• Issac tolled everyone "This is the price, the price I pay each and every time I wake up in the morning. The scars you see here are nothing compared to the scars on my soul, I've spilled the blood of more innocent people then I care to remember. Though I do have good memories with this mask, I think I've hidden behind it for long enough." Issac's hand released the mask, it fell to the ground with a deep thud sound, Cracking the ground on impact. Issac jumped on Ishiryuu's back soon followed by the other, Ishiryuu shot strate up in the air knocking Alex, Cain, and Blare off thier feet and on thier bellies.

    Ishiryuu stopped about a mile off the ground, Issac said "I forgot, you may want to hang on to something." Ishiryuu began to move forward at incredable speed, Alex, and Cain nearly fell off his back but were able to fine positons with minimum wind resistance so they didn't get swepped off. Blare had a harder time, she couldn't keep her balance, so she found some small openings in the stones that make up Ishiryuu's body. Blare grabbed two of the openings and put her feet in two others so she could brace herself. If she didn't the wind pressure would knock her off.

    Once Ishiryuu landed in Moscow Baret jumped down and said "Wait here, I'll be right back." Right then a guy came out of the building Baret was walking toward, the mans face looked as though he had seen a ghost. The man began to walk backward toward the door, when he tried to turn to run back inside but Baret's massive arm launched his sword through the air with unimaginable power and persition. The blade pierced the mans torso and pinned him to the wall of the building, Baret walked up to the end of his sword and said "I know you've moved Leera since the last time tried to take her back. Where is she?"

    The man answered "I don't know. One of our guys went out drinking, and started shooting off his that we had her. Some guy showed up the next day and slaughtered everyone, I'm still alive only because I was out on a food run for the girl when he attacked." Baret asked "Who took her, what was his name, what did he look like?!" "He had a young guy with him, the kid called him... Drake." Those where the mans last words, before his body pumped itself dry of blood. Baret pulled his sword out of the wall, slung the blood off it, and walked toward Ishiryuu.

    When Baret got to Ishiryuu's side Issac asked "So who is this Drake guy, you know him?" Baret answered "Not the man but I know the name, I've heard stories of a human living on the dead island just south of Italy, it used to be called Sicily. They say he works for a high class demon, grabbing up stray kids and feeding to the demon so Drake can extend his own life. The demon doesn't care if the kids are demon or human, thats what the stories say anyway." Cain added "So you have no idea where she is." Baret stabbed his sword vertically in the ground, leaned on it, crossed his arms and said "Now that I have a basic direction, I can easily find her energy signal and follow it to the source."

    Baret closed his eyes and after a few seconds he opened them and said "I've got her!" Baret grabbed his sword out of the ground, slamed it acoss his back, jumped onto Ishiryuu and said "Her signal's fanit, she's fighting someone. We have to get to Leera fast, she's south southwest from here." Ishyryuu took off again, Baret led them strate to the island. As soon as Ishiryuu entered the island's air space his body fell the ground, thankfuly he was only a few feet off the ground. Alex shaken from her nap asked "What happend, are you alright Ishiryuu?" Ishiryuu answered "This place its a dragon's tomb, no dragon can stay here for long or else they will die. I must leave and gather my strength, I will return when I am needed again."

    Ishiryuu closed his eyes then faded into the earth. Baret wasted no time in running toward Leera's signal, soon followed by Blare, Alex, Issac and Cain. The five came upon a hill, Cain stopped Baret at the base and said "Thier fighting on the other side of this hill right? If we move quietly we can drop this guy without him even knowing we'er here." Just then a gun shot rang out, and the sound of young woman's scream filled the air. Baret got to the top of the hill just in time see Leera fall backwards onto the ground, about ten feet away Baret saw a man about six feet tall waering a black trench coat in his right hand was a silver fifty caliber handgun. Without waiting for the others to catch up Baret ran down the hill drew his sword and yelled "Draaake!!!"

    Drake turned and opened fire on him, Baret flipped his sword down infront of himself like a sheild and deflected the bullets. Once Drake was inside Baret's strikeing distance Baret swung a powerful horazontal slash, Drake jumped over both the sword and Baret, but before he could turn get Baret in his sights again, Baret was already bring his sword down on Drake's head. Drake rolled to the side to dodge the strike but Baret was somehow one step ahead with another horazontal slash. Drake jumped over Baret again but that was what Baret was waiting for, as soon as Drake was over head with his back toward the ground Baret grabbed the back of Drake's coat collar and slamed him face down on the ground.

    Baret wasn't done yet, he swung Drake around and tried to slam him to the ground again but Drake slid out of his coat and flew about fifty feet away. Drake caught himself on his right foot, left knee and left hand Baret dropped the coat and turned toward Drake. Baret noticed Drake had a second gun, a black fifty caliber handgun, in a holster under his right arm. Drake took the second gun into his left hand and open fired on Baret again, Baret ran to the side to dodge the bullets; Drake did the same to keep up with him. Baret stopped, pulled down his mask, and shot water from his mouth the water was strong enough to knock the bullets out of the air.

    Drake said "Nice trick but lets see you try to stop this." Drake flipped the silver gun back into its holster, pulled back the black gun's slide and locked it, Drake then pulled a odd looking bullet from an ammo belt around his waist. He slid the bullet into the gun's chamber, clicked it shut and took aim at Baret. Black energy began to gather at the tip of the gun barrel, Baret could tell the coming blast was powerful enough to rip a mountain in half, he began franticly looking for somewhere to dodge the blast, but he knew no matter which way he went the shot would be big enough to catch him. Baret tried the water blast from his mouth, but the black energy had made a barrier.

    The water from Baret's blast rained down on the earth around them turning the dirt to mud. Drake smiled and said "You're a great warrior, but I cannot allow you to reach the children. I swore to protect them untill... MY FINAL BREATH!!!" Drake unleashed his shot, a quick flash followed by the sound of a thunderus explosion, and enormus beam of black energy. When the dust settled the only trace of Baret was his sword stabbed into the ground, Drake pulled his second gun and cautiously approched Baret's sword thinking to himself "This is all wrong, there should atleast be pieces of him left. So where are the pieces?"

    Suddenly hands made of mud shot up and grabbed Drake's ankles. Drake fired shot after shot into the mud hoping to hit something, once the mud hands pulled Drake into the ground up to his waist, a second pair of hands grabbed Drake's arms at the wrists and pulled his arms underground. Drake ,now trapped in the earth half way up his torso, looked infront of him and saw a figure rising form the mud, he realized it was Baret. What Drake noticed before anything was Baret did not a single speck of mud or dirt on his cloths. Baret asked "What did you do to her?" Just then an unknown woman attcked Baret from behind and sliced his head off with claws straped to the back of her hands.

    Baret's dead body turned into mud then splashed to the ground, the woman stood stund at what she had just seen. She ran toward Drake and was about to start trying to dig him out when Baret poped out of the ground like a jack in the box, grabbing the woman by her neck, and holding her in the air. Drake yelled "NO, AMY!!!" Baret maliciously said "I knew that mud-clone would get you out of hiding. Now Drake, I'm going to ask you a few questions. What did you do to Leera?" Drake answered "I didn't do anything to her." Baret balled up his free hand into fist, and struck Amy's gut with a massively powerful blow.

    With Amy's cry of pain Drake realized Baret was not a threat to anyone, he was merely trying to take back what was taken from him. Baret then said "Throughout my life I've learned how to destroy anyone human or demon. When ever you refuse to answer me this woman, Amy will suffer for it, what did you do to Leera?" Drake answered "My shot never hit her, A demon poped out of the ground right behind her. She didn't see the thing, I spun around and tried to put a bullet between it's eyes, but an earth demon like that one faded into the ground before the bullet hit him. The shot scared her so bad she screamed, then passed out."

    Baret released Amy's neck, she fell to the ground coughing, one hand holding her stomach, and the other holding her throat. Baret then replied "That was the only question I cared about, but I am curious." Baret turned and walked toward Drake, grabbed him by the shoulder straps of his gun holsters, and pulled him out of the ground. The two men stood toe-to-toe as if their battle was about to begin again. Then Baret turned walked back toward Leera where Cain, and the others were checking to make sure Leera was still alive. Amy was leaning on Drake's shoulder to help her walk as they walked up behind Baret.

    Baret said "I had one more question, What did you mean by you were not going to let me get to the children?" Drake brought up one of his guns to the back of Baret's head. Right when he pulled the trigger a hand grabbed his wrist from below and pointed the gun down and away from Baret's head, the bullet bounced off a rock and flew away. Drake and Amy Looked down and Alex was the one holding Drake's wrist, her head was bowed down so they were unable to see he face. Amy asked "Who are you?" Alex raised her head, looked Drake in the eyes, and said "You've forgoten me, come now Drake how could you forget Talus's daughter."

    Amy smiled big and said "Alexandria!" Amy forgot her pain and hugged Alex around the neck. The two were laughing, and catching up when Drake walk up behind Alex, put his hand on top of her head, and said "Little Alexandria, all grown up. The only problem is you'er not alive anymore." Amy asked "Hey yeah, what happend to you?" That was when Drake noticed that Cain was silantly moving up behind him, and as he looked over his shoulder said "Probly the same thing that happened to him." Alex replied "Thats my brother, Cain he is dead too, but you already know that." Drake grunted, looked back at Alex, and said "Spill it, how did you die?" Alex's face went sad as she said "My big brother hung me."

    Drake spun around pulled his black gun, and put it to Cain's chest, at the same time Cain drew his revolver with his right hand, put it to Drake's left eye, and pulled the hummer back. Alex quickly got between them and tried to pull them apart, she asked "Drake, why are you doing this?" He answered "You said he killed you." Alex laughed and replied "Not him, Cain is my little brother. My older brother Abel is the one who killed me." Drake took his gun down, put it back in the holster, and tolled Cain "Sorry about that. It's just when Alexandria was here she was the closest thing, Amy and I had to a daughter of our own."

    "Alex was the first child we took in at the orphanage we run now, Infact she was the one that turned the please into an orphanage. This island used to be were outlaws where dropped and left to fend for themselfs, a virus outbreak killed all the adults. Alex went out walking one day and foud what was left of thier village, she came back carrying a three year old boy in her arms. The kid was out cold, Amy stayed with him while me and Alex went to check out the rest of the village. Me and Alex found a hundred half-dead kids, we got them back to the orphanage as fast as we could."

    "None of them had eaten in days, and most of them where sick, out of the hundred we found only twelve of them are still alive. Most of them died from the sickness, but some of them were killed by the mantacore." Cain relized Baret was no longer paying attention to the conversation, he was knelt down next Leera. Cain asked "Hey Drake, can we get to this orphanage you keep talking about?" Drake looked down at Baret and Thought to himself "He swings a sword the size of a full grown man with little resistance, yet he shows kindness to this girl, who refuses to speak to any of the other children."

    He holds enough power to destroy cities in a single swipe, but he uses every bit of that power to protect her." Drake's thoughts slipped free and he mumbled "Apparently they're more alike then they think." Amy looked up at Drake and asked "What?" Drake shook his. Amy bent down to pick up Leera, just when she stared to lift Leera's body Baret shot Amy an evil look. she pulled her arms away from Leera. Baret gently picked her up, looked at Drake and asked "Which way is your plase?" Drake answered "It's a little bit south of here." He then turned and began to walk away, he was soon followed by Amy, Baret, and the others."

    Cain stopped after a few steps because he noticeing Blare was missing, Cain yelled out "Blare, where did you go!?" Her voice came from behind some rocks "I'm over here!" Cain looked behind the rocks and saw Blare on her hands and knees sniffing the ground. Annoyed Cain asked "What in the name of the four gods are you doing?" Blare stood up and answered "There is a weird smell around hear, it smells like a dried out, dead animal." Cain answered "Well forget it, the others are moveing on without us hurry up." Blare and Cain cought up to the group and Drake asked "What took you two so long?"

    Cain replied "Blare cought a wierd smell, it's nothing to worry about." Drake asked "What did it smell like?" Blare answered "It smelled like a dead animal that's been left out in the desert sun for a few days. Why?" Drake looked around and answered "We gotta get out here now!" Drake, Blare, and Cain caught up to the group and Drake toll them "We gotta hurry, there is a Manticore around here." Blare asked "What's a Manticore?" Alex answered "Manticores are giant scorpian like creatures, they stand on their back legs and balance themselves useing the pincers mounted on the front of thier bodies, When they strike with the pincers they balance useing thier scorpian like tail."

    I remember Drake dropped one, one time. I had ran away determined to find my brothers I got about a hundred yards away and one popped out of the ground and Drake blew his head off. Speaking of which Drake you know we can't out run one of this things." Drake answered "I know that, I want you guys to run I'm gonna fight it." Leera woke up in Baret's arms and a fanitly asked "Baret, is that you?" Baret looked down at Leera and replied "Yeah is me. Don't worry nobodys ever takeing you away again." Then a Mantcore popped out of the ground about about fifty feet away, The Manticore stood about a hundred and fifty feet tall, and from one side of its massive shelled body to the other was about the size of a football feild goal post to goal post.

    Cain asked "Is this little guy what you'er so worried about?" But before Drake could answer Baret did for him, "Cain, the problem is not this one," Baret explaned "The problem is the four that are still underground." Drake noded his head in ageement, then drew his guns. Baret removed his mask, reveling a burn scar on his left cheek, and just as Sakura explaned the energy Leera let out kept Baret's under control. Baret handed Leera to Cain and said "Keep her save." Then began to walk toward the five Manticores. Drake asked Cain "What does he think he's doing?"

    "Even if we all attacked at once we couldn't hope to have a fighting chance." Cain put Leera down, so she could stand on her own feet, took a few steps in the same direction as Baret, and answered Drake's question "He doesn't plan on fighting them, he is going to use the sakaretsu koori (Ice explosion) it's an attack in water magic. The user pulls in water like normal, then they force the water into the ground, and spred it all around. From there They have two options, One:Bring the water out of the ground in spikes so fast it freezes and stabes the enemy. But that way can be messey and there is a high probability you'll miss. Two: has a much worse effect on the user."

    "The second way the user brings the water out of the ground spining into the air, anything cought in the twister's area is destroyed. You see the water is moveing so fast parts of it freeze and it becomes like a sea of razer blades, the shards shred anything they touch. The side effect of this method is the user has to stand in the center of the twister so when the water comes up the user dies." By this time Baret had reched the Manticores and as they moved around, and positioned him in the center of their circle. Baret took his sword into his hand, but instead of swinging the huge blade he threw it into the air, and began to make a seires of symbols with his hands.

    Leera feared loseing Baret again, and ran toward the monsters at the same time charging a fire blast in her hand. She drew her back and just as she was about to throw the fire ball, Leera felt a hand cold as ice wrap around her wrist. She turned her head and saw Cain was holding back her attack, She asked him "Do you want him to die!? He used to say you guys where like brothers!" Cain spun her around and smashed her in the gut with his fist, she fell to her knees unable to move, Cain replied "You know who I am. Then you know me and Baret trained not only in strengthening our physical bodies, but magic as well. I know all the same magic attacks he does, the only differance is mine is more powerful."

    "So the next time you ask a question like that I won't just disable your body like you are now." Cain turned and looked at Leera with a soulless expression then continued "I'LL KILL YOU!" Right after that Baret's attack exploded out of the ground just as Cain had described it. Through the sight and sound of the explotion Leera and only Leera saw Cain's eyes close, a single tear roll Cain's cheek and heard him say "Good-bye... brother."
    Chaper 4:The Dragon's Fall-END