A/N: Another chapter, wee! Also, I'm gonna stick with Matt's POV from here on out. I'll switch to Tai in a later chapter, but only for a brief portion. Enjoy~

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story, Shadow, & Night.

Dragon Spirit

Chapter 3

I was woken early the next morning by Night, who was gently shaking my shoulder so as not to make me tumble out of the tree. I blinked my blue eyes open to look at him, and then noticed a faint blue glow coming from my neck. Glancing down, I realized it was the pendant Tai had given me last night.

"Friendship, huh?" I murmured, and looked at Night.

"Sleep well?" he smirked.

"Surprisingly, yes," I replied. "Why?"

"Because you were mumbling Taichi's name in your sleep," he grinned. I gaped at him.

"Seriously?!" I gasped. He nodded with a cheeky grin.

"Almost woke him up, too," the silver dragon chuckled. I scowled at my partner.

"Just don't say anything to him or Shadow about it, dumbass," I grumbled. "I don't need this, I really don't."

"No worries, Yamato. I was just giving you grief," Night smirked. "I'll stop for now, though."

"Damn right you will," I growled, and then slung my legs over the edge of the branch I had slept on. "Come on, let's get the other two up. We need to swing by our soon-to-be-vacated home before anyone else discovers it."

"True," he nodded, and copied me, dropping out of the tree to land beside me. I went inside the tent Tai was in, shaking his shoulder with one hand.

"Tai, wake up. We need to go soon," I said, and he mumbled something unintelligible before rolling over with his back to me and going back to sleep. Annoyed, I hollered, "WAKE UP!" in his ear.

"WAAAHH!" he wailed, bolting upright and looking about wildly. When he finally registered there was no danger, though, he gave me a sheepish look. "Sorry…"

"It's fine, just learn to be a lighter sleeper," I advised. A sudden indignant yelp had us look outside at our partners. Night was pointing and laughing at Shadow, who was wet and scowling at the silver dragon for some reason. "Night, what did you do?" I sighed.

"Nothing!" he said too quickly, attempting to look innocent.

"Nothing my ass," I scoffed.

"He soaked me with a water ball!" Shadow snapped, glowering at my friend.

"Night, I know you like to cause trouble, but that was stupid," I told him. "Apologize."

"Fine… Sorry for soaking you," Night mumbled, looking slightly ashamed of his actions.

"It's fine, just wake me up in a kinder manner next time," Shadow replied, using some of his fire magic to dry himself off.

"So, when are we heading out?" I asked Tai, looking back at him as he crawled out from his tent. "'Cause I'm ready when you are."

"Oh, I'll be ready soon, I just need to pack up my stuff," he grinned. He slid back into his tent and changed, emerging in a clean set of clothes when he was done. Shadow buried the ashes from the fire pit from last night while Night and I waited patiently against a tree trunk for the pair to finish getting ready. I was about ready to fish out my harmonica from my small pack when I heard Tai. "Okay, all set to go!" I looked with Night and saw the pair together, Shadow as a black horse and Tai riding on his back.

"You're gonna travel like that?" I criticized. Upon seeing their confused looks, I rubbed Night's head and told him, "Show 'em."

The silver dragon quickly climbed down from my shoulder and shifted from his normal 1 ½ feet tall to 13 feet tall, his appearance shifting as well to become more like an eastern dragon. His neck became longer, his muzzle becoming more slender, and his wings became larger to accommodate his larger size. His eyes became reptilian ones, keeping the silver as the whites of his eyes, and gaining black, fang-shaped pupils. When he finished shifting, I climbed onto his back, sitting close to the back of his neck and in front of his wings.

"And this is how we travel," I smirked, and Night leapt up into the sky, opening his wings and gliding in a spiral until he landed lightly in the clearing. "Haven't you ever tried it?" I asked.

"To be honest, we haven't," Tai admitted, flushing with embarrassment. "I've been so concerned with people discovering Shadow's a dragon outside of my hometown that I didn't want to risk it."

"Well, don't worry about it while in the air," Night said. "We're too high up for anyone to identify or even see us."

"True enough," Shadow agreed. "And Night and I have such great vision that we can see where we're able to land before being spotted."

"We can't travel by air to our stash, though, because we'll have to stay close to the ground or else we won't be able to land safely," I added. "So for now, we'll travel by foot." Night shifted into a silver horse beneath me, and I led the way to Night and my stash.

"So, how far out there is this place, Matt?" Tai asked as we traveled.

"Not too far," I answered. "It's near the cliffs, but it's hidden."

"How so?"

"I cast a spell on it to disguise it as part of the cliff face. Even if someone leans on it, they won't know it's there because of the barrier," I explained.

"Wait, you know magic?" the brunette gasped.

"Yeah, I had Night teach me a bit after I had an incident that revealed I could use magic," I answered.

"Do you think you could teach me?" he questioned eagerly, his brown eyes shining.

"Only if you have the capability," I chuckled. "I don't know if you can, is all. We'll try later tonight once we've set up camp."

"Awesome," Tai grinned. Out of nowhere, an explosion rang out in the forest, sounding from the cliffs.

"Fuck!" I swore, and Night galloped onward, streaking to the cliffs. Tai and Shadow soon caught up, and the brunette looked at me worriedly.

"What's wrong?" he demanded.

"Did you not hear that explosion?!" I snapped. "It came from the cliffs! Some fucking idiots must have discovered there was a spell blocking a portion of it and decided to blow up the area until the spell breaks!"

"What are we gonna do?" Shadow asked as he galloped alongside us. My expression hardened.

"We'll have to kill them all," Night answered for me. Tai gasped.

"What?! We can't kill them! We'll be in deep shit if we do!" he protested.

"We can't have them reporting back to whoever their boss is, or else more people will come!" I growled. "Have any other bright ideas?"

"What about taking as much as you can and leaving anything worthless behind?" he suggested. Thinking on it, I realized I could pull it off.

"Okay, but we'll need to stop before we reach the cliffs. This is gonna take a little magic," I agreed. Our new traveling companions nodded, and we slowed down about a quarter of a mile before the cliffs. Once we stopped, I climbed off Night's back and reached around to my pack. Muttering a few words, I cast an expansion spell on it, allowing it to hold whatever I needed to and more.

"What was that spell?" Shadow asked.

"An expansion one," Night replied. "He expanded his pack to hold everything we need from our stash."

"Good idea," Tai nodded. We had Shadow and Night shift back to their dragon forms, and then we approached the edge of the forest before the cliffs. I glared heavily as we watched several people, including some miners, set up the dynamite for another explosion. Night growled quietly, and I silently climbed up a tree, thinking about the best way to clear them out without any casualties. There wasn't any way to avoid fighting, so we might as well fight them out of there. I relayed my plan to Tai and Shadow, and they looked upset, but agreed. Once that was settled, I pulled my cloth mask out from my pack and put it on, concealing my mouth and nose, and then handed one to Tai.

"What's this for?" he whispered.

"So they don't recognize you if we encounter them later on," I answered, pulling my hood from my shirt over my blonde hair. It was a hooded shirt I always wore, and I was grateful I had it right now. "Cover your hair somehow," I advised the brunette. "Otherwise you'll be recognized later, too." He nodded and pulled a helmet out from his own pack, slipping it on and completely covering his face and hair. I took back the second cloth mask when he handed it to me, and then we stood from where we hid. He drew out his katana blade whereas I slid out my two katana blades from their sheaths on my back.

"You have two?" he asked, puzzled.

"Yeah. I kinda need them for these situations," I replied, and then darted out with Night close behind me.

He had shifted into a black and silver striped tiger, and charged ahead of us with Shadow as a black panther tailing him. Tai caught up to me, and we raced at the men near the cave. The men noticed Shadow and Night first, and tried to shoot them with their pistols, but the large wildcats dodged with ease. I dove to the side as one thrust his sword at me, and then hacked his left foot off, landing gracefully. The man screamed in agony, and I smirked.

"Look out!" Taichi's voice shouted, and I ducked just in time to avoid a gunshot from behind me. Night batted the gun away, snarling, and then roared at the men with Shadow, terrifying the rest of them. Their leader, however, wasn't so easy to scare off. He whipped his sword out, pointing it at us, and then rushed forward. I was swift to retaliate when he got close enough, blocking with one katana and swiping the other at his side. He blocked with a second sword, distracting me and then slashing at me with the first when he drew back. I stumbled back when I tried to get away, bracing myself for my early death, but then I heard a clang, and looked up, wide-eyed.

"You okay?" Tai gritted out as he held back the leader.

"Yeah," I nodded, and quickly got to my feet. Together, we attacked, slashing and hacking at the bastard, who was much tougher than I'd originally thought. Eventually, the man was dead, collapsed on the ground and bleeding profusely from the multitude of cuts and gashes on him we had made. Finally, we turned to each other, panting. "Thanks," I murmured gratefully.

"Don't worry about it," Tai grinned. "It's what friends do, right?"

"Yeah, they do," I agreed, though in the back of my mind, I thought, 'We're already friends?'

"Yamato, you're okay, right?" Night asked worriedly as he and Shadow approached, already back in their dragon forms. I glared at him, and he snorted. "Don't worry, there's no one else around. Shadow and I already checked."

"I'm fine, thanks to Tai," I assured my partner. He smirked, and I immediately gave him an icy cold glare, warning him to not say anything. I noticed Shadow grinning at Tai, and the brunette was glowering at the small black dragon. "Anyway, let's go and get our stuff, Night."

"Coming," he nodded, and Taichi and Shadow quickly hurried after us. When we reached the right spot, I released the barrier, stepping inside and disappearing into the cave that appeared. As we walked, I lowered my hood and cloth mask while Tai remove his helmet. Night was on my shoulder, holding out an orb of light to illuminate the path before us. Shadow perched on Tai's shoulder, too, holding out his own orb of light as well. After a few minutes had passed, the brunette spoke up.

"How much farther?" he whined.

"Not much," I replied patiently. "It's just up ahead." I gestured ahead, pointing out a faint glow at the end, where Night and my treasure resided. Once we got there, Tai and Shadow gasped in awe at the large piles of gold, silver, jewels, and various other treasures inside.

"This is all stuff you two stole?!" Shadow yelped.

"Not all of it. Some of the gold is from selling stolen items and from when we worked shortly after being kicked out," Night answered. "We got small, odd jobs here and there, but it wasn't enough to keep us alive. So we decided to resort to stealing in order to survive." He kept the extra information to himself, something I was grateful for.

"Damn, I'm sorry…" the black dragon murmured. "I didn't realize that you guys would have tried an honest living, but had no choice but to steal."

"That's just us, though," I said, beginning to pack up the gold. "Most thieves just enjoy stealing for the hell of it. We only steal to survive. All of this gold is for the winter."

"You go through this much gold in the wintertime?" Tai questioned suspiciously.

"Not quite, but the remaining gold is used to buy supplies for the spring and summer," I explained. "And whatever we end up stealing through the winter, we sell. Unless it's gold, of course."

"Makes sense," the brunette nodded in understanding. He crouched next to me, beginning to scoop up gold and dumping it into my pack. We eventually packed all of the valuables into my pack, leaving behind some tattered old blankets and bedding to show there was nothing of value left here.

"All done," I sighed, throwing the bag on my back. Once my arms were through the straps, I looked back at the entrance to the cavern. Night perked up, though, growling, when he heard something. "What's up?"

"Those miners are back, and they brought reinforcements," he spat, and I cursed under my breath.

"What are we gonna do?" Taichi asked worriedly.

"We'll have to break through the cliff face, and then fly away," I grumbled. "I don't want to have to fight them off again."

"How the hell are we supposed to break through solid rock?!" he demanded in a panic.

"Calm down, Shadow and Night can shift into their larger forms and break through it with ease," I answered calmly.

"But, I've never flown with Taichi before," Shadow protested.

"It's cool, just copy me," Night suggested to him.

Glancing at my partner, I pulled my hood and mask up and on again, as he shifted, becoming his 13-foot-tall self again. Shadow copied him, becoming a replica of Night, only with black armor, and having white instead of silver around his fang-shaped pupils. Tai scrambled onto Shadow's back while I climbed onto Night's with ease, and then the two dragons charged up an attack to blast open the back of the cave. Once the dust had cleared a bit, our partners shot through the opening, out into the open sky. I noticed Shadow struggle slightly to catch up, as though he hadn't flown in a while.

"Use you wind magic to propel you!" my silver partner shouted to Shadow, and the black dragon nodded before taking Night's advice, shooting past us.

"Let's hurry," I said to Night urgently, and he nodded before gliding ahead of Tai and Shadow, guiding them to a safe place a few miles from the cliffs. We'd had to wheel around in a wide circle to get there so the miners wouldn't spot us, but it worked out. Night landed gracefully, whereas Shadow landed with a thud, and Tai and I slid off of our respective partners' backs.

"That wasn't too bad," Tai grinned as our partners shrunk back down to their normal sizes.

"No, but things will probably get worse from here on out," I muttered darkly.

"What do you mean by that?" the brunette frowned.

"I mean that you're going to be travelling with a pair of criminals," I explained. "You're probably gonna get more trouble attracted to you than if you were to travel alone."

"I don't care," he shrugged, and I stared at him.

"You…don't mind being a trouble magnet?" I asked doubtfully, quirking a brow at him.

"Nope. True friends stick together, through thick and thin, no matter what," he smiled.

"Well, hopefully you'll learn quickly that you'll have to fight and kill often while you're with me," I mumbled, turning away. He placed his hand on my shoulder, and I looked back at him.

"Don't worry about us. Shadow and I tend to learn the hard way, but seeing as he's a natural predator, he won't have much of an issue with it. As for me, I'll try and learn quickly," he assured me.

"Fine, just…don't fail," I sighed, not knowing what else to say.

"I won't," he promised, and we looked at the sun, which by now was already setting.

"Let's set up camp," Shadow suggested, and we all nodded.

While Tai and I set up the tent and a fire pit, Shadow and Night left to go hunting. Once they were gone, I shivered lightly from the chill of the evening air, and Tai noticed.

"Cold?" he questioned, tilting his head to the side slightly.

"Duh," I snorted. "Let me just set up the fire pit and light the fire, and I'll be fine."

"Don't you need Night or Shadow to light it, though?" he asked, confused.

"Not really," I murmured, piling some dry branches and grass into the circle of rocks. I summoned a small blue ball of fire to my palm and then tossed it into the pile, igniting the dry material immediately.

"Whoa! That's cool! But why was the fire blue?" Tai said curiously.

"Because it reflects my best element, ice," I replied.

"What else can you control?" he demanded eagerly, leaning towards me.

"I can control fire, ice, and lightning," I smirked, knowing he was impressed by my skills.

"Awesome! Can you teach me?" he questioned, his eyes shining eagerly.

"Maybe, but we'll try tomorrow in a clearing," I shrugged.

"Awwww, but you said we could tonight!" he whined.

"Yes, but it's late, and we need to eat and sleep after that fight today," I reminded him coolly.

"Fine…" he grumbled, folding his arms and pouting. Rolling my eyes, I switched my gaze to the stars. 'Hopefully we'll figure out where to go from here soon…' I thought, leaning back against a tree trunk. 'That way we're not stumbling our way around this whole 'prophecy' thing.'

A/N: Sorry about the delay, I've just been studying my ass off for my finals! Wish me luck! R&R, peeps!