Book 1: Magic
Chapter 9: Revitalizing, The Fae Forest
”Leave me alone!”
A small nine year old girl with red short hair, peachy colored skin, and a mark shaped like that of a dragon decorating the left side of the child’s face, yelled in anger. She wore gray cloth padded clothes, typical of that who are trainees in the Dragon Slayer Order.
That didn’t stop her fellow trainees in the slightest.
*Whack!*
The small red headed girl staggered backward, holding her hand to her now bruised cheek. Before her stood a small group of boys and girls similar to her own age.
The leader of this coalition, a boy, said, “You’re going to be beaten up Jaina, that way our trainers will pay attention to us instead of you all the time!”
The child Jaina put her hand to her side, and replied, “Not my fault you guys never train, if you did then maybe they would teach you some more.”
“Don’t be so smug Jaina, it doesn’t make you look cool!” The boy retorted.
“Can't we all just get along and be friends?" Jaina asked, hoping that would be the case.
One of the girl trainees spoke out, "Like anyone would be your friend, Jaina!"
"That's right, I bet the minute you become a Dragon Slayer you'll be all alone!" The boy leader yelled.
“No friends! No friends! Jaina has no friends!”
“Shut up! Shut up!”
“Wha!” A thirteen year old Jaina shot up, before wincing in pain, grasping her chest only to feel the bandaged cloth tied around her injury. The Dragon Knight sat upright against the wall, holding her hand to the bandages as she looked around to see where she is.
Jaina took quick notice that she appeared to be in some sort of natural cave, small amount of light from the mouth of the cave dimly lit the dark spaces. She realized that the repeated amounts of raindrops that echoed were coming from outside, thus explaining why the sun appeared to be giving less light because it was blocked by a heavy overcast of clouds. A great thunderclap sounded, giving Jaina a fact that the storm would not quit its course anytime soon.
Looking around more, she spotted the still sleeping figures of her fellow party members. The three pre-teens were out cold, Korra sported a crudely bandaged injury identical to her own on her left shoulder. While Gohan, through very minor scraps could be identified, seemed completely healed otherwise. Naruto, much to Dragon Knight’s astonishment, is unscrathed with no wounds to speak of.
Suddenly, said Ninja’s voice exclaimed, “Jaina, you’re awake!”
The teenager’s eyes darted toward the direction of Naruto’s voice, and spotted an exhausted looking form of him sitting nearby.
‘Must be one of his clones, so Naruto had conjured them up to watch us as we recuperate? A smart idea, glad we weren’t unprotected at least.’ Jaina reasoned in her thoughts.
“Thank Kami!” The clone began, “I don’t have much Chakra left so I was a bit worried I would dispel while everyone still slept. Look, in case you were uninformed. Last night we got our butts handed to us by Mr. Purple scarred demon ego face, my creator summoned us before he passed out and we brought you all here to this cave we found. Unfortunately, I’m the last clone as the others dispelled to try and give me more chakra to stay alive.” Naruto’s clone finished before sighing in relief, “Well, I’m about to go in three… Two… One…”
*Poof!*
‘Well, at least I know how I got here. But I still have gaps in my memory as to how we lost to this new enemy.’ Jaina thought, ‘Still, best to stand watch at the entrance until either Naruto, Korra, or Gohan awake.’
Jaina stood up, wincing slightly as she felt her chest burn in opposition. She took notice that her blades were not on her back, and glanced around to find them. It didn’t take long, and she equipped them back in their rightful positions. Afterward, she headed toward the mouth of the cave and sat upon a rock just a few meters away from the rainfall.
The Dragon Knight sighed as she sat on the rock, her muscles releasing tension that they received when she had stood upward. Jaina stared at the drops of rain bouncing upon the stone ground as they impacted outside, her thoughts wandering about.
‘That dream- No, partially a memory. Why did I remember it, that event was long ago in my childhood days.’ Jaina thought, absently bringing some salted jerky out of her enchanted bag, the preservations within the meat preventing it from spoiling. She tore at it, chewing slowly as she continued her train of thought.
‘Nonetheless, it means something. The draconic magic running through my veins prevents a memory occurrence within my dreams unless my dragon side is trying to tell me something...’ Jaina thought, remembering that certain fact in a book. ‘But that is preposterous, it has never occurred to me previously until now. So why is that? Ever since coming to this Divine damned world, I’ve lost control of my troubles and abilities, and they seem to come haunt me.’
She pulled up her Dragon Morph Stone necklace, ‘And then there is this, I should be able to transform into my draconic state regardless of my body’s condition. Even if I was a child, I would at least change into a dragon hatchling!’ Jaina thought in anger, clutching the stone tightly, ‘Something is different, it is as if… Wait… Talana was the previous Dragon Knight. And she resided within me ever since she forced her magic to change mine. Perhaps it was due to her that I was able to change so freely, without training, and now I don’t have such a shortcut.’
‘If that is true, then it would seem I’ll have to become a Dragon with my own power.’
“Morning,”
Jaina turned her head to the direction of Naruto’s voice, “Awake? Your clone just dispelled moments before.”
Naruto Uzumaki stood up, stretching and yawning before he replied, “Really? Didn’t notice.”
The ninja walked up to Jaina, and sat next to a rock that was nearby, he then started a new conversation. “So, what’s up? Anything happened while we doozed off?”
“Aside from being brought to this cave, I don’t have any knowledge on what exactly happened after I went unconscious for the second time yesterday.” Jaina replied.
Naruto scratched his head, “Um, well, Gohan went ape on us, Korra went all fire berserk, and I got wild.”
Jaina’s eyes deadpanned, “Hilarious…” She said sarcastically, “But I need more information than you are letting off.”
“Yeah… Well, Gohan literally went ape on us. Like, he grew up to like hundred feet tall, smashed a lot of terrain with his fists alone, and blew lasers-”
He saw Jaina’s confusion on the word ‘laser’.
“Giant energy beams,” Naruto explained, “Anyhow, he blew lasers right out of his mouth, blowing up literally anything that got in his way! Though… He didn’t have any control in the slightest.” The orange-clad shinobi finished.
“And Korra?” Jaina questioned.
“Pretty much what you expect, a rage flame that was so large it looked like a ocean wave engulfing purple freak and he wiped out.” Naruto said.
Jaina nodded, Naruto’s strange terms he used to emphasis on the events aside, she understood the meaning behind his words.
Finally, the Dragon Knight asked, “What about you? I swore I saw some sort of red energy seemingly boiling around your form when I got critically injured.”
“Well.. Uh… I… It was a technique I learned! Yeah, makes my chakra go all red and super strong, my ‘Holy Shit’ mode.” Naruto quickly said.
“Forgive me, I don’t find your answer all too believable.” Jaina said as her silver glowing eyes seem to have reptile-like slits for a second.
Naruto noticed this, “Uh, are you okay?"
Jaina tried to delve into Naruto's outer thoughts with her draconian mind reading abilities, but the minute her mind touched his she felt pushed back by force, causing her to reel back. She clutched her head in as it thumped a bit in pain before she recovered.
Naruto seemed oblivious to her previous action, "Jaina, you there? You sick? I hope not, because that's annoying!" He exclaimed.
Jaina looked up, blinking and decided to change the subject. "How so?"
Naruto lay back a bit, his expression of that remembering memories, "Well, there was this one time I caught a cold, kept sneezing all the time! Then, I was carrying some pepper when I met Sakura, accidentally sneezed and it flew into her face... Yeah, got a screaming for that, hehe." He began his story.
Jaina lay her arms on her legs, listening in to the ninja's story as the rain continued to fall heavily outside the cave.
"Suddenly, that very same night, I was attacked in my own bed by needles that put you to sleep on impact!"
"What..." Jaina said in disbelief.
"I know right? Anyhow, what happened next was a wild goose chase as I was sought after by my own fellow ninja, all because they thought I was having some supposedly dangerous disease cause Sakura was sick!" Naruto restarted his story, "But it turned out she only had allergies from the pepper, so it was all a fraud."
Jaina snickered slightly, that was a bit humorous. "I guess I'll return the favor with a story of my own," the Dragon Knight said, thinking back on her memories to find a humor-filled moment. After a few more seconds, the story hit her.
"I have it in mind now," She stated, "In Broken Valley, I was exploring the surrounding area nearby the town when I came across a goblin camp. Now, goblins are pretty stupid, let me tell you, they couldn’t tell a difference between cattle and swine. A small band of these creatures tried to ambush me from an abandoned wooden watch tower, at first I was prepared to fight, but instead of climbing down, they leapt from the top to try and jump attack me.”
Naruto nodded, paying attention to the rare moment Jaina actually talked about herself and her past.
“Instead of looking where they were leaping off, the three goblins all hit their heads on the exact same tree branch and began spinning in the air like cartwheels.” Jaina grinned for a brief moment, “Where they proceeded to crash into their own hovels, breaking them apart, and die from their own idiocy.”
“Wooow, that’s… So stupid!” Naruto chuckled.
Jaina giggled, making Naruto perk up at hearing such a feminine sort of laughter from a tomboyish girl. “Yeah, quite a foolish moment.” Jaina stated, ending her laughter with a facial expression resembling that of someone remembering the past.
Naruto raised his hand, pointing toward the outskirts of the cave, “Look, it stopped raining. Should we wake up Gohan and Korra?” the ninja questioned.
The Dragon Knight of Rivellon nodded her head in agreement, “Yes, it’s best we get moving. Our enemy knows we’ve been injured and possibly taken refuge around this area. If we journey now, we should be without any future ambushes.” Jaina finished.
“Um, just what I was thinking!” Naruto said, nodding his own head in approval.
The two heroes went over to their sleeping companions, awaking them by gently shaking their bodies. The first to awaken happen to be Gohan, who groaned slightly before opening his eyes. The half saiyan Z-fighter sat upward, stretching his arms as he yawned loudly before looking up to both Jaina and Naruto.
“Hey, um, what happened?” Gohan said, rubbing his head, “My head is pounding me…”
“Giant battle, clones brought to cave, we lost, waking you up.” Naruto nutshelled it all in a single sentence.
“Well that was very informative,” Jaina deadpanned on him.
“Heh,” Gohan snickered, “Nice to know you two are fine then.”
Naruto grinned, “Hey, it’ll take more than a ugly ass cow to beat me! Ya know!” He exclaimed, pointing his thumb at himself.
Korra groaned, and tried to cancel the sound caused by her rowdy companion by covering her ears with her hands, “Still as loud as ever too!”
“Oh come on, why does everyone against me?” Naruto said, the upper half of his body hanging downward in a dramatic sorrowful fashion.
Gohan stood up, and patted the ninja’s back, “We just like messing with you,”
Naruto perked up, scratching the back of his blond hair, “Yeah, I know!” He said.
Korra stood up, yawning a bit before looking at everyone, “Got any food?” She said, before she winced in pain, grasping her shoulder joint to see it having a large bandage on it. “Ow… That looks nasty…” She said, rubbing it gently.
Jaina took notice of this, “Oh yes, we should probably heal up before heading out.” the Dragon Knight stated, she reached for her small pouch and pulled out a few minor healing potions, the red liquid sloshing about within as she handed out the vial to Korra.
“Here,” Jaina started to say, “This will recover your physical wounds enough to be able to travel.”
Korra grasped the vial, and looked to Jaina, “How are you having all of these vials in that small pouch?” The Avatar asked curiously, pointing toward the object in question.
Naruto replied for Jaina, “She said it was enchanted, it’s like a sealing scroll in my world, in that it holds more than it seems to be able to.” He finished.
“I have capsules in my world, but those can only hold usually one object at a time. Then again, it’s a technological object, not magical.” Gohan spoke up.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up a second,” Naruto said, his hands raised up as he looked toward the half saiyan martial artist, “You have these things called capsules that do the same thing as a scroll, expect without using any chakra or magic? Just science and stuff?”
“Pretty much,” Gohan replied.
Korra blinked, “So, you got like, flying cars too or something?” She said.
“Yep, well, they hover more than fly.” the hybrid saiyan stated.
Both orange-clad ninja and blue clothed Avatar whistled in awe. Gohan’s world must be much more advanced than theirs is.
*GRUMBLE*
Jaina, Naruto, and Korra looked to Gohan with deadpanned expressions, the latter sweatdropped nervously as his right hand scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.
“Sorry,” Gohan said, “Korra reminded me that I was hungry.”
Jaina sighed, “We don’t have much food, we’ll have to ration it out between the four of us.” The twelve year old red haired girl said.
“That’s fine,” Gohan replied.
Jaina nodded, “After we eat, we leave.”
The others nodded in agreement before the food from Jaina’s unique bag was spread out evenly among them.
Our four heroes traveled quickly along the road, ninja, Dragon Knight, martial artist, and Avatar trekked hastily toward their destination, being that of the Fairy Capital. As they passed by the long grass-filled plains, they came upon the entrance of deep, heavily foliaged, forest. The Dragon Knight, Jaina, brought out a small map given to her by the residents of Silvercross Town, the other three looming over her shoulder to get a view.
“Alright, we are entering the Fae Forest, the biome that holds the capital of the fairies.” Jaina stated as pointed her gauntlet encased finger on the map.
Gohan brought a finger to the map as well, “This current path is the more direct course to the fairy capital, but there also appear to be two more paths that enter the forest.”
Naruto stretched his arms upward as he began walking into the enchanted woods, “I’m sure we’ll be fine, what can possibly wrong?”
“Oh great, Murphy’s law…” Gohan said.
“Huh?” Korra questioned with a raised eyebrow.
Gohan turned to her, “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.” He answered as he followed the orange-clad ninja.
The Avatar giggled lightly, “Can’t wait to see what happens to him next,”
“He must have the worst of fortunes,” Jaina commented as she trailed behind them.
“Hey, I heard that-ttebayo!” Naruto exclaimed as he walked backward, facing his companions direction and not paying attention to where he was going.
“I suggest you look where you’re going,” Gohan said. ”Don’t want to make it true all too soon.”
Naruto ducked, avoiding being strangled by a stray vine, he immediately turned around and started pushing past the vegetation while keeping an eye on the road. As our group of summoned heroes continued their adventure deeper into the forest depths, following the light dirt colored path that lead to the fairy capital, they observed their surroundings with a peace of mind.
The surrounding forest continued to disperse the light around them, slowly but surely the sunlight was dimly blocked by the trees. Only occasional beams of light made it past the leaf tops as our heroes traveled down the road.
Gohan hummed slightly a small tune that had come into his head, following Naruto who also appeared to be quite joyous himself as they all walked along. The hybrid saiyan glanced backward, looking to see Korra checking out the surrounding forest with awe at its beauty, and Jaina to be reading a small book.
Gohan smiled as he looked back forward, “It’s quite peaceful.”
“Yeah, sure is,” Naruto agreed. “Looks a lot more… Planty… Then the forest we all arrived in, huh?” He said as he continued walking.
Gohan nodded, “Yeah it is.”
“Reminds me of home,” Naruto stated.
“What’s it like, your home?” Gohan asked, “I remember you saying it was called Konoha.”
Naruto turned around, walking backward as he nodded to the half saiyan, “Yep, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. My hometown, it’s a great place, I’m sure you would’ve liked it if you visit sometime.” Naruto said with a grin plastered on his face.
Gohan chuckled light, “Perhaps, after all of this is over we might found a way to visit each other.”
“Yep!” Naruto agreed before turning back and walking forward.
The Z-fighter looked up at the overhead tops of the trees, the leaves that fell down ever so often, and the beams of sunlight that past downward. His enhanced saiyan eyesight made him catch the little details of the plant life, such as the drips of water that trailed down some of the ground-level foliage, and tiny insects that nourished the environment.
He closed his eyes, breathing in deeply as he spread out his senses. A few seconds later, he noticed a energy signature that correlated to one that used it. It was no doubt that of a fairy, as it was similar to those of the first beings they rescued from the forces of the Darkness.
‘The Darkness, now that’s a name you would expect from a villain who’s hiding his identity.’ Gohan thought to himself, ‘So what is his true name? And what of the other… Elements of Harmony? Yes, what of the others? And how many other Elements are there?’ Gohan continued to think as he lifted the necklace from his neck, glancing down at the magical artifact that held a dormant overwhelming power.
‘Not to mention, I know I transformed last night. The others hadn’t mentioned it, but I can tell they have looked to me a bit cautiously every now and then.’ He continued, before looking toward Naruto Uzumaki, ‘Except for you, why is that? Does the power you exhibited last night the reason behind why you’ve not looked to me that way?”
Gohan glanced at the direction of the energy signature he detected before, ‘It’s moved away, perhaps a small scout of some sort?’ He thought. ‘I’m thinking too much, heh,’ a small smile washed over his face as he looked back to Naruto in front of him.
“Wha, Oh Kami, the hell!” Naruto exclaimed as he had been suddenly lifted up by a vine from his leg, and left dangling in the air, waving his arms about wildly.
“Told you so,” Gohan said as he held his laughter back.
“Told me so my rear end!” Naruto retorted back loudly, “Now get me down from here!” He demanded comically.
Korra and Jaina both mildly laughed at Naruto’s predicament, Jaina sighing, “You’re like comic relief for a ruler, you would make a could jester.”
Naruto’s eye twitched, Gohan couldn’t help it, and began laughing himself. The ninja couldn’t help but soon laugh a bit afterward, as laughter was a contagious emotion. Soon enough, Gohan took out the sword given to him by Piccolo, and sliced the vines off with one clear cut.
The ninja caught himself with a handstand, before getting his feet gently back on the ground and standing upright. “Thanks.”
“No problem,” Korra said as she began walking past him.
“You didn’t even do anything!” Naruto said as he began following her, both Gohan and Jaina beginning to walk as well.
“I did,” Korra said, raising her finger to prove a point, “I made sure the other vines didn’t get stuck around you.”
“Huh? How, I didn’t see anything.”
Gohan spoke up, “I saw her slice some of the vines around with waterbending so that you didn’t get entangled even more.”
“Well.. Uh… Sorry, and thanks.” Naruto apologized.
“It’s fine,” Korra said, waving a hand off in his direction.
The group continued going down the pathway, and it seemed to be, after possibly half an hour, that the forest’s plant life dimmed down. The branches clearing away and more sunlight shining through the trees, the foliage on the ground disappearing and the road made more appealable.
“We’re getting close?” Gohan asked Jaina.
The Dragon Knight nodded, “Yes, the Fairy Capital is just up ahead in a clearing within the middle of the Fae Forest.”
“Cool,” Naruto stated.
“Let’s go then, I’m getting bored.” Korra said, stretching her arms a bit.
“I concur,” Jaina said, she wasn’t used to being inactive without anything to fight for such a period of time.
Our heroes continued their journey, soon enough, the forest was giving away to a clearing. And as they turned a corner of the road, they were greeted with the faraway sight of the Fairy Capital. This capital city seemed to be fortified with large, wooden castle-like walls. A few large trees seem to be coming from within these walls, with houses decorated on them as well. From their perspective, the town was quite small in size.
“Looks a bit, smaller than I expected it to be.” Gohan said.
Naruto then said, “I’m sure it’ll be bigger the closer we are,”
Gohan nodded, “Then again, it’s the fairy capital, and they are small beings to begin with.” He finished.
“The walls,” Jaina began to say, “Look to be hastily built up, they aren't any extensive fortifications and is made of wood. It’s quite clear they were never prepared for a war against the Darkness,” She finished.
Korra spoke up, “Didn’t they say, in the first village we arrived in, that they usually just tend to take care of the forests?” She reminded her companions.
“That’s correct,” Gohan said.
“Hope they got ramen,” Naruto commented.
“We’ll just have to see then,” Korra said with a grin, “Come on!” She exclaimed as she started running toward the capital.
“Hey, wait up!” both Gohan and Naruto exclaim as they chase after the joyful Avatar.
Jaina jogged soon after them, the four heroes soon arrived closer to the grand capital of the fairy folk. It indeed appeared to be much larger than originally thought, as the walls themselves were some fifteen meters high. A grand wooden gate, crudely built in a hastened fashion, was wide open. When arriving, the twelve year old humans were stopped right at the entrance by a dozen or so fairies.
“Stop!” A male fairy, wearing strange cloth that took the appearance of armor, shouted with a aura of command.
Naruto, Korra, Gohan, and Jaina, stopped right on the spot. They did not wish to make enemies with the side they wished to aid.
The fairy commander looked to them, “Hm, you four have strange auras, but what exactly are you?”
Jaina stepped up in front of them all, “Humans, sir.” She said with military doctrine, her legs were straight together, and chest pronounced.
“And what are you doing here?”
“Told by a village near Silvercross Town to arrive here for information on the status revolving around the war against the Darkness.” Jaina replied.
The commander seemed to glare at them all, despite his small size, it seemed a bit intimidating, “Alright, follow me.”