Richard looked back and forth between the exit and his new friends, until he remembered what I had said to him earlier on the beach:
Maybe you are hopeless. But if you are, then how did you make it all the way here?
He suddenly realized what I was saying: he had managed to make it all the way here alive and even unharmed despite all the danger that he had encountered. He even was able to do a few things he would've never done in the past!
"I'm not hopeless!" Richard said to himself in realization. "Hang on guys! I'm coming!" Richard called down; he ran down the stairs, until he met up with the skeleton of a knight. "A sword."
He hesitated for a moment before grabbing the helmet and putting it on. He then grabbed the sword and shield, causing the skeleton's arm to crumble off. The skeleton's head crumbled into its armor too.
"Yes!" Richard said, holding his sword heroically.
He then ran down and under the dragon, swinging his sword in an attempt to slay the dragon.
"Ha-ha! That's it boy!" Adventure cheered. "Go for the gizzard!"
"Bite him, bite him!" Horror said before he started barking realistically.
The dragon suddenly breathed fire onto Richard! Richard screamed as the fire covered him, but fortunately his shield saved him.
"Yah!" Richard said as he went back in to attack.
"Watch out for his tail!" Fantasy called after Richard.
"Get him! You've got him on the run!" Adventure cheered.
"Richard! The tail!" Spongebob called.
Too late, the dragon's tail suddenly grabbed Richard! The books and the rest of us screamed as the dragon raised Richard and shook off his armor.
"I'm not scared of you!" Richard said bravely.
"Richard!" I cried, half-worried/half-impressed, as I flew towards him.
The dragon tossed Richard into the air and swallowed him! Angry, I prepared to attack, but the dragon swiped me with a paw and I landed on a ledge under my friends. I got up and flew after the books, putting them on a higher ledge before the dragon could re-notice them. I then flew back to the team and other Superwolves.
"What are we going to do?" Patrick asked.
"I-I don't know." I admitted.
It didn't feel right to continue on without Richard, so we waited, hoping that Richard would be able to get himself out of there. Luckily, the dragon didn't notice us, and decided to just wait until we revealed ourselves, which of course we would never do. Concerned about Richard, Camera poofed inside the dragon.
Richard screamed as he slid down the dragon's throat, and then grunted as he landed on a solid part of the dragon's insides. A fiery liquid surrounded the solid part, which was obviously the source of the dragon's flames.
"Huh?" Richard said before coughing from the burning atmosphere caused by the fiery liquid. "I gotta get out of here." He then said as he started to climb up the dragon's throat.
Unfortunately, it was too slippery for Richard, and he ended up falling back onto…something.
"Fantasy's wand!" Richard said in realization.
He flicked the wand a few times, hoping he could use it to escape. He couldn't, the wand apparently only worked for Fantasy.
"This is not good, definitely not good at all." Richard said as he put the wand in his back pocket; he then looked around. "Uh-oh."
Fortunately, some ghostly voices voice reminded him of an earlier bit of information:
Look to the books. Look to the books. Look to the books.
"'Look to the books.'" Richard repeated. "Look to the books!"
Strangely, the dragon's throat and solid part were full of books! Richard started looking through them.
"Alice in Wonderland." Richard read on one of the books.
He then opened it….
"OFF WITH HIS HEAD!" The Queen of Hearts shrieked as she popped her giant head out of the book.
Startled, Richard dropped the book.
"Sheesh!" He said, annoyed, before continuing to search through the books; he rejected a couple before finding the right one. "Jack and the Beanstalk, yeah this is it!"
He opened the book. The book suddenly started shaking, so he set it down with a gasp. The book shook until the beanstalk started growing right out of its pages! Richard quickly hoped on.
"I HATE HEEIIGHTS!" Richard cried as the beanstalk carried him up the dragon's throat.
Meanwhile, we were still waiting for a sign of Richard. After a few minutes, the dragon looked as if he was going to throw up! He didn't, instead a giant beanstalk burst out of his mouth and continued growing! On the beanstalk was none other than Richard! The team and other Superwolves and I cheered as we flew after him.
"Matey!" Adventure cheered.
"He's alive!" Fantasy cheered.
"Come on guys!" Richard said as he neared them.
He reached for Adventure and Horror as Fantasy took to the air, and Adventure and Horror leapt into his arms. We followed them as the beanstalk rose to the ledge that the dome was on. Richard, still holding on to Adventure and Horror, reached for the ledge, but then the dragon chomped into the stalk, causing them to almost lose their balance. Richard managed to grab the ledge, and then he climbed onto the ledge and collapsed with Adventure and Horror. Richard then lay on his back exhausted as we neared him.
"Whew. Are you all right?" Fantasy asked Richard.
"Wh-wha?" Richard said, recovering.
"Master, you saved us!" Horror said happily.
"That ya did matey." Adventure said proudly.
Richard, suddenly remembering something, pulled Fantasy's wand out of his pocket. Fantasy took it happily.
"Baby, you're the greatest." Fantasy said, kissing Richard on the cheek.
Richard just smiled humbly.
"How did you do that?" Lizzie asked.
"There were a lot of books inside the dragon, and I just used Jack and the Beanstalk to my advantage." Richard explained.
"I've heard of a love of reading but that's ridiculous." Snowy joked.