Dragons' Comeback

Souryuuden Volume 9

Novel by Tanaka Yoshiki
Summary by Amparo Bertram

Jump to: [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] [Chapter 5] [Chapter 6] [Chapter 7] [Chapter 8] [Chapter 9] [Chapter 10] [Illustrations]

Chapter 1: Hong Kong Reunion

Townsend is attacked in his hotel room by a fanged Gyuushu agent. Matsunaga-kun senses its presence, but by the time the others burst into the room, Townsend is dead and the assassin has escaped through the ceiling.
Nijikawa figures out the assassin had sucked Townsend's brain out through a hole in his temple. They search the building, coming upon the creature, a part-dog thing called a yakushi. [Illustration #1] It slaughters guards left and right, and is just about to smash Mizuchi's head like a watermelon, when a thrown chair knocks it into a wall. Owaru has shown up to save the day.
Owaru gives chase as the yakushi flees, finally diving after it from a window ledge. Luckily for them both, they're caught by Tsuzuku and Hajime before splatting on the pavement. However, a fully armed Four Sisters cleanup crew arrives and blasts the yakushi to smithereens. They scoop up the remains and speed off into the night.
The four boys reunite with their cousin. (Matsuri had planned to say a nice greeting, but as soon as she sees Hajime, all she can do is repeat his name over and over.) The whole group gathers so they can fill each other in on what's been happening since they parted. Then they head off to bed for the night, but they're awakened bright and early the next morning by the news that Mt. Fuji has erupted.

Chapter 2: Unlucky Day, Unlucky Month, Unlucky Year

The superheated cloud of ash and rock released in the eruption engulfs houses, hotels, resorts, and everything else in its path, costing hundreds of lives. The only silver lining is that the transportation system had been damaged in the previous earthquake, so there were thousands fewer tourists than would normally have been there.
The Prime Minister searches for someone to hold responsible. The pervasive ash effectively cuts off all forms of transportation to the Tokyo area due to low visibility. In addition, the heat of the falling ash continues to start fires, including a massive explosion at a petroleum plant.
Lambert confers with one of his subordinates, Vincent, who stands in for the US President. Vincent gets the creepy feeling that none of Lambert's displayed emotions are real, but rather that he's only pretending. He's also disturbed by the fate of Townsend, who until recently had been his equal, and wonders if the same might befall him.
Matsuri calls her mother to find out if she's all right, and Saeko scolds her for worrying about her parents when she has more important things to do. Matsuri is confused by finding out her true identity, but Hajime assures her she'll always be herself. He admits that their path will become more difficult with the Four Sisters sending strange creatures at them, but he takes away some of the fear she still feels about Lambert Clark by pointing out he had been wrong in his declaration--the ram as well as the bull is in both versions of the zodiac. (Matsuri wonders if that means there's a sheep clan hiding around somewhere, to which Hajime replies they'll find out when they go to the moon.) Suddenly it occurs to them that the younger boys are nowhere to be seen.

Chapter 3: Water Battle, Air Battle, Land Battle

Owaru has taken Amaru out in search of food. Just as they place their orders at a flashy floating restaurant, Natsuko shows up and attacks. After a few insults, Owaru leads her away from the other customers up to the highest point on the boat. It seems he has nowhere left to go, but his touda friend appears and picks Natsuko up by her helmet's plume, carrying her into the air. [Illustration #2]
It had been the touda that brought the Ryuudou brothers to Hong Kong in the first place. Owaru and Amaru get on its back and start to head for the hotel to turn Natsuko over, but her plume can't hold her weight and she falls along the way. Three Japanese men in dark sunglasses hail her as Funazu Tadayoshi's daughter. They were forced out of Japan in the power struggles succeeding his death and have come in search of Natsuko to enlist her aid. She falls for their overblown flattery and agrees.
Amaru muses that there was a dog in a painting at the floating restaurant that looked a lot like Matsunaga-kun. Owaru decides to take the touda over to look at the Mulligan building while he has the chance, only to find Tsuzuku on the roof waving at them. When they land, he explains he hadn't wanted to get in the way while Hajime and Matsuri talked, so he came to scope out the enemy. He sends Amaru back to the hotel, then he and Owaru break into the Mulligan building. After a brief tussle with some guards, Tsuzuku demands to know who's in charge of the building now that Townsend's dead, and a voice replies, "I am."
The adversary looks normal at first, but then he starts stretching out his form, becoming a mythological creature called Hitouban (aka Pontianak). It's a monster that can detach its head and various internal organs, sending them flying about to suck human blood. As it attacks them with its intestines, they try to get to its defenseless body, but its flunkies protect it. Luckily, Amaru and Hajime show up in the nick of time to rescue them.

Chapter 4: And Then Space Battle

The boys encounter a man who thinks he can stop them with a thick glass wall and poisonous gas, but they soon disabuse him of that notion and he runs away. They wander the building and kick open a high security door to find him on the phone. When he faints from fear, Owaru picks up the receiver to be greeted with a chilling voice on the other end. He hands it over to Hajime.
Lambert tells Hajime that he's launching a half dozen nuclear missiles at Hong Kong from Russia, and the Dragon Brothers are welcome to stop them if they want--which of course implies transforming. After hanging up, Lambert speculates that it will take them about two days to reach the moon. When Hajime attempts to exclude Amaru from the mission, Amaru proves his determination by jumping off the roof, forcing Hajime to snag him by the collar. With extreme reluctance, Hajime agrees that they'll all transform together.
Hajime orders his brothers into their dragon forms, then they fly to Ananfanchen to let Matsuri know what's happening. The message delivered, he leaps from the roof, turning himself into a dragon, and Matsuri waves as they take off. The White Dragon, thoroughly enjoying the energy not available in his human form, hurries to take the lead to dispense of the missiles.
They destroy all the missiles, but then they notice the laser satellites firing at them. After reducing those to space trash, a different type of satellite releases a cloud of thousands of spiderlike objects that try to snare the dragons. They bind the White Dragon and a tractor beam pulls him toward the moon, forcing the other three to follow. At the last possible moment, the Blue Dragon surges ahead and uses the moon's gravity to crush the tractor beam device under a rockfall. There's a hole leading under the surface, but it's closed off by a series of security doors. The dragons barely avoid being blasted by a defensive weapon.

Chapter 5: Moonlight Dream Music

The dragons want to go home again (particularly the White Dragon, after fasting for two days), but they also don't want to waste the trip. The Blue Dragon guesses that there could be entire cities under the surface. They set out cruising around, waiting for their enemies to make a move.

They're blasted with beam weapons, then a nearby mountain transforms, becoming a creature so enormous it dwarfs all four dragons. [Illustration #3] The White Dragon tries to attack, but his power doesn't work without an atmosphere. Getting a bright idea, he sneaks onto the creature's back and releases a sonic boom direcly into it, shattering it to rocky pieces. Unfortunately, the fragments gather back together and form the beast again. The dragons are unsure how to fight such a monster, but before they suffer any further damage, they receive a message that Seioubo wants them to return to Earth. Her emissary gets rid of the monster, then tells them to fly through a ring of light that will transport them back.
They're deposited in their hotel room in human form. Owaru's first words are that he's starving. Amaru gives Matsuri a moon rock as a souvenir. Meanwhile, Lambert is furious that his trap resulted in nothing to benefit him. All he can do is move on to the next plan.
The Black Dragon dreams of the lush, green beauty of Tenkai and how it is split in two by the war between the Gyuushu and Ryuushu. The four dragon kings order all their forces to mobilize. Seiryuu-ou had held back because his youngest brother had been a hostage, but once Kokuryuu-ou had been freed there was no further reason to endure the Gyuushu hostilities. He's positive that the true emperor is gone and the Gyuushu have usurped his authority.
Rewinding to a previous scene, Kokuryuu-ou is captive in the Imperial Palace, his brothers fighting to free him, when he meets up with a puppy who supposedly can lead him out. A powerful warrior named Sekijou-ou shows up, ordered to prevent the dragon kings from succeeding. During a fierce duel with him, Seiryuu-ou falls through a time portal. Kokuryuu-ou reaches his brothers and they just discover when their leader is, when Amaru is awakened to the announcement that Natsuko is attacking the hotel.

Chapter 6: Ananfanchen's Disaster

Natsuko's underlings are realizing she's a lot more expensive to care for than anticipated, and she's not advancing their plan one whit. She promises to go to Japan to take over her father's empire after she kills the Ryuudou brothers, which they think is a good deal--until they invade the boys' hotel. Their forces are quickly disarmed. The three try to get away, but Natsuko won't let them.
Natsuko makes the three carry her toward the enemy as if she's a knight and they're a horse. [Note: This is a common event at Japanese high school sports festivals.] The Ryuudou boys, of course, simply climb up to the second floor, knowing there's no way the three men can make it up the stairs. When one gives out, Natsuko kills him, and the other two run for their lives. Tsuzuku manages to throw her, which doesn't keep her down long, but it's enough to cause her to retreat.
Amaru wants to find out more about Matsunaga-kun, so he asks Mizuchi, but the puppy had followed him home for no apparent reason. The adults are all trying to convince a group of influential Chinese merchants to aid them against the Four Sisters, but without Huan Tahren to speak for them it isn't going well. It also doesn't help that some of the merchants had been victims of Japanese aggression and refuse to ally with Japanese. In the middle of the discussion, the hotel is attacked simultaneously by Pontianak's forces and Natsuko. While Natsuko bashes the Four Sisters soldiers with Pontianak's head, everyone else sneaks away.

Chapter 7: Ashes Fall on the City of Sorrow

The Prime Minister is glad that the recent natural disasters have diverted attention from political scandals. Plus, since he's getting bribes from construction companies, all the required rebuilding is money in his pocket. Meanwhile, Matsuri's mother takes care of the Ryuudou house in the boys' absence, making sure the neighbors don't take advantage by dumping excess ash into the yard.

A policeman named Minamimura pays a visit to Matsuri's parents to ask if they know anything regarding Nijikawa's whereabouts, but Saeko is not inclined to be helpful. He's saddened by the public's lack of trust in the police, though he understands that recent unlawful activities have been a betrayal of that trust. Saeko only says that she has the feeling Nijikawa is doing fine.

Minamimura is stopped by several junior officers who don't like his recent actions, since he's unfashionably moral. Their attempt to haul him away for interrogation is interrupted by a young man in Chinese clothes. When they try to grab him, a flurry of flowers surrounds them and they're knocked unconscious. [Illustration #4] It's Ransaiwa and another of the Eight Sages, Soukokkyuu. They disarm the officers and make sure Minamimura gets home safely, figuring he can take care of himself after that.
A separate group of men, professional baddies, make a kidnapping attempt on the Ryuudou house. The instant they set foot on the property, however, they're beset by a swarm of stinging golden bees. They drop their weapons and flee.
The man behind the kidnapping attempt was a follower of Kamakura no Gozen who wants the Ryuudou brothers as the key to immortality. He believes he can get to the boys through their relatives. It was Youki who brought the Kunlong bees to guard Matsuri's parents, to free up Ransaiwa and Soukokkyuu for a different mission--invading an American military base.

Chapter 8: Many Monsters' Daytime Actions

A group of American soldiers spot a visitor to Atsugi Base. What shocks them is that a glimpse of the visitor's face shows it to be some kind of alien. Not even the higher ups have been told everything by the Pentagon. As the three from Senkai slip into the base at night, the pop culture addict Youki thinks it's only natural that the American military is keeping monsters in secret.

Some Four Sisters agents who aren't in the inner circle are affronted by Lambert's rapid rise to supreme authority and the way he moved the center of power from Zurich to London. They don't like it, but they don't really want to rock the boat if they won't win. For his part, Lambert is amusing himself in his own way with the most beautiful women in Europe.

It should come as no surprise that the creature possessing Lambert has tastes along the lines of homicide; he slaughters seven women and asks for a new batch. After escaping Natsuko's attack, Shinkai leads the group of ten people (and one puppy) to someone he interviewed when he was a hot reporter. The man can hook them up with passports from a foreign embassy (albeit completely against his will).

The man attempts to use Matsunaga-kun as a hostage to get them to do as he says. Instead, the puppy's eyes start glowing and the would-be captor is sent flying. Finally Hajime pinpoints the legend the dog comes from in which he belongs to a powerful warrior who must stop an invader in a fierce duel. They realize he's the same as Sekijou-ou when Amaru gets the chance to tell them about seeing it in his dream. What they all wonder is why the dog's owner sent his beloved pet to the Ryuudou family. [Illustration #5]

Chapter 9: Unhappy People

Once the passports are ready, the group decides to split up. The Ryuudou brothers will go to London to confront Lambert, while the others take a ship to Japan. (Hajime and Matsuri part with a handshake.) In Hong Kong, Natsuko locates the two escaped underlings and announces she's taking them with her to Japan.
Back in Japan, the ones in search of immortality are still at it. If they can't get to the Toba family at the house because of the bees, the next logical step is to make their move when the couple is out and about.
Lambert keeps track as the number of casualties around the world increases by millions. After giving Vincent permission to go ahead with a plan to attempt an overthrow of the Japanese government, Lambert orders his secretary to make sure the Dragon Brothers' plane doesn't land in one piece. Youki's team returns to Kunlong and reports what it discovered at the American base, and Ransaiwa produces the police guns and wallets he liberated earlier, on the chance they may come in handy.

Chapter 10: Dragons Begin Traveling

Tsuzuku advises Hajime to spend their first day in London at the British Museum to get it out of his system, since he's convinced his brother exhausted his self-control avoiding museums in China. They thoroughly enjoy their seats in First Class--especially Owaru when he sees the food selection. The plane enters European airspace.

The ride is disrupted when a flock of donkey-headed creatures with fangs and bat wings (hitenyasha) attacks the plane. While Owaru takes care of the creatures that break through the windows and squeeze inside, Hajime makes a flight attendant open the door so he can jump out.

The Blue Dragon swats away the pesky hitenyasha and uses his power to carry the plane. He sets it down safely in a wheat field. The other three boys gather up their belongings (including the set of clothes Matsuri had prepared for just such an occasion) and climb on the dragon's back for the next leg of the journey. [Illustration #6] They overshoot London, however, and arrive in Scotland beside Loch Ness. The creature possessing Lambert is enraged by the failure, and Lambert's soul taunts it that it'll never win against the dragon kings.
A boy who appears to be about fifteen years old rides a cloud around China, observing a famous general and his army. (On the ground the man who is later to become Soukokkyuu notices the cloud's strange movement.) The boy, Hakuryuu-ou, lands and calls to five animals (fox, weasel, hedgehog, rat, and snake) that are to be his servants, and he sets out with them to discover the whereabouts of his stranded-in-time oldest brother.