After several trips on the Behemoth and Tiamat, spinning around for what felt like hours in tea cups, and swinging in a pirate ship like a pendulum, the bounty hunter slumped on the first bench he could find, white as a sheet and resisting the urge to puke. Tina happily bought corn dogs for both of them and sat beside him, watching the apparently happy couples go by. Satoshi gladly took one after resting a little, taking a big bite before glancing over at the giant manor in the middle of the park.
Tina poked at him and asked, "Are you having any fun yet, Sato-kun?"
"If by fun, you mean feeling like death after that blasted ship ride, then yes," Satoshi said bluntly, taking another bite of his corn dog and swallowing it. "I almost felt seasick after it went higher and higher still... and they call this entertainment?"
"People like thrills. Love being scared to death! That's what amusement parks are all about!"
"Uuuugh. It is not to my taste, then. Or at least, that one particular ride isn't."
Tina smirked. "For a moment there, I thought you were gonna lie about how much you enjoyed zipping through the air and doing loops on the Tiamat!"
Her partner shrugged and said with a slight smile, "Yes, I did. It was fast, but having your legs dangle from the seat... Well, I felt as light as a feather, and it was a nice thrill, for sure."
"I dunno," the nuncubus said, putting a finger to her chin. "I think I was more thrilled on the Behemoth! Those drops were insane!"
Satoshi stared at her blankly. "You nearly cut off circulation to my arm on that particular ride."
"Weeeeell, it did say it was guaranteed to make you cling to someone you like~!" Tina winked, a mischevious smile on her face before she took out the brochure Satoshi got earlier and opened it up, staring at the map. "Well, we still have a few more rides to go... Do you wanna go on the Tower of Doom? That's a super thrilling one, and it goes up up up and then does a sharp drop! Or maybe we should go do face painting? I mean, we have the minds of 20 year olds so maybe that won't work out but hey, I love that sort of stuff!" Her eyes widened in glee as she pointed at a particular point on the map and squealed, "OHMYGODTHEYEVENHAVEAPETTINGZOOEEEEEEE"
Her friend coughed, catching her attention for a moment. "As much as I would enjoy seeing the rest of the park," he grumbled, tossing away remnants of his corn dog in the trash, "we have more important matters to handle. Namely, Lady Jessica and the key she holds."
The nuncubus frowned, nibbling at her corn dog slowly before sighing, "Yeah, I know. It's just that... I haven't done anything fun in the past few days, or at least nothing like this!" She took a moment to chow down on the rest of her corn dog and looked down solemnly at her feet before continuing, "And I don't even know you well, because you came before Scarlet picked Sora and me off the streets, and I heard about you from Scarlet all the time. Always so serious on the job, using your smarts and Scarlet's power to take down loads of bounties. She said you hardly ever smiled, but when you did, it could light up a whole room. And, well, you did smile a little bit, but you don't really know anything about love and really relaxing and just having fun and stuff like that... you know... Happiness."
Satoshi stared at her for a moment, considering her words, remembering those old times where Scarlet happily presented the heads of her bounties to everyone she knew, boasting about her achievements while Satoshi quietly sat by the fireplace, watching with interest as her audience "oooh'd" and "aaaah'd". Simpler times, where they merely got directions from Gluttony (however awful he was) and had an adventure whenever they wanted. Something to laugh and smile about, at least to most. The others? They ran away in fear of the dreaded duo, who could and would scalp them without a second thought.
In the end, he could only reply in a soft voice, "Because now, I find nothing to truly enjoy, to be truly happy about. Not when everything underneath the surface is so... wrong."
Tina stared at him for a moment. It was only a moment, but he could see the pity in her eyes. His heart twisted in pain, but he did not let it show on his face. Instead, he looked up towards the ceiling, where magic mimicked the starlit skies of the outdoors. Magic, it may have been, but the stars were the sight he missed the most when he went to Limbo. At the very least, he could appreciate them, find some joy in gazing up and finding constellations. The one joy he never truly lost.
He felt something on his hand and turned his attention away, seeing his friend hold his hand and look up at the stars with him. Awkwardly, he held her hand as well, feeling his cheeks burn a little with embarassment and his heart flutter. A strange feeling, at least to him. Was this succubus magic working on him, or something else? How to tell the difference...?
A loud voice boomed over the intercoms, snapping the duo out of their romantic stargazing.
"Attention, all lovely couples~!" it said. "Turn your attention towards the Main Plaza and get ready for a show! Our daring dragon tamer, Jolene the Magnificant, will blow your minds away~!"
Tina raised an eyebrow and turned to Satoshi. "I heard of lion tamers, but never dragon tamers," she admitted. "Wanna go check it out?"
Satoshi didn't bother with a response, his eyes narrowing as he strode down towards the Main Plaza, his succubus friend struggling to keep up.
------------------------------------
"Step right up and be amazed!
Jolene's skill is sure to leave you dazed!
Dragons are at her beck and call
So come on up, one and all!"
The yamabikos were in full blast as crowds of succubi and their dates gathered around in a circle, leaving space for a succubus in a rather skimpy lion tamer outfit to walk right through, whip in hand and cape blowing behind her. A few other succubi pushed a massive cage on wheels towards the center, covered in steel painted red and gold, aside from the small, steel bars that attached to the top. The crowd whispered among themselves, pondering what kind of dragon lay within the cage. They were soon startled by a roar and the clash of something against steel bars. They saw the long claws clinging onto the bars, and maybe a red, slitted eye staring right at them.
Satoshi forced his way towards the front of the crowd, much to the dismay of those already there. Tina squeezed her way through and panted before asking, "What was the whole hurry about, Satoshi? You were walking a mile a minute!"
"Sssh!" The bounty hunter put a finger to Tina's lips, eyes focused on the cage. With a crack of the whip, the succubi assistants hastily opened the cage. Another crack, and thundering footsteps were heard as the creature walked out, tasting the open air with a forked tongue.
All the crowd stood amazed at the massive fire dragon, shivers going down even Satoshi's spine as its roars echoed through the cavern. It turned towards the crowd and lunged towards Tina, eager to devour some live prey. She yelped and closed her eyes, expecting a lot of pain. When she opened them, the dragon was an inch away from her face, slowly backing away as the tamer seemed to glare it into submission. While the nuncubus was more than happy to sigh in relief, the crowd broke into applause, wolf whistling and yelling with glee as the tamer took a bow.
"She's pretty impressive, isn't she?" Tina asked her friend, only to notice an angry look on his face. "Uh, Sato? You alright?"
"Not at all," he said bluntly. "Something stinks of deception."
"She's just taming a dragon, dude. No harm, right?"
Satoshi did not respond. He merely watched the act as the tamer's assistants held up giant hoops and, with mere gestures, made the dragon fly through them with ease. With a grand sweep of her arms, she cued it to breathe fire in spurts, lighting the faux night sky with flame. It got testy for a moment, lunging towards its tamer in an attempt to bite her, but with a glare, she made it sit down quietly like a puppy told to lay. The crowd applauded over and over, even Tina surprised by how relatively docile this mighty beast was.
None but Satoshi noticed it. The pained twitches, the slight trembles, the look of utter fear in its eyes. He stared, balling his hand into a fist and allowing his anger to boil in his heart. He saw the dragon take a moment to stare right back, and heard a pathetic squeak pass its lips.
Others laughed and "awww'd" at it. But Satoshi knew better. Knew better than anyone.
Help me.
Before the next part of the act could begin, the crowd gasped in shock as a lancelet of fire landed Jolene's feet. She stared at it before turning towards one approaching her, the one with an icy glare.
"I don't believe I asked for guests to aid me," she said coldly, preparing her whip. "Get back where you belong. Or do I have to show the crowd the true power of a dragon?"
"Oh yes," he replied with a snarl. "The true power of a dragon you forced into your service, made to heed your beck and call, lest it feels your wrath. I suppose you have no shame in using horrible methods to break even a dragon's pride."
Another gasp escaped from the crowd as the tamer gripped her whip tighter. "Go back where you were," she ordered again, this time with more force behind her words, "or I swear, I will make him devour you!"
Satoshi continued, walking ever closer to her, "Taming a dragon is one thing, Madam Jolene. There are ways to gain a dragon's respect and trust, enough of it for it to obey your orders without hesitation. But this?" He pointed towards the mighty dragon, the majestic beast that cowered before Jolene and said, voice cold as Shiva's breath, "It is a mockery of it, a flagrant abuse of dragonkin! It does all the fanciful tricks out of fear, not trust! And you dare call yourself a dragon tamer?"
Dragon tamer and demon hunter glared at each other, both unwilling to back down. Tina stared in shock for a moment before turning towards the dragon, still docile. She walked towards it and said in a calming voice, "It's okay, I won't hurt you... hold still..." She held her hands out, her eyes glowing as she looked for any magical spells that may have been cast. For a moment, she saw chains, hundreds of chains, wrapped around the dragon before she let out a gasp, her concentration broken, the world returning to normal.
"Satoshi!" she said, voice strained from shock. "Geas! I saw geas!"
The dragon tamer paled as the crowd whispered amongst themselves about it. Satoshi silently summoned his fire lance to his side, and asked, "Well? What say you?"
The whispers became louder and louder. Some people were glaring.
"Well..." she said, gripping at her whip and pulling it taut.
Tina was too busy using her white magic to dispel the geas, one by one, shooting a scornful look at the dragon tamer.
"Well...."
She began to sweat as Satoshi aproached ever closer, his hateful gaze never wavering.
"Wellll......"
The jig was up. Satoshi watched her every move.
"....Well," Jolene said with a small smirk. "dead men tell no tales."
And in a flash, he saw the glints of steel daggers as she pulled them from her cape and tossed them, two of them nicking his cheek. The crowd dispursed in a panic as the the succubus tamer took to the skies and launched lightning from her hands towards the demon hunter. Satoshi rolled out of the way and hissed as he launched fireballs from his fingertips, trying to catch her off guard. One singed her wing a little, but it wasn't enough to deter her from calling forth her assistants to launch sharp playing cards at their enemy.
Satoshi grunted as the flurry of cards sank into flesh, turning his attention to Tina. "Tina!" he yelled. "Distract the other succubi! The geas can wait a little longer!"
"But what if she uses him again?!" she retorted. "I don't want him to get hurt!"
"I know a way to handle him without hurting him! But I need the others distracted!"
Tina had a puzzled look on her face for a moment before it turned into one of determination. "Roger that!" she said before whispering an apology to the dragon and taking off into the skies. She summoned her trusty gattling gun and let out a battle cry as heart shaped bullets slammed into the assistant succubi's sides. They cried in pain before redirecting their cards towards her, although they did not have much luck hitting her. She gracefully weaved through the storm before lashing at one of them with her tail and hurling her right at her friends before shooting them down. They changed tactics then, pulling doves from their sleeves and having them peck at Tina aggressively.
"Nooooo, I don't wanna hurt you!" she wailed as she flailed about and tried to shoo them away. "Go awaaaaaay!"
Meanwhile, Satoshi was in hot pursuit of Jolene, who escaped from the chaotic storm of cards towards the line of game booths. He slammed his lance into the ground, watching as flames trailed ahead before rising like a geyser of flame up towards Jolene, burning her boots. With a snap of her fingers, cages fell from the sky, Satoshi rolling out of the way before he was trapped within. They left indents in the ground as they fell, Jolene laughing as the demon scrambled behind booths for safety. She launched a barrage of knives at his location, a few of them sinking into his arm and staining his robes with his own blood.
With a growl, the bounty hunter stumbled into a booth with baseballs to knock milk jugs over. He looked at them for a moment before grabbing one and pitching it at the dragon tamer, much to the boothman's dismay. It gave her a nasty bump on her head, but she didn't have time to retaliate as the demon pitched another one, and another, and another. One of them thumped her hard in the chest, knocking her out of the sky and right into a seat at the "Dunk Me!" booth.
"No fair!" she whined. "You shouldn't be using those for-BLBBLBBLB!"
She got a mouth full of water as Satoshi hit the bullseye and dunked her right into the water. The succubus came up for a breath before flapping her wings frantically and taking off into the air, narrowly avoiding lightning bolts streaming from the bounty hunter's fingertips. With a hiss, she summoned a circle of cages to fall around Satoshi, caging him in before she launched yet another barrage of knives. He sprouted wings and flew out from the death trap before the knives could impact, although not without a few new injuries. He flew close to Jolene and breathed a cone of cold, watching as her left arm and legs began to freeze over, but he flew too close: close enough for her to deliver a swift and painful lash to his chest.
He watched as she flew lazily back towards the Main Plaza and flew after her, keeping the pressure up with icicles and lightning bolts. She tried to weave through them, only to be zapped by a few bolts and knocked into some of her succubi assistants. The other assistants were being shot at by Tina, who successfully shooed away the doves and was on a rampage against those that hurt her. She stopped only when they were knocked out and turned to Satoshi before seeing the injuries he sustained.
"Yikes! Did you just let her use you as a pincushion, Sato-kun?" she asked with a bit of worry, hurrying to his side and using a simple cure spell after pulling the knives out of him. "That's dangerous, you know!"
"I'm fine," he replied, wincing as the magic knitted flesh back together. "Thank you for worrying, but it takes more than throwing knives to kill someone like me."
"Unless it's straight to the heart. Then you're kind of dead."
"Well, yes. That's why I have armor."
"And I have amor~"
"...Which is...?"
"It's love! Love in another language! Love, love, looove!"
Satoshi stared at her, completely puzzled as she twirled around in place. He then sighed, knowing that he'd die never understanding half of what Tina goes on about. It was only when a shadow was cast over both of them when both became alert, looking up towards the massive fire dragon looking down on them.
Jolene, the ice around her legs and arm melted with the help of her dragon, chuckled a little as she said, "Oh, and you said you shouldn't worry about the geas! What a fool you are! Now this dragon's under my complete control, and none of you can do anything but watch as I roast both of you into a crisp!"
To which Satoshi replied curtly, "I dare you to try."
A smirk formed on the dragon tamer's face. "My pleasure~!"
She lifted her arm up, the dragon rearing back and taking a deep breath. Tina flew off, far enough away so that she wouldn't be hit. But Satoshi didn't budge, not an inch.
"What the heck are you doing, Sato?!" she yelled. "Get out of there, fast!"
He still did not move. He only stared at the dragon dead in the eyes.
The dragon tamer pointed at the bounty hunter, and from the dragon's maw came red-hot fire. Tina tried putting up a barrier, but she was a moment too slow. She stared in shock, unable to say anything as fiery breath consumed Satoshi and the spot he stood in. The moment lasted a minute until the dragon stopped, looking down at the scorched spot as his master smirked.
The mage succubus flew closer, her heart nearly bursting out of her chest. Nothing could survive that. Nothing. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She should have acted sooner, but the dragon...
Confidence turned to horror. A mage's horror turned to surprise.
Satoshi still stood, the ground scorched around him, but he himself unharmed. Tina noticed water droplets falling to the ground around him before he said in a cold voice, "Ixen shilta ti svent vi darastrix."
The fire dragon stared, wide eyed, at the strange bounty hunter. Jolene was even more surprised than her dragon was. "He... he sp-speaks... he speaks Draconic?!?" she sputtered. "What kind of... what the... I can't believe this!"
Her dragon stared a little longer before asking in a strained whisper, "Wux kampiun ve?"
"Nurti ricin batobot. Re wux ouith?"
"Si mi winhal. Shar nomeno... Wux re darastrix, thric?"
Tina turned to Jolene and asked, "Do you have any idea what they're saying right now?"
"Me? I never studied Draconic in my life!" Jolene replied. "I can only recognize it, not understand it!"
The nuncubus stared at her with unblinking eyes before she said, "You're the worst dragon tamer ever."
After a few moments, Satoshi turned to Tina and commanded, "Break the geas." She nodded and hastily went to work as Satoshi walked towards Jolene, who was quick to draw her knives. "It's useless," he said. "The geas are being undone. Your sham and Lady Jessica's sham will be revealed for the pathetic farce it is. Do you still want to fight, knowing that your life will end if you try?"
Jolene didn't bother with words. She responded by lunging at him and stabbing him in the gut. Blood splattered onto her dress, a smile plastered on her face as she waited for that look of shock to form on Satoshi's.
The demon's face did not change. He let out a small sigh before reaching up and untying his bandana. Puzzled, the dragon tamer looked up...
Eyes. Three more eyes. Slitted, bright blue... lizardlike.
And without letting her register anything more in her mind, he tore out her throat and left her to bleed on the ground. Just in time to see the geas break, the dragon freed. It allowed Tina to pet its head happily, while Satoshi turned his attention towards the Lovey Dovey Chapel looming ahead.
"Tina?"
The succubus stopped her petting for a moment. "Yes, Satoshi?"
"We've dawdled here long enough, and we may have caught Lady Jessica's attention. It's time to strike while the iron is hot."
"But Satoshi, how are we gonna get in?" she asked. "They said they won't allow anyone in if they aren't getting married!"
He turned towards Tina, all five of his eyes staring at her, a sly smile hidden behind his robe.
"Well... I suppose it's time to sound the wedding chimes for us."
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(Author's note: I used the following translator for Draconic: http://draconic.twilightrealm.com/ Also I apologize for the long ass post but I'm not exactly sure how to split this one into parts. And you can probably tell when I got a bit to tired to write out a complete battle scene. Weep.)
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