As we both walked farther and farther down the tunnel, things began to get a bit more darker. I can still see where I'm going, fortunately, but not too far. From too far ahead, it's just pure darkness. Gosh I know we had to go down this tunnel so we wouldn't get caught by monsters and fight them, but I wish I had a flashlight with us. I shot a glance behind me, making sure there were no monsters working for Abyss behind us. There wasn't any.

Then I looked at Luna beside me, since she's real close I can see her wings fluttering on her back as her paws took another step on the tunnel floor. She apparently isn't worried about how dark it is here. I guess since this isn't the first time she's done this, she probably doesn't feel the need to have a light in her hand, compared to me.

Other than wanting to see real good in here, honestly I was feeling a TINY bit nervous still about this. Nervous that we could run into something dangerous in the cave. If there is something living here, if I had a flashlight then I would see the 'other kind of danger in Avarilan' before it would come attack us. I took a deep quiet breath, trying to tell my gut not to worry. I'm probably wrong about what I'm feeling. I need to stop that. We probably won't run into a monster that's not a Lost Soul and a Dark Dragon in a dark cave.

Yeah...There probably isn't...But I still want a flashlight!

I gazed down the path and squinted my eyes, trying to see further down it. Luna looked down toward me while I was squinting my eyes out and chuckled, "What are you doing? Trying to see where we're going? I can see fine, can't you?"

I relaxed my face and looked up at her with a grin, "Oh I can, but I wish we had some sort of light with us."

I can see Luna had made a teasing expression, "Why do you want a light with us? Are you afraid of the dark?"

I frowned, "Nooo. I just think we'd see a bit more ahead if we had one."

The black dragoness hummed when she nodded up and down a bit, then made a tooth filled smirk, "Yep, you're afraid of the dark." I rolled my eyes when she went on, "I mean really Mike, what else are you afraid of other than I already know?"

I defended myself, "I'm NOT afraid of the freakin dark."

Luna giggled, "Sure you aren't."

"Woman, if I was afraid of the dark, I wouldn't sleep outside in the night while we're traveling. I would not have left Merana's or Perdrue's villages to deal with that." I swiftly gestured to her, "Also, I wouldn't be walking down the damn tunnel and talk to you right now. I would run out of here and face the risk of the enemy outside in the sun than walk further down this dark path." When I stopped near her, she did as well still watching me, I spread out my arms a bit, "I mean LOOK at me. Do I look frightened?"

She teasingly remarked, "I think I know why you haven't ran away from here in fear and faced death outside....Perhaps it's me that's keeping you calm."

"I was never scared of the dark!"

"I think I'm right." Then she pulled her wing off her back and held it out for me to come closer to her, still smirking, "Want to stand close to me with my wing around you? I think it'll help you out more."

I groaned before I turned my body to face the direction we came, "You know what, screw it, I'm gonna walk the fuck out of here now."

Luna let out a pretend gasp, "Oh no, you're scared." Then she put on a determined face and a deep growl emitted in her throat, "I'm not gonna let you run away, Mike. If you do, I'll snag you off the ground with my jaws and carry you that way till we're out of here the other way."

I giggled a bit. I wouldn't be feeling comfortable that way. I shrugged my shoulders when I turned my whole body to her, "That's ok. I'm not gonna run and face death outside anyways."

She giggled while that wing of hers folded on her back, "Better not." Her horns gestured toward ahead, "Now get going, you scared furless cheetah." I rolled my eyes at that when me and her resumed our pace. About a couple minutes later, while I was shifting the quiver and bag around on my back with a tiny grunt, Luna stopped in her tracks and said with her eyes concentrated to something on the wall, "Hey! What do we have here?"

I tried to follow her eyes with mine, looking around her form, "What? What do you see?" I saw it too and I couldn't believe it.

It was a small torch mounted on the wall.

Luna was giggling deeply to herself before she said to me, "Well looks like you don't have to be afraid of the dark anymore, little guy. There's a torch here." A curious hum was held within her throat, "Hmm, wonder what it's doing here?"

I replied with a curious frown, "Don't know." I let out a breath with a big smile and trotted past Luna up to it, "Eh, but who cares? We're borrowing it." When I stood in front of it, I yanked the torch off the wall and held it tight in my hand. I nodded at it and turned to Luna, saying in a high brass voice, "Okay, fire breathing dragon." I raised the torch high for her, "Let's shine in the dark."

Luna laughed before she cracked, "Don't you mean fire breathing dragon who can also breathe poison and ice?"

I chuckled, "Oh there's that too. I guess I could start over and say 'okay fire, poison, ice breathing dragon. Let's shine in the dark'."

The dragon's eyes frowned at my statement.

I embarrassingly smirked, "Uhhh, didn't work for you?"

"No it didn't. Actually, putting all three of them in the same sentence kinda sounded stupid." That's when her draconic lips started to form a devious smile, "Considering that you're an idiot, I can understand why."

I shot her a glare, "Just light the fucking torch so we can move on, you fat annoying lizard."

Luna formed a glare on her face and snorted toward my attitude, "You know what, I liked fire breathing dragon better."

I groaned when my arm started to feel a bit tired, "Yeah whatever, hurry up. My arm's getting tired."

The devious smirk came back on her snout, "Maybe I SHOULD let you hold it up like that for a long time. Call that punishment for calling me a fat annoying lizard."

I thrusted the torch toward her, my tired arm giving me impatience, "Luna, I will bonk this on your forehead if you don't light it up already."

"You can't swing that small thing and hit my forehead. My forehead's way up here."

I spoke playfully to her with raised brows, "Oh, I'm not gonna swing this at you. I'll just throw it at you. I've shot arrows and made good shots, I'm sure a direct hit to the forehead by a thrown torch from me is a BIG possibility." Then my face turned serious, "Now light it up."

Luna gave me another narrow look before she closed her eyes and sighed, "Fine." She opened her eyes, "Maybe the light will brighten up your mood." She lowered her muzzle towards the held high torch, took in a small breath, and blew out a small thin flame to lit it. Very quickly, this spot in the tunnel started to get light thanks to the orange glow coming from the small thing in my hand. I lowered my arm finally and it started to not feel tired anymore. I let out a whoosh of air as Luna asked me in a bit of a bitter tone, her black scales shined by the glare from the torch, "Happy?"

I gave her a happy nod with a giggle, "Very." With a small swing of the torch, I was now facing the direction we're heading off with Luna behind me raising her head, seeing that the light shined a bit further down the tunnel. Looks like the torch helped out a bit more. Better than walking in the dark without a light. I instructed as I was taking a few steps before her, "Let's go." Then I started to hear her padding behind me as we continued onward.

With the light in my hand, we walked on for several more minutes. That's when we can see an opening straight ahead. Since there's no sunshine shown through it, I was sure it wasn't the other way out of this place. Not very long, we both made our way through it and now we're standing out in a very huge cavern, big enough that dragons can stretch their wings and fly around in. There wasn't much to walk around to in this place but straight forward. Because what else me and the dragoness see and stand on, was a rock bridge that goes about four hundred feet, I think. Talk about a long walk across.

Curiosity tugged me to the edge of the bridge, so I went over there, feet planting EXACTLY at the edge, and peered down past it. My fear was shone in my eyes when I saw that if you fall off the bridge...You'll end up falling to your death. I don't see anything below it. No bottom. Only the endless dark abyss. I kept muttering to myself while my legs were shaking beneath me a little, "Oh fuck...Oh shit, shit, fuck, shit, fuck."

I heard Luna giggling at me while her claws scraped against the stone floor when she padded and joined beside me, "What's up with the bad language?"

I replied without taking my eyes off the endless darkness below the rock bridge, "Just shocked at how far down this is." I glanced at the torch in my hand and had the urge to throw it down and see how far the fall really is. But I forced myself not to. It wasn't worth it.

A soft whistle came out of her snout in shock when she looked down over the edge as well, "Wow...I've trekked through a cave before, but I never seen something like this."

I chuckled nervously, imagining myself falling fast down the abyss till I splatted at the bottom on impact, "Me either." Then I glanced at the black scaled dragoness, and formed a smirk when I pointed down with my other hand, "Say, why don't you fly down there and see how far the drop is?"

Luna scrunched her nose when she turned to me with a narrowed look, "No way. Down there's too black for me, and I'm supposed to be the blackest one here. You go down there."

I gave her narrowed eyes in return, "I can't go down there. I don't have wings, big girl. I'd have to drop down to check it out." Then my look went away when I winced, after an image of my body crashing after falling from a very far height flashed for a second, "...And you know what that means...A human breaking EVERY bone in his body after seeing the bottom in a split second."

She shrugged her shoulders when she brought her softened eyes back to the abyss while her tail swished behind her, "Good point, and you probably wouldn't want to do it anyway despite having them."

I looked down there again, "You're right." Yeah if I had wings, I still would not go down there. I'm like Luna.

The dragon I thought about turned her body a bit to me and said, "Well, going down there's not important. What is important is that you don't fall off the bridge."

I looked up at her, smiling a bit, "Oh I won't. And if I did, you'll fly down and catch me."

"Yeah...And since we can't see the bottom, I hope I have time to do that." Her gaze was on the other side of the bridge, "But you're not falling now, so we'd better get going."

I gave her a small nod in agreement, "Right." With a turn of my body along with a small whoosh of the flames on the torch, I started to walk side by side with Luna, not distracted to look over the bridge anymore. Better get off this bridge as soon as possible. It's like I thought of earlier...Who knows what can happen in here?

Our trek across the rock bridge went smoothly, but when we were about halfway across, before we would make another step, I thought I heard a faint growl behind us. My heart jumped in my chest. What was that? That's when someone roared behind us, "Halt!"

Me and Luna sucked in our breaths and looked over our shoulders...To see a lot of glowing red eyes of the Lost Souls and several Dark Dragons with wicked evil grins behind us! My blood turned cold as my eyes widened up. Oh...Shit. One of them must've found the cave and hollered for his comrades that we should check it out! By the count of each pair of glowing red eyes, there's about twenty Lost Souls, and as for Dark Dragons, there's about six of them!

Damn! My hope for that not to happen is shambled!

Defiance appeared on my face. Got another fight comin!

As we whirled around to face our enemies, Luna bared her teeth and growled as her tail thrashed. After I dropped the torch, the light still brimming when it hit the ground, I got the bow off my back and a arrow off the quiver, pulling it back on the string and aiming at one them.

One Lost Soul stepped forth with a wicked smile as his glowing red eyes focused solely on Luna, "Hiya there, Dark Storm. Long time no see." He chuckled when his eyes wandered around the cavern, "I see you are still loving the darkness. You're walking around in it." He narrowed his eyes at me, "Well it's not ALL dark in here. The only problem is he was waving a light around you. That's gotta be annoying you."

Luna spitefully snarled, "Shut up, you little bastard! He can wave a light around me all he wants! And I don't love the darkness, and I am not Dark Storm! Not anymore!"

I still held back the arrow on the bow when I defiantly agreed with her, "That's right! The dragon with me is Radiant Night now! And don't you forget it!"

One Dark Dragon tossed up its head and laughed, "Bwahahahah!" His laugh echoed throughout the whole area before he eyed at us and taunted, "Radiant Night? That sounds like a ridiculous title. Our master wouldn't love it."

Luna's heated remark came out of her muzzle, "I don't care what he thinks of it. He's not my master. He never was. It's mine, and I will proudly bear it. Just like Illuminus is proudly bearing his."

Another Lost Soul piped in, "The Great One? What makes him very great if he hadn't stopped the war that went on for hundreds of years? Nobody, not even him, has yet. He's not that great if you ask me. Our master is the TRUE Great One."

Luna growled deeply, "He'll kill you for that. He'll show all of you that he's great."

I yelled, "And we're great too in our own way! So don't you go starting with us!"

All of our enemies in front of us laughed their heads off like I've made some kind of joke. Then, with his glowing eyes narrowing at Luna, the Lost Soul that started talking to us first spoke to her in a serious tone, "Still being a traitor to us and working with something that's not from this world....Fine. We'll fight." He looked at me and her in the same gaze now when he grinned evilly at us, "But let me ask you both this question." He motioned his hand towards his allies, "Do you think you can kill all of us? You can't. There are only two of you against us. You'll lose."

Then he held out his hand to Luna while he made a step toward her, "Listen, why don't you just come back with us to Abyss and join us once more? He still talks about you. Hell, we all miss you, just to be honest." He looked and pointed at me with a sinister finger, "He can be your first victim when you join us."

That's when a Dark Dragon crooned lustfully, saying in words that made me sick, "And maybe master would let me mount you. I do find you...Very sexy."

Luna snorted, "How about all of you go mount each other instead of me."

I chuckled, my hand about ready to let go of the arrow, "Or how about you let us go and give your master a message from us...GO FUCK YOURSELF!"

As my message rang out to the enemies in front of us, a Lost Soul shook his head and sighed, "Very well. You asked for it." Then the Dark Dragons bared their snouts while The Lost Souls were getting ready to attack us with their claws growing on their fingers.

I gritted my teeth when I growled and backed up a bit, "Grrr." Then I remembered the day that Luna lost a lot of blood. There may be more Dark Dragons right now with Lost Souls than we had dealt with before, but I was determined not to let Luna get hurt like that again.

But one of them made a good point...Can we beat all of them? I'm getting a feeling we won't. If Luna was going to die in this battle...I'm probably going to die with her.

All of them took a threatening step toward us, but before they could take another one, all of us heard an echo of some sorts that rang out in the cavern and that had them freeze. It sounded like a shriek. I had my eyes going wide and lowering my weapon. What the hell was that? Our enemies were moving their gazes back and forth, trying to find what made that noise. I shot Luna a curious look and I think she knows what it was by the expression in her eyes. She was looking around the area as well like the enemies. I looked to my left, deciding to help out a bit. What was it? It sounded like...Some kind of...Bat.

That was when I heard flapping in the air and something landed behind me and the big girl a second later with a crash. I jumped and cried out in surprise and looked behind us along with Luna who only had twisted her neck. I gasped.

HOLY SHIT!!!

Staring back at us were shining yellow eyes and judging by the size it's almost as big as a dragon. By appearance, it seemed to have characteristics of a bat especially on its face, but it wasn't black or brown by color. Its body was purple and it even has yellow spots at every part on its body, including its wings. I even see another characteristic that bats don't have. It has four legs and it's standing on them! The huge bat creature reared back its head and gave us all a terrifying, ear piercing shriek.

I shut my eyes tight and groaned as it hurt my ears. God that hurts!

I heard Luna bellowing, "Mike, look out!" I shot them open and saw it was about to run forward and attack me with its mouth. I was about to raise my bow and fire the arrow at it, but Luna got it first with fire blasting out of her snout. The bat creature squealed as it was being burned alive, and it stumbled around on the rock bridge and fell off it. I was still in shock at what I saw. Jesus. What was that thing?!

That's when either a Lost Soul or a Dark Dragon shouted it out behind me, "What are we waiting for?! Kill-AHH!" I sucked in a breath when I'd almost forgotten the enemies that we already met were still here. I whirled around, thinking Luna already killed the one who barked an order, but it turned out another bat creature had picked up one Lost Soul and flew with it away from the bridge, the cheetah monster screaming away with his red eyes very wide.

I figured out two things just now. One, there are more of those bat creatures. Two, they also attack Lost Souls and Dark Dragons!

And with that momentary distraction on the Lost Soul's pals as they watched his comrade being taken away, I immediately pulled the arrow I still have in my hand back on the bow and screamed at Luna, "Now, Luna!" I fired the projectile and it struck a Dark Dragon square in the scaled chest. It roared in pain as Luna started to spit out ice at them. Five Dark Dragons took off the bridge with flaps of their wings and one Lost Soul charged right at me with outstretched claws before the ice could hit them. But the Dark Dragon I struck at and the Lost Souls standing with it weren't so lucky as they were covered with instant freezing ice. The Lost Soul charging almost got to me but I didn't give it a chance. With a swift kick, my foot struck the side of the black furred monster hard and he screamed when he fell off the bridge.

After planting my foot back on the ground and as I reached behind my back and got myself another arrow out of the quiver, I watched the Dark Dragons that took off flying were gliding around the huge cavern. Then I started to see several more of those huge bat monsters flying up from the dark abyss below them and they were after them. One Dark Dragon got tackled in the air by one of them and it roared as it tried to fight back when they were falling down.

After I hear the bat monsters shrieking to insight terror in all of us, Luna waved her forepaw in front of me, trying to get my attention and I turned it to her. She said as she turned her whole body away from the frozen enemies, "Now's our chance! We've got to get out of here!"

I knew that she was right. We have to leave, NOW! I turned around with her, "Right! Let's go!" We both began to run across the rock bridge, running towards the opening that leads to another tunnel at the other side of it. Since we were halfway across the bridge, it was still far and we knew we had to run fast. While I was running with my bow and arrow held tight in my hands, I glanced up and saw a Dark Dragon diving towards me and my best friend with an angry intent to kill us with its flames. I ducked and turned loose an arrow. The Dark Dragon saw it coming fast and it dodged in the air by flying to its right.

I saw Luna kept running still ahead of me and I resumed my running pace to try to catch up. A bit far away from the bridge to my left in the dark air, I see a bat monster coming straight at Luna now. I would've tried to yell out and warn her, or at least shoot an arrow at it and hopefully make a lucky shot, but Luna apparently caught sight of it while running and orange flames were flying away from the rock bridge over the abyss and it engulfed the scary monster. It squealed as the flames still burned it to death while it sailed down to that abyss.

Luna was still faster than me, so while I shouldered the bow I tried to push my body to dash harder after her. But then I found my feet not touching the ground anymore when something that wasn't the dragon I know snatched me off the ground, "Hey!" I groaned when I tried to get loose of somebody's tight grip around my body, but I couldn't get free. I looked up and saw it was another one of those bat monsters. My legs kicked in the air when I sneered, "Put me down, ugly!" It squealed in response when we were flying away from the bridge. I groaned as I called out my scaly friend, "LUNA!!!"

While I was still being carried in the air, nearby I saw a Dark Dragon firing its flames right at another one of those monsters as they were flying directly toward each other, killing it. Its piercing squeal was emitted across the cavern as that dark scaly monster flew off in another direction, roaring in victory. I looked down, my face turning white as I was worried I was gonna be dropped to my death. I don't want to die this way! But I don't think dying that way was the case. I think the monster was getting ready to glide down towards the abyss with me, probably planning to feast on me. I think that's what the one who kidnapped the one Lost Soul was planning on doing. But before it could to it, I heard a dragon's roar coming from behind us and then a second later, I can hear the sound of burning flames.

Suddenly the bat monster screeched in pain and let me go. I screamed as air rushed at me when I was falling down to my death. My arms were flailing around, hoping that I could grab something, but there was nothing to grab onto. Before I could fall any further, before the darkness below could totally swallow me, something caught me in the air and I was being carried away again. I looked up and it turned out Luna came to my rescue just in time. She must've been the one who fired flames at that bat monster and made it drop me. I smiled. I knew that roar I heard sounded kinda familiar.

I saw that we were a bit far down from the bridge and Luna was flapping her wings repeatedly to carry us back up there. Her silver eyes gazed right back at mine while she was at it, "Are you alright?"

I yelled in confirmation, "Yeah! Let's get out of here!" Luna focused her attention back up as she beated her wings over and over again. Another bat-like creature caught sight of us and shrieked in anger as it flew down to us. Luna roared back and fired ice at that one. The monster didn't swerve away in time and it got turned into a frozen statue in seconds. The statue fell down the abyss and disappeared in the deep darkness.

The black dragoness was breathing heavily as she flapped her wings hard again and very soon we were flying over the bridge. Luna immediately circled back around when we were flying fast away from it after we went over it. As me and Luna were over that bridge once again, we had our sights on the other exit of this cavern. We need to get to it. Luna glided down for a fast landing and with her hind legs sticking out beneath her, she backwinged a few times and landed on the rock bridge.

After she set me down on the stone ground, I checked my quiver with my hand behind me, wondering if during my fall down to the abyss that all my arrows fell out of it. I felt arrows so I take it as a no. After checking it, Luna turned her neck to see a Dark Dragon from far away in the air, while the other Dark Dragons were fighting those bat monsters, coming at us with a roar. Luna shot her eyes ahead and started to run, "Run to that tunnel!" I began to run beside her, seeing there's no time to stand around now. Since this time the opening that we were running to earlier before I got kidnapped wasn't exactly far that time, we both made ourselves through it and are now in another tunnel.

After we ran several feet away from it, Luna suddenly stopped and so did I, wondering what she's doing as she spun her body and tail to face that opening now. I voiced out the question, "What are you doing? We need to get out of here!" Then from where I'm at, I can see the Dark Dragon that was coming at us had landed on the bridge and was running fast to still chase us. I ran up to her and smacked my hand against her scales, "Come on!"

Luna growled and narrowed her eyes, not putting them on me, only on the incoming Dark Dragon still running and almost made it to this tunnel now, "Mike, you might wanna keep running now." I frowned. I didn't do what she said. I was worried that a monster is almost here but I was also curious of what her plan was. A moment later, I see in her closed maw that there is some smoke billowing out of it. I think she was building up something in her throat. When I shot my gaze back at the Dark Dragon, at the exact moment when it ran in the tunnel, Luna roared and shot a fireball out of her snout. It went up towards the ceiling and exploded, causing the Dark Dragon to cry out in surprise and pain.

After that happened, Luna cried out to me as she spun around fast and ran, "RUN!"

I didn't do what she said at first, but then I was starting to understand what her plan was. Starting from the spot on the ceiling that fireball exploded on, the tunnel started to cave in. A lot of debris fell right on top of that Dark Dragon, crushing it to death. I gasped and my legs carried me fast around, finally doing what she told me and ran as hard as I could. I can hear the rocks falling and crashing loud behind me, but I didn't dare to look back.

I only saw Luna about a few feet ahead of me still running. We both ran for about a minute, until the sounds of falling rocks stopped finally. When I slowed down in my tracks beside the black dragon, I was breathing fast and hard, running out of breath. I looked behind me and saw that the path behind us was blocked by all those rocks, no enemies anymore. I can see the dust flowing in the air and it made me cough when I breathed in it.

I held a wrist to my mouth, coughing fiercely again. Jesus Christ! I snapped my eyes up to that dragon now as she coughed a bit from her muzzle. When her tail swished behind her, she looked down at me and asked in concern, "You okay?"

I coughed once more and answered while waving that dust in the air away, "Yeah...I'm fine." Luna saw what I was doing and used her wings to help blow that stuff away, until it was finally gone. When there was nothing left in the air, I moaned, after catching my breath and dusting myself, and shot my hand towards the rocks blocking the way we came now, "Are you crazy?! You could have killed us!"

A weak cough escaped her mouth when she responded and curled back her wings, "Hey, I had to do something. That bastard was chasing us!"

"You could've just killed him the basic way instead of doing THIS, you know."

Luna took a deep breath and replied, "Sure I could have done that, but what about his pals that are still alive and the leichin?" I frowned. Leichin? So that's what those bat monsters are called? Good god, there were a bunch of them in here! Luna went on, "If I didn't do this, they would have followed us down this tunnel like that bastard was trying to. I had to think of a plan to not let trouble follow us." She gazed at the caved in path, "This was the only plan I came up with."

I nodded a bit, spoke in a calm voice at first, "Sure, great plan you got there." Then I made a freaked out look and exclaimed, "But we're trapped here now!"

Luna actually smiled at me, "Don't worry. There's probably another way out of here." Her eyes gazed toward the path further down the new tunnel we're in, "We still didn't see what's at the end of it."

I had worry in my eyes, "But what if there isn't? What if we're trapped here forever?"

Luna lowered her face right in front of mine, her eyes were giving me some comfort, "Mike...Don't go there yet. You don't know that. Just trust me. Okay?" She titled her head a bit, "Besides, you still have food for us in that bag of yours, right?"

I glanced a bit over my shoulder at the bag I'm carrying and looked at her as I made a small hint of a smile, "Well...There is still some, but-"

She rose her head and started to pad down the tunnel, "Well good! That means we won't starve right away." I still stood around and watched her walk away with her tail swinging back and forth before she looked behind her, "Hey you coming? Let's go. There's nothing we can do here. Just stay close to me, alright?" With her instructive words, she turned her snout and kept walking away from me and the blocked path. I looked at the blocked path for a moment before letting out a sigh. I better get moving.

I jogged up and caught up to my best friend, feeling happy that we're out of the battle that's probably still going on back in that cavern, but now worried since we can't go back the way we came. But then I heard her words she said a minute ago and took in a breath when I shifted the bow and quiver around on my back. I guess I can trust her for this. She hasn't let me down yet.

*****

After we entered his room, Kevin said with his hand making a slow wave across the room he's about to give me, Emily, Damon and Cora a small tour in, "And this is my room. Only it's not any better than Jill's since she kinda decorates hers."

It's been over an hour already since me and the others had told him, Jill, Suzue and the blue gryphon Paxadorf the beginning of our 'unwelcome to the new world' story. Basically we did the same as Kevin had told us his story, telling him and his friends everything that had happened to us so far. Including that me, Emily and Rick are from Florida like him and Jill and that we came from a cruise ship. Kevin and Jill were pretty surprised about that part, hearing that a huge ship that's filled with so many people has ended up in another world also. Pax however was just confused at first about what a cruise ship is. Damon and Kevin of course told him what it was and that big bird squawked out in surprise when he can now picture what it was. Apparently Kevin and Jill never mentioned a cruise ship before...Until today. His expression made me laugh!

I think he was more surprised by how we met Damon that night. We told them about the wolfir that'd almost killed us before that green dragon rescued us. He was clacking his yellow beak saying that wolfirs are rare and he has never seen one before. And OF COURSE Damon said to him, 'I wouldn't be too sure about that, gryphon. You may never know. There could be a lot more than we think'.

Anyways, after we told them our story, Kevin and Jill along with Suzue decided to give us a tour inside Suzue's house. There wasn't much to it inside her place since it was small, but it is a nice place. Cora pretty much looked ecstatic since she was small enough to go inside and explore a cheetah's house, but she kept herself in control over herself. I think I had enough seeing her screamin, squealin and jumpin in excitement for one friggin day. Too bad for Damon, much to his annoyance over his size, that he cannot come with us. At the moment, he's standing outside with Pax waiting for us to come out.

Now we're inside Kevin's room after he and Jill already showed us Jill's. With my eyes exploring around the room, I think he was right. It isn't any better than Jill's room.

Jill giggled as she stood close to Kevin and nudged her elbow into his side, "Yeah, you need to decorate the place."

Kevin rolled his eyes upon her statement, "I don't need to decorate it since I don't sleep in it every night."

I wrinkled my face, "Really?" My eyes trailed to the hummock hanging in the middle of the room and I gestured toward it, "This looks like a comfortable thing to sleep on and you don't use it every night?" Hey, it may not be Jill's bed since it pretty much looks like a normal bed, but a hammock still looks comfortable. I could sleep on it...With Emily if she wants.

Rick was wrinkling his brow on his end after he wandered to the window near one side of the room, "Yeah I agree with Scott here. Why don't you use it every night?" He giggled deeply and added, "Do the bed bugs get to ya if you rest on it?"

Kevin chuckled when he turned to us, "No. It's just when I want to, I sleep by Pax at his house. Just to keep him company during the night since he lives and sleeps in it all by himself."

Emily smiled as she stood beside me, "That's nice of you."

Jill said with her arms crossing across under her breasts, "Hey, don't think I'm not nice enough to sleep by the stupid bird. I do at times."

I giggled and replied, "But you probably don't want to tonight after what happened with him."

Her black hair flowed back and forth as she adamantly shook her head, "Nope."

Suzue laughed while she was standing outside the room hearing us, "Daw, now Pax is going to be sad."

Jill that time planted her hands to her hips and shrugged her shoulders, "Oh well, it's not like Pax lives in his house alone every night. Sometimes when me and Kevin are not with him, he usually brings a gryphon to his house and then-"

Kevin tapped her shoulder with a finger and said with seriousness in his tone, "Jill."

The black haired woman looked at him for a moment, and then her eyes went wide a second afterward, like she knew why he stopped her, "Oh." She gazed at us guests in the village and shook her head with a small smirk, "...Never mind." I frowned at that. Wonder why Kevin stopped her. Eh...Guess it's nothing.

Kevin giggled at us and shrugged with his hands, "Anyways, other than sleeping to keep him company, his feathers feel nice, warm and soft. What feels more nice is when his wing just covers you."

My girlfriend said, "I think in that case, I'd love to sleep by him."

Cora after she squeezed through me and Emily, said with her eyes on Emily and her tail wagging a bit behind her, "You'd probably like sleeping close to a dragon too." She gazed at me this time, a grin on her snout, "I mean our scales feel soft and warm. I remember sleeping by Rocko and he always felt good."

I smiled, "We do know you're right. Dragons, including yourself, do feel soft and warm." My eyes looked down and I muttered to myself, "Which that still surprises me, actually." I giggled to myself when I eyed at the scaly girl close to me, "Heh. Come to think of it, we haven't slept very close to either you or Damon yet."

Emily remarked with a small nod, "Well, perhaps one night I'll probably sleep close to Damon since he's big like Pax."

Speaking of Damon, I saw his face peeking through the window Rick's standing near of and loudly said from outside the house, "That sounds good from out here."

I laughed when I strolled to the window. When I stopped right in front of it, I asked the green drake, "I know we haven't been inside the house for long, but how're you doing out there, Damon?"

Damon's green shoulders made a shrug along with his wings fluttering on his back, "Not bad. Pax out here is giving me good company." Then I think his yellow eyes concentrated right on Cora and narrowed them, "Considering the CERTAIN little dragoness that doesn't stand out here and do that."

Cora let out a laugh and playfully said back, "You're doing fine without me. You just said Pax is giving you good company."

"What about yesterday? You didn't give me company when you went inside this ship with the humans we know."

She giggled deviously, "And I showed off about it."

Damon growled angrily, "This isn't fair! I should be in the cheetah's house right now! I've never been in one before!"

Cora taunted while her head moved side to side repeatedly along with her tail behind her, "I'm in here and YOU ARE NOT! Na, na, na, na, naaaa!" Me and everybody in the house laughed except Damon, he was still growling.

Rick held out a hand, trying to diffuse this banter, "Alright, guys, that's enough."

I saw Pax came up to stand beside Damon and he said to the dragon to cheer him up, "Hey, I can't go into those houses either, man. But I can let you into my house, if you want. Have you ever been inside a gryphon's home? There ain't nothing much in my homestead, but I'll still give you a tour."

Damon turned his snout to him, smiling a bit, "Honestly no. And...Sure."

Cora gasped in excitement, "Do I get a tour in there, too?!" I rolled up my eyes. Here we go again.

Pax pushed Damon away with his frame, and stuck his beak and feathered head through the window, saying with a smile, "Sure! All of you new guys get a tour in my house!"

Cora gleed with joy, "Eeee!"

Emily chuckled a bit and said in gratitude, "Thank you."

Kevin walked up to the window and pushed the gryphon's head out of there, "Okay, get out now, Pax. You're not letting the sun in here."

Pax, after his head's outside now, nodded, "Alrighty, see you folks out here." Then he and Damon turned their backs on the house and walked a bit away from it, leaving us be.

After taking a deep breath, I asked Kevin, "So I guess there's nothing else to show in here?"

Kevin rose a finger, "Actually yes." He trotted away from the window to a bag of his on the floor nearby. He bended his knees and zipped it open, his hands rummaging through it after that. Then he pulled something out and showed it to us. My eyes went wide when I knew what it was.

A pistol.

Kevin only held it by the barrel as he showed it to all of us, and after Cora padded up to him with her tail making a couple swings, she asked him with a curious frown and snout drawn closer to it, "What's that?"

The new human replied, "It's a gun."

Cora eyed at him and tilted her head, "What's a gun?"

Rick strode up to stand beside her, and stroked her back once, getting her attention, "It's something humans use that's dangerous. We'll tell you more about it later." He glanced towards Kevin, "Where did you get that?"

Jill answered for Kevin, "It belonged to his dad. After me and Kevin were..." She giggled and made a air quote, "'Adopted' by cheetahs and gryphons and started to live with them, we asked Pax and a few other gryphons to take us back to the ship. Which it took us a bit to find it, don't get me wrong."

Kevin continued after her, "But we did. See, me and Jill went back to the ship so we can find anything useful to take with us. Like clothes that we took with us before we left home, some food, and...We even found the gun." He shrugged his shoulders, "Honestly, I never used it once. I'm sure it has a full clip."

I asked, "So why are you showing this to us?"

"Well since I don't exactly use it, I thought I give you guys it. You know...Since all of you guys are travelling to Wingspan to find The Great One. I know you guys aren't staying here forever. That right?"

Rick slowly nodded, "That's right...We're gonna leave this place."

Suzue entered the room and came up behind him, looking a bit saddened, "You are?"

He looked over his shoulder and replied, "Yeah, we are. I think me and the others are planning on staying the night here before we leave tomorrow. We can't stay here for three years like Kevin and Jill have. At least...We aren't planning on it." He turned his body a bit and asked me and his daughter, "Are we?"

Me and Emily shook our heads, "No."

Then he looked right at Corajan beside him, "You?"

Cora said with her shoulders and wings shrugging, "Well, I know I love this place, even though I just got here, but yeah I want to leave tomorrow."

Rick nodded and gazed at Kevin, "Then yeah, we're leaving tomorrow." Then he pointed at the gun in Kevin's hands, "But you sure you want to give it to us? You and Jill may need it."

Kevin said after letting out a breath, "Maybe, but you guys need it more. Besides that, me and Jill know how to use weapons in this world that are better than this one, trust me."

I giggled, "How are whatever weapons you know how to use better than a gun?"

Kevin only smiled at that and thrusted the gun in Rick's chest, "Just take it. We don't need it."

My girlfriend's father glanced at the gun for only a few moments before he took a deep breath, "Well...Alright, I guess." He finally grabbed the gun off Kevin's hand and held it down to his side. That's when Rick said to him in a soft tone, "You know...Since the idea just came, you can come with us. Do you guys want to leave this place and come with us? You probably miss our home already."

Kevin's smile melted away and he only said, "Well..." He started to rub the back of his neck, "Mmm..." He was trailing off. I laid a hand against my waist and tilted my head a little. I did figure that he probably has left the village more than once to do small things like everybody else living here. But for three years he hasn't left the village to do that one big thing, find Wingspan with that dragon living in it and go home. I kinda think I know why he's hesitating.

Has he grown so accustomed to living in this village, and this world, and doesn't want to go with us? I'm getting a feeling that it's...Yes.

I gazed at Jill, watching her brush her hair off her shoulder. Does she feel the same way? Probably...

Jill sighed before talking, "Well...Me and Kevin will talk about that." She gestured right toward the gun in Rick's hand, "But for now, just enjoy the gun. Just don't go pointin that thing at me."

Rick slowly nodded at her, "...Ok."

I let out a very quiet sigh, then my eyes focused on that gun. I'd better carry that. I strode up to Rick and patted his shoulder, having him looking at me, "Hey Rick, can I hold onto that for you?"

Rick frowned, "Why?"

"Because remember the last gun we had before we met Cora? Well you used up all the ammo to kill a lot of baddies that day and didn't try to conserve it." I formed a big smirk, "I think I'll be doing a better job at it than you."

Emily giggled behind us, "Yeah you kinda did, dad." Her hand waved toward me, "Just give it to him. He used that flare gun before. I'm sure it can't be hard for him to use a gun with bullets." She held a hand close to her mouth and tossed him a whisper, "I'll make sure he doesn't shoot you." I rolled up my eyes sarcastically. Wouldn't think of it. He's your dad!

Rick glanced at his daughter and looked at me a moment later. Then when his chest had puffed out, he said with some confidence in his voice, "Alright, fine. Just...Don't shoot me or anything. Ok, Scott?" He held out the gun to me.

I took it off his hand, "I won't, and thanks." I examined the weapon a little by holding it by the handle and twisting my hand around a bit.

Kevin put on a smile for us after sighing and started to head for the door to walk out of the room, "Well, that's it for the small tour in the house. Let's head outside to meet the drake and the bird now." Without further word, me and everyone in the room followed him till we went out the front door and headed outside. After rounding the corner of Suzue's wooden house, we found Damon and Pax nearby, apparently having a small chat while waiting for all of us.

I waved at them and after all of us stopped right in front of our huge friends, the green drake grinned while curling his wings and swishing his tail behind him, "I see you're finally outside the beautiful cheetah's house."

Kevin chuckled and pointed out, "It's mine and Jill's too, big scaly dude."

Damon replied with a nod, "Right. So other than sticking my head in there and seeing that house has a nice room." He shot Cora who stood near Jill a glare, "Is there something interesting in there that's WORTH sharing, Corajan?"

Cora held up her snout in pride, smirking in triumph, "Nope, just to tell you again I was in the house and you weren't."

Damon slowly rolled his yellow eyes, "Niiiice...As if I didn't know that already."

Cora showed off again in a whispery, sing song tone, "I was in there and you weren't." Then she stuck her pink tongue out at him.

Pax giggled at them and flicked his lion tail, smacking it against Damon's flank, "I know you two only met since a few days ago, but I can see you guys are best friends already."

Damon playfully replied without putting his eyes on him, "Well we ain't gonna be best friends if she keeps this up."

Cora just held her smirk as she shook her head, her red tail moving behind her, "Don't think we are now."

I held up the gun in the air, showing it off, "To answer your question, got ourselves a new gun from Kevin."

The drake cocked his head, "Really? ....Is Rick gonna be using that one?"

I snickered. Had a feeling you'd ask, big guy. Then I said while strolling to my bag that I left outside on the ground near that diminished firepit, "Nope. It's mine."

As I crouched and zipped open my bag, I heard Damon giggle, "Ah, that's good. Better to leave that weapon to you than leave it to Rick." After placing my gun in there, I closed up the bag and stood up straight before I turned to see Damon had locked his gaze right on Rick, "Sorry I said that Rick, but you really wasted shooting all those bullets like a cheetah would waste shooting all his arrows."

I giggled in amusement while I paced to where Emily was standing. Cora was tilting her head to the side in confusion, "Okay, there is the word 'bullets' again. What's a bullet?"

When I joined beside my girlfriend, Rick ignored her when he said to Damon with a frown, "Hey, just for the record, I was wasting them to protect Cora and myself."

I narrowed my eyes at him when I crossed my arms.

He saw what I was doing and his face turned pale, "Oh! And also you, young man!" I smirked afterward. That's more like it.

Kevin giggled and stated with shrugged shoulders, "Well I told them I don't use it anyways. So you guys can help yourselves with it."

Then we all heard Suzue gasp and had our attention drawn to her. Rick asked, "What's wrong?"

Suzue had a wide look like she had thought of something, "Ancestors, I just remembered! I forgot to go out of the village and gather some herbs today." She chuckled and waved her hand at all of us, "No wonder, I was focused on all you guests."

Rick chuckled a bit, "Oops...Sorry bout that."

She shook her head a bit with a smile, "Oh it's alright. I enjoyed meeting you new guys here. But I seriously need to go get them."

Then Rick held a hand to his chest with a big grin, "Well if you want, I can go with you. I'm in a mood for a walk. I think a big strong man like me shall give a lovely lady like you a walk out in the wilderness."

Emily playfully rolled her eyes, "Oh dad."

Rick raised a finger and added, "And also since you're probably going out there alone, I'll come along and make sure to keep an eye out for trouble."

Suzue said, "Actually I don't go outside the village alone. I usually have another cheetah or a gryphon accompany me when I do that." Pax formed a smirk on his beak and as soon as Suzue saw it, she giggled graciously at him, "And you're such a dear when you do that, Pax." She focused back on Rick, "But sure, you can go. Maybe I'll get to know you more while we're having our stroll." Then she rose a finger, "But I'm still getting a cheetah or a gryphon to go with us."

I heard Jill hissing under her breath, "Well I HOPE you don't bring Pax with you."

Rick apparently did not hear her, as he shrugged in a bit of amusement along with seriousness, "Eh, that's fine. I'll probably need some help protecting you."

Suzue giggled again, only deeply, "Maybe." Then she gazed right at the blue gryphon, "And since you already left the village, I'll just have someone else come with us. I think you need a break."

Pax nodded in appreciation as he stretched out his wings for a sec and curled them back, "Glad you think so. I wasn't in the mood to leave home again anyway."

My girlfriend's father stated, "We figured."

Damon chuckled while his tail swished around, "Just wondering, Suzue." He lifted a talon to point at himself, "Is this 'someone else' you want to bring with a dragon?"

Suzue smirked as her purple eyes focused on the green drake, "Nope. I said before I'm going to get a cheetah or a gryphon, excluding Paxadorf, to join us. And why I didn't mention the word 'dragon' in my sentence earlier is because I think you and Cora need a break as well, knowing you two travelled a bit today."

Cora formed a smile on her snout, "Thanks for the consideration. Sure, we'll stay here." Damon nodded nearby in agreement.

"Well, that's over with." Rick turned to his daughter, "We'll be back later, alright?"

Emily slowly nodded at that, "Ok...Just watch yourselves out there."

While Rick turned toward the white furred cheetah, she reassured with a calm smile, "We will." She turned her whole body, ready to walk off, "Ok Rick, just let me get a couple of bags from my house and we'll go." Then she eyed at the bags me, Rick and Emily carried for the journey on the ground and pointed her finger at them, "As for yours, you guys can bring them in my house." Then she began to pace in fast strides, and while she was she twisted her body a bit and waved, "Bye, everyone." Rick ran to his bag on the ground and hoisted it on his shoulder before he jogged to catch up to Suzue, intending to follow her and leave his bag in her house.

Jill let out a calm sigh after they left us and said, "I know I'm not worried. But if there was TOO much trouble out there, at least if there was a gryphon leaving with them it'd give them a ride and they'll escape." Then she glared at Pax, "And he or she wouldn't let ANYTHING BAD happen to them while doing that."

Pax frowned, "Are you mad at me about something?"

"You should know, you moron."

His beak dropped open when he reared back his head, "Are you still mad at me about before? I thought you'd be over it by now."

"I'm not over it because it happened not very long ago!"

Pax gave her a innocent look, "When are you not gonna stay mad at me? I'm your buddy!"

She responded by putting her hands to her hips, "Kevin's still your buddy. I'm not."

He shook his beak, "Doh, you don't mean that." He shot up his head, "Besides, I haven't gave you a ride for a long time so that means I'm getting on your good side. Does that mean I get a makrub berry now?" He trailed his eyes to me and the others at a fast rate as his feathered wings fluttered on his back, "You already shared one to all of them, except Kevin." He gazed directly at Jill again, "So is it time for me to get one?"

Jill angrily flat out said, "No."

His ears flattened against his head as his eyes showed defeat, "Awww, dammit."

She let out a sigh as her hands swept her hair and spoke to the rest of us, "Hey guys, since I'm still mad at this moron, I'm gonna go now. So I'll talk to you later." Then she gave Pax a narrowed look, "And just to let you know before I go, I learned a lesson today. Next time if I want something, I'll get a different gryphon to help me out with my needs." She started strolling away from the group.

As we watched her leave, Pax playfully chirped, "Your needs? Are the needs you're talking about VERY pleasurable? I'm sure I can help out with that." My eyes went wide. Err...What the fuck's he talking about?

Jill stopped in her tracks, and casted him another glare, "SCREW YOU!"

The blue gryphon tossed back his head and laughed, "Awrk! Awrk! Awrk! Awrk!" That had Jill groaning and walking in faster strides.

When she was far enough away from here, I glanced at Emily, Cora and Damon, noticing they were just surprised as I was. Now my face only just frowned away in confusion when I looked at Kevin, who didn't look surprised at all. When Kevin saw me staring at him with that expression, along with everybody else, he was shrugging his hands, "What can I say? I told you he's kinda of a comedian."

Emily stated with a bit of disapproval on her face, "Honestly, that's a bit much for a comedian to say."

Yeah...Too much. I shook my head when I spoke to Pax, "I don't think that's getting on her good side, bud."

Pax shrugged his shoulders, the grin still on his beak, "Oh well. It ain't the first time I talked to her like that."

Emily asked, "Are you serious?"

He didn't deny it one bit as he boasted, "Yep. And she does like what I say to her."

Damon, as his wings fluttered, chuckled a bit and shook his snout, "Didn't look that way to me."

Pax turned his gaze to him, "Oh don't let what she said make you think I'm wrong. She does."

Kevin was rolling up his eyes playfully, "Keep dreaming, bird brain."

Then the blue gryphon drew back his head to let out a yawn, "Man..." He giggled before looking at all of us, "All the flying and meeting new friends after flying today has me feeling a little tired." He started to turn his whole body around while flicking his tail behind him. He looked past one of his wings and said, "I know I'd give y'all a tour in my house, but I wanna take a nap in it first. I'll show you around in there later, ok?" Cora gave a muffled whine as she dipped her head in sadness. I giggled in amusement. He'll show us his house later, Cora. Just be a bit patient.

Before Pax could walk away a step, Kevin made his own step forward and raised his hand with a serious look on his face, "Yeah and before you take a nap, big guy, I want to talk to you about something. It's important." I gazed right at him. I think I know what 'important' thing he wants to talk to him about...

I can tell Pax looked at Kevin when he said that, "Sure bud, but is it gonna take long? I really want to sleep."

Kevin took several steps till he stood beside him, "It won't take long. Let's go talk at your house." He glanced at me and the others, "I'll see you guys around. Enjoy your stay in the village." And with that, he and Pax left us as they walked off alongside each other to the direction of Pax's house.

While me and everybody else watched them leave until they were far enough away, I was having both Kevin and Jill in my thoughts. Remembering most of all about Kevin hesitating when Rick offered them to come with us. Kevin's probably wanting to talk to Pax about that.

To be honest...I'm kinda not having much hope that they'll leave this place forever and come with me and the others.

With how things look right now...It's a possibility they won't.