The Dark Dragon

/me [i]A dojo in the middle of Tokyo, Japan.[/i] | A young man, dressed in casual wear, with his hair shaved short and a katana by his side, stepped through the doors of the dojo. His name was April, and he was the most prominent member of his clan; he had been the one who had guided Hank Lijon, the White Dragon, and had been there when he had risen. He was considered the most powerful and well-taught among the samurai of the clan, and so he was the first person after their Sensei to be told the news brought about by the spirits: The White Dragon had fallen. The master was sitting on a mat on the other end of the room, and looked up at April, nodding and gesturing for him to sit down. He did, bowing his head low. "Takenuma-Sensei. I have heard the news. How can I aid you?" He asked. The sensei sighed. "The fall of The White Dragon can mean only one thing, April-San." He said. April nodded. "The rise of The Dark Dragon, and the end of our era." He responded. The old man held his hand out to April, holding a piece of paper. April blinked and took it, then looked back at the Sensei. "A ticket..?" "Yes. You will be going to America to meet the new Dragon, April-San."

/me [i]"Raven's cry", Aerilon, Somewhere in the North of the US.[/i] | April entered the bar, and was immediately greeted by the sound of music, chatter of voices, the smell of alcohol and baked goods. He scrounged up his nose slightly, not used to these sorts of places in the slightest. Though he had gotten used to the smell after the few times he had to spend with The White Dragon. A minute with him was like an eternity in a place like this in that regard. The samurai dug through his pocket, and pulled out a small, black gem which gave off a faint glow, or, rather, it seemed to have the effect of sucking up light around it. It had done so since his arrival in Aerilon, the effect growing stronger as he had gotten closer to this place. That meant the dragon was in here somewhere. The samurai started towards the bar, and took a seat on an empty stool on one end of it. The crystal had begun to pulse slightly now, meaning that the Dragon was a few steps away at most. April took a deep breath and scanned the area. There were four people close enough to cause the crystal to act in such way: The bartender, a middle-aged, rough looking man with graying hair; a man dressed in a long coat and wide-brimmed hat sitting next to April with a beer mug in his hand; a young, voluptuous blonde and a dark-haired young man appearing to be chatting her up. April thought for a moment, then called the bartender over. "Do you have any tea?" He asked. The bartender laughed. "One beer, coming up, pansy." the man responded, and soon handed April a mug. As much as he hated the beverage, April still took it, making sure to touch the man's hand with the crystal as he did. No effect. That left three options.

/me The samurai glanced at the man sipping on his beer next to him. He couldn't be as discreet about this one. He considered offering the man his beer for a moment, since he himself didn't want it, but there was something about the man's looks that just didn't sit right with him. So, the samurai decided to pretend to drink. He then set down his mug, and slid his hand behind his own back, along his sword, pretending to stretch. He then went to move his hand back, brushing the crystal against the man's side. He turned to face the Samurai, an unpleasant expression on his face. "What!?" He asked, a bit of drunkenness heard in his voice. April raised his hands in a sort of half-surrender position. "O-oh, sorry about that, I didn't mean to bother you, sir." "Yeah, well you fuckin' did, mate." The man said, wiping his nose off. He stood up from his seat and threw his hat off, revealing a heavily scarred, bald head. "Been too long since we had a proper fight in this place! I say it's time we change that!" He shouted out, grabbing a bottle from the bar and breaking it on the counter, shattering it and splashing alcohol around. The man charged at April, who rolled out of the way. Many other patrons took this as their cue, roaring out and breaking out into fights like animals. The man who had been chatting with the woman raised a finger up to her, telling her to wait a moment. Meanwhile April tried his best to dodge without attacking, as he didn't want to harm the potential Dark Dragon. "Please, just wait, I don't wish to fight!" The samurai exclaimed. "Well, too fucking bad, you're gonna have to, pussy!" The drunken man shouted out in return, taking another stab at him. April jumped back and sighed. "You leave me no choice, sir." He said, before kicking the man in the gut between his attacks. The bald man grunted, stumbling back. April then gave him an uppercut, sending him flying back, the broken bottle sailing through the air. April released a quiet, relieved sigh. But his calmness was soon disturbed by a roar from behind him, a man raising a bar stool to knock him out. April turned around in time to see the young man he had seen before punch the guy about to attack him in the jaw, causing the stool to fall from his hands and onto his head. The man fell, knocked out cold. "It's not nice to attack a guy from behind like that."  He said, nodding to the samurai, before getting back into the midst of the fight. April didn't get involved further, but remained watching the young man, taking a seat at the bar, next to the woman. After getting slapped in the face for poking her side with the crystal, he was certain. The young man was the Dark Dragon.

/me The man returned to the bar once the fight had died down, with only a few patrons actually still standing, most of them having not participated in the fight at all. The man had hardly any wounds, with only a tiny scratch on his cheek qualifying as one. He glanced around for a moment, then turned to the samurai. "Hey, uh, where did the hottie with the huge bazongas go?" he asked. April cleared his throat. "If you mean the lady that was sitting here before, she left for some reason," he responded, then stood up and extended a hand to the man. "My name is April. I am here on an important mission to meet a man destined in our tales to become a legend." The man looked down at the arm for a moment, then back up at the samurai, taking the hand and shaking it slightly. "Uh. Alright then. I'll leave you to it, then." he said, and turned around, starting to walk away. April grabbed his arm before he took another step. "That man is you, Dark Dragon." the samurai said. The man turned back to face him, raising an eyebrow. "'scuse me?" | /me April lead the man by the name of Garret to the front door of The White Dragon's old mansion. The door wasn't locked, and the two stepped in. Garret's jaw dropped slightly as he looked around the large, empty rooms. "Holy shit, I'd seen this place from the outside before, but never figured it'd be deserted like this." He said, gliding a finger over a nearby flower pot, covering his skin in dust. "How long has this place been empty?" "For a month now. Ever since the fall of The White Dragon." "You keep saying that, but what does that mean, exactly? I've lived in Aerilon for a while now, and I sure as hell haven't seen any fuckin' dragons." "That is because The White Dragon never truly reached the apex of his power. He died as a mortal." "I mean, uh, yeah. If he died, he was pretty obviously a mortal, dude." Garret responded, not really getting what April was going on about. The samurai turned to him. "Our clan was formed to be the force that would help guide a soul to become the Great Dragon. An entity so powerful, it could very well claim godhood one day. And that soul is you, Garret." Garret blinked and pointed his finger up at himself. "Moi? A God? Okay, and how do you know I'm the guy you want?" He asked. April produced the gem from his pocket, and raised it up to Garret. "Because of this. This gem grows in dark light whenever it is near the Dark Dragon." he said, and put the gem up to the young man's forehead. "Wait, how do you glow in dark-" Garret stopped mid-sentence, as his vision phased out and was replaced by sights of death, fire, destruction and carnage, a giant black dragon towering over the world, raining hell upon Earth. The beast roared, and his vision returned, April pocketing the gem. "What the hell was..." "That was a sight of what you will become if you don't learn your power, Garret-san." April responded. Garret gulped, then looked down at the ground. "Fuck."

/me Garret and April stepped out into the backyard, the Dark Dragon glancing around at the poorly kept garden and lawn. He walked into the tall grass after the samurai, looking rather discontent. "Okay, I get the whole training thing and all, but couldn't we do it somewhere else? Someplace that doesn't look like shit?" He said, crossing his arms. April stood a few meters in front of him, and tossed over a bokken to the Dragon. Garret blinked, looking down upon the weapon, then up at the samurai. "The main purpose of your training is to awaken your powers, Dark Dragon. Practicing in the former home of the White Dragon will aid in doing so." The samurai said. Garret snickered. "Well, alright then. Might not be the best swordsman in particular, but you saw me back at the bar. Let me know if it's too much, and I'll stop beating you up." The young man said, raising his sword for combat. April nodded. "Let us fight, then." He said, then pulled off his shirt, revealing a [i]very[/i] well-toned body.

/me Though a bit surprised by the figure hidden by the man's attire, Garret remained unfazed. He had fought way bigger opponents, with much higher stakes. April took a defensive stance, preparing to block. "I will let you strike first." the samurai said in his usual, somewhat monotone voice. Garret grinned, and charged at him, going for a straight, downward slash. Rather than blocking, April side-stepped with little effort, bringing his sword's handle into Garret's stomach, knocking the air out of the Dragon. Garret fell down on his back, grunting and clutching his gut. April didn't move, waiting for the man to stand back up. Garret did so a bit shakily, picking his bokken back up from the ground as he did. "F-fuck. Wasn't expecting you to go that hard on me, bud." He muttered, before going for a sideways slash. April blocked it with his own weapon, as well as the following five blows. Garret roared out and went for another stab with his blade first, trying to bring his other fist up into April's face, only to have it land straight into April's hand. "You're too slow for a Dragon, and much too slow for a Kinosan." April said, kneeing Garret in the stomach. The Dark Dragon stumbled back a bit, and was struck in the shoulder with April's blade, the samurai not putting his all into the strike as to not break a bone, but still causing quite a bit of pain. Two more strikes to his legs, and a kick to the shin, and Garret found himself with his knees in the grass, his face contorted in pain. April bowed to the man on the ground, and placed down the weapon. "I believe I have seen enough for today, Dark Dragon. I now know what our training must involve." The samurai said, then turned to head back inside. Garret forced himself back up on his feet, and went to follow the man.

/me "What the hell!? That was training? I didn't learn shit!" Garret called out. April stopped, and turned to face him again. "You did. You learned that you are not as powerful as you should be, Dark Dragon. You haven't unlocked the slightest bit of power a Dragon is capable of." Garret blinked, looking taken aback by April's unchanging tone. "I'm a God damn Kinosan! We're trained from our very childhood to be the best fighters we can fuckin' be!" "And it is clear that either that training has failed, or your abilities have dropped since you finished it. Tell me, Dark Dragon, when was the last time you fought something other than a mortal man?" The samurai asked. Garret paused. He had to think about that one. After a moment's thought, he sighed. "Last time I fought a monster was during my final test as a Kinosan. I never saw the appeal in doing it, man." "And what [i]do[/i] you see the appeal in, Dragon?" He asked. A faint grin appeared on Garret's face at that. ~Heheh. I know what I find appealing...~ His thoughts trailed off to wonderful, wonderful things, only snapping out of it as April tapped him on the head with the bokken. "Oh, uh- Defending the lives of innocents from the horrors brought about by man!" Garret exclaimed, straightening his back out and throwing a salute. April sighed. "Right. Listen to me, Dark Dragon. You have the potential for unimaginable power. The man who preceded you in living here had no proper training prior to unlocking his abilities whatsoever. He was cursed with immortality, the curse lifted upon the awakening of the Sleeping Dragon. And without any training, his powers were enough to defeat me in combat. They were enough to face beings we believed to be gods. The fact that you, without unlocking your powers in the slightest, are capable of fighting means that there are truly no limits to your power. But you must [i]not[/i] give up, and you [i]must[/i] follow my training, Dark Dragon." April said, gesturing towards the man with his finger, before walking off. Garret sighed, lightly touching his own stomach. "I will. Under the condition that you stop fuckin' calling me that. Doesn't sit right with me. Just call me Garret." "Very well then. Garret."