I JUST HAVE TO WRITE THIS NOW! OOOOOOOHHHHHHH!

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James

Well, the first thing I noticed was that we weren't in the valley anymore. Second, that I wasn't in the suit I'd worn to the memorial. It was more like a something that was worn in the Medi-evil times. Weird…

"Urgh! Sucky…" Desiree said as she looked down and saw what she was wearing. It was a very short skirt, and a small top. She had boots on… it was kind of like what Xena's sidekick wears in that show…

Come to think of it, I guess I had a little Hercules look going on as well. I then realised I had something across my chest, and I touched it. It was leather. I moved my shoulders, realising I was carrying the two swords on my back now. I noticed Desiree was carrying the quiver of arrows on her back as well as the bow.

She put her hands on her hips, then looked me up and down.

"Nice look. Now what?"

"Like I know. I didn't even know it would be… that we'd leave so soon. They said after the memorial…"

"Maybe they meant right after. Like as in… seconds after or whatever" she cocked an eyebrow at me, smirking. She looked so… in her element like that…

Me? I felt like the worlds… no, universes… biggest dork.

"Well" I thought for a minute "Why don't we just start walking and see where that takes us?"

"Sure" She looked left and right, moving her body along with her head, then chose left and started to move. I followed her.

"So, why do you think we're here?"

She snorted "Stuffed if I know"

"Ah" we fell silent again, both of us just lazily walking along at our own paces…

And then we heard a scream. A girls scream.

"KAREN!" A boys voice shrieked, and we looked at each other…

And ran for it.

What we came upon almost made me faint.

I looked up at the huge beast, that couldn't possibly be there, then down at the boy about our age. He had red hair, and kept shrieking the name Karen over and over again. My head shot up again and I realised…

The thing… had something in its mouth…

An already dead something. Or… someone.

"Hoooly shit. A dragon" Desiree muttered as she stumbled back a little, then realised what had obviously happened…

"No… no… you can't be… THIS CAN'T BE REAL!" The boy screamed, and then I realised something about him. He was wearing clothes that… well… really wasn't right for this time.

Twentieth century clothes. Sneakers, jeans…

He started pulling his hair, screaming up at the beast, tears streaming down his cheeks. The beast… the dragon… just looked down at him, and with a sickening slurp, finished off his meal.

Then the boy started laughing.

"I'm dreaming! I'm dreaming! There is no fucking way I… you didn't just eat my girlfriend… yeah, yeah… all a dream…" he was smiling now, his hands dropping to his sides. He closed his eyes, and the dragon smiled, opening its mouth and… the boy dropped his head, laughing hysterically…

"Look out!" I screamed, and the dragon turned one beady yellow eye on me. It smiled again… the boy didn't move, so the dragon…

"Desiree, I think it's time to put your skills to good use…" I muttered, not taking my eyes of the dragon, who was still staring at me, smiling…

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Desiree fussing to get the bow off her, hold it right, then grab an arrow…

Then… before I could shout a warning… or even move… the dragon swiftly turned back to the boy, snapping him up in one bite.

"NOOOO!" I screamed, turning to look at Desiree… she was aiming, even though we knew it was too late… and I turned back to see the thing start to chew… the boy was now screaming… but that soon stopped…

"Oh god… oh god no…" I covered my mouth with one hand, seriously close to puking just then… what I'd seen… couldn't… so close, and all I did was stand there… should have tried to do something…

"TAKE THIS!" Desiree screamed, firing the arrow.

It hit the dragon in the left eye. Dead centre.

And suddenly, the dragon was a lot more interested in us.

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Desiree

We jumped back as the thing screamed in pain, trying to bat away the arrow… I couldn't even believe I'd hit it's eye… but failing and ending up swinging its tail at us…

We both jumped back more, and the thing barely missed hitting both of us.

"Think this is our 'test' James?" I cried over the dragon's pained roar.

"I guess so" he replied, taking his swords out, swinging them around and then readying himself for the fight. I quickly followed his lead, whipping out another arrow and stringing it in the bow… ready for another clear shot…

The thing finally turned to us, having gotten the arrow out of its eye, but now its eye was closed… and snarled at us.

"Ready?"

"Ready when your are bro!"

"All right… let's do it!" He shot forward, and I aimed and shot, straight into its shoulder. James slashed the tail, then the shoulder, barely avoiding being hit… I was amazed at how far he'd come in such a short time… moving so lightly on his feet…

I got out another arrow, waiting for the right moment, and the right place, to hit. We were on a roll!

"Argh!" James suddenly cried as the tail hit him straight in the middle, and he flew backwards, slamming into a tree.

"JAMES!" I screamed. Nothing. He was out cold.

Then… the dragon turned to me. On me. He smiled… I restrung my bow… aiming.

"Ah!" I yelped in pain and fear as the dragon knocked my bow, and me, with a gigantic claw. I went tumbling.

Painfully, I lifted my gaze to look up at the drooling beast above me… didn't feel my bow anywhere… didn't feel anything, really…so numb…

Shift.

Whoa? I wondered in my head. That voice wasn't mine…

Shift. You have the power. Become the dragon.

But… that's stupid! Become the dra-the dragon… why would… could…

My mind was seriously muddled.

Focus! See it… and become it.

All right. I'll give it a try. I finally gave in, looking up at the thing through eyes that kept refusing to focus, suddenly feeling myself grow… thought of when I first saw it… saw the eyes…

And then, I could see. And my head was slowly clearing. I focused up at it… at its snout, its confused face…. its claws, its skin colour… everything I could… its size… it was massive…

And I grew, and the dragon, the real dragon, backed up as I flipped myself over, standing on four strong legs, feeling my face push out… my ears shrink and my hair suck back into my head…. the strength…

Finally, the wings. I looked at the wings carefully… kept my focus as I shifted my wings into being… strong and leathery, and able to carry my massive body high into the air…

The dragon looked at me, confused. Then… I guess it saw me as a threat, because it came at me.

(Ah ah aaahh, not very nice Mr. Dragon dude) The voice… and I looked in awe as it stopped moving, then seemed to flop on the ground… tried to crawl…

Then I saw the other dragon. It was holding the first dragon's tail.

(What the… James?)

(Hey, great minds think alike Desi) he grinned at me… a creepy thing coming from a dragon… and kept hold of the dragons tail, even as he managed to inch towards me.

(So… now what?)

(Make it run away with its tail between its legs?)

(Hmm, nice thought) I placed my front end down, coming inches from its face. It snapped at me. I snapped back… taking a little piece of the dragon with me. It howled in pain.

So, we tortured the thing a little more, before deciding to let it… 'run with its tail between its legs'… as James suggested. Then… we looked at each other.

(So… this was fun. Sort of)

(Being a dragon… feels kinda creepy) I moved around, feeling my strength from every little twitch of my muscles.

(Yeah) then he laughed (Want to fly?)

(Sure!)

We managed to find a way to flap our wings, then to fly, and then… oh man, I couldn't even describe it to you if I tried. It was kind of like being a bird, and a lizard at the same time! You could fly… you could stick your funny little heat seeking tongue out… they had good eyes, so don't ask me… you could even breathe fire.

(Let's blow something up!) I cried giddily.

(Didn't we already do that?) he asked from beside me.

(Yeah but… COME ON! WE'RE DRAGONS FOR CRYIN OUT LOUD!)

(Yeah…) he giggled too. It was too fun!

After giggling like idiots for a little longer, we managed to land our massive bodies on the ground. It was a lot harder than being a bird, I can tell you that much. But… oh the FREEDOM!

(Okay, what now?)

(Shift back? We've seen the Animal Eyes crew do it. It's like demorphing)

(Ah) I focused on my body.

Slowly… very slowly… the changes came.

I looked over and saw a strange silvery ripple go through James's massive body, before he began to shrink. Just like I'd seen before…

Soon, we were back to normal. We looked at each other… and laughed.

YOU HAVE PASSED THE TEST BRILLIANTLY.

Ok, that stopped us laughing.

YOUR COURAGE AND DETERMINATION, ALONG WITH YOUR QUICK MINDS HAVE AMAZED AND SURPASSED ALL OUR EXPECTATIONS OF YOU HUMANS. YOU ARE TRULY UNIQUE.

"Can we go back now?" I asked. I really hated these clothes…

NOT QUITE. YOU ARE TO BE REWARDED.

Then, we saw something floating down out of the sky. At first I thought it was a bird or something… I saw a flash of white wings… and then as it came closer, I realised it looked more like an angel.

A naked angel, bathed in such light… the wings were making it slowly float down… so beautiful, so white and pure… so pure I…

The angel came closer, and I could tell it was going to land in front of us… still couldn't see the face because of the light that was coming from it…

Its bare feet touched the earth, and as it did, the wings collapsed, and somehow turned into what looked to be a billowing sheet, covering the figure as it dropped to the ground… it seemed unconscious…

"Oh my god… can it…" James soon ran forward, and I quickly followed him. He dove to the ground, where the unconscious figure lay, wrapped loosely in the white sheet, pulled the brown hair back as the light faded…

"Holy… it's her!" I cried, covering my mouth as my legs gave in and I slumped beside the figure in the sheet. That figure was my mom.

SHE IS TO LIVE AGAIN. AND, SO ARE YOU. YOU ARE ALL TO LIVE THE LIFE YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN. WE ARE… TRULY SORRY FOR THIS…

And then she was gone, and James was gone, and I wasn't exactly in any place I knew of right then.

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Sadly, this venture might almost be over. Hope you've enjoyed it, and I'll try to get some more up as soon as I can, k?

All right! Rock on dudes!