Time suddenly slowed down. Sam felt herself being pulled sideways, the ground moving underneath her. Something happened to cause her to let go of Danny, and she was flung backward, sprawling on the concrete. She turned her gaze up at the sky; it had turned emerald green, with strange white patterns flowing across it.
As her surroundings came back into focus, she realized what was happening. Danny's arm was pointed up toward the black monster, his palm facing the twin blood-red beams of light being fired in his direction. Between him and the dragon's assault was an ectoplasmic barrier he had summoned through his will. He had turned his head to face the dragon, and it was because of his movements that he had accidentally thrown Sam off of him.
The intensity of the dragon's mid-air attack was forming a dent in Danny's shield, but try as it might, it could not break it. It ceased its beam attack and reared up, bringing its legs around in front of it. With a loud, wailing screech, it dove toward Danny, its blade-like talons bared.
Sam, frozen with fear from seeing the barrier suddenly fade, barely felt Danny's hand as it closed around her body. He then rolled over onto his feet and leapt forward, catching himself with his other hand as the dragon slammed into the pavement behind him, causing a minor earthquake on impact. The shockwave knocked him off balance, and he fell onto his side, curling his body around to protect Sam from the flying debris. A cloud of dust shrouded the area around the dragon, hiding Danny and Sam from its vision. It roared in frustration, looking around for its prey from where it stood.
"Where's Tuck?"
Sam coughed, the dust getting into her lungs.
"They're taking him to the hospital..."
"Who's taking him?"
"A bunch of guys... Soldiers, police..."
Danny raised his head to look at something.
"...In an ambulance?"
"Yeah... Whoaaah!!"
Suddenly Sam felt herself being lifted again; Danny crawled over on his hand and hind legs towards something on the opposite side of the street from them. As they got closer, Sam could see a white van through the obscuring dust. On its side was a red cross.
The ambulance was half-buried under several wrecked vehicles. Its lights were still on, however. Danny set Sam down next to him, then began using both hands to remove the wrecks from on top of the ambulance. Once it was freed, Sam ran up to the passenger's side window and looked in; there was a man sitting in the driver's seat, looking behind him toward the back of the cab.
"Hey you! Is everyone in there all right?"
Sam beat her hand against the window to get the driver's attention. The man, wearing a white uniform, turned to look at her, then reached out and opened the door.
"We're all right! But we're stuck..."
"You're not stuck anymore. Is my friend in there okay?"
"He's holding up fine. I've got a guy back there making sure he's okay. But we still can't move, there's a bunch of cars blocking our way..."
Sam turned to look in front of the ambulance; he was right, they were still surrounded by several vehicles that were turned on their sides or upside down. She then felt something nudging her in the back.
"Get in."
She turned to look up at Danny.
"I said, get in!!"
Without answer, she climbed into the cab of the ambulance, the driver moving back into his seat to give her room to sit. She pulled the door closed, then proceeded to pull the safety belt around to strap herself in. She looked at the driver, who had a confused look on his face.
"Sir, I think you'd better buckle up..."
The van gave a sudden lurch, and the man looked out the window; the ground seemed to fall away. Carefully, Danny lifted the ambulance into his arms, then turned and stepped over the barricade of destruction, carrying the van away from the wreckage. Once far enough away, he gently set it down. The driver, feeling the vehicle's weight settle against the earth, rolled down his window to see what was going on outside. He was suddenly met by a large pair of glowing green eyes.
"Now GO!!"
He didn't waste a second following Danny's order. Switching on the ignition, he slammed down on the accelerator pedal, and the ambulance sped away down the street, away from Danny and the dragon. Sam looked back through the rear-view mirror, hoping that she would have had a chance to wish Danny luck. As the ambulance rolled away, she watched as Danny turned around, flapped his wings and flew away, disappearing into the dust cloud.
He was now on his own.
Danny put his hands together, a ball of glowing ghost energy forming between them. He then brought his hands around in front of him, turning his palms outward, and fired the beam of green light in the direction of the black dragon. It struck the creature in the chest, yet left no mark; the creature, having felt the attack, turned its attention to the black and white ghost dragon that all of a sudden flew into its vision. It raised its heads, opening its mouths, hissing at Danny. He froze in midair, hovering before the monster, recognizing the hissing as a voice.
"Ghosssst boy..."
The creature brought down its great wings, lifting into the air. Swinging its legs behind it, it thrust its wings again, its long tail winding beneath it.
"You are MIIIIINE..."
Before Danny could react in time, the long tail lashed out at him, like a striking cobra. He twisted to the side to attempt to avoid it, but it thrashed him hard across his thigh. Suddenly he felt a sharp, stabbing pain all throughout his body, as though he had been struck by lightning, just from the creature's touch. He gasped for air, his wingbeat slowed. The next thing he felt was the creature's clawed foot catching him square in the chest, sending him flying backwards, crashing into the side of a building.
He lay where he fell, in the center of the collapsed structure, covered in dust and bricks. He could barely move; it felt like every nerve in his body was on fire. He felt a strange warmth in his chest. Putting his hand on his ribs, he felt something soaking into his uniform, seeping out of a number of deep wounds where the creature's claws had struck him. He twisted his neck to look at his hand; the palm of his white glove was covered in blood. Black, oily ghost-dragon blood.
Overhead, the dark monster loomed, screaming out its challenge. He looked up at the winged behemoth, trying his best to catch his breath, although it was getting harder for him to breathe with all the dust still in the air. He had learned the hard way that there was no way he would be able to defeat the creature in direct combat. But he knew he had to defeat it somehow.
What am I gonna do? What CAN I do? My blasts didn't hurt it... It's too fast for me to dodge... And it's too strong for me to fight. If only I could find a weakness... Something that would give me some kind of advantage... But I can't stop and think about that now, I have to get it away from here before it tries to destroy anything else... Before any more innocent people are hurt... Like Tucker... Or even Sam...
Summoning his strength, he pulled himself into a sitting position, bringing his wings up and flapping them to try and clear the air. Having spotted him from its mid-air roost, the dragon howled, turning to make a dive at him. Getting down on all fours, he leapt into the air, beating his aching wings furiously, taking off like a flying serpent into the air. He aimed himself toward at the dragon, straightening his form, despite the cries of his muscles. Its course unwavering, the dragon continued to fly down toward Danny, bringing its legs around and baring its talons, as though ready to grab him. The two came at each other on a straight course.
At the last moment, Danny tilted his wings, darting upward; the dragon shot past underneath him. He flew between the creature's twin necks, down its back, then made a sharp turn upwards away from the long tail, which swung up in an attempt to nab him before he could fly out of reach, missing his feet by an inch. He continued to fly straight, keeping his wings level, gaining speed.
Out before him lay the great expanse of water that was Lake Michigan. Soon the buildings and streets of Amity Park were behind him; he didn't dare turn his head lest he slow his flight due to wind resistance. He knew for a fact that the black dragon was behind him, giving chase like he knew it would, proof being the wailing cries of anger directed his way.
The sky before him was darkening; the sun was setting in the west, behind him. The sky above was gradually deepening in color, taking on hues of purple and red. Clouds were scattered here and there, forming a layer off in the distance; a storm was approaching on the wind current. He could see small flashes of white lightning among the distant clouds.
Another screech back behind him brought him to focus. Remembering his original plan, he began to head into a shallow dive, heading down at an angle toward the water. Not looking back, he tilted his wings, steepening his dive.
A bright red light illuminated the lake's surface below. Startled, he turned his head to look behind him.
He lost all feeling for a split second, then had it return at full intensity immediately afterward. The first thing he noticed was that his upper back had suddenly lost a considerable amount of weight, then as his nerves then announced to him in a fiery bolt of excruciating agony, he came to discover that both of his wings had been blasted away by the dragon's energy beams. The large flaming shreds of what was once his flesh and bone fell away from him, toward the deep blue.
At first, naturally, he was in denial; he flapped what remained of his wings, a pair of singed stubs, then realized the truth once he began to rapidly lose altitude. The lake's surface flew up to meet him, the undulations seemingly spreading as though welcoming him in.
Feeling the cold winds flowing over his damaged body, soothing his scorching wounds, he closed his eyes.
As her surroundings came back into focus, she realized what was happening. Danny's arm was pointed up toward the black monster, his palm facing the twin blood-red beams of light being fired in his direction. Between him and the dragon's assault was an ectoplasmic barrier he had summoned through his will. He had turned his head to face the dragon, and it was because of his movements that he had accidentally thrown Sam off of him.
The intensity of the dragon's mid-air attack was forming a dent in Danny's shield, but try as it might, it could not break it. It ceased its beam attack and reared up, bringing its legs around in front of it. With a loud, wailing screech, it dove toward Danny, its blade-like talons bared.
Sam, frozen with fear from seeing the barrier suddenly fade, barely felt Danny's hand as it closed around her body. He then rolled over onto his feet and leapt forward, catching himself with his other hand as the dragon slammed into the pavement behind him, causing a minor earthquake on impact. The shockwave knocked him off balance, and he fell onto his side, curling his body around to protect Sam from the flying debris. A cloud of dust shrouded the area around the dragon, hiding Danny and Sam from its vision. It roared in frustration, looking around for its prey from where it stood.
"Where's Tuck?"
Sam coughed, the dust getting into her lungs.
"They're taking him to the hospital..."
"Who's taking him?"
"A bunch of guys... Soldiers, police..."
Danny raised his head to look at something.
"...In an ambulance?"
"Yeah... Whoaaah!!"
Suddenly Sam felt herself being lifted again; Danny crawled over on his hand and hind legs towards something on the opposite side of the street from them. As they got closer, Sam could see a white van through the obscuring dust. On its side was a red cross.
The ambulance was half-buried under several wrecked vehicles. Its lights were still on, however. Danny set Sam down next to him, then began using both hands to remove the wrecks from on top of the ambulance. Once it was freed, Sam ran up to the passenger's side window and looked in; there was a man sitting in the driver's seat, looking behind him toward the back of the cab.
"Hey you! Is everyone in there all right?"
Sam beat her hand against the window to get the driver's attention. The man, wearing a white uniform, turned to look at her, then reached out and opened the door.
"We're all right! But we're stuck..."
"You're not stuck anymore. Is my friend in there okay?"
"He's holding up fine. I've got a guy back there making sure he's okay. But we still can't move, there's a bunch of cars blocking our way..."
Sam turned to look in front of the ambulance; he was right, they were still surrounded by several vehicles that were turned on their sides or upside down. She then felt something nudging her in the back.
"Get in."
She turned to look up at Danny.
"I said, get in!!"
Without answer, she climbed into the cab of the ambulance, the driver moving back into his seat to give her room to sit. She pulled the door closed, then proceeded to pull the safety belt around to strap herself in. She looked at the driver, who had a confused look on his face.
"Sir, I think you'd better buckle up..."
The van gave a sudden lurch, and the man looked out the window; the ground seemed to fall away. Carefully, Danny lifted the ambulance into his arms, then turned and stepped over the barricade of destruction, carrying the van away from the wreckage. Once far enough away, he gently set it down. The driver, feeling the vehicle's weight settle against the earth, rolled down his window to see what was going on outside. He was suddenly met by a large pair of glowing green eyes.
"Now GO!!"
He didn't waste a second following Danny's order. Switching on the ignition, he slammed down on the accelerator pedal, and the ambulance sped away down the street, away from Danny and the dragon. Sam looked back through the rear-view mirror, hoping that she would have had a chance to wish Danny luck. As the ambulance rolled away, she watched as Danny turned around, flapped his wings and flew away, disappearing into the dust cloud.
He was now on his own.
Danny put his hands together, a ball of glowing ghost energy forming between them. He then brought his hands around in front of him, turning his palms outward, and fired the beam of green light in the direction of the black dragon. It struck the creature in the chest, yet left no mark; the creature, having felt the attack, turned its attention to the black and white ghost dragon that all of a sudden flew into its vision. It raised its heads, opening its mouths, hissing at Danny. He froze in midair, hovering before the monster, recognizing the hissing as a voice.
"Ghosssst boy..."
The creature brought down its great wings, lifting into the air. Swinging its legs behind it, it thrust its wings again, its long tail winding beneath it.
"You are MIIIIINE..."
Before Danny could react in time, the long tail lashed out at him, like a striking cobra. He twisted to the side to attempt to avoid it, but it thrashed him hard across his thigh. Suddenly he felt a sharp, stabbing pain all throughout his body, as though he had been struck by lightning, just from the creature's touch. He gasped for air, his wingbeat slowed. The next thing he felt was the creature's clawed foot catching him square in the chest, sending him flying backwards, crashing into the side of a building.
He lay where he fell, in the center of the collapsed structure, covered in dust and bricks. He could barely move; it felt like every nerve in his body was on fire. He felt a strange warmth in his chest. Putting his hand on his ribs, he felt something soaking into his uniform, seeping out of a number of deep wounds where the creature's claws had struck him. He twisted his neck to look at his hand; the palm of his white glove was covered in blood. Black, oily ghost-dragon blood.
Overhead, the dark monster loomed, screaming out its challenge. He looked up at the winged behemoth, trying his best to catch his breath, although it was getting harder for him to breathe with all the dust still in the air. He had learned the hard way that there was no way he would be able to defeat the creature in direct combat. But he knew he had to defeat it somehow.
What am I gonna do? What CAN I do? My blasts didn't hurt it... It's too fast for me to dodge... And it's too strong for me to fight. If only I could find a weakness... Something that would give me some kind of advantage... But I can't stop and think about that now, I have to get it away from here before it tries to destroy anything else... Before any more innocent people are hurt... Like Tucker... Or even Sam...
Summoning his strength, he pulled himself into a sitting position, bringing his wings up and flapping them to try and clear the air. Having spotted him from its mid-air roost, the dragon howled, turning to make a dive at him. Getting down on all fours, he leapt into the air, beating his aching wings furiously, taking off like a flying serpent into the air. He aimed himself toward at the dragon, straightening his form, despite the cries of his muscles. Its course unwavering, the dragon continued to fly down toward Danny, bringing its legs around and baring its talons, as though ready to grab him. The two came at each other on a straight course.
At the last moment, Danny tilted his wings, darting upward; the dragon shot past underneath him. He flew between the creature's twin necks, down its back, then made a sharp turn upwards away from the long tail, which swung up in an attempt to nab him before he could fly out of reach, missing his feet by an inch. He continued to fly straight, keeping his wings level, gaining speed.
Out before him lay the great expanse of water that was Lake Michigan. Soon the buildings and streets of Amity Park were behind him; he didn't dare turn his head lest he slow his flight due to wind resistance. He knew for a fact that the black dragon was behind him, giving chase like he knew it would, proof being the wailing cries of anger directed his way.
The sky before him was darkening; the sun was setting in the west, behind him. The sky above was gradually deepening in color, taking on hues of purple and red. Clouds were scattered here and there, forming a layer off in the distance; a storm was approaching on the wind current. He could see small flashes of white lightning among the distant clouds.
Another screech back behind him brought him to focus. Remembering his original plan, he began to head into a shallow dive, heading down at an angle toward the water. Not looking back, he tilted his wings, steepening his dive.
A bright red light illuminated the lake's surface below. Startled, he turned his head to look behind him.
He lost all feeling for a split second, then had it return at full intensity immediately afterward. The first thing he noticed was that his upper back had suddenly lost a considerable amount of weight, then as his nerves then announced to him in a fiery bolt of excruciating agony, he came to discover that both of his wings had been blasted away by the dragon's energy beams. The large flaming shreds of what was once his flesh and bone fell away from him, toward the deep blue.
At first, naturally, he was in denial; he flapped what remained of his wings, a pair of singed stubs, then realized the truth once he began to rapidly lose altitude. The lake's surface flew up to meet him, the undulations seemingly spreading as though welcoming him in.
Feeling the cold winds flowing over his damaged body, soothing his scorching wounds, he closed his eyes.