The darts of Shade and Talm pierced the hides of many Hoppers as Ryko planted her foot into an Assassin's face. Kara leapt to the side as beams of light surged out of the mouth of the amphibian demon on the left and impacted on Lemina's glowing shield. Thundra was circling near the ceiling as the other monster tried to blast her down with its 'spit'.
Azuren's spinning staff emitted a solid stream of water. The liquid wave flew toward the reanimated dragon skeleton and turned its stream of fiery breath into steam.
Lemina put another defensive shell around her spell and projectile slinging allies and seemed to recognize the dracolich.
"So that's the Water Dragon that Ramus said his ancestor encountered. It doesn't look like it has been preserved too well."
A Fatal Hopper evaded the pair of female martial artists as they battled with Assassins and dashed toward Azuren. The humanoid Blue Dragon stopped his staff spinning and proceeded to hold the beastie at bay with the stave till Talm kicked it off the platform. Unfortunately, this gave the skeletal dragon an opportunity to shower all the current denizens of the sewer platform with glowing flames.
Lemina's Magic Shield buckled under the damage that the fire was doing to it. Shade had proceeded to start attacking the frog demon on the right... with a black orb of energy that no normal creature should have been able to endure.
"Black Dragon Shield!" she yelled and manifested a large sphere of swirling dark energy. The orb flew rapidly at the huge amphibian and impacted it right between the eyes, then grew to a large size.
Lemina yelled, "That's not going to work! I found out the hard way that it doesn't work on mega-huge nasties. That thing is probably a boss!"
"A WHAT?" Shade bellowed back, flinging more silver darts at the Water Dragon skeleton.
"Uh, never mind," Lemina responded sheepishly.
The black orb ended up doing nothing but swallowing the beams that the demon had released and a few Hoppers that happened to be close to it. The former Deadpole was stupefied by the flashing magic though... enabling Thundra to swoop down and emit her lightning flash in close vicinity to its face.
It roared in pain... leaving itself open to Shade's next attack... a spell similar to Leo's Solar Break. Huge meteors appeared and pound down repeatedly into the head of the demon. They exploded on impact and sent most of the frog's gray matter onto both the platform and into the stinky waters. The beast's body sunk into the murky depths and was still.
Kara was nimbly flipping and tumbling toward the Water Dragon... but trying not to skid on the blood soaked ground. A wave of flame nearly incinerated her ears (the bunny ears, of course) before she ducked into the punch of an Assassin. She doubled over, losing her breath. The Assassin pulled out his dagger and was about to slice her neck when a ball of flame smashed into him and set his outfit aflame. The pyrotechnics had come from the other direction though... where Lemina had a goofy grin on her face while spinning her wand.
Ryko rushed toward the kneeling Kara as Talm and Shade began to assault the Water Dragon with darts again. Each successful throw chipped a bit off of the bony structure. Azuren had resumed his dissipation of its fiery breath with his water stream. Lemina and Thundra were tantalizing the remaining Hoppers and Assassins from afar with their spells.
The black-haired girl dashed around the remaining frog demon only to find an Assassin in her way. She ducked his first swing, parried the second blow with her arm and proceeded to lay an impressive display of kicks and punches into his abdominal region. Ryko finished her assault by clapping her hands together right in front of his chest with a slight yell. The resulting blast of wind energy from her hands sent him flying at the amphibian monster... blade first.
The dagger ended up lodging into one of the beast's huge pale eyes. It croaked loudly and dumped the unconscious ninja into the waters. A deep rumbling began to murmur from its back.
The dracolich meanwhile had changed its tactics. It sunk into the grimy muck and swam rapidly around the platform, keeping Azuren unsure of where it would pop up next and breathe a plume of flame at the heroes. Shade received a nasty burn on one arm and cried in pain. Talm scooped her up, evaded a Hopper's lunge and deposited her inside Lemina's newly recast Magic Shield with Azuren. Gritting his teeth under his blue mask, the ninja vanished from sight.
The frog demon croaked loudly again, glaring at Ryko who was trying to help the Bunny Karate fighter to her feet. The large holes on his back suddenly expectorated a bunch of small organisms as the rumbling stopped.
The little beasts where actually about a dozen miniature versions of the deformed Deadpole. Each hopped around wildly and bared their fangs, croaking hyperactively. Some went for the female fighters, others went for the magic-users in the other direction... and a few turned to bite Talm as he reappeared and hurled more of his darts into the big amphibian's good eye. The blinded creature thrashed about and resumed wildly spewing its mouth-emitted projectile and its vile green blood.
The virtual ninja yelled in pain as two of the nasty little beasts sunk their jaws into his leg. Poison immediately surged into his blood stream as he shook them off.
Thundra finished off the remaining Fatal Hoppers and tried to get an aerial view of the skele-dragon's position. The murky waters where too thick though to discern its shape.
Lemina's shield was holding fine as the mini-frogs bounced off of it. The beams from the 'daddy' frog were the problem. Each blast of energy cracked the magical dome and threatened to leave them all open to attack.
Shade was slowly recovering and looked around to see how the battle was going. The Black Dragon considered casting a nasty Dragon Quake... but that would do nothing to the creatures in the water and might collapse the ceiling of the sewers above them.
Ryko yanked Kara out of the way just in time to avoid the biting jaws of the skeletal dragon as it surfaced behind them. The red-haired girl flipped forward as she was tugged, kicking the monster's closed beak (and severing another loose piece of bone) and ending up face-first in the gore that coated the platform.
"GROSS!" she whined... then gasped as she saw one of the little beasties hopping right toward her face with its fangs bared.
Ryko half-ran, half-skidded on the life-fluid and entrails (feeling sick about what she had her poor feet in) and leapt into the air. She landed with a powerful thrusting kick straight downwards and ended up squashing the biting nasty under her right foot. Ryko felt its slimy body burst under her stomp and shuddered.
Kara picked her blood-soaked body up and backed away from the remaining mini-frogs, ducking as another volley of flame was spit from the Water Dragon. Ryko hopped backwards with her.
The Blue Dragon let a Dragon Tear go surging across the platform in between the surfacing of the undead dragon. The icy blades sliced through many of the bodies still on the slick surface and ripped them apart, scattering more bowels upon the stones. Then they hit their intended targets: the miniature demons were bisected in mid-hop.
All that was left was the wounded and demonic Deadpole and the dracolich.
The Junior Premier of Vane let her shield down and watched as the amphibian monster prepared to open its mouth and erratically hurl more beams across the chamber. Lemina grinned evilly and pointed her staff at its maw.
"Flame Bomb!"
A large sphere of fire flew swiftly into the target's jaw. The former Deadpole seemed to swallow it and choke on the flames burning its throat from within...
...and soon would come the 'bomb' part of the spell...
The two humanoid dragons were trying to nail the swiftly moving skele-dragon with darts, Asteroid Breaks and Ice Lances whenever it popped up to claw or flame them. Without Lemina’s shield, they had to waste time evading its attacks.
And all this time, the Necromancer was getting farther and farther away with the Goddess Crest...
Azuren watched the two female martial artists help the ninja to his feet... and was startled by an explosion near them.
Thick, bloody chunks of flesh suddenly showered down on all of them as the flaming 'explosive' burst inside the frog demon's stomach. Vermilion rain misted them as what used to be its huge head skidded across the platform and gurgled as it fell into the sewage on the other side.
The Horam trio got the worst of the carnage due to their proximity to it. Talm collapsed back onto his knees. Kara, with gore now dripping from her bunny ears, stood as still as a tree and softly whined. Ryko glared at Lemina and started to run at her... but slipped and slid across the platform until she collided with the blocked up passage behind them.
Lemina only tried to remove some unidentifiable pieces of flesh from her skirt as the dragons continued their watch for the enemy, oblivious to the mess on them.
The thunder raven had been the only one perceptive enough to duck into the exit passage while the fireworks occurred. She flew out, shocked at the carnage on the soaked platform, and proceeded to attempt a new plan of attack.
The Water Dragon popped out of the muck near her and disgorged a wave of fire at Azuren and Lemina. Thundra immediately flapped to the sewage at its side and shot electricity from her eyes into it.
Literally shocked by the attack, the skeleton ended up flopping out of the water onto the platform. Shade briskly cast an Earth Fang. The giant stone jaws burst through the rancid floor and crunched the bony dragon's body. Its eyes and mouth stopped glowing and it lay still.
Azuren wiped his brow and slid across the platform to the exit tunnel.
Shade went over to Lemina.
"That was quite a long and messy affair, eh?"
The blond magician responded, "Yeah! But at least some mega-teamwork took those nasties down!" Thundra landed on her shoulder and sung a pleasant note.
They both carefully made their way to the passageway out.
Lemina joked, "I'd hate to be the person to clean this... Ramus is going to have some problems with his after-hours 'business' I suppose."
Ryko, annoyed and dripping, skidded over to Kara and slapped her out of her stupor.
"Come on! We have to keep after that guy! Pick Talm up and help him out of here... and stop crying about this mess!"
Kara came to attention, rubbed her cheek and helped Ryko hoist Talm up. The Bunny Karate fighter let him lean on her as they ran out... still trying to wipe the gore off of her body.
Ryko watched them leave the chamber and then looked around warily. She lifted her right foot and stared at the mini-frog's corpse (or what should have looked like a corpse if it was in one piece) on her bare heel.
She promptly retched over the side of the platform, groaned, rubbed the remains stuck to her foot onto the outfit of an ex-Assassin and dashed after her companions.
The seven of them ran out into the sun and waited till their eyes adjusted to the increase in lighting.
"Can't see him," Azuren announced with an intellectual, perhaps a little shy, voice. It was the first time Lemina had heard him speak.
The Junior Premier responded, "We know he's headed to Vane. He said he was after another crest... and the Black Dragon Crest is stored in the Guild Mansion there!"
Shade grimaced, still soaked in the mess from the sewer battle.
"We can't let him get more than one of them. Those crests of ours and Althena are too powerful to be held by any evil being. If two are stolen, it'd be even worse."
"This is so disgusting..." Kara murmured, staring at her outfit and her allies.
"Um, before we start running again... can you guys do something about Talm here? He looks sick," Ryko quested.
Azuren turned and looked at the ninja (whose mask had been removed). He looked quite pale.
"He's been poisoned... time for a little Clean Magic," he replied and raised his hands.
Shade interrupted, "Why don't you just 'clean' of all us? I have a feeling some of us probably aren't comfortable being covered with some other creature's insides."
"Good idea," he responded. Blue columns of light surrounded each of them, purging both the poison from Talm's bloodstream and the vile stains and bloody chunks on all of their bodies.
Kara and Ryko sighed in relief. Talm soon stood up, shook his head to clear the cobwebs and thanked the Blue Dragon with a bow.
"Good. I thought this dress was completely ruined," Lemina uttered.
Shade and Azuren walked away from the humans and started to concentrate. Flashes of light surrounded their bodies in a few moments.
Standing before the quartet and Thundra were now the full-sized Blue and Black Dragons.
"Whoa! I wondered why their magic was so powerful? They're actually dragons of Althena!" Talm exclaimed.
Kara spouted, "Cool!" as Ryko looked on with a surprised expression.
Shade lowered a wing.
"Climb onto my back. We'll definitely speed the chase in this form," she bellowed in a loud voice.
Azuren flapped his wings and took to the air as the other carefully mounted the scaly back of Shade.
Lemina gripped the dragon's hide with one hand and held Thundra against her chest with the other. Kara held Talm VERY tightly around the waist, slightly scared of being in the air for the first time. Talm, in response, grabbed Ryko's belt to hold on and received a slap for it.
The dragon leapt into the air and soared to the east.
The Necromancer was already past Taben's Peak with such a head start though...
Hiro and Lucia walked out of Larpa's gates and started to walk toward Dalton. They hadn't learned any information other than the rise in monster attacks, including one at Dalton to the north, and the fact that the DragonShip Destiny had been spotted a day ago. The craft erratically drove past the town without even stopping... with Lord Leo in pursuit a little behind it.
One young boy happened to mention that a strange fiery creature was at Leo's side when he ran past the village.
"I wonder what kind of beast he could have helping him," Lucia pondered aloud as they continued to the next town.
Hiro only remarked: "Does everyone have some strange animal with them now? First that odd girl in the spire with the dragon and now our friend Leo has one too. I doubt there could be a connection."
The blue-haired Guardian of the Blue Star nodded.
"Well, we'll know if there is when we find him."
Nall was surging across the Salyan desert in full dragon form, muttering to himself. It was safe to be in 'big form' since no one lived in the desert besides Gwyn.
"Not a blasted thing in the Spire... if someone used it they got out pretty quickly."
The White Dragon scanned the sands for anything out of the ordinary. All he saw were cacti and Sand Sharks. He continued on past the sea and over Larpa in another ten minutes.
Nall considered becoming human and investigating the city... but then noticed two individuals far to the north among the plains at the edge of the desert. He soared toward them.
"Ah, Lucia!" he boomed as he touched down in front of them and transformed into a human form. "Just the person I wanted to see. Hi Hiro. Guess you didn't get killed on the Blue Star and actually found her."
Hiro nodded as Lucia began to speak.
"Nall... are there problems on Lunar once again?"
Nall smirked. "Well, there has been a rise in monster attacks, cities are besieged, dark swords may be awakening, little dragons are popping up and visitors are flowing through both towers. I think the real question should be: Are there problems on the Blue Star?"
Lucia sighed and looked at Hiro.
"What 'little dragons' Nall?" he asked.
"Okay, let me summarize," the white-maned teenager started. "Star Dragon lets some human from the Blue Star get past him. Jean finds a little green dragon. We bring little dragon to Star Dragon. Little dragon tells us that he's looking for the human and some sword. Little dragon may be a fifth dragon of Althena. Monsters crash Ruby's digs and I investigate Blue Spire." Nall shook his head. "It's all one big mess."
Lucia took it all in.
"It sounds like that WAS the Dark Scimitar... and perhaps the Fifth Dragon is here if they sensed a slight aura in the little one."
"It wasn't a full aura," Nall interrupted. "He could just be one of our offspring... if he didn't apparently come from the Blue Star and crash into the Carnival. Lucia, is the Blue Star revived yet?"
Hiro watched Nall glare at his love.
"No," she slowly responded.
"Then how did ANYTHING come to Lunar from there?"
Hiro interrupted, "Nall, let ME summarize before you jump down Lucia's throat: We were alone in the Crystal Spire when a pair of hooded mages broke in and teleported here... soon followed by a girl on a little dragon and a bunch of animals. One of them had the Dark Scimitar on them. We followed as soon as the, uh, damage was fixed. Gwyn said that the mages stole the Destiny from Leo at his home and we were following Leo's chase of them."
Lucia only looked down.
Nall glared at him. "That still doesn't answer my question, Hiro. Where did these things come from?"
Lucia broke in.
"Yes, they did come from the Blue Star... there is some life on it still..."
"What do you mean STILL?" Nall responded loudly.
"The sword should never had been uncovered, the dragon should never have come here... no one should have come to Lunar before the Blue Star was restored," Lucia spoke softly to no one in particular.
"What?"
"Nall, please take us to the Star Dragon and summon the other three dragons. I guess I should tell all of you something about the Blue Star's past," she requested in a strong tone.
Nall looked at her.
"All right, just because I'm VERY curious and plenty worried about what in Althena's name is going on here, I'll do the former. But I can't get all the others to go there too. Ruby went to Serak last night and I haven't heard from Azuren and Shade since they went to that meeting in Meribia."
"It'll have to do," Lucia replied.
"Azuren and Shade? Who are they? Does this have anything to do with that dark dragon? And what about Leo and the Destiny? And where's the little green dragon now?" Hiro blurted out as Nall changed back into dragon form.
Nall looked at Lucia, then back at him.
"Okay. One and two, the Blue and Black dragons. Three, you told him about the dark one, Lucia? I don't see what he could have to do with any of this. Four, maybe Leo already recovered the DragonShip... or just let the other dragons find it. Five, he and Jean were still sleeping in the Star Dragon's place when I left early this morning."
Lucia climbed onto the dragon's back as Hiro tried to comprehend it all... and failed. He swiftly sat in front of her as Nall took off. Lucia wrapped her arms around his stomach as her long blue mane blew wildly in the winds.