Ok bonus chapter time! I'm not replying to reviews in this chapter, but to Jusea's comment about them being on the same island, No, they're not. They are very similar, the islands, but not the same.

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Last Time

Once Lothor has stomped a ways off, Zurgane's head dropped and he sighed. "I don't get paid enough for this." He muttered before trudging on. "Wait, I don't get paid at all!"

This Time

(With Hunter and Blake, Blake's POV)

When Hunter was knocked through the wall, I was shocked that the monster was so powerful. I'd seen it's claws dig into my bro's side and draw blood, and I watched helplessly as Hunter crashed right through the stone wall, and didn't get up.

That made me frown. Sure the attack was powerful, but as Rangers he still should have been able to get up again, unless…the wound was worse than it looked.

Immediately, I felt my blood run cold. What if he's hurt really bad? Or knocked out and more monsters come at us?!

Dodging an attack, I held my stomach and glared at the thing I was trying to fend off. He'd already managed to score one hit on me, and I couldn't afford to let him get another. This wasn't a game. If I went down, it was the end, no restart. "You're gonna pay for that!" I hissed angrily as I ducked under it's arm. I can't go down! I have to protect my bro! Swinging my fist at it, I felt a pain run up my hand when it felt like I hit a concrete wall. The weird zombie staggered back a foot as I waved my hand wildly, but then advanced again.

Jumping forward, I flipped over the top of the dresser and windmill kicked it before landing in a crouch and sweeping my leg out to knock it off it's feet. It landed hard on the ground, but immediately got back up again, as if none of my attacks worked.

"Great, what now?" I groaned in frustration as I glanced quickly to where Hunter's form lay.

Only it wasn't there.

"Hunter?!" I called, hoping he was alright and not knowing what to expect. "Bro!" Seeing an incoming set of claws, I ducked as my eyes widened, and I ran past the monster to the door, standing with my back a few feet from the wall and quickly scanning the room.

Dresser, broken remains of bed, broken debris from the ceiling… Lashing out, I hit the creature with my thunder energies, but it just seemed to bounce off him. Open door, I really need to shut that. Hole in the ceiling, broken window… I ran forward and leveled a series of punches at the zombie's head. Hole in the wall… Guess this room's not so 'safe' anymore. Little red dragon…

Stopping a moment, I could clearly hear a low growl. And when I say low, I mean sounding like a lion cub trying to roar. Wait… "Little red dragon?" I questioned in confusion, noticing how the monster stopped as well. My eyes darted to the little creature, and I raised an eyebrow as it glared as dangerously as a baby dragon could, at the zombie.

It was about the size of a large cat, or small dog. A deep ruby red, with glistening scales that seemed to shine with an inner light, in the dark room. It's eyes were a bright, piercing blue, and almost seemed to glow as well. It's wings were widely mantled, showing it obviously was not happy, and it was baring it's tiny fangs at the zombie I was trying to fight.

Part of me wanted to laugh. It seemed so absurd that a little dragon would try to take on a big monster. But then, it also kind of reminded me of Hunter's attitude. If he felt threatened, or that I was threatened, he'd fight anything or anyone.

"Hunter." I mumbled, being instantly reminded of my missing, injured brother. "Hunter!"

The zombie swung back to face me and I stumbled back as I clumsily dodged under it's claws. Falling on my butt, I stared up at it, trying to think quickly. Try to counter, dodge, or get up and run to the other side of the room?

There was a snarl and a bright flash of light. Squinting at the sudden flare, I saw a stream of fire seem to come out of the sky and hit the monster.

It was set ablaze in seconds, screaming and writhing in agony as it struggled to put the flames out, but it's dry skin and dried robes provided the perfect kindling to fuel the fire. It didn't take long before it stopped fighting and collapsed to the ground, instantly turning to dust as the last remains of the fire went out.

"Whoa." Looking around, my eyes landed on the dragon. Looking at it a moment, I saw it's big blue eyes trained on me. Still, I looked carefully around the room, but with my heightened senses, quickly knew we were the only ones around. Turning back, I took a good close look at my only room companion. There was something…familiar about it.

It couldn't be…could it? Scanning it's body, I saw a still freshly bleeding wound on it's side, obviously from claw marks. It's eyes showed hints of it's pain, but they were still focused on me, filled with…was that concern? "…Hunter?"

I know, it seemed crazy, but I couldn't shaking this feeling that I just knew it was him!

Taking a careful step forward, it's eyes suddenly dropped, and it collapsed on the ground. It let out a little huff before it's eyes closed all the way and it stopped moving.

Oh no! "Hunter!" Practically lunging from my spot, my eyes darted again to the hole in the wall. Wait, what if I'm wrong? Either way, if Hunter wasn't there, it meant he was this dragon, or he was up and walking around. This dragon just helped me, and was out cold, bleeding, on the ground. I hope I'm making the right decision. Following my instincts, I very carefully untied my dried, and stiff from sweat t-shirt, and began twisting and turning it in my hands to work out the stiff parts. Then I wrapped it around the wound on the dragon's side ignoring but flinching at the pained whine and tied it around it's waist, tightly enough to stay in place.

Then I carefully picked it up. It was actually kind of neat, holding a little dragon. If I was careful about the wings, I could settle it comfortably in my arms, and carry it no problem. It's scales were smooth, much like a snake's, and it's body was warm, almost like it was overheated.

"Well, now what?" I looked to the door and frowned in confusion. "I could go looking around, but what if there are more of those things?" With a shake of my head, I gave a bit of a dry laugh and looked at all the holes in the walls and ceiling, reminding myself this place wasn't really that safe at the moment. "Ok, first things first." Need a torch.

Putting the little dragon carefully down on a pile of sheets left over from the bed, I grabbed some loose ones. Then I grabbed a leg that was broken off from the bed and tied them around one end. "This won't do for long. The rags will burn fast and the stick will burn down in no time." Still, it was the only thing I had. Taking the lighter, I lit the torch and set it carefully leaning against some debris before picking up the little dragon again. I won't be able to protect myself, so I'd better be careful.

Going to the door with the torch and dragon, I carefully looked out. One way, there was one of those Coeurl things Kendra spoke about, but it's back was to us and it was in the opposite direction of where I wanted to go. The other side, there were two Ghouls, but they too were walking away, on the other side of the stairs. If I'm quiet and fast… Checking all around me, I quickly ducked out of the doorway, hearing a tiny squeak when I jostled the little dragon. Immediately, I jumped back again and checked on it.

Still out cold, but my arm was pressed against it's side. Carefully, shifting my hold, I looked again. Need to be careful not to jostle him.

They were even farther, but the Coeurl was closing towards some debris blocking the path and would turn around soon.

I dashed out quickly, hoping the stairs were free, and made it to the top of them. Very carefully, I started down, my heart pounding almost painfully in my chest as I tried to be as silent and careful as I could. I must have made it half way before another Coeurl stopped at the bottom and began sniffing.

Now I didn't know what senses were good and what ones weren't so good, but seeing that cat there, I stopped immediately and held as still as I could. I barely even breathed, not wanting to catch it's attention.

This one was different from the one we'd seen earlier. It was a tan color, obviously alive, and had tentacles growing from it's shoulder blades. Still, it didn't seem to hear or smell us, and when it gazed up towards us, it just sniffed a moment before sneezing, turning and walking on.

Too close. Way too close! They must be pretty much blind. Knowing that could work in my favor, I carefully filed that bit of information away for later use.

I quickly made it to the bottom of the stairs and ducked down into a crouching position. Peeking my head out of the corner, I noted my hand was getting warmer, meaning the torch was burning down.

There were three doors. Two Ghouls came out of one, where I heard a pained, inhuman scream and saw flickers of light. Knowing there was nothing supposed to be alive or humanoid around us, I swallowed heavily and looked at the other doors. K, not that one. One was open slightly, the room beyond dark and possibly filled with monsters. The other was closed, but broken. The way it was sitting, I knew there'd be no getting it open. And not that one. Two doors down…

Checking the hall, I saw numerous Coeurls and Ghouls. Three Ghouls jumped on two Coeurls a little ways away and began tearing into them, and two other Coeurls jumped away, immediately making a wide trip around the hungry Ghouls and continuing away.

Then there were about four Ghouls on the other side, no Coeurls, nothing to distract them. Thinking for a moment, I carefully put the remains of the torch down and picked up a stone. Turning to carefully lean a little out over the railing, I threw it as far behind them as I could and watched as they all turned and began shuffling towards where it bounced off a wall.

There were growls, and I turned to find the two Coeurls across the way glaring at me. Not the stone I'd thrown, me. Feeling my still pounding heart skip a beat, I quickly grabbed the torch and took a deep breath before dashing towards the door, through it, and slamming it closed with my back to it. "They must've seen me when I moved." I muttered quietly.

Unfortunately, the torch hit the ground and finally burned right out. I was left in pitch black.

Slowly turning my head, I could make out shapes in the darkness, but that was about it. Nothing seemed to be moving, but with one hand full of unconscious dragon, that didn't reassure me. Digging into the pocket of my jeans, I pulled out the lighter and lit it.

In the faint flame, and dull light that echoed forth, I could make out an old dresser and dusty, ratty looking bed. This place must be like a hotel or something. There are so many rooms. I thought as I carefully moved away from the door. Gently placing the dragon down, I turned and found a small but sturdy looking table near the door and shrugged before going over, putting out the lighter, and pushing it in front of the door.

Then, using my thunder powers to conserve the lighter fluid, I took a better look around. One window, the glass still intact. No holes in the ceiling or walls. This room was even safer than the last. There was also an old oil lantern on top of another table, and I used the lighter to light it.

"Oh yeah." Rubbing my stomach gingerly, I grimaced a little and looked worriedly at the little red dragon. "Cause the last room was just so safe." With a sigh, I walked over and gently took the covers, thankful when they held together. Placing them over the dragon, I leaned against the headboard and allowed myself to relax, letting go of the energy and waiting for my eyes to get as adjusted to the dark as possible.

Not much time left and who knows how far yet to go.

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The idea of Ghouls is taken from Diablo 2, the PC game. There were several different types of undead monsters, each stronger than the last. Zombies, Ghosts, Ghouls, Ghasts, Gaunts, Mummies, and more. Then, Coeurls are taken from Final Fantasy.

You'll most definitely see/or have seen monsters from Final Fantasy, Diablo, Silent Hill, Basic Greek Mythology, possibly The Descent, possibly Slither, possibly Breath of Fire, and more. I know I have stated this before, but I'm not sure what ones I mentioned and what ones I missed.

Thank you GinaStar for mentioning the Cerberus. That's a very neat idea. :)

Also Caro trees, the name was made up, but the idea came from a story I read years ago (as in a novel, not fan fiction story). Lizard folk comes from a series I used to watch, one episode listed a bunch of lizard people in robes, who were sentient, aka, had smart, humanoid minds.

Ahh, the appearance of the little dragon. Hope you liked it.

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"What do you know of the extinct monsters? The ones that just seemed to vanish?"

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R+R please

Thank you.

Tenshi