Flights Of Fancy

Disclaimer: I deny any ownership of any adolescent transformed shadow warrior chelonians.

Chapter Six: Between Life and Death

Don glanced up at his host, the dragon had been questioning him about many things, sometimes using a rapid fire technique and snarling viciously whenever he felt Don was to slow in answering him. At other times Gimodaptor took on an almost conversational tone.

Gimod had brought him some fruit and a hunk of smoking charred meat from some hapless animal and had allowed Don to eat his fill before starting the interrogation. Don wisely hadn't eaten much simply because he knew that some of the fruit might not agree with him, besides what the dragon classified as eatable wasn't necessarily true for spite of his caution however Don still found the food he had eaten sitting like a lead weight in the pit of his stomach and he still wasn't quite sure how one went about dealing with a dragon.

Splinter had never taught them ninja tactics against dragons, about the only thing Don was sure of at this moment was that he hadn't done enough to irritate Gimod into eating him as of yet. As the dragon continued though Don was feeling that his odds of surviving this were growing slimmer by the moment.

' So just whose side are you on?' Gimod demanded sharply.

" I'm neutral. I refuse to pick sides as I do not live here and have insufficient information to determine that." Don answered uneasily his eyes quickly scanning the dragon for any tell tale sign that the answer he had given wasn't the best. Don did his best to keep his rising irritation from out of his voice but he couldn't quite disguise all of it.

Gimod growled loudly the rumble echoing and resounding in the cave he thumped his tail against the wall and some small rocks and dirt rolled to the cave floor, ' I wouldn't be so flippant if I were you, your life hangs by a thread and I am ready to flame that thread to nothing.'

Don scowled he had, had quite enough of Gimod's questions and threats. If Gimod was going to kill him he certainly could do so quickly enough whenever he chose to do so. Besides Don was still a warrior, a ninja, and he was tired of playing what ever game that the dragon seemed so interested in playing " Look Gimod, I don't know what answers you want or are even looking for. I know nothing about dragons and their motives and I have no intention of lying to you" Don snapped, striding forward and casting a baleful glare up at the huge head " If you are going to kill me just get it over with then!" He challenged.

Gimod lowered his head and let loose a volley of flame just mere inches over Don's head he could feel the heat and he backed away cautiously wondering if his outburst had been the final straw.

'What good is giving you the answers I want to hear? I want you shook up so that when you answer you might revel more than you know.'

" I don't see what shaking me up will get you unless…" Don considered that realizing that someone who was riled up might accidentally slip out some inside information " what ever you fear, you got it all wrong I'm a stranger here" Don protested.

'Dragons fear nothing but all of Necron fears the mighty wyrms. We could rule all of Necron if we chose to.' Gimod huffed, 'Besides do you truly believe that being a stranger here will grant you leniency? If you truly are a stranger then how else am I to get to know you and your intentions?'

Don shook his head in frustration if he wasn't going be granted leniency for being a stranger then there was no reason for Gimod to get to know him " Your logic is rather hard to follow" Don accused.

' No one ever said dragons were logical' Gimod countered rather huffily.

Don raised a left hand to rub at his aching temple so far the question period seemed to be going like this, a few steps forward and numerous steps back. Logic being disputed by the most inane counter logic, which might only make sense if you were something the size of a dragon.

Gimod watched his guest through narrowed eyes. It was dragon nature to take a grain of truth and twist it about to see if the one hearing it could perceive the truth in the lie. It was the way that many wyrms were capable of trapping unicorns for the corns knew truth when they heard it, even when it was warped and the unicorn felt that if there was some truth and goodness in the dragon then maybe it could be saved in some way. In reality the unicorn became lost in the dragon's truth and ended up slowly losing all of the light and glory that it carried in side itself slowly perishing.

There was only one way the unicorn could save itself it had to realize what the dragon was doing and then it had to act, but even in acting it could perish for the unicorn must think of things so dark and evil in that moment, so against its very nature that it could become lost in the darkness. The unicorn could not hate or fear, for in fear the unicorn would despair and die as well for a unicorn without hope was as lost as one that was filled with hatred and anger. Only love of the purest kind, only the type that unicorns had, could be used and if the unicorn drew upon that and struck the dragon with its horn then the wyrm would perish.

It was also dragon nature to become irritated quickly and to find any type of destruction amusing. A group of dragons were not known as a chaos for nothing after all.

So Gimod while he turned and twisted things to his own advantage, while seeking answers that weren't fully pleasing to him, was inwardly amused by Don's confusion and fears.

' Perhaps I might be able to get the truth from you in another way. Want to go flying?' Gimod asked abruptly.

" Ah, not really flying isn't my thing" Don muttered.

Actually he wasn't worried in the least about flying, his concern was that Gimod just might see fit to drop him from some great height. Flying didn't scare Don, but falling and, even more so that sudden stop at the bottom concerned him a great deal.

Gimod smiled a slow sinister smile, as he lowered his head until it was mere inches in front of Don's face curling his lip upward to show Don the impressive jagged rows of gleaming teeth beyond.

' I suggest you start being a little more cooperative then before you end up going on a trip you won't like' Gimod warned.

Don smelled the rank carrion smell on the dragon's breath and he couldn't help backing up nervously, the smell was enough to cause his stomach to twist and for him to gag. He wondered silently to himself if it was at all possible to turn the dragon into an ally.

" Gimod look," Don began.

Gimod cut Don off ' Look at what? All I see is a quivering snack!'

" I am not your snack!" Don yelled sharply steeling himself to stand up straighter and to cross his arms in a defiant pose. It might not be easy facing a dragon in fact it was extremely difficult thing to do, but Don recalled that in his world it was the ninja who were often feared and he tried to gain what strength he could from that.

Gimod could take his life, Gimod could do many horrible and unspeakable things to him of that fact, Don had no doubts, but Gimod could not take from him the training and heritage his Master had given to him. In spite of the fact Don was very much afraid and had no idea how he was to get out of this mess, he was not about to reveal to the dragon how afraid he really was,so he hid the fear behind a wall much as his training allowed to at least.

" I am not quivering or shaking maybe the people of Necron might act like that in front of you but I won't" Don declared firmly.

' You will be doing both when I take you flying. You might even start to beg me to spare your pathetic life as well.' Gimod hissed sharply, he could easily sense Don's fear. 'When I return I'll be expecting some real answers.'

With that Gimod turned around and lashed out at Don, with his huge tail.

Don saw the swinging tail coming his way and easily leaped over the tail as it swung both towards him and then back again in a quick whipping move.

Don knew he could have dropped to the cave floor allowing the muscular appendage to swing over him but once on the ground the dragon might decide to thump his tail down hard and that might be harder to avoid.

With that passing blow Gimod stormed off to the entrance of the cave leaving Don with his ultimatum.

XXXX

Raph leaped from the tree to the forest floor and pulled his sais keeping his back to the trunk of the tree as it offered a minimum amount of protection and would cut rear attacks down. At the moment, that was of utmost importance to Raph,as he had no one to watch his back and was clearly outnumbered.

The toshe leaped to their feet and quickly formed a circle around Raph and the tree leaving only a few feet between them and the toshe on either side of them open.

Raph narrowed his eyes and crouched down low a snarl on his face " You want a piece of me you better come and get it boys! Let me tell ya somethin' this is one meal that bites back" he growled his own warning to them.

The old battle scarred veteran entered the circle pacing out of range of Raph his eyes watching the turtle for any movement. He gave a low growl of his own in response a sharp cunning crafty look coming to his canine face.

Suddenly without warning or any preparation the old toshe launched at Raph twisting its body in the air.

Raph for some reason wasn't willing to kill the brute just yet maybe all it would take was a warning so he kept the points of his sai from cutting into the toshe but still punched hard the creature ducked its head a bit and its teeth cut off the wrist band around Raph's right wrist though it didn't draw blood.

The toshe landed barely hitting the ground before he whirled around and struck Raph again moving almost faster then Raph could turn to face him. Raph finished his turn and caught the toshe again this time he used a sai tip to cut a scratch along the toshe's left foreleg, and driving a knee into the soft underbelly.

He had no intention of throwing his sais if he did that he might manage to kill one of these beasts but he might also lose his weapon and at the moment he needed the advantage that the paired weapons gave him.

The toshe hardly seemed to feel the blow with its thick coat it twisted around again as agile as a cat and almost as silent.

The other toshe raised their heads and began to howl, letting loose a chorus of yips, yaps and most of all that unnerving drawn out wailing call.

Raph glanced up warily for a moment distracted by the noise wondering if they were now closing in to help the leader finish the prey. He almost missed the leader's next strike but years of ninja training and his own warrior instincts warned him at the last minute before it was too late.

The veteran was coming in low going for his legs, Raph dropped to a crouch and offered his sai tips towards the beast it veered off snarling at him.

Something was bothering Raph, he couldn't quite make sense of it but somehow he had the oddest feeling that he was in some sort of odd sparring match. After all so far neither of them had really caused serious injury to the other but they were learning about the abilities of their opponent.

Not only that but it really wouldn't take much for the whole pack to kill him if that was what they wanted to do.

Of course it was possible that the toshe leader would have to strike blood first before the rest of the pack came in to finish the job. Raph shrugged off that notion he really didn't want to dwell on such things at this particular moment in time.

Raph used his sais for defence doing his best not to seriously harm the toshe and he all ready knew, that if he had to get serious and fast he would need to use a hard strike to get through the thick coat and cause intensive damage.

Raph had a feeling that killing the leader might provoke an attack from the rest of the pack so he continued in this strange dance that he entered into, of strike, attack withdraw, feint counterattack that seemed to be like the ritual of sparring.

The old toshe darted in and out a few times with a low growl rising in strength and tone the whole time suddenly he launched off the ground with an ear splitting roar.

Raph sneered he had felt that all these fake runs had been leading up to something and so was not thrown off by the tactics used now, he waited to the last possible moment.

As the toshe closed in Raph shot one arm out around the neck and flung the toshe to the ground as hard as he could, he dropped down by the creature and pressed his left hand sai near the throat of the toshe.

In an instant the animal grew limp and still only a low plaintive whine escaping his mouth.

Raph glanced warily at the surrounding pack they stood watching him with narrowed eyes and bodies tensed, heads lowered and hair bristling.

Raph wasn't too sure of what his next move should be, he wasn't too sure that killing the defeated toshe was the right way to go, then again letting it go might not be that smart of a move either.

He recalled his brief thought of the battle being nothing more than a sparring match and he knew that one didn't normally kill their sparring partners. It seemed he was in for it no matter which way he went.

Surely if he killed it the others would attack, if he let it go he still might be attacked this battle hadn't won or lost him anything that he could see.

Slowly cautiously he backed away releasing the leader. The old grey lost no time what so ever in getting away from Raph and back to the pack.

The black and white toshe wagged its tail as if he approved of Raph's decision. The white male turned and paced off a few feet into the trees nose and ears twitching while the rest of the pack watched Raph warily as if waiting for his next move.

The white male gave a few short sharp barks that caused the others to quickly gather around him their own ears, and noses moving to pick up whatever scent the white male had caught.

A sudden air of excitement and anticipation seemed to fill them and the younger toshe yipped and pranced a bit eagerly bouncing around and whining. The veteran glanced over his pack and cast one final glance at Raph over his shoulder before giving a commanding bark and loping off after whatever had caught their interest.

The young pups headed back towards Raph their movements and antics seeming to be far more suited to playful dogs then a creature about to attack and by jostling and pushing him they made it quite clear that he was to stay with them.

Raph tested this theory by trying to break loose and going his own way only to be met by vicious growls and angry snarls.

" All right all ready I get the idea" Raph grumped irritably, " but I don't see why I'm your prisoner. I won the match"

Still not having much of a choice he allowed himself to be herded along by the young pups. Grumbling, and cussing under his breath about how humiliating it all was to be treated in this fashion by nothing more then a few dogs.

The pups let Raph know in no uncertain terms that he was making far too much noise for their liking and was to be quieter and move faster.

After a time they caught up with the adults who had slowed down and seemed to be showing signs of stalking some other form of prey that had entered into these woods. Raph looked around wondering what sort of game a pack of creatures like this would eat.

He didn't see much at all other then a large white flashing light that seemed to wind around and about the trees as if they didn't even exist.

Whatever it was it had to be as strange as the toshe themselves and possibly even more dangerous and yet it was clear to Raph that the pack was clearly hunting whatever was moving through the woods.

TBC