Episode 15- Purple Rain
Red Dawn releases her arrow at Zero. Zero disappears and reappears in front of Red Dawn, dodging the arrow. Suddenly a purple bolt of electricity appears above Red Dawn with uncanny speed making her instantly vanish. A purple bolt strikes down from thin air near Mash, causing Red Dawn to appear next to him. Zero turns around slowly and spots Red Dawn. The long, blue, tongue in his mouth salivates like a beast. Zero then teleports towards Red Dawn and lifts his arm to strike Red Dawn who is facing towards Mash.
"Fool.", says Red Dawn. Suddenly an electric arrow strikes Zero on the right side, sending him flying away and roughly hitting the ground. A painful explosion of electricity then burst from Zero making him roar against the shock. "Clearly you haven't heard of me, beast. My arrows never miss.", says Red Dawn. The arrow she fired earlier had traced back around and homed onto its target, striking Zero while he was unaware.
The arrows of Red Dawn are known by the generals. First, the arrow homes onto your natural energy, then the arrow strikes you with a hard electrical surge, then a delayed electrical shock implodes throughout the target after the arrow hits the mark. Combined with the ability to cast lightning upon herself and relocate to any area in a ten mile radius, Red Dawn is highly feared and respected as one of the strongest, yet humble generals.
"Let me finish my match Red Dawn", says Mash. "I would rather fight you ten times then have a bout with your wife", says Red Dawn. With one hand, Mash spins, flips, then lands on his feet as a sharp pain pierces his left leg. "Just a flesh wound", says Mash as he ignores the pain and readies himself with his familiar stance. "It's coming", says Red Dawn. She then electrifies her left hand and materializes her great bow. With her right hand, she creates two electricity arrows and fires them in rapid succession. Mash slams his right fist on his left fist and creates two water clones on each side of him. Zero teleports passed the arrows towards Red Dawn. The water clones created by Mash dive towards Zero and hug his waist. Suddenly the two electric arrows hit Zero in the back, then a large burst of electricity explodes from Zero, amplified by the water clones hugging him. The shock subsides and Zero falls to the ground on his stomach, smoking from the shock. The water clones dissipated from the heat of the electricity. "Red Dawn, my ally in combat, and friend, you need to leave. You are ruining my battle. I haven't been pushed to the edge in years.", says Mash. "Don't be a fool Godfist. Look around at the destruction! This fight is for all of Grandoria now!", shouts Red Dawn.
While on the ground, Zero quickly turns his head upwards and fires a blast of dark light energy from his mouth. With only a second to spare, Red Dawn puts her bow in front of her as the blast hits her, sending her flying backwards. Mash jumps over the blast as it comes in his direction. Zero quickly teleports under Mash while he is airborne, grabs his gravely injured left foot, and slams him towards the ground creating a deep crater on the ground. Zero leaps into the air and attempts to slam down on Mash with both feet.
Before Zero can land, an electric arrow hits him in the back, sending Zero flying forward. Zero quickly teleports to Red Dawn before the aftershock of the arrow, then bear hugs her quickly. A massive shock of electricity immediately bursts all over Zero and Red Dawn, although Red Dawn isn't harmed. Zero endures the shock and roars. He tightens his grip on Red Dawn as the painful lightning continues to pulse. "A...fool's...m...mistake!", musters Red Dawn. Thick purple lightning jolts from the sky far above and comes down on Zero. Zero roars again in pain but continues to tighten his grip further and further. Red Dawn's nose starts to leak blood and the lightning stops. Mash dashes towards the back of Zero and gives rapid punches to his back, who is still squeezing Red Dawn. Dark light swirls within the mouth of Zero as he prepares a blast. Mash notices the blast being prepared and vibrates the air around his left hand, then drops of water swirl around his hand. "Crescendo!", shouts Mash as he collides his left fist with the left side of Zero's head. The impact forces Zero to turn his head to the right, releasing the blast, and missing Red Dawn by inches. "THAT'S ENOUGH!", shouts Red Dawn, "I AM NO VICTIM!".
A bolt of purple lightning strikes down on Zero and Red Dawn making them vanish into thin air. Mash looks around to no avail. There is not a trace of either of them. Fatigue catches up to Mash and his body starts to feel the heavy injuries from his battle. He fades in and out of consciousness as he continues to look around for any sign of Zero or Red Dawn.
A bolt of purple lightning strikes down from thin air, making Zero and Red Dawn reappear far away at the outskirts of Grandoria. "Witness my true strength!", shouts Red Dawn. Zero squeezes tighter, causing Red Dawn to cough up blood. Dark, heavy clouds appear in the sky above the two. Several massive bolts of lightning strike down on the two in rapid succession, with each bolt being stronger and more massive than the last.
After the third bolt, the grip Zero has slightly releases. After the eighth bolt, the grip gets even more loose. After the fourteenth bolt, Zero fully releases his grip, making Red Dawn fall to the ground and gasp for air.
Red Dawn spits out blood. "YOU.....LOSE!".
More bolts continue to strike Zero as he roars in extreme pain.
After the twentieth bolt, the lightning stops and the heavy clouds clear in the sky. Zero falls to his knees, then falls over on his left side.
Red Dawn mostly catches her breath but is in a lot of pain. She throws off her helmet and coughs up blood. Underneath the helmet of Red Dawn sprouts golden hair. The eyes of Red Dawn glow with purple electricity. A healed scar is seen tracing from one end of her face to the other, ear to ear. Red Dawn slowly crawls over to Zero. "I....will.....finish.....", says Red Dawn, barely able to finish a sentence. As she reaches Zero, she forms a purple lightning arrow in her right hand. Her eyes stare off blankly as she faints and the lightning arrow fades away.
The dragon mouth of Zero returns to the normal helmet state. The helmet then radiates with dark light energy and disappears, showing the battered and unconscious face of Zero.
Zero is plagued with a dream. In the dream he hugs Inoko close and smells the scent of her hair. He looks at her face to face, then attempts to kiss her. Before their lips could touch, the dream fades, and Zero wakes up. The smell of Inoko's hair has not left him, despite the dream ending. Zero quickly sits up and looks around. He spots the unconscious body of Red Dawn with her face towards the ground. He crawls towards the woman, confused as to why she smells so familiar. Zero turns the woman over to see that the woman is in fact Inoko, the lovely woman he fell for in Creston. His eyes grow wide as he looks at her armor and nearby helmet. Although damaged, the armor is finely crafted. "Your...a....general?", says Zero in a weak voice.
Zero then recalls the conversations between him and Inoko. He remembers what she tried to say before he kissed her. "I'm a g...general. She wanted to tell me she's a general.", says Zero. He then recalls her telling him that she works as a tactician for Grandoria soldiers. "It was everywhere but in my face.", says Zero.
The inner dragon starts to speak to Zero once again.
"I toooooold yooouuuu. I waaaaarned yooooouuu. I toooold yoooouuuu thaat yoouuurr caaaaare with liiiiiiike aaaannd looooove is yoooouuuur doooownfaaaall aaaand yooouuurrrr deeeemiiiiiise. Killll herrrr. Sssstrrrrangle herrrrrrr. Reeemooooove herr laaaaast breeaath.
Zero remembers his own thoughts. He remembers the feeling Inoko made him feel. He remembers her trust, despite the current situation. Out loud he repeats the thought that was in his head when he was in Creston, "Not this one. No matter what happens, she cannot die.".
Zero finds strength, and gently picks up Inoko and rests her on his forearms as she lays unconscious. Zero breaths heavy and closes his eyes to concentrate. "I need to move, and I need to take her with me. I need to move, and I need to take her with me. I need to move, and I need to take her with me.", says Zero repeatedly. He then focuses quietly on the skin, the scent, and the structure of Inoko in his arms. A tear rolls from his eye as he knows he is the cause of her hurt body. He keeps his eyes closed, concentrates, and repeats again, "I need to move, and I need to take her with me.". Black smoke forms around Zero, but not Inoko. Zero gets louder, "I need to move! And I need to take her with me!". Black smoke slowly spreads to the unconscious body of Inoko as Zero holds her. Dark light energy forms around both of them.
Both disappear together.
Off in the distance, Mash, who is out of breath and in more pain from running, looks in shock and anger as black smoke dissipates in the far distance.