I slept good on my side on the grass. For some reason, my back felt like it wasn't pressed against Luna or anything, nor was she holding me with her paw. But that didn't wake me up as I snored again.

As I was about to let out another snore, I heard Luna screaming, "Wake up! We're under attack!"

I shot my eyes open, immediately shooting off the ground like lightning on my feet, "Ah!" I held up my fists, ready to fight anything that came at me. Glaring as my eyes scanned the area, "Where? What? ....Uh?" My eyes showed there was nothing there. No sign of danger. The only thing I begun to notice was it wasn't nighttime anymore. The sky wasn't really bright yet. The morning has begun to arrive. I frowned as nothing attacked, "What...The?" I can hear someone snickering right behind me, a tall shadow over me. I slowly turned around to see Luna trying to stifle her giggles with her paw to her snout, before she let it out in a howl of laughter.

Heat rose to my cheeks, when I shot daggers at her, "Luna!" I knew what just happened. It was just another damn practical joke.

She said loudly, pointing a talon at me, "Gotcha!" Then she laughed even harder, clutching her stomach now, "You should've seen the look on your face!"

I balled up my fists, strolling angrily to her in a rage, "I'm gonna kill you!" She laughed some more, when she whirled around to get away from me. Her long tail accidentally almost took my head off and I ducked down with a sharp gasp. That gave her the advantage when she pranced away from me in a fit of giggles. I growled through my teeth and walked to her in a angry fast pace. Luna apparently didn't have a worry in the world, as I chased her in a walking fashion away from the camp.

Luna continued to prance away, when I threw an angry threat at her, "Hold still so I can beat your black ass!"

She taunted me when she playfully shook her haunches and tail, "Nope have to catch it!" I hissed now and she laughed again, strolling away on the path that leads to the pond near us. I still walked in fast strides, going after the smug looking dragoness who scared the living shit out of me...Again!

Luna stopped prancing at the edge of the water, whirling around to face my angry self. She appeared to still have a grin on her face, showing me her teeth, and she was wagging her tail behind her. I didn't know why she just stopped right there and didn't swim. But I didn't care about that. I saw her standing right where she's at. I angrily asked when I was close to her grinning form, "What? Can't swim now?"

The dragoness replied, "Nope. Actually I was planning to do this!" Then real fast she lowered her neck and used her teeth to grab ahold of my pant leg. With a hard tug, I cried out when I fell on my back and now I was above the ground upside down dangling by her teeth.

Like yesterday it happened, blood was rushing toward my head and I screamed at her, "Ah, come on!" This again?! I tried to bend my body to try to slug her snout, but I felt worn already. With a defeated sigh I was back to dangling over the grass about six feet in the air. I thrashed my leg and arms like a baby who doesn't want to be carried by his mom, "Put me down!"

She let playfully rumbled in her throat, when she replied through clenched teeth, "Sure, Mike." Then just like yesterday, she turned her whole body to face the water and my eyes went wide at what I knew she was going to do. Oh no...She better not throw me in there. I got clothes on!

Luna started to swing me slowly, teasing me by her playful threat. But I ain't laughing, "Luna, don't you dare!" She continued to do so, giggling softly when she swung me back and forth a bit more harder and faster. I cried at her, "Luna, I will-AAAAAHHHHH!!!!" With a hard swing of her neck, she actually played out her little threat and threw me out to the water. I was just screaming in surprise when my back crashing through the surface of the cold water. A lot of my senses were lit up in my brain after I was submerged in the water. I gurgled below the surface, accidentally swallowing up mouthfuls of water, before I started to swim and shot back through the surface. Sucking in a lot of air and coughing loudly, wiping my eyes as my body felt cold.

I hear Luna at the edge of the water and removed my hand off my face, seeing her already crashing to the ground on her stomach, laughing hard at me, "Bwahahahahaha."

I let out a grr and stroked along the water, until I could feel my feet touching below the surface, trudging my way out of the not so deep water. That was why she stopped at the edge of the water. Crap, I should've known that she was gonna toss me in the water. But I was too angry to know her plan! When I emerged back on land, glaring at the still laughing dragon collapsed on the grass, I was dripping as my clothes were now soaking wet. Luna tried to talk as she was snickering away, "Thought I help you....COOL OFF!" She tossed up her snout to laugh again.

I kicked some dirt at her body, "Look what you've done!" I whined when I shot my arms down, still dripping away, "I'm wet!"

She finally stopped laughing at me and just smirked, "Well how else was I supposed to cool you down? Use my ice breath?" She chuckled softly, "If you wanted that solution, you should've asked." I shivered a bit from the cold wet clothes and crossed my arms, shooting daggers at her grinning self. She mockingly tilted her head, curling her wings on her back, "Aw, come on. You thought it was funny, admit it!"

My anger was replaced by incoming laughter from her playful, amusing tactic. My lips were twitching a bit as I tried my best to hold back my laugh. But it escaped from my mouth and I was clutching my ribs at this. Luna started to laugh along with me. It didn't last long when I looked up at her silver eyes, showing a loving smile toward me. I let out a calm sigh, smiling back at her.

Well I could never stay mad at her. My laughter already admitted it enough. It was pretty funny. I looked over my clothes, water still dripping off my shirt. And I think our journey will have to be delayed for now. I'm still wet!

*****

I mentioned after I picked another apple off the low tree branch, "I'm basically just wondering why you haven't gone to this tree and ate some apples yesterday. I mean, why? They weren't far away from your cave."

Cora snorted, after she settled down on her haunches, "Because, Scott, for one thing, I already walked off a bit far away from home to be near this tree."

I nodded, dropping the apple in my bag for the journey, "Oh right, now I remember."

Then she giggled, "But I was also not in the mood for apples. I was into something better." She slowly licked her snout with her tongue, her mouth looked like it was starting to water, "I was just HUNGRY for meat."

I widened my eyes and laughed afterward, "Hey, you just ate and now you're acting like you're hungry again."

Rick playfully shot at her as he stood beside me, holding another apple in his hand, "Yeah, hasn't the meat you ate not fill your stomach?"

She narrowed her gaze, "Perhaps it was because I didn't eat a lot of it and Rocko gave you most of it."

Rick chuckled, "Aw, come on, young lady. We're your guests, remember? Don't we get to have some of it?"

I joined in with a giggle, "Yeah, even saviors have to eat like hungry dragonesses like you."

Cora held her look, before she replaced it with a toothy grin, swishing her red tail behind her, "Since I'm hungry now, maybe I'll eat you."

I waved my hands defensively at her, "Hey don't eat us! We're not as great as the meat you'd share."

She playfully growled, getting up on all fours and crouching down like she was ready to jump on one of us to snack on, "You may never know. You probably taste even better than a boarlis." Her eyes were right on me, when she licked her chops in a hungry matter, "I think I want to eat you, Scott."

My eyes went wide again. Uh oh. I hollered at Rick when I took off running, "Keep picking apples, mister!"

Cora yelled when she started to chase me, "Get back here! I'm hungry!"

I screamed like a girl, waving my hands as my feet carried me as fast as they could, "Ahhhh!" She laughed hysterically behind me, running fast on all fours, catching up a bit.

It's been an hour since morning's been over with. After the sunlight has shined through the crack in the ceiling at the room I was sleeping in. That was how I was woke up along with Emily and Rick. Damon, however, was never woke up by the sun. He was still sleeping even through the rays were shining on his face. My first thought was waking the dragon up, but decided that he needed more rest since he was hurt and all. Besides, he looked pretty content.

The three of us went to the other room in the cave, only finding Cora was still asleep too. Rocko wasn't with her. It was apparent he was already awake and moving around. We did find him outside the cave and like last night when he hunted for food and cooked it for all of us, he was outside again this morning, already hunted and cooking again. I'll tell you something, I haven't ate anything that's meat related in Avarilan and I started eating the meat last night. So far before we arrived at Cora's home, I only ate apples and snacks from the cruise ship for the trip. Well I was gonna eat the meat dragons hunt for sooner or later anyways. Tastes pretty good actually.

Cora showed up about a minute later and ate with us. But still no Damon. That guy was a heavy sleeper and we were eating without him. Rocko did say that when Damon wakes up, he'll cook some meat for him. He really was considerate for his guests.

So with our stomachs filled, me and Rick checked our supplies in our bags and saw that we were almost about out of cruise ship snacks. Which that was just great. Not gonna have anymore chocolate bars and Doritos before too long. When Cora heard that we were about out of stuff, she made a suggestion that we grab some apples from a nearby apple tree.

As of right now, I'm being chased by Cora, screaming my head off. She was trying not to laugh so hard when she chased me, but she did slowing herself down a bit, and that gave me the advantage to run more faster than her. I ran around the base of a huge tree, with Cora still behind me. I was laughing a bit as I still dashed up on a clear path in the woods. I don't hear Cora laughing, so I think she composed herself enough to chase me. I huffed repeatedly, my heart pounding. When I looked back, Cora was catching up, "Almost there!"

I screamed like a girl once more, and when I did, she actually used her hind feet to pounce off the ground on my back. Pinning me face first on the grass. I think I accidentally had some in my mouth and spit it out. Didn't like the taste of it on my tongue. I tried to push myself off the ground and tried to squirm underneath her. But her paws pressed firmly on my back, holding me down, "Gotcha!" I weakly tried to get up once more, but I went limp beneath the red girl. Letting out a defeated groan.

Cora snaked her snout to my ear and taunted, "Did you think you could get away from a huntress? Well this huntress has pinned you." Then she used her pink tongue to give the back of my neck a long lick, sending a chill down my spine. Cora pulled her tongue away and snorted in disgust, "Bleh, I think I was wrong. You would NOT taste better than a boarlis. Now I don't want to eat you."

I tried to breath beneath her and chuckled weakly, "Uh, could you get off now? I'm eating dirt." She laughed and moved her paws off of me, both of them stood on the ground on both sides. I rolled around beneath her, looking up at the dragoness who jumped on me.

She looked down at me with a wide grin, "Did you like the taste of dirt? Cause I didn't like the taste of human."

I replied with a grin of my own, "You weren't gonna eat me anyways. What're you talking about?"

She shrugged her shoulders and wings, "I was kinda curious if you'd taste great. But I was wrong. You taste disgusting like the dirt."

I gave her a mock expression, "Hey, not cool!"

Cora made a teasing smirk on her snout, "You even screamed like a girl. Honestly, if you screamed even louder Rocko would think that I'm in trouble again." She giggled, "Now I'm wondering if you're actually a female, instead of a male." She cocked her head, "What are you, Scott?"

My face flushed and I shouted out, pressing my hands against her chest, "Would you get off me?" She was giggling away and complied when she backed away off of me. I groaned when I was sitting up, back feeling sore a little from the impact she gave me. I got up off the ground, dusting my clothes off for any dirt and grass stuck to me. I sighed and turned to the grinning red dragoness before me, "Thank you."

She remarked, "Well now the hunt is over, lets head back to Rick." Cora began to pace away a bit, before she twisted her neck to look back at me, "Oh and for the record, I wasn't hungry still." She winked and laughed her head off, back to padding away to the direction of the apple tree with me alongside her. I giggled a bit under my breath. I knew that she wasn't hungry even before she told me. Heck, like I knew she wasn't gonna eat me at all.

I don't look that edible anyways.

About a couple minutes later we returned to find Rick who casually leaned against the tree by his back, already crossed his arms. Rick asked Cora, as we both got closer to him, "So Cora, did you eat him?"

She let out a laugh, as I walked past her to my bag filled with apples, "Does he look eaten?"

Rick glanced to me, "As a matter of fact, no." He shrugged his shoulders, "Figured with all the screams that'd died down, I thought you've eaten him."

I shot a bit of a playful glare at him, "Thanks for not having much faith in me."

He glanced to me, "Well I knew that she wasn't going to eat you anyways. So...Didn't have to put faith in you."

Cora snickered a bit, making a joke, "I'll tell you this much. I wanted to eat him, but I found out that humans don't taste very good at all." She stuck out her tongue in disgust, "Bleh." I rolled my eyes. Oh brother.

Rick chuckled deeply, "Pretty much thought wrongly that we'd taste better than a...Boarri?"

She corrected him, raising her talon, "Boarlis." Then put on a serious look, "And yeah, not gonna try to eat you again."

He waved her off with another chuckle, after she corrected him, "Whatever." He bent down to pick up his bag filled with apples, "Well I'm done filling this up." He pointed at my bag, "By the way I filled your bag while you two were goofing off."

I already looked through my bag and saw that he wasn't kidding, "Yeah, I see that. And here I was about to put another apple in there."

He fiercely picked up my bag before I did with his other hand, before giving me a stern look, "I'm not the one who goofs off." Then when Rick swung the other bag over his shoulder, he motioned his hand at Cora beside him, "Especially screwing around with another girl while you're with somebody's certain daughter and not to mention she's a dragon. I had to ask, are you really that sick?" Cora nearby just cocked her head in confusion.

My eyes went wide at his remark and I shot him a glare, "Really? You had to go there? I'm not..." I wrinkled my face in disgust trying to put it into words, "I'm not thinking about doing ANYTHING with a dragon. Are you insane?" Then I made a grin, "You asked me if I was sick. Well look who came up with the thought. Who's sick now?"

Rick didn't take his stern eyes off of me, never saying a word. He actually breathed in deeply through his nose. I think I hit a nerve in him and he's pissed again. Then with a growl, he walked off with both bags in fast strides, not looking back.

Cora stood beside me when he disappeared from sight, with her confused yellow eyes still on her face, "What was that all about? And...What were you two talking about?"

I sighed and looked at her, "You don't want to know what he was getting at. And as for what that was all about. I didn't tell you this before and didn't exactly show you it either, but lets just say me and Rick don't get along."

"Why?"

I softly shook my head and reached out to stroke her neck, "Trust me, it has something to do with his daughter and it's personal. Well....PRETTY personal." I gestured to her with my other hand, "I'm not sure if you know and all, but Rick's pretty protective of his daughter."

Cora nodded slowly, pacing a bit to go back to her home, also curling her wings on her back, "I figured he was. Since Emily yesterday brought up something about uh...A club for having someone who's overprotective. Not to mention she argued with him that she's not a little girl anymore. I figured he had this sort of personality."

Me and her begun to walk back to her cave, side by side, "Well Rick's VERY overprotective. Also pretty stubborn. I mean, honestly, he hardly listens to what everyone tells him. I mean, hell." I made another gesture to her, "He thought that ALL dragons, including friendly ones like you and Damon, were all evil like Dark Dragons."

She reared her head in surprise, "Ancestors, really?"

I exclaimed with a wide look, "Yes! He actually didn't trust ANY dragon at all."

Then her confusion came back to her face, "Well he didn't certainly act that way to me, to Rocko, nor to Damonen the other day."

"Oh he's not that way anymore. Only because he saw you getting attacked yesterday by Dark Dragons. So he was pretty convinced that you're not."

Then Cora said in a bit of disbelief, "Wow...That's a bit much."

I rolled my eyes, "I know. He was treating Damon like crap before we found you."

Cora stopped for a moment, and turned her body to show off her red scales, also unfolding her wings. I stopped myself to look at her as she asked, "So Rick didn't trust ALL dragons? He thought we were all evil?"

"Yup."

She rolled her eyes and asked again, motioning her snout to herself, "Really? Do I even look like a Dark Dragon to you?"

I shook my head, "Not at all." I put on a smile for her, "Actually you don't look scary, you look stunning under the sun."

That made her chest swell up in pride and she smiled brightly at the compliment, "Why thank you." I giggled at that. She curled up her wings and we resumed our slow pace, her face showed a bit of irritancy, "Well apparently Rick was pretty blind to hold such an accusation towards my kind. Well...Normal dragons, I mean. Honestly, I would've knocked some sense into him for accusing us of such a thing."

I shrugged my arms, "Me too." I held up a finger, "And I think his daughter wanted to do it as well."

She chuckled, "Well sounds like me and Emily would become best friends if we wanted to knock sense into someone."

I quirked a brow, shooting my hand back down to my side, "Aren't I your best friend? Did you just forget I want to knock him out too?"

Cora turned her snout to me, "Well me and her are females, so I think I would become best friends with her most of all."

I rolled my eyes, "Wonderful." Heh...Girls.

Then her snout formed a teasing grin, "Course if you really are a female, I would consider being your best friend too. You did scream like one, so-"

I exclaimed loudly, "I'm not a girl!"

She let out a laugh, "That's what I thought."

I groaned a bit, "ANYWAY." She giggled a little bit, but I continued to speak when I held up two fingers, "Damon also wanted to hit Rick. Trust me, we all wanted to hit that guy."

Cora had a narrowed look, "Sounds like Rick's not a very likable guy."

I nodded, "Right! And it's all because he's so overprotective of his daughter! That was why he accused every dragon of being evil." I shrugged my hands, "Part of me doesn't blame him for doing that, cause we were attacked by Dark Dragons before. But to go off and say so many accusing stuff to Damon who practically saved his daughter's life is not right."

She gave me a warm smile, "You certainly don't think that way."

I waved her off, "I'm not blind. And like I said, he's over that. He doesn't think that dragons are evil anymore."

Cora said, "Well good. And if he called me evil, right in front of my face, I would pin him down and call him a girl."

I laughed at the idea, "That'll teach him not to mess with you."

"Damn right." Then she took a deep breath and let it out, as I can see that we're not far from her cave now, "I'd thought my family friend was stern, but Rick...He's pretty stern."

I waved at her, "Well Rocko doesn't appear to be as stern as Rick. And I could understand why he was a bit stern with you. He was just angry that you didn't tell him that you were going off hunting and you did it without him....Maybe a bit angry that you were talking to strangers too. And I could also understand why he doesn't want you to do that as well."

She replied, "Well it was thanks to him that I was kinda afraid of strangers to begin with. Like I was...Afraid of you and the others, along with Damon. But I was wrong about you."

I shook my head, giving her a comforting smile, "You're fine. It really is understandable."

She said, a defiant look on her face, "I mean, I love Rocko. He took care of me for years. But honestly, I'm growing up and he needs to understand that. I don't want to hunt all the time with him, I want to hunt on my own. It's not like I don't know how to do so." She looked at me, "Why else do you think I didn't go back and tell him that I was going hunting yesterday?"

I answered with a nod, "That's pretty understandable too."

Cora went on, "And another thing, since he tells me not to talk to strangers, it's not like there are hardly any strangers around here at all. There really isn't anything much out here. Course there are some occasional Dark Dragons that fly above this part of the forest, but they don't land. Rocko is...The only one I talk to. Nobody else." She had a bit of a lonely look and let out a sigh, "I know I'm not supposed to talk to strangers and I'm somewhat afraid of them. But...Sometimes I do want to talk to another creature. Another dragon or anything. It just...Gets so boring out here. And...Also I feel like I just want to get out and explore away from home. Rocko and I don't even go anywhere. Just within a small radius of the forest. We just find food and drink water outside, hang out a bit till night comes and then we go back home and sleep. And I even want to go to...Wingspan. Where he's from."

I just stared at her, her head was a bit hung as we're about halfway to the cave. I was right. She really doesn't get out and explore. She...Doesn't want to stay in one certain place forever. And Rocko doesn't let her. She even doesn't have a lot of company out here and actually wants friends, not just Rocko.

Now I'm really curious why she and Rocko are living out here alone.

Cora finally looked at me and grinned, "I'm happy Rocko didn't madly kick you out of his cave." She giggled, "I know we just met and all, but...You and the others don't seem so bad. I...I do want to be Emily's best friend, because she's a girl....Like me." She stopped in her tracks, I did too, and she was slowly cocking her head at me in a bit of worry, "Honestly...Do you guys really have to leave as soon as Damon's feeling better? You could stay here, Damon too. Me and Rocko will take care of you."

I felt my heart sink for the girl. Aw...I wish we could stay here and be her friends. But...We can't. I slowly shook my head, "I wish we could. But me, Emily and her father don't belong here, we belong home. And Damon's going to take us to Wingspan so we can go home." She lowered her head and whined a bit. I smiled comfortingly at her, "Hey don't feel so bad. It's not like we don't like living here in your cave, we do. We just don't belong here. We're...Too different for Avarilan." That's when a thought came to me, "If you ask Damon, I'm sure he could come see you after he takes us to Wingspan."

She let out a huff, "But Wingspan's so far away. And...I might not see him again."

I muttered in pity, "Oh, Cora." Poor dragon. She wants friends, but we can't stay with her.

Then she gasped, like she came up with an idea. She shot her eyes at me and said, "Wait! I have an idea!"

My face went wide and I backed away in surprise a bit, "What?"

She beamed and asked, "Can I come with you?" She giddied a bit on her paws like she was excited a bit, tail wagging behind her, "I mean, would you guys take me with you?"

That really made my heart jump in surprise, "What?"

"Yeah, why not? I wanted to have friends for once and I even wanted to go explore outside my home and also...Go to Wingspan." She shot her snout towards me, "Well you're my chance. If you're going to Wingspan, then I want to go with you."

I found myself shaking my head at the idea, "No way. You can't."

She made a growl and narrowed her eyes, her tail made a thump on the ground behind her, "Why the hell not?"

"Because your back was almost crushed yesterday. You were lucky that you weren't killed. If you went with us, what if you got hurt again?"

She adamantly shook her head, "I won't get hurt again. I'll be with you guys. I won't be alone like before."

I waved my hand towards the distant cave entrance, "But what about Rocko? Do you really think he would let you go?"

Cora snorted, "Then I'll make him understand that I'm not a hatchling anymore and I really want to do this. He's my problem. Not yours." She was giving me her puppy dog eyes, "Scott, come on. I'm not afraid. I can fight better than you think. When you leave I want to go with you....Please. I won't get hurt."

I was thinking about protesting again, but her eyes were making it hard to say no. Then as I was staring at those eyes, I feel my pity for her was coming back and it hit my heart so hard than before. Oh....Cora.

Maybe....I should let her go with us.

She does have a point, it's not like she'll be alone. We'll all be with her. Cora won't find herself alone and about to be murdered and raped by monsters. She'll be with us. Heck...I don't think she's lying that she can fight. I haven't seen her fight, but...From the look in her eyes, she isn't lying. I think she can.

If she says she can fight and if she thinks she's ready, then...I'll let her go with us.

The small red dragoness begged again when she made a step toward me, "Pleeaaaase."

I sucked in a mouth full of air and let it out slowly. I finally said, "Alright."

Cora gasped in surprise, "Really?!"

I nodded, "Yes, but-Oof!" Cora pounced on me, knocking a lot of air out of my lungs and I was pinned beneath her. Arrg, that's twice today!

She was nuzzling deeply in my chest, not stopping at all, "Oh thank you, Scott! Thank you!"

I was just laughing at this, "Ah, hey! Come on! Get off!"

Cora's face went wide at what she did, "Oops." She chuckled in a bit of embarrassment, "Um...Sorry." She got off of me and I got up off the ground myself. Sighing as I dusted myself. She shook her head, saying in an apologetic tone, "I'm sorry."

I smiled and waved her off, "Don't worry about it." Then it went away when I formed a serious look and tone in my voice, "I need to talk to the others about it first, then when all of us agree to let you go with us, we'll let you go with us. I think most of all you deserve to go free and explore." She was grinning widely and I raised a finger, speaking in a stern tone, "Now I'm not gonna guarantee it, ok? If everyone else thinks it's a bad idea, then-"

She nodded three times in agreement, "I get it. I understand. No guarantees." She took a deep breath, "I do hope they'll say yes like you."

I nodded a bit, "I'll admit it...So do I. Perhaps they will." Then I pointed a finger at her, "Now YOU just need to talk to Rocko about this. He probably won't listen to me, but maybe he'll listen to you. Try to talk to him about it, alright?"

Cora casually walked up to and rubbed her cheek against mine when she nuzzled, "I will." She pulled her head back and locked her yellow eyes with mine, "Thank you, Scott."

I returned the smile on my face and nodded again, "Yeah." I shot my head towards the cave, "C'mon. Lets go back to your cave. Everyone's probably wondering what's taking us."

Cora began to stroll to the cave, her tail hitting my stomach by accident, "Alright. Lets go." I followed along with her, our eyes onto the mouth of the cave. I had thoughts running through my mind about what just happened.

Seems I'm gonna be travelling with another dragon soon. But the question is...Would the others let her go with us?

More importantly...Would Rocko consider it?

*****

Luna had a wide look as she padded beside me, "A gryphon?" She tilted her head in curiosity, "Where did you get that idea?"

I shrugged with my hands, "Ah, it just popped up in my head."

She chuckled deeply, "Well talk about a thought that came out of nowhere."

I replied, shifting the quiver full of arrows around my shoulder, "Well remember I didn't think that dragons existed?" I gestured to her, "Which I know they are now, including you. And of course there are cheetahs in my world."

She stated, "Which you have told me that they're on four feet, don't speak like we do, and don't wear clothes to hide their bodies." She growled playfully, "I think I like your world's cheetahs. They're not afraid to show their bodies, unlike the two legged ones."

I said to her, "If you ever do meet one of them, which I doubt you will, trust me they hate water. So forget about tossing them in the water to swim with you." I let out a groan, as I remembered this morning, "Like you had tossed me in the freakin pond today."

Luna giggled, "Oh give it a rest. It was funny!"

I shot back in a mix of annoyance, but also playfully, "To you it was."

"You thought it was funny too!"

"You're not the one who's fucking cold and wet." I patted the brown vest and brown pants that I'm wearing now, "I'm just lucky to have gotten a few clothes from the cheetah village as gifts for our journey. Other than everything else." Then I just growled through my teeth, "But what I don't have is a new pair of shoes and socks!"

The smug dragoness rolled her eyes, another swish of her long tail behind her, "Stop complaining. At least you're dry."

I gazed down at my feet, specifically at my shoes, "Yep."

"You still look good in those clothes."

I formed a small smile, "Thank you."

It's been about several hours since the whole being tossed in the water incident by black scales here. And I guess you can see that I'm still complaining a bit about it. God, the water really was cold! Well since I was wet after being in the cold water, we hadn't left the spot where we slept last night quite yet. Just had to delay our journey a bit. I had to get my wet clothes, socks and shoes dry before we would move on.

See here's what happened. After walking back to our camp all dripping and such, Luna immediately started a new fire to help me dry up. I knew that I had to take off all my clothes, including my underwear, so after she started the fire, I told her to leave me alone while I took them off and get naked. Oh but ol Luna was whining that I'm not showing my own body to her again. But I just sternly ordered her to leave and she left me alone hanging her head. I'd also hollered her to not watch me from the woods, in case she'd even thought about it. Soon after, I took my underwear and clothes off, drying my wet bare body and my underwear off first since I don't exactly have any other underwear at all! And as soon as they were, also getting my body got to dry up as well, I put them back on.

I decided to try on my new clothes since my shirt and pants were just about to get dry. And I did, and the brown vest and brown pants fit perfectly! I don't think I look bad in them, in my opinion. I hollered for Luna to come back and when she came back, even though I can tell she was a bit disappointed that I wasn't naked, actually thought I looked good in them too. Luna did help me out drying my wet shirt, by holding it with two talons and blowing on it repeatedly. She was doing the same thing to my blue jeans as I was trying my best to dry up my shoes and socks over the flames.

As soon as everything was dry, I put my socks and shoes back on my feet, I stuffed my dried up previously worn jeans and shirt into my bag, Luna put the fire out and we both went on with our journey. Two of us are now walking on a trail through the forest. The sun shining brightly above us as hours have passed since that silly prank. I hope that it doesn't happen again, but with a dragon like her...I'm not gonna promise anything. Scheming dragon.

So here we both are now and I just asked her about gryphons and if there are any in Avarilan. And it wasn't just that it popped up...It was because of that dream I had last night. The dream about Luna's past. I still remembered every part of it, including the part that Luna mentioned gryphons.

I was mostly still surprised that I had that dream at all. I mean...How was it possible?

When I looked right at her, a thought came to me...Well I was laying close to Luna last night, did that had something to do with me having that dream? If so, how come I had it at all? I don't get it. I laid close with her two nights ago and it never happened. Only last night.

I shook my head to myself. I don't get it.

Luna's voice cut through my thoughts, "Hey Mike."

I turned my head to her, "Yeah?"

"About gryphons, did you think that they didn't exist either? Well if you are, they actually do."

I smiled, "So they do exist?"

Luna nodded in reply, "They do. I just haven't told you about them...Yet."

I giggled deeply, "Wow. The thought came to me, I decide to ask, and now I find out there are gryphons in this world like dragons. I'll tell ya, this is another surprise."

She smirked and asked, "Not gonna go speechless on me?"

I laughed and waved her worry away with my hand, "Nah, I'm good."

"Good. You know how I feel when I tell you surprises." Then she fluttered her wings on her back and rose a brow, smirk going away, "So how did you know about them? Did you hear stories about gryphons back in your home too?"

I nodded, "Yeah. There were stories that I've heard about them. Like I hear about dragons."

Luna wrinkled her face, "Oh really? You know, I find out that your kind tells stories about gryphons, you still never told me about what your kind tells about dragons. So...What do they say about my kind? Let alone the creatures whose their upper bodies have feathers and their asses have fur?"

I chuckled, "Nice way to describe them."

She shot up her head and grinned, "Well they do have those things, little guy. And for the record, I do know they show off their bodies." She winked.

I rolled up my eyes, "Yeah, I figured." Then I put a hand to my chin, "I wonder if any one of them is devious as you are? If I met one of them, I wouldn't want to get tossed in the pond."

She softly shook her head in thought, "I don't think they would like to get their feathers wet."

I playfully shot back at her, "Oh now you bring it up, I bet they wouldn't want to swim after tossing my ass in the water! They'll just be howling in laughter at their own prank like you."

Luna growled a bit in annoyance, "Will you quit complaining?"

"I'm not!"

She only gave me a chuckle after that, "Whatever." Then she frowned, "So about those stories?"

I would've told her how monstrous and dangerous dragons are in my kind's stories, also about the gryphons too, but I don't want to tell her quite yet. I was more curious about the gryphons in Avarilan. I shook my head, "Maybe later."

She held up her head and whined, her wings slowly drooping on her back, "Awwww."

I laughed, shooting her a playful look, "Hey, I said maybe later." Luna was grumbling under her breath and I let out another laugh. I reached out to touch her scales, feeling their warmth as I rubbed them up and down, "I'll tell you about the stories later, ok? There's plenty of time for that."

Luna shot a narrowed glance, "You better."

I gestured to her, "So what are the gryphons like? I know what they look like, but what do they do? Do they fight in the war too? Are they best friends with dragons? Are they-"

Her look changed to an amusement, "Slow down. You're acting like a hatchling who's waiting impatiently for someone to tell him a story." Then she brought her narrowed look back, "Which I'm IMPATIENTLY waiting for YOU to tell your stories about my kind."

I made a big smug grin, "You tell me not to complain. But you're doing it."

She paused for a minute, until she softened her look and sighed, "Oh, alright. I'll tell you more about gryphons." Then her wing tip pointed down at me, "You better tell me about them stories later, human."

"Deal."

Luna formed a smile on her snout, as her wing folded against her back, turning her snout straight ahead, ready to tell the tale of gryphons, "Ok, well yes dragons do get along with gryphons. But honestly, they're kinda annoying. From what I heard anyways. They brag a lot, saying they're better than scaly creatures like me." She rolled her eyes, "Which I doubt it. Not to mention, they do preen a lot. They really like to look good! Which is why they don't like getting their feathers wet." I held a fist to my mouth and snickered as she went on, "They do have their own villages, but they're pretty different than cheetah ones. They also live in mountains. And to tell you if they fight in the war, yeah. They're not the kind of creatures who don't want to get involved in the war like cheetahs do. But like them, they normally don't fight alongside my kind. They really are good fighters from what I heard." She sighed in a bit of sorrow and guilt, "Also under Abyss's influence, I have murdered several of them. So I'm sure they know me."

I let out a sigh too, "Well wonderful. First we had to deal with cheetahs, I wonder what they'll do when we meet them?"

"I'm probably sure they won't capture us, maybe attack." Her lip curled when she growled a bit, "They don't take prisoners. Knowing that I was the threat to them and for you as a creature from another world, who knows what they'll do?"

I shrugged my shoulders, shaking my head softly in uncertainty, "Don't know what'll happen really. But I hope they listen to a word you tell them and believe you. Let alone I'm a human who's about the size of a cheetah will listen to me that I am not a threat to them myself."

She nodded slightly, taking a deep breath to relax herself, "I hope they don't hurt you."

I held a worried look on my face, "I hope they don't hurt you too." She turned her head and smiled warmly for my concern. I did the same. As we both looked ahead on the trail, I asked her, "Wonder when we'll see one of those gryphon villages?"

Luna answered, "Who knows? We'll find out when we come across any."

We both just padded away in silence. The birds chirping in the woods were the only noise we had. Then I hung my head a bit when a thought crossed my mind.

Yesterday, she called me Mikey. Where did she come up with that?

I need to know. I looked up at Luna and asked with a bit of hesitation, "Luna...I need to talk to you."

She turned her gaze to me, looking quizzically, "What?" Then she titled her head, "Are you alright?"

I began to stop walking, holding out my hand to her scales to have her stop as well. I took a deep breath and let it out, "Look, um...This question's been bothering me. And I think right now is the time to ask you this."

"What is it, Mike?"

I tried to form words, trying to come up with how to ask her this, "Well...Twice yesterday, you called me by this...Nickname that somebody called me years ago. Somebody that I cared about a long time ago. You...You called me Mikey." She perked her ears at that, but she didn't make any kind of reaction, she was gazing intently down at me. I nodded slowly and asked, "Where did you come up with that? Or well...How did you come up with that?"

Luna only stared at me, until she made a response, "You probably wouldn't believe me."

I shot my head to my left and shrugged my shoulders, "Try me. Now how did you come up with calling me Mikey?"

Her silver eyes were still locked onto me, when she nodded slowly and started to answer, "Well, it's-" I saw one of her ears twitched, like she heard something and she snapped her eyes up to the sky.

I felt worry growing in my chest and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I thought I heard something." Then she shut her eyes tight. I think she was about to use the sight. I wanted to know if there was something out here too, so I too closed my eyes. Using the new ability that the dragon taught me. After a few moments of searching with my thoughts, images started to appear, I found a viewpoint and it came from the sky. It was flying over the trees with several flaps. At first I thought it was another bird. But as it turned out when it turned it's eyes, I see through the point of view that it can see....A Dark Dragon! It's flying beside the viewpoint. I realized that I'm looking through the eyes of a Dark Dragon. A pit formed in my stomach. Oh no...

I shot my eyes open and saw that Luna already had when she looked down at me. I showed some fear in my eyes when I told her what I saw, "Dark Dragons." And after opening my eyes, I can feel their direction. They're about over us and judging by the spot under the canopy, there's not much tree branches up there and they'll see us if we stand here.

Luna began to move her body fast away from here, shoving the bushes away in her path, her tail swung fast behind her and her wings were curling upon her back, "I saw through three of them, get down." She read my mind and I followed after her, both of us running fast to hide in the woods through several scrubs and bushes. And when we saw that the canopy above us were thick with tree branches, both of us pausing ourselves to look up. Not a second passed when we saw about three big forms fly past us. They didn't see us.

Luna sighed in relief, turning her snout down to me with a small hint of a smile, "That was close."

Honestly I wanted to make sure they wouldn't make a turn and fly back, so I shut my eyes, using the sight again. When I was searching for one of them through my thoughts, I found someone else's viewpoint, and it wasn't Luna's. Cause when I saw through the viewpoint, it were on the ground and I can see it was coming up behind Luna. And what I can feel from that viewpoint...Is evil. I even see the viewpoint raising his hand....And the fingers had very long claws growing out of them.

Lost Soul!

I shot them open, seeing the Lost Soul was about there and ready to attack her. I pointed behind Luna, "Behind you!"

Luna gasped and spun around, I ducked below her tail when she did. She didn't have a chance to attack before the evil cheetah made a slash on her chest and she roared in pain. I cried out, "LUNA!" Before that Lost Soul would attack her with his other hand, Luna actually got him first with a strong swipe of her paw, sending him flying into a big tree and breaking his back. That outa kill him.

I laid the bag that held the clothes and apples, and also brought the bow off my back in one hand, pulling out a arrow from my quiver with the other one, readying my weapon. I asked Luna, "Are you ok?"

The black dragon wasn't much ok. Her scaled chest had three large claw marks and they were bleeding. She held her forepaw to them, some crimson was smeared on her paw pads, "Not really." But the moment of relief had to wait, cause we can hear several rustles of bushes and several snaps of sticks on the ground all around us. Turned out, more Lost Souls were appearing in several directions. Me and Luna were pretty much back to back in the circle of enemies, the dragon growled and bared her teeth, and I rose my bow and arrow, aiming at the Lost Soul in front of me. They were all chuckling evilly at us.

Well crap.

By my count, there were about twenty of them.

The Lost Soul in front of my eyes apparently knew me, his red eyes glowing menacingly as he brought up, "Well, well. Looks like we found the creature who escaped our clutches with one of our teleportation stones. I remember you."

Then I hear another one talking about Luna in front of her, "Yeah and look who else we found. The former ally of our army. The one who actually commanded our army other than our master. We find the traitor with this creature. Lunasin."

Luna snorted angrily at one of them, "I wasn't proud of being in your disgusting army. And it wasn't who I am."

That evil cheetah replied in a smug tone, "Funny. The way you attacked our enemies in sight, we think that is what you are." She growled in response to that and he said, "Tell you what. Our master actually misses you. So how about let us live and we'll take you back to Abyss and rejoin the army. We'll give you another chance."

Luna asked when she gestured behind me with her head, disbelief in her voice, "What about my friend here?"

The black furred cheetahs in robes all giggled and another one of them said, "Oh he won't be a bother to you anymore. We'll take good care of him."

I rolled my eyes at the statement. Take good care of me? Yeah right! I glanced at Luna over my shoulder and she was doing that to me as well. Then she brought her gaze back onto the Lost Souls and sneered in remark, "No thanks. How about tell your master to go plummeting himself into the earth."

That Lost Soul flashed anger in those red eyes of his and made a gesture to her chest, "You're already wounded. Do you think you can keep fighting against us? Against your former master?"

I shouted, pulling back the arrow on the string, "She's not going back to him!"

Luna flared her wings and her tail thumped on the ground, "That's right! I'm not! I'll keep fighting for Avarilan as long as I breathe!"

The Lost Souls all bared their teeth, all their eyes glowing bright red and one of them snarled, "Very well then. Attack!!!"

I immediately turned loose of the arrow and it flew straight at the black cheetah's chest, killing him. I was gonna pull out another arrow, but another Lost Soul was too close for comfort and tried to take my head off with those claws. I ducked and rolled out of range, standing up on my feet, instructing the dragon with me, "Luna, spread out!" She nodded, already used her forepaw to kill another one of them. From that moment, she padded in fast strides, using her big frame to shove her way past them without any harm. Her tail even knocked one of them away. Several of them were focusing on her.

A war cry from another monster cheetah brought my eyes onto it charging at me. I sidestepped from those long ass claws and actually made a high kick to the guy's side of the head. Crying out in pain and falling to the grass. I saw three more of them coming and I took that as cue to pull out another arrow and used it to shoot at one of them right in the neck. The other two swiped at me at the same time and I jumped back to barely dodge those claws. I took their missed strikes as my chance to fight them hand to hand. I gave one of them a hard slug to the muzzle. And as for the other one, who had a surprised look shone in his red eyes, give him a hard boot to the stomach. He clutched his own stomach as I kicked him hard and he toppled down on his back with a small crash. That wouldn't stop him fighting me however, when he tried to use those sharp claws to cut off one of my legs. I pulled my leg out of range and pulled out another arrow, shooting him whilst on the grass.

Luna after tossing another monster out of her maw with a loud cry, she used her ice breath on several more of them. Freezing them instantly. Even the grass around them was turned to ice. And while those enemies were frozen, Luna smashed them to pieces with a hard strike of her forepaw. My eyes went wide at the scene. Holy shit. No way they could survive that! Luna was roaring in anger, as she circled around a few more. Then she decided to use her fire to burn them to death, they were screaming in agony as one of them ran away while on fire! But he succumbed to the flames and died a moment later. One Lost Soul, who had managed to dodge the flames, actually charged at the furious dragoness, "Die traitor!" When he made it to her in time, he made a downward swipe into her hide. Luna cried out as the pain got to her again, but she wasn't about to let him hurt her again and she used her head to knock him away, rolling along the grass with a thud.

Two more Lost Souls were coming right at me and I used my arrows at a fast pace to take down both of them before they could get to me. One took it in the heart and the other one took it in the leg. He didn't die and I finished him by making a swift kick to the head. He didn't move afterwards.

I huffed and huffed, seeing that all of them are gone, "Whew." That's all of them. I shouldered my arrow and called out to Luna who was hanging her snout, gasping for breath, "Luna!"

Luna snapped her eyes on me and smiled warmly, "Mike!" Before she could move, all of a sudden a Dark Dragon crashed into her side and she cried out in surprise. The two dragons rolled around on the ground. Snarling and clawing each other.

I gasped. Luna! I pulled the bow off my shoulder, but before I could pull out an arrow, another one actually came out of nowhere real fast and used the back of the forepaw to send me flying about five feet away. I screamed and crashed onto the ground on my back, knocking the wind out of me. The bow landed nearby, when it already flew out of my hand. The Dark Dragon roared and started padding towards me. I sucked in a breath and before that thing could get to me, Luna out of nowhere, actually crashed herself into the approaching evil dragon's black chest. She pinned it down below her. I cried out, "Luna!"

Luna looked over her shoulder while the dragon beneath her squirmed. Her eyes widened up at what else she saw behind her, "Run- Arrg!" The Dark Dragon used it's claws to hit her snout. Then I saw another one coming out of the woods, joining in on their fight, helping it's friend to knock Luna off of it. My eyes went wide. No!

After I saw that, I followed her gaze and saw that the Dark Dragon she fought was advancing at me, several claw and bite marks on it, mostly on the chest and neck. But it was still standing. Now there's THREE of them here?! Aw, come on! It's muzzle had smoke coming out of it, a sign it was about to breath fire at me. I got up and rolled forward away in time with a grunt, the flames barely hitting me. Grabbing the bow in mid roll and standing up on my feet. I was gonna pull out another arrow to fire at it, but my quiver felt empty. That's when I realized that after I was knocked away by one of them, not only I lost my bow a moment ago, but also my arrows. My eyes saw they were scattered across the ground.

After my eyes scanned along the ground, I saw that Luna's still holding on, as she breathed her orange flames out of her snout at one of the two Dark Dragons attacking her. I think she missed it, as the evil monster barely dodged those flames. The searing flames only grazing the black scales of the big monster, but it wasn't without pain cause it felt it.

I locked my eyes on the third Dark Dragon who's focused on me and I decided to stop standing around and ran to one of the arrows on the ground. Pulling it back on the bow and fired at the Dark Dragon who thought I was dead by it's flames. But I made a misfire when it moved a bit and it flew straight into a tree, the arrow stuck to it. Crap! It saw where the shot came from, locking it's furious gaze on me. I heard Luna cry out in pain, "Naargh!" I snapped my attention and saw that one of those Dark Dragons used it's tail to hit her across the face. But she still stood and struck back with her jaws catching that tail, sinking her teeth deeply into it and pulled it roughly, eliciting a roar of pain from that Dark Dragon. But the other one came to it's aid when it tried to kill her with it's flames. Luna opened her maw to turn loose of the tail, blood a bit on her snout and she rolled away to her side to dodge the flames. She fired back at it with green mist, that I can assume is poison. But the Dark Dragon who spurted fire, jumped over the mist and struck her down with a paw to her head. Sending her crashing onto her side.

I would've helped her, but I still had company. I turned my attention back on the third evil dragon and it was close to me. I yelped and rolled away before it's paw could hit me. I succeeded in dodging and crawled up to another arrow on the ground, and while on the ground, I pulled the arrow back on the string and fired at it. I didn't miss again, that time the flying arrow pierced into it's chest, right in the heart. It roared and slumped down on it's side. It tried to move and get up, but I found another arrow close beside me, and picked it up and fired at it's forehead. This time killing it.

My eyes went away from the dead monster and onto the battle going on with Luna and the other two evil dragons. I nodded to myself. One down, two to go. I began to get up on the ground, seeing that those dragons had the advantage on her. One was on top of her, biting into her shoulder and she screamed in real pain. The scream rang out across the woods. The other one was about to help out it's friend, baring it's teeth in hatred. My chest felt panic. No, they're beating her! Luna hold on! I was waving my hands in the air, wanting them to draw attention off her and onto me, "Hey! Over here!"

That actually caught one Dark Dragon's attention and it had eyes on me. Luna, after making a claw strike at the monster's neck over her, made it turned it's jaws loose off her shoulder. Luna was crying out to me, "Mike!" Her body was thrashing out, but the Dark Dragon pinning her wouldn't budge. Then when her forepaw was near it's mouth, it actually grabbed it with it's sharp teeth and bit down on it. Luna howling in pain again.

The other Dark Dragon still advanced at me, so with it's attention drawn on me, I began to pick up a couple more arrows and pulled back one of them, ready to fire at it. But the dragon blew fire out of it's maw and I immediately jumped out of the way, barely feeling the heat. I groaned as I recovered along the ground. I would've tried again, but the Dark Dragon was padding fast at me. I needed some more distance. I ran away through the trees, the evil scaly dragon giving chase behind me with a roar. Announcing it's coming after me.

I ran as fast as I could, trying to find a good spot for me to shoot at it. I jumped over a big rock, my foot barely touching it. I could hear the tree branches being crashed down behind me by the chasing dragon. I ran past a big tree and kept going, until I found a tiny round grass clearing and whirled around to see that I actually put myself a good distance from it. It was roaring at me, not letting any tree branch stop it. It used the horns on top of it's head to ram through them. I took this as my chance and readied the bow and pulled the arrow slightly by the string. Aiming right at it's head. Before it was about hallway there, I let go of it and it flew across at a high speed. And it struck right through it's eye, piercing it's brain. The Dark Dragon never made a noise as it's body crashed onto it's stomach. Not moving a muscle after that.

I let out a whoosh of air, a proud smile on me. Good shooting. Then I hear a roar of pain and realized that Luna's still in trouble. I began to run, dashing past the big dead body a second later, running fast as my legs could. I gripped both the bow and arrow tightly, till my knuckles turned white. Hang on, I'm coming back!

A lot of worried thoughts came to me, especially about my friend. No....I hope I'm not too late.

I hear the roar of the battle I left Luna in and sprinted hard. Until I emerged out of the bushes and trees to see The Dark Dragon is still standing, but Luna isn't. She was laying on her side. I gasped at where I stood. No!

I glared furiously at the Dark Dragon who casually strode up to her, ready to finish her off. I raised my bow once more, arrow at ready as I aimed and shouting out for it's attention, "HEY!" The monster snapped it's eyes at me and I let out a war cry, "AAAAAHHHH!" I let go of the arrow and like how I killed the last one, it went right through it's eye, killing it instantly. It's body made a loud crash when it fell on it's side.

I breathed in deeply, lowering the bow to my side. The battle now over. I didn't move yet, only had my eyes locked on the last dead evil dragon. Then I hear a familiar voice that helped me snap out of the trance I was in, "Mike!"

I deeply gasped. Luna! I smiled and ran up to her form, seeing some wounds on her. I ran to her front, right in front of her face and said in relief, "Luna."

She moaned in pain as she moved her head a bit on the ground, her tail slowly moving along the grass, her wings barely moving on her back, "Mike..." Her face showed a wince, and her voice came out as a squeak when she tried to move her body, "Oh...I'm hurt."

My happy eyes were now replaced with worried ones. I see that she's really hurt. I think some of the wounds are a bit deep and she's bleeding too. Including one on the back of her neck. The bright red blood slowly dripped down her black scaled neck. I even looked at her forepaw that the one bad dragon bit into and saw that it's bleeding too. It even shook a bit as well. I heard her voice making a plea, "Mike....Help me.....Oh."

I let out a sharp gasp. No...She's dying!

I have to help her!