"Boo!" Ludwig busted into a fit of laughter as the woman screamed and hurried away from him. Wrapping his red arms around his abdomen Ludwig gave a howling laugh at the woman before rushing towards his next victim. The grand pastor himself.

Ludwig liked this small town the nice twins set him up with. Sometimes he likes to hide for months on end, let the people think he's vanished then he'll scare them all at church. The look on their faces is normally priceless as they try to get away from him. Yes, Ludwig was quite happy here. On more than one occasion Charles will find him and try to shoot him but silly human toys don't harm Ludwig one bit. It just makes Ludwig frustrated more than anything, so Ludwig gets back at Charles by destroying the beams inside the house. Oh, the look on Charles's face when part of the ceiling fell on him was perfect. Yes, Ludwig likes it here and for whatever the people refuse to leave.

Twisting his bones so he could fit into a tiny crack in the wall, Ludwig chuckled to himself. The silly pastor constantly tried to keep Ludwig out of the church by sealing all the holes and even sealing underneath the church, but Ludwig could fit anywhere and everywhere. Humans were so silly. This was going to be the best one today. The pastor hasn't been pranked in months and today he was in for a fun surprise. Ludwig made it to the other side of the wall and jumped towards the chair. The chair rolled at Ludwig's sudden weight on it. It almost caused the imp to fall off, but he corrected himself in no time. Where to hide? Where to hide? The closet was too predictable. Running his black claws over the fabric of the chair idly Ludwig huffed and puffed his cheeks out. It was times like this he wished he had his siblings with him together they'd all hide in various places and think of the best ways to scare the Pastor, but no poor little Ludwig was all by himself.

Hearing footsteps coming towards him, Ludwig decided to hide above the door. Flapping his wings Ludwig balanced himself on the doorframe and waited. Sure enough, moments later the door opened and in came the fat pastor himself. Unaware of the imp just above him the pastor kept on walking. Ludwig saw the perfect moment and leaped like a cat landing on the pastor's shoulders. "Hello!" Ludwig wildly cheered as the pastor screamed trying to get the imp off of him.

"Get off of me, devil!" The pastor demanded before actually grabbing one of Ludwig's wings and pulling on it hard. Ludwig hissed and suddenly bit the Pastor's meaty hand.

"Nobody touches my wings!" Ludwig shrieked then jumped off of the pastor on to the chair, tipping the chair over, and then jumping to the desk. The pastor made a grab for Ludwig on the desk, but the most that did was cause Ludwig to run and knock everything off of the desk. Larry gave a cry of frustration and tried to chuck the lamp at Ludwig and all that did was just break the lamp as Ludwig jumped into the closet.

"Gotcha!" Larry yelled as he opened the door, but Ludwig was now in the walls.

Ludwig gave a hearty laugh before leaping out of the crack in the wall before twisting his bones back in place. Ludwig's laugh died in his throat very quickly. The sky was a lot darker than before and not naturally so. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, yet it was oddly black. He could see the sun trying to give off light but something was blocking it. Ludwig noticed that humans were also noticing this, but they looked more like mannequins frozen in place than humans. Not one human acknowledged him. Ludwig whipped his tail side to side as he looked up at the sky again it was getting darker and darker with each minute, Ludwig couldn't even see the sun anymore. It was getting harder to see the humans around him. Suddenly a breeze went sweeping past all of them. That was when Ludwig knew one thing, fly, fly away. Unfolding his wings Ludwig gave one thrust upwards and was in the sky, he thought he was anyway. Looking down at the village he could hear something, something that wasn't natural. At first, he thought it might have been humans moving something heavy across the ground, but then he realized it was something heavy but the humans weren't moving it; it was moving.

"Surrender yourselves to me…" A mysterious voice spoke through the darkness of surrounded everything. Ludwig tried to look for whoever blacked out the sky but he couldn't see a thing now. "You thought you could be rid of me forever, but that is not the case. Not any longer. Now… it is I that will be rid of you!"

A light lit up the darkness. Ludwig had to make himself fly higher in the air as orange flames suddenly erupted out of nowhere destroying the buildings and, to Ludwig's utmost horror, burned the humans where they stood. Some of them seem to snap out of their stupor and tried to run but it was no use the flames were faster. Ludwig looked at the creature responsible as the fire was still spewing out of its horrifying maw. There was no mistaking it, it was a dragon. It seemed to take up four whole blocks by itself. It's wings in tatters making Ludwig wonder if the thing could even fly. It's head in a shape similar to that of the small dragon with the twins, only this one had horns that went to the side of it's head and curved outward. The dragon itself seemed to be black blending in with the darkness that surrounded the entire town. Ludwig could faintly see spikes protruding from the dragon's shoulder and down its spine. At the end of its tail were three spikes. "Parish before me foolish humans!" The creature roared loudly before lifting its head to the sky and letting off an orange fireball in the sky. Ludwig's instincts took over before anything else. He flew away from the town as quick as he possibly could.

It would seem that it wasn't a moment too soon as before he knew it he was back in the light. It scared and blinded him it also forced him to stop. However, Ludwig couldn't get his eyesight back fast enough as there was a sudden explosion beside him where the darkness resumed. Whatever it was sent Ludwig into a tree knocking him out instantly.

Kyoto Genesis gave a loud grunt as she proceeded to haul a large hay bale up and onto the bed of the truck in front of her. Satisfied, Kyoto dusted any stray pieces of hay off of her overalls before looking up at the bright beautiful blue Kansas sky. Ever since she and her sister were adopted by their aunt their life felt so much better, they both felt free. No longer under the strict rules of the 'grand' Pastor Larry and their father. They're actually allowed to do stuff! Stuff they could only dream of as children! For starters they can now, at the age of fifteen, work for money! And that's just what they are doing now.

Alice Mcathy, their close friend, was currently working with their Aunt Yui for her assistant job meaning that the Mcathy Ranch became short-handed for winter. So the twins, who had experience with this kind of labor, kindly offered to help out, and they were getting paid actual money to help feed and take care of the animals. It was almost insane for the two of them. Still, the money was nice, so when summer came they both had something to spend when they took off with Junior.

'Junior…' Kyoto thought rather sadly. She missed him if he was literally a child the size of a semi. Junior was excitable and bouncy something that threw both Sicily and Kyoto for a loop when they first met him. Junior, more or less, saved them last year when Kyoto accidentally drove their father's truck into a tree off the road. The two weren't in danger, but Junior saw the crash and decided to help them anyway. Still, if it weren't for that then the two of them wouldn't have had the adventure that saved them from marrying Pastor Larry.

"Hey, Kyo! I brought out some drinks!" Kyoto turned her head to see Alice's older brother, Amadeus, coming towards her with a coke can. Once he was close enough, Amadeus tossed the cold can to her, Kyo caught it with ease. She kept the can at arm's length before opening it. As expected it foamed over just a little bit, but that didn't stop her from still drinking the carbonated drink.

Amadeus is a strong handsome man, rugged with impressive muscles, he could probably pick up both of the twins with only one hand. His hair is shaggy and blond, his eyes a light baby blue color that could melt anybody's heart.

"How's my-" Kyoto paused to hiccup "-my sister holding up?"

"She's doing fine with old Bestie." Amadeus smiled at Kyo. Bestie being the oldest cow on the ranch being twenty-eight years old. "Oh, before I forget. Before you two leave today, my parents want new rat-traps put around the chicken coop. Apparently, those little rodents have been getting into the feed again. We have some new sticky and snap traps we need you guys to set up."

"Oh… is there any way we could use live traps?" Kyoto asked him a little weirdly as she took another sip of her drink. Her mind went to Lola, Lola was lucky that the twins had originally found her in a live trap for rats and mice, and not in a snap trap. Lola was their friend and the idea of them accidentally killing one of Lola's many relatives kinda made Kyoto queasy.

"Uh… no. We don't need any of these vermin coming back to eat our chicken feed. Look, if you're queasy about dead animals just know you don't have to dispose of them. Okay?" Amadeus put it plainly with a shrug.

"Y-Yeah…" Kyoto hummed softly as she cast her eyes down to her soda.

"Anyway, I have to get back to work. There's a frost coming tonight and I have to cover the plants up. You got the rest of the hay bales?"

Kyoto looked over to where the Hay bales sat and nodded. "There's only three, I got it."

"Good." With that simple word Amadeus turned and left her back to her work. Kyoto placed her soda down on the ground before grabbing the next hay bale and going to hoist it back up on the bed of the truck.

Sicily cooed softly as she gently rubbed behind Bestie's ear. The old cow seemed to like that the best; she really liked Bestie. Bestie seemed to return the love as she gently rubbed her head against Sicily's chest as a sign of affection. "Oh, if only you could talk, big girl!" Sicily sighed softly. "If rats can talk, then why can't cows?"

"Rats talking?" Sicily nearly jumped out of her cowgirl boots at Amadeus's voice. "If rats can talk then I can safely say I've seen it all!" Amadeus jumped up on the stable railing so he could lean on it comfortably. He gave Sicily a smile that just melted her heart. "So, where are these talking rats?" He asked her the smile never leaving his face.

"I saw a video on Youtube! The rat was really squeaking but it sounded like talking," Sicily lied on the spot. She then turned and grabbed some hay for Bestie making sure to put it in the cow's feed barrel.

"Well good, if I saw an actual talking rat… I'm sure I'd punt kick the little sucker across the field." Amadeus chuckled softly at his own joke. Sicily frowned deeply at the thought of poor Lola being kicked across a field by Amadeus. 'Let's face it, he's so strong he'll destroy her with one kick.' She shuddered at that thought.

"Oh, C'mon! What's with you and Kyo protecting the rats? They're pests! Vermin!"

"They're still animals, Amadeus," Sicily spoke before throwing her arms around Bestie's neck and giving Amadeus the biggest puppy dog eyes she could muster. "What if I said I was going to kill poor Bestie just because she got into the dog food?" She whined to him making sure to pout at the end of her statement.

Amadeus only chuckled once again at her before shaking his head. "There's a difference here, Bestie has given birth to no more than ten calves since she's been on this ranch. Two of them are in the stables over there, therefore she is useful and valuable as an animal. A rat just eats our food. Not so valuable."

This time only Sicily chuckled before giving a shrug of defeat to Amadeus. Finally, Sicily left the stable, and Amadeus jumped down from the railing. "So, listen… are you doing anything this Sunday?" Amadeus asked her softly.

"Let me check my calendar-" She paused for a second before looking at him. "-I'm free. Why?" She asked him. She shoved her hands into her pants pockets and leaned in a little closer to him.

"Well-"

There was a loud and sudden crash somewhere in the back of the barn causing both of them to jump. "Ah, hell!" Amadeus cursed out loud before marching towards the back of the barn, past the four other sables and over to where the ropes, muzzles, and saddles lay. For a moment Sicily almost followed him but stopped when she saw something bright red go rushing towards Bestie's stall. 'A fox?!... I don't remember them being that red…' While Amadeus continued to inspect. Sicily fell back before turning around; she then peeked inside Bestie's stable. Bestie was unfazed as she was just eating her food as normal, but in the corner of her stable, curled up in a ball, was a small humanoid creature.

"Ludwig?" Sicily whispered once she recognized who it was.

"I don't know what caused it…" Amadeus scratched the back of his head.

"A fox! A fox! I just saw it!" Sicily quickly made up. Amadeus's eyes widened at that. "It went out the stable!"

"Crap! We can't lose another chicken! I'll be back!" With that Amadeus took off running towards the house. Sicily didn't know why- maybe to get a gun- or maybe to get to his father. Either way, she didn't care as she jumped into Bestie's stall. Carefully she walked over to Ludwig, the poor imp looked scared as he just continued to shake violently in the corner of the stall.

"Ludwig, what are you doing here?" She questioned softly. Ludwig didn't respond he just continued to shake and shiver. Sicily didn't know what to do as she watched Ludwig behave so uncharastically. Then she heard Kyoto's voice call out to her.

"Sicily? What's going on-"

"Kyo! Get over here!" She waved her arm in the air to show Kyoto where she was.

"Is that Ludwig!?" Kyoto jumped the rails instantly and hurried over to the two of them. The two twins got down on their knees so as not to startle the little imp. Sicily could feel the hay dig into her exposed knees uncomfortably but she put her own minor discomfort to the side as she reached out to touch Ludwig's wings.

"Don't touch Ludwig!" Ludwig hissed loudly as he suddenly got on his haunches and hissed at Sicily. "Ludwig has seen things!"

"Is that why you came to us?" Kyo asked him softly as her eyes darted over to Sicily. Sicily only shrugged at Kyo in response. Ludwig gave a sudden shudder in response as he kept his eyes down cast at the ground.

"Ludwig didn't 'Come to you' Ludwig just flew. He stopped here to rest… Ludwig had no idea you were here." Ludwig rubbed his forearms uneasily as his lips tightened as an uncomfortable memory seemed to come to him.

"Ludwig what-"

Here a loud click behind the two of them they both snapped their heads up as Amadeus now had his dad's shotgun in his hands and aimed it right at Ludwig. "Girls! Move!" He ordered with gritted teeth. "I don't know what the hell that thing is! But it's not welcome here!"

Both Kyo and Sicily stood and in perfect sync they stood in front of Ludwig, protecting him from Amadeus. "Don't shoot him! He's our friend, Amadeus!" Sicily was the first to speak up loudly against Amadeus. Amadeus raised his eyebrows at her but didn't drop his father's gun. Instead, he kept it pointed in Ludwig's direction. "Put the gun down! Please! We'll explain everything…" Sicily bravely put her hand on the gun's barrel and forced it down towards the ground. "Please… Amadeus… just listen to us on this…"

Amadeus's eyes darted from Kyo to Sicily before settling on Ludwig who was still shaking the corner. "You have five minutes to explain what the hell that is!" Amadeus threatened as he shook his fist at Ludwig threateningly.

"We will, I promise… but, uh, before we explain there's something you need to know. Alice already knows all of this…" Kyo explained quickly. Amadeus moved the shotgun up so the barrel was now resting on his shoulder and his hand was off of the trigger.

"Why does that not surprise me? Alright, tell me what you told my sister."

After an explanation that took more than the five-minute limit that Amadeus had given them. Amadeus was left stroking his peach fuzz. "So, let me get this straight… that thing is an imp, you found him while riding on the back of a baby dragon, and you befriended a talking rat on top of it all?" Amadeus questioned loudly.

"I know it sounds absurd-" Sicily tried to reason but Amadeus only gave a hearty laugh in response.

"Oh, little lady, we passed absurd at talking baby dragon!"

"Junior isn't a baby… he's six." Kyo shrugged.

"Fine. Talking toddler dragon." Amadeus shrugged. He then used his father's shotgun to point (not aim) at Ludwig. "So, what's Satan's little helper doing here then?" Ludwig snarled at Amadeus in response before hopping on Kyo's shoulder like a parrot. Kyo almost lost her balance at that, this imp was heavy!

"No clue…" Kyo groaned as she made sure to give a glare to Ludwig in response. "Ludwig, you never did tell us what you saw. Why were you running away?"

"Kyo! You lived there, haven't you? I mean we ran away. Is it so hard to believe that an Imp wouldn't do the same after a while?" Sicily asked her sister as she placed both of her hands on her hips in a mocking fashion. Kyo laughed in response to her sister before giving her head a good shake. Amadeus suddenly leaned down so he was face to face with Ludwig.

"You gonna say somethin', Imp?" Amadeus demanded with an obvious growl in his voice. Ludwig bared his teeth at Amadeus in response.

"Ludwig saw a giant monster!" Ludwig snapped at Amadeus before focusing on the twins. "Giant monster! It caused the sky to go black! It destroyed the village!"

"What?!" Both twins gasped out at the news.

"Oh, yes! I watched the fire leave its large jaws! It incinerated everything in its path!"

Even Amadeus seemed stuck for words as he just stood there looking back and forth at the two twins. Both Kyo and Sicily reached for each other's hands more or less out of comfort than anything. "F-Fire? That thing is a dragon?"

"Yes! A dragon of the darkest hue! He blocked the light and attacked! He spoke in a deep voice that seemed to shake the walls!"

"Okay, wait wait! Girls! You told me that this...thing plays pranks on people. How do you two know that this isn't just a lie?" Amadeus spoke simply as the voice of reason. Both twins opened their mouth to defend Ludwig in some way, but they both quickly shut their mouths upon realizing that Amadeus had a point. So, they both just resorted to looking at Ludwig accusingly.

"Ludwig is not lying! Ludwig swears on his seven siblings! Ludwig would not lie about this! Even us imps have standards!" Ludwig snapped back at Amadeus accusingly. "Ludwig can prove he isn't lying! Go to the village!"

"Ludwig, we can't go back there! Not after-" Sicily tried to reason, but Kyo cut her off just as quickly.

"-Wait… he has a point. We should go back. See for ourselves."

"But what if this is a lie?" Amadeus was the first to ask.

"Ludwig just said he wouldn't lie about this!" Ludwig huffed in annoyance at Amadeus he then crossed his arms like an upset child before pouting like one as well.

"What if the monster is still here?" Sicily brought to everyone's attention very quickly. "I really don't want to mess with whatever Ludwig just described!"

"Ludwig believes the monster to be gone. Ludwig was knocked out, you see! When he awoke the darkness was gone!"

There was a moment of heavy silence between everyone as they all seemed to weigh this on their minds. Amadeus rested the shotgun barrel on his shoulder once again before pursing his lips to the side in thought. "Okay. Let's do it." Amadeus finally shrugged. "I'll drive."

"Amadeus! It's dangerous. What if the monster isn't gone?" Sicily asked him. Amadeus only smirked in response to Sicily.

"Why do you think I said I'll drive? Ain't nobody ever outdrove me!" His southern drawl coming in all of a sudden. He then picked up the shotgun off of the ground. "Besides, those buncha bible thumpers live insanely close to us. Our town might be next on this monster's hit list and if that thing isn't lying we need to see the damage that this big beast does." Amadeus held the shotgun tightly in his grip. "But there is one question on my mind… who do we tell? We can't just go to the cops, can we?"

"No. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it… Ludwig," Kyo looked at Imp who was still resting on her shoulder like a deranged parrot. "You don't have to come if you don't want too, sweetie."

"... No… Ludwig wants to come. Ludwig needs to see the damage this beast has caused for himself."