"

Freak falls backwards and his sword is ripped out of Spinal's arm. The dragon looks down to see Yami coming out of Freak's shadow, holding onto his legs. Drago comes up from behind and ax-kicks the knight in the stomach, then flipping back up to a standing position.

"Sucker punch me, will you?!" the emerald dragon shouts, clearly still angry.

"I can't move..." Spinal says, kneeling on the ground.

"We'll handle this!"

"Will you now?" the knight interrupts before slamming his blade into Drago's leg.

The sound from the blade hits the young dragon's ears and makes him drops to the ground, gripping them tightly. He then slams his blade into the ground, creating a shock wave that slams Yami into a wall. He stands up and looks down at his opponents.

"Is this the best you lizards can do?" he taunts.

The area starts to get colder and he turns around to find the last dragon with glowing white eyes. He goes into a stance, but finds himself unable to move. He's frozen from the waist down with a magic circle beneath him.

"I won't let you continue!" Loopy exclaims.

"That's not your choice to make..." Freak retorts. "I can easily shatter your ice."

He lifts his sword up, but before he can swing it down, he finds his arms frozen in place. He then notices the magic circles to his right and left on the walls.

"Then I'll keep you from using that thing. I guess you didn't know I was here, huh? Otherwise, you wouldn't have given me so much time to set up my trap. I guess if you did come after me though, that would have meant giving one of the others a lot of time. You just made the wrong choice..."

She lifts her hand, finishing the freezing process.

"It's done."

She walks past him and to the others when the area starts to heat back up. She turns around to find a a large man in white and purple armor with spiked shoulder pieces and twin horn ornaments facing backwards. He has a large sapphire in the center of his forehead protector. Too stunned to move, Drago runs up, grabs her and jumps back before anything could happen to her.

"Why are you attacking one of my knights?" the man asks.

"He attacked us first!" Spinal yells out.

"Did he now? I'd like to hear his side of the story first."

The man pulls a sword out that glows like the surface of the sun, causing the ice to melt and Freak to fall onto one knee. Spinal's armor crumbles away and Yami is forced out of her shadow form. He sheathes his sword and Freak turns around.

"Lord Cool! I don't have time for this!" Freak yells as he swings his blade.

The man known as Cool grabs the blade with his index finger and keeps Freak from even budging it. Freak then yells into it, but no sound comes out. Everyone gains a shocked look from this, including the young knight, himself.

"You can't have sound without vibrations. Tell me why you attacked these dragons." he requests.

Everyone lost color from their faces. Had this man really just stopped sound itself with brute force alone? And his blade shut down all of their abilities by just being slightly unsheathed. Why was he so powerful? A look of realization hits Yami's face.

"Wait, did he say 'Lord' Cool? As in, the rank, Lord?" she asks, frightened.

"Yeah, why?" Drago asks.

"Well, you know how there are different ranks in the Royal Army? Once you get Knight, you gain a title. Sir Krill, the Honorable and Madam Cast of the Holy Light are both examples of this. However, at that point, you begin 'special' training." she explains.

"What do you mean by special?" Spinal asks.

"Once you reach Knight level, you can choose to work on defeating certain opponents..."

Dragon Slayer: These knights specialize in taking down dragons or those with Draconic abilities. They practice techniques that affect their surrounding areas and attack our heightened senses. An image of Sir Freak and Sir Tadashi appears.

Witch Hunter: Those that practice hunting mages or anyone with immense magical ability fall into this category. They practice anti-magic techniques and wield weapons made of Mythril, which absorbs and redirects magic. A stranger wearing blue armor with a yellow trim and a blue cape jumps down from the rooftop and walks up to the other two knights.

Lords: The most powerful of the Royal Army by far, though they're few in number. You have to master Witch Hunting and Dragon Slaying training in order to be considered. These warriors must also forge their own weapon to use and bind their soul to it. Their blades are unbreakable and their will, immovable. She looks to Lord Cool, who is now holding Freak up by his shoulder with his helmet in his other hand, showing that Freak has brown hair and pale skin.

"Lord Cool, I believe there's foul play involved here." the blue knight states. "His eyes are glowing and he appears to have bite marks on his neck."

"I see. I'll leave it to you then, Sir Aaron." the Lord replied.

"Thank you."

The Blue knight known as Sir Aaron of the Breathing Aura touched the wound, then closed his eyes. When he reopened them, he could see the energy of the Dragon Slayer and found the source of the magic he was looking for. He pulled out his mythril rapier and touched the knight's right temple with it. It absorbed a yellow energy that he then destroyed. Freak's eyes stopped glowing and he grabbed his head.

"Ugh...what happened?" the young vampire asks.

"You appear to have had your mind altered by some type of magic. Do you remember anything?" Aaron asks. He shakes his head.

"Nothing."

"We'll take you home and have you checked out. No one attacks one of ours and gets away with it!" Lord Cool exclaims. Freak and Aaron stare in awe.

"So, that's what your name means!" Freak realizes, excited to meet a lord.

"Lord Cool, the Devout! No matter how low or high you're ranked, he treats you the same. He truly is devoted to his kingdom and its people." Aaron explains, also in awe.

"I'm not that great. You guys do more than I do." he says laughing. "Let's get back to Camelot!"

He hands Freak his helmet back and wraps his arms around both of them. They start walking towards the train station. Loopy and Yami look a little weirded out. Drago and Spinal have straight faces before looking to each other.

"Bro, did you just see that? Spinal asks.

"Yup." Drago replies.

"...that was awesome!" they both exclaim. "That Cool Guy has an amazing weapon! Even if he is a bit corny."

Yami facepalms and Loopy gives a half smile with a sweatdrop on her forehead. Loopy then gains a look of realization and grabs Drago.

"You weren't supposed to be fighting!" she scolds.

"I had to help them out!" he yells back.

"You didn't do anything!"

"Y-yeah, I did!"

"What'd you do?"

"I kicked Freak in the stomach after Yami grabbed him!"

"..." She gives him a stupid look. "I'm taking Gregia home."

"What?! He's my dog!"

"Our dog and he's coming with momma."

"Damn it!" _______________________________


A/N: And that's how this one ends. Feels weird, not ending it on a cliff hanger. XD
Introduced 2 (technically 3) new characters in this and explained the Royal's system.

 

[Drago]

Spoiler: Chapter 7

Peaceful times? Gathering of the Strongest!

In the gathering hall of the Lady's castle known as the Dragon's Den, she's holding a dinner meeting with her Fangs and their right hands. It's been a few days since the incident with Freak and everyone has recovered. They're sitting at a large dining table with mostly empty seats. Jcoss and Suki sit in front, on her left and right side respectively with Drago and Loopy next to them. On the left, there's a black haired, red-eyed dragon with gold scales and an eye-patch with Spinal next to him. Past Suki is a silver-haired (long) dragon with black scales and green eyes, though closed at the moment. Yami is next to him. Maka and Dark are sitting across from each other as their Fangs were on a mission. A blonde haired dragon with white scales is standing next to the Lady. She opens her blue eyes and smiles to the ones at the table.

"I believe everyone is here, Madam Bahamut." she points out to the dragon in charge.

"It would seem so, Luxtra. Thank you." she replies. "Let us begin."

Jcoss bonks Drago over the head and Suki grabs Loopy's cheek as they were making funny faces at each other and the twins until that point.

"How are repairs going so far?" the Lady asks the gold dragon.

"Repairs are already completed, madam." he replied.

"Excellent. And the energy that controlled our would be attacker?"

"We just received word back from Camelot's R&D Department, so we'll know by the end of the day just what type of magic it was, then who's it was."

"Impressive." Suki praises out loud. She's hugging Loopy, who's rubbing her sore cheek.

"It's nothing for me. They don't call me the professor for nothing." he replies, rubbing his nose.

"Pfft, more like nerd." Spinal states, chuckling.

"And you're a nerd's assistant, so..." he replies with a smirk.

"That's enough." Jcoss interrupts. "The leader of each division picked a subordinate to be their right hand man and disciple. We spend more time with this youngling than any other dragon, training and teaching them to take over our position one day. Because of these reasons making them so important to us, they are referred to as our 'Treasures.' You'll be spending a lot of time with him, so do try to get along."

"At least I picked mine because of his merits in my field. I'm the head of R&D, so I picked an Alchemy nut to be my assistant. Sukichu is our Ambassador, so she picked someone who gets along with people easily as hers. You're the head of the Stealth Division, yet picked a loud-mouthed fighter instead of someone with abilities in that field, like Yami. Luckily, rather than let her skills go to waste, General Masamune picked her as his lieutenant, though Drago would be better suited for direct combat." the professor argued.

"You should trust me more, Kisuke. Drago, his ID if you don't mind."

The emerald dragon pulled it out of his pocket and handed it over to his leader.

"When did he?" he asked, checking his wallet to find his ID missing.

"So, you do have two working eyes." Jcoss says out loud before Kisuke takes his card back.

"So, he does have SOME skill in stealth."

"Drago was a pickpocket for years and he's usually active at night. He has a great sense of smell and even better hearing than I do. I know how to do my job. His lineage is pretty impressive as well..."

"Are you boys done now?" the Lady asks, irritated.

"Yes, madam." Kisuke replies, bowing.

"My apologies." Jcoss replies, doing the same.

"I don't understand why you two can't get along, but figure it out. Even your Second in Commands get along great, so you have no excuse."

"Yes, madam." they say in unison.

"Anything to report, Sukichi?" she asks the sapphire dragon, who's still cuddled up with her assistant.

She lets go and pulls out some papers from her bag. She hands them to Luxtra, who reads over them briefly before handing them up to the Lady.

"We just received Lord Cool and Sir Aaron as guests, though they didn't stay for very long." Suki reports. "They handled the incident with Sir Freak, then went back to Camelot."

"How did your discussion with King Saber go?"

"Saber said she'd be sending someone to investigate, but it appears the traitor in question was being controlled by magic through both incidents."

"He seemed to be in control of himself when he was with Negative." Jcoss interjects.

"But Negative hasn't done anything to indicate that he wishes to attack Camelot. There's no reason for Freak or Saber to not trust him."

"That would still only be one incident then. Which was the other?" Masamune asks, speaking up.

"The attack on Eruner." Luxtra answers.

"Wasn't that done by hired mercs?" Spinal asks.

"Doubtful." Yami answers.

"What makes you say that?"

"The wound, itself." Maka states. She's the Treasure of Lio, who is in charge of the medical division. "The poison in Eruner's system is made for paralyzing, not killing."

"Why would an assassin bother with that?" Drago asks.

"Exactly. They wouldn't. This means that whoever attacked Eruner didn't want him dead, just out of the way for a while." Maka answers.

"But why?" Loopy asks.

"It might have been to keep him from joining a coming conflict." Drago suggests.

"That doesn't make any sense." Yami argues.

"It might not from your point of view or even my own, but it could make sense from whoever did it."

"But I don't see why someone would do that and claim they're helping someone. I'm not saying there wasn't foul play. Just that it might not have had good intentions behind it."

"Learn to see things from someone else's point of view and it might help you understand what they're trying to say." Masamune interrupts.

"I'm just saying..." she argued, crossing her arms.

"They're not saying their idea is absolutely what happened. Just that it's a possibility to consider."

Yami lays her chin on her arms, pouting while Masamune rubs the top of her head, smiling.

"Masamune, how're things going in your department?" the Lady asks.

"Exceedingly well, Madam. Sir Krill came by a few days ago and helped me forge my blade, the Katana I now call the One Winged Angel. He helped me teach our newest recruits close range combat techniques with their new weapons. It was a great help." he reported.

"Knowing Sir Krill, that's no surprise." she replies.

She looks over her schedule for the meeting before her head perks up.

"We haven't eaten yet, have we?" she asks, prompting everyone to either grab their stomachs or shake their heads. "Well, that answers what we're doing next."

Some chefs come inside after a while and serve food to everyone at the meeting. Drago, Spinal and Dark are having an eating contest to see who can finish the fastest. Sukichu, Loopy, Maka and Lux are trying to keep their food down watching them, before turning to see the Lady join them in their contest. Jcoss and Kisuke are silently eating their meals while lightning sparks between them. It's an incredibly calm sight. Especially compared to the gatherings of Knights and Mages...
___________________________

The mage known as Negative walks down a hall filled with portraits of great wizards from the past and present, including a familiar looking one with white and blue robes surrounded by golden rings.

"Am I late?" he asks, entering a chamber with floating runes and and magical symbols which seem to serve no purpose other than decoration.

"Aren't you always?" asks an annoyed mage wearing a purple robe over a red dress. "I swear, between you and Blue, I don't know how we ever get anything done."

"I'm sure he has a good reason to be late." a man wearing a white T-shirt and red/black cargo pants interrupts. "Right, Cero?"

"It's Negative now, and thank you, Kanoke." the mage replies.

"Right, right. Let's hear it, Neg."

"It seems my usual assistant is now hospitalized with Hypothermia. I went to visit him before coming to the meeting. If you would allow-" Negative starts.

"That's enough." interrupts Morgana, the mage from before.

Fullblue walks in at that time, yawning, and takes her seat next to Kanoke.

"Glad you could make it, though you're kind of the last one here." Kanoke points out, smiling.

"Really?" she asks with a slightly confused look on her face.

Around the room, sat multiple wizards, dressed up in their usual gear, including Negative glaring at her, Kat waving to her and Morgana giving an exhausted look. A wizard wearing brown and red robes with a tattoo on his neck speaks up.

"That's a pretty angry look, Neg. Almost like you wanna fight Blue right here and now." he taunts.

"That's enough, Shaara." Morgana scolds, causing him to put his hands up defensively.

"Whatever you say, boss."
___________________________

A green eyed blonde woman stares at herself in the mirror while another woman puts her hair in a circular bun before taking the mirror. The blonde stands up, compliments the woman on her work and begins putting on silver and blue armor. She straps a sword to her belt and walks downstairs to a huge courtroom like area. There are stands on either side of an elevated throne.

"Will everyone please rise. King Saber has arrived." Lord Cool announces from next to the throne.

The multitude of people on both sides of the huge throne room stand at attention as their leader makes her way in. She arrives at her throne and motions everyone to be seated.

"Any words on Sir Freak's recovery?" she asks Lord Cool.

"All of the controlling magic is out of his system, but he's still got some hypothermia. Normally, it'd be no matter since we have warming beds, but his physiology makes him slightly susceptible to cold weather." her highest ranking knight reports.

"How long before he'll be suitable for combat?"

"A week at the most. Do you plan to send him into combat?"

She shakes her head in response.

"No, but whoever did this will be coming back. We can't always reliably keep an eye on him, so I need him able to fend for himself. Speaking of which..."

She looks around the room before motioning a knight clad in sparkling prism armor to stand.

"Madam Ayu, have you discovered what type of magic it was?"

"Yes, my King. It appears to be puppet magic." she replies.

"I see. So the culprit had to be close by. He or she probably specializes in magic that masks their magical presence."

(There are different kinds of mind control magic which vary in range and efficiency. Puppet magic is a powerful type where the user can control what the target's actions and motives behind those actions. The victim believes they are doing what they wish to do, so their skills aren't hampered by this magic as most are. The flaw is that the user has to remain in an extremely close proximity to maintain control. Otherwise, the "strings" break, thus the namesake.)

"Sir Tadashi!" Lord Cool summons. The Starry knight stands up.

"Yes, my Lord!" he answers immediately.

"Have we heard back from the Magic Council?"

"Not yet, my Lord. They're still trying to ascertain who the manipulator was. Since it was such a complicated magic, we believe it will narrow their search greatly, though we've yet to contact them since finding out."

"Why not?!" a purple clad knight demands. "Two of our knights have been attacked in the last 10 days. We know one was attacked by a Magnolian and the other had only one witness still alive."

"Sir Lightning, please try to understand we simply can't contact them currently to update our situation. I'll be leaving as soon as I can, but I had to report to King Saber myself as Eruner is still hospitalized."

"You could have given me that information before we began as Madam Cast did." Lord Cool points out.

"I didn't wish to burden my Lord with something I could do myself."

"Reporting to the King on the status of her kingdom is my job. It is a burden I proudly bear."

"Then it is my error."

"You know what's amazing, Sir Tadashi?" Lightning asks. "You're in charge of communicating between foreign lands and our kingdom, so the lack of travel to Magnolia and thus, justice to Freak's assaulter is your error."

"And I rightfully accept it."

"However, the one witness to Eruner being struck down was you as well. You are involved in both of these."

"Are you accusing me of foul play?"

"No accusations. Keep bet-"

A slamming of a sheathed sword echos through the room, silencing it. All those standing took their seat and look towards its bearer. The King opens her eyes with a raging fire in them.

"Will you all please stop bickering like children? My head aches from your constant complaining..."

No words are spoken, a golden tint to the air.
___________________________

"That was amazing..." Drago sighs, patting his stomach.

"The chefs do good work." The Lady grins.

"What are our orders?" asks Jcoss.

"You and Drago will investigate Negative by entering his home and keeping an eye on him. Find out what he's planning and report back home. Dark will be joining you as soon as he finishes up his work back home." Luxtra replies, handing him a sheet of paper.

"We're heading to the Grey Lord's Mansion? That place is protected by ghosts and an extremely powerful undead beast!" Drago points out.

"Correct."

"Heck yeah! I haven't been there in a long time!" he cheers, jumping out of his chair.

"Let's move." Jcoss orders. He and his emerald scaled apprentice leave the hall.

"Sukichu and Loopy. You two are free for today. We'll summon you when we need you." The blonde dragon continues.

"Sweetness." the older dragon calmly celebrates.

"Cool, a day off!" the younger one cheers.

"Kisuke and Spinal, continue your research. Knowing what specific type of magic it was will make it far easier to track down the one responsible."

"I bet I know who it was..." Sukichu thinks to herself.

"Of course." the Professor replies. He leaves with Spinal not too far behind. The latter felt no need to say anything before leaving.

"General Masamune, you're to stay and continue training our troops. Yami, you're to escort Sir Krill and Madam Cast home safely." Luxtra briefs.

"Yes, ma'am." the General answers. Yami nodded her head, but didn't feel like talking. They left shortly afterwards.

"Maka, please head back to the hospital and help out Itsuki. Lio should be returning in a few days, so you're in charge until then." Luxtra finishes up.

"Yessum!" the twin happily replies before leaving.

"...and dismissed." she says, annoyed. Loopy and Sukichu get up and leave, hiding a laugh for the former and the latter sighing.

"They never stay to the end of the meeting." The Lady points out, laughing.

"And my stress builds..."
___________________________

A/N: And that's the end of this one. Lot of exposition, but necessary to avoid exposition heavy chapters in the future. A LOT of members show up in this one. Some really obvious, some not and a few downright confusing ones. Thanks for reading.

 

[Drago]

Spoiler: Chapter 8

Grey Lord's Mansion...Roar of the Undead Beast!

"You shouldn't have spoken to that thing." Jcoss scolds.

"He seemed so nice. Besides, he was outside the mansion, but not in the Overdell Cemetery, so I assumed he was friendly." Drago argues.

"How do you know it was a he? Or even intelligent? It didn't speak any language I understood."

"I dunno. Just got a feeling we were cool. Plus, it wasn't hard to figure out what he was saying. Body language speaks a lot."

"Let's just head inside..." The wind dragon says, gripping his tensed nose.

The stealth unit is currently on the premises of the dark mage, Negative. The building known as the Grey Lord's Mansion...
___________________________

"Fascinating. Absolutely fascinating!" The Grey Lord cheers following a discovery. "These beasts grow exponentially more powerful after being exposed to darkness. It's no wonder they guard the Overdell!"

(The Overdell Cemetery is a large graveyard that separates the Mansion from the Tropical Jungle just south of it. Due to massive chaotic energy in the region, a desert canyon, tropical zone and arctic area all surround the area the graveyard lies in.)

Looking at an extremely large metal door on the floor, there seems to be a dark aura rising from it.

"Soon, my pet. The world will know your strength once again." the ominous voice calmly says as a pair of sad, green eyes stare back at its master.
___________________________

"This is all your fault. You know that, right?" Jcoss says, phasing through a door.

"How? I'm not the one who said 'Leave the enemies to me, they use AIR abilities!' was I?" Drago yells back as he cuts his way through the same door.

"That monster wasn't in our reports! No earth based enemy should be immune to wind attacks!"

A humanoid, green Rock Monster smashes through the wall and chases them down the hall.

"Why aren't you dealing with it? Physically battling is your specialty!" Jcoss yells. He sends a blade of wind at the ceiling in front of the monster. The wood falls on top of it, but it comes out, unfazed.

"That's why! He justs blows through it like...nothing happened..." the emerald dragon states.

Jcoss smirks and grabs Drago's arm. They phase through the monster, who just keeps going down the hall, then around the corner.

"Good thinking." the silver leader praises.

"Nothing that resilient is paying attention to its target." Drago explains.

"If we were the target."

He grabs his Treasure and phases them through the wall as a bunch of ghosts wearing witches' hats float by on patrol.
___________________________

"I'm really starting to hate these lizards..." says the dark mage with an aura around his fist.
___________________________

"Yo, Jcoss, I smell...blood...rotten flesh." Drago says, covering his nose.

"Considering our location and how good your nose is, that could be coming from anywhere in this forsaken place." Jcoss points out. He leans over and finds a rotting steak on the ground. "Disgusting..."

They continue through the mansion, avoiding patrols that pass by periodically. They find the Rock Monster pacing back & forth in front of a large set of double doors.

"I'm gonna go on a limb and say that's where we need to go." the young dragon says jokingly.

"Same plan. If it worked one time, it'll work a second time. Attract its attention and bring it over here."

Drago nods, then runs over and trips the monster, causing it to fall through the floor due to its massive weight. Drago and Jcoss stare down in disbelief before the former puts his ear against the doors. Jcoss follows him and looks back down the hole to see the monster getting up.

"It's coming back." Jcoss points out as he grabs Drago and phases them through the door.

They find themselves in what appears to be the master bedroom, complete with a king-sized bed, two bookshelves and a rug that covered most of the floor.

"Whoa. Neg lives in style." the wolf-like dragon says in awe.

"Let's check around for any evidence of what he may be up to." Jcoss orders. He and Drago start ripping apart the bedroom and checking every book for details. Drago tries to flip the bed, but finds he can't. Wondering why, he checks the legs to find them attached to a track. Jcoss opens a book labelled 'Skull Destroyer: The Undead Dinosaur King' and begins reading through it.

"Yo, Jcoss! Check this out."
___________________________

A knock comes to the door of the Gathering Hall.

"Come in." The Bahamut orders. Spinal walks in with a nervous look on his face. "What did you wish to discuss with me?"

"Lady, we seem to have had a...slight lapse in intelligence. We read the findings from the last time Yami and Sir Aaron visited the mansion. We found a second magic source. The Royals knew about it and assumed we were told." The black dragon responds.

"Who is this second source?"

"The previous owner of Grey Lord's Mansion, the Grey Lord, herself."

Luxtra, who had been quiet until this point, gains a worried look on her face. The head of the Dragon Clan scowls and stands up. "Has Dark left yet?"

"Yes, Lady Bahamut. He left around 2 this afternoon." the white dragon answers.

"Please allow me to assist them." Spinal respectfully requests.

"Jcoss is there, so she should pose no threat. However, if both Vale and Negative are there, that could present a problem." The Lady ponders.

"...maybe not." Luxtra interrupts. Spinal looks up at her and their leader keeps thinking.
___________________________

"Is that Negative?" Drago asks.

They found a switch on the wall next to the bed that caused the tracks to move. They currently find themselves surrounded by computers, rock monsters in large tubes and an ominous growling bass. In front of them is a figure in a blue lab coat and an extremely tall red collar. She turns around and reveals her pale face and green eyes.

"No, Drago. It's nowhere near that bad." Jcoss responds, a smirk on his lips.

"Huh, who's that?" the young dragon asks.

"That, my notably canine friend, is the lovely Ms. Vale."

"The mage known as the Crazy Vampire?"

"You got it."

Dragi stares her down and droops his head to howl. Jcoss stops him from doing so and points to check out the computer. He walks over to the Grey Lord and looks past her. He notices the large green eyes staring back at him. His look changes from one of joy to one of disgust. She glares back at him.

"What do you want, you pervy dragon?" she asks with clear disdain in her voice.

"What are you doing here, Vale?"

"What could I possibly be doing in my own home? I wonder."

"You were evicted and arrested for illegal experimentation. Which is still continuing, I see. Drago, look up Skull Destroyer."

She starts laughing obnoxiously. The emerald treasure types away as the wind dragon walks to the locked up creature. He notices a cold presence emanating from it. A low growling sound comes from the cage as Drago rushes at her in a blind fury.

"You witch!" he yells as Jcoss is broken out of his concentration. He wraps a cyclone barrier around the emerald dragon.

"What's wrong with you? I told you to stand down." Jcoss scolds. Drago falls to his knees, tears in his eyes.

"How dare you desecrate his remains..."

"What did you see?"

He walks over to the computer and finds "Project: Skull Destroyer" on the screen. He looks through the details as Vale finally figures out why the young dragon is so livid with her.

"So, he was close to you?" the pale mage replies. "That'll be the perfect test for him."

She unlocks the door on the ground and steps away. The cyclone around Drago disappears.

"Move! We don't know what that thing can do!" Jcoss warns.

"...I do." Drago retorts, getting up. Jcoss looks confused as the beast grabs the `ceiling` and pulls itself up, revealing its disturbing form.

The creature is a colossal skeletal dragon with glowing green eyes. Along with a second rib cage outside the first opened up. On its back is an orange, shark-shaped missile with the same green eyes wearing a mischievous smile. There are a few webs here and there on its body as well. Most disturbing is the rotting, yet still beating heart inside its chest. The air around it grows thick and heavy. Both Jcoss and Vale start sweating in its presence.

"What's wrong, pervert? My monster too much for you?" she taunts.

"Are you really in control? Seems you're just as scared as I am...Drago, what're you doing?!" Jcoss yells.

Drago is standing in front of the creature with watery eyes. The undead dragon leans its head down and nudges him. The young dragon hugs the skull and starts bawling his eyes out. The creature wraps its boney arms around Drago and picks him up.

"....Drago..." the beast growls.

"What's going on here?! I order you to kill them!" the mage starts screaming.

"He's not going to listen to you. At least, not anymore." a voice says as a ball of chaos energy shows up.

"Negative. I told you I could handle this."

"Clearly, you could not. Why should I bother gathering intelligence if you're not going to use it? Your beast will never attack that youngling."

"Then I'll use mind control magic to make it attack!"

"Here we go. Keep blabbing." Jcoss thinks to himself.

"It must first have a mind for you to control. That thing's fighting spirit is the only source of direction it has. Or, so I thought."

"Puppet magic should still work!" She yells back.

"Have fun getting close to that thing. Parents are pretty protective of their children. Especially these lizards."

"I can mana-wait. That's impossible! He didn't have children when he was alive! And how would you know, anyway?!"

"Once again, why do I bother gathering intelli-"

"Where did you get that corpse?!" Jcoss interrupts. "We were never able to find Drago's parents, so how could someone who hadn't been in Bern until a few years ago know?"

"Because my intelligence far exceeds yours, of-" Negative starts before having to dodge a claw swipe from the monster. The creature roars at the three of them, keeping Drago under its body. A black magic circle surrounds the area it's standing on.

"Where did you get that corpse?!" Jcoss yells again.

"...from the Sanctuary of the Dragon King." Vale hesitantly answers.

"That thing is Almia, isn't it?!"

"...yes."

"You stupid...! He's trying to get the Ground Zero technique off and you gave him a faster way of doing it!"

Jcoss rushes to the undead dragon and hits it in the skull. Then he launches a multitude of wind blades at him to no avail.

"Either of you feel like helping me?! You do know what Ground Zero will do to this area, right?!"

"Fine. Let's do this." Neg complies.
Negative starts saying incantations while Vale throws runes around the beast. A purple magic circle appears in front of Negative. Vales forms hand signs and the runes start floating. A wind is whipping around Jcoss as a tornado forms around the undead monster.

"Chaos Flare!"

"Bloody Stream! Night Raid!"

"Gilgamesh Gale!"

Negative fires repeated growing matter-antimatter blasts from his magical circle. Red energy lines wrap around the the beast while bats attack it from all sides. A tornado surrounds the dragon and slices the area inside the storm. They keep this attack up, intensifying as their attack continues. After a few minutes, they finally run out of energy. The area clears up to show the beast wrapping its arms around the area of impact. It gets up to reveal the young dragon a bit cut up underneath.

"We didn't even scratch it..." Vale points out, falling down in fear.

"Buck up. It means your experiment was a success." Negative says. "Unfortunately for us, it was a success."

"This is gonna be just as bad as I thought." Jcoss says aloud.

"So, you have an idea."

"Grab my pupil and run."

"It appears to have stopped its attack." Vale points out.

The energy surrounding the beast subsides as it stands on its back two legs. It places Drago on the ground and walks past its attackers.

"....touch him...and die..."

It walks out of sight and crashing sounds are heard.

"We'll be leaving now." Jcoss says. He walks over to Drago and picks him up. "Gotta keep an eye on that thing. Though, after it didn't try to get back at us, I'll assume it's under control."

As he walks through the mansion, he finds the golem smashed into bits.

"There's no way we could have won. We'll need to start training again if we want to even hope to match its power...well, you're late."

"Sorry, but there was some interference preventing me from entering." Dark says, sitting on a gravestone. "Something huge came out here earlier. What was it?"

"I'll explain when we get back home. For now, take Drago. I'm too tired to carry him back."

Dark hoists his friend on his shoulders and they head back to Bern, exhausted from today's events.
___________________________

"What now?" Vales asks. "The experiment was a complete failure."

"Not a complete failure. He wasn't affected by our magic, so I'll assume he's immune to all magic until we find something that works. We can definitely use that to our advantage. Finding out his origin and connections to the youngling was very interesting as well." Negative states, smirking.

"Finding out? I thought you knew?"

"Of course I didn't know! Can't let those lizards know that though. The signs did all match up though. To think, he had such a bloodline. I knew he'd be entertaining to keep around. Gyahahahaha!"

___________________________

A/N: And that's the end of this one. It's terrible, I know, but it's my first attempt at writing a mission gone badly. Revealed another member, though not a well known one possibly. First part of a 3 part mission arc. Next two involve our cold friends!

 

[Drago]

Spoiler: Chapter 9

The Frozen Holy Land, Ice Sanctuary~

"Everything here is so beautiful!" Loopy exclaims.

Sukichu and Loopy had just arrived in a frost covered forest near a sea and were searching for a famed destination. Loopy ran off with awe in her eyes as Sukichu decided to ask for directions from a passing guard of the area.
___________________________

"Have you two ever heard of The Covenant of the Seven Lights?" The Lady asks her ambassador and her treasure. Sukichu is holding a half-asleep Loopy up in her arms.

"No..." the sleepy one answers.

"That's Shineman's old group, right? Before he went nuts?" Sukichu asks.

"Correct. It's a group of seven mages previously under the Spectral Magician, Shineman. Back when he held the title of Merlin, he gathered the strongest of his own to build an elite force of...is she okay?" The Lady asks, looking at Loopy.

"She's just a little tired. Spinal, Maka and her trained late last night. Something about not being shown up."

"Seems prideful to me, but I'm glad they're taking their advancement seriously."

"I think it's adorable." Sukichu says, nuzzling her sister.

"...myeh..." Loopy tiredly rejects.

"Anyway, she can rest on your way there." Their leader explains.

"Our way, where?" Sukichu asks.

"Yukidaru Plains."
___________________________

[Yukidaru Plains. A cold area north of Bern home to a few villages inhabited by those who have adapted to their harsh frozen environment. Protected by the Covenant of the Seven Lights, former S-Rank group established and overseen by Shineman.]

"Thanks for your help!" Suki yells as she waves to a leaving frost knight. She sees Loopy a little ways away, hunched over. "You find something cool?"

"He's so cute!" her treasure answers, holding a baby dragon. "I didn't know of any groups that lived outside Bern. I grew discouraged after seeing that giant skeleton on the way here..."

"Actually, they're still citizens of Bern. We're barely outside the country's limits and in the process of annexing this area so they don't have to fear...never mind."

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"No need to worry. It's being taken care of." she says, smiling. She leans over to tickle the baby snow dragon's stomach.

"If you say so. What'd you talk to that frost knight about?"

"Oh yeah! I know where the Ice Sanctuary is now. We can head over there as soon as you're ready."

"Ying! We can go after we find this one's home." Loopy explains, holding up the baby.

"I'll take the baby home, then meet you there. Go Northwest from here and it'll be at the top of a hill. There's a spell on it that prevents it from being seen from the sky. That's why we couldn't find it earlier."

"Oh, okay. I'll head straight there!" the tan dragon agrees. She hands the hatchling over and runs towards their destination.

Sukichu flies to the Agusnow village to drop off the baby, wondering what it was doing in the middle of the frozen plains, so far away from home.
___________________________

Loopy arrives at an impressive looking cathedral made entirely of ice. Outside, there appears to be 2 shady looking guys standing behind an unmarked stand. They try to wave her over and she just shakes her head.

"We need your help! A friend of ours is stuck inside and we can't enter." says the white haired dude wearing a skull jacket.

"We'd appreciate your assistance with this." the one wearing a crimson jacket and shades adds.

"Why can't you enter?" the young dragon asks, walking up.

"We do not know. Our friend was able to enter and went in first. He couldn't hear us say not to go in over a recent blizzard and got stuck inside."

"How did he get stuck?"

"He's blind. Been that way for a while now." The skull one answers.

"He's blind?! Why'd you let him go in by himself?!"

"We tried to make sure he didn't. He couldn't hear us and we didn't see him go in. Boss tried to run in there after him, but found out he can't. There was nothing we could do."

Suki walks up and puts her hands on Loopy's shoulders.

"Who're your new friends?" she asks.

"Their friend is stuck inside. I don't know their names though."

"I apologize. My name is Lemon and my associate here is Orge." Shades answers.

"Sup."

"Our friend is Balae. And no need to worry about taking too long to find him. He loves the cold."

"We haven't actually agreed to look for him yet." Suki points out.

"We'll pay you to help us out. He's the secret to our sales." Orge offers.

"What do you sell?"

"Coral jewelry. It's worth a lot, but Balae makes and holds the products in his home." Lemon explains.

"I love coral jewelry. I actually have a necklace with a Coral Charm back home."

"Hold onto that. He only ever made one charm. And he made it solely to be worn by sea dragons like myself and my brother."

"You two are sea dragons?" Loopy asks while her eyes sparkle.

"Just the boss. Anyway, are you guys heading in or what?" Orge asks.

"Of course. And no need to worry about a payment. We were already instructed to head inside. We'll just rescue your friend while we're in there." the Frozen Fang points out. "Come on, Loopy."

We'll see how far they get... Lemon thinks as he watches them walk inside. At least they were able to get in.
___________________________

The ice dragons walk through the grand ballroom to find nothing but an empty statue stand and a staircase in front of it. Columns line the room and large windows letting light in cover the tops of the walls.

"Magnificent..." says the older dragon in awe.

"I wonder what that stand is usually used for?" ponders the younger one, sitting on the staircase.

"We might find out if we search this place. There doesn't seem to be anyone on this floor."

They continue down the stairs to find themselves in a hallway. Running up and down the hall are a couple of kids with wolf ears and tails. Plus a frost mage watching over them.

"It's like a bunch of little Dragos." Loopy says to herself.

"Excuse me, sir. Have you seen a blind man here?" Suki asks the mage.

"That thievin' oof-lookin' bambot that walked in here? He's locked up in the dungeon." he answers.

Loopy looks confused.

"He called him a stupid thief. He's supposed to be a blind jewelry salesman."

"Think about what you just said..."

"We want to see him and get his part of the story." Loopy demands.

"If you insist. However, one of you is gonna have to stay here with the children. Ever since the leader of our faith left us, there's been no one to take care of them."
___________________________

Sukichu and the mage known as Lich travel through the halls while Loopy watches over the puppies.

"I was wondering...we found a baby snow dragon outside. Were you supposed to be watching over it?" asks Bern's ambassador.

"Most probably. We've been losing a lot of our citizens recently, though I'm sure you knew that already."

"..."

Passing through the underground passages of the church, they would pass training equipment, a library and a set of meditation rooms.

"Ere we are." Lich points out. They have arrived at the dungeons. Only 2 cells had any occupants though.

"Balae, are you here?" Suki asks.

"That was fast. The spirits must favor me." a voice from the back of the cell says.

A man with messy brown hair covering his face stands facing the cell door. He's wearing a blue and brown wetsuit and appears to have water dripping off of him.

"Whey?!" Suki exclaims, recognizing the man.

"Little Sukichu? Is it time for your visit already? I must have lost track of the time. Being locked in a cage does that to you."

"This man is our village's elder! He's certainly no thief!"

"Is that why I'm in here? News to me!" he laughs.

"Don't worry, Whey, I'll get you out soon enough. What is that bright light in the cell next to you?" she whispers.

"Not sure. From the sounds it makes, I'd say it's someone's soul. They must have had a powerful will to leave behind a solid soul."

"Why are you whispering? How do I know you're not just coming up with a lie to get him out of this?" Lich demands.

"What is that light in the cell next to Whey's?"Suki asks in response.

"The treasure of our great leader. He asked me to hold onto it while he's away."

"But, what is it?"

"Why do you need to know?"

"Because it will soon be under Bern's protection. We need to know who we'll be defending it from and why."

"Bern is annexing Yukidaru? It's always been neutral territory!"

"Which has led families to send their children to the capitol to keep them safe." Whey intervenes.

The two turn to face the village elder.

"Thanks to our land not being affiliated to anyone, it has been pillaged, ransacked and burned. Our children kidnapped, our resources taken and our way of life threatened. If it wasn't for Little Sukichu's visits every year, no one would ever even ask about how our village is doing."

"While I'm not here on a formal visit, I was planning on visiting the village. I brought Loopy with me this time so she can see our home."

"I must apologize, but I'm under orders to attack anyone who wishes to take this home away from my master." Lich announces, holding his arms in front of him, left crossed over right.

"We're both ice elementals. This battle is pointless and will lead to nothing. Can we be diplomatic about this?"

"I'm sorry. I 'av no choice. I cannot betray such a great man."

"Are you speaking of-? Never mind. If I win, you will release my friend." Suki accepts.

"You'll bring this whole place down if you fight down here." Whey states.

"We'll go to the Grand Ballroom. I assume you know where it is?" Lich proposes, walking past her.

"Of course." she replies, magic circles popping up on the cage bars.
___________________________

Loopy is holding a wolf cub and watching over the others when she sees Suki and Lich go upstairs.

"What happened with Balae?" she asks.

"He's downstairs. Go pay him a visit." her sister replies.

"...okay. You guys wanna see something interesting?"

The wolf cubs nod and they head down to the jail.
___________________________

"What is your ranking in the Magician's Guild?" the Frozen Fang asks.

"I'm not affiliated anymore. As I said, this is neutral territory." the Frost Mage answers.

"What about the Covenant?"

"Of course. I am the Cobalt Crystal, Lich!"

"This is gonna sound weird, but did the air actually get colder around the entrance?" Orge asks.

Lemon just looks at the doorway, letting the cold air brush past him.
___________________________

A line of glaciers travel along the ground at the Ice Dragon. She strikes her palm at one directly in front of her, shattering it. Lich shoots multiple ice needles at her, all breaking off her wings. The mage tries to take advantage of the shielded dragon by launching small blizzard at her. She opens her wings and splits the blast in half.

"I understand that you do not wish to fight. I do not enjoy attacking peaceful creatures or possible allies. The choice is not mine to make..." the Cobalt Crystal laments.

Suki says nothing out loud, but can clearly be seen muttering something under her breath. She slams her left palm onto the ground and thrusts her right hand outwards, runes appearing in front of both. Lich jumps to the left to avoid an ice column rising from underneath him, only to be struck by a water ball hitting him and leaving him frozen against the wall. He quickly destroys his icy prison and punches the ground to create a wall made of stalagmites, blocking a small wave.

"Please go down quietly. You cannot win!"

He swings his hands outwards and the spikes shatter. As he's about to engage her again, he looks up to see a giant blue rune covering the ceiling.

"While it's true that I prefer not to fight, I am still one of the best in Bern's military. I am the Fang of the Frozen Sea and I will not be looked down upon! Aqua Magic! Aurora Freeze!" Suki commands.

A bubble surrounds her while an Aurora fills the room.
___________________________

"Thank you, child." says the elder as Loopy helps him out of the cell.

"No problem. It's my pleasure to help those who need it." she explains with a smile.

The cubs were sitting in front of the cell with the entity of light in it. It appeared to take a human shape and pet one of them.

"What is that?"

"You don't recognize him? Fair enough, considering you don't recognize your own grandpa."

"I know him? Wait...you're my grandpa?"

"It has been a while. I can't blame you for not recognizing me." he answers, laughing.

She hugs him tightly and squeezes the air out of him.

"I thought Suki and I were alone this whole time..." she says, crying tears of joy.

"We actually have an entire village here. Once Bern annexes Freezeland, you'll be able to come whenever you want." Whey replies, hugging her back.

"Why couldn't we before?"

"You would have been in too much danger thanks to the war. Now, don't you wish to know who your old friend is?"

Loopy looks at the figure, but won't let go of Whey.

"...Aqua Magic! Aurora Freeze!" they hear Suki yell from upstairs.

The cubs start crying, but calm down from the figure, now standing over them, shining a light on them all.

"Whoa..." Loopy exclaims in disbelief. "I need to go check on Suki! I'll be right back for you, grandpa!"

"I understand." Whey responds before Loopy runs upstairs.

He walks to the cubs and speaks to the figure.

"It looks like we can continue our conversation now."

It nods and gives a sad smile.
___________________________

Loopy makes it up to the Grand Ballroom to see everything cracked and chunks of the ceiling on the ground. She sees Lich on one knee, breathing heavily, but okay. She runs over to Suki to find her uninjured, but exhausted.

"What happened?" her treasure questions.

"I...told him...this was pointless..." she responds, breathing heavily.

"You are strong...a proud wielder of the...frozen element. It's my loss." Lich interrupts.

He stands up, walks over and falls in front of her.

She sits up with some help from Loopy and looks at him.

"What're you doing?"

"You came here for a reason. What was it?"

"To collect information on the Covenant of the Seven Lights and seek aid from them in protecting this land."

He rolls onto his back and laughs.

"Had I known that, this battle wouldn't have even happened!"

"That's why Suki was trying to talk to you about it!" Loopy scolds.

"Aye. It was my mistake. Rest assured that you will have Yukidaru's full support in your endeavors, lassie."

"We thank you for your help then. What info can you give about your comrades?" Suki asks.

"I can give you their names and titles, but I can't do no more than that."

"It's plenty."
___________________________

Escorting them back to the village, Lich is carrying about 3 of the 6 cubs while the others carry one each. Orge and Lemon help Whey with his cub and help him walk respectively. They arrive and take the kids home, delivering every one personally. Sukichu then delivers a speech (that I will do as a separate post) to the people of the village and shows Loopy around their home town.

They have such a great time, that on their way back, no one notices the skeleton from earlier is missing...

___________________________

A/N: Sorry this took such an incredibly long time.

 

[Drago]

Spoiler: Chapter 10

Camelot's Factory. The Diligent Knight.
___________________________

Spinal knocks on a large metal door and turns around to speak with his partner, Xenx'i.

"A little unusual that they're letting us do a mission without a Fang, huh?" he asks.

"Not really. They sent Drago on his own about 2 weeks ago." she points out.

"And sent Jcoss later as a precaution."

"A necessary precaution. He was protecting his sister. You can't trust someone with that kind of emotional responsibility."

"Debatable. I'd say we're more likely to do a good job with that kind of temporary stress."

"Regardless, we're simply here to speak with the Royal in charge. Not too tasking, subjectively speaking."

"He's a Lord as well. Supposedly, the most level headed one out of them."

The doors, which are far larger than they first appear, begin to open. The dragons walk in and notice that every machine has at least two engineers working in near perfect sync. None of these workers seem to have noticed that they've walked in either.

"Jeez, they're acting like machines. I wonder if they even take breaks." Spinal wonders out loud.

"They're efficient workers. No need to judge them for that." Xenx'i argue.

"I haven't even seen one breathe yet. That's not normal."

"By your definition. Really, there's no such thing as normal."

"For someone's personality, I agree. Biologically, no. There's definitely a standard."

{Attention workers. You may begin your hour long break now. Thanks for your hard work.} says a group of speakers around the room.

The workers all sit down and go to sleep in their spots, back to back.

"They even sleep efficiently..." the Black Scale groans.

"I still don't see the problem. Even if they are weird, it's how they are."

"What's that smell...?"

Spinal looks around and notices a pink tint to the air. He slams his palm into the wall and warps the material into three masks. He hands one to his teammate and puts the other one on himself.

"There seems to be a toxin in the air. Put that mask on. I don't care how heavy you think it is."

She puts it on and glares at him.

"With my abilities, the weight isn't a problem. I'm not Drago." she angrily points out.

"Whatever you say. I don't really care about how you feel about your powers. I already know how they work."

"You don't know everything about them. Stop acting like a living encyclopedia. It drives my patience."

"Everything irritates you. What's one more thing?"

Spinal runs along the hallways, checking sign after sign as he goes. Eventually, he finds one that says "Administrator's office" on it. Opening the door, he finds Xenx'i already inside.

"When'd you get in here?" he asks.

"Right after you left. I can track other people through their shadows. Or did you not know that?" she points out.

"I already knew about that ability! I'm asking why you didn't immediately contact me to let me know where our target was!"

He rushes over to the scientist laying on the ground and puts a mask on him. He starts to check to his vitals after that.

"Damn it! I'm not a doctor and we need to know his condition! Why didn't you radio me as soon as you found him?!" he demands.

"I didn't think about it. We don't even know if he's even in critical condition or not. He seems to be fine to me." she says.

"I didn't realize you were a doctor! ...just go see if you can find anyone else. Take a mask."

He slaps the ground and wakes up the scientist.

"...what happened? Where's the Net Keeper?" he asks, rubbing his head.

"Who's that?" Spinal asks.

"So you don't know everything..." his partner interrupts.

"Oh, bite me!"

"Ahem?" the scientist reminds them.

"Right, sorry about that. You were saying?"

"The Net Keeper is exactly what it sounds like. It's someone who maintains our computer network and keeps the factory running smoothly. I noticed an error in our filtration system and messaged him to ask what happened."

"What is that pink gas?" Xenx'i inquires.

"Concentrated Iodine. Speaking of, these masks aren't really necessary. Iodine can burn your skin, but the amount in the air is nowhere near enough to cause harm. I assume the workers outside are fine?"

The two dragons pull off their masks and nod.

"The workers out there have been "modified" to be as efficient as possible. It's about time for their break, so they won't be much help to you."

"If the gas won't hurt us, why would we need the help?" the shadow dragon asks.

"To capture the Net Keeper, of course."

"You believe he caused the leak?" the male dragon asks, confused. "You think he betrayed the factory?"

"Well, I sent him a message concerning the leak and never got a response. He's usually very good about that." he explains.

"I'll find him, then come right back." Xenx'i says before sinking into her shadow.

"Where is the Net Keeper's office?" Spinal asks.

"You'll leave this office and take a left. Enter the building directly ahead of you. Follow the path right, then skip the door on the left and go into the first door you see in the next room. It'll be directly left of another door at the end of the hall." he explains, getting up and dusting himself off.

"Sounds like a boss room...alright! We'll be back with the Net Keeper. Then, we'll need you to answer a few questions."

"Of course."

Spinal nods and slaps the wall before running to meet up with his teammate.
___________________________

At an unknown location...

"Go ahead and try it~" a familiar voice says.

A figure across the table cuts a piece off and tries a bite. They chew slowly and swallow. Someone else stands by a closed window, tightening their fist in front of their stomach.

"It's delectable. What do you call it?" the other person at the table asks.

"Oh, it has an unofficial name that I'm not allowed to say. If you help me out, I can get you a lot more though~"

"You disgust me..." the one at the window growls, annoyed.

The first one to speak laughs to themselves before licking their lips.
___________________________

Back at the factory, Spinal had just passed an area with a sign that said:

{Due to the inefficiency of the previous guards, this area will be undergoing maintenance. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your cooperation.

~Sir Tien, head of the factory}

As Spinal turns the corner, his partner for the mission pops out of his shadow.

"Did you find him?" he asks.

"No, the power's out to that section of the building. No light means no shadow for me to trace. I'd be guessing." she replies, frustrated.

"No worries. I know where we're going."

"Of course you do."

"Shut up and follow me."

"As opposed to?"

They arrive at the door they were given directions to. As Spinal is about to open it, Xenx'i grabs his wrist.

"Don't open that. Put your mask back on."

Spinal does so, then looks up at his now flying partner putting her mask on.

"More gas." he finally notices.

"Colorless."

"It's coming from this room, so I'll seal the door."

"What about the Net Keeper?"

"I'll create a pathway for the gas to escape after I make some canisters from the room next door. We'll go in once it's safe.

"Or I could go in-"

"Xenx'i, I need you to go turn the power back on. We haven't seen any broken wires or heard any sparks, so someone just shut off power to this part of the factory. I can't see in the dark, but you can."

"...sure."

She leaves as he goes in the other door.
___________________________

The Shadow Wing flies through the corridors looking for a sign that says "electrical." After going back into the previous room, she finds the door her partner was told to skip and goes in. Inside is the plant's generator.
___________________________

The power turns on as Spinal is making a chemical canister for the gas. He sees a knight on the ground covered in emerald armor with blue gauntlets, boots and helmet with a vertical eye in the center. Spinal walks over and slaps him in the face, waking him up.

"Yo! Are you the Net Keeper?" he asks.

The knight sits up holding his head.

"Ugh...Net Keeper? No, I'm in charge of this facility. My name is Tien." he answers, opening his eyes.

"You're Lord Tien? My partner and I were sent here to meet with you regarding a meeting with our R&D department."

"Of course. You're Kisuke's protege, right? I'd love to help, but I'm busy wi-where's the Net Keeper?!"

"We were sent here to find him by someone in your office."

"Was he a Caucasian male with a goatee?"

"...he IS the Net Keeper, isn't he?"

The esteemed knight simply nods as Xenx'i comes back in.

"His name is Attou. I messaged him about a leak in the factory and he said he'd take care of it."

"The Iodine?"

"That's always there. We produce salt for the countries of Bern and Camelot, so we use a lot of it. The leak is in the next room over. I came down here to check his progress when I passed out. I believe some escaped from under the door."

"I sealed it off and will contain it as soon as I can."

The Black Scale taps a wall and a cylinder pops out of it. He puts his ear up against it.

"I put one of these up in your office before we left and have been leaving a line as I ran to connect it. That guy didn't really look trustworthy."

"Don't let this incident cloud your judgement of him. He's an excellent worker. One I will deal with myself."

He stands and grabs at nothing before leaving the room.

"It appears he took my blade."

The dragons follow him out of the room and to his office. On the way, a man wearing red and silver armor with a claw strapped around his fist and energy surrounding his entire other arm blocks their path.

"I do apologize, Hiro. I simply do not have the time for this right now." the knight stops and points out.

"Make time. We're fighting right now, regardless of your problems." Hiro replies in an unusually high pitched, robotic voice. He goes into a kickboxing stance and taunts the knight.

"You two are capable fighters. I assume?"

"Of course!" Spinals answers. Xenx'i simply nods.

"Then, I will be back momentarily."

He walks towards the knight in front of him and is met with a punch from the energy arm. He swiftly avoids the punch, kicks out his leg and throws Hiro across the room before continuing on his way.

'Damn. And I thought knights couldn't fight without a weapon...' Spinal thinks to himself.

He and Xenx'i block off the path towards Tien.

"You can't defeat me. Neither one of you has the warrior's spirit!"

'At least stand up and say that...' the young dragons think, looking at him up against the wall on his head.

He jumps up and charges his right arm. He points it at them and unleashes a ball of red and orange energy at his opponents. They duck to each side and Spinal puts up a wall to keep it from going down Tien's path. The ball strikes the wall and explodes.

"My weapon is the Psycho Blaster. It covers my entire right arm. It builds up kinetic energy in a sphere that I can launch as a weapon. I build up the energy by simply moving my body."

"...why would you explain all that to us?" Spinal questions.

"Because I am a true warrior and fight my enemies straight up!"

He charges at Spinal and swings his claw for his head. The Scale claps his hands together and touches his arm. He puts it up to block the blow before swinging at his opponent. Hiro grabs his fist with his other arm and shocks Spinal before jumping back to gain momentum for a stab. The hardened dragon punches it down, but it shocked to find that it didn't break. They spread out and look each other down.

"Your claw didn't break. why's that?"

"My claws are made of hardened rubber covered in steel. It absorbs the impact and-"

He's interrupted by dark tendrils shooting up from a magic circle beneath him and wrapping him up.

"You people talk too much." Xenx'i proclaims from behind Hiro.

"What is this?!" he yells, trying to break free.

"Entangler."

"What's that?!"

A tendril wraps around his mouth.

"Something to shut irritating people up."

"HA!"

A battle cry from the administrator's office is heard as a large, yellow pillar of light is seen. It had a blinding effect and was gone before anyone could open their eyes.

"That sounded like Lord Tien!" Hiro yells.

"That guy was the one we were sent here to meet? I thought he was head of security or something." Xenx'i says.

"That would be me." Hiro corrects with a smile.

'...of course it is...' they both think to themselves.

They see Tien come back with Attou over his shoulder, his sword strapped to his back. He gently places him on the ground and kneels over to Hiro.

"I have to go to Bern for a meeting now. You're in charge until I get back. These young dragons will help me remove the toxic gas before we leave so you won't have to worry about it. Is that alright with you?" he instructs.

"Only if you accept my challenge when you return, Lord Tien." Hiro replies.

"Of course. Now, let's get you cleaned up. If you wouldn't mind letting him up, I would appreciate it."

"Oh, are you sure?" Xenx'i hesitantly asks.

He simply nods and she removes the tendrils. He jumps up and cheers. He hugs the dragons, causing a look of disgust to appear on both their faces.
___________________________

Tien, Hiro and the dragons remove and contain the toxic gas. They bring it with them to Bern. Attou is cuffed and brought as well. He seems to have been affected by the gas and will be treated by the doctors at Bern.
___________________________

Somewhere that can't be revealed yet!

*loud snoring*
The magician known as The Sorcerer of the Dark, Negative, is sleeping in a chair with a newspaper over his face when suddenly, another mage appears! She takes the paper off his face, puts a blanket over him and walks out the room chuckling.
___________________________

A/N: This chapter will be receiving a minor update later, so feel free to check back in a few weeks. The 3 characters from the "meeting" will be revealed later obviously. Feel free to guess. Their role is special. XD

 

[Drago]

Spoiler: Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Bern Attacked! Silence before Chaos!

"Where's Drago?! Tell him to get his mopey self out here and hang out with us!" yells Dark from outside.

"Be a little more sensitive! Our dad is still alive! How would you feel if you went through that?!" Maka says, smacking her brother.

Right as they're about to fight, Spinal speaks up.

"Probably the same way he feels about being reminded why he's in such a bad mood." he says, sitting on a bench.

She quiets down.
...
Dark punches her.

Spinal glares at them as they're about to start it back up.

"...sorry." they apologize.

He sighs. "We'll know more when the panda comes back out. Why can't you two just be patient like Yami?"

They both look over to see the navy colored dragon standing on the roof, eyes closed. Two symbols appear below the twins and freeze them. Loopy comes busting out the door at that moment.

"Dark! Maka! *suddenly starts whispering* I'm this close to cheering him up when you morons come by screaming. Keep quiet until we both come out or you're staying twinsicles, understood?" she warns before thawing them out and heading back inside. She hits Spinal's shoulder as she's heading in.

The black dragon sighs again as he stands up. He walks over to the twins and taps them on their shoulders.

"Let's get going before she gets mad again." he suggests, walking past them. "Getting booted out of my own house..." the scale grumbles.

The Twins gulp and finally move from their frozen positions. They look up and see Yami is gone as well.

"I know!" Maka cheers. "Let's head to the Courts!"
___________________________

Drago is sitting on his bed, staring at a black scale when Loopy walks in.

"Sorry about that. They mean well, but are a little over-zealous sometimes." she defends, sitting next to him.

He doesn't say anything back. His tail lays on her back as he continues to look at it.

"Take as long as you need. Minato said you could have the week off to recover. And I'll stay here as well." she says, hugging him.

He rests his head on hers, a soft growling being made.
__________________________

"This is a troubling development. Where is its current location?" The Bahamut asks her Stealth Commander.

"His last known location was in the forest of Marzanna, if Loopy's report of seeing a skeletal dragon there is accurate. I used up too much energy protecting Drago from the attacks of two high level mages to place a tracker on him." Jcoss explains.

"To revive Almia in such a manner, how he must feel right now...this will not be forgiven! Find them and bring them in!" she roars.

Sukichu is thrown aback by The Lady's anger, not knowing her to blow up so quickly, even if it's completely justified to do so. She's acting as if one of her own children were the one attacked. Knowing their Bahamut and how she sees her citizens, that might not be too far off the mark...
___________________________

The group of young dragons return to the Gospel Courts to kill some time.

"Obstacle course for one." is all Spinal says while putting some money on the table.

"Two. I'm going with you." Dark adds in, following him after putting some bits down.

"I'm going to Arts & Crafts! Care to join me?" Maka asks, excitedly.

Yami shrugs her shoulder and follows the eager dragon.
___________________________

The male dragons are stretching before the obstacle course begins.

"Which course did you pick anyway? Moderate?" asks the Twin.

"Advanced." replies the Black Scale.

"Makes sense. Why are you even using the obstacle course? Your magic makes you damn near invulnerable."

"I could ask you the same. Your defensive magic is better than mine."

["Course Begin"]

Their path becomes a single, narrow, straight line. Spinal and Dark Armor/Cloak up respectively, then run forwards. Arrows fly at them only to break against the lead dragon's skin and bounce off the Mirror Scale.

The path becomes whole and bumpy, the land deforming as they run. The arrows are replaced with iron rods that Spinal starts smacking away. They continue to bounce off Dark, though he adjusts his body to angle it off away from the rods.

"Things get harder here..." Dark says to himself, no sound coming out.

The rods begin to spin as they launch out into the course. Dark focuses his cloak to bounce them into the ground and give them footholds. Spinal slaps three and melds them into a shield.

Right as they're about to get to the final part, sirens blare and the course shuts down.
___________________________

The Arts & Crafts section of the Courts is divided into differing sections covering all forms of the entertainment department. From pen & pencil to acoustic practice rooms, you can master your craft in anything. Age groups have been made so no one goes home seeing something they didn't want to. Access to the sections is free. All you have to do is buy a base and rent your supplies to get going.

"Do I want to paint, draw or ohh, I know! I can try sculpting! I've always wanted to and now I can!" Maka cheers, deciding her destination.

Yami rents a flute and heads straight to a practice room, knowing full well what she wanted to do.

...

Maka is chipping away at a large marble slab she bought and finds that she has an innate talent for this. Without any distractions, she realizes the similarities it has with her wall magic. She stops working when she can't hear her music anymore. She slides down the ladder to check her boom box when the siren blares.
___________________________

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" a cackling laugh is made on top of the Courts.

A knight covered in bone motif armor and wearing a top hat jumps down from the roof as the young dragons run outside.

"No one can match my awesomeness!" he yells, running towards the main city.

Luxtra walks by the Courts when she sees him running off. She finds the group and asks them to accompany her in a series of signals...followed by her simply waving them over.
___________________________

"Lady Bahamut, there appears to be a man running around the city, using some kind of magic to turn everything silent. Claims that you know him." Masamune says walking in.

"Bonef. I spoke with him previously. Of course he's causing trouble. Why is he here?" she asks.

"Camelot just put out a bounty on Bonef, the Skeleton Knight, for deserting their military. Since it's not a very common name, I'll assume it's him." Sukichu proposes.

"Why go so far?"

"I don't know. Sir Tadashi wouldn't give any more details than that. Said deserters deserve to rot for some nonsensical reason."

"Find him and alert me immediately. I'd like to have a word with him."

"Yes, Lady Bahamut." she complies, bowing.

"We have another guest to Bern as well. They informed us of their arrival beforehand though." Masamune adds.

"That was kind of them. See to it that our uninvited guest doesn't bother them."

"That won't be an issue, Lady Bahamut."

"?"
___________________________

Luxtra and her tag alongs find the knight hip thrusting at passing dragons and demanding beer from everyone else. She calmly walks up and taps his shoulder.

"What the hell do you want?!" Bonef rudely asks.

Luxtra tries to speak sign language, but gets cut off.

"Just talk, you idiot! Just because you can't hear me doesn't mean I can't hear you!"

Unable to hear him, she reflexively asks with her words.

"Can you please remove the magic from the area?"

He removes the spell from her only.

"What are you, an idiot? Then, people could hear me!"

A tick mark appears on her forehead.

"I know. That's the point. Your actions demand you be arrested, but I'm su-"

"What the #@%& did I do?! Stop exaggerating things!"

A second tick mark appears.

"Removing people's sense of hearing can cause major accidents. It's not something you should just be playing around with. Allow me to take-"

"That sounds like their problem! Things have to stay silent, otherwise my enemies will find me!"

"An area covered in your magic would probably indicate that you're there..."

"I knew you were stupid, but this is incomprehensibly dumb! Removing the sound barrier means they'll hear my awesomeness! Bring me to your boss or at least someone more intelligent than a wooden plank!"

She starts squeezing her fist in anger, fire showing up in the area.
___________________________

A knocking is heard on the door. Loopy gets up and heads downstairs to answer it.

"Coming!" she announces before whispering "Who is it now...?" in an annoyed tone.

She opens the door and gains an irritated look.

"What do you want?"

"I heard about everything. I'm here to get him out of his funk."

"I'm already handling it. Why would you even care? You two hate each other."

"My eternal rival is not allowed to sit around, moping all day. Once we're both ready, we must engage in glorious battle!"

"Eternal rival...?"
___________________________

"I'll kill him!" Luxtra roars, fire surrounding the area. "He'll be an actual skeleton by the time I'm halfway done with him!"

Spinal, Dark and Maka are holding her back.

"Let me go! I'm gonna flame broil him! No one that insensitive and uncaring deserves to walk around healthy!"

"Let it go, Lux!" Maka yells, pulling back from behind her.

"You'll get arrested for it yourself!" Spinal argues, pushing from the front.

"I'll take the blemish to my record!"

"No need! Tell them I attacked you. I'll even make it true." Bonef says, pulling out a bone rapier.

"A sword duel? Then, I shall fight." Masamune says, walking up from behind them.

"Doesn't matter who. I just need to get some energy out while I wait for your boss."

"From this moment on, the talking ceases."

"Did orchestral music just start playing?" Dark asks, everyone looking around.

The Hero's Fang pulls out his blade and teleports behind Bonef to kick him down. He slashes, easily destroying the Knight's shield.

Bonef swings his blade to clash with the black and silver dragon before the latter cut into him. He kicks up at him, only to find his opponent gone.

Masamune reappears in front of him and sends an energy slash at him. Bonef blocks it, sliding back with his blade.

"That's some swing..." points out the skeleton knight.

"I heard that! His magic is fading!" Maka shouts. "Keep it up!"

Bonef scoffs and breaks his own arm. "Argh!"

The silver haired knight takes a step back to figure out the situation.

"My blade is a breaking type that increases in power as my injuries increase! This boney blade is the Muramasa and you cannot defeat it!"

Masamune teleports and Bonef slashes behind himself to find no one there.

"Your blade is the Death Bringer. Its power transfers your injuries to your opponent. And I said no more talking. Heartless Angel."

Masamune begins to use a flurry of teleports around his opponent, slashing him in a different pressure point every appearance. Then, he appears in front of him and hits him in the head with the butt of his sword. Sheathing his blade, he walks to his fellow dragons.

"I used the dull side of the blade. He's not moving any time soon, but he'll live." the wielder of the One Winged Angel explains.

"May as well take him into custody now." Luxtra reluctantly says, fixing her hair.

"Lady Bahamut wishes to speak with him personally."

"Why? Does she know him?"

"For Intel. That's all I can say right now."

A large skeletal foot stomps down on Bonef as an undead dragon steps out from between two buildings.

"That thing is here?! Minato and Drago couldn't take it out working together!" Dark yells, not having been inside the building to see what happened.

The undead dragon king looks around as if confused to his whereabouts.

"Almia!" A thunderous bellow calls out.

The two fangs move to each side, allowing the Guardian Dragon to walk by. He looks down at her, then droops his head lower.

"According to Jcoss, you shouldn't remember me or this town. Lo-let me clean you up first." she says, raising her hands.

All the debris and random gunk that had built up on him walking around the past few days just slides off before slamming into the ground, cleaning a good portion of his body.

"Now, do you remember me?"

"Lambda..." he softly growls.

"If your memory is becoming that clear, then your soul must still be with you, albeit trapped in your body. I'm gonna bring the sick degenerate to justice for doing this to my predecessor." she says, rubbing his snout.

"Why is he so big? Do all dragons grow that tall?" Maka says in amazement.

"This is getting boring. I can fix that." Negative says on a nearby roof.

He begins to draw symbols in the air using his hands as black and blue energy surrounds them.

"Circus of Fire!" The Chaos Sorcerer casts.

An orange hula hoop wraps around Almia's neck. He jerks his head up in surprise and starts looking around frantically. He looks down at Bonef and his green eyes become yellow. He unleashes a mighty roar that brings the younger dragons to their knees. Shadow tendrils come out of the ground and wrap around the fangs and their leader.

"What happened?!" Lambda yells.

She looks around and sees Negative nearby.

"YOU!"

She launches herself up at him when she's cut off midflight by her dead predecessor dragging her back down with a tendril. The dark Mage laughs as she's pulled down.

"Make a perimeter! He does not leave this block, understood?!"

They nod and start up their magic. Yami starts traveling to nearby houses to get anyone out who hasn't already left. Dark and Spinal cloak/armor themselves respectively while Maka puts up a giant wall around Almia.

"He's already dead, so full force, guys." Spinal says before jumping over the wall.

The Bahamut known across the land as the Dark Aether smashes through the wall and smacks Spinal down, cracking his body.

"Argh! That's why!"

"Fair enough." Dark answers.

Swinging his tail, he smashes the rest of the wall down, not caring about the damage he's doing to himself in the process. Maka stumbles and drops her arms. The rest of her wall dissipates and she falls over trying to make another one.

"Sis! Damn it!" Dark roars, cloaking her to prevent any damage from happening to her.

Negative looks to the side and mutters something, putting a barrier up. It blocks a sound wave as Almia's limbs are frozen to the ground. The tendrils release the dragons who get their bearings back.

"Suki!" Lambda calls out.

Sukichu and Loopy run over to the group.

"Spinal is hurt! The rest of us are just exhausted!" Dark yells.

"Got it!" Loopy confirms as she runs over and grabs some water to start healing him.

"It's not that bad..." he says, trying to get up.

She hits his head with a pipe.

"Then stop moving before you make it that bad!"

The Lady raises her arms and clenches her fists, pulling slowly down. Almia is being forced to the ground and finds himself unable to move.

"Black Well!" she yells.

A crater appears below him as he's forced to the ground, slowly rising. Dark energy starts swirling around him.

"Masamune, Luxtra!"

"Yes, Lady!" they yell, jumping in front of her.

Masamune pulls out his blade and Luxtra breathes fire at the dragon from above. The gravity adjusts and the fire swirls around the target. She releases the heavy gravity and Masamune teleports under him to unleash a blade beam. Almia raises a bit before landing back down hard due to the gravity increasing again.

"We could use an Alexander right about now..." Lambda points out, watching Sukichu seal the undead dragon.

[In the Magic Clan, members are split up into four categories depending on their practice. While not having official ranks, Merlin and his higher council take priority in disputes. The greatest higher council in Magnolia's history being Shineman's Covenant of the Seven Lights.

Phantom: Masters of Black Magic, these Mages specialize in offensive magic. Known as Phantoms due to their dark nature, they are typically very aggressive. Might means right and the end justifies the mean for this lot. Negative and Fullblue are examples.
Alexander: Usually pacifists by nature, these clan members prefer to wield the White Magic of healing and holy energy. Named after the original wielder of White Magic, the Royal named Alexander. Incredibly potent against dark magic. Kanoke appears with a big grin.
Meta: Believing balance to be essential to truly mastering magic, Red Mages use both Black and White Magic. Splitting their focus between both prevents them from being a master of either though. Because of their magic combinations, they're known as the Meta. Kat is poking Vale.
Fury: Those who choose to focus on a sole type of elemental magic are called the Furies. Not caring if magic is White or Black, these Mages focus on mastering their element. Because of the nature of their spells, they try to stay by large quantities of their element. Shaara is seen sleeping.

-------Meanwhile------

"Some dragon slayer. Helping the lizards." Negative comments, looking at his familiar assistant.

"Coming from the Mage who's entire plan involved one." Freak replies, standing next to Drago. "Where's Vale? I'll assume she's how you got that thing in here."

"I honestly don't know. She was supposed to be here by now. My new project shows great promise though."

"I thought you couldn't control the undead?" Drago adds in, pupils going vertical.

"Not through the mind, but the heart works just as well. Especially when the target has someone close to them and a dead body so close by...hehehehahahahahHAHAHAHA!!!"

He gets cracked across his jaw and launched to the next building.

"I'll kill you!" Drago roars, eyes yellow. He jumps after the dark Mage and kicks him across the face, the kick speeding up through a boost, sending him across the floor.

"You'll be fun! Gyahahahaha!"

The Dark Sorcerer blasts him back with a ball of chaotic energy. He continues to keep blasting Drago into the ground before being blasted by a sonic boom from Sir Freak.

"Two against one hardly seems fair. You'll need at least 3 more people of your level to make this interesting for me!"

He's wrapped in a sphere of wind.

"How about one of a higher level?" Jcoss says, floating in, holding Vale over his shoulder, a bit cut up.

"That explains what took her so long. Oh well."

He erupts in a ball of explosive energy and finds himself out of the sphere, albeit a bit burned.

"It seems your beast has been made immobile." Freaks points out, looking below.

"Watch your mouth, blood sucker. That's still my dad." Drago warns.

"I don't care. I am a dragon slayer! You're all mostly the same to me."

"Mostly?"

"My rivals hold a special status, but we'll discuss this later. Negative, we need to talk."

"Yes, I suppose we do. However, I don't think these fine citizens will just let us walk out of here." Negative obviously states.

"We'll be getting you guys out of here." says a voice from somewhere in the area.

A sandstorm whips up and covers the area. A yawn is heard in the area before Jcoss disperses the storm. The Mages, the knight and even Almia are all gone.

"Find them. Bring them back here. Inform Saber and Morgana of what happened here. Let's get to fixing up the town...again." commands the Guardian Dragon.

"Yes, Lady Bahamut!" they all comply.

Drago lets loose a booming roar, then speeds off.

"Draggie!"

"Loopy, I know you want to help, but we have injured." Sukichu interrupts.

"Only Spinal is hurt. Drago is probably more messed up than any of us after that barrage he took from Negative." Jcoss points out.

"BARRAGE?!"

Loopy flies after him in worry. Lambda flies up to speak with Jcoss.

"Minato, what happened up here?"

"Drago seemed to have inherited his father's berserker gene. It was less dangerous to allow the Magician to use his energy up than let him rampage."

"We'll have Lio take a look at him. I want a meeting of the Fangs in my chamber tomorrow. Understood?"

"Yes, Lady Bahamut."
___________________________

"Negative, you idiot! What were you thinking?!" Morgana yells at him.

"I decided to have a little fun. That's all. I don't like being cooped up. Ah!" the dark wizard responds, some alcohol on his wound.

"Don't do stupid stuff and you won't get hurt." a wavy haired female Mage wearing purple shades lectures.

"Z, can the mental beat down wait until later? And why aren't you just using your white magic to heal me?"

"Orders. Not allowed. Why don't you use yours? Oh, right."

"Enough! No more of your random strolls into Bern! If not for Shaara and Fullblue, you'd be locked up right now!" Morgana continues to yell at him.

A half asleep Mage wearing brown and red robes waves. He's laying next to Sir Freak, who's sitting quietly.

"How will I entertain myself? Vale is knocked out and Freak probably won't be allowed into Camelot for a while."

"I don't care! Just don't mess with the dragons! Jeez, Neg!"

Morgana walks out and slams the door behind her.

"I'll be fine. My mission involved bringing Bonef back for execution. His dying simply sped up the success of my mission." Freak corrects.

"Good. She forgets who she speaks to. She is only Merlin because I allow her to be."

"Let Morgana enjoy her power for now. Magnolia will follow her lead, but the Covenant stay faithful to their leader." Shaara says, holding a Ruby.

He heads to sleep shortly afterwards. Negative starts laughing before flinching again.

"If you sit still, it'll go by faster."

"If you used some white magic, it would also go faster."

"Same to you."

Z bandages his cheek before walking out of the room.

"You okay, partner?" asks the Silent Killer.

"...get some rest. We're gonna need it."
___________________________

A/N: Well, after a couple technical difficulties, this chapter is done! Revealed some magic and one new member, plus another member who won't be showing back up. Some old characters will be coming back next chapter, so I hope you look forward to it. nun

 

[Drago]

Spoiler: Chapter 11B

Ch 11B: The Silent Dark Wind

"Things are working out far better than expected! That idiot, Bonef, showed up in Bern and is causing troubles for the dragons. We can sneak in no problem now." Kumori points out, a bat on her arm.

"Cloak the beast. No one will be able to see or hear it coming now." Negative orders.

Kumori begins muttering something under her breath as black streams of magic start flying around the Former Bahamut. A shadowy veil overlaps his body, making the area he's in seem covered in a generous shade. Not noticing their presence, the beast keeps walking, forcing the Crazy Vampire to move while she casts.

"The Cloak of Hayabusa is around him. They won't know where it is until it wishes to be seen." she confirms for him.

"We won't be able to speak once we're in there thanks to that bumbling fool and Freak not being here. If you find yourself in any danger, you're on your own. I'll be far too busy to keep you from getting chewed up."

"Of course. As the former head of our research department, I make it a priority to learn all of the information as I go along."

Kumori jumps and glides to the next building to keep up with the undead king.

"At least it's a cloudy day..."
___________________________

"Everything is going a little too perfect. Z, you there?" Neg asks.

"You know I am." a voice says all around him.

"You should stay with Kumori and keep her out of trouble."

"Oh?" Some scribbling is heard and a tan skinned female Mage holding a giant pencil appears in front of him. "And here I thought you liked the sound of my voice~"

"You know I do. Kumori is an idiot though. She'll do something crazy and get herself in trouble. I can handle myself."

"My top priority is keeping you safe. I couldn't care less about the rest of the clan in comparison."

"Hmph, fine then. Stay out of sight."

She bows.

"Of course. I am everywhere and nowhere~"

She writes a spell mid-air and turns invisible.

Negative smirks and walks towards his destination.
________________________

"Where is Negative?" Morgana asks Fullblue.

"He left. Said he was going to go pick up his assistant."

"Has Freak recovered already?"

Blue shrugs her shoulders.

"We haven't heard from Camelot. Since Freak is one of theirs and not ours, they more than likely wouldn't feel a need to inform us of his recovery. That's the only reason I can think of."

"No need to worry then. We'll give him about 30 minutes, then head over to Camelot to see what's taking so long."

"As you wish."

Blue bows her head, then goes back to her writing.
______________________

"I'm so bored...how long do I have to cloak this thing?" The Crazy Vampire asks herself.

She looks around and sees a few people walking around the main streets.

"Couldn't hurt to have a little fun. Night Raid."

She sends out a few of her bats to the streets below. One grabs an ice cream cone from a child's hand and brings it up to her.

"Mmmm, strawberry." she says, licking it.

Another bat steals an ice cream cone about to be given out and hands it to the girl, who was about to start crying. She smiles and takes it.

"No problems as long as I'm not caught, right?~"

"I'm sure this is very entertaining for you, but knock it off!" Sir Krill says, being passed back & forth by the bats.

Kumori just giggles and keeps going about her mission. She finds a short dragon working on an antenna and licks her lips.

"If you find yourself in any danger, you're on your own." Negative's words ring.

"What's one dragon? I'll be out of here before anyone else shows up. Bloody Stream."

She sends out a red whip and covers his mouth with it, pulling him to her. Licking her lips one last time, she bites into his neck, causing his spastic movements to slow down. He raises a hand to her stomach and compressed air shoots from it into her. He pulls the magic binding off of his mouth.

"Not...that...easy...witch."

Having knocked the wind out of her, he pulls her off and backs up a bit, stumbling.

She wipes her mouth and gets up.

"Don't go too far. I'm not done eating and I'd rather not have to chase my meal."

"I...don't...run." he adamantly replies, causing her to smirk.

She gains a twisted smile and licks her lips yet again.

"Good boy. Let me enjoy my meal~"

He raises his arms up slowly only to find a group of bats grabbing them and pinning him to the ground.

"Don't hurt him too much. I don't want to waste his blood. It wasn't the best, but wasting subjects goes against my principles."

A gust of wind blows her bats back to her as Sir Krill lands next to the young dragon.

"I'll take care of him! You just get her!" the orange knight says as he grabs the youngling.

Minato lands in front of them.

"My pleasure. Take Blak to Lio's place nearby. She can get him to the hospital a lot quicker." he says without looking back.

"Understood!"

Sir Krill hops down and trips over something he can't see. He doesn't fall, but can't see whatever it was that did it, so he keeps going.

"What're you doing here, Kumori? I can't let you leave after what you did."

"None of your business, Jcoss."

"All these years and you still won't call me by my first name. Very well, I'll force it out of you."

A tornado whips around him and he vanishes.

"Typical ninja..."
___________________

"That looks like Jcoss's magic. Kumori can't handle him on her own. She'll need your help." Negative writes out in the air.

"Then, you help her. I'm not stopping you." Z replies.

"I'll be maintaining the cloak over the beast while you two are fighting him, so I won't need any help."

"And if another Fang appears?"

"I'll get our big, slow friend to help me deal with them."

"He won't listen to you."

"I know, but I've already planned for that. Trust me on this, Z."

"Alright, but if you get hurt, I'm not making your healing painless."

"Then I won't get hurt."

Some quick stepping is heard before a jump.
_____________________

"I guess Bonef's magic doesn't reach this far out. Lucky for me!" Kumori announces.

She launches a red whip that's caught by Minato. He looks around to see a bunch of bats releasing sonic waves around the area.

"I can hear you just fine."

"A good effort. Not good enough."

He smacks her whip aside and comes in close. She brings out another whip and swings it sideways, wrapping around his torso and shocking him.

He grits his teeth and places his hand on her gut.

"Air Shot."

Compressed air slams into her stomach and she stumbles back.

"That was a lot stronger than the last one! Gotta stay-"

"Air Shot."

She looks up to find his palm to her forehead before flying to the side and avoiding it.

"What?"

Some scrubbing is heard.

"Thank you will suffice." Z says, showing up next to her.

"Two on one hardly seems fair." Minato points out.

"You're just as cocky as Negative." Z says, knowing what he's about to say.

“Please, I'm far cockier than him. And just to prove a point. Wing Blaster.” Minato says, green energy surrounding him.

“That doesn't sound very assassin like.” Z states. “Nevertheless, White Out.”

The Typhoon Fang opens his wings to reveal two magic circles on his wings. The pencil wielding mage draws a circle on the ground and a white bubble shield surrounds them. He flaps his wings and launches a green eagle of energy that disperses as it hits the shield. The shield seemed to take no damage, but its assaulter vanished.

“Good luck. I have to go.” Z states, drawing a portal.

“What?! Where are you going?” Kumori argues.

“To grab backup. This plan is clearly going to fail. We need help.”

Z jumps through the portal and her shield dissipates. The Crazy Vampire sends bats in every direction hoping to land a hit.

“Night Raid! Night Raid! Night Raid! I've just fed! I can keep this up all day!”

Minato bursts through the bats from behind her, wraps one arm around her and places the other on her.

“Air Shot.”

The force knocks the wind out of her and she falls unconscious. The silver ninja throws her over his shoulder and stares at her.

“Sorry Vale. I don't have all day to play...this time.”
___________________

“What do you want?” Drago asks.

Sir Freak had shown up at his door talking about his “eternal rival.”

“I came to your town to warn you of an attack by my master, Negative.”

“Why would you do that? Why wouldn't you just help him?” Loopy asks.

“The big people are talking.” Freak replies without looking.

“You wanna be a Freaksicle again?!” Loopy threatens. >BU

Drago pulls her in close and stares The royal down down.

“She's right. Now answer her, tomato sucker.” he says.

“Master Negative's plan makes no sense. He's attacking your city despite a mage being the one who controlled me. He pretends to control that beast while actually just following it around. His plan will fail because there is no plan! He knows who assaulted me, yet attacks another! I cannot blindly follow him.”

“Wait, you know who it was that controlled you?!” Loopy asks.

“My memory is fuzzy at best of the incident, but my master insisted he knew who it was and that it was a mage.”

“He won't sell out one of his own, even if they did attack him. He'd rather handle it himself, no?”

“Precisely. Which is why this attack on Bern confuses me so much.”

“What beast?” Drago asks, tone flat.

“The skeletal beast from that witch's lab, butt sniffer.”

Without a word, the Emerald Dragon places Loopy on the couch and heads outside. The latter runs after him and hugs his back.

“Please wait for me…”

“Loopy, I-” he starts before getting kicked in the groin.

“I said no fighting until you're fully healed!” >8U

Drago falls to the ground as Freak reaches for his own.

“Ouch…”

“Now, I'm gonna go grab DLady. You don't move until I get back!”

Loopy runs off as Drago goes limp on the ground. Freak just stares at him.

“That made coming here worth it.”
__________________

After the battle…

“Negative's new plaything is putting a giant wrench in our plans.”

“That 'plaything' was once Bern's leader. You will show him some respect.”

“A lizard king is still a lizard.”

“Now now, you two. Our goal must see fruition. I can practically taste success...and all the benefits that come with it~”

“Have you located Almia's hiding spot for the Soul?”

“Not yet. We're running out of places to search, so it must be close. How is your assassin coming along?”

“Quite nicely. The Bahamut will end and start anew in his flames.”

A monitor shows the current location of Almia's corpse and the screen next to it shows an armored red harpy.
___________________

A/N: This chapter probably seems all over the place and I apologize for that. It basically explains all the stuff that happened in the background of Ch 11.

 

[Drago]

Spoiler: Chapter 12

The Knight Awakens! Missing Dragons?

“My people will not allow this to pass. I will not die today.” Itsuki says, chained to the wall.

“Oh, yes, you will. You're only still alive because my associate believes doing so will draw the others here. If it had not been for that, you'd already be filling my belly.” Fullblue argues, grabbing his chin.

“The Void, right? I know you're sick, but attacking the hospital seems like a low blow.”

“Not the hospital. Just you. And not only you~” she sings as she leaves.

“...that's not good.”
_________________

“Any word on our missing citizens?” Luxtra asks.

“Not yet. We may have found a piece of evidence to their whereabouts though. A red feather, large enough that only a harpy could have shed it.” Minato reports.

“Red harpies are unfortunately common.”

“Correct. Our research shows that it doesn't match any harpy on our records. Though, much to my chagrin, our records on harpies are pretty lackluster.” Kisuke reports.

“And Sukichu?” Luxtra asks.

“Has already left for the Great Canyon with Maka and Blaksun.” Minato reports.

“Blak is already healed? Am I to assume Lio is taking the news about Itsuki poorly?” Lux asks.

“...yes, ma'am. Drago and I will be following up on a rumor and checking out the Misty Oak Forest.”

“Negative. That forest holds a powerful illusion that could trigger his recently reactivated Berserker gene. Take Loopy with you. Her ice magic could assist you with the fog causing the illusion.” Luxtra orders.

“Understood.”

“Lady Bahamut!” yells a blue and silver Dragon coming in.

Lambda looks over to him, but says nothing.

“Chronicle, what is it?” Luxtra asks.

“Eruner has woken up!”

The Fangs stood up straight, then looked towards their leader. She nods and they rush out to head for the hospital…
_________________

“It's so hot out here…” Maka complains.

“Stop complaining. Imagine how it feels for Suki. At least you're not a frost dragon.” Blaksun argues.

“It's okay, Blak. It's hot for everyone, even the harpies who live here. There's an oasis on the other side, so we just have to make it there.” Suki points out.

They pass by a hole in the cliffside that appears to have a sign above it.

“Great Canyon Oasis...this is it?!” Maka exclaims.

“Probably just named after it. Lets check it out.” Sukichu states.

They head inside and find a surprisingly clean bar. It appeared to also be a small convenience store carrying food and pharmaceuticals. A mage wearing a tattered desert cloak, a swamp shaman and a knight with stone armor sit at a table while being waited by a black raven harpy. Four people sit at the bar having a small discussion. They walk up to the counter to find a wingless, black scaled dragon cleaning a cup.

“How can I help you today?” he asks, putting the cup away.

“We're searching for the Great Canyon Oasis...the actual oasis. Think you can help us out?” Sukichu asks.

“You've made it this far, so it's not much of a walk at this point. That'll be 15 bits each for the rest.” he says with a smile.

“What?! You money grubbing-!” Maka starts.

“Gotta make a living. Selling information was actually one your citizen's ideas.”

“We'll pay. How much for a map of the area?” Sukichu requests.

“Don't pay him!” Maka interjects.

“Maka. No need to cause a fuss. It's how things work around here.”

“If Drago were here, we'd already be throwing hands!”

“Drago what?” asks the bartender.

“Ridley. You know him?” Sukichu asks.

“Hahaha! My name's Chrome! Come to my office. A debt needs to be repaid.” he says walking to the back. “Guru, watch the shop.

A chef with white wolf ears comes, salutes and stands at the bar. The dragons hesitantly follow him to the back of the restaurant. The 4 knights having the conversation start laughing before the girl on the left notices the dragons leaving. She taps the male next to her and points.
_________________

“How are you feeling?” A tan dragon asks Eruner.

“My head is killing me, but I feel like I'd be in worse condition without your aid. I thank you.” the knight responds.

“You're quite welcome. My name is Lio. I'm the Fang in charge of the Medical Corps. I'll need some information from you if that's okay.”

“Gladly. Let's start with the man responsible for cutting me down. The Dragon Slayer in charge of Camelot's foreign policy, Sir Tadashi.”

“Sir Tadashi? That confirms a lot of my suspicions.” Minato says coming in. “Am I to assume the mage Fullblue was in on it?”

“Correct. I walked in on a meeting between him and the mage Fullblue. They were discussing the practice of feeding on Dragon meat. Appalled, I knew I couldn't just exit the bastion, so I went upstairs to act as if I never witnessed it. The witch was waiting for me up there.” Eruner explains.

“You said Tadashi cut you down.” Lio interjects, confused.

“Correct. The fox used her magic to summon some more assassins to attack me. I struck them down with ease before Sir Tadashi walked up and cut me down with his Pandemonium.”

“Pandemonium should cut off your senses. How did you know it was Tadashi?” Kisuke asks.

“The ability you were told is a lie. Pandemonium actually turn the fears of its victim to light. My greatest fear was my armor failing me. I fell victim to my fear and it happened.”

“What's your plan now? Gonna let the dogs loose on him?” the research head asks with a smirk.

“Royal Clan protect one another, blood and honor. He lost that when he assaulted me.”

“Not to interrupt, but you said something about dragon meat?” Minato asks.
_____________________

“You're looking for a red harpy responsible for dragons going missing? I could give you a map, but I doubt Syn knows what's going on either.” Chrome points out.

“Why is that?” Sukichu asks.

“I've seen the harpy in question. He comes in and sits by himself in the corner everyday. Orders a single glass of water. Stares out the door until he leaves.”

“I guess that's a little strange, but how does that keep us from learning about him?” Blak asks.

“Harpies are incredibly social creatures. They also believe any amount of work should be rewarded. I'lI assume he never leaves a tip?” Maka explains.

“Absolutely correct. Even the harpy that works in my establishment is a server to meet a lot of different new friends. She makes pretty good tips too.” Chrome confirms.

“She may know of a banned citizen. We must speak with her as soon as possible.” Sukichu interjects.

“Alright. You're almost there. Follow these cliffs to the right…”
_________________

Minato heads downstairs to an emergency room on the first floor.

“Drago, you in there? I'm looking for…” he starts, walking in.

He finds the young dragon encased in glass everywhere except his head. Loopy is feeding him some applesauce.

“...Loopy.”

“Hey, Jcoss!” Drago greets.

“Don't act like this is a normal way to find someone…”

“Had he stopped trying to break out of his room, this wouldn't have happened.” Loopy lectures. ò3ó

“...I'm gonna find out eventually, so I'll just get it over with. What happened?”

“When I left the last battle, I made it to the outskirts of town before passing out. I woke up in the hospital and tried to break out cause they wanted to give me a shot.” ouo

“How are you encased in glass?” the exasperated fang asks, gripping his forehead.
_______________________

“You should rest , Sir Eruner.” Chronicle says.

“I have been resting. For weeks, I have allowed myself to slack off. No more.” Eruner replies, getting dressed.

His armor destroyed, the knight puts on some clothes given to him by the hospital. He straps his blade to his side and slings his shield over his shoulder.

“You were discussing some missing dragons when you came in. Who all is missing and for how long?”

“They started disappearing before the summit. Within the last week, we've had 3 more kidnappings. Those were Itsuki Predator, Al Dragonia and Spinal Hohenheim. Stolen from their home while helping out at the hospital.” Lio states, tightening her grip on her clipboard.

“Yes, that term does seem more appropriate. If Sir Tadashi is involved, I have an idea where you can look. However, I must report this to my King with haste. The Knights of Camelot will not allow even one of our own to tarnish our honor!” Eruner says before leaving the room.

“These Royals sure are interesting.” Lio thinks aloud, checking off on a list.
_______________________

“It seems I've underestimated them.” Fullblue states.

She looks at the security cameras to find that all three of her catches had escaped. One set of chains is melted, while another is dripping with water. The last, however, is missing entirely.

“That's not a good sign.”

She rushes out of the security room and down the hall to check for a trail. She passes Negative, who just smirks at her.

“Blue, you didn't lose the lizards, did you?” he chuckles.

“It wasn't me. Those chains should have been mythril. They shouldn't have been capable of using magic!”

“Calm down, my glutinous amethyst. Everyone has to go through evaluations. Especially when they break the rules.”

Her eyes go wide at that and she looks back at him, only to have to catch a purple gem and a hairpin.

“Are we gathering the Covenant?”

“Indeed. You, however, managed to annoy me recently with your capturing of Freak. This is a test for you. Enjoy.”

“Where are you going?” Blue asks, clipping her hairpin on.

“To gather our other allies. Z is grabbing Lich, While Freak is earning his place. My plan is almost complete, so everyone must be present.”

“Understood.”

Fullblue bows and continues searching.
________________________

“Drago, you have a visitor.” Maka announces, walking in with a clipboard.

“Hey, big bro! Long time, no see!” Kat says, walking in.

“Hey, Kat! It's great to see you!” Drago replies. “I'd hug you, but...yeah.”

“I'll get you out. No worries!”

The blonde mage touches his head, then they disappear in a poof of feathers, reappearing in the middle of the room.

“Your magic is cool.”

“Gotta love the Phoenix. Let's go!”

Kat runs out the room, Drago in tow.

“Where are we going?”

“...”

“Kat?”

“...someone desecrated dad's grave.”

“...”
______________________________

“Here we are. The Harpies' nesting grounds.” Sukichu announces.

“The Great Canyon Oasis…” Maka and Blak stare in disbelief.

In front of them was a breathtaking view of a series of giant lakes. They weren't sure how far they extended, but it didn't currently matter. Their destination was near the front.

“All this water came from the tundra region north of here. Where Loopy and I are from.”

“Wait, you're telling me we could have gone around that hellhole and came straight here?!” Maka yells.

“It was faster to come straight here then go around and come back down, right?” Blak assumes.

“Yup! We didn't have time for that.” Suki confirms, walking towards their destination. “Besides, even if we did have the time, we couldn't have gone that way anyway. Not without Kisuke or Lio.”

“Why's that?” Maka asks.

“Thanks to a pact between my home village and the village in the Misty Oak Forest, we're not able to use it as a travel route. Kisuke and Lio are from there, so they're allowed to visit home whenever they wish.”

“And there's no point in bringing them if we didn't have time to go around anyway.”

Sukichu nods and stops at a set of iron doors. Two harpies wearing grey dragonfly armor hold up razor fans in front of themselves.

“State your business.”

“We wish to speak with Ambassador Syn. She knows we're coming. I am Sukichu Panda of Bern.”

Suki pulls out an ID and they step aside, letting them in.

“I thank you for your kindness.”

The doors close behind them and they find a series of hallways with seemingly no walkable paths leading to them. At every passageway though, were signs with directions in every known language. The Sapphire dragon proceeds towards the main chamber while her assistants follow, Blak having to help Maka through the area.

“I wonder what Drago did for that guy.” Maka thinks out loud.

“Let's ask him on the way back.” Suki says, smiling.

They arrive to find Syn sitting on her beanbag with a smile and a red phoenix harpy perched above her, staring them down.

“No need to worry, my quiet friend. They will not hurt you. This is a friend of mine.” Syn speaks up.

“...” he simply looks away.

“There's no need to fret, I assure you. You'll be unharmed, I promise. Okay, Genome?”
__________________________________

A/N: Kat's back! Haven't seen her in a while! Next chapter gets dark. Hell, Dark might even show up! You'll finally get to meet the last member of Shineman's Council too! Literally, none of that might happen. ouo

Also, name drop, plus four more members! They'll be revealed at a later time, as always, so no worries!

 

[Drago]

Spoiler: Ch.13

The Phoenix Takes Flight! Mystery of the Fog!

“Syn, we need to ask your help on an extremely dire situation.” Suki says, bowing.

“Of course. Anything for a friend.” the harpy leader replies.

She does a short nodding bow, then flies down to meet them from her seat. Genome follows, never taking his eyes off the dragons.

“How may I be of service?”

“We believe one of your harpies is assisting in the abduction of several dragons.”

“And by ‘believe,' she means we know for a fact they did.” Blak corrects.

“And where do these accusations come from? Have you any proof?” Syn requests.

“A feather found at the most recent crime scene indicates a red harpy helped the kidnappers succeed. We were hoping you could help us figure out who it was or at least assist in narrowing our search down.” Suki explains.

“Do you currently have the feather?”

“Yes. We got as much as we could out of it, so we assumed you could do better.”

Sukichu motions for Maka to hand her the evidence in question. The young one starts patting herself all over before starting to freak out.

“I can't find-oh, there it is.” she says with a sigh of relief.

She hands it over to Syn, who stares intently at it. She has one of her guards deliver it to another room.

“I assume you have a report?” the Harpy leader requests.

“Ah, yes!” Maka announces before handing it over.

“Make a copy of this.” Syn orders before giving it to someone else.

“She didn't even look at it. This might not be good.” Blak thinks.

“When they come back, we’ll know exactly who did this, so until then, relax.” she says with a smile. “Take a seat anywhere. Sorry it's not furnished. We tend to find couches inappropriate for the throne room.”

“That's alright. We’ll manage.” Suki replies. “I was wondering about the throne room though.”

“It's nice, right? Brand new.”

“It just...doesn't seem your style to have one. You always hated the idea of thrones.” Suki questions.

“Every other leader has one. It was simply high time I caught up.”

“Magnolia doesn't have a throne, nor the machine city of Andropolis that Camelot watches over. Even my hometown of Yukidaru lacks a formal leader.” Sukichu explains.

“And their situations matter not to me. This was my decision and I'm sticking with it. You worry too much, my friend. The results will be back soon, so relax.” Syn says, trying to reassure her.

“Sure, Syn. It's been a long day.” Suki laughs, scratching her head.

Syn puts her hand on the blue dragon’s shoulder and leads her to a resting room. Suki whispers something under her breath and Blak nods.

“Do they know we’re here?” a worried knight says from the ceiling.

“I'm not sure, but we go under the assumption we've been compromised when it comes to dragons. I'll take no chance.” another replies. “Everyone, prepare to leave.”

“Come on, Geets! We’re tougher and there are more of us! We can take them easily.”

“I agree with Grey. We can remove them quickly and quietly.” another says.

“Nothing about you has ever been quick or quiet, Zet.” Geets argues.

“But Geets. We’re stronger now. You don't have to worry about us.” the female knight argues.

“This is neither a combat mission, nor up for debate. We wait them out or leave.”

“Why do either? They don't think we’re enemies.” Grey points out.

“Until we come popping out of the shadows like some ninja. Since you lot want to argue, we’re heading back. Grey, open a portal.”

The young mage sighs and recites an incantation before creating a portal they all walk through.

“Why is that the one you always need the words for?” the female knight asks.

“Hey, teleportation is difficult. I'd rather not mess up and we pop out in the middle of Lycia.”

Their leader just sighs and gently pushes them both in. The portal closes behind him and Blaksun looks up.

“Oh! The offer extends to all of you. Not just Suki.” Syn says, coming back in.”

“Neat.” Maka cheers, heading in.

“The Royals left.” Blak says bluntly.

“What Royals?” Syn asks.

“The ones that were hiding when we got here. They just left.”

“If there were any here, they'd be welcomed as guests. They would have no reason to hide.”

“How many were there, Blak?” Suki asks.

“Four. Four voices anyway. One of them was possibly a mage.”

“You're sure of this?” Syn asks.

“My Air magic may not as refined as Minato’s, but I'm positive they've left.”

“In that case, I'll need your assistance.” Syn requests.

“Of course.” Sukichu replies with a smile.
_____________________________

“It's actually kind of pretty.” Loopy says, looking around the forest.

“I guess so…” Jcoss halfheartedly responds.

“The mist in the air is created by manipulating water droplets through magic. This is more advanced than even Suki is capable of.” the tiny dragon points out in awe.

“Sukichu has used illusion magic before…”

“Not to this scale. The rumors state that the mist covering the entire forest comes from a single source.”

“I'm not one to completely dismiss a rumor, but that one is a little difficult to believe.”

“Aye! Right you are, laddie!” says a booming voice from in front of them.

Jcoss starts whipping up some wind while Loopy runs forward.

“Lich!” she cheers.

She jumps up and hugs the blue frost mage in front of her, who pulls her into a tight hug.

“‘Appy to see ya too, lass.” he returns.

Jcoss slowly calms down his current while the other two release from the hug.

“Where's de otha wee lassie?”

“She's busy with another mission. Why are you here?” Loopy asks, head cocked.

“I've been requested by Master Shine to return to Magnolia. I can't say no more than that though.”

“You've said too much as it is.” Z says from behind him.

The pencil wielding mage is drawing some runes on the trees, dispersing the fog in their area.

“Who's that?” Loopy asks.

“Where are my manners? This is Master Z, Head of Magnolia’s Alexander Arts.” Lich introduces.

“Yo.” Z greets and smiles.

“...weren't you involved in the attack on Lycia?” the snow dragon asks.

“I was there, but I never attacked anyone. Not the purpose of a white mage, ya know?” she laughs.

“You attacked Bern? I protect Bern under Shine’s orders. It's a good place with great citizens.” Lich argues.

“Not my call, nor has it been Shine’s for a while. If you have a problem, come back home and complain about it in person. I don't know why we’re even still here.”

“Considering you can teleport, I've been wondering the same thing.” Jcoss points out.

“Well, for starters, I can't teleport.” Lich explains. “Also, just because I’ave to return home does not mean mah job is put on’old. I'm grabbing a friend of mine to watch over Yukidaru while I'm away.”

“You've really calmed down over the years. I'm not sure I can call you Wrath anymore.” Z says, smiling.

They all fall to the ground to find a white harpy with glowing yellow eyes in front of them.

“When did we start floating…?” Loopy groans, getting up.

“I got tired of waiting, so I created a platform to carry us through the fog. Not sure what happened to it…”

“I removed it.” the harpy says.

“Ploep! Just the bird I been looking for!” Lich announces.

“She's a member of the covenant, Lich. She's coming home too.” Z points out.

“Then who am I supposed to get to watch Yukidaru?”

“We’ll send someone. That area will be our responsibility soon anyway. May as well start a regular patrol.” Jcoss states.

“That's nice’n’all, but who will watch it until then?”

“We’ll get Garu to watch it. Just tell him he needs to guard the Southeastern entrance. The Misty Oaks will protect the West.” Ploep suggests, eyes closed.

Z puts some shades on her feathered friend.

“We’ll remove the curse. I can do it once you're home since I've recently learned how. You can thank Kumori once we get back.” the white mage suggests.

“And that's a great idea. We can grab him on our way out.” Lich states.

“Curse?” Loopy asks.
________________________________

“I know you don't want to think it's one of your own doing this, but we’re certain it is.” Sukichu argues.

“Not only is it one of ours, I've known who it is for a few days now. Hairball, report.” Syn commands, hand out.

“Yes, sister.”

The harpy wearing a robe hands her leader a folder. She then hands it to Sukichu without even opening it.

“Wait, what?!” Maka yells. “Why didn't you tell us?!”

“It does seem counter-productive, but I'll take it had something to do with the Royals present?” Blak asks.

“Even more than that. Genome left for a foreign land strong and willful, only to come back a frightened child with no remorse.” Syn explains. “What they did to him is beyond inhumane. It's the work of the devil herself.”

Suki’s brings her hand up to her mouth as tears start to fall.

“We couldn't risk that happening to anyone else.”

“What did they do to him…?” Maka shakily asks.

“They killed him. Again and again and again. They would torture him, kill him, allow him to revive himself, then start over.”

“That's sick.” Blak states, head lowering. “We’re doing something about this, right?”

He lifts his head up to see Sukichu forming a cold mist around herself.

“Oh yeah. Our next stop is Camelot.” she declares.

“There's nothing you can do.” says Genome as he floats down. “There's nothing anyone can do...so I'll handle it myself.”

He bursts into blue flames and launches himself out of the building.

“Genome!” Syn yells, flying after him.

She reaches the roof and stops, her friend almost out of sight. She hops down and grabs Suki, talons freezing in the process.

“He isn't thinking straight right now. You have to stop him from attacking their fortress. He’ll never make it through.” she pleads, voice cracking.

“Of course, my friend. I'll see to it personally.” the Fang agrees.

“Seems she loved him.” Blak whispers to Maka.

“Remember how I said harpies are very social creatures? Syn loves everyone. She sees her kingdom as her family. Every elder is treated like her grandparents. Every child is seen as a sibling. She probably sees Genome like a little brother. And after what he already went through, I'd imagine it's like seeing your loved one picking a fight with the one who put them in a hospital.” Maka whispers back.

“Syn, according to your report, they tortured more than one citizen of Bern years ago. Who was that?” Sukichu asks.

“I don't know his name. He was a young dragon from Lycia.”

“Mind if I take a copy of this report with me?”

“You can take that report. We have dozens of copies. Why, might I ask, do you need it?”

“I'm gonna compare this to a report back home. I'll send the results.”

The Fang of the Frozen Sea walks out without another word.
____________________________

“The Petrafire curse?” asks an old werewolf.

“Yes.” Ploep answers. “My friend said she could fix it back home, but since you're the source of this fog, I was hoping you had the power to do it.”

The wolf wears a wooden armor with leaves sticking out the top. Holding a pipe in their left hand and a cane in their right, they eye everyone in the group.

“You're the source of this fog? Sukichu, Luxtra and myself combined don't have that kind of magical power.” Jcoss questions.

“You're right to be skeptical. To cover such a large forest with a dense, never ending fog and do so as casually as I appear to be seems to be impossible. The work of fairy tales...which normally include talking dragons, lycans and magicians.” the old mage smirks.

“Humor proves nothing.” The Tempest Fang argues.

“Right you are! However, to answer my young lady’s question, I can remove the curse.”

“Awesome!” Ploep cheers.

“Not right away though. I need you to do something for me first. Take the path to my right and he-”

Before they can finish, the white harpy walks back to Z and Lich.

“They're not my problem. If you won't help me, I'll have my friend remove the curse. I wouldn't want to hurt any citizens in there with it.”

“You can't. They're unaffected by Stone Magic.”

“...oh? You mean I could have stayed there this whole time and not worried about walking into a random traveller?!”

“I suppose.”

She stomps her way over to the town in question as everyone just watches her leave.

“You're not gonna help her?”

“I’ave to keep Yukidaru safe. I'm going to go grab Garu, then come back.” Lich states, leaving.

“This is not only not my problem, I really don't care about whatever town is back there.” Z points out, shrugging.

“My mission involves you and literally none of these other people.” Jcoss says.

“I haven't gotten a word in edgewise since we got here!” Loopy yells. “And I'm the only reason we can even see in this fog in the first place! I have to concentrate, so I can't say much…”

“Oh? I'll help you out then.” the lycan replies.

Suddenly, the mist covering the ground in the forest disappears. Behind the source are wooden paws in a standing position, but the upper half is still covered in mist.

“You have that much control over the mist?” Jcoss asks, sweating a bit.

“Of course. Not bad for a thousand years old, huh?”

“You've lived a millennia?!” Z yells.

“Yup. They called me Cherry. I trained your Almia, your Pac and your Gohan, among others.”

“You're older than most of our kingdoms!” Loopy exclaims.

“As much as I love being reminded of my age, you should go help your feathered friend. I'll answer any questions after that.”

“...I need to bring her back to Magnolia anyway…” Z sighs.

“If you're willing to answer our questions, I see no reason we can't help. Come on, Loopy.” Jcoss reluctantly agrees.

“Got it!”

They follow after Ploep into Delrosa.
__________________________

“Any actual idea where we’re going?” Itsuki asks.

“No clue! If we keep going in a straight line long enough though, we should end up outside!” Spinal responds.

“Uh, guys? I'm more than sure we've passed that door seven times at this point.” the water dragon points out.

“Maybe it just looks familiar. These people probably don't consider design choices while making their goddamn torture chambers!” Spinal argues.

“No, I agree with Al. We haven't run into a single bloody guard or even turned since we started down this stupid hallway! I'm stopping.” Itsuki retorts.

He jumps and slams on his feet, creating a dust cloud.

“What are you doing?!” Spinal yells back, only to run into Itsuki from behind. “What the cluck?!”

“I knew it! We've been running in circles!” Al boasts.

“But how!? We haven't even turned since we started!”

“It must be that red headed witch! She has the ability to create portals, doesn't she?” Itsuki reminds them.

“In that case, I have an idea.” Spinal says.

He points the spear he had been carrying forward and tries down the hallway again. It stabs into something that cannot be seen before a burst of magical energy is absorbed into the spear. Once destroyed, they find four mages wearing black and red, white, purple and blue respectively directly in their path.

“They got out! Alert Master Blue!” Blue says.

“No way! We’ll tell her after we take them down!” Red says.

“We’ll present her with their corpses as a gift!” Purple says.

White launches a steel girder at the dragons. Spinal stabs the spear into the ground and his palm into the girder, splitting it down the middle.

“Burning Fist!” Red yells before throwing a fireball.

“Al!” Spinal orders.

Al soaks himself in water and jumps into the fireball, dispersing it.

“Poison Gas!” Purple exclaims.

He releases a cloud of brown gas towards the dragons as Red cocks his fist back.

“Burning Fist!”

Spinal slams his palms down and puts up an earth wall before Itsuki surrounds them all in a green sphere. The fire hits the gas and ignites it, filling the hall with flames. Blue puts up a pipe made of ice to subdue the flames, melting in the process.

“You don't stand a chance! We got home field advantage, lizards!” Purple taunts.

“Until it turns against you.” Spinal adds.

He claps his hands and slaps his own chest, hardening his body to a diamond like state. He slams the floor and the walls surrounding the mages come together with a crunch.

“Ew...that's gross.” Itsuki says.

“I have to agree…” Al adds.

“Let's clear them out the way and keep going.” Spinal orders.

The wall bursts open and the quadruplets are surrounded by a steel shell with dents in it. It falls to either side of them and they stand up, cheering.

“You're no match for the Four Rocket Bros!” They exclaim.

“Enough of this.” Spinal tiredly states.

He grabs the spear and walks towards them. He cuts a fireball and a cloud of poison gas in half, smacks a girder to the side, then stabs into a torrent of water with it.

“What's that thing made of?!” Blue yells.

“Good question. You were holding us prisoner with it.”

“That's diathryil? How’d you make a weapon out of diamond and mythril?!” Red questions.

“Thanks for the info.”

Spinal cuts them down, then pushes them to the side with the floor. They make their way past before a black portal appears before them.

“I can't just allow my meal to escape. It's even still kicking and screaming. That makes this so much better.” Fullblue says, stepping into the hallway.

“Who's screaming?” Al asks, sweating.

“You can't hear it? Listen closely~” Blue sings.

The Nine Tailed Void flicks and flips her wrists repeatedly before bringing them both in front of her body.

“Don't let her finish! Take her down!” Spinal commands.

“You're not my target.” Fullblue states.

She spreads both hands apart vertically before moving them 180° clockwise and bringing them back together, purple and blue magic surrounding them.

“Please, Master Fullblue, no! We can still capture them!” Blue pleads, falling into a void with the others.

He tries to crawl out, but he's on the bottom of the pile. Attempting to kick his brothers off, he falls into the void with them before it disappears. Blue lets out a small burp of fire, gas and water before licking her lips.

“Kicking and screaming~” She purrs.

The trio of dragons stand there, frozen. Al’s legs start to shake before he drops to his knees and begins blabbering to himself.

“Those were her teammates. Ate them. Eat us. Not possible. Still happened.”

“Well, the quickest way to a woman’s heart is through her stomach~”

“That's a man's heart, you sick bimbo.” Itsuki corrects.

“You don't say?”

She sends her hand through a portal and a puncturing noise is heard. Spinal’s eyes go wide after he turns around to find a hand going through the medical dragon’s torso, holding his stomach. It pulls back through and she holds it in front of her.

“I appear to have your stomach now, but I still don't have your heart. Let's see how bravado tastes.”

She bites his stomach and tears the flesh from it before swallowing.

“Seems you had a pretty healthy diet. Too bad you have to go.” she taunts.

Itsuki just smirks and flips her off.

“You're barking up the wrong tree, bitch.”

He falls to the ground and takes his last breath.

“Ate Itsuki. Eat me next. Need to run. Nowhere to run. Must run!” Al cries before charging.

Spinal bonks him in the head with the spear, knocking the wyrm out.

“Crap. I can't fight her while I'm protecting him. Can't risk a longer battle with no more healer. May as well go down fighting.” Spinal thinks to himself, readying his spear.

“Here?” says a voice beyond the wall.

“Yeah! Go ahead!” responds a higher pitched voice.

Suddenly, the wall smashes through to reveal Drago and Kat standing there. The emerald dragon jumps in and grabs Al and Itsuki’s body before Kat releases a wall of blue flames to force Blue back.

“Stop gawking and let's go!” Drago yells.

He jumps back through the hole with Kat and Spinal in tow before landing on a Spellbinder surrounded by a circle made of Phoenix symbols. She recites an incantation, then they all poof into flames and disappear.

“She's getting better.” Blue notices, extinguishing the flames. “Let's see how she does against a real Phoenix.”

She's kicked in the stomach and knocked back. The fox looks up to find Genome staring her down.

“I will get all of you back for what you did to me. I'll start with you.” he threatens.

“Great timing. I love it when my puppets return home.” she taunts.

“I am no puppet! I have no strings!”

He covers himself in blue flames and launches a bird shaped missile at her. She creates a portal that absorbs the phoenix and releases it back. Genome burns and disperses the flames.

“You think flames work on me?!”

Fullblue is no longer in front of him. A hand touches his temple as yellow magic enters him.

“Let's reapply them.”

His eyes go blank before returning to normal.

“At least something positive came out of this. They should be happy. I'm doing all the work, even with Negative interfering. Lazy-”

Genome bursts into flames as ashes fall to the ground. He stands from the remains, wings spread wide.

“So, this isn't the Dark Sorcerer’s plan. What do the Royals have to do with this?”

“I wonder how you taste. Maybe you're like chicken? Hmm, who knows?”

“Don't ignore my question! What do the-?”

“Mostly nothing. Only a few are actually a part of it. I'm feeling generous, so I'll even give you their names.”

She disappears into a portal and Genome can hear whispers echoing down the hall.

“...what I say, you'll do. I'm putting my strings on you.” he finally hears at the end.

Some glowing yellow chains attach themselves to and stills Genome’s movement. Fullblue gently bounces over and bites him in the neck.

“This is actual Puppet magic, so you're not breaking out of this one. Have your revenge. Their names are…”

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A/N: I'm not a huge fan of death, but I understand its necessity. Added another member and introduced another form of magic.