Nathan Charles and Luna Fang: Into the Dragon Realms

By Mutitoon90


Chapter One

As the half-eatened apple laid on the ground, the brunette girl, who bit into the fruit, was nearby, seemingly lifeless, while the eight beings circled around the young woman. The seven dwaves were trying to keep the girl from receiving any more damage, since she fell out of the wagon, which dislodged from the young woman's throat, and the eighth being picked up the girl as she opened her bright silver-blue eyes and saw the prince that was carrying her at that moment.

A gasp escaped from her lips as she looked at the dark-haired young man with dark red eyes. Soon, the brown-haired maiden's eyes softened to admiration and love. The maiden and the prince closed in on each other's lips, and the seven little people watched, somewhat blushing at the romantic sight.

However, the lips of the prince and the maiden would never reach, when the maiden fell out of bed and straight to the floor face-first.

"Owwwww..." Moaned the girl as she held her face as her wild and messy hair dangled next to her hands and covered face.

Pulling herself to her backside with one hand, the girl still had her right hand to her face, due to the fact that most of the injury was on the right side of her face. Looking around the room for a few moments, she saw that she was alone.

With a loud sigh, the long haired woman said to herself, "Man... I can't believe I've had that 'Snow White' dream again."

Pulling herself to her feet by using her bed and her left arm, the presently red-faced woman looked at her mirror reflection and saw a young woman with long, messy, brown hair with silver-blue eyes in a turquiose tanktop and pajama bottoms with light blue and white stripes and a recent redness to her usually semi-pale face.

"The same thing always happens everytime I have that dream." The blue-eyes female moaned out before turning from her wall mirror and exiting out of her bedroom.

Walking towards the bathroom, the brunette girl was careful not to be loud as she passed her guest's bedroom, which was a door closer to the bathroom. The guest was her cousin on her mother's side of the family, and she did not liked to be awaken prematurely for any reason outside of an emergency.

Finally reaching the safety of her bathroom, the girl started to brush out her wily hair, brushed her teeth and washed her face to clean it and to cool it off to reduce the redness. As soon as she was finished her bathroom routine, a knock echoed into the small room.

"Who is it?" The girl responded to the knocking on the door.

"Luna," the voice of her cousin echoed from the other side of the bathroom door, "how long are you planning on being in there?"

"Not much longer, Sash!" The bruette girl spoke out her reply before exiting the bathroom.

Upon opening the door, Luna saw her cousin, who had long, straight silver hair, bright moon-yellow eyes and two years seniority over the brunette. Sash was wearing red and white pajamas that were striped vertically, like Luna's pajama bottom.

"Well, I guess that you had an unusal dream again, huh?" Sash asked, knowing that Luna would wake up and rise up with the sun, and it was, at least, an hour before sunrise.

"Yep." Luna made no attempt to hide the truth, since Sash could read her mind with hardly any effort, and, even without the mind-reading capability, Sash knew her younger cousin well enough to know why Luna would be up earlier than expected.

"What was it this time?" The young miko asked Luna, "'Sleeping Beauty', or 'Snow White?'"

"Snow White." The brunette blushed, adding more red to her face.

Sash had seen Luna's post-impacted face before the flush of embarrassment came over, and Sash could not help herself from asking.

"So, you fell out of the bed?"

"Big time." Sighed Luna, who blushed once again, before a wide yawn widened the brunette's mouth.

Seeing this from her younger cousin, Sash gave a suggestion to Luna: "Why don't you go back to bed for a few more mintues? It might get you a chance to rest some more before starting your day?"

"I don't know, Sash." Doubt rang in Luna's voice, "I hate to sleep, when I'm already up and ready to do something."

"I hate to say this, but you're right." Sash sighed out, knowing that Luna hated to sit still for a very long time.

"I'll need some time to take a real nap today," Luna's sleepy expression morphed into a carefree smile as she started to throw a few punches in the air, "and I'll be ready to face whatever comes my way."

The foreign priestess covered her mouth gracefully as a silent giggle escaped her lips, knowing that Luna's 'confidence' was a delightful thing to watch when it was appropriate to be displayed and that Luna was being truthful as well.

"Well, if you're that confident in your own strength, I'll let you do whatever you what." Sash stated as she went to the bathroom, "However, I'd take some time now to get some rest before doing anything else."

As the elder cousin entered the bathroom, Luna said, "Thanks for the advice, but I'll be just fine, Sash."

Luna saw the silver locks of her older cousin sway as Sash shook her head, silently hearing Sash muttering about the brunette's restlessness before the bathroom door closed once again.

Luna returned to her bedroom and changed out of her night clothes and into her favorite green T-shirt and blue jeans, and since the outfit lacked shoes with the exception of sandals on occasion, Luna was barefoot. She loved to feel the earth under her bare feet; something primal within the brunette as in all werewolves loved the feeling of the dirt on their soles of their feet. However, she can control her urges to go barefoot, when it was called for it.

Feeling the wooden floor with her feet, the young werewolf ran downstairs and went to the kitchen and started cooking breakfast for her guest and herself. Starting with the native fruit of the island, Wumpa fruit, Luna quarted and sliced five pieces of fruit and placed them into a homemade pie crust, which was made the night before, and covered it with an edible cover before putting it into a pre-heated oven. Turning her attenetion to the bacon that Sash brought over with her, Luna heated the stove, pulled out a frying pan and placed the bacon strips onto the hot pan.

"Oh!" Luna gasped at her own forgetfulness, "I need to get the eggs!"

As Luna went to the refrigerator to get the eggs and other food items that she might need, a pair of green eyes peered from the bushes that covered the window of the kitchen. The eyes looked hungrily at the oven, more interested in the prize that was being baked in the oven.

"Huh?" Luna sensed a presence that she could not see and started looking around. However, by the time the wolfgirl's attention was on the bushes, the green eyes went into hiding.

"Hmm?" Mused Luna before returning to her cooking and failing to see the green eyes once again.

Before long, the Wumpa fruit pie was finished and needed to be cooled off. Luna knew that the pie needed to cool off before it can be severed to anyone, but she still detected a presence in the area, and she had a strong feeling who it might be, so she came up with a plan to deter the being from entering the kitchen.

The eyes reappeared again and saw the pie being pulled out of the oven, causing the eyes' owner to chuckle a little. However, the laugh nearly caused Luna to catch a glance of the green eyes and their owner.

Minutes passed, and the eyes peered out again; now, they see the pie, the object of interest, seated close to the window. Soon, the pie will be in their owner's semi-gloved hands.

Luna had her back turned to the window as she waited for a certain sound, and it felt like a long time before the sound of the mouse trap setting out snapped into the air and the scream of the would-be thief followed after the first sound.

"I knew it." Luna shook her head as she turned to the pie thief, and she added, "Crash Bandicoot, did you really think I'd be that dumb to allow you to swipe one of my pies again?"

"No!" Crash, a genetically altered bandicoot, replied as he managed to remove the mousetrap off of his fingers, and once the trap was no longer crushing his fingers, he added in a sheepish tone, "I was hoping."

Luna shook her head, knowing that Crash was telling the truth; it was not the first time Crash had tried to take one of her pies, and it was not the first time that the male Bandicoot had failed in stealing one of her pies.

"Go home, Crash." Luna told the orange marsupial, hopful that Crash would listen this time, but that was not going to happen anytime soon.

"Not until the pie is mine!" Crash hopped to his feet, but that was a bad idea on his part, since he was on a small ladder; Crash lost his footing and fell off of the ladder.

"Oh, brother..." Sighed Luna, who knew that something, like that, was going to happen that day, since she usually made a pie for Sash everytime that her cousin came to Wumpa Island.

Then, the doorbell at the front door rang, causing Luna to go straight to the door, but she was careful to bring the pie with her, in case Crash decided to re-enter the kitchen again via the window.

Opening the door, Luna saw Nathan Charles, one of the few humans on Wumpa Island, Coco Bandicoot, who was Crash's younger sister, Aku-Aku, the anicent spirit that guarded the Wumpa Islands, which included Wumpa Island, and Crunch Bandicoot, the newest member of the gang.

"Good morning, everyone." Luna smiled at her friends as she greeted them, "I'm glad that you guys came over."

The others greeted back to Luna as they entered the home of the isle's resident werewolf. Noticing the pie in brunette's hand, most of them knew right away that Crash was nearby and had seen Luna a little earlier. Crunch, however, did not know, so he had to ask.

"Luna, what's with the pie?"

The others heard this and laughed a little, but they could not blame Crunch for asking; after all, he was still getting use to being on an island with Crash Bandicoot and Luna, a pie-making werewolf.

"Crash was spying on my Wumpa fruit pie again." Luna answered the question of the Bandicoot with the robotic right arm, "He wanted Sash's pie."

"Again?" A dumbstruck Crunch asked in his shock, and then he recomposed himself and sighed out a statement: "That Bandicoot's more trouble when he's after something her wants than fighting Cortex."

"No kidding." The werewolf snorted out a laugh; Crunch was correct in his statement, but that was something that she had learned years ago.

"Good morning, everyone." Sash's voice grabbed everyone's attentions, which were pulled towards the stairs.

Sash was wearing her favorite outfit, which was composed of a white, long-sleeved blouse with black skinny pants with matching vest and high-heeled boots. The werewolf's silver hair was even straighter even it was when Luna saw it earlier that morning, and Sash's golden eyes were more open.

"Good morning, Sash." Aku-Aku spoke to the moon mystic, "You look well today."

"Thank you, Aku-Aku." The elder of the werewolf cousins nodded back to the ancient mask, "I can say the same to you and everyone else here."

"Everyone?" Luna spoke up with a playful tone in her voice, having seen Sash a little earlier.

"Luna," Sash responded to her younger cousin, "you're dressed now; so there's no reason for you to pry on person issues, even if it's for a good laugh."

"Okay." The brunette laughed, knowing better than to continue a battle of wits with someone that can read her mind, like Sash could.

The others laughed with the two cousins, but Nathan's laugh was the most quiet, and his smile was the widest of all who were there. Nathan had a good idea why Luna backed off, but without the right evidence, there was nothing that Nathan can do or say about it.

The laughter subsided long enough for the group to hear a clatter echoing from the kitchen, telling them that Crash Bandicoot was in trying to steal the pie again.

"Sash," Luna nervously looked at her silver-haired cousin, "I know you don't care to promote stereotypes, but in light of the current situation..."

"Say no more, Luna." Sash's golden eyes seemed to glow as she spoke, "Sometimes, one has to do what one has to do."

As Sash finished her statement, Crash appeared from the kitchen with a pan on top of his head, and his green eyes are on fire with determination. With his eyes on his prize, the hero of the Wumpa Islands raced to the holder of the Wumpa fruit pie: Luna.

"You want it?" Luna 'asked' the charging Bandicoot, "Then, go fetch."

Luna threw the pie, like one would throw a frisbee, and Crash changed his route to pursue after the flying treat. The Wumpa fruit-obsessed marsupial dashed as fast as he could, and he nearly had the pie in his hand-like paws, when a pair of canine paws pushed him down to the ground, causing Crash to hit the ground face-first.

Sash, in her full wolf form, had the pie tin and some of the crust in her teeth. Carefully, the moon mystic placed the dessert onto the ground and started to eat the pie without changing back to her human form.

"Man, Sash..." Luna started upon seeing the silver wolf's actions, "That's just cold."

Sash stopped eating long enough to lick of some of the orange-red pie filling from her muzzle and said, "Perhaps, but he needs to learn to stop taking the pies, and I need to eating practice."

"Granted." Luna said, knowing that Sash was being truthful about the practice. Also, she wanted to see Crash's expression when the male marsupial looks at Sash eating the pie that he was trying to steal.

The brunette werewolf did not have to wait for long; Crash pulled his face off of the ground, and he saw Sash lapping the filling of the Wumpa fruit pie, causing him to moan out sadly, "That's cruel..."

Sash's reaction was a burp and a statement: "So said the Bandicoot that was trying to steal a pie that was made for me."

Crash wanted to shout out a retrot to the moon mystic, but he knew that Sash was correct, and if that was not enough to wound the Bandicoot's pride, he heard the others laughing out, knowing as well that the silver werewolf was right.

Luna went to the kitchen and grabbed a disposible napkin to give to Sash. When she was out of the kitchen, Sash, who was in her human shape and retained her silver hair and yellow eyes, took the napkin and wiped off the remains of the pie from her lips and chin.

"Thank you, Luna." Sash said as the moon mystic rubbed off the crumbs of the Wumpa fruit pie, "That's what I needed."

"Not a prob." Luna beamed a smile towards her elder cousin, who also added something else to the conversation.

"By the way, that pie was a ninety-five; your best pie as of yet."

The statement caused Luna to smile widely before embracing her cousin and crying a blubbering 'Thank you' to Sash, who started to pry Luna off of herself.

Nathan watched from a distance, knowing well enough to stay back when Luna was acting like crying child, and so did the others. Crunch, however, was just following the others, but he still wanted to ask about Luna's and Sash' s relationship to each other, so he asked the only person that has known the two werewolves the longest.

"Hey, Nathan. What's up with Luna and Sash?"

Nathan, knowing that Crunch has not seen Luna like this, answered with a warm smile on his face, thinking about how the cousins were truly close to each other.

"Well as you know, Crunch, Luna's the last person in the world that would act like this and mean it too, but Sash is her older cousin, who've spent some time here before she had to return to her family shrine in Japan, and she is the only person, besides Luna's parents, that can control her the most, which isn't too often. However, Sash is the one that taught Luna how to cook and make pies, allowing Luna to make the Wumpa fruit pies that Crash is a big fan of, and Luna thinks highly of Sash's opinion of her cooking and baking skills."

"I understand so far," confessed Crunch, who was still a little confused, "but why is Luna acting like a big baby?"

Nathan expected the question, and he was willing to answer it. Breathing in, the ex-Cortex said, "Luna must have reached a high score in Sash's preceptive."

Crunch, perplexed at the response that Nathan had given him, returned his attention to the werewolf cousins, and Luna was drying off her tears after Sash managed to remove the brunette wolfgirl from her person. Crunch did not what to do or say to the female cousins, but he could understand where Luna was coming from; after all, he wanted to please the ones that rescued him from being Neo Cortex's puppet for the rest of his life.

Nathan spoke up once more and announced, "We've got to get to the portal room; Brio's got something going on there."

"Really?" Luna asked, truly intrigued by the dark-haired man's words, "This sounds important."

"It is." Nathan nodded to the brunette werewolf, "Brio's been telling me about a disruption in the portal's coordination system; according to Brio, it's like another portal's trying to merge with ours."

"Sounds like today's gonna be a very interesting day." Luna grinned a smirk as she ran to the door, "Let's go check it out!"

"All right, Luna." Sash said with a motherly smile, "You can go ahead of me after a few minutes; I'll make a bento box to make sure that you don't get too hungry today."

"Okay!" Luna said before exiting out of the door.

Once outside, Luna made sure to wait for the others to show that she was not completely rude, and also, she liked the warm morning sun's rays touching her skin. It made her a little sleepy, but she made sure that she did not doze off; that was the last thing she wanted to do that day.

Minutes passed, and the group came out after Luna, who was nearly asleep at that moment. Nathan saw this and covered a laugh in his mouth upon seeing the sleepy werewolf.

"Ha ha." Luna dryly stated as one of her blue eyes opened to see the human male, "Ready to go?"

"What about breakfast?" Inquired Coco, who was truly worried about the brunette werewolf; Luna was like an older sister to the female Bandicoot.

"Oh, yeah." Luna had truly forgotten about Sash, who was making a bento box for her, since Crash had tried to steal the Wumpa fruit pie. Then, she said to Coco, "Thanks for the reminder."

"You're welcome, Luna." Beamed the youngest of the Bandicoot, pleased that she had helped Luna out, since the resident wolfgirl has helped her out during the first Wumpa Games.

Then, the silver-haired moon mystic emerged from the inside of her cousin's home with a small box that was wrapped in a colorful cloth in her hands. Noticing that Luna appeared to be a little doozy, Sash asked, "Luna, are you sure that you are well enough to go?"

"Positive!" Shouted an annoyed Luna, "I'll catch a nap a little later; as long as I'm doing something, I can make it 'til then!"

"All right..." Uncertainty was caked onto the priestess's words, telling the others that she was worried about her younger cousin. After a moment of worry, Sash gave Luna the box and said, "Enjoy this in good health."

"Always!" Luna's annoyance converted to a polite and warm tone, "I'll see ya later."

"Please be careful, Luna!" Sash shouted out as Luna dashed off to the portal room.

The Bandicoots and Aku-Aku went after Luna, showing the same concern for the brunette she-wolf and leaving Nathan and Sash behind, which gave the moon mystic a chance to ask Nathan a favor.

"Nathan, please keep an eye on Luna; I'm worried that she would put herself in terrible danger due to her lack of sleep."

Nathan was silent for a few moments before asking an unexpected question, "Werewolves can be sleep-deprived?"

"Yes..." Sash growled after hissing out a heavy sigh, "The possible sleep-deprivation can be a dangerous flaw, and others would take advantage of that moment of weakness."

Nathan withdrew himself for a moment; he recalled that his father, Napoleon Cortex, would exploit the weaknesses of everyone that he would encounter, including Nathan himself. However, Luna taught him that it was wrong to exploit others for selfish gains, but she also stated that it was needed when the enemy was a true danger the world; it was a lesson that Nathan would never forget.

"All right." Nathan recomposed himself after the moment passed, "I'll do my best to make sure that Luna stays out of trouble."

"I know that you will, Nathan." Sash smiled gracefully before pulling something from her pants' back pocket, "This is for you."

It was a colorful bag, like the cloth that was wrapped around the lunch box that the moon mystic gave Luna, but it was in a different shape. Nathan took it from the mystic and asked, "What is it?"

"It is something, in case of an emergency." Sash smiled at Nathan before adding, "Of course, this is for something other than Luna and the Bandicoots."

"Understood." The ex-Cortex nodded to Sash before running off and saying, "Good-bye, Sash!"

"I will see you later!" The silver-haired werewolf shouted out to Nathan, who was getting farther from the house. Soon, Sash said to a distant Nathan Charles, "Please, Nathan, protect Luna with all of your heart."