Dragon Adventure

Chapter 4 – More Dragon Trouble

Author Notes:

I'm killing myself with all these fics and everything else I do…BUT I SHALL PREVAIL!! Um, it's still me . ! And for those who read this who never saw my old pen name, it was Angel Cesia now turned to Laenavesse . bwahaha . ;;;

"Riiiise and shine, Fire!"

Blaze gave a low growl and rolled to her other side as Rath threw open the still closed curtains, something he rarely did. Rath spun on his heel and grinned at the red dragon still lying on the seat cushion of the armchair, oblivious of the switch that had occurred just a few hours ago. After a few minutes of silently cursing her brother for suddenly leaving her to this, she slowly brought herself up to her feet and gave a wide yawn. She then turned her delicate head and looked at the Dragon Knight as he crossed the room, wondering what she should do.

As Rath reached the door, he paused and glanced at her. "Are you coming or what?"

Obediently she spread her wings and flew up to his shoulder, sighing. Fire really owed her, big time. Though she did wonder about the Dragon Knight. Even though she and Fire were twins, how could he not notice the differences? One would be the size and that she was more slender. Not to mention she was obviously lighter. Also her mane was more…feminine, wavier, more…well kept.

As Rath walked through the halls, Blaze could not help but stare around in awe. She had always fantasized how the Dragon Castle looked like and now that she was here in dragon, all feelings of malice toward her brother were swept away by the brilliant ornaments and décor. Sugoi…

When the two entered the dining hall, Blaze immediately gaped when she saw that Earth and Water were also out. Wh-what?! I thought Honou was the only one who stayed out of the sword! Why are Riku and Kahaku here?! ARRGGGHHH I'M SO GOING TO KILL YOU, HONOU!!

Rath blinked when the red dragon did not fly down to the other two dragons sitting at their own small little table. "Hey Fire, are you feeling all right?"

Blaze hastily made some signs. "Ah, er, it's all right, Master! Just still a little groggy!" Still slightly flustered, she quickly flew down and kept her face away from the other two. Her heart was beating so fast she was sure everyone in the room could hear it.

Water cocked his head to the side slightly and narrowed his eyes. "…Blaze…?"

She gave a start and jumped a foot into the air before landing on all four legs, trembling. "Ah, er, um," she stammered, her face paling.

Earth took a step toward her, raising an eyebrow. "…Are you all right?"

"Yes!" she squeaked.

The two dragons looked at each other. "Where's Honou?" Water asked gently.

"W-We switched places for the day! Yeah that's it!" Blazed answered hysterically.

Earth frowned and nudged her with his wing. It was surprisingly soft even though he was a rock dragon. "Are you sure you're all right? You look more pink than red now…"

Blaze immediately jumped back and kept her face averted. "I'm fine! Aniki just went out, that's all. He'll be back soon."

"He went out?" Water repeated, his voice suddenly rather dangerously calm.

The red dragon could feel Water's steel blue eyes drive themselves into her head. Unable to keep above the pressure, Blaze sunk to her knees and sobbed. "Don't hurt me, please! Honou just wanted to have an adventure…something about someone calling him…and I was bored in the Dragon Realm…and…and…"

Earth glared at Water as he moved over to Blaze and placed a comforting wing over her. "Way to go, Kahaku, just make the girl cry!"

The water dragon just snorted and lied down, crossing his forelegs. "I think you're using that as an advantage."

"Am not!" Earth retorted. Sensing Blaze had calmed down some, he nuzzled her. "So, tell us what happened. And take your time. These two-leggeds take forever in eating. Especially Thatz."

Still not willing to look at either of them in the eye, particularly Earth, Blaze told them all that had transpired the previous night. When she had completed the recount, she glanced up to see their expressions. They were both pretty much the same: Shock.

"THAT HONOU!!" Water screamed.

"Well I guess there's nothing to it but to wait," Earth sighed after he had recovered.

Water glared at him. "We can't do that! Now that we know, we have to retrieve him. It is written in the Dragon Law!"

"But we can't just abandon our masters just like that," Earth rejoined calmly. "What do you think they'll do when they find us missing?"

"What if we left a note?" Blaze suggested.

Water just snorted. "Oh yeah, that would definitely work."

"We're at peace now, there shouldn't be any trouble," Earth said firmly. "Lets go for it. We shall leave tonight."

Blaze suddenly felt a weight of betrayal on her heart. "But…I promised aniki…"

Earth winked at her. "I've been itchin' for an adventure myself. Besides, who knows what we'll find? And that idiot would probably need our help, knowing him." He turned to Water. "Right, Kahaku?"

Seeing that there was no way out of this, Water just sighed and nodded. "Tonight then. There will be a full moon and we'll be able to see. It would also be faster as we would be able to fly at night and not worry about being spotted."

"That's the way it should be," Earth grinned as he tapped his wing against Water's head. "Now lets get to eatin' I'm starved!"

At that moment, another dragon was feeling rather hungry himself. Flying high above in the clouds, Fire, still in his smaller size, glanced down below. All he could see was acres of cornfields. As much as he liked corn, he had a feeling for some fish. It had been a while since he had any and he wondered if he still had the fishing touch in his claws. He banked to left and scoured below him, waiting for any sign of a river or pond. And he soon found it.

Going into a deep dive, the dragon soon became a red blur as he hurtled toward the large lake, spreading his wing only a few hundred above to ease the landing. With a few flaps he gently landed onto the ground and stretched. It had been a while since he had been able to fly like that and Fire was taking in every minute of it. He slowly walked over to the lake and examined the clear water. There were not many fish, but enough to get him through. Spying a rather large bass, he made a quick swipe with his claws and tossed it onto the ground. From there he viciously attacked it.

Aah…nothing like raw food… … Hope this lake isn't poisoned…

After picking out the bones from his teeth, he turned back to the pond and aimed to fish out another one. Just as he was about to swipe at another large looking fish, he spotted something on the water's surface on the other side of the pond. He quickly looked up and gulped. Just a few feet away from the water's edge there was a group of youkai bandits circled around a campfire. What they were doing so close to Dragoon territory was beyond him and he did not have any inclination to find out.

As he was about to carefully walk away from the group, something zapped through him like lightning and he quickly spun around, looking about wildly. It was then when he heard it.

A voice.

Whose it was or what it was saying he could not tell, but something was pulling him toward the campsite. He crept through the brush, wary of the bandits who were now only a few feet away. He caught bits and pieces of the conversation they were having.

"I wonder what it was doing all the way out there," one said, his voice hoarse and rough like sandpaper.

There was the sound of cloth rustling as another shrugged. "Beats me. But I bet them Dragons will pay a good price for it."

"Ah, I remember when we'd just go ahead and kill them…"

"Who? The actual beasts or those of the tribe?"

The first laughed. "Both I guess. Now it's too quiet."

"How much do you think she's worth?"

Fire perked his head up as he inched closer to the area and was able to finally see the twosome sitting across from each other. There was a cage next to the one he assumed was the leader. His body stiffened. There was a seal on the cage. A seal only used for dragons.

The leader picked up the cage and held it up to his face. "A pretty good amount. Interesting little creature she is."

There was a low growl and the sound of claws against the metallic floor as the dragon inside moved around the small confinement. Suddenly there was a powerful gust of wind, knocking over various objects onto the ground. But as quickly as it had been summoned, the wind subsided and the air became still once more.

"Heh, can't do much wind magic, can you now?" the one with the sandpaper voice smirked as he tapped the cage. "Don't worry, you'll be out of that little cage soon."

Sooner than you think, Fire thought as he waited for his chance. He let out a small breath of flame and the fire quickly spread around the twosome. As they yelled in surprise and quickly went about to extinguish the flames, Fire leapt into the middle of their chaos and grabbed the cage. How the little dragon managed to carry the cage, he was not quite sure himself, but he had a feeling that the dragon inside was helping him with her powers.

When they had reached a safe distance away from the bandits, Fire stopped and fell onto his stomach gasping. "I…need…to…exercise…more…," he groaned.

"I think you did all right there," the dragon inside said. "Now, can you get me out?"

With a few blasts of flame, the lock on the cage melted through and the lid snapped open. When the captive dragon emerged from her prison, Fire gasped and staggered backwards as he finally saw her.

"No…it can't be…" Hayate?!