Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals/Chapter of the Dragon

The chapter picks up shortly after the Chapter of the Fire, with the Iron Wings having taken the pirates and their ship as prisoners. Rouge is obviously displeased about having been betrayed by Valkus and being taken prisoner, and laments her fate, while Mid tells her to be quiet and Pretz states that as a pirate, she had had it coming to her. Rouge then demands to hear from Valkus why she is the only one to be put in chains, where the second-in-command intervenes and tells her to be quiet. Rouge however does not stop asking, leading Valkus to have a little moral dilemma. Being the chief of the Iron Wings, he can not allow Rouge to be free as this would compromise his authority in front of his soldiers, but being in love with her, he can not bear to see her in chains.

A soldier then arrives, delivering a message with an order from Tycoon Palace. Soon after this, Rouge is set free and declared a royal guest of Queen Lenna, much to the confusion of the second-in-command, Deputy Chief Gush. Valkus then apologizes to Rouge, however she states that it would be too late. Shortly thereafter, Tycoon Palace comes into sight. Linaly then asks what the tower next to the Palace is, upon which Gush states that it is the Tower of the Dragon, a sacred shrine where Hiryuu, the guardian god of Tycooon, is worshipped. Rouge meanwhile, upon being asked by Valkus how she likes the view, merely remarks that there must surely be a lot of treasure in the palace.

After landing, Valkus leads the group through the palace's halls and reminds Pretz to behave in front of the queen, while Rouge admires all the luxuries in the palace. Mid then scares Pretz by telling him that if he would not behave, the castle guards would cut his head off. Frightened due to this, Pretz immeadiately falls to his knees when the overdimensioned shadow of the queen appears prior to her entrance. Interestingly, Rouge also falls to her knees, while everyone else remains standing, which amuses Queen Lenna.

Later, in the audience chambers, Queen Lenna talks about the peace and harmony that has been brought forth by the four Crystals and expresses her concern over the disturbances that the capture of three of the crystals has brought with it. She also mentions her belief that if the three other crystals are not reclaimed, the world may end despite the Crystal of the Wind having been kept safe. The queen then goes on to ask the group to help them, seeing how their special powers have been acknowledged by the crystal. While Linaly denies having special powers, Pretz just states that he was never acknowledged by any leecherous crystal, which leads to Valkus reminding him to watch his manners. Meanwhile, Rouge seems shocked at the very thought of trying to reclaim the three stolen crystals from the Deathgyunos, believing that they do not stand a chance. Queen Lenna however is surprised at the name mentioned by Rouge, and inquires if she indeed meant Deathgyunos, the god of darkness that presides over the universe. This leads to the group inquiring Mid about what he knows, after which he begins to tell his story.

200 years prior to the current time, his grandfather Cid Previa had been the most knowledgeable scientist to ever have lived and had brought prosperity to the world with his inventions and discoveries. However, after having assisted Bartz and the other Light Warriors in their battle against ExDeath, Cid fell sick and eventually died. Believing that his research on the Crystals should never be touched by anyone again in order to avoid another series of calamities, he burned all his research papers and took his knowledge with himself to his grave. However, soon after his death, a mysterious airship appeared and used its weapons to destroy the grave and unearth the coffin of Cid. A hooded figure with glowing red eyes and a blood red sword then appeared and stole Cid's brain from his corpse. Upon apprehending the figure and ordering them to stop and return his grandfathers brain, Mid then got pierced by an energy beam fired from the figures eye, wounding him mortally. The airship then left with Cid's brain, leaving the dying Mid behind.

After this flashback, Pretz remarks that this must be the reason why Mid became a ghost, as he couldn't accept his death without getting back his grandfathers brain. Mid then mentions that he can hear Cid's voice calling to him for help, and that it is coming from the Black Moon. Soon, it is deducted that the Deathgyunos headquarters must thus be on the Black Moon. After this, the Deathgyunos airship is shown preparing his next attack, with the robotic figure announcing Tycoon as the target.

Meanwhile, Valkus is eager to go to the Black Moon, but ultimately has to be reminded by the Blue Mage that it is out of the Iron Wings reach, leaving it unreachable for them. Queen Lenna then suggests to go and awake the legendary Hiryuu sleeping below the Palace, as he should be able to reach the Black Moon and carry them there. The Blue Mage quickly dispatches this idea as being too dangerous, seeing how there is no guarantee that the Hiryuu would be willing to help them, but the queen insists on it, seeing how it is the only way to reach the Black Moon. Linaly is then telepathically contacted by her grandfather who states that she should be fine, seeing how the Hiryuu will help those chosen by the Crystals. As such, Linaly then opts to go and wake the dragon, despite the dangers it might pose. Pretz and Mid are quick to join her, but Rouge denies helping them out, wishing to be left out of this, saying that she has no obligation to be involved in such a dangerous task. However, when Queen Lenna offers to give her a huge stash of treasure for her help, Rouge instantely changes her mind and stated, how she had always wanted to work towards achieving world peace. Valkus rejoys over this, however his joy is cut short when the enemy raid on Tycoon Castle begins.

After the first few attacks, Valkus with the Iron Wing and Rouge with her pirate crew begin to fight back, while Queen Lenna unseals a gate deep down below the castle with her powers. A strong wind welcomes the party after the gateway opens, and Linaly's butt suddenly restarts glowing once more, much to her embarassment. The queen then reminds Linaly and Pretz to be careful, before they leave for the gateway. After they are gone, the queen collapses, leaving the Blue Mage to inquire whether she is alright, after which she just states being tired, before expressing her belief in the children to manage and find the Hiryuu. The scene then once more shifts to the robotic figure stating that it has captured a crystal reaction and that the crystal is moving, with its height declining. A red glowing eye is then shown, as an old and deep voice states that the Crystal is hiding underground.

Back on the battlefield, the Iron Wings assisted by the pirates try their best to fight back against the Deathgyunos forces, but are severly outnumbered. Meanwhile, Linaly, Pretz and Mid have reached the end of the gateway and find themselves on a giant red bridge. Wondering, where they could now find the Hiryuu, the trio looks around and spots daylight coming from way up high, before Pretz hears something coming from behind them. Mid however appears to hear nothing and states that it may be just in Pretz imagination, but Pretz does not believe this and thus sends Linaly and Mid off to look for the Hiryuu, saying they should leave this to him. Linaly summons a chocobo and takes off with Mid only moments before the first Deathgyunos soldier arrives and is taken down by Pretz. However, the two soldiers following afterwards manage to slip by Pretz, leaving him to chase after them while they chase Linaly and Pretz.

Soon, the Deathgyunos soldiers manage to catch up with Linaly and capture her. Pretz then chases after them and in an attempt to save her, jumps over from the bridge to one of the soldiers, defeating it in the process. He then proceeds to the one holding Linaly, and barely manages to grab one of its handles with his hand. Following this, Mid congratulates Pretz by saying that he does things unthinkable for a human being to which Pretz simply replies by stating that Mid only does things that surprise human beings. He then goes on to defeat the Deathgyunos soldier, however this leaves him and Linaly to tumble downwards and pass through the clouds as they are stuck on the falling soldier. While Pretz appears worried, Linaly merely remarks that she had never been in the clouds before, which irritated Pretz due to the easygoing tone Linaly has.

After crashing on the ground below the clouds, Mid points out a kind of building in the middle of a lake to Pretz and Linaly. Meanwhile, out on the battlefield, the pirates have a hard time fending off the Deathgyunos attacks. The Blue Mage then mentions that Queen Lenna should evacuate the palace due to it being too dangerous at this place, but the queen refuses, stating that she can not just leave when everyone is fighting. Underground, Linaly has meanwhile talked to the spirits of the nature and veryfied that the Hiryuu is indeed in that building in the middle of the lake. Pretz, eager to find the Hiryuu, immeadiately takes off his clothes and starts swimming over to the building, while Linaly reminds him to be careful just before her butt starts glowing once more. Believing that this is due to the Crystal reacting to something, Mid soon finds an ancient crest in the floor depicting the Hiryuu. He then asks Linaly to stand on it, while Pretz arrives at the building and starts climbing it. As Linaly steps on the crest, the light from above breaks through and surrounds her. A beam of light is then shot from Linaly's glowing butt directly at the building. Following this, the building rises out of the water, revealing it to be a sculpture of a giant head along with a path leading to its mouth which serves as its entrance. A glowing red orb can then be seen emerging from the remains of the crashed Deathgyunos soldier.

Back on the battlefield, the Iron Wing fights bravely against the Deathgyunos but have to notice that for every soldier they shoot down, another one appears to take his place. Linaly and Pretz are meanwhile exploring the building and can only find pictures of the Hiryuu, leading to Pretz being disappointed. However, Linaly then discovers the real Hiryuu and greets him: A miniscule, lizardous creature not even half the size of Mid. Disappointed by this, Pretz and Mid wonder if the creature than really take them to the Black Moon, after which Linaly states that it is cute at the very least. Mocking this cuteness and the seeming inability to fly however leads Pretz to getting a fireball blown into his face.

It is then that the red orb along with some debris is shown floating towards the building, and upon entering it using the debris to form a humanoid torso around the glowing orb that serves as its eye. It is then that the Deathgyunos leader first directs his words at the party, introducing himself as Ra Devil. Scared by the voice he recognizes as his murderers, Mid hides away while Ra Devil explains to the party that he intends to become Deathgyunos, the god of the universe. Pretz then faces Ra Devil in order to give Linaly an opening to escape, after which Ra Devil only says that he holds no interest in him, and that he only wants the girl. Pretz then states that he has business with Ra Devil and throws a bomb at the golem formed out of debris, blasting it apart. However, as the group escapes the building, the red orb starts floating once more and follows after them. Upon reaching the area where they crashed again, Linaly gets hit by a red lightbeam and captured by Ra Devil, who constructs his armor of debris around the poor girl. Pretz can not react to this as he would risk hurting Linaly, and as such, Ra Devil manages to escape with Linaly. Immeadiately after this, the Deathgyunos forces retreat, leaving only Queen Lenna to speculate, if perhaps Linaly had been captured.

Pretz then finds Linaly's earring next to the Hiryuu and curses his inability to protect her. When Mid reappears, Pretz at first scolds him for having left Linaly alone but is then interrupted by the Hiryuu crying out and starting to transform, growing into a much bigger form. Upon having reached his true form of a mighty dragon, the Hiryuu picks up Pretz and Mid and lets out a mighty roar, which is then recognized by the Blue Mage of Tycoon. The Hiryuu's tower then disappears, and the Hiryuu himself appears at its place, much to the joy of Queen Lenna, the Blue Mage and Valkus, while Rouge remains impressed at Pretz for managing to awake it. The chapter then ends with Pretz standing atop the Hiryuu, calling for Linaly to just wait for him.