The tall girl nervously bent down and looked the dragon in his fiery red eyes. The dragon seemed to have sensed how scared she was as its eyes turned an icy blue. She staggered back and gasped then turned to look at me. The taller girl had blonde hair and wore a cowboy hat. The shorter blonde squealed and ran up to her.

"How did it-" The tall girl asked.

"I'm not telling you anything." I snapped.

"This dragon… is it…. yours?" The golden-eyed boy asked as he stepped towards me.

The dragon was in fact not mine at all. In fact, the only reason I was in this musky cave was because I was trying to find one of my flock members, Angel. The dragon was a Shifter meaning it can turn from a human to its represented animal. In this case, this End Dragon was most likely a young male around the age of seven, it had not lashed out… yet.

I swallowed a lump that had formed in my throat as soon as the trio entered the cave. I remembered what Angel had taught me when it came to reading minds; because it had come naturally to her, she didn't have to look at a person's eyes like I did in order to enter their mind. She said to push your thoughts away and look at the person, almost try to "tidy" your mind up to prepare it for new thoughts. I took a deep breath and looked at the shorter blonde's bright blue eyes as her mind seemed to be more open to "sharing" her feelings and memories with mine. I gulped as I had been out of practice and prepared to gain a total headache and collapse on floor clutching my head like an idiot.

Her thoughts seemed to rush towards me in a flash but a great memory was included in the mutant-deluxe package. I saw a tall figure with a black cloak in a flash. The next images were blurry and what I saw almost made me shiver. A man with silver hair came rushing into a building that I had not seen rather the girl's mind sent me a word (I hate it when that happens) "The School". I almost puked, not because of The School, but what the man was. A Whitecoat. These people had to have worked for Itex.

I clenched my fists preparing myself for a fight.

"Hey, is this your dragon?" the boy pressed on.

"Hmmm" I started. "I don't know, I mean do you own a dragon." Oh Max, you are so funny, but they didn't laugh. Tough crowd…

Max, know who your enemy is. The Voice, also known as Jeb, was back. Great… Oh hey Jeb, yeah I'm not really in the mood for any of your fortune cookie crap. Nothing, nada…. not much of a surprise I guess.

"This dragon's soul doesn't look like a Kishin's… have you seen anything in this cave? Anything out of the ordinary?" he just won't stop with the questions.

"How cute…." the shorter one cooed to the dragon. "This is really creepy…" The tall girl said nervously.

I kept a glare on that I never realized I was holding. What can I say, it's a reflex I have for whenever I see a Whitecoat.

"Yeah, now that you mention it…" The boy's expressionless face seemed to turn hopeful. He was like Fang, something as small as his eyebrows raising showed how relieved he was. "I did see something odd, like three kids wandering around a dark cave filled with dragons." I hissed. He seemed to be pretty annoyed at this point.

The Coward, as I now like to call her, looked like she was about to faint, for a moment, then she regained her composure. "Well, it's really weird that you're here too." She snapped trying to seem tough but her voice was shaky. "Why are you here?" She asked still looking unsure of herself. Wow, how fake of them. They worked for the Whitecoats and they couldn't even act professional.

"I just thought that I needed to get out more so I took a trip to a dark, smelly cave." I said satisfied with my answer. Giggly, as I now like to call her, well… giggled.

"I take it that you are not going to cooperate." The boy said. A slight furrow in his brows indicated he was well over his boiling point.

"Oh really Sherlock, what was your first clue?" I asked as I shifted my weight to one leg and crossed my arms. He only grunted.

Max… please, help. My first thought was the Voice but this voice sounded soft like an Angel's. (See what I did there? Because it was Angel's voice and… oh never mind.) I needed to get to her now, and the fact that she was able to communicate telepathically indicated she was not far.

"What are you doing here… really?" The boy said through grit teeth as he made his way over to me. The cave was dark, but with my keen sense of direction I would be able to find my way easily. So I spun on my heels and ran towards what I felt was the right way, which was directly to my right.

"Liz, Patty!" the boy shouted.

"Right." Coward said.

"'Kay!" Giggly responded.

Who is Liz and Patty? I heard a "whooshing" sound then heard feet pounding the ground coming towards me. Oddly, I only heard one person. Whoever this person was, was fast, but I'm faster. I didn't see anything but it felt right to take a sharp left. Eventually I came to a dimly lit room which was clean and had white tiles on the walls and floor. It looked like it didn't even belong in a cave, more like The School. I saw Angel on the floor of a dog cage hugging her knees to her chest in the middle of the "room". Her head shot up and looked at me with happiness and relief in her eyes.

I ran up to the cage and looked to see if there was a padlock or some sort. There was one on the right side of the cage.

"Max," Angel called pointing towards a wall which had a hook that held a key. I ran up to it, snatched the key off its hook, and made my way back to the dog crate. I inserted the key into the padlock, this was way too easy.

I turned the key and as soon as I heard a successful clicking sound I heard my chaser skid to a halt in the room. I quickly threw the padlock off and Angel pushed the door open jumping to my side with a nervous look on her face. I stood up and whipped around to find myself face to face with the boy. This time he had two pistols in his hands pointed at us which he held upside down.

Fight or flight, fight or flight? I thought frantically. Well we were in a cave so flying away was most unlikely.

"I'm going to ask you one more time a-"

"Ready on my count," I told Angel. "Alliki nay…"

She furrowed her brow "Nekerchu."

The boy looked at us with a questioning glance but regained his composure still holding his pistols up.

"1..." I started.

Angel stood up tall holding up fists.

"TWO!" I screamed, this was our sign for "fight now and not on three." Angel held her arms out to me which I grabbed. I swung her around and the back of her heel knocked the pistol out of his right hand. I tossed Angel out of the way and she landed next to the pistol. I saw her look panicked as she stared at the pistol on the ground.

"Max…" She started her voice trembling.

"Kid, don't worry about your symmetry!" Coward shouted. Although, I didn't see her anywhere. I looked at the boy's pistol which he now held out away from him in… disgust? The source of the sound came from the gun. Impossible... right?

"Max!" Angel sounded as if she just witnessed a man sprout bananas from his ears. "These guns are… people!"

I looked back at the boy who looked at me with a face that said 'yeah, what else did you expect?' I quickly did a 360° then brought the heel of my right leg to kick the other pistol out of his hand which he held loosely.

He looked up at me then raised his eyebrows. "Oh I see, you want a more close up battle, fine with me." And with that he brought he fist back, which I respond with a kick to his stomach before he could even bring his fist forward. He staggered back with an 'oof' then came at me again. Angel quickly ran to my side and I dodged his… whatever he was trying to do to me. He might have tried to pin me down. He took a step back with a light smile on his face. He was looking at something behind me. I whipped my head around to find Coward pointing a gun towards me. I was really nervous now… One wrong move and BAM, my brains would be on the floor.

"Don't make me-" she started.

"Hey, I wouldn't do that if I were you." Angel piped up.

Suddenly I felt a blow from behind me, it had so much force I fell to the ground. I was happy to see Angel hadn't ran to my side, we had been trained better than that. I coughed up blood; I had totally underestimated who I was up against… totally. I felt another blow to my back and realized the boy had swung his leg up and pounded his heel into my back. My vision went blurry and I was seeing red. I felt him kick me again. I remembered pain was just a message. I could ignore it for a while.

"They're the enemy Liz, it's okay to shoot." I heard the boy shout over his kicks to my back.

I can't believe I'm losing… and to a boy.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Coward lift Angel up by the collar and had the gun pointed to her chin. What happened in that moment was basically all hell broke loose. I ignored the pain. Hello this is Max. I jumped to my feet and brought my fist back and hit him in the side of the neck. I held him by the collar and held him there tight as I brought my fist back. I heard a satisfying crack as my fist made contact with his nose. Coward pulled the gun away from Angel's chin and pointed it at me. BANG! I felt a sharp stinging pain in my arm as I ran towards the two. I'm busy at the moment and can't get to the phone right now. I brought my fist back and hit Coward in the eye. She staggered back dropping Angel, and holding her hand over her eye, mouth agape. I decided to ignore my "no guns" rule right now as I was ready to kill three people. I snatched the pistol from her and felt an immediate burning sensation in my hand. Please leave a message after the BANG. I pointed the gun towards Coward's chest and pulled the trigger. BANG! I tossed the pistol away, before it could hit the ground it transformed into Giggly. I saw the boy get up from the ground while holding a hand over his bloody nose.

"Angel," I commanded.

"Right," she said as she turned towards Giggly. I decided to let her do her magic.

I made my way over to the golden eyed boy which I will now call Goldie. He clenched his fists and faltered for a moment. Big mistake. I grabbed his arm and pulled it up over his head threatening to dislocate it.

"No! Please, it will ruin my symmetry." He pleaded as he tried prying my fingers off his arm.

I released one of my hands and brought it around his neck wanting to choke him. He gasped and struggled for freedom only making me tighten my grip.

Max, this isn't like you, especially when you will need them. I really only like the Voice when it agrees with me and gives me direct instructions, which is never. Max.

I sighed as I released him but immediately pushed him to the ground. He gasped for air.

"Angel," I called for her. She was making Giggly hurt herself in ways such as banging her head against the now red tiled wall. She was really scary sometimes. She turned towards me and walked to my side.

Giggly brought her hands to her forehead and hissed as blood trickled down her fingers. Youch. Coward stood up and walked clumsily over to Giggly. Goldie stood while still gasping for air and made his way towards the two. They looked so… pathetic.

"Come on Angel, I have a feeling we won't be seeing them for a while…" I said as I turned towards the exit with Angel following close behind.

Eventually, we found the Shifter lying on the cold ground. Angel looked at him then at me with pleading eyes.

"No! You have Celeste, you have Total there is no way-"

Max, you need your connections. I groaned.

"Yay! Thanks Max!" she rushed over to the End Dragon and tapped him on the head lightly. He opened his icy blue eyes which changed to a bright yellow when he saw Angel. Slowly, he morphed into a young boy.

He was… he looked… well, to put it in short, he was the spitting image of poverty. I frowned; he needed all the help he could get. He walked ahead a few feet before turning around and waving us over.

It was incredibly hard to see even with our raptor-vision and I nervously followed him through all these twists and turns. Finally, we found the light at the end of the tunnel, literally. Angel and the boy ran ahead and they came to an abrupt stop at the edge of the cliff outside the cave. I caught up with them and looked around. It was all desert, literally the middle of nowhere!

"I don't remember coming in this way…" I was feeling really uneasy about this.

Go with the flow, Max. Words of wisdom.

You know Jeb; it really brightens my day to know how much effort you put into simplifying these messages. Note the sarcasm.

Angel read my mind. "What now, Max?"

Nevada, Max.

"We stay in Nevada." I decided.

"Where? In this desert?" Angel asked

Death City.

"We are going to Dea- Wait! What- sounds like a suicide mission to me, Jeb! Death City, Jeb? Really? Death City."

You need all the help you can get, Max. You will-

"Save the world, yeah I know! Yada yada yada… whatever. Angel, we are going to Death City." I announced feeling unsure.

"But Max, the Flock!" Angel argued.

"Yes, Fang has it covered, he thinks the blog will work, let him. We got our own mission. Okay?"

She nodded at me. I pointed straight forward. She spread her wings and ran off the cliff her wings catching her. I looked at the boy.

"Morph, shift, change. We need to fly." I commanded.

"Level."

"What?"

"Level."

"Is that like your name or-

"Level." Suddenly he morphed. He looked much more incredible as an End Dragon when you can actually see him. He had black, glistening scales and pearl white fangs. His once bright, yellow eyes were now a nightly black. His wings were probably around 8 feet, his tail 3 feet. Not a very big dragon, but he's only seven. He crawled forward towards the cliff, his claws scraping against the sharp edge. He tilted his body forward and "dived" downwards. After a few moments he zoomed up, his dark purple wings spread wide.

Almost reminds me of Fang.

I sighed as I zipped off my bloody jacket and tied it around my waist. I spread my now 15 foot wing span and quickly snapped them back to my side launching me upwards into the blue skies.

I understand Max can't read minds but I decided to give some characters new powers.

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Sometimes I will forget to update on here as well so to read more, visit my account at rearranger on wattpad!