“So... Wait a minute, who or what is Cináed?” Zidane asked.

 

“… Near as I can figure, a dragon god.” Drake replied, grabbing yet another sword.

 

“A dragon GOD!?” Zidane choked out while ignoring Drake's unending search. In the past Zidane had only dealt with people that wanted to be gods. Or that thought they were gods. Surely it was the case here too?

 

Drake examined another sword and seemed satisfied with it, only when he was did he look back at Zidane, “Yes. A Dragon God. Do you really need to waste your time on all of this history or can we move on?”

 

Zidane rubbed the back of his head, starting to get a little worried about this war.

 

“Cináed won’t attack us,” Drake added as if reading his thoughts. “It can’t leave the island… surely you have noticed a lack of dragon gods flying around, yes? Even Bahamut, the dragon king, can only survive in this world when attached to a summoner.” He walked further into the real, wood and stone fort. “Cináed survives because he created a dragon spirit which holds all his powers, and cast it out so that while the others would fade away, he would have a way to come back—to keep from dying. As long as the spirit lives, so shall he. It makes him the most powerful of the dragon gods, but if he tried to leave the island his life force would vanish, since he feeds off the energy its followers produce, and they do not dare disobey. And, quite honestly, I fear Eclipse more. He knows what I can do, as he knows what you can. We need to get as many advantages as possible. We need to pick where this fight will happen and we need to come up with as many surprises as possible… I imagine he’ll come up with some of his own.”
Drake thought hard, trying to think of anything that would help them. “… His clothing is also fireproof, like mine, but he himself is not. He can create lightning, but I doubt he is immune to it…” It was difficult.

He’d never seen Eclipse as anything but invincible. “Also… I feel I should note that he and I can both summon and control dragons. And he’s much better at it than I am…”

 

Summon Dragons? Zidane repeated in his mind as memories of the incredible, but highly irregular battle with grand dragons. Had that been Eclipse? Had he done everything that had happened that day? There had been wave after wave of dragons that had sapped the strength of Zidane and his friends...

He could never have fought them all alone. If that was Eclipse's power, how much more did he have after that?

Last time he had to save the world, there had not been as much planning as this. They had practically just run straight in and somehow come out victorious. He was a thief from Tantalus! He understood how important planning was, but this kind of planning was new to him. It was harder to keep his usually positive attitude as he carefully considered the odds...

He followed Drake into the old fort. “Tell me more about that dragon summoning thing...How do you do that?” Zidane questioned. He had a lot of questions, a lot of which he doubted Drake would be able to answer anyway and a few that he felt Drake wouldn't answer, so he went with the ones that there was the best possibility of getting useful responses from.

 

Drake cleared his throat, coughing, then he threw his head back and roared. It echoed like thunder, but sharper, longer.

He stopped, took another breath, and let out short, sharp, bark of a roar that echoed even further, seeming to chase the previous call.

Within seconds, there was a loud crash as a very, very large grand dragon landed outside the fort.

“Like that.” Drake explained, “That fun you had at the Black Mage Village not long ago? Sorry to say, was partially my doing… Though, that lightning storm was all Eclipse. I was in Alexandria.”

 

“Figured...” Zidane replied, moving away from the dragon. “How come you can do it?”

 

“…Dragon… Prince…?” Drake pointed at himself.

 

“… Oh. Kinda explains why there are so many Grand Dragons in Daguerreo.”

 

Drake shrugged, “They have to be somewhere.”

 

“What? Not a family trait?” Zidane asked.

 

Drake stared at him. “… How the hell should I know?”

 

“Well, they’re your—.”

 

“Move past it.” Drake ordered, motioning with his hand, rolling his wrist.

“Can we stop him from being able to summon dragons?” Zidane asked, then a somewhat obvious way came to mind, but he didn't fancy his chances. “Other than gagging him, anyway...”

 

“Not that I am aware of,” Drake replied. “I think he can do it using his mind, anyway.” Drake made a motion with his hand, and the dragon outside took off.

It all seemed impossible, but he wouldn’t admit that out loud. Eclipse knew everything Drake could do; knew how well he used each weapon, what his weaknesses were. Why wouldn’t he? Drake had never found a reason to hide his powers from Eclipse for very long... not till recently.

 

“Great… anything else?”

 

If they were going to win, they would need to learn some new tricks. The shock factor alone was an issue… “Hmmm.” Drake remembered his own reaction when he had seen what Eclipse could become; if Zidane had the same reaction there would be problems… unless.

“I have an idea…”

 

“Oh?”

 

“I’m going to see if I can make Eclipse shift forms somewhere where you’ll be able to see. It’s…. distracting. But it will be best for you to see now rather than later.” Drake explained, thinking up how he was going to do this.

 

“It's really that distracting?” Zidane asked. He had faced some pretty horrible monsters before and he was sure Drake knew that. It couldn't be worse than some of those, could it?

 

“I have loud explosive fireworks that explode into the shapes of things, that move. I could fire a whole crate off at once, and it would not compare. In fact, if I fired them off while Eclipse was in his True Form, you wouldn't even notice them.” Drake declared, making a note to go make sure he still did, in fact, have those fireworks.

 

“So how will we make him change without him attacking us too?” Zidane wondered, accepting that if Drake thought it was really necessary, it probably was.

 

“You get into your jet and hide somewhere… leave the rest to me.” As confident as Drake sounded, he sure didn’t feel it.

Eclipse seemed to prefer only shifting half way, only letting his wings appear. Getting him to completely shift was going to be a challenge.

“He’s gone, though. I’m not sure where.” Drake sighed, then he threw a fireball at Zidane.

 

The fireball very nearly singed his tail as Zidane dodged out of the way. “Hey! A little warning would be good!”

 

“In battle you won’t be given a warning!” Drake smirked.

 

Zidane pulled out his daggers in a swift motion that was obviously well-practiced, so fluid and smooth that it almost looked like part of a dance.

Quickly, he counter-attacked, hoping to catch Drake partially off guard before his mind registered the daggers coming out.

 

Drake blocked the attack with one of his swords easily. He found it somewhat foolish that Zidane would try to surprise him after he started the battle. Drake still didn’t think he was good enough with a sword… That was the point, though. Eclipse knew Drake favored his bow and his whip, if he managed to get good at the swords it would be an advantage they had.

Zidane, on the other hand, was very, very good with his daggers… so Drake cheated and kicked Zidane’s feet out from under him, causing the Angel to fall. Drake dashed forward and pressed the sword blade down against Zidane’s back, “You’re dead.”

 

Zidane blinked a few times. “That was a dirty trick, you know.”

 

“I know.” Drake pulled the sword away and backed up a bit, letting Zidane get up.

 

“Alright… WHAT’S THAT?!?” Zidane shouted, pointing.

 

For the life of him… Drake could not figure out why he cared. What could possibly be behind him that his senses wouldn’t catch? But… he just had to look.

 

Zidane could barely hold back a laugh. That skill must have been so annoying, not only was it a 'cheap trick' anyway, but adding magic to the mix made it harder to resist!

Still, he couldn't waste the time he had bought, and launched straight into another attack. Soul Blade! If he could get a status effect on Drake, he would have an advantage!

'Wait. What effect do these daggers have again?' He wondered.

 

Drake, of course, saw nothing. He felt a… pull, go through his body and looked forward again, starting to realize what happened and that it had been an HP attack.

Once he realized he’d been hit, he had but one question, … Why are there numbers above my head? “… You’re trying to use Doom on me?” Drake laughed.

Then he rushed forward, jumping high into the air and coming down sword first.

 

Zidane felt the same, familiar pulling sensation and stumbled back, just thankful Drake wasn’t going for Blood. He jumped forward and swing with his daggers. “Yeah? So?”

 

Drake managed to block this attack, but wasn’t able to counter attack it. “I’m immune to it,” he smirked. “That’ll get to zero and nothing is going to happen! You think your team is the only one capable of countering status affects?”

 

“Shit!” Zidane committed himself to a renewed offensive, for if he couldn't weaken Drake, he would have to be able to beat him while he was at full strength. There was no other option.

 

Drake shoved backward and threw another fireball, followed by a few more.

 

Zidane dodged to the side to avoid the first fireball easily. He was getting quite used to them, or so he thought. He had underestimated how fast Drake could churn them out. The second fireball he managed to avoid, but in dodging the third, he inadvertently put himself in the path of the fourth and it clipped his shoulder.

 

Drake lunged forward, swinging his sword even before the fourth fireball began vanishing. It might have been a dirty trick, but who cares? He sure didn’t.

 

Zidane just managed to get one of the daggers up in time to block the blow, but it was a bad position and the force of it strained his wrist painfully. He knew he needed to counter attack, but was in a terrible position to do so physically with the daggers.

It was time to try his luck! He cast Lucky Seven at Drake.

 

Drake was not at a level divisible by seven, so the attack did not do nearly as much as it could have. It did, however, cause him to back off a bit, if only a few feet.

He stalked to the side, watching Zidane, trying to see what he had left before he’d trance. Once he found a position he liked, he stopped and waited to see what Zidane would do if given the chance to attack first.

 

Zidane took the opportunity, lunging in swiftly to attack with his daggers. He didn't want Drake to get another chance to use fireballs at him from a distance. He wanted to keep the battle at close range, not even giving him enough room to properly use the sword if possible. That would give him an advantage he clearly needed over Drake.

 

Drake was forced back about three feet from the attack. It ticked him off; he had underestimated how strong Zidane would be yet again.

 

“Preistoric Flacără!” He shouted, releasing one of his strongest attacks.

It wasn’t a regular fireball, it had the heat and appearance, yes, but that was only so deep. Inside it was raw power, energy used in all magic. Pure, primal energy surrounded by a blue and black flame. It was also twice the size of a regular fireball, and shot out like a python, staying long, gaining force, till the attack ended and only then did the entire force hit, a sort of finishing whip before it disappeared.

 

Zidane hadn't been expecting an attack that serious from Drake. It looked like he was going to use another fireball, which confused Zidane and made it even more impossible to dodge. The attack was pretty devastating to his HP. Not to mention really, really hurt as it knocked him flying backwards to land awkwardly on his tail after smacking against a wall of the fort

It caught him completely off guard. For a second it even made Zidane wonder if Drake had decided to try and kill him after all. That was until he noticed a pink glow and a familiar surge of power wash over him as he Tranced.

At that moment, Zidane decided he wasn't going to let Drake get away with that attack easily. But he would still hold back. Just a little.

“Meo Twister!” Zidane called out as he fired the attack.

 

Drake saw a lot of colors suddenly glowing around him, and then a harsh burn which quickly faded. Leaving him standing there wondering why that attack would have been chosen against a fire element.

 

”… Wrong attack?” He asked.

 

Zidane silently cursed. He was so used to just using Grand Lethal now that he had totally forgotten that Meo Twister was a fire-element attack. Once he had acquired Grand Lethal, all his other Trance abilities only seemed worth using when he didn't have enough MP. He shouldn't have held back!

He didn't really have a witty response in mind and admitting he had made a mistake was out of the question. He could manage about three attacks in trance, so he decided to go with the second one as his reply.

“Stellar Circle 5!” He called out the attack as he cast it.

 

The multi colored tornado surprised Drake. It didn’t feel like a wind attack, it just hurt! It also greatly diminished his HP. The force of the trance attack nearly threw him into his TF! He growled and his fangs grew, slightly. Before he unleashed another attack, seeing it only fair since he had allowed Zidane to go twice.
“Furie Flacără!” This was much like his primal attack, but not as intense.

Blue, black and red flames formed demonic, bat wings that flew at Zidane.

 

Zidane still had some of the equipment left from the time they had been fighting Kuja and trying to save Gaia. Among those items was more than one accessory for nullifying or absorbing fire attacks.
As his HP lowered to a little under one third, he really wished that he had worn one of them. Any of them. Fire hurt, a lot.

The attack knocked him flat on his back, hitting him like a strong ocean wave, or a charging bull. Only... made of fire. After it passed through the genome the winged attack crashed into one of the old fort walls behind him, almost completely demolishing it.
He flipped back to his feet knowing it was his last attack before his Trance would end. If that happened he would lose his most powerful attacks and he had no idea how many spells like that Drake could spit out.

He only really had one option if he wanted to win this match. He couldn't waste any potential from the next attack. He had just enough MP left to do it, too.

“Grand Lethal!” He cried, letting the destructive force of his most powerful attack free.

 

At the exact same moment, Drake used his own ultimate attack, “De Bază Flacără!”

The two spells were the most powerful either of them had, and when the magic met in the middle, it exploded.

Drake’s eyes widened and he backed up as far as he could the instant he realized this was going to be bad, but that was only a fraction of a moment before the explosion erupted from the center of their makeshift battlefield and he was thrown through one of the fort’s walls.

“… Ow.” He hisses as his HP went down to a very uncomfortable level. It was much like those annoying villains that leave your HP at 1 so you have to watch and listen to them ranting, but you cannot move. Except his HP was still in the hundreds… he just did not really want to move.

He sat up and looked at what used to be the fort. “…opps.”

 

Zidane had been partly buried under the remains of one of the fort's walls. He struggled out, tossing crumbling bricks aside, and coughing slightly, due to the dust. His HP was dangerously low at just five. He had been lucky that the wall behind him had been as weakened as it was from Drake's other attack, or it might have hurt even more.

“Well, that's never happened before.” Zidane commended, coughing on the dust again as he half-sat, half-collapsed on a large piece of rubble that was just the right height to use as a makeshift bench.

 

“… Truce?” Drake called from the opposite side of the demolition zone. “Call it a draw—… oh wait, you have less HP than me. Let’s just agree that I win!” He dropped back down on his back. “That’s how it works here, anyway.”

 

“...Whatever,” Zidane replied. “I think we broke the fort a little!” He understated, looking around.

 

Drake sat up again and glanced around. “… This will be fun to explain.” He looked the mess over, “They still use this base… this might actually be enough to get Eclipse to shift… or give my father a heart attack, which will make my mother have a heart attack, which will make me ruler and king, which will probably be enough to make Eclipse shift. Either way, it might work.”

 

“You have an odd sense of humor!” Zidane called.

 

“You’re right… he won’t give a damn about the fort!” Drake called back.

 

“Why would he shift because you would be king?” Zidane asked, deciding to ignore the rest.

 

“He’s never seemed to like it when I mention what I’ll do as King…”

 

“Why? What are you going to do?” Zidane looked over at Drake.

 

“Obliterate the tax law we have and create a system where the money is distributed fairer so that it won’t matter what area a person is from they’ll have the best education available and guard force protecting them… the rich hardly pay taxes, but they get the best schools which just isn’t fair; it keeps those in poverty in poverty and needs to change. It’s actually a pretty easy fix, but will upset a lot of people because a lot of wealthy people will have to pay what the poor people do, except the wealhy have more stuff to be taxed for.” Drake replied, watching the clouds in the sky. "It's not a big problem here in Dageuerreo, but in an island dedicated to knowledge I find it irritating that some of the lower class citizens cannot afford to send all their children to school, and that has to change."

 

“…” Zidane stared. “Well… not what I expected, I have to admit.”

 

“I figure if they have too many kids we can just kill off the ones with no potential and warn the parents to stop breeding. I’m also going to tear the weapon shopkeeper in the library to shreds, put his head on a pike as a warning to others, and melt that damn lift.”

 

“See, now… that’s what I was expecting. Confusing as it may be.” Zidane laughed, looking for a potion and figuring Drake was kidding.

 

Drake got up and examined the damage a bit better, “You realize our little battle took down a five hundred year old solid oak and stone building? It has survived dragon attacks, earthquakes and so much more. We might actually be strong enough.”

 

“Yeah? You mean it?”

 

“All but that last part, yes.” Drake conceited.

 

“Gee, thanks, that inspires a lot of hope. Strong enough to kill a building, but not strong enough to kill your Advisor…” Zidane shuddered, getting up.

 

“We have to surprise him,” Drake shrugged. “Every advantage possible, you know? Location. We have to pick the place. Surprise. We have to trick him from the start, get his guard down. Strength. We need abilities he doesn’t know we have. He definitely won’t be expecting us to work together, but we have to keep up whatever acts we have going to make sure as few people as possible know about that. Eclipse seems to find out things easily… I’m not sure how. The point is, we can’t give him even the slightest chance to win because he already outmatches us in every way.”

 

“Helpful…” Zidane downed a few Hi-Potions.

 

“There are no easy answers in wars like this.” Drake confirmed, looking down at Zidane. “You’re stupid to have listened to me this far and still think there will be an answer you like. I keep repeating myself and it has yet to sink into that thick head of yours.” He jumped down, hardly even causing the dust to stir up and pulled a sword out of the ground.

 

“You’re not seriously going to attack again… are you?” Zidane asked, getting up in case the answer was yes.

 

“Why not?” Drake stated.

 

“Because you don’t seem to have any healing equipment on you and we’ve just been blasted through a building…” Zidane stated.

 

Drake shrugged, “In Blood you go till the end.”

 

“Then I give and call it the end.” Zidane declared, sitting back down. “I know this fight is important, but we need to heal.”

“Mmm…” Drake rolled his eyes, not understand that and feeling aggitated about it.

 

“So how are you going to get Eclipse to shift?” Zidane asked, changing the topic.

 

“I have no idea.” Drake sighed, thinking. “…I’ll figure something out—.” Drake came to a rather sudden and fairly dramatic stop. Staring at the airship flying behind them… with the pink curtains…

“Oh, gods! Not her!”

 

“Who?” Zidane got up, looking around and spotting the unfamiliar ship.

 

Drake took his aggression out on the earth below him and stabbed his sword down to the hilt.

No! Not fair! Not her! Not Pricilla! Not today! Not ANY day!
Why did this have to happen? He had enough on his mind! He had to figure out a way to get Eclipse to shift to his TF where Zidane could see, but not be seen. He had to think up any weakness Eclipse might have, he had meetings to attend, events to go to, people to distract, lies to tell…

There was no time to deal with the preppy empress! With her bows and her clinginess and her unwillingness to commit suicide so he wouldn’t have to!

“Ugh! I have to go!” He said rather swiftly and started stomping his way down from the high ground advantage he had gained a short while ago.

 

“What?” Zidane asked, his gaze shifting between the airship and Drake's outburst. He followed him, keeping up with his pace.
“Why? Who is that?!” He demanded.

 

Drake wasn’t concerned with them being seen, though Pricilla did seem to have some ungodly ability to find him whenever and wherever… It was unlikely she’d look down as she much rather preferred to have her head in the clouds than worry about that foolish place he liked to call reality.

“It’s Pricilla,” Drake informed with an annoyed sigh. “If we are going to have any chance at doing this, it has to be now. “ He pointed toward the northwest horizon, “There is a mountain there. Lots of tree coverage and there will be a small cave where your jet should be able to land and be out of view. Go there and stay there; I’ll do the rest.”

 

Zidane did his best to memorize the directions as Drake listed them off. He didn't understand what had the prince so anxious all of a sudden. Pricilla was a horrible person, but not really part of what was going on.

“Why are you in such a hurry?” Zidane asked. Surely Drake didn't want to get back to his palace to see Pricilla?

 

Drake shuddered, slightly. Usually getting out of the palace was his first mission when Pricilla was around, but she was like a leech and with her around they would have no time to prepare or practice without her finding out… best chance was right as she arrived and was distracted with making sure everyone still adored her.

While he would have loved to just ignore her visit, he was going to be called back eventually and would rather miss the headache this time… also, there was a potential hostage...

“I have to go make sure she doesn’t touch Vanda.”

“Who—?”

 

“Just get to that mountain range and wait!” Drake ran over to Ruxandra and quickly jumped into the saddle. With a single command, the horse tore off through the field and through the trees.