Dragon Knights Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon Knights Sentai ❯ Act One, Scene One ( Chapter 3 )

Click click clickety, click-click clack. Cernozura cursed the screen and sighed, typing away, when the mailbox icon lit up. She clicked on it and her email programme booted up: retrieving 1 of 1. The message, Hi there, I'm Alfeegi, flashed up on screen, along with a video file. She ran it and laughed when Alfeegi began posing on the screen, along to a disco beat.

"Kai-Stern's dead when Alfeegi finds out. He's just asking for trouble."

She closed the video and went to close the email programme as well, but stopped. For a one line email, there was a lot of text on the screen and they were all addresses, a long chain of forwarded emails, some of which she recognised. When she'd read through the whole list, she cringed. "Alas poor Kai-Stern," she mourned. "It's bound to get back to Alfeegi now."

The phone trilled, distracting her from Action Kai's impending doom. She picked up and sat straighter when she realised that it was Lykouleon.

"How's the first chapter going?" he asked, on the other end of a very bad line, with someone shouting in the background.

"Great, great," she lied, bashing a few of the keys in pique. "Just typing away here."

"So what's the shape of the story?" The person in the background grew more irate and then muffled.

Cernozura leaned back into her leather chair, an unbelievable grin of glee appearing. "I decided to launch straight into the action. The three knights... what's this new guy's name again?"

"Thatz," croaked Lykouleon, the line crackling and hissing. "He's a sixteen year old punk. Green hair. Likeable. I'll send you the screen test, once I work out how to upload the file to my PC."

"Well, if he's a punk, then I guess that I can write his character as a thug, or perhaps a thief," she mused, reaching for a leaky pen and making notes on the palm of her hand.

"Thief sounds better," replied Lykouleon. "He's a slight little guy, although surprisingly muscular."

"Okay," she replied, scribbling down punk, tough, thief, from the gutter, hard life, but cheeky. "Anyway, the scene opens on the road..."

"Good."

"...With the three knights. There's a bit of banter and Thatz is carrying a package, which turns out to contain the head of a great yokai lord."

There was silence, a crackle, a pop and then "A head?"

"Yes," said Cernozura, putting her feet up on the desk, "A head. That's just the sort of gruesome stuff that you have in boys' stories, isn't it? I don't know because I haven't read that much."

"Make it Nadil," he said in a rush.

"What?" Her feet slipped from the table and banged off the floor.

"Call the demon lord who's been beheaded Nadil." A deep chuckle came down the line. "It would amuse me to think that our three knights were carrying Nadil's head around and it would drive him crazy. Great idea, Cernozura. I love it!"

"Sir," she cried, sitting bolt upright and pulling her chair closer to the phone. "You can't be serious. It's a terrible idea."

"Oh don't lose faith in your vision," replied the crackling phone. "I knew that you'd give me a fresh new angle. It's controversial, yes, but that'll work for us. I'm sending you a bonus for this one."

"But sir," she wailed, sinking down into the chair. "I have another idea instead."

"No, I like the head," replied the phone. "It's edgy and a good item for a plot arc. I see it now: everyone's after the head, good guys, bad guys, Nadil's loyal wankers and other demons who crave his power. Yeah. And some guy who just wants to hang it on his wall and laugh. It's a great idea. Run with it Cernozura."

"But..." she sobbed.

"Ooh! Got a call on another line. I've got to go. Great work Cernozura, baby. I can't wait to see the script. Later!"

With that, he hung up; Cernozura kept the phone to her ear. "But I didn't mean it. I just wanted to prove that I'm not able for this. I just wanted you to fire me."

She collapsed over the keyboard and bawled.

Tetheus tried to collar Lykouleon on site. The film crew had decamped from the studios to a hamlet in the countryside, one of the many locations scouted out by Kai-Stern. The executive producer had joined the rest of the crew to get some air and soak up some excitement, although he hadn't checked in with any of the main staff members. Tetheus eventually got fed up of waiting for an appearance and decided to hunt him down. He finally caught sight of his boss after a half hour of fruitless searching, although Lykouleon refused to acknowledge his hails or turn around.

The white-garbed man flitted through the hubbub of gawking residents, hard-working crew and hangers-on like a ghost, always one step ahead of his director. Tetheus set his face to a deep glower and the mixed mob of confused crew and the glut of autograph hunters steered clear and looked for someone else to bother. The producer floated unhassled through the crowds, his blonde hair a beacon to his disgruntled director while he drifted on, head turning left and right, never hurried, but somehow moving fast.

Tetheus grabbed him when he stopped outside the dressing room trailer.

"Are you sure about this, Lykouleon?" he asked.

The producer turned, confusion turning to a bright smile when he recognised Tetheus. "Sure about what, Tetheus?"

"The script says..." Tetheus rifled through the bound copy in his hands and stopped a few pages in, "...that the Dragon Knights are carrying someone's head. We can't film that. There are censors, you know."

"I know," Lykouleon reassured him. "They'll never let it past, but we'll get a lot of coverage with the preview. It'll create a huge fuss. Then we can dub over the footage, saying 'Nadil's crown' instead of 'Nadil's head', so be careful how you shoot it."

"Ah," snorted Tetheus. "Marketing."

"Let me worry about promoting the series," said Lykouleon. "I'm going to get a huge audience for this show, anyway I can."

Tetheus nodded and started to head off, but Lykouleon restrained him. "Have you seen Raseleane?"

He shook his head. "Alfeegi's keeping track of everyone. Actually, scratch that. I think that Ruwalk's taken over. Alfeegi's too busy to look after talent as well and Ruwalk has to dress them all anyway."

"Ruwalk's in wardrobe?" Lykouleon asked, with his hand raised to the door.

Tetheus shrugged. "Alfeegi keeps rushing past asking where everyone is, then someone comes through looking for him. We need walkie-talkies. Maybe then we wouldn't have to chase anyone down."

"Mobile phones?" suggest Lykouleon.

Tetheus shook his head again. "There's no group chatter on them."

"I'll ask Alfeegi to arrange some," the producer said, pulling a mobile out of his pocket and scrolling through the contact list.

"Careful he doesn't bite your head off," warned the director.

"Good point," he agreed. "I'll send a text message. Alfeegi needs a nick-name. It might de-stress him a little. There's more to life than the petty things he worries over."

"Petty things like your sentai show?" Tetheus murmured, raising an eyebrow and slinking away.

Lykouleon smiled and knocked on the dressing room door. "Is it okay for me to come in?"

An incoherent voice replied and he entered. As the door closed behind the producer, Tetheus gazed at his copy of the script and walked back to the set, a winding country road, with painted bushes and papier mache stones for extra authenticity.

"We're shooting it," he said, nodding to Gow, the cameraman. "Let's get set up for the first establishing shot."

After twenty minutes of work the camera was set on a dolly rail at one end of the road and they managed to exclude most of the pylons from their planned tracking shot. Tetheus, his lighting director Delte and Gow were arguing over who'd have to trek back to the trailers to call for the actors when a runner loped up and handed him a walkie-talkie. Tetheus turned it on and instantly got a earful of barracking.

"Alfeegi," he said, holding down the correct button, "let's keep the channel for work. If you have a grievance make a private appointment for it."

"Black Wolf, this is Blue Wolf. Do you copy? Over," barked the walkie-talkie in return.

"STOP PLAYING GAMES!" it then shouted, along with a storm of static.

"Blue Wolf, if that's Ruwalk, then this is Tetheus. We're ready for the talent. Bring them down."

"Disaffirmative, Big Man. Yellow Wolf isn't on the channel yet. Breaker, breaker. Over."

"Looks like we're walking," sighed Tetheus to the glum Gow and Delte.

The walkie-talkie burst into life again. "Hello, can you hear me? Hello?"

"Ten four, good buddy. What's your handle there? This is Blue Wolf. Over."

"My name's Ruwalk and I'm on the wrong channel again. I've got a walkie-talkie, not a CB radio,."

I hear you, breaker, breaker, this is Blue Wolf at the catering truck."

"KAI STERN! STOP PLAYING AROUND!"

"Ruwalk?" said Tetheus, holding down the switch. "This is Tetheus. We're ready for our knights down on site."

"Great! I'll bring them over. See you soon."

"Please say 'Over', guys. Otherwise we don't know when you're finished speaking and it's less fun that way. Over."

"KAI STERN SHUT UP!"

Tetheus turned the volume down and ignored the rest of their bickering. He spent the next few minutes discussing shots with Delte and Gow until four figures appeared on the horizon.

"He's always doing embarrassing things like this," stated one, a scowling, dark-haired teenager. He was dressed in typical medieval gear: scuffed leather and rough canvas, although the streak of red in his hair certainly wasn't period. "He signs me up for all sorts of shows. Shooting starts at the crack of dawn, so I never get to lie in, whereas he snoozes until noon. How fair is that?"

"My family wasn't too happy that I wanted to act," replied Rune, now with blonde hair trailing down his back. He continually reached up to touch it, feeling the edges where it covered his own hair and lifting and dropping the heavy, new locks. "Getting this show proves that I've a talent and if it all goes well then they'll finally give me a break."

"I didn't wait for anything like this," mumbled Thatz, absentmindedly. His green hair had survived untouched and his clothing was more worn than the other twos, although it was suspiciously bulky in places. "I just dropped out."

"Wish I could do that," mumbled Rath, kicking a stone and watching it bounce down the windy road. "Dad'd go spare; then mum'd go mental; they'd fight; I'd get no sleep, what with yelling and being woken up to choose sides; eventually they'd settle down and I'd get a pony."

"What's wrong with that if you get a pony out of it?" gasped Thatz, grabbing Rath's shirt.

"I already have thirteen," replied Rath. "There's no room for more and you can only ride one at a time and I get horse-sick anyway."

"So why do you have thirteen?" asked Rune.

"Mum gave me one after their first blazing row. Dad gave me two as soon as he heard. The first one died, so mum bought three. After the fifth blazing row, dad turned up on the doorstep with four new ones. Mum got cross and sold two of those and bought me five of the miniature ones." He sighed. "It goes on. I'd give them away if it wouldn't cause another battle. I'm not looking forward to learning to drive. I'd never be able to take the car out without crashing into a new "present" in the drive-way."

Ruwalk who nodded and smiled, but kept silent as the three boys spoke, finally hailed Tetheus when they came close enough.

"Any word on Raseleane?" asked the director, leaving a huddle by the main camera.

"You mean my new mother?" interrupted Rath, rolling his eyes.

"What makes you say that?" asked Ruwalk, leaving his mouth open as he stared down at his young charge.

"You know Dad," he replied. "He hasn't stopped talking about Raseleane in weeks. He's bought all of her CDs and made me listen to them and he's bought a new, hipper wardrobe." Rath snorted. "He only ever does that when he's trying to impress someone. I had to count his wrinkles this morning."

Ruwalk sighed and Tetheus shook his head. "As long as he doesn't scare her away before we shoot her crucial scenes," he said, looking back towards the trailers, before returning his attention to the newly arrived group. "Do you have the package?"

Ruwalk pulled a head-sized bundle out of the bag he carried. It was covered in a red and white polka-dotted handkerchief and neatly tied. "Ta-da!"

Tetheus looked at it. "I know that's traditional, but do we have an option in blue? Green?" Ruwalk raised his eyebrows and Tetheus continued. "I'm thinking of the colour scheme. Red might be too garish with all the muted tones about at this time of day."

Ruwalk pulled out a few other hankies. "We should have gone over this earlier," he muttered.

"I know," replied Tetheus.

After testing them with the Knights, Tetheus handed the red and white bundle to Thatz.

"Okay," he said, gesturing along the road. "We're just doing some establishing shots right now, so I want you to go down there until you come to the big boulder. Wait until I shout ACTION, then start to walk along the road. Keep it natural, keep it casual and make sure that the package's in shot. We're not recording any sound, so don't worry about lines."

The knights set off while Tetheus and Ruwalk retreated to the camera and some hot coffee. The boulder was a garbage bin, covered in an old sheet and smelling quite rancid.

"Start soon, start soon," muttered Rune. "God that's an awful stench."

"Really?" said Thatz, without paying attention. He threw the package into the air and caught it on his finger. Rath clapped.

"Quick!" yelled Rune, tugging at Rath, "Ruwalk's waving. I think Tetheus must have called action."

They trooped up the road. Thatz kept the bundle balanced on his finger, although it fell off when he tried to spin it.

"That's amazing," said Rath. "Where's you learn to do that?"

"A delinquent youth," replied the green-haired punk, with a grin. He set the handkerchief up again. "You learn lots of useless skills."

"Is it all right for us to talk like this?" asked Rune, stepping nervously onward. "They're still filming us."

"Nah, it's grand," replied Rath, turning to him. "They're not recording us and it's a distance shot anyway. They'll make us do it a few times, so it's best to enjoy talking while we can."

They sauntered on, chatting away and growing larger in shot, almost crashing into the camera before Tetheus yelled CUT and wandered over. "That was great," he said, while Ruwalk plied them with tea. "I like what you did with the head, Thatz. Keep it up. Have fun with it. We'll film it a few more times, so if you can go back to your mark and line up in the same order, that'll be great."

Rath sighed, handed back his tea and turned around. "Welcome to the boring side of a glamorous business, boys," he moaned.

Thank you for reading even more. I hope you liked it. All feedback is appreciated, so please click on the review button.

Shinashi, thanks for your review. I did try to write this story so that those unfamiliar with the series could read it, hopefully enjoy it and get a picture in their heads of the main characters. I'll try to give better setting descriptions - didn't even notice their lack.