Chapter Two: Meeting a Match

Hank was completely uncertain of what to do. This was not a human matter, apparently; whatever it was attacked Sean because he was a Dragoon, so help outside of humans should be attained.

However, Hank did not know just how to get that help. All he could think of were the other Dragoons and he didn't know any of their numbers or addresses. Sean was beat up pretty bad; he had several cuts all over his body, which Hank had tried sealing to the best of his ability. He couldn't just wait and try to find some help because Sean needed critical care right now. But once more, all the hospitals could do was keep him alive, and how to explain this?

Hank didn't a whole lot of time to ponder the situation. Then, he was saved.

Briiiinngg!

Hank jumped at the ringing of the phone, then got up to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hi, is Sean there?"

"Uh…not really, who's this?"

"It's Ben. Could you-"

"Ben! Thank God!"

"What?"

"We have a problem on our hands. Call all the other Dragoons and meet here."

"WHAT HAPPENED!" Melissa exploded upon seeing the state Sean was in.

"I don't want to tell it seven times, so I'm waiting for everyone." Hank said. Melissa found herself without an argument. Finally, the last Dragoon, Christie came in.

"Okay, what's up?" She came in and saw Sean. "Oh my gosh! What happened?"

"You can heal, right?" Hank asked.

"Yeah."

"Good, heal him and I'll tell you in the process."

Christie's Dragoon spirit shimmered and transformed her into her Dragoon form. She began shining her healing light upon Sean's body and his wounds healed before their eyes.

"Okay," Hank said. "I don't know all that much. I told Sean to chop up some wood, then the light came on and I saw him go flying past the patio door. Something was attacking him, and winning. I grabbed my gun and went after it. I got a few good shots in and the thing fled."

"Did you see what it was?"

"Not really. It looked kinda humanoid, but I don't think it was human; it couldn't have been. It was pretty much all black, too."

Christie finished her healing. "Alright, done. Let's work on waking him up now." She put her hands on his head and they glowed. She closed her eyes and began her magic.

A moment later, she seemed troubled.

"Something's blocking me."

"Blocking?" Mike repeated. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I can't get to his consciousness; there's some sort of barricade…I'll try harder." Her hands glowed brighter. Still, she seemed to be getting nowhere. The light intensified to a level that forced everyone to shield their eyes. After a moment, her powers subsided and she took a few deep breaths.

"Give me a break!" She panted and tried again, even brighter somehow. In the end, she had to drop her powers and admit defeat. "It's no good; I can't break through."

"Break through what?" Brittany had to ask.

"I don't know, honestly."

"Some crafty work from our midnight friend." Hank said. "Now what?"

"If Christie can't do it, who can?" Melissa asked.

"How about the winglies?" Brad proposed. "They're all up in this magic stuff; maybe they can find a spell or something to wake him up, then we can go after whoever did this."

"I like it." Mike said.

"One thing, though." Hank said. "That thing seemed to hide pretty well in the darkness. Maybe we should wait until it's light out-we really don't want that thing coming after anyone else."

"That'll also give us a chance to rest up." Ben noted. "Okay, I guess we should meet back here tomorrow morning at, um…eight, I guess." They all agreed.

"Taking the lead in Sean's stead?" Brittany noticed with a grin.

"What, me? No, no, I was just thinking out loud."

"But that does raise the question," Christie pointed out. "Who's our leader now?"

"I think Ben would do well." Brittany offered. "I mean he's already taking charge rather nicely."

"I think not." Ben disagreed. "I'm no leader."

"Well, you're like Sean's right-hand man." Brad said.

"And you're the strongest out of the seven of us." Mike added.

"So it looks like you're the most worthy candidate." Melissa finished.

"But…I…you guys aren't serious, are you?" Their expressions told him they were. "Oh, I'm in big trouble." They chuckled. "So, um…yeah, we, uh…go home tonight and…come back tomorrow and…go?"

"I want to stay with him." Melissa said. "No offense, Hank, but he'll probably need a Dragoon guarding him."

"Understood." He said.

"I'll stay too." Christie said. "A dark foe, right? You'll need a light to protect you."

"Good plan." Melissa agreed.

"Well," Robert said. "I'm gonna go sleep. Evil powers or not, I still have basketball practice tomorrow."

"Try not to cheat next time." Melissa said.

Robert cringed. "I thought I would get out of the room without you saying it."

"You cheated?" More than one person asked.

"Long story."

"Rob used his Dragoon powers." Melissa said.

"See, now, that's not fair."

"That's low, Rob." Brittany shook her head. "Real low."

"Hey, we're THAT close!" Robert pathetically defended. Nobody accepted that as a reasonable answer. Robert sighed heavily. "Alright, alright! Get off my back, will you? I'm going home."

"Ditto." Mike said. One by one, they left except for Christie and Melissa.

"So…" Hank said, completely unsure of what to do. "I'll, uh get some blankets and stuff I guess."

"Not used to having guess for the night?" Melissa asked him.

"Nope, not really."

Melissa could not bring herself to believe that she would get a moment of sleep this night. Her dragon was on full alert to catch anything in the darkness so she and Christie could take it out, summoning backup if necessary.

Christie was asleep on the floor with a blanket over herself. Melissa was still sitting beside Sean on his bed.

There was no movement at all in his body aside from his breathing. She stroked his head gently, hoping it would bring some sort of relief to him, wherever he was.

"You should get some sleep."

Melissa spun around and saw Christie with her arm propping up her head. She sighed in relief.

"I can't sleep when he's like this."

Christie sat up and pulled herself up onto the bed beside Melissa. "Well, you're going to need some strength. If you stay up all night, you'll be too tired to fight later on."

"I know, but…"

"The Dark Dragon is on full alert; it doesn't need sleep, you know."

Melissa sighed again. "It just makes me very uncomfortable seeing him like this."

"It's understandable." Christie assured. "I mean if Ben were like this, I'd be stressed out, too. Even so, you need to be at full strength to fight whatever it was that attacked Sean."

Melissa had to give a small smile. "You know I hate you when you're right?"

"You must hate me a lot then!"

Hank demanded that he be taken to Ulara with the Dragoons, so Mike had to carry both Sean and Hank the whole way. It was a fairly long journey, actually, but they'd been to the Death Frontier before, a vast, seemingly endless maze of desert in which Ulara, city of winglies, was hidden. Even if you could find Ulara, you most likely would not be able to see it, for it was hidden by a wingly cloak.

Ulara was the last city of living winglies, so they kept themselves secret to protect themselves. They had befriended the Dragoons during their encounter with Melbu Frahma and could be looked upon as allies.

With the aid of wings, the Dragoons could find the location of the city easily.

"Okay, I think this is it." Ben said.

"So how do we get in there?" Hank asked. In truth, nobody was sure. Only a wingly artifact could grant them access to the city. However, they might recognize an ally.

Ben jumped up onto the stone ledge near the green teleportation device that would take them into the city, once activated. His Dragoon spirit shone a bright, crimson red, trying to get the attention of anyone watching.

Sure enough, there was a bright flash and a city appeared before their eyes. The green panel on the ground dimly glowed. The Dragoons stepped onto it and a green bubble surrounded them, warping them into the city.

"A barrier indeed." Said Charle. She had been the leader of the winglies for several millennia now, but appeared as elegant as ever. She was now performing a scan on Sean's body. "Some dark power."

"Dark power?" Christie spoke up. "Then why wasn't I able to shatter it?"

Charle smiled. "Not to be offensive, my dear, but you cannot possibly harness the full power of your dragon…at least not without shredding your human body."

Christie cringed at the thought.

"Humans cannot take such a direct force." Charle explained. "But your bodies are bending and stretching to adjust, so your powers will grow with time."

"Time is something we don't really have." Melissa sighed. "Something is out there."

"Yes, I'd like to hear more about this creature."

"I told you everything I saw." Hank said. "Blended in with the darkness, really strong, knocked Sean unconscious somehow."

"It is a frightening thought." Said Caron, Charle's right-hand woman. "What could be strong enough to instantly defeat the Divine Dragoon?"

"I don't wanna think about it." Brittany shivered.

"But this does lead to an important question." Charle said, looking over Sean once more. "Where is the Divine Dragoon Spirit?"

The pause was long and unsettling.

"Oh…" Robert finally said.

"Did the black creature take it?" Charle asked.

"I don't think so." Hank said. "He didn't have time."

"Then…" Melissa realized. "We must've left it out in the woods."

"Well," Ben said. "I'm feeling awful stupid, so I'm gonna go jump off a bridge. Anybody want to join me?"

"Wow, we're dumb." Christie said.

"It's alright." Mike said. "We'll just go back and get it before…whatever it was…can steal it."

"But we don't all need to go." Ben pointed out. "Only a few of us."

"Well, I'll go." Melissa said.

"As will I." Brad said.

"I suppose I'll go, too." Christie said.

"I suggest you go very fast." Ben said. "The rest of us will stand guard with Sean."

"Got it." Melissa said. "See you guys later." And they flew off.

"Man, we're blind." Brad said only a few moments later. "How did we not notice it!"

"It doesn't matter." Christie said. "Let's just get the thing and go."

Melissa felt it first. A darkness…coming for them.

"MOVE!" She shouted, tackling Brad and Christie out of the way of the black blast coming for them. Christie instantly put up a white shield. Something deflected off of it, nearly knocking her from the sky. It flipped through the air and came back at them. They all moved away to avoid its strike and Christie fired an arrow.

The black creature dodged it and flew back around, more slowly this time. It stopped and crossed its arms, letting out a low chuckled.

Melissa, Brad, and Christie were awestruck.

It was…a Dragoon!

His armor was of traditional Dragoon fashion with a black eye in the middle of his chest, which had a red pupil. His armguards were spiked and everything about his armor was midnight black, showing how he hid in the shadows easily. The unique thing, though, was that he didn't have just a headband like everyone else. He had a full, black helmet covering his entire head. The helmet was fashioned similar to a dragon's head with spikes coming from the back and horns pointing up. The mask of the helmet was fairly plain with a few slits to make breathing easier and yellow eyes to see through.

The Dragoon let out an evil chuckle and spoke in a strange, dark voice.

"Is this all they send me? Three Dragoons?"

"Who are you!" Melissa demanded.

"Call me the Black Dragoon, it's simple enough." He offered.

"And why did you attack Sean?"

"He's the strongest of you all, so I had to remove the biggest obstacle. Why? Was he dear to you?"

"Shut up!" Melissa charged and he slipped out of the way. Brad came up behind him and tried an attack, but the Black Dragoon shot out a fist and stopped him with a punch. Then, an arrow stuck into his shoulder.

"AH!" He shouted as its light nature singed him from within. He reached back and ripped it out, then avoided the next shot. "Away with you!" He fired a black blast to get her away.

Brad put his fist in the air as the sky quickly grew dark. "Atomic mind!" A giant thunder bolt shot down, but the Black Dragoon caught it and rerouted it back to Brad, who just smiled. He knew he could absorb his own powers. However, the Black Dragoon mixed dark powers in with it to effectively knock Brad out of the sky.

Melissa came again and swiped at him a few times. He avoided a few strikes, swung at her. She dodged, and then countered. He evaded it, then kicked her side and threw her away.

"Star Children!" The Black Dragoon turned at the command and saw a million tiny stars of light rushing at him from Christie. He had no time to dodge and took the onslaught head-on, grinding his teeth the whole time.

Christie quickly flew over to the others.

"Listen, I'm the only one who seems to be having any effect, so you two go on and get the Dragoon spirit while he isn't looking."

"No way, Christie." Melissa said.

"Hey, don't worry! If anything goes wrong, I'll rush back to Ulara, okay?" Without waiting for a response, she flew over to attack the Black Dragoon again. Melissa bit her lip, and then turned to Brad.

"Alright, c'mon."

Christie continued with her distraction, firing a few arrows. The Black Dragoon rushed at her and she moved away, slicing his arm with an arrow and fired it after him. The Black Dragoon turned around, fuming, and yanked the arrow from his back.

"You're more of a pain in the neck than I thought!"

"I try." She smiled.

The Black Dragoon's arms glowed and his choice weapons were drawn. They were two long blades which he held onto by a handle jutting from the hilt so that his swordplay was like fist fighting.

One look at those blades and Christie began to worry. She fired a few arrows, but each one was deflected. He lunged. Christie moved aside, but the Black Dragoon reached out, slicing her side. He quickly came back and swiped at her again. All Christie could do was evade, and she wasn't doing too great with that. Every swipe was only a fraction of an inch away, but soon, a few began leaving small cuts long her body.

Christie fired a light beam to push herself away as well as damage him, but he blocked the attack with a black shield and fired his own beam through it, shooting her down. Christie regained air control, but just too late. The Black Dragoon slammed into her, knocking her off balance, then came back at her striking and slicing at surprisingly high speeds. In the end, he kicked her away from him and fired another black blast.

Christie took the hit so she could get away from him. She was beat up pretty bad and retreating to Ulara was sounding like a good idea. She flapped her wings and sped off as fast as she could.

Suddenly, a black force surrounded her and she stopped flying forward.

"What" She exclaimed. She looked back and saw that the Black Dragoon had her in a makeshift tractor beam.

"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" He laughed. He pulled his hand back and Christie flew at him. The Black Dragoon held his arm out and Christie ran right into it. The Black Dragoon abandoned his weapons grabbed hold of her, pulling her down and slamming her into the ground.

The Black Dragoon walked over to her fallen form. "What a waste." He said with a sigh.

But then, Christie's foot shot up, kicking him in the face. She spun around and swung a low kick, tripping him, then shot both feet into the air, knocking him away. In a falling effort, The Black Dragon fired a dark blast, knocking her into a large rock formation. She regained her strength and tried flying away, but The Black Dragoon tackled her and drew one blade again. He ran the blade through the bone of her left wing, shooting extreme pain through her body.

"AHH!" She shouted.

"Just so you can't run away." He chuckled. The blade had also pierced the rock, so she was pinned.

Christie's fist glowed white and she punched at his head. He took the hit and countered with a stronger punch with his non-bladed hand.

"Weak." The Black Dragoon scoffed. "But it doesn't seem you were made for this type of combat." He punched her again, then grabbed her head and slammed it against the rock. He withdrew his blade and she fell to the ground, dazed and bloody. He shot his knee up as she fell, catching her in the stomach and knocking her into the wall again, then quickly removed the knee and replaced it with his fist.

Christie lurched forward and his other fist came up, knocking her head back. She heard a few vertebra snap and crack in her neck from the whiplash. The Black Dragoon grabbed her neck in his strong hand and began closing his hand around it tightly. Christie felt like her head would pop right off her neck at any second now, and his grip was only getting tighter. She tried fighting him off, but she felt herself weakening with every passing second as her heart pounded ever louder in her ears.

"Die now." The Black Dragoon hissed.

"You first."

His head spun and moved just in time to see a thin blade shoot past his head, cutting the flesh just under his jaw line, where his helmet ended.

Melissa drew back and lunged again. This time, he was able to block with his own blade. He let go of Christie, who fell to the sand in a heap. With this now free hand, he swung at Melissa, who leaned back and swung her foot up, kicking him in the face. His head recoiled and she put one hand on the ground, spinning her other foot up to kick him back into the rocks.

Melissa jumped back up and stabbed at him. He moved to the side and knocked her blade away, then swung his foot around to hit her behind the knee, buckling her legs. He fired a dark wave that, for some reason, Melissa could not absorb, and she was knocked back several feet.

The Black Dragoon shot at her and she catapulted up high enough to flip over him, kicking as she went, so she could defend Christie. She turned and got ready to defend herself.

The Black Dragoon turned and looked at her, seeming ready to attack, but then, he surprised her. His blades vanished and he just laughed. "Two down, six to go. Challenge me when you have a formidable force." He flapped his wings and took off, laughing until he was out of Melissa's hearing range.

"Head's up!" Brittany said, always the lookout. She usually made it her job to sit up in high places and watch for whatever might be coming towards them. "Someone's coming."

Melissa flew in quickly, carrying Christie's beaten body, which was drained of its Dragoon powers.

"Christie!" Ben exclaimed, rushing to her.

"Her too?" Robert asked.

"No, I think this is different." Melissa said. "It looks like she just blacked out."

Charle motioned for Melissa to set her down on another bed and then did a quick scan of her body.

"Yes, it is as you said. She shall awaken in time."

Brittany scoffed. "Forget that!" Her Dragoon spirit glowed and she shot a stream of water at Christie's face. She awoke with a start, coughing and gasping.

"Hey, easy!" Ben said, gripping her hand. "You're alright."

She took several large breaths and rubbed her hand along her neck, which had a rather visible bruise. "God…" She wheezed.

"What happened?" Mike finally asked.

"It attacked us." Melissa said.

"That dark thing?" Hank asked.

Melissa groaned. "I'm afraid it's a little more complicated than that."

AUTHORS' NOTE: The enemy is one of their own. How can the Dragoons counter such a deadly fiend? More to come in the next chapters! How was thsi one?