Chapter eight

A Close Encounter With Death

It was obvious after 30 seconds of being in the air that the Mechano-Dragon was extremely different to a Mecha-Beast, first off, the mechanics were extremely old fashioned, and the fact that they had even crashed a Mecha before didn't fill Joules with much hope as they zoomed across the sea. It was obvious that the Green Death was a monster, it actually reminded Burpy of a surface film that he and Eli had watched called Godzilla. Except this time the monster was obviously a dragon, as well as not being able to use lightning as a weapon. Burpy quickly aimed the Mechano-Dragon at the head of the beast, and as they climbed, both half-slugs got that temptation to jump that everyone gets when in a high place. They soon reached the head and Burpy somehow managed to get the Mechano-Dragon to hover there. He then carefully passed the controls to Joules,

"Keep it steady!" He called over the fierce wind, his coat was flapping like crazy as he stood up and carefully made his way out of the cockpit and across to the Mechano-Dragon's head. He was now staring down the eyes of the beast, it had stopped and was glaring at him with threatening yellow eyes.

"GREEN DEATH!" The flame called out, hoping to be heard by this creature, "MY NAME IS BURPY…"

"FLAME!" Burpy was stunned! The Green Death has just finished his name! How was that possible? "YOU ARE BURPY FLAME! THE TRAVELER OF UNIVERSES, THE RIGHTER OF WRONGS, THE SAVIOUR OF CIVILISATIONS. YET ALL YOU AND YOUR FRIEND CARE ABOUT IS GETTING HOME TO SLUGTERRA."

"How do you know this!?" Burpy asked, completely confused but grateful for not being eaten… yet,

"I CAN SEE INTO THE PAST, AND THE FUTURE, AND YOUR FUTURE IS MOST INTERESTING…" it paused for a moment, as if it was in deep thought, "YOU KEEP WONDERING WHO STARTED YOU OFF… THE HUMAN IN SHADOWS… YET YOU KNOW WHO IT IS, YOU HAVE ALWAYS KNOWN! YOUR ALLIES WILL CONVERGE, THE BANE OF DARKNESS WILL RISE, AND YOU WILL FIGHT AND DIE!" Burpy's hearts were racing! He had just been told his own destiny, and that he would ultimately die! He closed his eyes and slowed his breathing, one thing at a time,

"I want to know if you mean any harm to the occupants of Huttsgalor?!" He called back to the dragon whilst indicating the island in the distance, preying that this would be easy,

"DON'T YOU WORRY FLAME…" the Green Death said calmly, but there was the hints of a smile on its face that could only be described as the smile a snake would make just before it bites you, "I COME IN PEACE… ALTHOUGH, I AM STILL GOING TO EAT THEM ALL. I HAVE BEEN ASLEEP FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, I WISH TO HAVE A SNACK FOR MY BREAKFAST, NOT TO MENTION THINGS ARE PERSONAL WITH ONE DRAGON ON THAT ISLAND! I SHALL TAKE GREAT JOY IN CRUSHING THE LIFE OUT OF HIM WITH MY FANGS!"

"And we shouldn't worry about this WHY?" Joules called out from the cockpit, Burpy had forgotten that Joules understood dragons now. The Green Death smiled that smile again, showing its razor sharp teeth that were each as large as Burpy!

"BECAUSE, JOULES TESLA, YOUR STORIES ARE OVER!" And with a monstrous roar, the Green Death breathed its fire at the Mechano-Dragon! The flames were so large that they completely engulfed the robotic dragon, Burpy and Joules as well!

Leyla gasped as she watched the scene unfold through her telescope, those two were most likely roasted to a crisp by now! No one could survive that!

But Burpy wasn't no one! As soon as the Green Death unleashed its flaming inferno, within a second, Burpy turned back to face his friend, leaped forward, pulled him out of the cockpit, and jumped! So unbeknownst to the Green Death, instead of burning, the half-slugs were plummeting towards the ocean! Burpy could feel his whole body starting to heat up! He noticed his hands were glowing! And as he glanced at Joules, he noticed that his friend had electricity bouncing off him! He was also glowing blue too! And just as they were about to hit the sea…

BOOM!

Burpy opened his eyes, to see a sight that astonished him! He was flying! He could see the still water just beneath him, and his reflection left him speechless! He had transformed! He was now flying over the ocean as a transformed INFURNUS! He chuckled slightly, soon ending up laughing and eventually started whooping in joy! He could see Joules flying nearby as his transformed form too! He was also enjoying the feeling tremendously! They both whooped and cheered at this feeling as they soared through the air and back towards the Roost.

As they neared the lighthouse, they saw Leyla staring at them from the observation deck of the Roost, Dak was watching from the courtyard as well as every dragon that used to be hiding! They were all gawking at this sight! Joules aimed at the metal zip line that circled the Roost from the top to the bottom, conducted into the metal, and sparked all the way down until he reached the end, and flipped out back in his human form, perfectly sticking the legendary "superhero landing pose" Burpy smiled at this spectacle,

So, he thought, you want to show off? Well, THAT'S MY SIGNATURE MOVE! He then soared a bit higher before letting his newly recovered wings ignite and circling in every direction, swerving through the fire trail he left behind himself. It was an amazing spectacle, and it reminded Burpy of the times he used this Afterburner Trail to show off his power back in Slugterra. He eventually zoomed back to the ground, de-transformed as he came level to the ground, rolled forward, and jumped to his feet. The assembled group applauded the half-slugs for a few seconds before returning to the serious matter,

"That was incredible," Leyla commented, "but what did it say?" Burpy and Joules looked nervous on hearing this question,

"Well…" Joules explained, "we have good news, and bad news. The good news is that it comes in peace." The whole group cheered and whooped in happiness, but Burpy held up his hand for silence,

"The bad news…" he said solemnly, "is that it is still going to kill us all"