Chapter 3 – The Strange Village
As dusk was settling in, the dragons searched endlessly in the Fuji Five Lakes for a place to set up their village. Unfortunately, there seemed to be no such luck, and they were feeling exhausted.
"This is getting hopeless," sighed Draco. "My feet are killing me and my wings hurt."
"Patience, Draco," soothed Cynder. "If we can't find a place before sundown, we might as well set up camp once again."
"We might as well do that then," said Percival. "Besides, all this walking is making me hungry, and I need something to regain my strength."
Just then, Torden noticed something in the distance. "Guys, we won't have to worry about building a village now!" he exclaimed. "Look what's over there ahead!"
When the dragons turned around, they see a small village with six huts, which was efficient enough for the group. There doesn't seem to be anyone inhabiting the village as the place appeared to be empty.
"It's a village," said Percival. "And it looks like no one's living here."
"We did it!" cheered Lily excitedly. "We finally found a place to live! Come on, friends, let's go and check it out!"
Feeling happier from the find, the dragons made their way to the abandoned village. Cynder didn't follow them, as she felt that it was too good to be true.
"Hold it, you guys," she said. "There is something strange about this setup."
"Are you kidding?" laughed Lily. "The village looks totally safe! I don't see anything wrong with it!"
"I'm not sure," replied Cynder. "I have a bad feeling about this."
"Don't be ridiculous, Cynder," said Torden as he checked out the inside of the huts. "It's got everything we needed, there's a place to cook, it's close to a lake where we can take a dip, oh, and check this out! This hut has got a library, and we all know how much you love reading books!"
"Come, Cynder!" called Darky. "This isn't so bad once you take a look around!"
"Oh, alright then," conceded Cynder as she joined her friends in the village, but she is still suspicious. The village just happened to be situated in the forest, with nobody inhabiting the place, catering everything they all could ever enjoy, so she felt that somehow, it could probably be a trap.
So the dragons settled in the strange village. Each dragon picked their own hut, while Cynder chose the one with the library. Pretty soon, she started to have second opinions about the village, and thought it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. By now when evening came, it was time for dinner, and Lily prepared some gyoza, takoyaki, and ramen, thanks to the recipes she was provided by Yosuke and Akio the other day they stayed at their house after saving Narita City from the blackout.
"Boy, are we lucky that Yosuke and Akio showed you how to cook all this food, Lily!" exclaimed Draco as he helped himself to one dumpling. "I can't get enough of these gyoza, they're as delicious as dim sums!"
Lily smiled modestly. "It makes me happy when I make others happy," she said to Draco. "It's what I am good at after all!"
"When it comes to food, you certainly are quite the chef!" complimented Darky.
"Thank you, Darky!" replied Lily delightfully. "Just wait until dessert when I serve you all some of most scrumptious sweets you have ever tasted!"
"I can hardly wait for dessert," said Torden.
Sure enough, when Lily prepared some sweet pretzels, everyone was enjoying them. Draco was having his helping, when a thought suddenly struck in him. Suddenly feeling very glum, he pushed back his pretzel and started to mope.
"My, oh my, that chocolate glaze surely melts in your mouth!" exclaimed Percival.
"I'm happy that you think so, Percival," smiled Lily. She turned to Draco. "What do you think of my pretzels, Draco?"
Draco didn't answer. He just sighed pitifully, got off his seat, and walked out of the village. The other dragons could only look on in confusion.
"What's the matter with Draco?" asked Lily. "Surely he would have liked my pretzels, wouldn't he?"
"I don't think it's the pretzels, Lily," replied Cynder. "Something else must be bothering him, and I'm going to find out what it is."
Cynder got off her seat and followed Draco out to the forest. There she saw him staring at the lake with his head hung so low. She could tell that he was feeling very depressed, and she could guess what it was that caused it.
"You're feeling sad, aren't you, Draco?" asked Cynder.
Draco didn't reply and continued looking on at the lake.
"It's because of Bowser being brainwashed by the Pyre Squad, isn't it?" pried Cynder.
"I wish I knew what happened that made him end up attacking us," replied Draco sadly, remembering the horrifying event. "The look he made when he came after us was just… I never imagined he would look at us like that…"
"There, there, Draco," soothed Cynder as she hugged him. "I understand what you're feeling right at this moment, because the Bowser we saw just wasn't the Bowser we knew."
Jakkin came to see what was going on. "Is everythin' alright, you guys?" he asked.
"Everything's fine, Jakkin," replied Cynder. "Draco's just feeling upset because of what happened to Bowser."
Jakkin sat down and rocket Draco gently. "I feel for you, dude," he said. "We promise we'll try to find a way to make him come back once we found out what caused him to attack us."
Cynder looked up to the night sky. "I'm beginning to doubt that the Pyre Squad has something to do with him being brainwashed," she said, looking back to her previous meditation. "There's something out there that is much more dangerous than them, and it could be a possibility that it might be the cause of Bowser's unusual behaviour. Whatever the case, we're going to get him back to normal for sure."
"I could certainly hope so," replied Draco, feeling somewhat better.
Soon afterwards, Cynder, Jakkin, and Draco returned to the village where the other dragons were waiting for them. Cynder explained everything to them, and they felt sorry for their Charizard friend. Lily offered him a couple of pretzels, to which he accepted.
"Thanks very much for the pretzels, Lily," said Draco slowly. "Those are very delicious."
"Anything to bring you back on your feet," replied Lily. "I know how you must feel about having a close friend end up becoming a slave to the bad guys, but we must not let that get the better of us, since there's always a way everything can be resolved."
"Lily's right, Draco," said Torden. "And at least you have us, so as long as we stay together, nothing can be impossible for us to overcome."
"Well, I guess we all have to start getting ourselves ready to sleep," said Cynder, noticing how late it was by now. "Tomorrow should hopefully be a much better, and we'll try to plan our next move."
"Yes, we should," agreed Percival. "But what are we going to do about Bowser and the Pyre Squad if they come here?"
"Not to worry," said Cynder. "If they try to attack us in our sleep, let's try not to face them by ourselves, but alert each other so that we can try to work together as a team to keep them at bay. With Bowser, we'll try to avoid him for the time being until we find a way to restore him back."
Percival looked around at the village. Already he felt somewhat of a slight chill and wondered about what Cynder thought at first about the village. "Do you really think there's something strange about the village?" he asked.
"I don't know for sure," replied Cynder ominously. "But we must be cautious, because it was just too good to be true that would find a village in the middle of nowhere that is conveniently without any inhabitants."
Cynder looked out from the village with a grim expression on her face. Much as she wanted to believe that the village was safe, she could still sense that there was danger approaching, remembering that explosion during the fight with Bowser and the Pyre Squad. She knew that the blast that triggered it was a type of breath that belonged to some kind of dragon, and suspects that it is out there and would stop at nothing to ensure that they are destroyed.