Snapdragon

By: Lenne819

Game: Breath of Fire 5

 

Chapter 1: The Introduction  Ryu’s POV

            We had finally made it to the surface, after so long fighting against everyone who never thought it was possible, but we made it.  It’s been two years since then but I’ve never forgotten that day when we proved everyone wrong and saw the sky.

            Since then mostly everyone had heard about our great feat and started to move to the surface.  Soon almost everybody was out from the underground, the Rangers and Trinity had made peace (finally), and a civilization started to grow.

            Over these past two years Lin and I taught Nina to speak, read, and do many other things needed for everyday life, but the best part was that now she could breathe clearly.  Lin was promoted to head of Trinity and I became head of the Ranger council, so we made all of the important decisions about what was going to happen around here.

            The three of us (Nina, Lin, and I) all lived together since none of us really had any relatives to stay with, and we had a pretty good life so far.  After conversing for a long time with the rest of the council we finally decided to name the town Odjn, after the great dragon that believed in me and led us to the surface.  Nina could breathe, Lin and I were happy, and life was good.

Chapter 2: Flowers for Nina  Nina’s POV

“Nina, we’re heading out to the council meeting, we’ll be back later!” Ryu yelled through the house for me to hear.

“OK, bye Ryu, bye Lin!” I yelled back to them.

            The door shut quietly behind them and I was alone once again.  Lin and Ryu leave a lot for meetings but it’s their job, and I’ve overcome a lot of my fears about being alone and such.  I’m so glad that I have great friends like Ryu and Lin to do things with me like help with my speech and reading. 

            I had just sat down in my favorite chair to read a good book when I heard a loud knock on the thick oak door.  I rose up to answer it but when I opened it there was no one there, just a bouquet of flower buds sitting on the step.  But the weird thing was that they were just buds and not flowers yet.  So, I picked them up and brought them inside, and as soon as I did the buds bloomed into beautiful red and white snapdragons!  There was also a card attached that said who it was from, but it was too complicated for me to read, so I just buried my face into the flowers to smell them but as soon as I did, I started to feel nauseous, and then I saw black.

Chapter 3: Letter bomb  Lin’s POV

          Ryu and I returned to our little house after the meeting, and got a very rude surprise.

“Nina, we’re back!” Ryu yelled to Nina, but got no response back. “Nina!  Nina, where are you?” He called again.

            That’s when I noticed the red and white snapdragons sitting in a colorful vase in the middle of the table.  I read the card that said who it was from and it read: “From an old friend.” but nothing more then that.

“Ryu, come and take a look at this.” I said to him.

“They look like snapdragons.” He replied as he walked over to where I was standing.

“They are, but look at the card what can you make of it?”

“Hmm…your old friend huh?  I don’t know but it can’t be good because Nina’s gone missing.”

“Wait a minute, look at this pollen, its white. I though all pollen was yellow.”

“It is…wait; this isn’t pollen, its poison!”

“What, are you saying that this ‘old friend’ poisoned and then captured Nina?!”

“I know I don’t want to believe it either Lin but that’s what it seems happened here.”

            I took a few cautious steps back so as to not get poisoned myself, but then I noticed that the card was shining in a certain light.  That’s when I realized, it was a letter bomb!

“Ryu, don’t make any sudden moves, that card is a letter bomb!” I told him. “From the looks of it, it seems to be a motion detection one so if we move it even the slightest bit it’s going to send our house into flames.”

            To late, Ryu quickly spun around hitting the card with his hand and sending it plummeting down to the floor.  We thought quickly and grabbed our sword and guns, then made a run for it.  Once we were a good distance away from the house we hit the dirt as the loud bang of the letter bomb exploded the house into a huge fiery inferno of no return. 

“That is the last straw!  We’re going to find out who captured Nina and kill that stupid bastard, right now!” He said, in his easily blinded by rage attitude.

“No, it’s getting late let’s just go rest within those trees for now.  We’ll look for her tomorrow, and we’ll find her, I promise, and once we do you can kick all the ass you want.” I said calmly with my hand firm on his shoulder, so that he didn’t just run off.

“Your right, let’s rest, but tomorrow is another day, and I won’t give up until she’s found again”

            So we settled down in the nearby grass in the trees for the night and I didn’t hear a peep from Ryu all night.  He was probably too deep in thought, that kid thinks too much, but then again I can’t blame him, I was also worried about Nina.

Chapter 4: Former Partners  Ryu’s POV

          I didn’t get much sleep that night; I was way too worried about Nina to worry about such things.  But eventually I dozed off and had a very interesting dream.

“Ryu…Ryu…Ryu!” A voice called me.

“Huh? Who’s there, show yourself!” I called back. 

I was in a huge black room and when I looked around, no one was there.  I drew my sword so as not to be off guard in case of an attack.  Then there was a quick flash, and in front of me stood a figure as tall as me, with red glowing eyes, dark hair pulled back, and although they looked like a person they had no skin, just a whole bunch of glowing red lines all over their figure.

“Odjn, what are you doing here?!” I said to the old dragon.

            The two of us had quite a history together, he helped Lin, Nina, and I to the surface with his powers.  He defended us (through using my body) from his old rival Chetyre (who worked through my old partner Bosch’s body) and ultimately led us to where we are now.  We made a good team but I thought I would never see him again after we reached the surface, and yet here he was standing right in front of me, just as if he had never left.

“I know who took Nina” He replied quite plainly.

“What, who, who’s taken Nina and how do you know?!” I snapped back at him.

“It was Chetyre, he still lives. His spirit never really died, he’s taken Nina to a place unknown to even me, but I can help you once again to find her and destroy Chetyre once and for all.”

“Wait, your domain, while you were still here on earth, where was it?”

“Well, it was a huge volcano that used to be just through these woods, but it probably exploded long ago when Chetyre and I were sealed underground.”

“No, it didn’t, that’s the mountain that we named mount ember because it’s constantly spitting out fire and ashes. That thing looks like it could explode any minute!”

“Yup that’s definitely my mountain, if indeed Chetyre is there he’ll have Nina also, but he won’t be expecting me, so let’s give him a surprise he’ll never for get partner” He said and then extended his hand for me to shake.

“Right let’s go!” I said and gladly shook his hand back.

            The next thing I saw was the sun burning brightly in the sky, I figured from its position it was about 6:00 a.m. I rattled Lin awake to get going to our new destination, Ember Mountain.

“Lin…Lin wake up!” I said into her ear. She rolled over and gave me an evil glare for waking her up so early. “Lin, I had a dream last night.”

Chapter 5: Good Friends  Ryu’s POV

“So, Chetyre still lives and he’s in there?” Lin said while pointing to mount ember at the far side of the forest.

“Yeah, and he’s got Nina so there’s no way I’m backing down until I get her back and Chetyre is gone for good.” I replied.

“But why would he need Nina?”

“Well, he needs a body to live in, thrive off of, to live. Just like Odjn needs me to use his powers through.”

“But why Nina, he could have any other person but he chose Nina, why?”

“Well, I don’t know but Odjn chose me, why not anyone else, he also could have had anyone, but he chose me.”

“You do have a point there.”

            We walked the rest of the way in silence; I was way too worried about Nina to talk about other things that didn’t matter. Now that I had Odjn back we were sure to win this battle against Chetyre, and I wasn’t about to give up hope on him or the fact that Nina was still alive and unharmed.

“We’re here, look there’s a cave about half way up the mountain, and I’ll bet that’s where Nina is. Come on Lin let’s get going!” I was about to start the long journey up when I felt a firm hand on my right shoulder.

“Can’t we rest a bit, just for a few minutes, please Ryu we’ve been walking all day and Nina will still be there in five minutes.” Lin said a little out of breath.

“Fine then.” I stubbornly agreed, so we sat on a nearby rock and talked.

“Why are you always so concerned about Nina?” She asked me.

“Well, we got her up to the surface and I guess I just don’t want to loose her.”

“But it’s not just now, you’ve always been there to protect her, and you’re always way more concerned about her well-being then your own, why is that Ryu?”

“Nina is very special, she’s really not even human, and I just know what it’s like to be different. I mean treated differently because of what you are, like me and Odjn, everyone wanted to kill me because I was to powerful and they wanted Nina because she too was different. I guess I just figure that if I can’t have a good life because of my…gifts…then I can at least make someone else’s enjoyable because of theirs.”

“But Ryu you do have a good life, you made it to the surface, and you live with your two best friends. You’ve saved Nina dozens of times, and not because she’s different, but because she’s your friend, and you care for her. That gift thing that you just said was a bunch of bs and you know it, so let’s just get up there and save our friend.” She told me with a comforting hand on my shoulder and a smile on her face.

            Without another word we both got up and started to climb the craggy, rocky surface of the mountain side. The climb was a long and hard one but when we made it Chetyre was waiting for us with a few new tricks up his sleeve.

Chapter 6: Chetyre  Ryu’s POV

            We reached the cave and once we had climbed in, I saw Nina sitting at the far end of the cave. But the weird thing was that even though we were standing only a few feet away from her, she just sat there with her back turned towards us. I walked up to her and put my hand on her shoulder, then she just whipped her head around, but when she looked at me her eyes were no longer cheerful and comforting, but full of anger and rage. I quickly pulled away and took a few steps back next to Lin.

“So you’ve finally come, for your precious Nina have you? Well, it’s too late I’ve already taken over her body.” Nina said in a demonic voice. But I knew it wasn’t Nina at all, it was Chetyre just talking through her body.

“What have you done to her Chetyre?!” I replied in an angry voice.

“Oh, I’ve only taken over her body, but it’s a good thing you got here now because I was just about to take her soul too.”

“Why, why do you want Nina so bad?!”

“My dear boy, it’s not Nina that I want, it’s your friend. Hmm I can see that you’re mad Odjn, there’s a certain fire in your eyes boy, the dragon wants out.”

“What, how did you know that Odjn was back?!”

“It’s quite simple really; I knew that if I had captured one of your friends I could lure you back to me. You see, Lin and you are to smart to fall for the snapdragons trick but I knew Nina couldn’t read and she would never figure out that it was a trap. But, although Odjn’s part of the prophecy was fulfilled in bringing you to the sky, he is now spiritually attached to you and knows when something has gone wrong. So, I knew that he would find out and want to help you and in that possess your body again, so you see it’s really not that I want your friend I just want to settle the score with Odjn as the final victor of this battle.”

“Ryu, let me talk to him, this is between us not you and him.” Odjn said inside my head.

“Fine, set this loser straight.”

            I gave in and let Odjn take over, and turned into my dragon form for hopefully the last time. Once the transformation was complete I was now inside Odjn’s head and I could tell he was ready for a fight.

“Let the girl go Chetyre, you have no business with her.” Odjn said to him.

“You must think I’m stupid don’t you? If I come out from her body I’ll be in my full dragon form again, and you’ll just beat me again, just like you thought you did two years ago.”

“Fine, we’ll play this fair, both of us in our full dragon forms, and whoever loses must die and be banished to the underground forever.”

“OK then, let’s go.”

            Odjn completely came out of my body this time, to go and be in his full dragon form, I then rushed over to Nina before she fell to the ground. She was ok just a little worn out from having a dragon possess her body for the first time. Odjn and Chetyre were now both hovering above mount ember and the fight for the world was about to begin.

Chapter 7: Race against Time  Ryu’s POV

“You know Odjn, you were the one who was sent to destroy this world, but now that you’ve linked yourself to that boy you’re more protecting it then destroying it.” Chetyre taunted Odjn.

“Shut up Chetyre; let’s just get this over with.” Odjn snickered back.

“Oh yes but before we do, let’s make this a little more interesting shall we?”

            Lin and I were sitting quietly with Nina, to try and hear what was going on when, all of the sudden a huge metal door slammed down over the cave entrance and we were trapped. I tried to slash it with my sword and Lin shot it a couple of times with her gun, but it did no good.

“Odjn, we’re trapped, Chetyre must have closed the door on us!” I yelled for him to hear.

“What have you done to them Chetyre?!” Odjn snapped at him.

“Oh nothing, I’ve just trapped your friends inside the volcano and it’s set to blow up with them inside, in about five minutes if you don’t beat me.” Chetyre replied, in a proud of his work voice.

“You, bastard!” Odjn yelled and slashed Chetyre with his right talon.

“What are we going to do Ryu?!” Lin yelled to me.

“I don’t know Lin, we just have to wait and see what happens.” I replied.

“No, we must believe, believe that Odjn will win this for us…for the earth.” Nina said in her soft voice.

            No one else said a word; we all just looked up at the rocky ceiling and trusted Nina’s words that we must believe in Odjn for him to win. All we could hear were screeches from the two dragons and a few occasional smacks’ of hitting each other. We all waited patiently, when all the sudden we felt the earth shake violently beneath us, all of us expected for the volcano to explode, but it didn’t and that’s when I heard Odjn speak to me.

Chapter 8: Life Energy  Nina’s POV

“Ryu, I have done all that I can I’m sorry, I have failed you.” Odjn said in his last breath.

“Odjn…Odjn, no! You can’t die, not now, not ever, come on get up, don’t give up Odjn!” Ryu yelled in a fit of rage. He slammed his fist on the ground and I saw a tear fall from his eye.

“Oh, no you’re not saying…no.” Lin said.

“Ryu, he can’t die, he’s much to noble of a dragon to die. Can’t you feel it?” I told him.

“Feel what Nina?” He replied.

“His life force, you of all people should, you’re connected to him. He’s still alive, he’s barely hanging on, you have to act now Ryu! Believe in him; believe in Odjn just like he believed in you so many times before.”

“Believe…in Odjn…” He said and then rose to his feet. “Odjn, don’t give up on me now, you’ve never before let me down and now it’s my turn to pay you back for that.” He stood with his arms out to his sides, and eyes closed. “Odjn, you need this more then I do, take it and kill Chetyre one and for all!”

            After Ryu was done talking he started to glow a reddish orange color and his feet suddenly left the ground. Before you knew it Ryu was floating in mid-air. There was a bright red flash and then Ryu floated back down to the ground, with his eyes still closed and he didn’t seem to be breathing. I tried to shake him awake but it did no good, Lin also came over and tried to help me.

            Although we didn’t know it outside Odjn had just awakened and was back and ready for battle.

“Huh Odjn, my old friend you never stood a chance against me, it was a good try though. Now time to finish you and your friends off.” Chetyre said as he towered over the still lying down Odjn.

“Oh, yeah well take this you piece of shit!” Odjn yelled and then let out a huge dragon blast, right through Chetyre’s heart.

            Lin and I heard a loud roar outside and then another long shake of the ground. The lava that was starting to come up to where we were sitting quickly receded back and Ryu started breathing again.

“Ryu, you’re awake, we thought we had lost you forever!” I said joyfully while giving him a big hug.

“We thought for sure you were a goner for a minute there.” Lin said in relief.

“What happened…Odjn! Where is he, did he beat Chetyre?!” He asked while standing up and brushing off some dirt that was on him. “And how the hell do we get out of here!”

“We don’t know Ryu, we heard another loud thud and screech so one of them died but we don’t know which one.” Lin told him.

“Well, why don’t you just ask who won.” I said to them. They both whipped around and walked over to where I was standing; there was Odjn standing in front of me in his ‘human’ form.

“Odjn, you made it, you beat Chetyre!” He reached out to hug him but his hand just went right through. “Odjn…what happened to you, you did win right?”

“Yes, and it was all because of you Ryu. Ryu, you gave me something that no one else ever has, and that is believing in me. Because of you giving me all of your life’s energy in order to save the earth I lived again, and in that defeated Chetyre. I have given it back to you in exchange for my life, but my work here is finally done, Chetyre is defeated and I have no more reason to live. Good bye my friend, maybe we will meet again in the next life.” Odjn said and then started to fade away.

“Good bye Odjn, your name shall live on in history, you will forever be a legend.” Ryu said as the last of Odjn faded away in front of us.

            We were all sad to see him go, knowing that we would probably never see him again. That day, I think even Lin shed a tear in loss of a noble dragon.

Chapter 9: Legend  Ryu’s POV

            Our house was finally back in order and Lin and I had a few things to discuss with the council. A statue was erected in honor of the great dragon that had saved us not once, but twice. His tale spread far and wide, until all over the world people were talking of the valiant dragon. Everything was as it should be, but there would always be an empty place in our hearts saved just for Odjn.

~The End~