Dungholes and Dragonballs

[Morph]

Toldya I couldn't keep my hands off this kind of art form (however little artsy it may be). I would have to warn you though that if you do not like one anime getting mixed up with another, or the same for video games or movies, then I advise against reading this. I'll say it again differently:

WARNING: MAY CONTAIN CONTENT FROM VARIOUS DIFFERENT SOURCES, WHICH YOU EITHER MAY LIKE OR DISLIKE. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

Also,

DISCLAIMER: SOME THINGS IN THIS STORY WERE CONCEIVED BY PERSONS OTHER THAN MYSELF. CREDIT GOES TO THEM FOR THE THINGS THEY HAVE CONCEIVED. THE STORY ITSELF IS A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT BETWEEN ME AND SOME FRIENDS. ALSO, THIS STORY AND THE CHARACTERS IN IT ARE ENTIRELY FICTIONAL. NONE OF THEM ACTUALLY EXIST.

So, now that we've had the little bits, we can get right on to the loud proclamation of the title... *coughahumcough*

Dungholes and Dragonballs
Or: When One Fantasy Meets Another

Prologue--

Dear Diary,

I really don’t know what I should write on your pages today, but I’ll apologize to you first for not writing for the last couple of days. You see, a lot of strange things have happened lately. Just a mere week ago, I was a normal boy in a quiet backwater town (well, more like a street with an extra house or two), and now my life is totally different. The truth is: the town has been burned down. Torched. Destroyed. Along with most people in it, including all of my blood relatives! You can imagine the guilt and the rage and the sadness I felt within my heart that day. I can still feel it.

The changes in my life did not stop there, however. The other changes were slightly better, though. When I came to after passing out once, I found myself with the other survivors near a small group of trees just outside the town. The grown-ups were arguing pretty badly. Margan even pointed his finger at me and said it was all my fault! Said I was cursed and should be put to death! I don’t want to be put to the death, it probably feels pretty bad.

I was lucky then, however. Two guys and a woman came to us then. They looked really weird. Not only were their clothes strange and looked kind of expensive, one of the guys had wings and a beak where a normal man would have his nose! And the other, he was coloured all blue and have fins! The woman did not look all that strange, though, aside from being prettier than any woman I’ve ever seen in the village.

Anyhow, one of the strangers defended me and Margan challenged him to a god’s judgment. Amaterasu in the sky, a god’s judgment! I guess he took it real heavy that his wife died in the flames. He got his butt handed to him, though. That fish guy was amazing, even though he looked pretty weak. He managed to avoid every blow, and Margan’s probably the biggest and brawniest guy in the world! Truly, that fish guy saved my life. Too bad I couldn’t thank him, though, since I can’t talk.

Oh yeah, I probably have forgot to mention that to you, I can’t talk. Lost my voice, they said.

Well then, the fish guy and the bird guy were so kind to take me with them. I probably would have ended up dead if I had stayed anyway. Margan’s a sore loser and his sense of justice is stronger than any of his other’s, including common sense.

We went to a big city up in the north, near the volcano the elders sometimes spoke of. Along the way we met up with two other guys, martial artists. The fish guy (his name is Danar, he says he’s a ‘zora’, whatever that is) thought they were suspicious, because the other villagers had mentioned that the ones who had torched the village were two demonic-looking men, one of them with purple eyes—and one of the martial artists had purple eyes. No harm was done though, as it turned out it was only a coincidence. It probably would have been better if we had found out before Danar had summoned up his flame-spewing angel horse.

Oh yeah, another thing I forgot to mention. Danar is a real monster master. He has a couple of monsters under his total control. How cool is that? I mean, one of them is a nine-headed hydra (at least, that’s what he calls it), and there’s also a wolf-man that’s really strong. Too bad Danar is a pretty weak guy himself. Not a swordsman, that’s for sure. But he has this thing called a ‘gun’ that’s pretty sweet. And oh yeah, the woman I mentioned earlier? She’s one of them monsters, too, apparently, although I don’t know how someone like her could ever be a monster.

The other guy—the one with the wings and beak—is called Alikom. He, like Danar, comes from across the sea. He used to live on an island with other bird-men (or ‘rito’ as he calls them). But he probably didn’t like it there. Why else would he leave it behind? But he’s a really awesome guy though. He can just wave his hands and make swords appear in them. Magical swords even. It’s better than in the stories my parents used to tell me. Those never had sword-wizarding bird-men in them.

Anyway, we said goodbye to the other two men shortly after we arrived in the city. Danar and Alikom had to deliver a package at some place, but they did not know where exactly. Luckily there was a big guy who looked like he was made out of rock who helped us out and pointed us in the right direction. We decided to leave right after that, and we went south again, although we took a slightly different route, so I didn’t get to see the other villagers again. We ended up in Okari, the city where we’re at now. Tomorrow we’re going to see some guy named Lays. Supposedly he was the one who gave Danar and Alikom the package and asked them to deliver it. I now wonder what was in that package…

Oh, no matter though. It’s all in the past now, just like my ordinary life. The adventure has just begun for me. I feel like I’m a bit young for this kind of life, though. I haven’t even gone through the rite of passage yet, that was supposed to happen next spring. Oh well, I might go through a rite of passage somewhere else, I suppose. Who knows what I’m going to see in the coming weeks, or even months? I doubt I’ll see something like a lung, but perhaps I’ll see a lesser kind of ryu. Well, I guess I’ll have to wait and see what happens. I have to go now, dinner is about to be served downstairs.

[Morph]

Dungholes and Dragonballs – Day One, Part One
Of Purple Smoke, Blue Paint and Red Armour I

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“Haahhh… finally,” Danar sighed, a joyful smile on his face as he firmly grasped a sandwich and lifted it to his mouth. “Took them a good while to clean up the kitchen, but at least we can eat now.” His last few words nearly were hardly hearable because he had taken a large bite from his lunch, stuffing his mouth full.

“I still say we should’ve helped them with that,” Alikom said while he poked around with his fork in the strange meal they had prepared for him. It seemed to resemble a large round cake, but it wasn’t as crumbly, and it tasted differently. Across the table the mute boy they had saved only a week earlier gladly shoved his ‘cake’ into his mouth, a smile denoting his satisfaction with the warm food.

“Well it wasn’t our fault,” Danar protested, “they just shouldn’t use explosive peppers. I mean, who in the Nine Hells uses explosive peppers? It’s crazy.” The zora shook his head in disbelief.

They did not say much else whilst they ate, but Alikom quickly stood up from his seat when a thunderous sound reverberated through the air. “What was that?” He uttered.

The two of them, with the speechless kid right behind them, hastened outside, just to see that there was a large cloud of purple smoke hanging over the town.

“Purple smoke? The days just keep getting better and better, don’t they?” Danar remarked. Turning to Alikom, a small signal between the two of them was enough to make them agree on their next course of action. Danar took a bluish apple-sized sphere that looked much like a masterfully cut gem out one of his many pockets and held it up. A portal the same colour as the sphere ripped open in the midst of the street and a creature stepped through. It looked much like a man, and it was muscular in build, but it was hairy, with legs jointed in an inhuman way, and its face was wolf-like, its large hands clawed. The beast was dressed in thick leather armour that covered its torso and part of its legs. It rubbed its knuckles against the side of its head, and yawned when it looked at the small group. “You rang?” A deep voice with a bit of a growl in it addressed Danar.

“Hello Yggdrinon.” Danar greeted the beast with a friendly nod, before his face turned serious. “We need your help. I think trouble is stirring in this town.” The zora gestured upwards to the skies above them. When Yggdrinon looked his eyes widened a bit and a frown appeared on his face. “Purple smoke?” He said.

“That’s what I thought.” Danar replied. “The smoke seems to coming from the south. Let’s go.”

Yggdrinon and Alikom led the way, with Danar and the kid behind them. Alikom had the best eyes, so he guided them to their destination with ease. A thin cloud of purple smog filled the area, enough to somewhat diminish their sight, but not enough to really hinder it.

“Aren’t these the docks?” Alikom wondered. “We were here yesterday, weren’t we?”

“Yeah,” Danar said to his friend, “but back then there weren’t any boats available for us. And there wasn’t any smoke…”

“I say we charge into the area.” Yggdrinon added his opinion. “There likely are folks hiding to jump out at us.” He said, his eyes shifting from left to right.

Danar shrugged agreeably. “Sure, Yggdrinon, go right ahead. I feel little for being jumped at anyway.”

“Alrighty then!” Yggdrinon unsheathed a sword that hung from his back. His mouth opened wide as he cried loudly. “YGGDRINON CHARGE!” The lupinal’s voice boomed as he ran fast into the purple mist, disappearing from their sight after a couple of meters—apparently the smog was thicker than it had seemed before. Just a moment later a loud crash was heard—but not as loud as the sound from earlier, and the breaking of wood. Danar frowned, and they waited for several seconds. Things stayed silent, so they decided it was safe to go on.

A dozen meters up ahead, they found Yggdrinon lying in the remains of a few barrels. The wood was still dripping with a blue liquid, in which Yggdrinon was covered. “Paint,” confirmed Alikom when he touched one of the planks that used to be part of a barrel.

“Ow, headache…” Yggdrinon cried softly, too much whiningly to be convincing. Danar’s palm hit his own forehead and he sighed. “Great. Good job, Yggdrinon. I think we can handle it from here. Why don’t you just go back to the inn and clean yourself up, m’kay?”

“Sir.” Yggdrinon said as he rolled out of his awkward position and stood up. “I’ll be back.”

“Of course.”

The remaining three persons looked around as Yggdrinon left the scene, and Alikom pointed at a door. “I hear noises. Coming from there.” He turned back to his companions and looked at the kid. “You best stay behind.” He said with a kind yet worrying look upon the youngster. He was no more than fifteen years old, they had guessed. Young for a human. Young, too, for a rito like himself.

He did not have to say more to the child. He nodded at him with a firm look on his face. Alikom gestured at Danar, who followed after his friend with one last look on their third man. Inside they immediately spotted several dead bodies of men in blue-and-purple uniforms with a gold symbol on the chest; that of a burning book. The zora immediately grasped hold of another sphere and held it loosely, ready to unleash the creature bound within it. This one had more of a yellowish tinge, but still was mostly blue. His eyes moved around to make sure there were no enemies nearby, but if one would pop up, he would soon meet the wrath of one of his fearsome beasts.


- End of Part One