48. Act III Finale: Interuption (1/2)

act iii: adulthoodfinale: interruptionparty: ryu, luna, trinil

ryu woke suddenly this time. something was wrong.

confirming his suspicions, luna hopped lightly from where she had been laying and had her twin knives out and her bow within easy reach. trinil sat up bewildered. ryu slowly and quietly collected his sword from the end of his bed. there were sounds from downstairs, like a

awl had

oken out.

ryu still felt a little groggy, but he trusted his voice to remain low with his adrenaline giving him the control. "thoughts?"

"get out of here," luna said immediately. probably with a hint more volume than intended.

trinil only nodded, though he had reached his own staff, and had it ready.

"how quickly can you cast it, and where should we go?"

luna thought for a moment. "spring. then we can take another caravan out, and go all the way north."

the sounds were getting louder. "start casting. do we need to remain still?" ryu asked.

"as still as possible; the more still you are, the easier on me. i'm pretty sure you wouldn't be able to fight at the time," luna said.

"do it," trinil said, but before luna even had a chance to open her mouth to reply or start the spell, the door burst open, and a man that ryu had definitely seen before was framed in the open doorway.

"you!" he said. he was staring at ryu. "i've definitely seen you before."

ryu was still not quite sure where he had seen the man before, but he trusted his gut that it wasn't in a good situation. he

ought his sword up.

then the man smiled, pointing his rapier at the young dragon. "i don't care if you're not who we were looking for, agent. i have a score to settle with you, after all." he contracted into himself slightly, and then there was a white explosion of light and pressure, sending the ascents to the ground outside of both the inn and the fort. ryu rolled across the grass for several feet before he was able to recover his feet and turn to face the... no longer a man.

he was a monster. he had a tail that looked like it belonged on a canine, back legs like a wildcat, a torso of indeterminate nature, wings that looked like they were on fire, front legs like tree stumps, a feathered neck and...

a scaled clearly dragon head.

ryu glanced to both sides, confirming that both of his companions rose in fighting condition, then twirled his sword around into an offensive stance.

you're with another ascent this time! he heard in his head. he realized that the man had to be talking about trinil, but hadn't realized that both luna and he were ascents. he filed that piece of information away for the moment.

"you've seen this ugly thing before, ryu?" luna asked, sheathing her knives and pulling her quiver from a pack that had landed next to her.

"yes. i was protecting nina at the time," ryu confirmed.

enough talk. from the monster's head, a beam of razor thing

ight light shot out and sliced through luna's chest. she blinked, then tilted her head to one side, confused.

"luna!" ryu said, his adrenaline rising further.

"i'm fine," luna said. "but don't get hit by that attack, okay? let me."

trinil had backed up and in the telltale flash of white light transformed into a tiger before charging the monster in front of them.

hmph. so you have strength. the monster's front paws grabbed trinil's leg. so do i. spinning once, he threw trinil over both of his companions. trinil landed hard on his back.

"rejuvenate!" ryu called as luna fired a few arrows into the monster's neck. it didn't seem to phase him at all, so she began charging up her magic.

ryu turned and had to block claws at his face with his sword and then dive to the ground when the front legs attempted to trample him. he scrambled to his feet just as trinil slammed into the monster again from the side. the monster swatted at him to get him to disconnect, and only succeeded when he ended up rolling him off. only to walk right into luna's prepared spell.

"comet!"

the star-rock smashed on the enemy's head, but

oke apart, and while it seemed to have affected the monster, he seemed more angry than hurt. his legs stomped around a bit.

"not working; going physical!" luna shouted before disappearing in a flash of white light.

another one! it was clear that this was a way that the monster had found to communicate while he didn't have the equipment to speak like he was used to. i knew you were complete bad news! tainted completely, without chance of redemption.

luna had charged and sank teeth into the monster's haunches. he shook her off, seeming to not be hurt too much by the assault, and then had to deal with trinil's next pounce, which he also threw off only to nearly have to deal with luna's teeth once again.

enough!

a powerful movement of the earth below threw ryu from his feet and when he landed on his back, he watched both of his companions fly over him by a few feet to land behind him. he struggled to rise before the monster could press his advantage.

"vitalize!" he called, prepping himself and his friends for the coming assault. he barely got his sword up in time to take the heavy portion of the blow. it threw him a ways back, far enough that he ended up next to his companions.

i grow tired of this. the voice still seemed annoyed. were they not doing enough damage to him to make him work hard? trinil had reverted form, and jumped clear of the earth elemental blow that struck ryu and luna head on. both were sent sprawling, but both were able to rise since trinil distracted the monster from delivering the decisive blow.

damn it, stay still! the monster was having trouble striking trinil with more than a glancing blow, since trinil had sacrificed power for speed. a vitalize later and all three of the ascents were sticking with their speed to attempt to get the upper hand on the monster that attacked them. where are my soldiers? shouldn't they be out here by now?

"were they still alive, sure." someone jumped from the hole in the outer wall of the fort to the grass below and took out a pair of axes. "they ran into my axe face-first, though, so i'm not sure how much help they would have been, anyway."

the monster whirled and lunged at the newcomer, who dodged the blow and

ought both axes down on the enemy, but it didn't take more than a glancing blow. "tch. you're not much better."

the monster let out a roar, forcing ryu to cover his ears even as his mind still tried to identify the familiar figure who had just appeared. luna returned to her normal form and spat. "have you ever seen that guy before, ryu? you're looking at him like you either know him or have a crush."

about to tell his friend where she could stick her comment, he realized who it was. "that's apiche! the one who helped me when we were escaping from tuntar!"

alright, grassman, deal with some fire!

apiche had to retreat away from the monster after getting hit full on in the face with a fire spell. trinil took the attention with a well-placed smack on the underside of the monster's torso. he couldn't dodge all of the counter attack, but evaded enough of it that he didn't look too worse for wear.

"restore!" apiche healed himself with a stronger healing spell than ryu knew. ryu charged to fill the gap and luna fired a few arrows into the monster's haunches, finally causing a pain reaction. ryu's head filled with curses, but he paid it no mind as he attempt to gut it. the monster was too fast, though, jumping out of the way of ryu's thrust. ryu followed up with shine to make sure his assault did damage, and was rewarded with a scream from the fake-dragon's mouth.

"shield!" apiche called, and ryu felt the power of magical protection settle in around him. then apiche disappeared in a flash of white light to become a large tree. ryu blocked an attempted strike on the tree and countered with another shine. the missile of light buried itself in the monster's flesh, sending it flying away from the tree. ryu then felt the regenerative effect take hold.

"luna! trinil! to me!" ryu called. the two of them came quickly, but not before ryu had to blast the monster again to keep it on its toes.

"you've found something that works," luna said with a nod. "keep at it. inspire!"

"you take point, ryu," trinil told him. "you seem to be able to get through that hide. we'll support you. speed!"

"shine!"

the monster roared in pain. that's it! i'm done with you maggots! fire whipped through the four of them, burning off sections of apiche's bark, then the earth beneath them dropped away, crushing the party between them before they could scramble back up. before they could counter a spell of darkness enveloped all of them, and ryu screamed with the pain of it. that's right! fall under the might of the advocacy!

ryu lost all sensation for a moment, then aching rushed back into his awareness and he opened his eyes as a whelp. luna was next to him, leaning heavily on apiche, who had reverted form. trinil had been knocked out, and ryu tried to move so that he could restore him to fighting condition, but he spotted the monster and froze.

ryu got the distinct impression that the man inside the monster was grinning to himself. there. ascents and those tainted by them under my foot. all that is necessary is to press down and squash them! tainted one, i've been looking forward to this for three years. goodbye.

"flame pillar!" the monster erupted in flames. ryu blinked.

"cyclone!" the flames were whipped around by the sudden winds...

"simoon!" ...and then exploded. the monster's scream was unearthly, but it gave ryu enough time to move.

"vitalize!" that allowed luna, apiche and ryu to rise, but didn't do anything for the fallen trinil.

more taint, i sense.

ryu couldn't move quickly, but he could move. he and luna dragged each other and trinil's prone form over to a small rise so that they could hide while they recovered. luna dug in her pocket and handed him two seeds. she munched on a pair herself as ryu popped them into his mouth and chewed, waiting for it to help his fatigued mind. he heard the sounds of the battle continuing behind him. both of them a

uptly stopped chewing and stared at each other.

"blast!"

both luna's and ryu's eyes widened. then luna cursed fluently. "i refuse to hide while that scarlet woman fights!" and she hopped over the ridge and started running toward the melee before ryu could even utter a syllable in reply.