Taking Back

The Unexpected Visitors

"Hold your horses!" shouted a female voice. 

"Your Highness, we've found the intruders, and we'll be escorting them to the dungeons shortly," replied a guard bowing before her. 

"Let me talk to them," she replied calmly. The girl slowly approached the arrested convict. 

"Kneel before our princess," the guard scolded, kicking him in the back of his leg. 

"At ease, general, let him speak," the princess scolded. 

"Apologies, Your Highness." 

"What's your name?"

The red creature remained silent, glaring at her and everyone around him as he struggled to undo the shackle around his throat. She could see the pure, unadulterated rage in his eyes as tears fell from his face. One of the guards then kicked him in the face.

"How dare you glare at our princess with such hatred," the guard said as the creature attempted to bite him. "Know your place, freak of nature!"

"Listen, I couldn't help but hear you call out your friend's name," replied the princess politely. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. I may know where your friend is. I may even let you see him, but only if you cooperate."

His eyes got even sharper at the mere mention of his friend. He began to growl like a wild, untamed beast. "How dare you threaten me with my friend's safety, you–" he said until another guard yanked on his chain.

"You will watch what you say to Her Majesty, monster!" yelled the soldier.

"You think any of you scare me!?! I'll rip apart all of you to shreds! I'll bite through this chain and crush you in a blazing inferno! I'll burn you all if you dare lay a finger on my friend! I know he's here! I heard you talk about him! I'm breaking through all of you. I'm taking him back home, where I can protect him, and not one of you will stop me!! You'll have to kill me if you want to stop me. Do you hear me?!?"

The guards grabbed a knife, ready to strike him. "You best be silent, lest you truly wish for death!"

"Put the knife down," the princess slowly scolded. She looked up toward the guard, and her eyes changed into dragon eyes. "I will not be telling you again." 

The room turned cold, and the guard trembled as he lowered the knife and put it away. 

"Now, you will follow me with the intruders, do you understand?" 

The guard slowly nodded while trembling. 

"Good," she replied, opening the black door and looking back at the guard. The guards pushed the intruders toward the room.

"W-w-what's gonna happen to us," the gorilla creature whimpered. "Sh-sh-Shoutmon, I'm scared?!? Are we going to die?!? A-are you going to kill us?!? Please don't do it, miss! I-I promise we'll leave. We'll just go, please, don't hurt us!"

"Don't bother begging for your life, ol' pal," the creature she heard be called Shoutmon said. "Even a Dragon like me knows that the moment they got you begging is the moment they've got you in their chains, in this case, quite literally. The only thing you can do is just stick to your hero's code and go down fighting."

"B-but Shoutmon."

"If we die, we die knowing we tried our best. We got this far, so we'll soak this in as our victory rather than a defeat. That's something no creature can take away from you, even in death. Shockingly, it's the one thing I did learn from that damned Goldeous bastard." 

"If you must know," began the princess. "Your friend has never been harmed the entire time he's been here. I figured you should see the state he's in since you know him," she explained, gesturing toward the bed where Eddie lay. "He risked his life for my mistake, but I fear his health will worsen."