Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Dilandau's Revenge ❯ Adventure Calls ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2: Adventure Calls

Vulcan went on the defensive as Amano launched a furious attack. Chief Samurai Sesston always admonished Amano for these attacks, calling them reckless, but Vulcan didn't really agree with that assessment. At fifteen, Amano defeated just about everyone who faced him once he decided to do it. His speed and precision were breathtaking. Vulcan remembered their father saying once that he thought Amano would one day be able to beat Allen Schezar in a fair fight. That was high praise indeed. Allen Schezar was commonly held to be the finest swordsman in Gaia.

Vulcan held his own for the first dozen or so passes, but eventually, Amano executed a very clever engage and twist that sent Vulcan's sword spinning out of his hand.

“Why can't you let me win just one, out of kindness to your dear brother?” Vulcan panted.

“Sesston says I should always try to win, no matter what,” Amano replied with a grin. “It would be an insult to my training to do otherwise.”

“Well, it doesn't do much for my ego.”

“Sorry.”

Vulcan smiled as he retrieved his sword. He really didn't mind losing to Amano. Their father always said there was no shame in losing to a better swordsman, as long as you learned from the experience. Vulcan suspected he was a better swordsman than most of the Fanelian Samurai simply from the amount of time he spent sparring with Amano.

“Do you want to go again?” Amano asked. He was barely breathing hard.

“Sure, but let me catch my breath first.”

“You're getting old!”

“Brat!”

“Take a break, boys. I need to talk to Vulcan.” Van spoke from the doorway, where he had obviously been watching them.

Vulcan immediately came to respectful attention. “What is it, Father?”

Van came straight to the point. “Allen Schezar has asked to borrow the Escaflowne. You will accompany him as the pilot.”

Vulcan's mouth fell open in surprise. “Really?!” he exclaimed. “Do you think I'm ready?”

Van smiled slightly. “We'll never really know until you pilot the Escaflowne in combat.” He came into the dojo and put a hand on Vulcan's shoulder. “You know how to pilot the Escaflowne, but you still think too much. Your responses need to be more instinctive. Combat situations are the best way I know to develop a true rapport with your guymelef. While I don't agree with why Allen wants our help, I do believe this will be good training for you.” He squeezed Vulcan's shoulder. “You will be King of Fanelia one day. You must learn to have complete faith in yourself.”

“I understand, Father.” Vulcan's eyes were shining with excitement. Van would never have made this decision if he did not think Vulcan could handle it. Vulcan felt a tremendous surge of pride.

“May I go to, Father?” Amano asked. He was also standing at respectful attention, but his stance, with his sword angled down and away from his body, showed he was ready to fight on an instant's notice.

Van regarded his younger son thoughtfully. “This mission is going to be very dangerous.”

“I want to be there to watch Vulcan's back,” Amano said gravely. “I'm a good swordsman. I can take care of myself.”

“I know that,” Van said. “But some might say it is a bad idea to risk both my sons, especially on a mission I don't fully support.”

“Why don't you support it?” Vulcan asked curiously. “Why send me if you don't agree?”

Van sighed. “I'm sending you because Allen asked for my help. But what he wants the help for…” Van frowned. “His sister Celena has turned back into Dilandau, and Dilandau has gone to Zaibach to punish them for destroying Celena's life. At least that's what Allen thinks. But I can't forgive Dilandau for what he did to Fanelia. He killed a lot of people. And frankly, I don't care if he kills a lot of Zaibach soldiers and himself in the process.”

“But why does Allen need our help?”

Van laughed harshly. “Because Allen trusted her, and she used his trust to convert the Scheherazade into a flying guymelef. Allen can't catch her in the Crusade.”

“Oh.”

“So, Father,” Amano spoke up again. “May I go with Vulcan?”

Van looked at Amano again for a moment and then shrugged. “Why not? I got my best training in the field during the war with Zaibach. You may accompany your brother.”

“Yes!” Amano exclaimed delightedly.

“But…” Van held up his finger to get Amano's attention. “You will obey Allen at all times and not take unnecessary risks. You get a little reckless sometimes. I want you to promise to be careful.”

“I promise, Father,” Amano replied. He tried very hard to look serious.

“Good. Now I just have to explain it to your mother.”

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

“Both of them?!” Hitomi stared at Van.

“Amano asked to go and I didn't see any reason why he shouldn't. Young men need the opportunity to try their skills in the field.”

“So you agreed without even talking to me?”

Van put his arms around Hitomi. “They'll be all right. Despite what I said, I do trust Allen. He won't endanger them.”

“But they're going into a war!”

The unhappiness on Hitomi's face touched Van, as always. He couldn't resist the urge to kiss her. She pushed him away.

“Quit trying to distract me!” she snapped. “Amano is barely past childhood. He's only fifteen! He's not ready for this.”

“I think he is. Don't forget, I train with him every day in the dojo. Amano is a better swordsman than I am. He's probably better than Allen.” Van pulled her close again. “And I think it will help Vulcan to have Amano there. You know Vulcan tends to second-guess himself. With Amano to back him up, he will learn to trust his own instincts more, and that is what I want for him. This is important for them. It's time we let them grow into the men they need to become.”

Hitomi glared at him.

“You'll recall, I was not that much older than Amano when we met, when I killed my first dragon.”

“You had no choice,” she said, but her glare softened a little.

“True, but I was ready for the challenge, and so are they.”

Hitomi frowned at him for a moment longer, but then her face softened completely. “I'm just frightened for them.” She put her head on Van's shoulder. “It's hard for a mother to let go.”

“You let go of Yukari.”

Hitomi laughed softly. “She didn't leave me much choice. Besides, she has a family of her own now and that keeps her out of trouble. Mostly.” She looked up at him. “Maybe I need to have another baby.”

Van grinned at her. “Bethany is nine years old now. Are you sure you want to start over again? You can always play with Yukari's twins.”

“You don't want to give me another baby?” She fluttered her eyelashes at him coyly. “Or do you think I'm too old?”

“I think…” Van nuzzled her ear, “we should just pretend we're trying to have another baby.” He kissed her deeply. “And you're not too old for me.”

Hitomi giggled. “I'm not busy right now.”

“Oh good,” Van murmured, “neither am I, and you've given me all kinds of ideas.”

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

“Unidentified guymelef! Hold where you are!”

The voice sounded a little tinny coming out of Scheherazade's speakers. Dilandau giggled. The four Zaibach flying guymelefs had him surrounded, or so they thought. They had their liquid metal cannons trained on him, ready to shoot him at the first sign of trouble. But they would never see trouble coming. Dilandau giggled again.

He kicked the controls and the Scheherazade shot between two of the Zaibach guymelefs. Instinctively, they tried to follow his path and shoot him, as he knew they would, and he laughed with glee as their bolts of liquid metal punched through each other. Their cries of surprise and pain as their guymelef's exploded rang from the speakers and were abruptly cut off.

Dilandau rolled over and shot straight up, just in time to avoid the bolts of liquid metal fired by the other two guymelefs. He flew just fast enough to stay out of range of their cannons, but not so fast as to lose them. He didn't want to lose them. He wasn't done with them yet.

He stayed low to the ground as he flew, skimming over the hilltops just above the trees. The guymelefs followed him, laboring to keep up. They were pushing their systems to maximum power to maintain this speed, which meant they could neither go invisible nor fire their cannons. They were, to Dilandau's mind, helpless.

After a few minutes, he found what he was looking for. A long, high ridge jutted out from the side of a mountain, with sheer drops on either side. Dilandau zoomed up the face of the ridge, zipped over the top and dropped down the far side. But once he was out of sight of the pursuit, he slammed to a halt, drew his sword and waited. The two guymelefs came flying over the ridge at high speed. Their momentum carried them well out into the open with their backs to Dilandau.

Dilandau cackled as he shot forward. He spun as he flashed between them, his sword sweeping through both guymelefs with crackling explosions. Their pilots screamed as flame engulfed them and their guymelefs plummeted toward the ground.

“Die! All of you will die!” Dilandau screamed.

“You killed them!” Celena whispered. Her little voice was filled with unhappiness.

“They all deserve to die,” Dilandau whispered back. “It won't end until they're all dead.”

“But it's wrong to kill,” Celena murmured.

“Not when they deserve it,” Dilandau said aloud, his face flushed with conviction. No one in Zaibach deserved to live. Not the scientists, anyway. And the soldiers had to die in order for him to reach the scientists. Everything he did was justified. Everything.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

“Allen, I've been able to crack the Zaibach communications!” Gaddes reported excitedly.

“Well done, Gaddes!” Allen stood up from the table where he had been examining a map of Zaibach. “I can't predict where Dilandau will go next. He seems to be attacking at random.” He pointed at spots on the map marked with small pins. Although the spots were all more or less in the same general area, there didn't seem to be any pattern to where they appeared. “I get the impression he's trying to clean out all the soldiers in this one area.”

“They'll just send more soldiers,” Gaddes said. He leaned over the map. “They've got lots of them.”

“I know. I just wish we could figure out where he's going next and get there ahead of him. Unless I can appeal directly to Celena, I don't know how we're going to regain control of the Scheherazade.”

Gaddes nodded without comment. Allen studied his face.

“You don't think Celena's still in there, do you?” Allen asked quietly.

A flush of guilt stole across Gaddes' face. “She was Dilandau for a lot longer than she was Celena,” he said slowly. “And the Zaibach scientists were pretty thorough with the changes they made to turn her into Dilandau. I'm just not sure she can influence what he does. It's like they're two people in one body.”

Allen frowned unhappily. “I hear what you're saying Gaddes. I just can't let myself believe that. I don't want to lose Celena completely.” He sighed. “Let's go eavesdrop on the Zaibach command and see what we can find out.”

They walked to the control room, which crackled with the sound of the Zaibach communications network.

“…four flying guymelefs destroyed! Contact with the attacking guymelef was lost!”

“He just attacked a patrol, Allen!” one of the pilots reported. “The location is not too far from here.”

“Set a course!” Allen replied immediately. “But watch out for Zaibach patrols. We're in their territory. In all likelihood, they'll decide we're responsible if they see us.”

“Yes, sir!”

The pilot altered course and increased speed.

“Gaddes, go find Vulcan and tell him to get the Escaflowne ready. We'll need him if we run into the Scheherazade or Zaibach soldiers.”

“Right!” Gaddes hurried out.

Allen stared ahead as the Crusade flew swiftly toward where Dilandau had just destroyed the Zaibach guymelefs. If they were lucky, they'd run into him somewhere near the scene. But they had not been lucky so far. They'd come too late twice now on scenes of smoking destruction that were all that was left to mark Dilandau's passage. He'd lost none of his passion for setting things on fire. But it was only a matter of time before the Zaibach soldiers were able to corner him, and then nothing would save Celena if Allen was not there to help.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Vulcan tried to look cool and calm as he climbed into the Escaflowne and brought its systems on-line. He'd practiced launching from the Crusade's flight deck a few times so he would be prepared if he had to do it on short notice, but his landings were still something of a disaster. He had not damaged the Crusade trying to return to the flight deck, but it had been close a couple of times. Amano kept telling him to quit thinking so much, but Vulcan had no idea how to do that. There were so many things to keep track of during a landing on a moving target, he didn't know how to do it without thinking about it.

Amano was standing in front of him on the hanger deck now with an excited smile. He always had something encouraging to say, no matter how badly Vulcan bungled a landing, and Vulcan was glad he was here.

Vulcan stood up and lumbered out onto the flight deck. He was tapped into the Crusade's communications, which allowed him to also listen to the pilfered Zaibach communications. He felt a chill run through him when a sudden exchange crackled out of his speakers.

“A flying ship sighted approaching from the east!”

“It's the Crusade!”

“Launch all guymelefs! Attack!”

Allen's voice overrode the exchange. “Vulcan, get moving! We're sitting ducks here. We'll try to outrun them, but you need to slow them down.”

“Yes sir!” Vulcan responded. He touched the controls to transform the Escaflowne into the dragon and he swooped off the ship. Half a dozen flying guymelefs were dropping out of a floating fortress just visible above the horizon to the west. Vulcan flew straight toward them, drawing his sword as he went. Behind him, the Crusade turned around and picked up speed.

The guymelefs slowed down so they could draw power to shoot their liquid metal cannons. Vulcan knew the dragon presented a poor target head on, so he didn't try any evasive maneuvers until they actually fired. Then he shot forward at full speed and gained altitude abruptly. The liquid metal shot harmlessly beneath him. They adjusted to shoot again, but Vulcan was already upon them. He dropped down, slashing through a guymelef on his left with his sword and whipping the one on his right with his tail. The first guymelef exploded. The second one tumbled out of control and smashed into another guymelef. Vulcan left them to sort themselves out and attacked to his left, slashing furiously.

Now that the heat of battle was upon him, he didn't have time to analyze his every move. He fought instinctively, letting his innate understanding of the Escaflowne's capabilities guide his actions. At this close range, the guymelefs couldn't shoot him. With the Escaflowne's superior speed and maneuverability, he had the Zaibach soldiers at a disadvantage. Within minutes, he had destroyed or disabled all six guymelefs.

More guymelefs were dropping out of the flying fortress. Vulcan didn't wait to engage them. The Crusade was nearly out of sight. He turned and flew after the Asturian ship, watching behind him to see if they were pursued. The Zaibach guymelefs couldn't keep up with him and after a few moments, they gave up. Vulcan heaved a sigh of relief. They had escaped safely from their first encounter with Zaibach forces. He caught up with the Crusade and angled in for a landing on the flight deck.

The Crusade was moving much faster than she had been during Vulcan's previous landing attempts. He immediately had serious misgivings about making a successful landing. He moved up over the flight deck, trying to line up between the levi-stone supports and the big doors of the hanger deck. He was so worried about bumping into the supports that he moved much closer to the doors than he should have. He dropped down to land and the Escaflowne's left wing smashed into the hanger doors.

“Oh, crap!” Vulcan exclaimed.

“Nice landing, big brother!” Amano's voice crackled out of the speakers. “But I think Allen was still using those doors.”

“Ha-ha.”

“How'd it go?”

“Fine. I didn't have any problems.”

“That's probably because you don't think too much when you're fighting.”

“I guess so.”

“Now if you could just think less during landings…”

“Oh, shut up.”