The Feral Scream
CH III
The DiscoveryAN: Okay, this will basically be the rest of the episode with a few changes; I am more going to focus on the battles tan the in-between. But there will be a few instances in-between. AND PLEASE REVIEW!
Disclaimer: ADJL doesn't belong to me.
Rose couldn't believe what she saw before her. It was a picture of what she thought dragons were: fearsome and deadly. It was on its hind legs, and had its arms crossed over its chest. The gold and red was also new, but what she was most shocked by were the two heads staring at her. But she quickly regained her composure- it might be different, but she would recognize that voice and self-righteousness anywhere: this was her target, the American Dragon. Nothing, even its new form wouldn't stop her from realizing her destiny. So she did what she was trained to- she struck first.
She lunged at him, trying to knock him off his feet, but with this new transformation, he was faster, twice as fast as the last time they met. So he ducked and smacked her with the end of his tail, throwing her into a tree. But she quickly got back on her feet and the two started walking in a circle.
"Well, Dragon, I can see you've gotten some changes," she said to him
"Yeah, and I am finally getting my chance to try them out," he said, smirking and cracking his knuckles.
"Maybe they will actually make you a more appropriate match now," she countered, and vaulted over him.
As he turned to face her, she swung with her staff, hitting him square in the face.
He growled softly as he got back on his feet and made a swipe to her head. She ducked and tried to swing his feet out from under him, but he jumped over her and grasped the staff in his tail. As she got back into her stance, she saw him turn around and break the staff in two. He threw the pieces aside.
"No more of your useless toys now," he said.
She answered, irritated, "I don't need a huntstaff to slay you, Dragon!" Then she lunged at him once more.
She threw a quick one-two punch to his torso, and attempted to knock the wind out of him, but he quickly blocked. He grabbed her by the wrist and held her in the air.
His smirk widened as he asked, "don't you know to avoid fighting an enemy who is stronger?"
In annoyance, she answered, "don't try and stop me Dragon, I am with the huntsclan and always will be!" She kicked him in the stomach and broke out of his grip-- but not before dropping her ski pass on the ground-- and sprinted off.
When he got back up, he looked around and saw nothing but some tracks leading into the forest. Then he spied something red on the ground. He reverted back to his human form and picked it up. After studying it for a moment, he realized in shock what it was-- one of the passes used by the students at his school!
He just shook his head and put it in his pocket. Maybe it would be his ticket to finding out just who Huntsgirl was. He managed to get back to the resort without arousing suspicion-- mostly from Professor Rotwood-- and took Trixie and Spud aside to talk to them about the encounter (and ensuing fight) with Huntsgirl.
"Jeez, Jake, this is a lot to take in," said Trixie, massaging her temples.
"Tell me about it," said Jake, sipping some calming tea his grandpa had given him before leaving. "Now all I have to do is hunt her down-- and figure out who she is!"
It was later when he finally got up the courage to find Rose and talk to her about his secret. As his luck had it, though, but just as he got a chance, she went outside-- followed closely by Brad. Jake followed them out there, expecting to see Rose and Brad talking. But she was gone, and Brad was calling her with those stupid petnames he had made up.
But Jake knew how to find her, and called on his eye of the dragon once again to locate her. But just as he thought he saw her image in the distance, the snow blurred his eyes.
And when he reopened them, all he saw Huntsgirl. Again.
"DRAGON UP!" he called, and once again his new form replaced his human body. He took off and managed to get in the tree line behind her without her noticing. She was sitting on a rock, sharpening a nasty looking knife, no doubt to either skin him or another magical creature she would lure in.
He quickly grabbed her and threw her to the ground, waving a finger at her.
"Now what did I tell you about hunting innocent creatures?"
"Funny-- I don't see anything innocent around here," she answered, and jumped at him.
He ducked and rolled to his feet, where-- although he had no idea-- a trap was waiting for him.
She was just standing there, a few feet away from him-- leaning against a tree, looking at him--- and then out of nowhere, she chuckled.
"What's so funny?" he asked, annoyed.
"This," she said and cut a rope near her feet. Said rope then released a cage above him--and knocked him to the ground, with him trapped inside. He silently cursed his stupidity. When he saw Huntsgirl beaming with pride, he got even angrier. But as Huntsgirl bathed in pride that her trap had actually worked, the cage was suddenly torn apart inside.
"WHAT!" she screamed, ducking to dodge falling debris. He roared as he got to his feet, and she looked into his eyes, she saw only anger burning there.
And for the first time in a long time, Huntsgirl was afraid.
The creature that had once been the American Dragon lashed out and pinned her to a tree. In surprise, she dropped the knife. She struggled against the dragon, but grew too tired to fight back. All she could do was stare into the cold orbs of red and hope that her death would be quick. As she saw its claw rising into the air, she thought she was finished. She squeezed her eyes closed and awaited death.
It never did. But something surprising did happen--- her right glove was pulled off and the creature cocked its head, as if it was looking at something. Then, its eyes reverted back to the sentient black ones she had looked into before.
"They were right," he said, strangely sad. And then he took off into the air and towards the resort. Normally, she would have tried to chase him down, but she was much too tired. All she could do was limp back to the hotel and hope to get some sleep.
'Well, this weekend was really productive,' thought Jake as he climbed on the bus.
And as the others piled into the bus, he just shut his eyes and tried to sleep, because all night he had had this horrible nightmare of almost killing the Huntsgirl--Rose, as he had finally accepted last night. And he was really afraid that this 'feral' thing that he learned about had done all this, that his nightmare was some kind of vision of what he was doing.
"Is this seat taken?" asked someone. He opened his eyes-- and saw it was Rose. He sighed, 'I need to be careful on how I should say this.'
"Sorry, it is," was all he could say. If he said any more, he might say something wrong, he might sound hurt to her, and that was exactly what he didn't want.
"Oh, alright, we can talk later" was what she said before she walked toward the end of the bus, looking for a spot. And that was all he could remember before dozing off.
AN: All right, from this chapter on, I'm going to skip up to just a few days before the Grand Equinox Hunt. Just so you know.