Sagittarius: Meteor Arrow Style

The sixteenth episode of the Crusaders of the Constellations Novel, it's about Ranald learning archery from a kindly centaur.

## Story

"Twang! Twang! Twang!" The sound of arrows being shot at targets at the Hall of the Sun's newly-opened archery range can be heard in the afternoon after class. For Ranald is learning the archery-based martial art, Meteor Arrow Style, under his ninth guide, the wise and swift Chiron the centaur.

The archery range has targets that can move only when controlled by remote control. It is also surrounded by a barbed-wire fence like the whole Hall of Mars so that no one would be accidentally shot by stray arrows flying from the archery range. Chiron was a centaur with the lower body and legs of a dappled horse, and the symbol for the Sagittarius constellation on his horse part's haunch. A special watch he received as a gift from King Athos enabled Chiron to shift to a fully human mode so that Ranald can be more comfortable around him. "Keep your eyes on the target. Clear your mind of all distractions," he told his pupil. Ranald aimed, and fired the bows and arrows at a target and missed the bullseye by only a narrow margin. "Even if I do, I can't even hit the centre of the target. You super-powered people can do it easier," he bemoaned. "Even if we have super-powers, we are not born with the ability to instantly know how to use them and control them. Like with mortals learning skills, using our powers takes a lot of practice. Eventually, we get it right, in our own pace and time," Chiron said. He added, "Even I had to practise archery to get it right under my father back when I was a foal centaur." Ranald felt inspired, and aimed the arrow at the target.

"Twang!" It hit the bullseye! "Thank Golden Heart, I got it right the first time!" he said, relieved at his first success. Chiron was pleased. "Keep it up!" he encouraged. The centaur grabbed the remote control and made the targets move."Now you try," he said. Ranald shot the moving targets and managed to get only two bullseyes. "That's fine. We will practise until the end of the ninth month," Chiron said. So for the rest of the ninth month, Ranald and Chiron practised Meteor Arrow Style, which incorporates archery in combat. Aside from hitting moving targets with bow and arrow, Ranald learned to hit targets while moving around, hitting targets while riding on Chiron's lower horse body and even using bursts of speed to evade opponents so that he can shoot arrows at them before they can get him first. They practised until the end of the ninth month.

Ranald also learned about Chiron's backstory: that he was the only gentle and peaceful centaur among the others who are warlike and prone to picking fights with anyone they meet. Thus, he was shunned, with his understanding father only bothering to teach him archery. In some way, the golden-haired boy was reminded of one of his previous mentors, Asterion the minotaur. Both were shunned by their own for having interests opposite to their species. "I may be a peaceful creature, but that does not equate to doing nothing while people are suffering," Chiron pointed out to his student once.

At the end of the ninth month, the students gathered at the Cosmos Observatory. As King Athos told them, creatures from the Nightmare Realm are attacking the 95th dimension. Ranald was surprised! He thought that nightmare monsters only attack the spirits of children while they are sleeping. "They are lead by Malvor the sorcerer, and his flying nightmare creature, which resembled a dragon. Maybe the villain has summoned them?" King Athos said. "Maybe it's the Boogie-man who taught the evil sorcerer how to summon them," Ranald deducted from the king's words. Tula and Chiron smiled. "Glad that you taught him your detective skills well," the centaur said to Tula.

One thing Ranald and his Dreamland parents have in common is that they have never met, seen or even fought the Boogie-man before, for as he is the creator and mayor of the Nightmare Realm, he would stay behind to manage it, while his henchmen and minions fight Ranald and his parents in Dreamland. They have only heard of him, and could only hear his scary voice directing his minions, for he prefers staying and hiding in the Nightmare Realm. Lately, during his progress with the last eight guides, when his physical body is sleeping, the Nightmare Realm monsters have been increasingly targeting him as the Golden Griffin Warrior, and only him, instead of the spirits of the children he rescued. But as he learned about nine of all the martial arts, he can cope with their attacks. Ranald chose Chiron, Pholus, another centaur and Chiron's only friend, Phrixus, and Cassiopeia, who joked about giving food so good to the monsters that they feel bad and explode. Fu Xing chose Aguila, Argus, Bellerophon and Lancer. They set off to the dimensional portal to save the 95th dimension.

Once there, the group led by Fu Xing went to attack Malvor and his dragon, while Ranald's group fought the nightmare monsters. These nightmare monsters come in many forms, such as spiders, floating eyes, and cockroaches. "Anbesa used to be scared of these, but not anymore with your help," Phrixus stated. Ranald agreed, admitting that helping Anbesa overcome his fears is one of the best things he had ever done so far in his student life in AWCU. They smashed many nightmare monsters left and right, though most of the nightmare monsters somehow seem to be heading for Ranald instead of the others. "No one lays a hand on my pupil except, maybe, me!" Chiron shouted as he readied his bow and arrows. Pholus swung his spear at the nightmare monsters that Ranald is fighting off. Phrixus and Cassiopeia also helped in destroying the monsters. "I think that they are vulnerable when made tangible," Phrixus mused, swinging his shepherd's crook and a new hammer at the nightmare monster resembling a centipede. "That hammer... Ranald gave to you?" Cassiopeia asked. "Why yes, of course, after I gave him my old hammer, he gave me a neat new one forged in Design and Technology class." the shepherd boy replied.

After destroying all of the nightmare monsters, Ranald's group was exhausted. "I don't know why you became a walking magnet for nightmare monsters here. I mean, none of the enemy minions so far would swarm at you to attack and leave us alone. Why now?" Pholus asked. "I think it may be the Boogie-man trying to take revenge on me for saving the children from him and his servants in Dreamland," Ranald answered. "Possible. Anyway, you are safe now and can stand up against these monsters on your own," Chiron assured him. "But I can't make it out alive if it weren't for you all," the centaur's pupil said, smiling. "Maybe we can go and help Fu Xing's group to fight that vile sorcerer and his dragon," Cassiopeia said. Ranald agreed and took out the three pieces of the heart-gem to put in his locket, and handed his schoolbag to Chiron.

Fu Xing and his group though, are trying to defeat the villain and his mount, but the nightmare dragon's scales are as hard as iron and difficult to penetrate. Lancer could only manage to graze the dragon's legs, while the rest, who can fly cannot have their powers knock Malvor and his new pet off course. "Hahahahahahaha! There's no way you will defeat me like last time!" he cackled. His nightmare dragon swept its tail, knocking Argus to the ground. "That's not beautiful at all," the elf muttered. The dragon was about to breathe a dark energy laser on them when a Golden Griffin Warrior flew past it. The nightmare creature immediately became distracted and followed Ranald in his Ra form. Malvor shouted commands at it, but it was so fixated on Ranald that it left the rest alone. "Is this a good thing or a bad thing?" Fu Xing quizzically asked Chiron. "Well, I have no idea, but..." the centaur answered, and threw his bow and quiver full of arrows at Ra. The Golden Griffin Warrior grabbed them and shot normal arrows at the dragon's mouth, angering it further. The warriors saw it as an opportunity to attack the dragon's weak spots, as soon as the dragon would fly by, the warriors would fire their attacks on it, briefly distracting it for a moment, before looking for Ra, who had the time to speed up his flight. After a while, Ra flew behind some bushes and turned back into his normal human form, carrying his bow and arrows with him. He joined his friends and watched the nightmare dragon and his master look around for him. The dragon noticed him and flew toward Ranald. Malvor gave up, and teleported himself away, abandoning the colossal nightmare monster to its doom. Ranald readied his bow and arrows and ran away from his friends to distract the monster. As soon as the dragon was about to breathe its dark energy laser breath, the hero shot two arrows into its eyes, blinding it. The monster roared in pain, before falling to the ground and vanishing like a nightmare does when the sun rises.

"That's golden!" Ranald cried out, as his friends surrounded him. "Thanks for risking your life to save us!" Pholus said. "That's nothing much, but it will do," he said. The group were thanked by the residents of the 95th dimension for saving them. The AWCU students went back to the Cosmos Observatory by Dimensional portal, glad that their work was done. Once they came back, King Athos graded them and commended them for their deeds. Chiron gave back to Ranald his schoolbag and told him that he can keep the bow and arrows as a gesture of friendship. Ranald thanked him and ran to the Celestial Hall of Residence to catch up.

While waiting at the main building's cafe for his friends, Ranald heard a scary voice, the voice of the Boogie Man. He told Ranald that he knew the truth about Ranald's Dimensional Mate's disappearance and to him, it sounds like the Boogie Man is behind it and that he did something to him when he was a spirit after leaving his dead body. By telepathy, the Boogie-Man menacingly told Ranald that when he's done with all this stuff about learning kung fu from twelve people, he'll get back to his dimension to find his missing Dimensional Mate. Also, he admitted he was the one who taught Malvor how to summon Nightmare Realm monsters, confirming Ranald's suspicions. After the Boogie-man's voice faded away, Ranald asked himself: How does the Boogie-man know what happened to his human Dimensional Mate and where he is despite the fact that he never left or came to the human world? Baby Little consoled his human friend that his Dimensional Mate could be still alive and held captive by the Boogie-man somewhere. Ranald knew that he will soon meet the Boogie-man to make him tell him what he did to his Dimensional Mate.

His thoughts of how he will make the mayor of the Nightmare Realm pay for whatever he did to his Earth Dimensional Mate's soul were interrupted by the arrival of two figures: Chiron in his human form and Asterion, his old guide. Phrixus, Bai Tu and Shiba followed. "Glad that you made it alive! I was so worried that I thumped my feet every second until you came back," Bai Tu said. "And the thumping kept me awake..." Shiba grumbled, touching his dog ears, being a human who has the ears and tail of a dog. Asterion congratulated Ranald on his progress and asked if he wanted a drink. "Some espresso, please," he requested. And when Asterion had bought drinks for his classmates, they chatted and socialized with each other until nightfall.