Well, as any I-Man fan who have read my work before know, there has to be a certain element in all of my stories. You know what I'm talking about (insert malicious giggle here)
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Merton and Lori were carefully looking around corners and into alleys when they heard the scream of terror coming from a couple blocks away.
"That sounded like Tommy!" Lori exclaimed. Both she and Merton threw nervousness aside and took off running. However, as they turned a corner, they collided with Hobbes, causing all three of them to crash to the ground.
"Did you two hear that?" Bobby asked while picking himself off the ground.
Merton nodded, and the trio continued running towards the noise.
When they reached a nearby alley, they found the dragon staring at thin air, occasionally blowing wisps of flame at the wall in front of it.
Lori was about to suggest running back to still search for Tommy when she noticed the tranquilizer gun a few feet away. "Darien was here," she whispered to the other two, trying not to draw the dragon's attention.
Hobbes looked at where the dragon was standing and noticed a faint outline of human figures blanched in the middle of the scorch marks on the wall. "Grab the tranquilizer gun," he whispered to Lori. She picked it up and handed it to him. Taking careful aim, Hobbes fired a dart and hit the back of the dragon's neck. The dart lodged itself right between the beast's scales and sank into the skin underneath. The dragon roared in pain, flapped its powerful wings and took off, flying away over the buildings.
To Merton and Lori's surprise, Hobbes rushed forward to the scorch mark in the wall and asked, "Fawkes, you okay?"
But what was more surprising to them was when the wall answered back, "Not really."
The teens watched as Darien and their other friend became visible, crouched protectively against the wall and each other. However, the shock of seeing Tommy appear out of nothingness was trumped by the anxiety of seeing him appear so in wolf form. Even Hobbes looked shocked at first, but concern for his friend took over.
"Partner, what's wrong?"
Darien held up his right wrist first before he met his partner's eyes. Tommy, Merton and Lori all saw a circular snake tattoo with mostly red scales, though a couple were green. To their amazement, a section of the tattoo changed from green to red, right while they were watching it. Then, Darien lifted his head, meeting Hobbes' brown eyes with his own that were now streaked with a horrible red.
"You took too long to get here."