**CITY DISTRICT, 10:00AM**

**AUGUST 14, 2010**

It was a busy day as usual, out in the city. Persons going about their business, sidewalk

vendors trying to earn, your typical business day setting. Of course, this setting wouldn't be

complete without Dragons; not causing trouble, but these were the preachers. Every day,

they situated themselves all throughout the city, sharing their beliefs with the populous

and inviting them to join.

"We strive to build unity, and oneness among all!"

"The negative stimulus surrounding the use of Magic Arts is as a deadly cancer! You and

your children grow in this world, forced to believe Magic is the degradation and downfall of

our society, when it's quite the opposite! Whether for medical treatment, spiritual or

mental growth, Magic is the hope of this world! Make a stand! Set yourselves free from

mental slavery!!"

The preaching Dragons seemed to be quite the polar opposites of the Big-Three, advocating

for peace and completely shunning the doings of their corrupted kin.

"There are those among us who have turned aside to lives of crime and violence; we do not

condone them, nor do we associate ourselves with them! They are vile!"

Most surprising of all...they were admirers of the Hunters!

"We have the utmost gratitude to the Two Clans, who stop at nothing to uphold the peace of

the land by suppressing those criminals! So, we encourage you all, through the Hunters'

noble agenda and our vision of development, to devote yourselves to the upliftment of this

very world!"

The public still had a hard time trying to process why these Dragons were so different...was

it just a facade? Could they be trusted?

"Their words are as pure as ever."

"No way, they're up to some shady stuff."

"But even they openly despise those Gangs."

"They seem genuine."

"I'm not so sure about them..."

In the midst of the commotion, two individuals were taking a morning stroll:

"A busy place, as usual."

"Of course, Sir. We're in the city after all."

"No, I mean our preachers."

One was an elderly man, walking with a cane, dressed in a dark suit and a hat. He also wore

gloves on his hands, seemingly covering his body, which was a bit odd considering it was

still Summer. But upon close inspection, his eyes...were like those of a demon. It was Ivan

Ryūjin. He was taking a walk with a long-time acquaintance of his.

"'They openly appreciate the work of the Hunters, and are disgusted with the Gangs'."

"This impression that we give to the public, is bound to gather up a following. It's been our

way of operating for all these years."

"And when they actually join..."

"Yes. We warp them."

That's right...that was the order of business for the Dragons; gather followers, give them

Dragon Energy, and warp their minds. Of course, nobody was aware of this.

“Having complete control over another generates the most effective form of obedience,

after all…”

"Although, some are given certain privileges if deemed worthy, such as yourself, Daisuke."

"Right. I'm allowed to keep my free will. I'm forever grateful, Ivan-san."

"No need, Daisuke. You've been a great aide by my side for these last few years. I'd be a

cruel man if I didn't spend my last days on even a little walk with you."

"That’s right…you know exactly how we operate, yet you still remain a loyal friend to me,

Daisuke."

"Would you like to stop here, Sir?"

"Yes. I should grab something for Gyuwhan as well."

---------------------------------------------------------------

**FAMILY GROUNDS**

**FIELD A, 11:00AM**

On the field, the trainees were at their daily routine once more, engaging in physical

activity. To the surprise of everyone, however, Tarik was on the field. Most of his

classmates looked on at him, marvelling at his stubborn determination. Zeke, Kento, Amira,

and Kinshi in particular were very concerned.

As they reflected on the happenings of that night, they vividly remembered the way his

energy had violently burst out from his body.

"I've never even seen Emir-san or Ilmar's brother do something like that."

However, there was none who was more worried for him than his best friend, Jamal. For

the first time, it was sole concern for another person that kept him distracted, rather than

simply being unmotivated. As he reflected on the aftermath of that night, he sighed a sigh of

uneasiness for his friend.

"Tarik..."

---------------------------------------------------------------

**TRAINING DORMS**

**NURSE'S OFFICE, 9:55PM**

**AUGUST 12, 2010**

In the nurse’s office laid Tarik on a bed, with the nurse, Satoru, Ilmar, and Jamal in the

room. Tarik was unconscious, and had been placed on a ventilator.

"Tarik...will he be ok?"

"His body muscles and respiratory system came under major stress, but for now it's

nothing life-threatening. He just needs rest."

"But, if he continues doing this, that's where the danger comes. The after effects that come

with the Body Reinforcement Technique will differ, depending on how strong the user's

body is. Tarik here, is still quite weak. Furthermore, it's unwise for a Yamaguchi to use that

technique at all. To be quite honest, he's lucky this is all that happened."

Jamal’s eyes teared up, sorrowful for what happened to his friend.

"Tarik...just when you were catching up with us..."

"Do you see now, Jamal?"

Satoru began to address Jamal, with an irritated look on his face.

"The two of you should stop."

Infuriated by these words, Jamal clenched his fist and threw a punch at Satoru’s face:

"SHUT U-"

Just before the punch landed, it was caught by his elder brother Ilmar.

"B-Big Brother?!"

"Stop it. I won't help you stop a fight that you started."

Being angry with Satoru, Jamal grit his teeth and stormed out of the room, slamming the

door behind him:

"I won't quit! Neither of us will!"

Ignoring him, Satoru turned his head without saying a word. The nurse was then about to

continue what she was saying:

"Well, as I was saying, he'll be fine, he just needs some re-"

"?"

Tarik…had woken up. He heard the entire confrontation that occurred. Turning to his older

brother, he simply said to him:

"...Sato."

"Leave us...alone."

Upon saying that, he turned his head and went back to sleep.

The nurse however, was amazed at what just happened.

"This child is only 8 years old...and he woke up so soon after all he did?"

Being irritated once more by his brother’s blind determination, Satoru turned and walked

out of the room. Ilmar followed after him.

"Whatever. Do what you want, stupid brother."

---------------------------------------------------------------

**PRESENT**

The day that followed, Tarik had woken up, but he didn’t leave the nurse’s office, still

feeling pains all over. But on this day, he shockingly turned up for training as if nothing

ever happened. He did however, refrain from talking to his classmates for some reason,

even Jamal.

As Tarik continued his exercise, completely tuned in, he was caught off guard when

someone stopped by to greet him:

"Oi, blondie."

"S-Sensei!"

It was Steffan! After giving his pupil a day, he had stopped by once more to check on him.

"I thought I'd stop by and check on your progress. How is it?"

Steffan hadn’t actually heard about what happened on that night; in fact, only the trainees

and their teachers Chojo and Miwa were aware. Tarik then decided to elaborate on what

had happened.

"Actually...I wanted to talk to you, sensei."

"Hm?"

While Tarik and Steffan communed, a few of his classmates looked on. It was the first time

they really saw him speaking since he returned.

"Look, Rakulli-san is back."

"Tarik's probably telling him what happened that night."

It was at that point, Zeke was looking over by Jamal who still seemed depressed. In an

attempt to distract him, Zeke made a suggestion:

"Hey, Jamal. Don't you want a trainer too?"

It wasn’t a bad suggestion; seeing as both Jamal and Tarik were unbalanced, it wouldn’t be

right for only one of them to have a personal trainer.

"Well...I do, but who? Big-Brother Fudo is busy all the time. Father is the same."

"Dude, your brother Ilmar is right there."

Akiro pitched in to their conversation, pointing out Ilmar. Sure, he was their fellow

classmate, but he was quite the capable fighter among them, matched only by Satoru. Jamal

was unsure though.

"Ilmar?"

"Yeah, why not? I'm sure he wouldn't say no."

"Plus he's Satoru's rival. He can fight better than all of us. Go ask him to train with you,"

Zeke insisted.

Doubtful, Jamal let out a sigh, and agreed to the idea.

"Ok, I'll ask him."

Meanwhile, Tarik had been elaborating the entire story to his sensei.

"So, that happened huh..."

"Yeah...sensei, what should I-"

Before Tarik could even continue, Steffan slugged him in the back of his head.

"MINUS 100 POINTS!"

"Ack!!! Why??"

"Why did you push yourself that hard? Did you rest at all??"

As Tarik held his head, he had no answer to Steffan’s question, and instead frowned.

"Good grief…listen, Tarik. It can't be helped that you were born the way you are. But that

doesn't mean you should push yourself the hardest out of everyone. All that will do is lead

to your downfall."

"First of all, I taught you how to perform Mana Replacement, not Body Reinforcement.

That's a very dangerous technique if used carelessly. You Yamaguchis are warned

not to even use it at all."

"Secondly, you still need to improve on your Manipulation. From what you told me, your

body was engulfed in a bright light. That's not supposed to happen. Your energy should be

contained within your body at all times, unless you're trying to kill yourself or the others

around you. One thing that makes Manipulating more difficult in particular, is fatigue.

Basically, you should have just gone to bed after your evening run from Field A to B."

Tarik listened to what his teacher told him, and made important note of it.

"I...see."

"Anyway, what's done is done. Though imperfect, you did manage to perform Replacement,

so I'll give you 10/20 points."

Steffan then stood up, and having his eyes closed, formed a shard of ice in his hand. Tarik

looked at him confusedly, but Steffan continued, saying,

"Let's move on to another exercise, which is..."

Without looking, Steffan flicked the ice shard into the air. As it descended to the ground, a

small bug was flying past them, and when the bug approached…it was impaled by the ice

shard.

“Awareness.”

Meanwhile, Jamal approached his brother who was exercising. He still had doubt in his

mind:

"I feel so lazy...I don't even want to bother him right now...but, I have to fight this. I can't stay

unmotivated."

He looked in all directions, but eventually let it out:

"..."

"Train me!"

The two stared at each other in awkward silence for a few seconds.

"Haha! So, you finally decided you need some help, huh?"

"now I know exactly why I didn't want to do this."

"Well, you have no issues physically, and I can't teach you Magic...so I guess you wanna

learn to fight, right?" Ilmar asked, to which Jamal nodded his head.

"My brother..."

Getting up from the ground, Ilmar looked at Jamal. Suddenly, he closed the distance

between them, and delivered a gut punch to his brother.

"I won't go easy, y'know."

Ilmar then sent him to the ground with a roundhouse kick. Jamal waited for a moment to

get his bearings together, caught off guard by Ilmar’s speed. This caught the attention

of the other trainees, who turned in their direction.

"Start by dodging! When you're good in that area, I'll teach you how to fight. How does that

sound?"

Standing to his feet, Jamal spat on the ground, and responded saying,

"Fine by me, Big Brother."

As the rest of the class looked on at them, they were motivated to take things up a notch

themselves.

"Hey...everyone's trying to improve, one way or another."

"Well, that's a good thing, right?"

Standing up, Zeke then announced to his classmates saying,

"All in favour of becoming real Hunters, say aye!"

Majority of them happily responded:

"AYE!"

Even Satoru, who was training on his own as usual, could not resist the wave of excitement

among his classmates:

"...Yeah, I can't ignore it."

"This actually seems interesting."

As Steffan looked on at their enthusiasm, even he got excited.

"Hmph."

"What a vibrant generation they'll turn out to be."

---------------------------------------------------------------

**UNDERGROUND CHAMBER, 2:00PM**

Within the Family Grounds, we see Lord Gado and Lord Tenchi entering an underground

area. It was a place where they incarcerated Dragons who were captured by the Hunters.

They were about to carry out an interrogation on a notorious Dragon captured yesterday

by Fudo and his team. As they neared the interrogation room, the sounds of punches and

grunts got louder and louder. Arriving, they found an individual torturing the inmate.

"Sure sounds like you're having fun."

It was one of the Dragons who was captured some years ago by Fudo, Katashi, and Emir.

After being imprisoned for a while, he had went through rehabilitation, and eventually, he

grew to become an ally of the Two Clans, assisting in providing intel as well as

interrogations. He was quite familiar with the inmate, both of them being from the Orochi

Gang.

"What can I say?...I've had a bone to pick with this asshole for quite a while now. I'm

grateful for the opportunity you guys have given me."

Tenchi couldn’t help but notice the friction between the two of them.

"So, even among the Dragons, there's internal conflict, huh..."

At that moment, a few more individuals appeared; Fudo, Emir, Katashi, and Steffan. They

had been involved in the mission to capture this Dragon.

"Yo!"

"We're here. How's it going?"

"Well, our friend here's is having himself a laugh. We're ready to ask our questions now, so

if you don't mind, Danjo-san."

Delivering one last uppercut, Danjo stepped aside at Gado’s request. Danjo was an average

height, muscular, short-haired individual, wearing a black tank top and army pants.

"Yeah, go right ahead. I think I've had my fill."

Taking the lead in the interrogation, Tenchi took a seat in front of the Dragon. He was a

middle-aged guy, brown complexion, having long hair, with a scar over his left eye. He

was bloodied and bound to a chair. Tenchi had also suppressed his Dragon Power on the

night before.

"One-Eye Ronin...I have a few questions I'd like to ask."

Catching his breath, Ronin looked up toward Tenchi, blood running down his face.

"Tenchi Yamaguchi..."

"So, this is what you punks do, huh?...Acting all genuine and sincere, but in this place, it's a

torture chamber. I bet you've even killed some of us too, huh?"

"Relax. We honour our ancestors' promises, and violators of our code of conduct are

severely punished. However, I can't tell a Dragon not to hurt a Dragon, can I? I didn't

instruct him to do so either. You heard Danjo-san."

He glanced over at Danjo, who gave him the middle finger.

"Tch...I suppose you're not wrong."

"I'm glad you understand."

"So, Ronin-san. I hear that you're the right-hand man of Shigaraki Orochi, the leader of your

Gang. Based on intel we've received, we heard that you're a guy who's quite knowledgeable

about the Dragons' agenda...and I must say, I'm quite curious about it."

Ronin then looked over on the group of Hunters who captured him, astonished.

"...I still can't believe you guys had managed to infiltrate our territory, let alone find it."

"Hmph. Who exactly do you think we are?” Katashi arrogantly responded.

As Ronin sat down, he recalled his conversation with the Gang Leader that night, before he

was captured…

---------------------------------------------------------------

**OROCHI HIDEOUT**

**LAST NIGHT**

"Hehehe, So that happened the other day, huh? That Kallavan sure raised up a racket. Still,

he's quite the pushover."

In a big room sat the higher ups of the Orochi Gang with their leader, Shigaraki Orochi. As

they talked, drank, and joked around, Ronin sat over nearby a window, seemingly in deep

thought. One of his associates called out to him, sick of his killjoy demeanour.

"Oi, Ronin. Are you going to space out forever?"

"..."

Shigaraki looked over at him, and got up, going to another room. He called after Ronin,

saying,

“Ronin, let me pour you a drink.”

Following his boss, they left the crowd into an empty room. As Shigaraki poured a drink, he

talked with his subordinate.

“I know you’re not a fan of crowds, so I decided to do you a favour.”

“…Thanks.”

“…”

“Y’know…you’re like family to me, Ronin.”

The Dragon was slightly caught off guard by his boss’s words.

“I remember when I first became a Dragon…that feeling of helplessness, completely

suppressed by that voice that stands above all…unable to even kill myself to escape it. “

“My family was taken away from me. I had nothing left. There was no purpose in me…but,

that old guy took a liking to me, and eventually he made me a Leader. I finally had some

freedom.”

“But here’s the thing, just being a Leader is nothing special, ordering a bunch of mindless

knuckleheads around. There’s not a single shred of happiness in that. But, having others

who were initially just like you, coming to acquire that silver of freedom that you

desperately longed for…”

Handing Ronin his drink, Shigaraki said to him:

“I’ll gladly call them my family.”

The mostly dead-inside assassin of the Orochi Gang, was touched for the first time in a long

time by the words of another. Nevertheless, something slightly bothered him.

"…Sorry, Boss. I'm going outside for a bit."

"Well, go on ahead."

Heading outside, Ronin looked around as he sipped his drink. The feeling of uneasiness

dwelt within him for some reason.

...It's rather quiet out here.

!!

He didn’t even have time to look around, as he swiftly dodged an individual’s close-range

attack; it was Fudo! He had infiltrated the Orochi Hideout!!

"Who the hell are y-"

"?!"

Before he could even finish asking his question, he was stopped. He couldn’t move an inch.

Another individual stood behind him, having completely caught him off guard. As the

individual laid their hand on his back, ice began to form all over his body; Steffan had

accompanied Fudo!

"Shh."

"Damn it…DAMN IT!"

Freezing him completely, they accomplished their mission, and began to retreat.

"Let's go."

"5 minutes, 30 seconds...could've been better."

"You're quite the perfectionist, Fudo."

---------------------------------------------------------------

**PRESENT**

"Damn it, I knew something was up...I should've called the boss out with me too-"

"Boo-hoo, dumbass" Katashi mockingly responded.

"Can you shut up, Kakkun?"

Continuing the interrogation, Tenchi asked the Dragon,

"So, you plan on talking? Or should I call Danjo-san?"

But, Ronin was confused as to why they so desperately tried to get information out of him.

"These idiots...don't they know by now that the spell cast on us Dragons prevents them from

getting anything out of us? I can't spill out too much even if I wanted to."

"Well, I guess I'll just give them some false hope."

"Hmph. No matter what you punks may try...there's no way in hell for you to stop what's

coming. The resurrection of the 9 Dragons is inevitab-"

?!!

"Just as I suspected," Tenchi responded with a smirk.

Ronin was horrified; he should have stopped speaking, but didn’t.

"HUH? WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS? MY THROAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN CRUSHED!.."

"Did they...no, no fucking way. That can't be possible."

"Hellam Ryūjin...the master of Forbidden Arts, and the most dangerous man to set foot in

this world. I don't know the full details, but based on the information we have, I came to a

single conclusion: sometime after his death, someone took the liberty of rebuilding the

Dragon-Tails, passing down powers the way those 9 Leaders did. However, this came with

something more; a spell being placed on new Dragons that prevents them from revealing

crucial information."

Ronin was shocked to see that Tenchi knew more than he thought.

"He knows that the spell is something new, and hadn't existed before??"

"But, how were you able to break the spell? Surely your knowledge doesn't surpass that of

Hella-"

He accidentally revealed more information.

"S-SHIT!! I DIDN'T MEAN TO SAY THAT!!"

"I see...so that means the someone has to be a close acquaintance, or Hellam himself.

Though I don't see how the latter would make sense."

By this time, Ronin was losing his cool. The spell had come completely undone. This meant

that the spell could now be broken on any Dragon.

"Anyway, you wanted to know how we broke the spell, right? Well...I am Tenchi Yamaguchi,

after all. But it would have been impossible without the help of Danjo-san. Combining my

knowledge with a former enemy's intellect, we made a hypothesis, and the fruits thereof

seem to be bearing right now."

"Damn that Danjo...that's what he's been up to, all that time?"

!!

Suddenly, Ronin had an idea.

"Wait a minute...he can freely use his powers, and he's from the Orochi Gang like me. Based on

what I learned from Shigaraki-sama, I can make use of Danjo's powers if I make contact with

him!"

"Excellent, I just need him to attack me again...I'll seize that moment!"

“Now, Ronin-san, if you have no more questions...I'd like to start asking mine."

With a gaze as if he stared directly into his soul, Tenchi asked him,

"Do you mind sharing what that someone tried to hide after Ryūjin's death?"

"Hehe...hehehehe...."

“?”

Looking up at Tenchi…Ronin spat some blood into his face.

"..."

"Danjo-san."

"Say less, Tenchi-san."

Danjo approached Ronin once more, commencing the next round of beatdowns. However,

Ronin had a dangerous card up his sleeve.

"You poor fool...I thank you, SO MUCH!"

As Danjo threw a jab to Ronin’s face, he withstood it and quickly bit onto Danjo’s hand!

Now in contact, he manipulated Danjo’s Dragon Power and declared:

OROCHI-STYLE: DRAGON RELAY!

In that moment, Ronin relayed all his memories over to his boss, Shigaraki Orochi. Upon

receiving it all, he was alarmed:

"Eh?"

"This is...!!"

While Ronin bit Danjo’s hand, he was startled and confused. He felt his power spark up

which concerned him even more.

"Huh? What are you-?"

"Hehehehe....HAHAHAHAHAHA!!"

"Hey, hey, what the fuck did he just do?"

"I felt that energy just now!"

"Oi...Danjo..."

Holding his head down, Ronin sinisterly taunted Danjo, saying:

"I hope your family will be okay."

His eyes widened at that saying, and he went toward Ronin to land a heavier punch,

"QUIT SCREWING AROUND, BASTARD!"

"DANJO, WAIT-"

As he was attacking, Ronin glared directly at Danjo, stirring up his Dragon Power. Danjo

temporarily lost control, and landed a lethal attack, blowing out Ronin’s chest!

"NO!! STEFFAN, NOW!" Tenchi ordered frantically.

"I'm on it!"

Cryogenic Ice! · 冷凍氷 (Rei-tō Koo-ri)

Steffan quickly froze Ronin’s entire body except his head, to keep him alive a little while

longer.

"This won't keep him up for long, so do what you have to do, Tenchi-sama."

Startled and confused, Danjo was in a panic. Upon hearing those words, he was sore afraid

for his family; his wife and daughter. He then stormed out of the chanber, heading outside:

"S-Sorry, out of my way!"

"Oi, Danjo-san!"

"Follow him, Emir. This guy did something just now," Tenchi instructed his brother.

"Roger," Emir quickly responded as he fled after Danjo.

Performing Partial Transformation, Danjo flew into the skies and left the Family Grounds,

intending to get to his family.

"No way...in that moment, I felt it..."

As he flew…he couldn’t stop seeing images of his wife and child being murdered.

"No, no!! Stop showing me this! I'm gonna check on my wife and daughter, and they'll be

just fi-"

"Danjo."

A voice…called out to Danjo. Only he could hear it. Looking around, he didn’t see anyone,

but he answered:

"Who...?"

"Who's there?!"

I'm disappointed...

...And they will be too.

He had recognised the voice; it was Shigaraki Orochi. But as he was about to respond…

"Sh-Shigara-"

*thump, thump*

In that moment…Danjo’s heart stopped beating. His body then began to undergo a change.

He was transforming, but something was wrong; snakes began to emerge from his body,

hundreds of them. As he was lost in a trance, the last thing he saw was Shigaraki’s cold

piercing eyes, staring into his soul. Finally…he fell from the sky. Shigaraki killed Danjo.

At that moment, Emir had caught up to him, only to witness his death.

"Danjo...!"

"DANJO-SAN!!!"

Back at the Orochi Hideout, Shigaraki sat in silence as he took in all of Ronin’s memories.

He was also able to sense Ronin’s energy disappearing

"...Excellent work, One-Eye Ronin."

“…My family.”

"I'll let the rest know about all this..."

In the interrogation room, Tenchi held his hand on Ronin’s forehead, analysing what

information he could while he was still alive. But, Ronin eventually gave up the ghost.

"...I lost him."

"Were you able to gather anything?"

"A little."

"Like?"

"..."

"Those trainees..."

"?"

Fudo, Katashi, and Steffan were confused. Why did Tenchi bring up the trainees? But, with a

horrified look…he instructed them, saying:

"All of you."

"...Train them as best as you possibly can."

**TO BE CONTINUED**