Standard disclaimer: I don’t own the series… blah, blah, blah… same old boring crap… ^_^;

AN: well, here’s my little one shot attempt at a Breath of Fire II fanfic. SPOILER ALERT!!! This is from the series itself, right after the death of Tiga and Claris, and also right after the fight with Ray… Habaruku runs like a coward and they find Rand’s mom? Then… well…

“MOM!?” Rand cried out in shock. “What do you think you are doing?!”

Rand had his hands against the walls of the cell that his mother was moments before held prisoner by the St. Eva church’s founder, Father Habaruku. He had knocked down a wall, but he and his friends were almost crushed by it. Being as strong of he was, he was able to hold it a bay while he gave his friends a chance to escape. But just as he was about to loose his grip and be crushed, his mother Daisy came and tried to help him push the wall back.

“You knuckle-head!” Daisy snapped at her son. “What are you still doing here? Don’t you have somewhere else to be? GO!!!” Daisy yelled as she pushed Rand out of the way, just as the walls gave way and crushed Daisy Marks.

“NO!” Rand cried out in anger and sadness. He stared at where his mother had been moments before. A million thoughts ran through his mind. All were how he was going to make Habaruku pay.

***

Rand bolted up the stairs to see a saddened Ryu, Nina, and Bow. All three thought that Rand had perished when the walls crashed together.

“Rand?” Nina whispered when they saw Rand coming up the stairs. “You’re alive?”

“Yeah…” the nine foot armadillo mumbled. “I’m still here…”

Bow looked at Rand curiously. “You gonna be okay?”

“Yeah… now let’s make Habaruku pay!”

“Right…” Nina sighed. “But first we are going to have to find him…”

“Most likely he would have taken off to a place where he thought we couldn’t reach him…” Ryu mumbled.

“So… buddy…” Bow urged. “Are we going to just stand here all day and chat, or are we gonna go kick Habaruku’s arse?”

Ryu smirked. “Yeah… hey Rand, Nina? What do you two say to that?”

“I say Katt will not be too pleased…” Nina giggled and Rand nodded his head.

“Nina!” Bow snorted. “You really got to hang with us more often…” he laughed as the quartet headed up the stairs. “You are really beginning to sound like Spar.”

Nina shook her head. “It was either hang with him, or hang with Sten… need I say more? Plus, Sten was REALLY beginning to get on my nerves with all his flirting…”

“(Can you blame him?)” Ryu mumbled to himself.

“What was THAT buddy?” Bow asked the dragon.

“OH! Did you HEAR that?” Ryu blushed. “Uh, I mean… how DARE he…uh… flirt with the princess of Windia… right?”

“Bad cover up…” Rand laughed, glad everyone wasn’t asking if he was going to be alright at this moment. If he lost his nerve now… he wouldn’t be able to take on Habaruku.

“Any idea where we are going?” Nina questioned.

“Ever notice how the bad guys have nearly unpronounceable names?” Bow asked, trying to make conversation; the long hallways were getting repetitive.

“You mean Ha-Ha… Habu… whatever the hell his name is?” Ryu asked.

“Yeah, and what about the idiot from HighFort?” Rand laughed. “Spulkay? Was that her name?”

“I think it was actually Shupkay.” Nina corrected.

“The easiest boss yet!” Bow cackled.

“What about the fattys? The ones inside Tunlan’s queen?”

“I stayed HOME for THAT one!” Nina cried. “The stuff inside Grandpa was enough for me…”

“I am really lost here. What’re all talking about?” Rand asked. “You mean to tell me, you went INSIDE people?!”

“Wished you were here…” Ryu muttered darkly.

“Um… we’re here…” Nina pointed to the end of the hallway, where they all saw Habaruku, his back to them.

“HEY!!!” Rand cried.

The priest turned his head to them. “Ah, so I see you made it this far! Do you really want to continue with this meaningless exercise?”

“What you did to my mother was NOT a meaningless exercise!!!” Rand yelled in rage, barely able to contain himself from running headlong into the bastard.

“Yes, well…” Habaruku sneered. “She should have not gotten in our way of our god!”

“I’ll show YOU!!!” Rand yelled. “RYU! Let’s kick his arse!”

Ryu nodded. “Nina, Bow? Ready?”

His two friends nodded.

“So you WANT to die? Fine by me. Then you will be sacrificed to our god. Archers? Attack!” Habaruku yelled as the two archers that were standing in front of him jumped down and started firing.

“Mah!” Ryu cried when he was shot in the shoulder by one of the arrows.

“Ryu!” Nina yelped as she threw lighting at one.

Ryu started to chant something, then his features started to change. He transformed into Kaiser dragon… the spell he had learned when Ray had to fight them. The dragon he transformed into to defeat Ray…

Kaiser roared and in one blast, defeated the archers. As Ryu transformed back to human, his head swam. He had just acquired the spell, and hadn’t gotten use to the power yet. Ryu slumped up against one of the walls after he was fully human again.

“You okay, Ryu?” Nina asked.

“Uh…" Ryu mumbled, dazed. “Did I just die and go to heaven? Why is there an angel standing before me?”

“Ryu,” Bow snickered and Rand shook his head.

Nina blushed. She knelt down next to Ryu. “Don’t you be telling Katt that Ryu said that…” Nina snickered. “Or maybe Ryu, either…”

“Right…” Bow and Rand both laughed.

“Perfect blackmail though…” Nina thought.

“Everyone’s idiot just ran again…” Bow mumbled, helping Ryu to his feet. “HEY! Buddy? Snap out of it!”

Ryu looked at Bow. “Uh… right. Now which way?”

Rand groaned. “This is ridiculous! We are just walking around in circles!”

Nina shook her head. “No. Do you here that?”

“I see him!” they ran to where the priest was on a ledge.

“So you beat my men, eh? Well, if you want me, come find me!” he laughed as he fell, Ryu and the others chasing after him.

***

“MORE WALKING!!!” Bow wailed. “Why did I sign up for this anyway?!” His voice echoed through the hollow walls.

“Can you be more quite buddy?” Ryu asked, rubbing his ear.

“Sorry buddy!” Bow mumbled, looking down at the ground. Then wishing he hadn’t.

“How did we end up on this stupid lift anyway!?” Rand snapped. “Damn this is high.”

“Oh?” Nina asked. “Rand, this is nothing…”

“(Easy for you to say, bird…)” Rand mumbled under his breath. “(You can just float to safety…)”

After getting off the lift, they headed down the stairs. They heard what sounded like a machine running.

“Another boss?” Ryu asked. “Think we should check it out?”

“Your call buddy.” Bow said.

“Let’s go then.”

***

“Another long hallway…” Nina whined. “Alright… shall we go?”

“Sure, why not?” Ryu asked. “Right into the trap of a boss…”

As they walked forward, two spheres zapped them.

“EOUCH!!!” Bow yelled. “That HURT!!!”

“Who’s there?” a voice cried.

“There’s someone here?” Rand asked.

“Probably more of our adoring fans…” Ryu mumbled. “Let’s go…”

“ACK!!! More sphere thingys…” Nina cried as they go zapped again.

“Are you crazy!” the voice cried again. “You will DIE if you continue!”

“That’s the name of the game…” Bow muttered as they got closer to the origin of the voice.

When they reached the end of the long hallway, there was a control panel in the center of the floor.

“What’s this?” Nina took a closer look at the panel. “A control panel? What’s this button…?” Nina pressed a button.

“NO! Not the button!” Ryu cried, but all it did was turn the lights on. “Oh, boy…”

There was a machine in the wall, similar to the one in HighFort. And this one had an old man attached to it.

“Who are you?” he demanded. “Are you not followers of St. Eva? If you are not, then kill me! I beg of you! Before this… OH NO!”

There was an alarm that set off and two floating eyes zapped Ryu and the others back. “That was the self destruction! You MUST kill me now before this thing blows up!”

“Another fight!” Rand yelled. “Figures. So what do we do?”

Ryu shook his head. “Attack one eye at a time!”

“What?!” everyone else cried.

“Trust me!”

“Alright…” Nina nodded and started a lightning attack, as Bow and Rand launched their physical attacks at one of the eyes.

Ryu himself kept transforming into his Flame Puppy dragon. What after seemed like an eternity, all three eyes were destroyed. The old man jumped away from the machine, staggering a little as he landed.

“I never thought that I would be free ever again. Thank you, I…” but before the man could continue, the walls started to shake.

“THIS PLACE IS COMING DOWN!!!” Bow panicked.

“Figures…” Ryu sighed.

“Gather around me.” the old man instructed. “We can use my magic to escape.”

“(Think this is a good idea buddy?)” Bow whispered to Ryu.

“(No choice.) Alright!”

They all gathered around the man and warped out of Evarai, just as the city came crashing down.

***

Ryu, Nina, Rand, Bow, and the old man reappeared in the inn located in Township. All looked around.

“TOWNSHIP?!” Nina asked.

“You were all thinking about this town. This is why my magic brought us here.” The old man explained.

“Okay… right…” Bow said. “But we’re safe now, right Ryu?”

“Ryu?” the old man asked. “Are you saying Ryu is here?”

“Um… uh…” Ryu muttered, sweat-dropping.

“Are you Ryu?” the old man asked gently. He stepped towards Ryu, while everyone else jumped back, not quite sure what to make of this.

Ryu stared at the man in confusion. “Ryu… don’t you recognize me?” the old man asked.

“Who… are you?” Ryu asked.

“Ryu, Yua is missing. I need you to go find her for me. Yua didn’t like taking naps and would always go play near the dragon.”

Ryu was white as a sheet now. This old man could only be one person.

“It’s me. Ganer. Your father. I may have lost my sight, but I can tell you have grown into a great man.”

Ryu was barely able to speak. He choked, then mumbled, “Dad…?”

“After Yua and I left you at the dragon, we were on our way home. When we got into the village, there was a demon attacking everyone! I told Yua to run and attacked the demon myself, but I was caught and forced to channel energy to St. Eva in that machine. I couldn’t believe it. the god I had always believed in was trying to destroy the world. Believing in St. Eva and praying to it meant you were destroying the world without knowing it!”

“Oh…” Nina whispered.

“I KNEW St. Eva was up to no good!” Rand snapped.

“Being near a demon for so long, one looses the will to live. I have lost my eye sight now for being locked up in Evarai for so long. Ryu, if there is something we can do, we need to find it.” Ganer finished.

Ryu just stood there shaking. His father… he was still alive. Ryu couldn’t believe this was actually happening. Part of him had believed that his father had died a long time ago. Now his father was standing right in front of him!

“Buddy…?” Bow looked over and saw Ryu shaking. “You okay?”

“Ryu?” Nina asked, concerned.

“I… uh…” Ryu found he couldn’t speak. “Is this really happening…?” Ryu weakly asked, on the verge of crying.

“Uh… yeah it is buddy!” Bow laughed.

“Ryu,” Ganer smiled. “It’s alright now.”

Ryu looked at his father, then walked up to him and hugged him. Rand looked over to Ryu and Ganer. He just nodded. He had lost his mother to Habaruku, and because of the bastard, they had almost killed Ryu’s father.

“Ah!” Rand said.

“What?” Nina asked.

Rand took Bow and Nina aside. “(I think Ryu would like some time alone with his father…)” he explained.

“Uh…oh, okay.”

“Hey, Ryu?” Nina called when Ryu had stopped hugging his father. “We’re gonna to fill everyone in one what happened, alright?” Nina smiled as she walked out the door. “I’ll probably let Rand or Bow talk to Sten, though… we don’t want Kay to have to deal with a medical emergency, do we?”

Ryu cracked a smile. Nina nodded. “That’s better.”

Rand nodded to Ryu and Ganer and left. Bow smiled at the dragon. He pulled Ryu over to the side.

“(I am glad you found you father, buddy. I am sure your sister is alive too. We’ll just keep looking, right?)”

Ryu nodded. “(Thank you, buddy.)”

“(Habaruku killed Rand’s mother, and because of him, we almost killed your father. He will NOT be forgiven.)”

“(Right…)” Ryu said. “(We will destroy him, that’s for sure…)”

THE END…