Dragons and Demons-part 9

Yay! Here’s number 9! Hey, Cloud, how ‘bout you do the disclaimer, since you got your butt kicked in the last one?! ^_^ Cloud: Yeah, don’t think I’ll forgive you for that too soon. Anyways, vvfan owns nothing at all except for Mercury and the other dragon tamers or whatever she called them. Me: Hey! Be nice, now, or else I’ll have Mercury and her tamer kick your butt again, you hear!? Cloud: OK, OK, I get it; just get on with it, alright?

You step forward and stop your CD player. “Why do you want to fight me?” you ask.

Vincent unloaded Cerberus and removed a round of blanks. “I simply want to see exactly how good you are. Is there something wrong with that?”

You open your mouth to respond, but a scream from upstairs makes you look up and race for the door. When you reach your room, you stand in the doorway and can’t keep a smile from your face at the sight.

Yuffie was being barraged by two tiny dragons, one red, and one black. You held out your arm and call them in draconic. (Note: Every time you talk to your familiars, you speak in draconic.) They appear in front of you, squeaking in excitement about an intruder and how they’d held her back. You laugh and look at Yuffie. “Well, they tell me you were poking around in my things. Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

“Er, materia?”

You shake your head and sigh. “You’re hopeless, Yuffie. You know that, right?” Vincent appears at the door with Cloud. You ignore them and speak with your familiars, Ember and Pyro. “So, where is Flame?”

“Taking care of your ruined shirts. He’s in the bathroom, and he’s making good progress, mistress.”

“Haven’t I told you not to call me that? I have a name, and I’m not your master.”

“Alright, Lady _____.”

“Oh, don’t be so formal!”

“What in the world are you talking about?!” Cloud asked.

You laugh. “Sorry, I forgot that you guys don’t speak draconic. Just speaking with my familiars, Ember and Pyro.” Ember, the red one, chirrups sweetly and waved a wide paw at Vincent. You laugh and say, “Looks like you’ve got an admirer, Vincent!” Vincent blinked and nodded to the red familiar. It chirruped again and squeaked before flying over to your bed and sitting on your pack.

Pyro growled at her and flew over to smack her. A tiny white dragon with feathered wings looked out of the bathroom and chirruped a question to the commotion. Flame squeaked when he saw Cloud and the others and turned to crystal before thudding to the floor. You sigh and pick up the crystallized familiar. “Oh, don’t worry about them, Flame. They won’t hurt you, my precious little one.” Flame slowly uncrystalized and chirruped curiously at Cloud and Vincent. Vincent cautiously held out his gauntleted hand and Flame sniffed it just as cautiously. “He smells of bronze, gun smoke, demon and forest,” Flame whispered to you.

“I know, the demon scent comes from Chaos, his inner demon.”

Ember growled at Yuffie and you hush her before turning to the ninja girl. “Don’t worry; they won’t permanently injure you unless you attack them. You may leave,” you say. Yuffie nods and charges out of the room. Pyro and Ember bugle in victory before swooping around the room and scaring Flame back into his crystal form.

Vincent’s POV

I watched as she laughed at the tiny white dragon curiously. It’s almost as if she has an entirely different personality with these things.

Well, angelic familiars will do anything to make their master happy. It’s actually surprising that she looks sad as often as she does.

Since when did you care about this kind of thing, Chaos?

Since it included Mercury, who is quite literally smokin’ hot!

I sighed and watched her coax Flame out of his crystal form and laugh when Pyro smacked into Ember. She has a nice smile.

Yeah, sure, whatever. Why don’t you just get it over with and marry her, Vin-Vin?

Do you have any idea how annoying you are, Chaos?

I have been told on countless occasions. But I’m serious this time, she is a fellow tamer, she knows all of my weaknesses, she’s a perfect match!

You’re just saying that because of Mercury.

I am not!

“What’s Chaos saying to you, Vincent?” I looked up at her. Ember and Pyro were sitting on her pack and Flame flew off to the bathroom.

“It’s nothing. Are we going to train together?”

She nodded and smirked when Ember chirruped and waved at me again. _____ got up and ordered the tiny dragons to stay in English (or whatever language they really speak) before heading to the door and passing Cloud and I. We followed her downstairs and outside, where she removed the Heart Blade and the Soul Blade and selecting something on her CD player. “Are you ready, Vincent?” The blades transformed, one into a gun, the other into her usual katana.

I nodded and removed Cerberus from its holster. Her pupils dilated and she stood frozen for a moment before lunging to the right and rolling to avoid the round of bullets I sent after her. She started leaping from point to point, never staying for more than a second. She shot at me as she jumped and I dodged the barrage she sent at me.

After a while of this, I reloaded Cerberus, which she took full advantage of by coming after me with her sword. I stayed back, retreating every time she got close and finally was able to fire a few rounds at her. She dodged them expertly and fired a few of her own. While I dodged those, she appeared right in front of me and slammed her katana against me, knocking me down with the flat of the blade. I rolled over and pointed the Cerberus at her, while peering down the barrel of her gun.

She looked surprised and then a little angry. “Tie. We’re both dead,” she growled as a light surrounded her weapons and they returned to normal. She growled in draconic before placing them in the holsters she’d made for them. She helped me up and stopped her CD player.

Everyone was staring in amazement. “That was amazing! Of course, it would have been better if the two of you were moving slow enough for us to see, but this is only the second time Vincent has tied before!” Tifa said to _____.

______ still looked upset. “I’ve slowed down. If that had been a real battle, I would still be dead, no matter how well I battled.”

“Um, what exactly are you talking about, dragon lady?! How exactly are you supposed to move faster than that?!” Cid asked.

She glanced at the pilot. “If I had fought properly, I would have thought to use my sword to block Vincent’s gun when he pointed it at me. It’s not even that difficult, but for some reason, I hesitated long enough for him to get to the point where he’d be able to shoot at the first move I made.” She growled a few more things in draconic and brushed a strand of hair out of her face before entering the bar.

Cloud frowned and started to follow her, but I shook my head. “Leave her be for now.”

“Hey, Vincent, do you know why she’s angry even though she just proved that she can kick any of our butts any time she wants?” Yuffie asked.

I unloaded the blanks and reloaded Cerberus with real bullets. “I think she wanted to prove something here, but since she only tied with me, she couldn’t do that.” I put Cerberus up and nodded to Cloud as I entered the bar and went to my corner.

Your POV

You growl in draconic, since it has more and stronger profanity, as you enter your room. Ember and Pyro were sitting at the window, so you knew that they’d seen the battle. They turned to you and chirruped happily to see you. You knew that they could sense your anger, and that they’d only try even harder to make you smile. Flame came out of the bathroom with a stack of cleaned white shirts. He chirruped a greeting and squeaked when Ember tackled him and sent the shirts sprawling across the floor. You let the ghost of a smile cross your face as you help them pick the shirts up. You thank Flame for his work and wish that the other two would be nicer to him. Flame at once asked if you were hurt and what you had been doing that made you so upset.

“I’ve gotten slower. I don’t know what is happening if I’m getting slower, but… oh, well. Anyways, we will soon have to prepare for the Ghost Blade challenge, so get ready for a break.” They whined, but you reminded them that familiars, angelic or not, were not allowed in the temples, since they were to test the tamers, not their helpers.

You ready your pack and glance at your CD player before putting it in as well. You stretch and decide to hunt.

You head downstairs and out the door. Cloud, Tifa, Cid, Shelke, Nanaki, and Cait Sith were still outside. Cid gave you a thumbs up and congratulated you on your battle, but you shake your head. “I only tied. If it were a real battle, I would be dead, so only give credit where it is due.”

“Oh, come on, no one has beaten Vincent, not even Cloud!” Cloud elbowed Cid and you only barely keep a smile from your face.

Vincent came out of the bar and you nod to him. Officially, we are equals. I should treat him as one as long as he returns the favor. “I’m going out for a while. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

“You shouldn’t be wandering out alone when there is an army searching for you.”

“I can take care of myself. I don’t need an escort everywhere I go.”

Cloud shook his head. “Yeah, but you still can’t take on an army.”

“I’ve come as close as anyone can without actually doing so. Just a week ago I battled dozens of those monsters when only one normal one that hasn’t been altered was enough for Vincent.”

Vincent looked at you. “They aren’t capable of making any decisions or planning moves or recognizing patterns in your movement.”

“Weren’t you paying attention to her battle strategy? She never allows patterns to form when she moves, and moves too fast for any decisions or plans to be made,” Mercury growled.

“At least tell us where you’re going,” Nanaki said.

“Un, can’t. I’ll be moving around a lot, and a few of the areas I consider as my territory and have traps set up around them.”

“Paranoid much?” Cid asked.

“Not so much paranoia as a precaution against unwelcome visitors.”

“What are you even going out to do?” Vincent asked.

“I’m gonna go out and kill a few innocent bystanders and hold a flame on the Shin-Ra building; I’m just going out for a bit, that’s all!”

Vincent took a step forward and you hold out your hand. “As far as I know, I’m still free, so I’m going to go hunt, alright?”

“Hold on, you won’t eat our stuff, but you hunt?” Cait Sith said.

“Save it, cat spy! I don’t see you saying anything about Vincent, so you aren’t asking that because it’s new, so it doesn’t matter.”

“Calm down, _____. We don’t need a fight between party members, alright?” Cloud said, stepping between the two of you.

You shake your head. “I don’t want to hurt him, but if he tries anything, he will be. I’m going to go hunt, and if I need help, I’ll allow Chaos to Ping me; and before you ask what that means, it’s just a fancy word for locate by connecting minds. Don’t worry, it’s not dangerous.”