Standard disclaimer: I don't own the series.

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AN: Heh, and now the real fun begins. Decided at the last minute to include this chapter along with the last one so people don't try to kill me for my Evil little cliffhangers. Like Anime Monkey. Hi Anime Monkey (waves). Though, it might lead to another revolt seeing that this is a three-part chapter. Maybe. Don’t kill me!

No, but seriously. This chapter actually gets the plot moving. Sorta. Poor Nina. Well, this chapter does mark the return of a character that was introduced back in the first chapter of Act II. Heh… “Prelude to Battle!”

Well, anyway, here’s the chapter!

(Please don’t kill me for the chapter! I never have been good with fight scenes. Yah?)

In a flash of light, three figures appear in the mist of a burning city. Nina and Ryu let go of Yuki and fanned out a bit. Nina looked around the ruins of her once proud city and had to fight the urge to keep from screaming.

They knew from the less than detailed reports that the damage done to the city of Wyndia would not be good. Nina didn’t expect to be walking in on a battleground. She knew there were causalities, but she didn’t expect to see the shredded bodies of men, women, and children just littering the streets like they were a bunch of trash.

Ryu’s eyes flashed red. He readjusted the cloak around his shoulders and checked the long sword that was strapped under his cloak. He wanted to make sure that he could grab it in case they were suddenly attacked.

Yuki shrugged and walked over to Ryu. Yuki had changed out of her capris and tang-top into a purple and white jacket, a black halter-top, a black choker, tanned colored shorts, black socks that went to her knees, and purple ankle boots. Apparently, this was the outfit she liked to wear as a Ranger. She also had her short swords attached to a belt around her waist and a small gun in a hidden pocket on the inside of her jacket.

Nina had also changed from her outfit into another one suited for fighting. Nina had pulled her hair back into a long ponytail. Nina was dressed in a black sleeveless shirt with a white shirt underneath it, black shorts that went to her knees, a black sleeveless jacket that fell to the ground and a pair of steel toed boots on. The outfit, she said, was supposed to be great for hand to hand combat, if need be. She also had her staff in her hands, ready to charge it up at any time.

Ryu had forgotten for a moment that Nina knew martial arts. He quickly remembered when Yuki started singing about the red ninja of love or something, and Nina had kicked up at Yuki to get her to shut up. Of course, Yuki easily dodged the attack, but still. There really was no need to take any chances.

They had left as soon as they had gotten everything that they needed. Leon and Salla tried to come along with the three, but Ryu pointed out that since they had no idea who attacked Wyndia, that person could come after Shevat next. Ryu said that Sari would be in danger and it was their duty to protect Sari at all costs.

Salla briefly wondered if Ryu’s desire to protect Sari stemmed from the fact that just a little while ago, he found out they were cousins.

So, with a heavy heart, the two of them stayed behind and Sari told them she would page them as new reports were released about the attack. Ryu idly wondered out loud why did Sari contact the Godwin Foundation for assistance in this matter and not Dragnier. Sari said that she had a bad feeling about contacting Dragnier. She also said that the Foundation was a trusty ally and she knew they would help out in a major pinch.

And since they were allied with no one, she figured that she could call them to help with the attack.

Ryu just shrugged and had walked over to Yuki and the three of them had teleported over to Wyndia.

Ryu looked over at Yuki and noticed that she was looking at the dead bodies of a couple of children. She knelt down next to them. Ryu suddenly remembered, Wyndia was Yuki’s home too. Whoever this was, was just not attacking Nina’s home, but Yuki’s as well.

The grip on his belt tightened. He walked over to Nina and placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him with a fierce and determined look on her face. She nodded and placed a hand on Ryu’s.

“So, where to Nina?” Yuki said. She walked over to Nina and Ryu.

“We will head for the catacombs first,” Nina said. “They were originally used for the burial of the Royal Family, but they are also a secure hiding place for anyone trying to escape invasion. Most likely the king ordered everyone to go there as well as other places hidden beneath the city.”

Ryu nodded. “The catacombs it is then.”

Nina stopped right before the three of them took off. “Um?” she turned to Yuki. “Can’t you just teleport us in there?”

Yuki shook her head no. “And then what? I have to know where I am going before I can teleport. And besides, what if we teleport in and we were suddenly surrounded by a bunch of bad guys. There goes our element of surprise!”

“Ah… okay…” Nina muttered.

And with that, the three quickly ran off to the castle. The outskirts of the city were like watching a large bonfire. Everything was ablaze, including, much to Nina’s disgust and anguish, the dead bodies of her citizens.

They ran through the city, trying not to be noticed. The first thing that they noticed as they headed closer to the castle in the heart of the city was that the troops that attacked the city were still there, looking around for survivors. To Nina’s horror, if they did managed to find someone alive, they would quickly stab them through with their sword.

The first time Nina noticed this, she started to charge at the person in the blue and silver armor, but Ryu’s arm jerked out and he grabbed her by the collar of her shirt. He pulled her back and spun her around.

“Are you crazy?!” Ryu whispered harshly.

Yuki glanced over at Ryu and Nina from her location behind a semi-burning car. Nina struggled to get out of Ryu’s hold, but since Ryu was much stronger than Nina, it seemed impossible. Finally, Nina reached her hand up and slapped Ryu hard across the face. Ryu let go in surprise.

“What the hell was that for?!” Ryu snapped while holding his stinging cheek. Nina’s slap didn’t hurt, but he was still annoyed for her hitting him.

The man that stabbed at the woman kicked her lifeless corpse to the side and walked on. Nina balled her fists at her sides and jerked around and glared at Ryu.

“Why didn’t you let me help her?!” Nina snapped. “I… we could have done something to help!”

Ryu just shook his head. “If you didn’t notice, Princess, that was a Royal Dragoon’s uniform. We could have been captured and killed. We need to find out what exactly is going on here before we just charge in and…”

“What are you talking about!” Nina said. “Are you saying that Dragnier’s responsible for this attack?”

Yuki glanced over at Ryu and Nina.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Ryu muttered darkly. “Why would Gideon… why would Dragnier do this?”

Yuki readied her short swords. “I don’t know why your people are attacking Wyndia, but they need to be stopped,” Yuki said as she flipped her sword around. “Guys, we are going to have to be ready to attack,” Yuki glanced over at the placed where the dead woman laid. Yuki turned her attention back to Nina and Ryu, her face serious now. “Ryu, Nina? What are we going to do here? Continue on to the castle or attack every Dragoon we run into?”

Nina sighed and looked at Yuki. “I understand what you are saying. We need to get to the castle unnoticed and confirm where we stand on this.”

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Getting to the castle was a lot harder than Ryu, Nina, and Yuki thought it would be. They ended up having to dodge Dragoon after Dragoon by ducking into alleyways and behind burning buildings.

Nina started to panic when they started to see bodies of the dead guardsmen littered around the streets the closer they got to the castle. They figured that they got to miss the first waves of the attack.

Nina blinked and looked back when she thought she heard something from behind her. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw that it was at least six or so Dragoons. The men readied their swords and took on an offensive battle stance.

Dragoons were basically the powerhouses of Dragnier’s army. They were stronger, faster, and much, much more powerful than the averaged soldiers. They were also known to have Ascended. Powerful warriors that could transform into Dragon form at the blink of an eye was not something you wanted to be on the receiving end of.

Nina’s wand charged as Yuki and Ryu’s swords flashed into existence. Nina wore a neutral expression on her face as she eyed the Dragoons coolly.

“What is the meaning of this?” Nina asked in a very controlled voice.

“We are under orders to kill anyone on sight,” the apparent leader of this band of Dragoons said.

“Wrong answer, pal,” Yuki muttered darkly. “You’re gonna have to come up with a better answer than that!”

Ryu growled as she eyes flashed red. “You guys can’t seriously expect us to stand here and let you guys kill us?”

The Dragoons said nothing more and charged the three wannabe warriors. Yuki and Ryu jumped out of the way as Nina released a gale at the first two Dragoons that got up close to her. They were blasted back a few feet, but were able to rise right back up.

Yuki twirled her swords in her hands and gave the Dragoons a feral smile. “Oh, hell no! It’s on like Donkey Kong!”

And with that, the psycho girl ran forward. Nina and Ryu just looked at each other in confusion.

What’s… a donkey kong?” Ryu asked.

Nina simply shrugged. “I… have no idea.”

And with that, the two resumed their battle stances. Yuki jerked around one of the Dragoons and parried blow after blow with her short swords. Yuki was fast, but this guy also had strength backing him. The only reason that Yuki wasn’t getting turned into sushi was for the sole fact she apparently was faster than him.

Nina wasted no time with her attacks. Normal grunts and monsters could be taken out with her spells, but these guys were Dragoons. Nina started to flash green and gold. Her wings ripped out of her back and stretched out at full length. She held her hands out and gathered a ball of energy and wind into her hands and released it at two of the Dragoons that were charging at her.

Nina yelled and let the ball fly. The two Dragoons were thrown back and Nina quickly made a hand sign and a large fireball form. The fireball rushed at the Dragoons and burned them alive.

Ryu cringed, but said nothing. He knew that they had to make it to the castle, but the fact that he was fighting his own people was tearing at him. He knew that they were killing Nina’s people and had to be stopped, but it still hurt him as he jumped back and ran his sword through one of the Dragoons that tried to run him through first.

The Dragoon fell back and before he could even react, Nina jumped up and landed on the fallen Dragoon hard with her boot. She kicked up and slammed her fist down on the Dragoon’s chest and released a fireball. She jumped off the man as the fire burned him to death.

Ryu grimaced at the look on Nina’s face. With the way she was attacking, she looked like a vengeful goddess attacking against a dark foe that had violated one of her followers. In other words, Nina was PISSED.

Yuki apparently noted the change in Nina’s fighting style. She was always more reserved when fighting someone. Now she was tearing Dragoons apart left and right. She knew that if she could have done something in Lahan, she would probably had done what Nina did. But… it just didn’t seem like her.

Yuki blinked and jerked back around as she parried another blow with the Dragoon’s long sword. She twisted around and kicked up with her foot, but the man blocked. Yuki growled. She was not about to be defeated by a dragon.

Yuki spun around and blocked another blow from the guy’s sword. She quickly twisted around and backflipped away from another jab, only to be run through by another Dragoon’s sword. Ryu yelled and lunged forward just as the man withdrew the blade. Yuki slumped to the ground and rolled out of the way just as Ryu jumped up and ran the man through with his sword.

Yuki muttered a healing spell. As the wound closed up, she jumped back up on her feet. Yuki realized this had to stop. Nina had killed three Dragoons and Ryu had taken out one. Ryu was also currently fighting the remaining two, one of them that had attacked her. She looked over at Ryu’s long sword and smiled.

She made a hand sign and Ryu’s sword flashed white and blue. Ryu blinked at the change, but continued to slash away and parry blows with the two remaining Dragoons. Just as Ryu’s sword made contact with the Dragoon’s sword, lightning arched from Ryu’s sword and electrocuted the man.

Ryu blinked and dodged another blow from the remaining Dragoon. He looked over at Yuki for an explanation. Yuki merely shrugged in response. Ryu mumbled something to himself and jumped back and slashed away at the last Dragoon. He cleaved his sword upward and sliced right into the man’s neck.

Ryu withdrew his sword and turned around to face Yuki and Nina. Yuki and Nina readied their weapons once again. Ryu jerked back around and noticed at least dozen or so more Dragoons starting to circle them.

Ryu sighed and readied his weapon once again. “Damnit! Don’t you guys know when to give up?!”

Just at the fist wave of Dragoons were about to reach Ryu, sudden gunfire shot out from out of no where. If the bullets didn’t wound the Dragoons, it at least stopped their assault for a bit. Ryu jerked around and saw at least two dozen men and women dressed in red and black uniforms that bore the sigil of the Godwin Foundation on the right upper arm of the uniform.

Yuki let out a sigh of relief. “The cavalry has arrived!”

Two figures ran over to where Ryu, Yuki, and Nina were standing.

One of them was a young woman with blond hair that ended in curls, dressed in a short sleeved blue shirt that had white lines running along the back and sides of the shirt and sleeves, white shorts, black leggings and thigh-high white boots.

Beside the woman was a twelve year old boy with short, fire red hair, dressed in a black shirt that was over a longer white shirt. He wore blue and red jeans and leather boots that were covered by the jeans. Attached to his belt were a twin pair of Makarov guns. He also wore a black trench coat with a red and white collar that had silver lines running down the arms of the sleeves. There was a design on the back of the trench coat, the sigil of the Foundation.

The red head turned to the Foundation soldiers and smiled. He whipped out his guns and pointed them at the Dragoons. “Open fire at the enemy units! Show no mercy!”

The blond shouted a battle cry. “Break off into teams of four and take out as many as you can!” she turned to several other members. “You five, with me!”

As the blond was shouting out battle orders, the red head turned to Ryu. “So,” he said quickly. “You’re the guys that Sari said needed help,” the boy said as he grinned. “Let’s get this party started!” the boy turned to the blond. “Seth! Make a way through to the castle! We’re going in!”

The blond nodded. “Gotcha Little Master!” Seth turned to the assembled guard. “You heard him! ATTACK!”

And with that, the units opened fire on the Dragoons once more. As the two forces fire at each other, Little Master grabbed Ryu’s wrist and pointed at the castle. “C’mon! Seth and the others can’t hold them back for long! We have to go while we can!”

Yuki nodded. She and Nina started running towards the castle, Ryu and the boy in hot pursuit.

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Nina and the others entered the castle in through a secret passage that led into her room. Nina noted that the passage had been used recently, and not by her. She paid no mind as the four entered into her bedroom.

From there, it was only a matter of moments to the throne room. Ryu reasoned that the smug bastard himself would probably be in the throne room. When asked how he knew, Ryu shrugged and pointed out that he was an evil bastard attacking a kingdom that had no quarrel with him.

And a moment later, they found that smug bastard sitting on the throne. The body of the dead king of Wyndia had been dumped on the floor at the foot of the throne. Nina screamed in rage and grief when she saw her murdered father before her.

She lunged at the man on the throne, but was blasted back by an unknown force. Ryu jumped up and caught Nina before she was slammed against the wall. Yuki readied her swords, but it was Little Master that jumped forward and drew out both guns.

“YOU!” Wyatt yelled in rage. “Transell! What the hell are you doing here?!”

Transell smiled. “Ah, if it’s the little master Wyatt Godwin himself!” the man clapped his hands together in amusement. “Oh, I see that you are still playing with big people toys! You shouldn’t play with guns!”

Wyatt growled. “You bastard!” he aimed his guns right at Transell. “You will pay for what you did in Lahan!”

Yuki’s head snapped up. “What…?”

Wyatt aimed his guns and fired. A red aura engulfed the bullets, but they ricocheted harmlessly of the invisible force field around the man.

Yuki blinked as she saw the bullets heading right back at them. “Bullets!” Yuki yelled as a white light surrounded the bullets. “WALL!” the bullets reappeared at the wall and hit the wall.

Transell looked at Yuki in amusement. “Neat magic trick lady.”

Yuki flipped him the birdy.

Transell frowned. Nina stormed up to the throne and glared at Transell. “What the hell do you think that you are doing?!”

Transell smiled. “Oh, what harm could it do to tell you before you all die? Very well, I am on a mission to retrieve the Sky Key, but your father wouldn’t let me anywhere near the Temple, so I was under orders to kill everyone!”

“WHOSE ORDERS?!” Ryu yelled.

“Oh, that is none of your business!” a dark sphere formed around Transell’s hand. “Now, all of you must die. Ta!”

And with that, the sphere flew from Transell’s hand and spiraled around the foursome. The dark shadows enveloped them. Nina tried to scream, but the black smog was choking her. She remembered vaguely that this was the same attack that Seeker used on her.

She barely saw Transell smile. She barely felt Yuki grab her. She didn’t feel anything other than darkness.

Nina suddenly found herself lying on her back, staring up at a concerned Ryu. She coughed and jerked up. Ryu held her as she screamed. She didn’t know what was going on, other than that Yuki and Wyatt were busy over near the throne and that Transell was no where to be seen.

Nina finally stopped screaming and started crying. Ryu gently rocked her back and forth while he held her in his arms. Nina laid her head on his shoulder and just allowed Ryu to hold her. When Nina was finally calm enough to think clearly, Ryu let her go and helped her to her feet.

Yuki and Wyatt had laid the king’s body out on the floor. Nina looked over at her father and choked back a sob. She felt Ryu’s hand gently squeeze her shoulder. They walked over to Yuki and Wyatt.

“What… happened?” Nina finally got out.

Wyatt gave Nina a small smile. “That bastard got away. This crazy lady grabbed us and teleported us out right before that shadowy smog could consume us. She teleported us right back into the throne room, but Transell was gone.”

Nina nodded. “Okay…” she looked around. “I…” Nina broke down again.

Yuki nodded. “We should see if there are any survivors left in the castle…”

Ryu and Wyatt nodded. He got a page and pulled out his connection gear. He listened to the report and nodded. “My people say that the Dragoons are retreating. We’re in the clear now.”

“Okay,” Ryu said. “We should do what Yuki said. Look for survivors.”

 

To be continued…