Desert Dragon

by Michael Rogers

Trinity: *She smirked, taking several steps back.* "Harh harh."

  Lance: *He swung the sword in a taunt-like manner, taking a step forward.* "OK, my turn."

  Trinity:.*She stepped on the glyph, causing her to inhale with confidence.* (He's obviously another person that hasn't seen the Rostic Dance-)

  Rachael: (The only thing about poor Karol's situation, is that not many people know about his abilities and secrets-)

  Lance: "Enough waiting, you're mine!" *He ran towards Trinity, raising the sword behind him.*

  Trinity: "Now!" *She skipped forward and sliced the rapier across Lance's sword.*

  Lance: "Wharh-?" *He slid back in shock, awkwardly stepping to the side.*

  Infinity: *She continued to dance, standing on her toes.* (Focus on my toes. The dance works better if I don't stop my momentum.)

  Bird Nest Woman: "What are they doing?"

  Karol: "A dancer.. Somewon who also uses Astragones and Newones.. Like Remenistal, instead of mentwooly summoning the Astragones and Newones, they use dances with special movements to use instead."

  Bird Nest Woman: "Wow." *She whistled in amazement and focused her attention back to the arena.*

  Lance: (Her strength, she suddenly pushed me back-) "Wateva." *He tightened his grip, arching forward with a smirk.*

  Infinity: "Defence Up." *She kicked the ground, causing a massive blue glyph to expand from her toes.*

  Trinity: *She looked down, watching the glyph touch her feet.* (Excellent.)

  Luna: (Wow, look at the glyph.. It's beautiful.)

  Destiny: "Yeup.." *She meowed in amazement, watching the glyph form from the bird's eye view.* (I haven't seen glyphs in colours either.)

  Luna: (Aha, you were colour blind too?)

  Destiny: (You're looking through my vision?)

  Luna: *She chuckled in thought and face palmed at herself.* (Wow, I'm such an idiot, aha.) *She watched the large glyph sparkle in the light, causing her to smile.*

  Lance: "Take this-" *He ran forward and slashed Trinity's rapier, causing his sword to violently vibrate.* "Ah-?"

  Trinity: *She smirked, rocking back and forth.* "Offensive yet, sister?"

  Infinity: *She stopped her dance, shaking her head.* (Not yet.) *She turned around and lowered her head, focusing her attention to her feet.*

  Lance: *He stared at Infinity's back, causing him to frown.* (Turning around? What an insult!)

  Infinity: *She stepped to each side, preparing another dance.* (I can feel-) *She closed her eyes, feeling the objects that touched her glyph.* (His Neurons are rising-)

  Lance: "I personally didn't want to use this on my first match, but-" *He straightened his arm, aiming it towards Trinity.* "LIGHTNING-"

  Trinity: "Rostical?!" *She gasped and stepped back, looking at Lance surprised.*

  Infinity: *She kicked the ground, causing a grey glyph to expand around her.* "Neurons Begone."

  Lance: "BLAST" *He pushed forward, blasting a stream of lightning towards Trinity.*

  Trinity: "Eek-" *She covered her face, squinting her eyes in shock.*

  Lance: *His lightning suddenly disintegrated, causing flashes of vein-like sparks to scatter away.* (My Rostickal?!) *He shook his head, looking at his hand in confusion.*

  Luna: "Aye-?!"

  Rachael: "He knows Rostical."

  Karol: "He uses lightning Remenistal like you too, Luna."

  Luna: "I don't use Rostickal, aye."

  Trevour: "That's right. Luna is an Elementalist."

  Trinity: "Tornado Swirl." *She hopped on one foot and stood on her toes, straightening her arms.*

  Lance: "Tornado, wat?!" *His face glowed blue and red caused by Infinity's glyphs.*

  Trinity: "Don't underestimate us!" *She firmly held onto the rapier, suddenly spinning at high speeds towards Lance.*

  Infinity: "Get him, sister!"

  Lance: (There's no way I'm going to lose to some ballerina cows-) *He raised the sword, bracing himself for Trinity's attack.*

  Trinity: "Harh!" *She skipped into striking distance without losing any of her speed.*

  Lance: (Shit!-) *He gritted his teeth, as sparks scratched off his sword.*

  Trevour: "They're strong, aren't they, boss?"

  Rachael: "I think that's thanks to their dances. When Karol uses Power Up, our strength-" *She formed a fist, causing the leather to stretch.* "It's amazing."

  Luna: "Yea, even my wind arrows become bloody awesome too."

  Lance: *His feet scraped along the dirt ground, causing him to lean back with a frown.* (Every hit is knocking me back.)

  Trinity: *She suddenly stopped and sliced the rapier across, knocking Lance back.* "Samba Strike."

  Lance: "You little-"

  Trinity: *She rocked her hips to each side, readjusting the rapier.* "Harh!" *She skipped forward, jabbing the rapier in front.*

  Lance: *He quickly flicked the sword up, blocking Trinity's jab.* (Why is this little cow so strong?)

  Trinity: *She jumped up, jabbing the rapier towards Lance's face.* "Harh harh."

  Lance: *He swung the sword and rocked to the side, blocking her jab.* "Damn-"

  Trinity: *She smirked, watching sparks scatter from Lance's sword.* "Harh!" *She landed on her knees, straightening her arm.* "Tornado Swirl."

  Lance: *He looked down in shock, stepping back.* (Fast-)

  Trinity: *She kneeled forward and spun on her toes, slashing Lance's legs.* (Finally, a hit-)

  Lance: *He jumped back, awkwardly leaning to one side in pain.* (Shit-)

  Trinity: *She stood up straight and twirled around.* "Cosmic Dance."

  Karol: "Cosmic Dance?" (When did they learn so many Azure Bursts?)

  Trinity: *She lunged quick small jabs at Lance, cutting his hand.* "Are you going to be defensive throughout this entire match?"

  Lance: (I don't have an opportunity to hit, she keeps spinning with those weird dance-like movements.)

  Trinity: "It's over!" *She skipped back and jumped high into the air.*

  Infinity: "Over it is!" *She yelled, morally supporting Trinity.*

  Lance: *He looked up with gritted teeth, holding the sword with both hands.* (I have an opportunity to get out of the way-) *He stepped to the side, awkwardly leaning forward in pain.* (My leg-)

  Trinity: "Harh!" *She descended and sliced Lance's sword with all her body weight, causing her rapier to bounce back.* "Oh no-" *She hopped back, almost falling on to the ground.*

  Lance: (That did nothing?) *He stood up straight, focusing his attention to Trinity.* (Is this some kind of trick to get me to lower my guard?)

  Trevour: "How come she's restricted to the glyphs?"

  Rachael: "Yeah. Your glyphs used to do that, but now they activate directly underneath me."

  Karol: "If we allow the glyph to naturally expand, the attributes are stronger."

  Trevour: "Like using the Rostical's incantation?"

  Karol: *He nodded his head.* "But doing this increases that additional boost."

  Rachael: "So a dancer's attack can be boosted more than once?"

  Karol: "Yhes." *He smiled like a child.*

  Luna: "I admit, that's pretty kool."

  Infinity: "Sister!"

  Trinity: "I know!" *She threw the rapier high into the air, back flipping away from Lance.* (What bad timing.)

  Lance: (Why is she retreating now?) *He looked down, noticing he stood off the glyph.* "Hmm?"

  Trinity: *She landed safely in the middle of the glyph, catching her rapier.* "Hopefully he's dumb enough not to notice." *She took a deep breath, glaring at Lance.*

  Infinity: "But dumb he is."

  Lance: "I'm no genius but I'm sure her strength came from that glyph."

  Infinity: *She gritted her teeth, staring at Lance with worry.* "Our style is better for support, so it's bad when the opponent figures it out!"

  Trinity: (She's right.) *She nodded her head, glancing over her shoulder.* "We've got no choice, offensive?"

  Infinity: "Yes." *She stopped her
dance, causing the massive glyphs to fade away.* "At the same time?"

  Lance: *He looked at his hands, taking a deep breath.* "Kool, I can feel it-"

  Infinity: *She skipped up to Trinity, standing side by side.* "Are we going to use it?"

  Trinity: "Use it, we will. I'll go first."

  Infinity: "Right."

  Trinity: "Ougi."

  Luna: "It's the Ougee word."

  Destiny: "Yeup?"

  Karol: *His body shook, as he stared at the twins with widening eyes.* (They've activated their Ougi?!)

  Lance: "Pssht, wow." *He chuckled and smiled with a cocky face.* (What's that going to do?)

  Trinity: "O' let my movement seek attention-" *She slowly spiralled her arms in front of her, causing her pink hair to blow back.*

  Infinity: (If the idiot charges for her, I'll get him.) *She bent her knees, standing in a battle-ready pose.*

  Trinity: "With these sacred and unknown rhythms, channel the divine powers-" *She spread her arms and pointed forward.*

  Trinity: *A large glyph drew itself around her, slightly forming a cross.* "Sacred marks draw themselves-"

  Infinity: "Pump the Neurons in, sister!"

  Trinity: "Pumping the Neurons, I am." *She smirked and violently kicked the ground, causing the entire glyph to shine gold.*

  ?????: *A woman on the other side of the stadium stood up in shock, waving her arm.* "I say, that is a divine art, do not let the glyph touch you!" *She screamed down at Lance, alerting nearby people.*

  Lance: *He looked up towards the sound of the woman's voice.* (That sounded like Angler?)

  Infinity: *She frowned and gritted her teeth, looking up to the audience.* (How did someone know?)

  Lance: *He looked down, noticing faint golden lines grow towards him.* "Shit-" *He started to run backwards, keeping his attention on the glyphic lines.*

  Infinity: "Quickly, sister!"

  Trinity: (It isn't a long incantation, but sometimes the dance takes time!) *She spiralled on her toes, swaying her arms around her.*

  Karol: (They... Seriously activated their Ougi..-)

  Trinity: *She suddenly stopped and faced Lance, straightening both arms in front.* "SOUTHERN CROSS"

  *The glyphic cross formed circles, as a bright light shined from it.*

  Luna: "Gah-" *She squinted her eyes, causing her to quickly cover Destiny's in realisation.* (That's better-)

  Destiny: (It's bright and releasing a strange humming sound-)

  Lance: *He awkwardly covered his eyes, tripping on his own foot.* (Bright-)

  Trinity: "Harh!" *She raised her arms, causing the glyph to release a blinding flash.*

  Lance: *He blinked several times, placing an arm on his knee.* (I'm lucky she said something! There was no way I was going to withstand that!)

  Rachael: "If that Rostical hit him, he probably wouldn't have survived that."

  Trevour: "On the contrary, boss. You can't die in these games."

  Luna: "You can't? That sucks." *She lowered her arms, causing Destiny to blink in a cute-like manner.*

  Trevour: "You can get in a temperamental position, even lose consciousness, but you can't die."

  Rachael: "What other rules are there-?"

  Trinity: *She bent her knees, looking slightly exhausted.* (He managed to run away from the glyph?)

  Lance: *He stood up and formed fists, causing strings of electricity to envelop his arm.* "My turn."

  Infinity: "I'll use it-"

  Lance: *He ran towards the twins, smirking with confidence.* "If it's the same, then I know it takes a while to start up!"

  Trinity: *She grunted in anger, stepping back.* "He's right!-"

  Infinity: *She skipped forward, grabbing Trinity's shoulder.* "Then let's try the Hi-Ougi."

  Trinity: *She looked at Infinity, as if she didn't know what to do.* "We can't perform that dance yet."

  Infinity: *She focused her attention on Lance, tightening her grip.* "Let's at least give it a try!"

  Trinity: *She stood up straight, nodding her head in desperation.* "Right."

  Trinity and Infinity: "Hi-Ougi."

  ?????: "Hmm?" *A middle-aged man comfortably sat on a royal-like chair, slightly leaning forward with interest.* (Hi-Ougi?)

  Trevour: "All these are rules implemented by Season, the ruler himself-" *He pointed to the man sitting in the royal-like chair.* "There's also a special revitalising wind which completely restores the contestant's stamina."

  Rachael: "A Hi-Ougi?"

  Trevour: "I don't know much about these types of Ougis-"

  Karol: "I know a lot about Hi-Ougis."

  Rachael: "How?"

  Karol: *He looked down, staring at Trinity and Infinity.* "It's my bloodline."

  *The twins stood back to back and held each other's hands, closing their eyes.*

  Season: *He watched a purple glyph spiral around the twins.* (I wonder what it could be?)

  Lance: (That glyph is small?) *He slowed down, as he became more cautious.*

  Trinity and Infinity: "Words don't silence us, allow our power to be expressed through these movements you can't even comprehend-"

  *The glyph shined brighter, causing purple flower-like petals to erupt around the twins.*

  Lance: "W-Wat the-?!"

  Trinity and Infinity: "Mystic arts shine by our emotions, come forth and show us your beauty-"

  *Hundreds of petals swirled high into the air, causing an insect-like brushing sound to echo across the arena.*

  Rachael: "Wow-"

  Trinity and Infinity: "AUBERGINE BLOSSOM"

  Trevour: "They're speaking at the same time.. They shouldn't possess a technique of this power."

  Rachael: "How would you know?"

  Trevour: "Their Neurons.. The attack they're using far exceeds their Neurons combined."

  Lance: *He lowered the sword and started to run away.* (I'm not stupid-)

  Trinity: *Strings of petals moved like water, causing her to gasp in pain.* (I can't control them all-)

  Infinity: (They're too heavy, my chest-)

  Trevour: *He watched the twins gasp for air, suddenly collapsing to the ground.* (Unfortunately, as I expected.)

  *The glyph and flower petals suddenly disintegrated, causing the audience to become silent.*

  Lance: *He stopped and turned around, staring at the twins.* (They aren't moving?)

  Season: "Humph." *He yawned, sinking back into his chair.* (How ridiculous, they used all their Neurons without even using the technique.)

  Spectator: "It appears Trinity and Infinity are unable to battle, Lance is the winner!"

  Lance: "Phew, 'bout time." *He turned around and started to walk out.*

  Trinity: *She twitched in pain, looking at Infinity.* (We aren't strong enough-) *A cool breeze wafted past, causing her to sigh in relief.* "Come, sister."

  Infinity: *She watched Trinity slide the rapier into her belt.* "Sorry."

  Trinity: *She shook her head, walking out of the arena.* "No, it's fine. I wanted to see if we were strong enough to use it."

  Infinity: "What about Karol?"

  Trinity: "I'd be more embarrassed if he did see us."

  Karol: (They were amazing.) *He thought to himself with watering eyes.* (I thought I was making progress, but they're already trying to activate our bloodline... The ability to Hi-Ougi numerous times with different people without the necessary strong hold of emotional or physical bonds..)

  Rachael: "It's too early to judge, but I'm liking Battling Oxident."

  Trevour: "Heh heh, me too, boss."

  Rachael: "Karol?"

  Karol: "Nee hee, yhes!"

  Spectator: "Next is Nathan Brails."

  Rachael: "Nathan?"

  Luna: "Nath?"

  Destiny: "Yeup?"

  Karol: "Nafan!"

  ----------

  *Lezard walked through a cave, listening to the sounds of his footsteps echo off the walls.*

  Lezard: "Why would he be here? So close to Surpreon, but..
"

  *Lezard started to awkwardly run with a slight hobble, as if he wasn't very experienced at running.*

  Lezard: "You said you'd get back to me once you found mother monster.. So why haven't you contacted me, father monster-?"

  *Lezard tripped on a loose rock and fell face-first into the ground, violently hitting his forehead.*

  Lezard: "Did Lezard just do a Karol?" *He spoke with a smile and slowly kneeled up, sighing with growing sadness.*

  *Lezard stood back up and started to walk down the cave, staring at the bright light at the end of it.*

  Lezard: "Jinkies, it's hot... Gasher Hills.. Even after walking through it, it's still so hot-"

  ?????: "Help! No! Stop! Hot!-"

  Lezard: "Holy fish-cakes! Someone's in trouble!-" *He started to run with a slight hobble towards the end of the cave, stepping outside to fresh air.*

  ?????: "Please!-" *A man dressed in black armour with the number thirty-eight stepped back.*

  Lezard: *He watched several warriors lying on the ground unconscious.* "Who-?"

  Thirty-Eight: *He stepped back in terror, causing his armour to rattle.* "S-Stop!"

  Lezard: (Warriors-) *He stood just outside the cave, unsure if he should help.* (Should I heal them-?)

  Thirty-Eight: *He held an enormous scorched shield.* "Get away from me!"

  ?????: "How dare you children display such disrespect."

  Lezard: "F-Father monster." *He spoke to himself in disbelief.*

  Thirty-Eight: "I just wanted some money-"

  Millard: "This isn't how the system works! You're meant to protect the people, not take their money!" *A red glyph shined brightly underneath him.*

  Thirty-Eight: "R-Rostical-"

  Millard: "FLAMING WHEEL" *He waved his arm up, causing a swirl of flames to spiral along the ground underneath the warrior.*

  Thirty-Eight: "No!-"

  Millard: *He flicked his fingers up, causing the flames to suddenly erupt into the air.* "Dear oh dear-"

  Lezard: "Father monster?"

  Millard: "Oh my-?" *He looked at Lezard in shock.* "Lezard... Estel?"

  Lezard: "...-"

  Millard: "What are you doing on this continent?"

  Lezard: *He formed fists.* "Is that all you're going to say? You haven't seen me in centuries, and that's all you have to say?"

  Millard: *He watched the fiery tornado lose its spiral, causing the flames to die down, revealing the warrior on the ground unconscious.* "I wasn't expecting to see you."