Episode 3 Building Ryuu A New Weapon

Kunai leaps to his feet, kicking a large stone in frustration. Ayame shakes her head. “It’s no use sitting here and contemplating about it now. We’ve gotta take action and find Lily. I’m sure the Myougun are hot on the trail hunting after her even as we speak.”

Ryuu shakes his head in contradiction. “No. Before we do that, before we do anything else, there’s one minor thing that we’ve gotta do first.”

Kunai, Ayame, and Ivy turn to Ryuu curiously. “What?”

“I need a new weapon,” Ryuu shrugs nonchalantly.

“What do you mean, ‘a new weapon?’” Kunai asks impatiently, his voice falling a slight.

“Well, in case you haven’t noticed, Kunai,” Ryuu growls, “I’m out of a weapon. We can’t go around with me defenseless like this, now can we?”

“Where the hell are we gonna get a new weapon for you, though?” Kunai replies, “I mean, we don’t even know where anything is.”

“I suppose we could head to the nearest town and try to find a weapons store or something…” Ayame answers, shrugging slightly. “We won’t magically find one here.”

Ivy suddenly points ahead off into the distance, where the heads of the furthest hills on the horizon just brush the tip of the skyline. “Look! At the foot of those hills over there, right next to the river…is that a wooden cabin I see?”

Kunai narrows his eyes, turning to stare in the direction Ivy is pointing at. He squints at the point for some time, before nodding slowly. “Yeah. It looks like it. You can see that far, Ivy?”

“Hehe,” Ivy giggles, “I don’t know, I never used to be able to see this far in my life before. Quite the opposite, actually. My vision was never very good, but all of a sudden I can see really far and really clearly.”

Kunai turns to Ryuu, perplexed. Ryuu scratches his chin, furrowing his brows thoughtfully. “It may be an effect of the Paradox transformation. We’ll have to look into it sometime.”

“Well, where are we headed? That building over there?” Ayame asks the sudden silence.

“Yeah,” Ryuu mutters, “We’ll head over there. Who knows, maybe whoever lives there can direct us to the nearest town, it’ll save us a lot of trouble of looking.”

As Ryuu and Kunai walk side by side, Ivy and Ayame trail just behind them, in stride with each other. Ivy glances up at Ayame uncertainly as they walk.

“So…are you really my older sister?” she asks shakily.

Ayame smiles sheepishly, turning to meet Ivy in the eye as well. She slowly nods. “Yeah. I’m so sorry for letting them do that to you…the Myougun initially took you and had you attacked by one of the Triplicates, but due to Grendel’s meddling, you got away…the price paid was your memory.”

“No wonder I can’t remember anything since before waking up with Kunai and Ryuu,” Ivy mutters sadly, “Sometimes, if I strain my head really hard, I can come up with a brief, distorted memory, but that’s all that comes to me. If I try to think harder, my head just starts hurting.”

“Yeah,” Ayame replies pensively, “I’m so sorry that I let them do those things to you. From now on, I promise I won’t let anyone hurt you, and they won’t anymore, because you’ve been separated from the Second Phoneme.”

“I wish that hadn’t happened, though,” Ivy answers mournfully.

Ayame glances briefly at Ivy, momentarily shocked at her answer. “Why not? They’re not going to chase you anymore now that they don’t need you.”

“Yeah, but…” Ivy replies, “But now they’re chasing after Kunai’s sister, and she’s going to have to go through what I went through all over again. If they hadn’t got me, the gate to the Night World would’ve never been opened.”

Ayame smiles, laughing slightly to herself. “You’re so caring, Ivy. No wonder Kunai looks at you like that…”

“Like how?” Ivy asks curiously.

“Nothing,” Ayame replies. ‘The two of you reminds me a lot of Ryuu and I when we were younger though.’

Ayame glances up suddenly, as Ryuu and Kunai pause in their pace up front. Ayame strides to a standstill next to Ryuu, bending over to peer at the ground Ryuu is kneeling over. “What’s up, Ryuu? Why have we stopped?”

Ryuu shakes his head seriously, muttering to himself. After some time, he stands upright, continuing to shake his head disapprovingly. He points down at the ground. “Upturned turfs of grass. Scattered fragments of arrows. The Naraku have passed through here.”

Kunai points forward some feet in front of the trails as well. “Look! A horned mushroom cap!”

Ryuu follows Kunai’s gaze, and his eyes land on the fragment of horn protruding out of the ground as well. “Hm…I see. Interesting, it seems they had a quick scuffle with that mushroom. I wonder why…”

“Ooh, ooh!” Ivy shouts excitedly, “Maybe they wanted to eat it!”

Ryuu turns and stares at Ivy exasperatedly for several moments. “No…I don’t think so,” Kunai replies slowly.

With a heavy sigh, Ryuu shakes his head, leaving the clues behind on the ground. “I doubt we’d be able to find out much more than what we know now by these trails. Although one thing is certain; the Naraku are nearby.”

“So it looks like they’ve already begun their search for Lily. It seems they really are serious about this. They’re wasting no time to find her,” Ayame replies.

“Exactly,” Ryuu growls, “and with them around, we’ll have to be more careful. Remember, even though we no longer have a one of the phonemes among us, we’re still a threat to them, the only threat, actually. They won’t hesitate to kill us off.”

“Well! Hello there!” a scratchy, coarse voice shouts in the air suddenly.

The group starts suddenly, caught by surprise at the unanticipated greeting. As one, they turn to face the rather burly but old man now striding toward them, several planks of wood held over his shoulder.

“H-Hi,” Kunai returns awkwardly, staring at the conspicuous planks of wood over the man’s shoulder.

“I don’t often get very many visitors out here nowadays…” the old man comments, scratching his chin while turning to face each Joukai member.

“Well, why not? This looks like a nice enough place to get away and relax…” Ivy replies.

“You’re quite right, young girl, but it seems everyone these days is too busy running around with their own business in Skylark nowadays,” the old man replies, “Usually the only customers I get now are Paradox Hunters.”

“Paradox Hunters?” Ryuu inquires, now peering curiously at the old man.

“Yeah,” the old man answers, “Paradox Hunters from Skylark City. You don’t get many who are willing to pick up the job, but every now and then you get a weird one. It’s damn well good that some young ones these days are willing to do the job too, or else I’d be out of a job.”

“What kind of profession do you run?” Ayame asks.

The old man looks slightly surprised for a moment, as he glances at each person standing in front of him with a peculiar look on his face. “You folks aren’t from around these parts, are you?”

Ryuu shakes his head. “No, I apologize, we’re not.”

“In fact, we come from—” Kunai says, before screaming out in pain as Ryuu stamps on his foot.

“Shut up,” Ryuu mutters into Kunai’s ear.

The old man gives both Kunai and Ryuu a slightly suspicious look. “Well, my name is Redley, I’m a weapon smith that works just on the outskirts of Skylark City, usually serving Paradox Hunters, since no one else these days bothers learning how to fight.”

“Weapon smith, eh?” Ryuu growls, his interest peaking. “Great timing. I’m in need of a weapon.”

Redley suddenly beams happily, glancing at Ryuu with new light. “Excellent! You wouldn’t happen to be a bunch of Paradox Hunters, would you?”

“No, we’re not,” Ryuu answers.

“Erm…what’s a Paradox Hunter?” Ivy inquires, raising her hand awkwardly.

“What’s a Paradox Hunter, you ask?” Redley replies, raising an eyebrow. He scratches his whiskery chin thoughtfully for a moment. “Hm…you four really aren’t from around here, are you? Even those queer folk out east know something about Hunters.”

“Yeah, well…we come from…really far away,” Kunai replies.

“Well, let’s see…” Redley replies, thinking for a moment, “Paradox Hunters, as the name suggests, hunt out these creatures called Paradoxes. Would you be familiar with them?”

“More than familiar,” Ryuu replies, “So no need to explain what they are.”

“I see,” Redley continues, “Well, it’s pretty dangerous in these parts, you see. Since it’s eternal night in this area of the world, these things called Paradoxes like to run rampant all over the place. They cause trouble and take lives, you see. Very dangerous and risky business, so we have these guys called Paradox Hunters running all over the place, exterminating them, making sure that we innocent citizens are safe. It’s an especially important job in Skylark.”

“Interesting…” Ryuu replies, “Since Paradoxes thrive on night, then it must be hellish for you to live here, isn’t it?”

“Well, yeah, of course…” Redley replies matter-of-factly, “But you get used to them. Of course, it’d be a lot safer way out east with the sun and all rising there, but you get some pretty queer folk and see some pretty strange things out there. Much better to stay out here.”

“Wait, the sun rises in the eastern countries?” Kunai asks. “But I thought the sun never rises in the Night World.”

“O-Of course,” Redley replies, “I thought everyone knew that.”

“Um…right, of course, I just…just forgot,” Kunai mumbles.

“Anyway,” Ryuu mutters, “I’m in pretty desperate need of a weapon. We’re planning on journeying around for quite a bit but I’ve lost my old sword and we can’t continue until I get a new weapon as soon as possible.”

“You’ve come to the right place,” Redley grins, “I make the finest weapons for miles around. Now, what kind of weapon are you interested in?”

“A sword,” Ryuu hisses, “That will be capable of maintaining extreme temperatures, and that will be capable of controlling an electrical current.”

“Extreme temperatures, and electrical current?” Redley asks curiously.

“You see,” Ryuu explains, “I don’t know if you know what it is, but I am a Hybrid Crusader and Elemental Mage.” He snaps his fingers, and a spark of electricity shoots out. “I am free to summon the elements of fire, water, and lightning on any whim.”

“I see,” Redley replies, “So you are quite the powerful one, I see. To have sustained so many Paradox attacks, and not have your soul ripped apart…”

Redley and Ryuu gaze silently directly into each other’s eyes for a moment, before Redley claps his hands. “Okay! I’ve come up with the perfect design! Your sword is ready!”

“What?! Already?!” Ryuu exclaims in surprise. “But you haven’t even done anything!”

“Hehe!” Redley teases, “No, silly! Your sword will be ready once I get some necessary materials…”

Ryuu groans as Kunai, Ayame, and Ivy peer over his shoulders at a piece of parchment held in his hands. Ryuu crumples up the piece of paper, grumbling irritably to himself.

“I can’t believe he’s making us go out and get the materials for him…” Kunai groans.

“One hundred Wild Boar teeth my ass…” Ryuu growls, “Who does he think I am?!”

“Well, we have to do this stupid quest for him anyway,” Ayame replies sagely, “Otherwise we’re just wasting time while you’re still out of a weapon, Ryuu.”

“Well…let’s see what we’ve got here,” Kunai mutters, taking the crumpled up piece of paper from Ryuu. He unfolds it, reading the list of materials. “Boar teeth…Horned Mushroom caps, Cargo eyes…WHAT?!”

“What?” Ryuu, Ayame, and Ivy exclaim as one. They jostle closer to Kunai, trying to read the parchment.

“Dragon Paradox claw,” Ayame mutters under her breath seriously. “No wonder he’s making us go out and get the materials ourselves.”

“But…aren’t Dragon Paradoxes…” Ivy mutters.

“Yeah,” Ryuu growls, “It seems you have a pretty good memory after all. When we stormed into Haven to find information about Paradoxes, you and Arai read it there. Dragon Paradoxes are Fourteenth Level Paradoxes, in other words, Triplicate Level.”

“Where are we gonna find a Dragon Paradox?” Kunai asks.

“I’m not sure,” Ryuu answers. “Since we don’t really know the geography of the Night World, it’s gonna be hard to find anything on this list. But let’s start with the easier monsters.”

“Look!” Ivy shouts, suddenly pointing ahead. She jogs slightly in front of the others, pointing as the ground sharply slopes downhill at the edge of a cliff. “A valley!”

“Filled with Wild Boars…” Ryuu mutters as he, Kunai, and Ayame catch up.

Just above the group, the ground elevates higher and higher, as stacks and piles of rocky layer rises up higher into the sky. Huddled together, a group of three men stand, cloaked with black jackets and capes. They stand just over the valley as well, peering down into its depths.

One of them holds out a small handheld computer-like device, while a faint beeping is emitted from it. He points down into the valley. “Traces of the Dragon Paradox detected. The trail is fresh.”

Next Time: Episode 4 The Return of the Paradox

Kunai: Well, it’s time to take care of these boars and mushrooms!

Ryuu: Then we can move on to that stupid Dragon Paradox.

Ivy: But who are those guys?

Episode 4 The Return of the Paradox coming soon!