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Gold, Silver, and Bronze

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Rednal29: Hi, people!! I just couldn't resist making this, not after when it popped into my head. And those who have read my other stories will see some familiar faces. Heh heh heh... Enjoy, all.

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Chapter 1-I'm WHAT!?

Somewhere in an ordinary town in an ordinary country on an ordinary world in an ordinary dimension, there was a boy. This, in itself, was thankfully not unusual. It's not hard to imagine why, after all. But this particular boy was different, and very much so. You see, he didn't belong in this ordinary place, but he didn't know that. In fact, he thought he not only did belong there, but would stay there for all of his life. But if that happened, we wouldn't have much of a story now, would we?

"James!!" a woman called up some stairs. There was a muffled thump, like the sound of something weighing approximately the weight of a strong, healthy 14-year old boy falling out of his bed to hit the floor. But then again, that's exactly what had happened. "James, breakfast is ready!! Are you hungry or not!?"
"I'm coming, I'm coming!!" a voice called down the stairs. About two minutes passed, then a boy came walking down the stairs, yawning. The boy had dark brown hair, and wore black clothes, but his eyes were the interesting part. Instead of the usual boring blue or green, the boy's eyes were a piercing gold.
"On guard!!" a man yelled, leaping from the shadows with his fist out. Moving almost faster then the eye could see, James pulled back, easily dodging the blow, and swung his foot for a kick. Several moments passed while James and his 'attacker' exchanged blows, both blocking all of the other's, until the 'attacker' backed off and sat down at the table, breathing hard. "Not bad today, boy. I thought for sure you'd be a bit slower."
"Yeah, right." James said, smirking. "I think you're the one getting slow, old man."
"Harumph." the man said, turning to the woman. "Well, wife? What's on the menu?"
"Eggs, turkey bacon, and milk." the woman replied, glaring at her husband. She set the named items on the table, and breakfast began. They were all speedy eaters, and it didn't take them very long to finish their meal.
"Hey, Aunt, what's that?" James asked, looking out a window. He and her both knew they weren't actually related, since James was adopted, so he called her 'Aunt' instead of 'Mother'.
"What's what, dear?" James' Aunt asked absentmindedly, picking up some dishes to scrub.
"That." James replied, pointing out the window calmly. The other two members of the household looked at the indicated point, and stared for an understandable reason. A large, glowing dimensional-rift was not something that they saw very often. Or ever, for that matter.
"Mmm... Looks like somebody ripped the air." The man who James called 'Uncle' said, peering at it. "Let's go have a look!"
"It could be dangerous!!" James' Aunt protested.
"Nonsense, woman! Come on, boy, let's go check it out!" the Uncle said, walking outside. Shrugging, James followed.

Out by the rift, the two noticed a slight breeze, going into the rift, or whatever it really was.
"Now boy, be careful." the Uncle said as they approached it. James just shrugged, picked up a stick, and tossed it at the rift. The stick went straight through it, and didn't come out the other side.
"Maybe it's some sort of government special project." James said, examining it closer. "And then they're going to come and take us away to a facility and swear us to silence and then make us the Guinea Pigs for it."
"That's utter nonsense, boy." the Uncle said. Five seconds passed, and then the rift got a whole lot bigger, the wind increasing to hurricane force.
"Oh, crap." James said. An instant later, despite his best efforts to get away, he was sucked into the rift. As if on cue, it vanished.
"I knew this would happen one day..." the Uncle said, sighing. "Good luck to you, boy..."

Far, far, far away, as in 'Many Dimensions, Galaxies, Systems, and Worlds', another rift appeared, dropping James ungracefully onto the ground.
"Ugh... That was interesting." the boy muttered, getting up and stretching. "I wonder where I am." Not being the sort to sit around and wait for somebody to answer him, James looked around and found himself in a small Middle-Ages-ish alley. "Time portal, maybe? ...Nah, structure of these buildings is completely different from what history books say." Shrugging, James walked out of the alley to get a better look around, and somebody almost instantly collided with him, knocking both of them to the ground. "Hey, watch it." James said irritably. He got up and looked at the person he had run into, and did a double-take. From the impact, he'd expected it to be some older guy, or maybe a thief, not a girl.
"Oooooohhhh... My head...." the girl muttered, clutching it protectively. James sighed, rolled his eyes, and grabbed the girl's wrist. A quick tug brought her to her feet. The girl had somewhat long bronze- colored hair, and identical eyes. Her clothes were rather elaborate, no small amount of silk.
"You all right?" James asked, trying to not be annoyed now that he had reasonable reason to believe that the girl colliding with him wasn't entirely her fault.
"I-i'm fine." the girl said. "My head just hurts. You'd make a really good wall..."
"Hey!! You, over there!! Stop!!!" A voice yelled. Half a second later, James had been pulled away from the girl by about twenty guards and slammed into a wall. "How dare you touch the princess!?!? You filthy commoner!!!"
"...What?" James asked, confused. "She ran into me, and I helped her to her feet. Is there a problem with that?"
"You weren't watching where you were going, you mangy little street rat!!" one of the guards yelled. "You would dare to defile Princes Arianna with your horrible touch!? A disease-ridden rat like you--"
"HEY!!!" James yelled, starting to get mad. "I am not disease- ridden!! I've never been sick a day in my life!!"
"Guards, let him go!" the girl ordered. The guards turned and looked at her, confused.
"But... Your majesty, he--" one of them began.
"I know what you saw, Guard." the girl replied. "But he isn't lying, I did run into him. He had every right to hit me for it, but he helped me up instead. Put him down."
"Yes, your majesty." the guards said in unison. The guard holding James up gently set him on the ground.
"I apologize for our rude behavior, we were under the impression that you had deliberately run into her Highness, perhaps attempting to steal her purse or something similar." the head guard said.
"Apology accepted." James replied, letting his muscles relax somewhat. "As long as you answer a question for me."
"What?" the girl asked, tilting her head.
"...Where am I?" James asked. There was a long pause after this question. Realizing what was going through their minds, James quickly came up with a story. "I'm a traveler, you see. I wander the world. I just lost my map a long time ago, and I was wondering where I was."
"Ah, I see!" one of the guards said, thinking he understood. "You are in the capital city of the nation of Hitara, Toria. The outskirts of the city, to be precise. Her Highness Princess Arianna was touring this section of the city when you... er... ran into each other, as it were."
"Oh. That explains a lot. Thanks." James said. "Well, I guess I should probably be on my way then. And I'd better make sure I dodge anybody else who comes at me like that." The guards nodded, and began to set off, when there was some screaming from three blocks away or so, by James' measurement.
"Highness, please stay here!!" the guards said, alarmed, running off.
"Oookay." James said. "All of them talking at the same time is really weird... I'll have to remember that one."
"I hate it when they do that!" the girl called Arianna said indignantly, watching the guards go out of sight. "They never let me see anything interesting!!"

"Then let's go watch." James said. "I can be a temporary bodyguard well enough. You said yourself I'd make a good wall."
"Really? Thank you!! Let's go!!" Arianna exclaimed, running off without bothering to wait for James' answer. James followed, caught up, and passed the girl, easily. "Wow... You're fast!"

"No. I just train a lot." James said absentmindedly. It took them about twenty seconds to reach the gate, where they saw a brute of a man holding up three small children, a sword at their throats.
"Anybody moves, and the three get it!" the brute yelled. The guards hesitated, not wanting to endanger the children's lives. "Bring me forty pounds of gold coins, and I'll go!! The children will be returned when I'm safely out of the city!!" the brute added.
"Scum." James said his eyes flashing dangerously.
"What're you--" Arianna began. James ignored her and dashed forward, leaping into the air.
"What the--" the brute yelled, turning his head to see the boy. An instant later, James' right leg came crashing down on the brute's right arm, the one holding the sword. It was broken almost instantly. "AAAAUUUUGGGHHH!!! YOU LITTLE BRAT!!! I'LL KILL YOU!!!" the brute yelled, dropping the kids to pick up his sword with his left hand. James just blocked the sword by hitting it on the flat edge, not the bladed part, and then punhed the brute at about half strength, knocking the guy unconscious.
"I hate people like you." James said, hitting the ground. "Big, ugly idiots who think that they're in control of everything. I hate thieves, I hate murderers, but most of all I hate people who're both."
"Wow..." Arianna said softly, staring at the boy. "I didn't know anybody could be so strong!! That was AWESOME!!!! I've never seen anything like it!! Can you do it some more? Where'd you get thaty kind od strengtrh!? And--"
"Your highness!!" the guards exclaimed, running over to her.
"Again with the saying-the-same-words-at-the-same-time stuff?" James asked, peering at the guards. "This is officially starting to get weird. Maybe they're trained that way."
"What are you doing here?"
"It's not safe!!"
"You could have been hurt!!"
"I'm fine!!" Arianna said, waving the guards away. "You saw how easily this wanderer beat that thug. There was no way I could have been hurt, not by him!"
"Let's just say the brute made me mad." James said quietly. "When I get mad, I hurt the one who did it, unless I like them or something. Call this guy's unfortunate ending to his plan an example for the rest of them."
"Hmm..." one of the guards said, inspecting the unconscious brute. "His arm's broken all right, in four places no less. I can't believe the boy did that in one kick!! But the guy had steel plating on."
"You mean he smashed right through solid steel to do that?" another guard asked, inspecting the brute's broken arm. "That's impossible!! He should have broken his leg from an impact like that!"
"Yeah, well, I'm strong." James said. The other guards each inspected the brute's arm, and several of them dragged the brute away.
"Can I hire you as a bodyguard?" Arianna asked James. "If you've nothing else to do, I'd really like it. Then I could explore anywhere I wanted to! With you around I'd be perfectly safe and all, so my father couldn't complain."
"...Why not?" James asked rhetorically, shrugging. "Could be fun."

About an hour later, the boy was standing in front of the King, hands in his pockets.
"You want to employ this boy as a personal bodyguard, my daughter?" the King asked, frowning greatly.
"He's really strong!" Arianna said. "Just ask the guards who were with me!"
"Well?" the King asked, looking at the princess' guards.
"It's true, your majesty." the Captain of the guard said, kneeling for a moment. "I inspected the criminal's arm with my own hands and eyes. A single kick of the boy not only smashed straight through steel armor, but broke the criminal's arm in four different places. I've never seen anything like it before."
"You said... Steel armor?" the King asked, still frowning. "That's impossible. No mere human could perform such a feat."
"Well, your majesty, I did." James said, shrugging. "If you want, I'll demonstrate on the criminal's other arm. It's not like he'll be needing it for awhile, not while he's in a dungeon."
"That's quite all right." the King replied. "I trust the Guards, they wouldn't lie to me. Then if you can perform one task for me, I'll let you be the Princess' bodyguard."
"Something's not right about that logic..." James muttered. The King, meanwhile, brought a small box out from behind his throne, and had one of his servants give it to the boy.
"Open that box, and put what's inside of it on." the King instructed. James inspected all the sides of the box, then pressed a small button hidden on the inside of a small leg. The top popped open, revealing a ring with five small gems set into it. Shrugging, James put the ring on.
"That's it?" he asked.
"It's far more then you know. A mark of your intelligence was proven since you figured out how to open it. The ring itself is enchanted, and cannot be worn by anybody other then a member of the ancient Aquarius Royal Family, the ones who ruled this land before my line did." the King said. This information slowly dug itself into James brain.
"...I'm WHAT!?" the boy yelled. "Are you saying I'm some sort of Prince!?!?"
"Precisely." the King replied.
"Wow!! Wowwowwow!!!" Arianna exclaimed. "I get a really strong prince for my bodyguard!!! This is awesome!! Finally, somebody I like who's at the same rank as me, so I don't have to be formal!! This is perfect!! You have to be my bodyguard now!"
"Um... Sure." James said, eyeing Arianna like she was a bit crazy. "Just calm down first."
"Okay!" Arianna said, still hyper-ish. "But this couldn't possibly be better!! I've got a legend for a bodyguard!!"
"...Legend?" James asked, confused further.
"'He who wears the ring of Dragons will rule them all'!" Arianna rattled off. "I bet that's why my dad made you try it on, to see if you were that person!! You're going to be famous!!!"
"Great. Just what I needed." James said, sighing heavily. "Fame and a hyperactive Princess to guard."
"My daughter is just excited." the King replied. "Don't worry, she'll calm down soon enough."

Late that night, James was snoozing in a room adjacent to the Princess', and was dreaming some very interesting dreams.
"Boy." a white figure said. "You are of the bloodline. You have finally returned to us."
"What?" James asked, not knowing what was going on. It was a dream, so his confusion was quite understandable.
"We've been waiting a long time." a red figure added.
"You're finally here, so now the prophecies can be fulfilled as they were dictated to use so many ages ago." a blue figure said.
"Hey!! Use smaller words!" a yellow figure said unhappily.
"Sorry." the blue one said. "But you just ruined the mood of this, you know!!"
"I don't care!" the yellow figure replied. "Just don't use big words!!"
"Ooooooookay. This is officially the weirdest dream I have ever had." James said.
"Um... It's not entirely a dream." a light violet figure said quietly.
"It's nowhere near a dream!!!" the yellow figure said. "You, Aquarius boy, listen up!!"
"Shut up." the white figure said, sounding like he wanted to get through this quckly. "You are here, and so we grant our powers to you. You will need them, so call upon us as needed. I am Kalron."
"Flare." the red one said.
"Aquil." the blue added in mildly.
"I'm Bolt." the yellow one muttered.
"Frezia." the light violet one finished.
"Remember our names, the names of the Great Dragons of Light, Fire, Water, Lightning, and Ice." Kalron said. All five of the figures vanished, and James woke up with a start.
"That was really weird..." the boy muttered. Then he saw his right hand, which now had five small marks on it. A star, a fire, a wave, a bolt of lightning, and a snowflake. Each glowed for an instant, then faded away. "Cool. I think." James muttered, flexing his hand. "Well, things can't get much weirder then this." And, of course, those were the fateful words that made Fate decide to show him just how wrong he was. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------