The following chapters are about...well, read them, then you'll know! Who can escape Word's newly revealed plan? Mwahahahaha...ha...

Chapter 6: The Downfall of Dragon City: Part I

Moordryd checked the time again. Five more minutes. Decepshun slowed down and stopped at the Dragon Eye tent at the track in Mid City. Moordryd smiled. His father would be pleased. Cain rode up beside him.

"She caught up. Again." He said, referring to Kitt. Moordryd looked behind him and tried to see past the mill of people preparing for the race. Cain noticed this. "She's not here yet…"

"Then she didn't technically catch up, did she?" Moordryd interrupted.

"Uh, no." At Moordryd's glare Cain continued in his defense. "But she'll be here soon."

"When?"

"A few minutes, if we underestimate her."

"Good." Moordryd said. Cain looked at his boss questioningly. "We wouldn't want her to miss her race now, would we?"

"Course not." Cain said and grinned.

"The black shadow draconium can wait till after the race. The important thing is the Dragon Booster won't be haunting our steps anymore." Moordryd patted the box which held the dangerous samples. Then he paused as if in thought, and continued, "did you happen to see Artha Penn?"

"Where?"

"At the Shadow Track with the other brats! Where else?" Moordryd haughtily shot back. Kitt had been there and the rest of the Penn Racing Crew. If Artha had been there, he wouldn't make it back in time for the race. Cain was undaunted by Moordryd's tone and narrowed his eyes in deep reflection.

"Well, I remember seeing Kitt," he mused while Moordryd sighed in exasperation, "and the little kid and the professor. But…" Cain scratched his head, "Penn wasn't there."

Moordryd dwelled on that thought. "Have you ever seen him with the other brats and the Dragon Booster?" Cain shook his head slowly, going through each of their meetings with the hero and trying to recollect whether Penn had been there or not.

"Strange." Moordryd said, then laughed.

"What?" Cain asked, not grasping what was so funny.

"Penn must be a bigger yellow-bellied newt then we thought. If he won't even help his friends stop me and my father…what does he do? Stay home?"

"But if he wasn't there, he'll be here for the race. And Decepshun's energy is pretty low." Cain pointed out. Moordryd glared at him. "And if Kitt races…"

"I'll just have to beat both of them, won't I?" Moordryd tapped Decepshun lightly on her head, and she lowered her head to let him dismount easily. Cain watched as Moordryd hefted the box in his hand. "Call Swayy, Blarre and Rancydd. Have them guard the tent. The box stays in there until I can get it to my father." Cain nodded in approval and activated his VIDD-screen to contact Blarre. Before Moordryd was able to take more than one step towards the tent, his wrist-comm blinked.

"What now?" He muttered. He really needed to get to the race. His father appeared in the screen, not surprising Moordryd. He knew his father would be anxious to hear of the day's events.

Word paused and looked past his son, noticing that he was in Mid City. "Where's the Dragon Booster?" He said with an anticipating smile spreading across his face.

"Where do you think?" Moordryd replied. "Trapped, just as you planned." Word frowned at his son's arrogant attitude.

"And the draconium?"

"With me." Moordryd replied. Word's frown turned into a smile once again. Moordryd hesitated before continuing. "You should really stop doubting me. It was easy."

"I'm sure it was." Word said sarcastically. "Bring the draconium to me now."

"But I'm racing now." Moordryd said through gritted teeth.

"No, you're standing and talking to me. Bring it to me right now. There is no race."

"No race?" Moordryd queried. He looked around. Not too far away, by the Grip of the Dragon's tent, was Phistus. He mounted his dragon and headed for the track. Moordryd then glanced at the Flare of the Dragon tent. Pyrrah was having her dragon mag on some red thruster gear. Probably high level thruster gear. He heard someone grunt in disapproval, and saw Wulph ride by on Hyve, who spared the time to look at Moordryd and Cain the way he would at a slug. Cain sneered back. They, amongst all the other racers, were preparing for the race and were headed to the track.

"Racers to the starting gate! Race time is less than 30 seconds away folks! Get ready for one of the fastest, most challenging…" Race Marshall Budge droned on in his usual excitement filled announcements.

"The race is about to start!" Moordryd loudly said into his wrist-comm.

"Hardly. Now that the Dragon Booster is gone, my plans can go unchallenged." Word said. Moordryd remembered what Armaggeddon had said. With the Dragon Booster gone, his father would accelerate his plans. His scorching voice still lingered in his ears. There is not enough time, I fear, for what we must accomplish.

"What plans?" Moordryd asked worriedly. His father's plans might get in the way of his own.

"Moordryd, you must remember to thank me later."

"For what?"

"For giving you the opportunity to remain unharmed by my plot." Moordryd looked at his father's gleeful eyes. "Mag off all gear Decepshun has on her."

"Why?"

"Because, for the past few years, I have planted mind control devices in each piece of gear Paynn Incorporated has sold. My company is the largest gear producers on the entire planet. Thousands have my gear."

Moordryd was taken aback. "You're going to…"

"Yes. Within seconds, I will have thousands of wraiths at my beck and call." Word said, delighted with himself. "And my wraiths will come and capture those humans and dragons who have managed to be unharmed by my plan with mind control gear. Very few will evade this fate."

"But why didn't you do this last week or last month?" Moordryd questioned.

"Because, the Dragon Booster wasn't destroyed. I couldn't have him rising an army of dragons that haven't yet been affected by my gear. The Dragon of Legend truly is power. He may have been able to stop my army."

"How could he possibly have stopped thousands of wraiths?"

"Never underestimate your enemies, Moordryd Paynn. Remember that." Word lectured. Moordryd silently promised he would. Never again would he underestimate his father.

"Why now though?" Moordryd persisted in questioning his father. This was all happening too fast. The war would begin within minutes. He didn't have enough time to train or to carefully lay out his plans. Armaggeddon was right. Things were really happening too fast.

"Moordryd, what is happening in Dragon City today?"

"Thousands are going to turn into wraiths?"

"Besides that."

"I was supposed to race?"

Word rolled his eyes and sighed as he put a single claw to his forehead. "The final elite race is today. The final race for their season." He barked as he looked at his son in frustration. "Do you know how many people flock to these races? Hundreds, possibly thousands. All final races for all levels of the academy and elite racers are today. And it is on this day, that all these dragons are using gear. No other day has this many dragons using gear at the same time. Even those not racing, put gear on their dragons in the spirit of the event." It was true, Moordryd had to agree with him. The city streets were jammed. Cain and him had spent nearly an hour in total simply waiting for the streets to clear and for standstills to ease up as they came back into Mid City. The most exciting races all season were happening now, and people from all over came to see it, as they did nearly every year.

"Unmag all your gear and bring the draconium to me." Word said, now getting impatient. "Do not be late." And with those final words of warning, Word terminated the connected and Moordryd's screen died. Moordryd stared at his wrist-comm, then looked up to Cain. Cain had a mortified expression on his face and stared back at Moordryd. They were both thinking the same thing. The war was about to start. It was Blarre's impatient whining from Cain's VIDD-screen - he had been calling her and had evidently left her hanging as he listened to Word - that snapped Moordryd out of his shock. Hesitation was a killer.

"Unmag all gear, now!" He shouted and Decepshun and Coershun quickly complied. Their gear clattered as it hit the ground. "Cain, tell everyone else to unmag all gear as well." Moordryd said. Cain nodded and tried to explain the situation as best he could to Blarre. Moordryd sighed in relief as Cain nodded to him to indicate that she had obeyed the urgent orders. "Call the others." It was an order not needed, as Cain already had Swayy on his screen. Decepshun magged Moordryd into the saddle.

"Last call for racers Moordryd, Artha, Kitt and Cain. Last call." Budge's voice commanded. Moordryd then realized nearly everyone was looking in his direction, Budge included. "Last call." he said directly to Moordryd from his platform. It was highly unusual for so many racers to miss such an important race. The crowd buzzed with questions, and the people that could see Moordryd looked at him in puzzlement. What kind of racer unmagged all his gear and refused to take notice of the race?

Cain was preoccupied with his vital mission, and didn't notice. But as Moordryd's eyes grazed the crowd and the plentiful amount of dragons that held gear, he couldn't help but feel remorse and guilt at what was to happen to them all. Unable to move of their own free will, they would remain captured forever, prisoners in their own bodies.

"Cain, just…round up the Dragon Eyes and have them all stay in Squire's End. All of them." Cain nodded absently without taking his eyes from the screen. With luck, he would be able to contact all the Dragon Eyes in time. Moordryd turned and shook his head at Budge and the entire crowd before racing off with Decepshun to his father's citadel. As they all looked on in confusion, it happened.

Moordryd urged Decepshun to go faster, with the hope of outrunning the screams that now rose all around him.

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Kitt groaned at the mill of people. They crowded against each other, each weaving their own way to the tracks. The people down here were either the ones who couldn't afford to see the elite races, or had come too late and found all seats taken. The congestion had to be near three times as bad in Sun City. She reached the crew tents. She was sure Moordryd and Cain had gone this way.

She just had to get that draconium. She had called Connor as soon as she had left Parm and Lance. He had worriedly said that he needed to talk to Lance and Parm to figure out a way to get Artha out, but he stayed in contact with her long enough to tell her that it would be disastrous if Word got those samples. The black shadow draconium from the track was very dangerous and held too many mysteries. He feared what would happen if Word uncovered some.

Wyldfyr had raced through the wreckage of the lost city, following the deep tracks Decepshun and Coershun had left behind in their flight. But when she was close enough to see the dust trail they kicked up, Moordryd had mag blasted a huge pile of crumbled statues. They fell across her path, and she was forced to go around the pile, which took longer than she had anticipated. By that time, Moordryd and Cain had a great lead.

Mentally she blamed herself for not being fast enough to aid Artha in the Shadow Track. She also blamed herself for losing Moordryd. But blaming the crowd swarming around her wouldn't help. They didn't realize what was happening. She had only herself to blame.

She noticed Wulph ride by on Hyve. He offered her a slight smile, signaling how competitive the race would be. She forced a grin for him. He headed to the track while she surveyed the tents. She wouldn't be racing today. Neither would Artha, Moordryd or Cain.

She let Wyldfyr pick his way carefully through the crowd. Suddenly, three rambunctious kids ran right in front of him, and Wyldfyr tossed his head as he abruptly stopped. "Hey! Watch where you're going!" She shouted to them as Wyldfyr calmed down. Only the last child - a short, blue haired kid - had the sense to slow down and mumble an apology. Then he dashed after his friends. As Kitt watched him go and the direction he took, she spotted them. Way in the distance, near the Dragon Eye tent, sat Moordryd and Cain on their dragons. "Ugh!" She groaned. That should have been one of the first places she looked.

She tried maneuvering Wyldfyr through the throng of people, but soon found it hopeless. The race would start in less than a minute, and all the people had seemingly waited till the last minute to get a seat. "Get out of the way!" She called down. Only a few spared her a glare for her troubles. No one else paid any attention.

Budge's voice babbled over the speakers. "Last call for racers Moordryd, Artha, Kitt and Cain. Last call."

"Move it!" She yelled at the nearly immobile crowd before her. Some, this time, glanced up at her. Even fewer recognized her, and tried to get others to move out of the way too. Rapidly, the word spread through that she was a racer, and more people obliged to clear a way for her.

"Last call." Budge announced. Kitt was heading through the crowd quicker now. She looked again for Moordryd. He was still there. He climbed back into Decepshun's saddle, and shook his head at Budge. Kitt sneered. She had to get that draconium before he gave it to Word. But Moordryd was the last person she expected to skip a race. Why didn't he race first, then give it to Word? Or get one of his crew members to transport it to Word? That was what she almost expected to happen. Moordryd then raced off, nearly running over people who weren't fast enough to jump out of the way. She prepared to give chase, but then she heard Wyldfyr scream.

"Wha?" She gasped. Wyldfyr roared as if in pain. He pitched his head, nearly throwing her from the saddle. All around her came roars and cries of protest from the dragons. She looked Wyldfyr over, he looked alright, but…the red thruster gear was acting strange. As she looked on in horror, she realized what was making him, and all the other dragons act so strange.

Right in front of her eyes, the gear's colours abruptly changed. They slowly melted together to a dull purple and black. Her dragon's colour began to change, turning to a dark purple and black. The rapid transformation began from the gear and spread outward on her dragon. Wyldfyr's eyes then turned a dull yellow, and Kitt felt the alteration creep into her arms. She gasped as her ability to move was impaired. Slowly, the world began to turn to a deep purple hue while her mind started to fog up. Dimly, she noticed Moordryd racing directly to her on Decepshun.