CHAPTER 13

TO FIGHT ECO WITH ECO

When Balder woke up he stared straight into the face of a grinning Jingo.

"Nice of you to drop by Balder. Nice paws" he said and several other dark makers around him giggled.

Balder tried to get up, but noticed he was tied to the ground, Rose was tied up to a pole right next to him, growling and trying to get to Jingo.

"I don't know if you guys are smart or just copycats but that pet of yours looks quite nice" Jingo said. "You couldn't possibly believe that chick was going to beat XD did you? She couldn't even defeat seven tiny metalheads!"

Just then Balder noticed the frog-like metalheads who were standing right behind Jingo; they all stared at Balder as if he was a tasty snack, which for them he probably was.

"Why don't you ever rely on your own strength? Instead of making us both fight using monsters?" Balder asked.

"Balder my friend, if we used our own strength you'd be dead in seconds, by using these stupid animals we ensure we won't get bored" Jingo said.

Rose suddenly became much angered, she started growling and howling at something behind the metalheads and it didn't take long for Balder to see what made her so angry.

XD had come in, and he was way bigger than Balder remembered, but as the scouts had reported, he was only a few feet longer than Rose.

At first, the blue dragon seemed surprised at the new arrival, but quickly he started growling back.

"Relax Draco-boy, don't burn down the room" Jingo said. "Perhaps it's time to see who's the strongest? We have our own stadium that is eco-proof".

This was not good, Rose hadn't grown enough yet, she was just a child (well, XD is a child too: p)

"What's wrong little weasel? Have any objections, oh wait. It doesn't matter what you say, you are our prisoner" Jingo said. "Prepare the arena!" he said to two robots nearby. "And get pinky over there ready for battle".

The robots grabbed the rope holding Rose, and whatever she did to get loose was in wane, these robots had super-strength.

Balder was released and carried into the arena too.

It was a large cave built into the mountain in which Tunnel Town was set underneath.

Balder was placed in a chair next to Jingo, far up in the hillside.

XD flew into the arena and placed himself at one side of it and waited for his opponent, apparently he had done this before, many times.

Rose was tied to a pole on the other side, and growled towards XD, but the male didn't move.

He just stood there watching her, with an evil grin on his face.

"Time to see who's got the strongest dragon" Jingo said and gave a signal to the robots down at the stadium. "Release Pinky" he said to them.

The robots cut the chain holding Rose and she wasted no time, she charged at XD with the same rage she had shown while attacking the precdator last year.

Although Balder didn't know much about dragon language, he understood that the dark dragon must have insulted her badly.

XD taken back at the sudden attack, apparently he had never fought anything that fought back with such stench, but he quickly came to his senses and slashed Rose with his tail.

Rose was ready; she grabbed the tail and threw the blue dragon (still by his tail) into the wall.

"Come on Rose" Balder said.

Jingo was not happy.

"Don't start the party yet" Jingo said. "You haven't seen all XD can do yet" he said.

Now XD was angry, he lifted of the ground and flew straight over Rose.

Rose followed him, eager to get a hold on his tail again.

They started circling the arena for a few seconds, getting closer and closer to each other until they were both in biting range.

Rose grabbed XD's tail again, but this time he was ready.

He turned around, facing Rose who was still holding on to his long tail, and bit her neck.

Rose cried and let go of the tail.

"Good boy! Now finish her of!" Jingo yelled.

XD forced Rose down to the ground; Balder could see she was bleeding.

"Don't give up Rose, please" he whispered.

"What's your problem? A weak dragon is nothing to keep" Jingo said. "This is how we train up all our metalhead-warriors, we put in two metalheads and the winner gets to eat the looser, that way he gets a price too".

Balder glared at Jingo, how could he do this? The dragons were living animals, he couldn't just…

His thoughts were interrupted by a new cry.

Rose was getting weaker, she could hardly stand up, and DX showed no intention of letting go of her neck.

"Stop it now! You've proved your point!" Balder cried to Jingo.

"Please, I'm actually doing you a favor disposing of this useless reptile" Jingo said. "This is XD's special move, you should be proud; most of his opponents would be dead by now".

This was more than Balder could handle, for the first time in his life he wanted nothing but to kill this ottsel sitting next to him.

Without warning he charged at Jingo, pushing both of them down from their chairs and down the hillside.

But the dark eco had given Jingo more strength, safely down at the ground; he kicked Balder of so he fell into DX.

"Let go of that stupid female, she's almost dead anyway. Take him first" Jingo said and pointed at Balder.

XD dropped Rose who fell to the ground immediately and turned to Balder.

This is it, I'm coming mom. Balder thought, he closed his eyes waiting to feel the enormous dragon-teeth crushing all he had left of bones.

But it never came, instead he heard a new bird-like cry, this time it came from XD.

Balder opened his eyes; Rose had somehow got to her feet and had grabbed XD by the neck, just like he had done earlier.

"How is it able to stand?" Jingo asked.

"Probably because of a force you know nothing about" Balder said. "Friendship".

Rose didn't wait to deliver the death blow, she threw XD away into the wall, grabbed Balder (careful not to hurt him) and flew out of the arena.

"Stop them! They're getting away!" Jingo cried.

Several flying metalheads came out of their caves around the arena; Rose managed to avoid them out of cheer luck since she wasn't exactly flying straight after loosing all that blood.

"They're still tracing us" Balder said.

Rose fell to the ground again, exhausted.

"No Rose, don't give up yet, we're almost there" Balder said.

Rose whimpered, and got to her feet, but Balder still had to halfway drag her trough the caves with the metalheads following quickly.

But suddenly they all turned around, scared of something behind Balder's back.

Balder turned around to see what it was.

A small army of Lionhead-chinbits were in the cave opening, each holding a lethal gun in their hands.

Lio was there too.
"Buster told me you were missing, so we figured we might go looking for you" he said. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. But Rose is badly injured" Balder said.

Lio walked over to check the wound, he pulled a bandage out of a bag he had tied around his waist and covered the wound with it.

"This will stop the bleeding, but we need to get her to the village if she shall heal properly. Help me carry her to the transport" he said.

It took Balder and seven chinbits to carry the injured dragon, since she had lost all strength to walk on her own.

"No more expeditions until we know you're up to the task, okay girl?" Balder said to Rose.

Rose only twittered, and fell asleep in his arms.

Miss.Ecofreak: Done with another chapter. How'd you like that?

Zakura: Will Rose and Balder get married?

Miss.Ecofreak: what the? NO! They're two different species!

Zakura: Can he marry me then?

Miss.Ecofreak: You're two different species too. I thought you liked Sasuke?

Zakura: He doesn't have to know

Fluffy the Killer Hamster: then what about me?

Zakura: fine, so we had some fun (and five kids) but that doesn't have to mean I LIKE you

Fluffy: Gasp! I'm hurt!

Miss.Ecofreak: not funny. Please review.