Chapter 17: Journey to the Electric World of Lizards
10 hours later…
"My wings feel like they're gonna fall off," Ashley complained.
"Mine too," Gloria added.
"How are you doing Mel?" Caitlin asked.
"I still have a lot of energy," Melissa replied.
"Well you're a dragon," Ashley said. "You're larger and well-built. We're not very big and we're not as well-built."
"I know." Melissa had the same opinion.
They all continued to fly towards their destination.
1 day and 7 hours later…
"Uhhh…" Caitlin moaned in her sleep, drool coming down the side of her mouth.
"Hey, hey, hey watch the scales!" Melissa ordered. "Drool face."
1 hour later…
"Grrr…shut up already goddamn it!" exclaimed Melissa.
"Huh?" Gloria said, finally waking up on Melissa's back.
"Your snoring is pissing me off!" Melissa complained. She was baring her teeth; a sign of her anger. "If I hear you snore again, I swear to God I'll kill myself!"
"Sorry," said Gloria. She yawned loudly and stretched a little. Ashley, Caitlin, and Jessica were just waking up as well. "Mornin' ya'll," Melissa said.
"What's up with the country accent?" Ashley asked.
"You know what? Maybe I felt like talking that way! Gosh!" Melissa returned. "You have a problem with that?"
"So how far have we gone?" questioned Jessica.
Caitlin took out her high tech compass. Her compass could be what it was made to be, but she programmed it so that if they needed to go somewhere, she could put in how many miles they needed to go and it could beep when they reach their destination. "So far we've gone…302 miles. Wait…303 miles," Caitlin replied.
"Man, still a long way to go," Gloria noted.
"You are soooo uncomfortable to sleep on Mel," Ashley commented.
"Hmph. That's the least of my problems," muttered Melissa.
"I'm hungry," Caitlin said.
"For heaven's sake! We ate like…an hour ago! And already you're hungry?" Jessica asked.
"Yep," Caitlin replied.
Melissa dived towards the ground, one clawed hand outstretched. She grabbed a small bush of eatable berries and threw it to Caitlin. "Here! Go crazy," she said.
"Food!" Caitlin yelled.
She started eating the berries. "Too bad we don't have junk food huh?" Gloria asked Ashley in a soft voice.
"Actually it's a good thing we don't have that kind of stuff," Ashley replied.
"Why?"
"Because Caitlin would eat it all."
"Oh yeah huh."
Another day and 2 hours later…
"Are we there yet?" Caitlin questioned.
"No," Melissa replied.
30 minutes later…
"Are we there yet?" Caitlin asked again.
"No," Gloria replied, annoyed.
And 30 minutes later…
"Are we there yet?" Caitlin asked yet again.
"No!" Ashley yelled.
And another 30 minutes…
"Are we there yet?" Caitlin questioned.
"NO!" Jessica cried.
And yet another 30 minutes later…
"Are we there yet?" Caitlin asked.
"Godit! We said no like a thousand times! No! No! NO!" Melissa shouted, furious and breathing rapidly like she'ds been running. Her hands were covering the sides of her head.
5 hours later…
"Are we there yet?" Caitlin asked.
Gloria growled in reply.
So many hours later that, unfortunately, we lost track of time…
"Are we there—" Caitlin was about to ask.
"NO!" Jessica, Gloria, Ashley, and Melissa interrupted.
"Are we there yet?"
"Beep, beep, beep," Ashley said in a high pitched voice.
"Hey! The little compass thingy beeped!" Caitlin announced.
She looked at the compass but it only said 564 miles instead of "Destination Reached". "Does that answer your question?" Gloria asked.
Yet another day and 5 hours later…
"Are we there—?"
Gloria put her hand over Caitlin's mouth. "Shut…the…hell…up…NOW!" she yelled slowly.
"Say it again Cait and I WILL burn you to a crisp!" Melissa snapped. "You may be our friend, but you're really annoying us now!"
"Well I do what I love and love what I do," uttered Caitlin.
"Now…it's time to walk," Melissa announced. "I'm already tired."
"Alright," Ashley said. She took Caitlin's compass and whined, "We still have 163 frickin' miles to go!"
Melissa landed on the ground and changed back to normal. "I know what we can do," she said once she was normal. "Ignasha makr!"
Suddenly they all heard a roar. Then a creature landed right in front of them. It was HUGE! All five girls only reached up to a few inches above its ankle. It had gleaming golden scales, large, twin horns that were smooth and metallic, twin neck frills, and whiskers around its mouth that looked like the whiskers of catfish. It had an extremely long tail and many large muscles, especially around its wing. "This is a gargantuan great wyrm gold dragon. This female gold dragon can take us 150 miles. So we have to walk only 13," she clarified.
"But can't this dragon go farther?" Ashley asked.
"Yes, but we can walk," Melissa said. "Besides, this dragon has other things to do."
"Then we will hurry to get her to return," Gloria said. "Now let's go!"
5 hours later…
"Ok! We've reached 150 miles," Jessica said. "Everybody off!"
They all got off the golden dragon. She turned her immense body around, flew back into the air, and went back to tend to her lair. "So let's get started," Gloria said.
3 miles later…
"I'm soo bored!" Melissa complained.
"We all are," Gloria said.
"How much more?" Ashley yelled.
"We've only gone 3 miles," Jessica replied.
Ashley growled in reply.
1 hour later…
It was already turning dark. "Man, I'm tired," Ashley said.
"Aren't we all?" Gloria said.
"When are we going to rest?" Jessica questioned.
"When we find a safe place," Gloria retorted.
"But we're all frickin' tired! I bet you as we continue, something will—" Melissa was abruptly interrupted. Gloria, Ashley, Jessica, & Caitlin heard something like a loud thump. They all faced Melissa and saw her on the ground. Her hand was covering her face. "Ouch godit!" she yelled angrily.
Once Gloria, Ashley, Jessica, and Caitlin realized what had happened, they fell to the ground, laughing like crazy. Melissa groaned and tried to get up. Then she smiled and started laughing herself. Melissa had bumped into a tree while she was talking. "Now you see how I felt when I bumped into that pole in 7th grade," Ashley laughed.
"Yeah, but a pole is metal, not wood, even if it still hurts," Melissa said.
She finally got up and continued to walk with the others. The others periodically laughed, but eventually stopped.
3 hours lat—
"Ok enough!" hollered Gloria.
"What?" wondered Caitlin.
"Stop saying '3 hours later' or '1 hour later' or '5 hours later'!" snapped Gloria. "It's driving me crazy!" It looked like she was about to pull her hair out.
"All I said was five hours later, one hour later, and then I was about to say three hours later, until you interrupted," Caitlin said.
"It is still annoying," Gloria continued.
"You guys! We have to—" Jessica started out when a raindrop splashed on her face. Then even more raindrops fell from the sky. "Yay! It's raining!" Ashley cheered.
"So now it's a good thing to you?" Melissa questioned.
"With Ashley, anything with rain is a good thing," Caitlin muttered.
"So what are we supposed to do? There's no nearby shelter and we don't have anything to shield ourselves," Jessica inquired. She too liked the rain as Ashley did; however, it was windy and, as everyone should know, wind doesn't go very well with water in the winter time. Jessica sure didn't want to get sick and neither did her friends. "Oh! I think I know something that could help us!" Melissa declared. "I read this in a book once so let's see if that trick will help us."
She unexpectedly became a silver dragon again. She lied down on her left side, stretched her right wing to its full length, and placed it over everyone. It became very warm under Melissa's wing. "Man, this is a whole lot better," Jessica commented.
"But are you sure you're going to be able to handle the rain?" Gloria asked, concerned.
"Yeah! I'll be fine. I'll just activate my shield for now," Melissa said.
"Why couldn't we do this before?" Caitlin asked.
"Because first, it wasn't raining. Second, I assumed Gloria would find a safe place to rest by then," Melissa answered. "Now just relax and get some sleep. You deserve it."
She activated her shield to protect herself from the rain and went to sleep. Everyone else cuddled up near each other by her chest. Within a few minutes, they all dozed off after a long, hard day.
The next morning, Gloria was the first to wake up. She lifted Melissa's wing and stretched outside. The air smelled of dew and fresh vegetation. Gloria stretched for a long while but she couldn't crack her neck. Her neck was hurting a lot. She heard leaves rustling behind her. She looked back to find Melissa awaken slowly. She lifted her head and greeted Gloria with a smile, "Morning G. Sleep well?"
"No, thanks to you," Gloria replied.
"Me? What did I do?" Melissa asked.
"I'm kidding. I slept ok but now I have neck pain."
"Oh because I was going to say…"
"Morning peoples," Caitlin greeted happily not long after.
"Morning Cait. Do you have neck pain?" questioned Gloria.
"No. I slept on a pillow," Caitlin answered.
"A pillow?" asked Gloria and Melissa at the same time, baffled by Caitlin having a pillow. They didn't even bring supplies because they didn't think it would take this long.
"Yeah! See?"
She took out a pillow made of grass. "But how did you—" Gloria was about to ask.
"Earth powers duh! I made the outside with grass and stuffed it with grass. And yes I cleaned it."
Gloria growled. All 3 of them waited for Jessica & Ashley to wake up. Once they did, Melissa turned back into herself and they all continued on their journey.
1 hour later… (Caitlin's no longer saying it)
"Hey why do we have to walk? Why can't Mel just fly us there?" Caitlin grumbled.
"Because it was only 13 miles, which has decreased now, and because SOME of us need the exercise," responded Gloria.
"When are we going to reach our destination?" Ashley asked.
"We should be there by…6:00 PM," Gloria predicted. "I mean, we shouldn't be that far."
10:00 PM…
"Great prediction G," Melissa remarked. "We're supposed to be there by 6. Oh but would you look at the time! It's 10:00 PM!"
"Yeah, like you would make a better prediction Mel?" Gloria asked.
"All I would say is that we'll be there late at night, you fricking dumb—"
"Don't even go there, especially you Mel!" hollered Ashley. "We're all cranky. I know that, but it doesn't mean we have to fight."
"You're right Ash. Sorry Mel."
Melissa opened her mouth to apologize but Ashley interrupted. "Well?" she asked impatiently.
"Well, I was going to say 'Sorry G' but—"
"Hey look! There's smoke!" Caitlin declared.
"Maybe we finally—" Jessica said before being interrupted as well by a loud beeping.
"The compass thingy is beeping," Caitlin said.
"Nah, really?" Ashley said sarcastically.
"Yes really! We've finally reached our destination," cheered Caitlin. "Let's go!"
She started to run, but Gloria grabbed her shoulder and brusquely pushed her back. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait!" she shouted. "I know you. You're gonna barge in there without being cautious. Therefore, we get in trouble and they try to kill us. We're not taking that chance. So you stay behind us so we can ALL go kapeesh?"
Caitlin stayed with the others as they all went together to investigate the smoke. They all hid behind a large rock and peeked to see many thunder lizards eating, training, and doing other normal things. "So what do we do?" Ashley whispered.
"We have to make peace with them," Gloria replied in a soft voice.
"Make peace with them? But they're just killer beasts!" Jessica whispered.
"Don't you remember Mel's story? How the humans betrayed them? We can at least try to make peace with them. They don't deserve to be betrayed for no particular reason. Besides, they could prove to be powerful allies like the Nerubians," Gloria explained.
"She's right," concurred Melissa.
"We should do that," Ashley agreed. "They can be powerful allies. And if we don't then more people will die and more lizards will die. So we don't have a choice."
"Alright, let's—" Gloria was about to say when she saw Melissa get up and start running towards the lizards. "What the hell is she doing!" she demanded.
"You know how she is. She never thinks before she acts," Ashley said.
"C'mon! We have to stop her," Jessica said.
They ran out of their hiding place and ran after Melissa. She suddenly started walking calmly. She continued when two larger lizards stopped her. Besides being larger and more muscular, they had a horn on their nose and two spikes coming from both sides of their face. They snarled loudly, lips curling back, revealing their razor sharp teeth. Melissa exhaled a deep breath and transformed. She towered before them and bellowed, "Aye, mighty lizards. I come in peace. I am Melissa and I have returned."
"What does she mean by she has returned?" Caitlin asked.
"She must've known them before. But for how long?" Gloria asked.
The thunder lizards moved aside. "G, Ash, Cait, Jess, come already," Melissa ordered when she was human again. She pointed to them and, facing the two guarding lizards, added, "They're with me."
Gloria, Ashley, Caitlin, and Jessica caught up to her and walked slowly. The guarding lizards eyed them suspiciously but let them pass. "Melissa how long have you known them?" Jessica whispered to Melissa.
"A month," Melissa responded. "Since I'm a dragon, they respect me. But they tend to forget that I stay human most of the time."
"Why are you the respected one?" Jessica asked.
"I just said. I'm a dragon and I also have electric powers. Besides, my ancestors have known them for a very long time," Melissa muttered.
"I see," Jessica said. Then she quietly murmured, "Show off."
"What did you say?"
"Nothing."
Caitlin, Gloria, and Ashley weren't paying attention to what was going on with Jessica and Melissa. They just walked into a huge group of thunder lizards, who were observing the girls as if they were from another planet, but they already knew that Gloria, Ashley, Caitlin, and Jessica were just guests. They also already knew that Melissa was there.
"So how do we make peace?" Caitlin asked.
"We must talk to the leader of the lizards," answered Melissa.
"Who is?" Gloria pursued.
"I don't know. I haven't met him yet, but I do know that it's obviously a male. He's known as Master what's-his-name," Melissa replied.
"Are you asking for the Master?" someone with a deep voice questioned.
All five of them turned around to find a thunder lizard, but a different one like the guardians. He was far more longer than the guardians and the other lizards themselves, approximately 48 ft long. This lizard had silver claws and large scars on his chest, side, and left eye. His claws were spread out in a triangle formation and he had 4 long canines. It would literally sink into its gums and come out when the lizard was going to use them.
"Who are you?" Jessica asked.
"I am the one you seek," the lizard responded in a deep, almost heroic type voice.
"You are Master what's-his-name?" Caitlin questioned.
The lizard raised a brow. "She means are you the master?" Gloria clarified.
"Yes I know," the lizard said.
"Why do you look so different from every other thunder lizard?" Melissa asked.
"All masters are seers," said the lizard.
"What's a seer?" Gloria asked.
"A seer is one whose more different than the rest of his/her kind. But this only applies to monsters and animals. The best way you can tell that someone is a seer is by appearance. But at times, they can look like the others. The ones who are seers tend to become the master or leader of their group. In times of crisis, they are believed to have the power to save their kin or even change the earth itself," the lizard clarified.
"Awesome…Anyways," Gloria continued, "We need to have a word with you um…"
"Thunduro," the lizard finished. "I am Master Thunduro."
"But isn't that the name of—" Melissa was about to point out.
"Thunduro X (tenth)," Thunduro completed. "I am heir to Thunduro IX (ninth). From generation to generation, ever since the very first master Thunduro, we have all been seers and we've become masters. We live far longer than ordinary lizards."
"Which explains why you're the tenth," Melissa said.
"Jeez I'm tired of hearing Thunduro!" Caitlin yelled.
"Now let's get started shall we?" Thunduro X said.
Gloria started to speak to him about creating peace between them and discussed what she and her team would do to prevent any more trouble between human and lizards but at the same time tried to convince Thunduro X to accept this peace. Thunduro X was furious when she spoke of such a topic! It was obvious that Thunduro X and all the lizards before him despised humans so much, that they wanted to exterminate them all from this earth. Since the betrayal, the thunder lizards had killed many adults and a few kids. They even got used to the taste of human flesh and they especially enjoyed the flesh of younger beings. The five girls couldn't blame him. Eventually Gloria got through to him. They finally made a deal. Gloria and the others agreed to protect them if they agreed to stop killing people. "Fine," Thunduro agreed halfheartedly.
"Why did your kind try to kill Gloria?" Jessica demanded.
"Because we were told to," Thunduro X answered.
"Because you were told to?" Caitlin demanded.
"Yes," Thunduro X continued. "A man by the name of Ation told us to kill her. He said she betrayed him long ago. He's trying to get monsters to kill people that betrayed him a long time ago."
"Well that explains why its only been a few people killed and not like hundreds. Thanks for the info though," Caitlin said.
Thunduro caught Melissa staring at the huge and ugly scar on his side. She turned away quickly. "My first fight was with a black dragon," he said. "It was a worthy opponent, but I finally killed it. It took a long while to finally heal."
"Well that explains all the scars," Melissa noted. "You've been in many fights huh?"
"Yes, but my time will soon be over and my heir will take my place," Thunduro X explained.
"Well, I'll make sure we come by to check on you," Melissa smiled.
"Anyways," Ashley interrupted, "thanks for your time. We will keep our word and we'll check up on you from time to time. So we'll see you later." They showed their respect by bowing in front of the master thunder lizard. They said good-bye to him and headed back to where they had begun walking.