The Legend Never Dies: Part Four

by Flamemane_2000

True Intentions

Urawa and I were nearly all the way through the forest, and about to emerge on the other side where Jynan was.

"So, you realise what I'm saying, right Drange?" Urawa was continuing an ongoing conversation we were previously having. "As a part of the Sacred Shoy, it is my responsibility, as well as the rest of our party, to protect all Shoyru from harm."

I nodded, and pulled out my sword. "I can protect myself."

"But you see, you're not a member of the Sacred Shoy, the Holy Protectors of Neopia's Shoyru. If a Shoyru is destroyed, a member of the Sacred Shoy can revive him with their white magic." He turned to me. "You're not one of us... so you cannot perform this ability."

Finally understanding, or at least I thought I did, I nodded once more. "Alright, I understand now. It's best we team up for now. I know a bit of magic too, but nothing that can revive a lost soul."

We came to the end of the long walk through the forest, and outside, as expected, was Jynan. But... what had happened to it?

It all seemed to be powered by supreme electricity, and it seemed to have become a robotic village. Metal buildings lined the pathways with wires everywhere. The sky was black from smoke that spurted from factories that were scattered along the town.

I looked at the town in astonishment. Even Urawa seemed a bit startled. Suddenly, Urawa dashed behind me, and held a small dagger to my throat.

I wasn't expecting that. What was he doing?!

He snarled at me. "Don't move, you scum!" I was confused. Suddenly, to my dismay and surprise, Taricha landed in front of me and Urawa. He looked different this time though. His eyes were different from each other. One was its normal gold and black colour, yet the other was red with a yellow pupil.

His body was scarred everywhere, and he had metal shoulderpads on, along with a large metal covering over his left arm that had a small opening that arched upwards where his fist was. His fist was covered in silver metal.

His tail was covered in golden rings that had spikes covering them, and at his waist was a mechanical belt with several weapons attached to it. There were many weapons on the belt, but to me, only one stood out a lot. A black sword with flame design on the handle, and an extremely sharp edge on it.

Taricha crossed his arms, smirked, and laughed a bit to himself. "Urawa, I see you have done well. Step aside now." When Taricha spoke, his voice was low, and sounded dangerous. Urawa moved away from behind me, and removed the dagger from my throat. He bowed to Taricha. "Yes, my master. I am thankful I have fulfilled your wishes."

Taricha stepped up to me, his sword clanking against his belt. He punched me in the face, hard, and laughed. I looked up at him, and wiped the blood from my face. Taricha laughed again. "What's the matter, Drange? Did that hurt?" He punched me again, and knocked me to the ground.

I got up weakly, and growled. Taricha had become much more powerful from the last time I saw him. He put his metal-gloved hand to my throat, and grasped it. I could feel something being drained from me but I didn't know what. Taricha's hand glowed, and drifted up his arm, making his whole arm glow a reddish fire colour.

When the glow stopped, he let go of my neck, raised his leg, and kicked me in the stomach, knocking me again to the muddy ground. Urawa and Taricha laughed at me, and Taricha spat in my face.

I watched as he outspread his blood-red wings, and flapped them, hovering into the sky. "Urawa, come." Urawa did the same, and flapped his wings, also hovering into the sky. I growled and wiped the spit from my face, watching the two fly off. "Urawa... you traitor..."

Stories Interlock

Ivory and Pharoah made their way through the inside of the forest with difficulty. Ivory was riding Pharoah again, and they had negotiated a deal. No Fire Whips, and you'll have a comfortable ride. Seems reasonable.

Ivory stretched and yawned. "I need a sword. There's too many tree branches everywhere. I have to duck every second minute!" She ducked again as she said this, to avoid being hit in the face by a passing branch.

Pharoah panted. "How many pounds have you put on in the last few days?!" Ivory growled, and swatted Pharoah on the head. "HOW RUDE!"

"Owch..." He walked on through the damp forest while Ivory fidgeted on his back, looking up at the sky. "Hey, what is that, Midas?"

Pharoah looked up. "Yeah, what IS that?" They were looking up at Urawa and Taricha who were flying high above them. "Doesn't that look like that stupid Nimmo who tried to destroy Drange before?" Pharoah questioned.

Ivory stared up at the duo. "Yeah... it does.... but who is that other guy?" Pharoah took his mind off Urawa and Taricha for a second to see a branch about to hit Ivory in the face. "JESS!! WATCH OUT--"

"OW!!" The branch hit her in the face, and nearly knocked her off Pharoah's back. She growled. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME SOONER, DUMB HOG!!!"

Pharoah rolled his eyes, while Ivory yelled at him. "I'm used of this, you see. She's always screaming. You know how usually when a princess screams, a heroic knight comes and saves her from certain doom? Well, the kingdom has learned that whenever she screams, it's best to get into a bomb shelter."

Ivory was too busy screaming(as usual) to hear what Pharoah muttered. She was also too busy to see that Pharoah had sped up. He was getting quite annoyed by now.

"I DON'T DESERVE TO BE HIT IN THE FACE BY BRANCHES!!!!" Ivory was still screaming at the top of her lungs.

"SHUT UP!!!!!!!!" Pharoah stopped in his tracks, and shouted back at the angry Ivory. "What if Drange is anywhere nearby? He'll hear you!" It was the only way to make Ivory shut up, and it worked!

Ivory settled down. "You're right... I'll give you a nice helping of my cooking when we get back home, alright?"

Pharoah nearly threw up. Her cooking wasn't what you'd call yummy. It always had this weird moldy taste to it, but we had to pretend to like it. It was only proper etiquette. "Um... thanks..."

Pharoah and Ivory trudged on, and Ivory was now paying more attention to the path ahead and not getting whalloped by branches anymore. "I have thorns in my hair!!"

Pharoah snorted. "You don't even have any hair! Shoyrus don't have hair!"

Ivory growled. "I know that! Some do though... right?"

Pharoah walked on, while answering the foolish question. "Yeah, yeah. You know, if you're trying to disguise yourself from being a princess, you have to work on not being so disgusted by small things like thorns. Princesses are like that."

Ivory sighed. "I guess so... hey, we're finally at the end of the forest! WHOOPEEE!!!!"

Pharoah stopped by the forest exit, huffing with exhaustion. "Sheesh... this isn't what I'd want to do for a day job..."

Ivory was staring at something that was close by, outside the forest exit. "Is that... Drange?"

Pharoah looked up. "It is, isn't it? Should I walk on, Jess?"

Ivory nodded. "Yeah. Time to put this disguise into effect." She grabbed some more dirt and mud from the ground, and threw it over her face. She then brushed it out of her eyes, and threw it on her clothing. "Just a simple peasant girl. Nothing more. Right, Midas?"

Pharoah nodded. "Uh-huh."

"Onward-ho!" Ivory shouted.

Pharoah ran onward, and skidded to a stop beside me. I looked over. "What the?"

Taken into Prison

Ivory looked over at me. She disguised her voice as a deeper, rougher one. "Who are you, traveller?"

I looked at her strangely. "I was about to ask the same thing, actually."

Ivory, trying to look like she was in charge, pointed her finger at me. "Tell me your name first!"

I brushed the dirt off myself and stood up. "I guess there's no hurt in telling someone else my name... it's Drange."

Pharoah let Ivory off his back, and walked over to a tree, sitting down. Ivory walked up to Drange. "I'm Jess."

She put her sunglasses back on from her pocket. She wagged her finger at Pharoah. "Over here, Midas!"

Pharoah tiredly stepped by the diguised princess, and looked up at me. I scratched my chin. "Is your friend named Midas or something?"

Ivory nodded, her hands on her hips. "He's my steed named Midas."

I shrugged. "Sorry, you may not know what I'm talking about, but, he looks awfully a lot like the Moehog castle guard, Pharoah_IV."

Ivory snickered. "Naw, he's no royalty. We're just poor travellers."

"Oh well. It was worth a try guessing." I replied.

I looked around at the mechanical Jynan that surrounded me, and sighed. "I've never seen it this bad..."

Ivory looked to me. "Seen what?"

"My hometown... this place. Jynan. I lived here for nearly my whole life, and even after the first assault of the Nimmos, it was never this damaged. Now the place is merely nothing more than a robotic... base...."

Ivory put her hands in her pockets, and held her head downwards. "It's a shame. I used to come to this place a lot. It was so beautiful. There were trees towering over it, kids would run and play... it was always sunny in the day, and starry nights were a sure promise. But look at it now... factory fumes pollute the sky so much, it's always night around here. There's so many soldiers here, it's practically a military base. Even the once-welcoming smell of the city has turned into an overwhelming stench of oil."

She sighed, and put her head back up again. "Maybe we should move on now. The sight of this once-beautiful city turned to this... it's sickening."

I nodded, and looked onward. "Taricha's base is bound to be somewhere out here."

Ivory brightened up, thinking: Great, now this is the chance I'll get to finally join up with him!

"So, you're hunting Taricha too? I'll join up with you then, Drange!" She exclaimed excitedly.

I looked to her, arching a confused eyebrow. "You sure, Jess?"

She nodded. "Of course I am! Let's move it!"

I sighed, and walked onward, searching for the base of Taricha. Metal streets paved the pathways that were once dirt paths, metal domes that served as houses lined the pathways, metal street lights that were as bright as prison lights shone down on us.

But then I realised, if all the houses look like domes, how the heck am I supposed to find Taricha's base?! I looked around with doubt that I'd ever find the place, when Ivory pointed something out.

"Hey, Drange! Look over there!" Over where Ivory was pointing, a huge spotlight was shining down on a grand building labelled NIMMO HQ. I shrugged.

"Taricha just doesn't hide as well as he used to. No matter, let's move it." I ran to it, and Ivory mounted Pharoah's back. Pharoah ran by too, and we were both at a steady pace, until two huge Fire Nimmos jumped out in front of us, and knocked us to the ground.

They pulled out large clubs from behind their backs, and without warning, clobbered us over the heads, and knocked us both unconcious.

When we awoke, we were in a cell with stone walls, and chains hanging from them. There were circular metal cuffs fitted around our wrists tightly, and the chains that attached to the metal cuffs were hooked on a wall behind us. I looked straight ahead to see hundreds of other cells, and large iron bars in front of us.

I looked to my left to see Pharoah and Ivory also chained up beside me. Pharoah looked around. "Jeez, it stinks in here. Stinks like your cooking, Jess."

Ivory growled, and kicked Pharoah. "SHADDAP, MOEHOG!!"

Pharoah squeaked. "Eep! I-I meant it in a GOOD way!"

Ivory growled again. "My cooking DOES NOT, I repeat, DOES NOT smell like a dirty dungeon!!!!"

Pharoah bowed his head, deciding not to talk anymore for it could result in further kickings. He learnt his lessons fast.

To be continued...