Heart of flame, breath of fire.
part 6
Master of the Dragon God.
Cologne watched Taro dive for the boy and a look of horrible
comprehension crossed her face. Ryu stepped into the koi pond with a dark
smile on his face and vanished beneath the shallow waters. At first a few
small bubbles were all that surfaced, then the water seemed to boil as
the surface became a froth of white turmoil. Taro backed away with an
angry look on his face and he clutched a small necklace that hung around
his neck.
"What's going on?" said Akane quietly.
As if in answer the Koi pond exploded sending water in every direction.
Akane saw a flash of teeth and eyes rise from the water at a speed not
even her eyes could follow. A towering golden green pillar twisted and
grew from the water and into the sky. It gradually tapered off and ended
at last after what seemed like hours. Akane saw the dark shadow cover the
ground and dared to look at the sky.
Cologne stood and dropped her staff in awe at the sight she had seen.
The sky suddenly grew cloudy and thunder rumbled overhead. The beast
Roared as the lightening flashed behind it sending a cold fear into her
heart. "What have I done?" she whispered to herself.
"Ryu?" said Ukyo in shock as she stared at the beast overhead. It was
easily three hundred feet long and about six feet thick. The head was
about seven feet long and lined with dangerous looking teeth that
protruded from its lips. A great mane hung around its head and two long
mustache like whiskers floated softly in the breeze as it floated in the
sky over their heads. Two Six foot long bull like horns reached back
behind its head protruding from the golden mane. Its body twisted in the
air in and out of itself and its four claws groped the air as they hung
from its long snakelike body. It glared at Ukyo with its golden eyes and
roared flicking its forked tongue in and out of its jaws after it did so.
It's scales shone golden green as the lightening flashed from the storm
that had appeared with the dragon.
Ukyo sat and watched in complete frozen terror as the serpent's head
snapped and focused on her, it snarled and glared at her for a moment
before diving suddenly. She tried to run from it but her body wouldn't
respond as it drew nearer. It's head slammed into her and she was thrown
into the wall crumbling it like dust, she slumped to the ground barely
conscious and coughed as she tried to breathe. She had the wind knocked
out of her and she slowly recovered and staggered to her feet watching
the creature with a sort of shocked anger.
This did not shock the others present as what happened next. "That's for
hitting me earlier," said the beast in a deep rumbling voice.
"R-Ryu?" gasped Akane as she finally regained control of her speech.
The dragon snapped around with lightening speed and faced her. Akane
froze as absolute terror gripped her heart again. The tongue flicked from
the creature's mouth and touched her forehead lightly. Akane felt the
intense heat from the creatures breath cover her like a soak in a hot
spring. She could feel the sweat on her body evaporate from it. She
simply stared at it unable to remove her eyes from its teeth.
"I hope I didn't scare you too much Akane-sensei," said the beast with a
small chuckle.
Akane made choking sounds as she tried to respond, all she could think
about was the way the monster's mouth moved as it spoke. She could see
straight down its throat and felt herself grow light headed.
Cologne stood before the great dragon and stood in a humble position
with her head held low before it. "I apologize great one, I thought you
were one of the cursed ones. If I had known I would never have..." she
said placidly.
"Explain," said Ryu with his eyes growing narrow. "Know this witch, your
mannerism is the only thing keeping me from killing you now."
Cologne heard the snarl in the creature's voice and looked up at it
sharply. "It is forbidden for an Amazon to hunt a true dragon. For a
thousand years we existed peacefully with your kind until you destroyed
each other. Out of this peace came a pact, we would hunt down those who
would steal your hearts and in exchange would be able to keep them to
make our people stronger. It was these warriors who kept us safe from the
Musk Dynasty when they rose to power, unfortunately the pact also
required that those who took the heart of a dragon should never have
children afterward. Alas, all those who were able to honor that pact died
a thousand years ago..."
"I...see," said Ryu. "I'll overlook your transgression for now hag.
Don't think for a moment that I have forgotten or trust you."
"Sheng long, tell me...How is it you have forgotten this?" said the
woman curtly after a moment.
"Sheng long?" thought Ryu in amusement. He looked at Cologne and
chuckled as she glared at him angrily. "Well, it seems I have offended
her," he muttered to himself. "Calm yourself woman, I am not Sheng long
and know nothing of this pact, but see that you honor it or I will take
my anger out on your people," lightening flashed behind him as he said
this making it much more dramatic. "That couldn't have worked out better
if I had planed it," thought the dragon pleased with himself.
"Another ancient Dragon survived? How?" thought the woman to herself.
"Now, where is my favorite toy?" said Ryu with a malicious grin on his
face.
Taro growled as he stood around the corner clutching the necklace in his
hand as hard as he could. A cold sweat formed on his brow as he tensed
himself. "I will not allow another such humiliation to fall on me."
"Now, where is my favorite toy?" said the beast as it set itself on the
ground next to the Cologne, coiling so it fit in the yard. "Here dinner,
dinner," it called. Taro ripped the small leather bag off his neck and
turned the corner with a gaze of steel.
Shampoo sat in the back of the Cat Cafe with Mousse and sighed as he
placed another of the cards into his hand backwards. She grumbled and set
hers down on the table again. " Mousse win again," she muttered.
"Really? I've never done this well before," he said happily as he took
the small pile of poker chips from the center of the table. He didn't
care about the cards or the game of course, he just enjoyed his time with
his beloved.
"Stupid Mousse can't even read card," she muttered to herself as she lay
her head down on the table.
"Did you say something my love?" he said with a stupid grin.
"I want go outside," she sighed.
"But if you do that evil Saotome will see you're still alive. How will
we ever get him to stop hounding you then? Come my love we can plan for
our wedding!" he cried as he tried to clear the table and bring a chair
into his loving embrace. He had, of course, swallowed Colognes story
immediately without question. Shampoo hit him on the head with a nearby
pan and snorted.
"Stupid Mousse, Shampoo rather marry cabbage," she said as she stormed
up to her room again.
"That wasn't as hard as she usually hits me...I think I'm wearing her
down!" thought Mousse happily as he lay on the ground half-conscious.
Ryu stared Taro down and dove for him. Taro smiled and held the bag
forward. Ryu stopped suddenly and wavered in the air. "What the?" he
thought as he veered straight up and away from the boy. He found himself
too weak to fly very high and skimmed over the dojo wall touching down in
the street for a moment. Taro smiled and stood proudly in front of
Cologne, Akane, and the now slowly recovering Ukyo.
"What, happened?" said Akane in shock.
"This," said Taro with an evil smile he clutched the bag to his chest
and laughed out loud.
"Dragon's bane?" asked Cologne with a frown.
"That's right hag, I picked it up in China. It grows wild there, has an
interesting effect on dragons. It makes them weak as men, when it's dried
it's even more potent," said the boy as he walked over to the Koi pond
and stood for a moment. "With this I'll be able to kill that bastard for
what he did to me!" With that Taro jumped into what was left of the Koi
and transformed to give chase. He jumped over the wall and hit the ground
before flying after the beast.
Nabiki Tendo sat at the table and just stared at what transpired just
outside her home. She simply sat with a neutral expression and didn't
move as Akane and Cologne entered the home.
"Oh, my, I guess I should call someone to take care of those lizards in
the garden. They're becoming bothersome. Oh, hello Akane, Cologne, Would
you like some tea?" she said sweetly.
"Why thank you dear," said Cologne accepting.
"Uh, Nabiki. Are you OK?" asked Akane waving her hand in front of her
sister's face.
Nabiki only gave a light smile. "This is...interesting," she said
calmly.
"What should we do?" said Akane to both her and Cologne.
"We? Why nothing dear, it's none of our concern any longer. Besides
those two are big enough to take care of themselves," said Cologne.
"Well said granny, I've got some planning to do anyway," said Nabiki as
she stood and went up to her room.
Ryoga wandered the streets of Nerima and didn't care where he was. He
simply walked onward and watched the ground beneath his feet. "I
recognize this road, this must be Nerima," he thought to himself as he
looked at the pavement. "Wait a minute. I can recognize any road, If I
travel like this all the time I'll never get lost agai..." he was cut off
from his revelation as something landed on him hard. A few minutes later
he found himself in a large claw shaped crater in the middle of the road
with a hoof shaped mark on the back of his head. "Where am I?" he thought
and stood dusting himself off before wandering off in some Random
direction. "What was I thinking about just a minute ago? Oh well, it
probably wasn't important anyway," he muttered as he plodded on, he had
to find Ranma right now anyway. "I wonder how far Nerima is from Kyushu.
I should be there in a few days."
TBC...
Next time: The aftermath of the shock, and what became of Cartson and
Ranma?
C&C to: Carrotglace@juno.com