Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon Fire: Project Chimera ❯ Prologue and Prelude... ( Chapter 1 )

Dragon Fire and all related stories and characters are copyright 1998-2002 to Josh Miller (that's me!) Please do not steal anything related to Dragon Fire. That includes plot lines, characters, spell names, and incantations. All song lyrics are also copyright to me so DO NOT steal them. Thank you and enjoy the story.

Prelude and Prologue…

The sound of gently flowing water filled the enchanting forest scene. There was a deep green color almost everywhere you looked along with the bright hues of flowers and bark. There was a small clearing, with grass so green and soft that it seemed unreal. A log hid a small stream from view.

Though the log had been there for as long as anyone could remember it had not begun to decay. Perhaps it was because of the magic that was being emitted from the hidden village not far away, but no one could be sure. Upon looking into the stream you would immediately see your own reflection. If you looked deeper you would see brightly colored fish. The water, being crystal clear, was one of the main sources of water for the village.

A man, hidden by shadows created only by his aura set a foot into the clearing. The butterflies that were fluttering around the flowers quickly left the area and an eerie silence filled the clearing.

"So this is the place? Pathetic," the man said in a low voice. He examined the area a bit more and looked down in disgust. The area he was standing on had turned a yellowish color and took on a foul smell like that of rotten eggs. The man took one more quick glance around before walking off in the direction he came from...

***

"EH! I'M GONNA' BE WATE!" Hiryu cried. He was six years old. His hair was a dark auburn-chestnut color and his eyes were a similar hue. He was only around three feet tall, but had been training in Koshoryu Kenpo for three years now. He was a quick learner despite his age and had reached the second belt already. He grabbed his gi and ran to the bathroom.

He splashed some water on his face, brushed his teeth, and put his gi on. He completed his ensemble by tying his headband around his head, his bangs covering most of the headband on his front. The headband ran all the way down to his tiny feet and had the kanji for "dragon" imprinted on the front.

"MOMMY!" he yelled as he ran to the kitchen. He was near panicking now, as he had never been late for anything before. He barely took notice of the medium-sized house that he lived in, with eight rooms in all.

"MOMMY!" he yelled again, facing his mother, "I need go to karate! Come on!" He wondered what would become of him if he were to ever be late, would he never be able to show his face again? Or maybe they would just kick him right out of the school? Others had been late, but he was always twenty minutes early, arriving just as the teacher for the day did. And now he would only be able to get there fifteen minutes early if he rushed. He considered this being late.

"Okay, okay, Hiryu dear, just eat your breakfast," his mother, Renita, said calmly, steering him over to the table. She was a fairly tall and very strong woman. Having been trained in the martial arts and magic since she was a teen she was defiantly a force to be reckoned with.

The table was made from a rich pine and filled Hiryu's nose with a maple-like smell. He was nearly intoxicated with the scent as he was every morning, but his urge to get to the dojo as quickly as possible drew him away from the smell.

"I don't have time!" he squealed. He was becoming more panicked by the minute and feared that if he dared eat he may choke from rushing. His head was often filled with strange thoughts such as these, and he often enjoyed making up weird stories to explain things.

"You must eat dear," Renita said firmly, placing a plate of eggs, toast, and sausage in front of him. He sighed and finally gave up, not wanting to waste anymore time arguing. He stuffed all of the food into his mouth and pulled his mother out the door towards the dojo.

"Chew your food," she said as they walked to the dojo. Hiryu quickly chewed his food exactly one hundred times and then swallowed.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" he asked, slight anger entering him. Not many things made him angry, but this was of a mass proportion, at least to him. He was often considered a strange and weird individual, almost never to following the rest of the crowd.

"You need your sleep, you shouldn't even be going today, five days a week is too much," Renita said, picking up the pace a little bit. She knew the training was important to him, but she thought that he went much too often, especially for a child of his age. But he wouldn't have it any other way.

"But you know how important karate is to me!" Hiryu said a little louder. He could feel his cheeks becoming the slightest shade of pink from anger and annoyance.

"Don't raise your voice to me, now hurry up or you'll be late," his mother said.

"But, but," Hiryu said. He sighed and jogged beside his mother. Arguments often ended like that. His mother scolding him for doing what he was trying to avoid in the first place. She always had a way of making herself the one with the right answer. Hiryu sighed again and just followed after her.

"How are you today Hiryu?" Yoi, one of Hiryu's karate teachers asked. She was a bit taller than Renita with brown hair along with strategically placed gold streaks. She had put them in herself. She was strongly built and usually wore a smile on her face. But as any of her students would tell you, 'If you get on her bad side then you may as well write out your will.'

"GENKI!" Hiryu yelled happily, getting his belt and sparing gear from his locker.

"What would you like to do today?" Yoi asked. She turned as the door opened and Kris walked in. Hiryu and Kris, being the same age, were friends and rivals. Kris was, to say the least, EXTREMELY annoying, at least to Hiryu. He was often annoying Hiryu, using the philosophy that if you make fun of someone then they'll do better at what they're doing at the moment. This didn't exactly work with Hiryu and Kris, being as thickheaded as he was, never quit this "tactic" and ended up hurt.

"KRIS-KUN!" Hiryu yelled happily. He jumped up and down ecstatically a few times, causing some of his sparring gear to scatter around the entrance room. Whenever his friends or family were around he became extremely energetic and hyper.

"Pick up your gear Hiryu," Yoi said. Hiryu nodded his head and picked up his gear. He was quite used to this procedure now. Luckily, everyone was running a bit late today and Hiryu had already forgotten about almost being "late."

"Now what would you two like to do today?" Yoi asked again. She would often ask the two what they wanted to do, as they were usually the first ones to arrive.

"Sparring!" Kris cried.

"Yawara!" Hiryu said.

"Fine, fine," Yoi said, "Next time TRY to pick something else to work on, okay?" She had mouthed the two words along with Kris and Hiryu as they said them. She was very used to that response, as they answered with that nearly all the time. They had gone over all twenty of their yawara three times. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing as now everyone had them memorized and was starting to really explore with them. Class was starting soon, so Yoi headed into the dressing room to get changed.

"Hiryu, Kris, up," Yoi called out the competitors for the next the sparring match. The fifteen students that had showed up that day were all sitting on the floor in the sezai position along with Yoi. Hiryu and Kris stood up and walked to the middle of the room. They were both wearing all of their sparring gear, which consisted of a helmet, cup (for the males), and feet and hand pads.

"Fight, fight, fight," Hiryu chanted as he stood in front of Kris. Hiryu often found himself singing, but he didn't care. He actually thought of himself as an okay singer that would eventually get better if he kept on singing.

"Hajime!" Yoi began the match and the two bowed at each other. They stepped back a few feet before jumping towards each other.

Kris started off the match by running at Hiryu. He jumped into the air and extended his small leg in an attempt at a sidekick. Hiryu rolled with his leg outstretched and caught Kris in the groin, ducking under the kick. He spun around as he was getting up and was met with a strike to the gut from Kris, who tried to strike a second time to Hiryu's head, but Hiryu grabbed his arm and flipped him over. It was a very messy throw and Hiryu's size didn't help. It ended up with Kris rolling away and hitting his head on the floor, ending up several feet away from Hiryu. Hiryu jumped over and landed on Kris. He reached down with his hands and locked a shime on Kris. After a few seconds of Kris gasping for air Yoi called for them to break up and start again.

The two did so. Hiryu started the round this time. He rolled towards Kris and came up with a low strike. Kris blocked before the strike reached him, but Hiryu pulled his fist back, stood up, and began kicking Kris several times in the groin, gut, and chest. He finished his attack by shoving his leg into Kris' gut and using the momentum to spin him self around and kick Kris in the side of the face.

"VICTORY!" Hiryu yelled raising two fingers into the air. Kris fell over.

"Where'd you learn that attack?" he asked. He was groaning in pain and trying to clutch his stomach, head, and groin at the same time. Sometime during the attack his cup had broken and now he was aching terribly.

"Now Kris will never be able to have babies!" Hiryu said cheerily, ignoring Kris' question. He skipped back to his spot against the wall and sat down. Kris groaned and crawled along the floor towards Hiryu. He joined him as Yoi called the next two students up.

"How was karate?" Hiryu's mom asked after karate.

"FUN!" Hiryu yelled his usual response. The class had flown by as usual. Hiryu wiped the sweat from his brow and tightened his headband as the two headed home. He started humming and then began impersonating the birds as they chirped. Oh how he loved to hear the birds chirp as they sung their cheery songs. The familiar cry of "hamburger" could be heard and Hiryu giggled at this. There was one bird that always made that sound when it called out. He was drawn out of his thoughts when Renita spoke.

"Good, we're going on a camping trip in a few days," she. Her dark brown hair ran down to her ankles, though it was now tied up in a bun with a ponytail hanging down out of it. She stepped to the side a little bit and had only to wait for a few seconds before Hiryu began singing.

"Camping, camping, camping is fun! Camping is cool even though there ain't no pool!" Hiryu sang the whole way home. He had never been camping before but heard it was fun. Where had he heard that? He had no idea, but he was sure that it would be, at least, he hoped.

"Hiryu, you're finally home," his father said. He was as tall as Yoi with slightly curly, dark brown hair. His eyes were a plain brown color and he was slightly built. He was very worry some and could be more than annoying.

"Yep," Hiryu said. He ran over to his dad and hugged him. He barely was as tall as his waist and he couldn't wait for the day when he would finally be taller than his father and mother. That would certainly be a joyous day for him.

"Did your mother tell you the surprise?" his father asked. Hiryu nodded his head furiously and started singing again. His father chuckled and walked away, leaving Hiryu to his singing. He walked to kitchen and began making a sandwich, drifting off into his thoughts he began working unconsciously. He began thinking of the camping trip that they would be taking, and how they'd have to stand hours of hiking with Hiryu constantly singing and asking if they were there yet every five minutes. He could be extremely annoying at times, and one often wondered if he did it on purpose. Teian sighed and began eating his sandwich.

"I need to practice my fwute," Hiryu said to no one in particular. A year after he'd started training in Koshoryu Kenpo he one day, while walking the park, saw someone playing a flute. He immediately fell in love with it and began practicing. Because of his size he used a piccolo (which is a smaller version of the flute) so that his fingers could press all of the keys.

He set up his music stand and took a piece of music out. He played a few scales before starting the piece of music. He examined it quickly and let the melody come back to him. He raised the piccolo to his mouth and began to flawlessly play over the piece of music. He ran over each note so smoothly that the song seemed to consist of only one note. He held every note for exactly the correct length. He seemed to be a trance as his small fingers ran over each key on the instrument. After a few minutes he stopped playing and put the piccolo down.

"Tha' was great Hiryu!" Jya, Hiryu's younger brother said. He walked out with his small, baby blue blanket in hand. He was only three years old, but he could talk fine and play the drums okay.

"Thanks Jya!" Hiryu said. He stood up and walked over to Jya, who rose to his chest.

"I wanna' pway a few more songs so go tell Mommy I'll be out in a few minutes," he said. Jya nodded his small head and hurried to the kitchen.

* * *

"FREEZE!" Hiryu's mother yelled. The man she was chasing continued running so she took off after him. She saw him turn down a street and glanced at her surroundings, she saw a fire escape approaching and made a split-second decision…She jumped and slid through two rungs of the fire escape and smoothly but quickly climbed up it. She ran across the roof and looked down to the street below. She spotted the man and increased her speed.

"Hori shameri que chio! SPEED!" she yelled. She flashed silver for a second and began running faster and faster until she reached the next building. She jumped and flipped in the air several times, falling towards the ground. She landed in front of the man with a small thud. The man halted from shock and was met with a sharp kick to the chin. He stumbled back a few feet before regaining himself.

"You'd better give up you old hag," the man said.

"Fe er hime fere muay clefto! FIREBALL!" Hiryu's mother yelled. She positioned her arms like she was holding a ball and something began to happen. Red sparks began swirling around her arms until they reached her hands, where they began swirling faster and faster, rubbing against each other and creating friction, until a large ball of fire formed. The ball blazed blue and red and yellow, nearly lighting the entire alley. It continued growing and growing until it was near her body size. She raised her arms to their maximum reach and then snapped them together. The ball of fire shot off towards the man in a blaze, leaving a trail of fire behind it. The man sneered and moved his hand in a circle, creating a black barrier. When the fireball reached the barrier it exploded in a pile of massive flames.

"Ugh," Renita groaned and she was knocked back. She immediately flipped up and looked around for the man. She saw him landing on a rooftop and followed.

"STOP!" she yelled without stopping. The man looked back and reached out with one of his arms. He fired a ball of lightning towards her.

'He can cast such strong spells without using incantations! Dammit!' Renita said to herself. She jumped out of the way and shot three bullets of light at the man.

"STOP NOW! OR ELSE!" she yelled. The man weaved out of the way of the bullets and stopped at the end of the last roof.

"You want a fight? Fine," the man said. He stepped into a fighting stance.

Renita caught up and took a few breaths before charging at the man. When she reached him she felt herself running off of the roof. She looked behind her and saw the real man disappear in a flash of light. Renita looked down and saw the ground in shades of black, green, and brown rushing towards her. She put both of her hands together and fired a beam of energy at the ground. The beam hit the ground and propelled her back up to the roof.

"Inspector Janken," a tall man said, "How did your search go?"

"Sir, I found the suspect, though he escaped. It seems he is a skilled magician, he can cast powerful spells without using incantations. He created a Stale and then used a P. Gate to escape the scene," Renita reported.

"Really?" the tall man asked a look of interest appearing on his face. He walked around the room, taking a few deep breaths before stopping behind Renita.

"Yes, chief," Renita said. "Good job, you may return to Shining Lake now," the tall man said. Renita nodded her head, bowed, and created a P. Gate of her own. She stepped through it and disappeared.

* * *

"That inspector was skilled, she may become a problem," the man said. He walked over to a small laboratory and picked up a tube of purple liquid.

"Soon, the formula will be complete. I just need a few more months," the man said as he poured the liquid into a jar. He picked up a few more liquids and added them to the mixture. After stirring it for a few moments he dropped a spider and a squirrel into the mixture. The mixture exploded and the two animals disappeared. The man slammed his fist down onto the table and turned away.

* * *

"Camping, camping," Hiryu was singing as he walked to karate the next day. His mother was out of town and his father had to watch Jya, so he went alone today. The walk wasn't long and the area was relatively safe, so with a little bit of hesitation his dad let him go.

"HI BIRU!" Hiryu yelled cheerily as he walked into the dojo. Biru, his other main karate teacher, jumped in surprise and yelped. Hiryu had surprised him again. For some odd reason he would never feel Hiryu's aura when he was approaching. He didn't know if it was merely so weak that it was unnoticeable or if Hiryu could actually hide it. If he could he most often was not aware of the skill.

"Hiryu, hey, you shouldn't scare people like that," Biru said, giving Hiryu a slightly cross look. He also could never really get mad around Hiryu. And now he could feel Hiryu's bright gold aura, bringing happiness and cheerfulness to whomever he passed. This also told Biru that Hiryu could hide his aura.

"Sowy Biru, what're we doing today?" Hiryu asked, nearly jumping up and down with anticipation, as he normally did. It seemed as though his energy was never-ending, surprising you ever time you thought that he would run out, and BOOM! There was little, energetic Hiryu again.

"Kata, bag work," Biru said as he slipped his black gi top on.

"Cool! Kata, kata, moves and moves, here we go, groove, groove, groove," Hiryu sang.

"You know Hiryu, you're really good at making up songs on the spur of the moment," Biru said. He ruffled Hiryu's hair and walked into the training room.

"What's, spur of the moment?" Hiryu asked, skipping after his teacher.

"Kris, Andirei," Biru called out. The two boys stood up and faced each other. Andirei was about five inches taller than Hiryu and Kris. He was a year older and had blonde spiky hair that was black at the roots. They smirked and looked at each other, the two were rivals.

"Remember to control yourselves," Biru said, knowing the tension between the two. When Hiryu was not around the two called each other by their last names, showing only acquaintance, not friendship. But they didn't want Hiryu to try to get them to like each other that would be much too annoying. The two nodded their heads and bowed. They stepped into fighting stances and the fight commenced.

The two jumped at each other. They crashed into each other and fell to the floor, both in a blocking position. They quickly stood up and Andirei struck at Kris' nose. Kris blocked and stepped to the inside. He brought his foot up quickly and kicked Andirei in the stomach, knocking him back a centimeter or two. Andirei chuckled a little bit and hit Kris in the stomach with a double ude before pivoting and kicking him in the gut with a sidekick. Kris staggered back and as soon as he recovered he felt Andirei's arm slide under his own and was lifted into the air. He felt himself being slammed down onto the ground and groaned.

"Match, Andirei," Biru said.

"Andrei won, won, won," Hiryu began singing from his sitting position. "SHUT UP!" Kris yelled. Hiryu continued singing and ignored Kris, easily blocking the strikes thrown at him.