Episode 5- The Name
The morning sun shines. Workers and local residents of Grandoria are working with wood and stone while organizing the rubble left after the brutal battle that took place during the early morning hours.
Grandoria Recovery(hospital)
Grandoria Recovery is one of the best treatment facilities in the land. The building is ten stories tall, built by smooth stone, painted white. On the highest floor, a woman in well crafted armor leans against a steel door within the hospital. She patiently waits in a long hallway, seemingly waiting for someone. Her armor is a crimson red with gold lining on each plate. Her arms are folded together in front of her chest. She dawns a golden eagle mask that covers her nose and above. At the back of the mask is long red fur that cascades outward, then reaches down to her lower back. Her mask has no spaces or holes for eyes to see through. Her beauty radiates from just her visible lips and chin. Magical doors glow green and part open down the hallway from her. From the open door, a man with golden armor and a flowing red cape quickly comes out and begins walking towards the woman. "Brigade General Ino Mitsurugi. You seem well.", says General Teno. Without a change in posture, the the woman responds, "You of all people should know by now to refer to me as Red Dawn in my battle armor". "You were not present at the ball. Did you have more pressing matters to attend to?", asks General Teno. "Not really. I just decided not to attend. I prefer a warmer crowd of people in my spare time", responds Red Dawn. General Teno lets off a hefty laugh. "Are we the only ones that showed up?" asked General Teno. "Apparently so. You're here so it's fine. I don't plan on waiting for anyone else", responds Red Dawn. Both of them enter the steel door that Red Dawn was leaning on. Upon entering the room, green light fills the room, blinking on and off. A quick look of shock comes on the face of General Teno, and as Red Dawn puts her hand over her mouth quietly. On a wooden bed with white bedding lies a man wrapped in thick bandages covering his entire body, except for his nose and mouth. A large, green, magical sigil hovers over the body as it glows then fades repeatedly, consistent with the breathing of the man wrapped in bandages. As the body inhales, the sigil glows. As the body exhales, the sigil fades away. The man in bandages mumbles words that can't be understood. A nurse in a green skirt, and green coat comes through the door behind Red Dawn and General Teno. "Hello generals. Thank you for your service to Grandoria. It's an honor to be in your presence", the nurse calmly states. "Thank you", responds Red Dawn. "Get on with it. Please. If you don't mind", responds General Teno. The nurse continues, "Yes, of course. Mr. Nakamura has four missing teeth, a small fracture in his spine, two broken ribs, several sprains throughout his body; roughly nine, a broken thumb, and we have already repaired his dislocated shoulder. We are doing the best we can to restore the skin and tissue damage to his chest and abdomen. I'm surprised that whatever was used to rip through his skin didn't cause heavy damage or punctures to his internal organs. I know this may sound contradictory, but he's lucky". Red Dawn and General Teno stay silent as the nurse continues, "I'm not sure exactly what he keeps whispering to himself. It's the only thing he's been doing, or rather saying, since waking up". General Teno slowly walks closer to the body of Senju, crouches over, and tries to closely listen to what Senju is murmuring. "Zee juices?", says General Teno, failing to repeat what Senju is whispering. Red Dawn turns to leave the room. She opens the door but gets stopped by General Teno calling out to her. "A little help here? I know your ears can hear him.", says General Teno. "We have a problem, Teno. He's saying Zero Justice." The words trigger the traumatized Senju as he frighteningly yells "Zero Justice! Z-Zero Justice! Zerooooo Justiiiiiiiiiice!".
Flash Back to The Early Morning Hours as Zero Roars Over The Brutally Beaten Body of Senju
Thunder booms and rain falls hard. "WHAT ARE YOU!?", a woman yells roughly ten feet behind Zero. "You monster! Are you my punishment!? The heavens know I resented you, my cursed child, ever since you were just a boy!" Zero falls silent and stands upright as his eyes glow purple and a wild violet tongue whips around in his mouth. Zero doesn't turn around to face his mother, instead he just stares off blankly forward. "Whatever you are, you are not my son! He chased his own father away and left me with nothing but a curse to feed yearly! Yes! I hated him! I hated the curse he put on me since he was ten! I wished everyday that he would die because I couldn't bring myself to kill him! I finally got my wish after so many years of suffering because of you! Because of him! Because of whatever you are now!". Chizu falls to her knees and sobs loudly as rain beats on her back. "Monster, are you my punishment!?", Chizu sobbingly asks as she clenches her fists. "I wish you were never born", says Chizu as she breaks down. Black smoke forms all over the face and head of Zero. The long tongue dissipates and his face deforms back into a dragon helmet. His claws shrink back to regular size and he lets off a heavy exhale. Without a word to his mother, he walks forward, and off into the dark, rainy weather, leaving whatever is left behind of Senju Nakamura.
Flash Forward to Red Dawn Leaving Grandoria Recovery
Red Dawn exits the steel door while still hearing Senju scream out in terror. She walks down the long hallway until reaching glowing green doors. She waves her hand in a clockwise motion in front of the doors, making the door glow a brighter green and open in the middle. She steps inside and the doors close. She waves her hand counterclockwise while saying "One". The small, box room she is in propels downward and stops safely at the first floor of the building.
Red Dawn opens heavy glass doors to exit the hospital. She approaches a beautiful white female horse that is tied to a steel pole outside. She removes the ropes, jumps on the horse, and rides off quickly.
Red Dawn rides until she can see a large castle built on the far corner of all of Grandoria. A large curvy road extends from Grandoria to the castle. Red Dawn rides fast and eventually comes upon two guards wearing gray metal chainmail standing on each side of large stone doors. Both guards kneel on their right knees as Red Dawn rides fast past them without stopping. Inside the main room in the large castle, a stocky, shorter, yet muscular man in fine blue robes chases a young girl around. The man has a large red beard and mustache, with large twisted red locks of hair bouncing on his head as he chases the girl. The room has a lit fireplace and is adorned with large red and blue curtains draping from tall and smooth stone walls. Out of two steel double doors, Red Dawn comes into the room where the man and child are playing. "Daddy! Daddy! Look! It's Red Dawn! The hero of the bow that never misses her mark!", says the young girl. "Greetings to you as well lady Lundee.", says Red Dawn as she takes a bow. "Your father and I have urgent matters to discuss. Could we have a moment?". Lundee quickly runs out of the room, still in admiration of Red Dawn. "All Infantry General Mash Aikawa, or as most say, Godfist Mash. You didn't attend the ball, but I don't blame you. It's quite pompous in my opinion", says Red Dawn. "The war is over. I haven't been called that name in a long time. It's just Mash now." "Well then Mash, we have a problem. The townspeople spread the word of a dark warrior named Zero Justice. Apparently this warrior put Nakamura in the hospital clinging to life and sanity.", says Red Dawn. "That's unfortunate, says Mash, "Give my respects and condolences to Senju Nakamura". "Does this not interest you?", questions Red Dawn. "There are other strong generals that could single handedly deal with this Zero Justice person.", says Mash, "I'm a simple man now. My only war is raising my daughter, and growing old with my wife". "You, who drove a single fist into a flying dragon over a thousand paces away, has not one interest?", asks Red Dawn as she comes up with a plan. "And where is my friend, your lovely wife?". "Outback", replies Mash. "Can I speak with the both of you?"
At the back of the large castle, a woman in a beautiful yellow dress dances while clenching a steel dagger in her teeth and three steel daggers in each of her hands. The wind blows and sways as her long black tufts of hair move with it. She leans backwards in an elegant backflip and releases one of the daggers from her right hand at a straw dummy built on a wooden stick. The dart lands dead in the center of the straw dummy. The woman then leans forward extending one arm in which another dagger is released from her extended hand. She then spins backwards releasing all three daggers from her left hand at the dummy. She pauses, then spins in the opposite direction, releasing the last remaining dagger in her right hand, as well as the dagger in her mouth, at the dummy. Three daggers are logged into the head of the dummy, and four daggers are logged into the chest of the dummy. "Still got it", she says proudly to herself. The sounds of clapping can be heard a short distance away. The woman turns to see Red Dawn and Mash both clapping softly. "Red Dawn in the flesh! My child never stops talking about you!", exclaims the woman. "Are you sure it's me and not Lady Morgiana, the wild woman who captured the heart of Godfist Mash?", responds Red Dawn. The two women laugh together while Mash simply moves his long, twisted lock of hair behind his neck, then gives his long, thick beard a stroke. "There is a threat to Grandoria and your dear husband here says that the only one in need of his protection is you, Morgiana", Red Dawn taunts. "Is that so dear? The mighty Godfist Mash only hits scrambled eggs and bacon I prepare each morning?", Morgiana asks. Mash gets a bit uneasy, as he thinks to himself, careful not to respond to the bait. Morgiana continues, "How about this? Just inspect. Just find this 'Zero Justice' and observe him. No fighting needed", says Morgiana as she winks at Red Dawn. Mash strokes his mighty beard three times and thinks to himself quietly.
Castle of Empowerment in Grandoria
A large statue of a bald headed man wearing several large beads around his neck, with several long, piercings in his ears that connect to his nostrils sits atop a well crafted water fountain. Surrounding the statue is a large castle made of well carved and designed stone, all painted a thin shade of pink. Behind the statue are two large doors made of marble. Beyond the marble doors sits the largest building of the massive castle. Inside the large building, a large, bald man with dark sun burnt skin lays on a fluffy, long couch lined with gold and several colors of sparkling gems. The man has piercings on his ears that connect by gold chains to his nose piercings, exactly like the statue outside. There is no light in the room except for two large flaming torches stations in the middle of the room with the entire ground made of smooth concrete. The man on the couch is nude with lines and swirls of black tattoos all over his entire body, and a steel bowl of rich strawberries resting on the couch in front of him. The man is muscular and fairly large in stature. His wrists and neck are adorned with gold circlets. Two muscular men with smaller frames stand motionless at each side of the couch, facing forward in silence. Both men standing beside the couch are wearing nothing except skirts fashioned from long blades of grass.
The tall man laying on the couch calmly says, "Feed". The motionless man on the right side of the couch grabs a strawberry from the bowl and puts it towards the mouth of the tall man. The strawberry is eaten whole as the man on the right side of the couch returns to his motionless position. In the middle of the two torches lighting the room, stand two completely nude men, holding long brown leather whips. Both men have whip markings covering the bodies and both are breathing hard. One of the men slashes his whip at the other but it gets dodged by the other man. The man that dodged strikes his whip at the other, brutally whipping him in the face and causing him to bleed. "Oh goody! How entertaining!", says the man on the couch. The man with the bleeding slash on his face launches his whip at the other man, causing the whip to wrap around his neck. He then violently pulls the whip forward, causing the other man to fall forward on the ground. The man on the ground gets to his feet, throws down his whip, and lunges at the other man, grabbing his neck with his bare hands. He starts strangling the other man while getting his face brutally scratched. "Wonderful! Such an exhibition!", shouts the tall man on the couch. The man continues to get strangled until his body stops all motion, signaling his death. The tall man on the couch snaps his fingers, then the man stationed on the left side of the couch runs off, then comes back a few seconds later with neatly folded clothes, and hands it to the bruised up victor of the fight. "I'm a man of my word, your debt is now paid. You are free. Now run along to your family before I change my mind", says the man on the couch. The winner of the bout grabs the clothes and runs out of the marble doors, wasting no time fleeing from the hell he has endured.
Another man dressed in Grandoria soldier attire enters the large room through a side door. He quietly hands a neatly rolled paper to the man standing beside the couch that fed a strawberry earlier. The man beside the couch hands the rolled paper to the man on the couch then whispers, "General Yin, your excellency, a message from General Teno". The annoyed General Yin reads the paper then smiles after reading it, then hands it back to the man standing next to the couch, who hands it back to the Grandoria soldier. "Oh goody! This should satisfy me plenty!", says General Yin.