Chapter 4 – Kidnapped!
Draco, Lily, and Darky panicked, and they raced out of the house to catch Flora. They could not let anything bad happen to her as they knew that they would be in even more trouble.
"Come back here, Flora!" cried Lily. "It's too dangerous!"
"Let's split up and track her down!" said Draco. "That way, we can be able to catch her easily before she gets hurt!"
Lily flinched at the thought of that. "What will Aunt Iris and Uncle Linden say if they return and found Flora missing?" she wondered. "And if they see the wreckage in the house, oh boy, this will not be good for me."
"They'll be cross with all of us," said Draco. "So we better hurry as fast as we can!"
The three dragons split up and searched around the perimeter of the cottage hoping to find Flora, but to no avail. The baby dragoness was nowhere in sight. Soon, the dragons regrouped as they anxiously looked everywhere.
"Where could she be?" asked Lily.
"I don't know," said Draco. "She was here the instant she went out of the house, and then, she just vanished, which I find very odd as it would impossible for her to go that far in a short amount of time."
They continued their search for Flora. Just then, Darky noticed something peculiar in the distance.
"Draco, Lily, look over there!" he exclaimed. "I think that must be her!"
The two dragons checked what Darky saw and there they saw a baby dragoness, presumably Flora, sitting still on her own. This seemed to be right moment they needed to be able to catch her.
"Try not to make a sound, you guys," warned Lily. "We want her to suspect nothing so that she can be easy to catch."
"Got it," said Draco and Darky.
With that, the three dragons crept silently and stealthily towards Flora, who was still sitting very quietly and gazing out to the sun. They were confused at the sudden change of behaviour, but they figured that they could be able to catch her unawares.
"Stay where you are, Flora," said Draco. "We'll get you back home."
Judging his moment, Draco leapt towards the baby dragon and managed to hold her in his grasp.
"Alright, you did it, Draco!" exclaimed Lily and Darky.
Draco got up as he held onto Flora. "Thought you could get away, don't you?" he asked. "Well, the fun's over, and it's time for you to get some sleep, so…"
It seemed as if Draco's words failed him, but just when he was in the middle of lecturing Flora, her head detached from the body and fell to the ground. Draco gasped in shock and realised that he was not carrying Flora, but a dummy replica of her. Lily and Darky were puzzled when they saw what just happened.
"What's going on?" asked Lily, feeling just as shocked as she stared at the fallen head of the dummy.
"This isn't Flora!" shrieked Draco. "We've been duped! What kind of sick, twisted miscreants would dare to pull a cruel prank like that?"
"You must be referring to us!" called three familiar voices.
"Oh, no, not them again," grumbled Draco.
Sure enough, there was the Pyre Squad, and they sneered maliciously at Draco, Lily, and Darky while carrying Flora in a cage.
"I bet you're looking for this little baby," said Ciara. "Well, you're too late! She's ours now!"
"You three!" burst out Lily. "Give her back, or you'll be in so much trouble!"
"I'm so scared," laughed Ciara. "You want the kid? Come and get her!"
Furiously, Lily raced towards the Pyre Squad, but just as she could attack them, a cloud of smoke suddenly burst in front of them, covering Draco, Lily, and Darky who were choking uncontrollably.
"If you want to get the kid back," called Scorcher. "Try searching for our hideout, if you could ever find it!"
"Yeah, see if you can find us at the Lake Biwa," said Cronk. "You'll never be able to tell where we are!"
"So long, suckers!" jeered the Pyre Squad and they quickly got away with the captive Flora before the smoke could clear.
Draco, Lily, and Darky continued choking and sputtering until the smoke completely dissipated. Once they recovered, the dragons looked around for the Pyre Squad and Flora. Unfortunately, they were nowhere in sight.
"This is bad," said Lily as she fell to her knees and lowered her head. "They're gone and Flora's been kidnapped!"
"We failed as babysitters," said Draco sadly. "It's our fault that we let Flora fly out of the house."
Lily still had her head lowered, but then she raised it back up with a determined look on her face. "We got to rescue Flora from the Pyre Squad," she said solemnly. "And we better get her back home fast before Uncle Linden and Aunt Iris return."
"How are we going to do that?" asked Darky.
"You heard what they said, little brother," said Draco. "They're hiding somewhere in the Lake Biwa, and we should be able to locate the place with the help of our smartphones."
"Draco, you're a lifesaver," smiled Lily. "Quickly now, check how far away Lake Biwa is from Minabe Village."
Draco took out his smartphone and looked up the location of Lake Biwa.
"Oh, looks like we've lucked out!" he exclaimed. "Lake Biwa is just to the northeast of Kyoto City!"
"In that case, we might have plenty of time to spare!" said Lily, brightly. "I mean, it doesn't take us that long to fly from our village at the Ise-Shima National Park to Kyoto."
"Yes, of course," said Draco. "We can save Flora, get her back home, and clean up the house before your aunt and uncle get back."
"Alright, let's get a move on!" urged Lily. "There's no time to lose, boys!"
While Darky climbed on Draco's back, Lily spread her wings and took off like a shot towards the horizon. Quickly, Draco got his wings ready and followed Lily. Together, they flew straight for Lake Biwa where they hope to find the Pyre Squad's hideout and save Flora from the troublesome trio.