Hey guys
The Dragon has returned.
Sorry it's been so long
Hope you guys like this chapter.
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A little while later on Jake's ship
"I'm glad we're out of there," Jake said. Amber and he were standing on the bridge of the ship. They had exited the Nightmare Forest and were harbored just outside it. Jake had decided it was best to rest before proceeding into the Ocean of Darkness.
"That really was like a Nightmare," Amber commented.
"One bit was like a dream to me," Jake said out loud without realizing it. He blushed slightly. Amber chuckled.
"That bit was like a dream to me as well," Amber said as she took his hand and intertwined their fingers. He smiled at her. Amber leaned forward and kissed him lovingly. After a while they pulled away.
"This is wrong," Jake whispered. "Technically you're still with Tom."
"But I'm in love with you," Amber whispered. "And as soon as this thing is cleared up I'll break up with him." Jake nodded. He smiled at her.
"I love you too," he said and they kissed once more.
Meanwhile on the deck a particular female member of the crew was looking for 'Jakey'. Angela walked towards the bridge and froze as she saw what was happening on the bridge. Anger filled her as she saw Jake and Amber lip locked. She raced up on to the bridge and leapt at Amber intending to push her off the bridge. Meanwhile Jake and Amber had broken apart. Amber noticed something shining on the ground. At the exact moment that Angela leapt at her Amber bent down to pick whatever it was up. Angela soared right over Amber passing by Jake and flew off the bridge into the water. Amber stood up.
"Jake is this yours?" she asked holding up a bracelet.
"Yeah, but you keep it," Jake said grinning from ear to ear.
"What's so funny?" Amber asked.
At this point Angela's cries for help reached them. Amber raised an eyebrow and Jake's smile just grew. He wrapped an arm around her and lead her off the bridge and to his cabin promising to tell her what was so funny when they were in his cabin. The two were soon cuddled up in his hammock. Amber too was grinning after hearing what she had accidentally done to Angela. And as for Angela. She was saved but it was a good twenty minutes before that happened.
The next day
The entire crew had heard about Jake and Amber's newly formed relationship. However a sharp talking to from April had stopped any teasing or bugging.
"Gooood Morning," Jake said in a sing song voice as he walked up to April who was standing on the bridge. They had set off through the Ocean of Darkness a few minute ago.
"Morning Master," April said smiling slightly. She hadn't seen him this happy in quite a while. "Why the good mood?"
"Well I realized how great my life is," Jake said his voice more controlled. "I have a great and loyal crew. I have a wonderful and capable apprentice. Life is good."
"Except," Amber said suddenly appearing on the bridge. "That we're about to head into the Ocean of Darkness. Then go to the Dark Isle. And then fight off one of the most powerful demons there is." Jake chuckled slightly as he walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her.
"Well I suppose one of us will have to stay realistic," he muttered. She laughed at this.
"So what's dangerous about the Ocean of Darkness?" Amber asked him as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"I'll tell you after I get my good morning kiss," Jake replied. At this Amber smiled and gave him a kiss while April slipped off the bridge to give them some privacy.
"Right there's your good morning kiss," Amber said breaking the kiss after a while. "Where's my answer?"
"Right," Jake said turning them around to face the Ocean. "The Ocean of Darkness is inhabited by shape-shifting creatures. They live underwater, but arise whenever someone tries to cross the ocean. They can only shape-shift to the form of a mythological creature. You know like a dragon or a griffin or a sphinx. Their favorite form is that of a dragon. They're extremely dangerous. The only person ever to get past them was the Hawk. Well technically he did it twice. Once with his crew and once without."
"The Hawk sounds pretty impressive," Amber commented. "And you seem to know a lot about him."
"He's my hero," Jake answered. "My role-model. He and I became pirates for the same reason. We have the same ethics about being a pirate. I even have his original journal." Amber nodded. The two remained in each other's arms watching the Ocean of Darkness.
Half an hour later
Jake, Amber, April and the rest of the crew could see the Dark Isle in the distance.
"We have to be careful," Jake muttered. "The creatures are probably around here somewhere. They could appear at any moment. They'll probably turn up as a dragon and shift shape later."
"Err…Master?" April said.
"Yeah?" Jake said still scanning the sea in front of him.
"Would these creatures look all black and shadowy, be gigantic, have red glowing eyes and breathe fire?" April asked nervously.
"Yeah that sounds about right," Jake answered thinking it over. "Why?"
"Because I think I just found one," April said. Jake turned around and gulped slightly. There behind the ship was a GIGANTIC dragon. The dragon looked down at the ship with it's glowing red eyes.
"I don't suppose you would be interested in a cup of tea would you?" Jake asked the dragon. He saw Amber and April giving him skeptical looks. The dragon roared fiercely in response to his question. "It was worth a shot" Jake muttered shrugging.
The dragon swung it's massive tail at the ship. Jake quickly put up a force field around the ship that managed to stop the blow. The dragon opened it's mouth and blew fire at the ship. Luckily Amber reacted quickly. She muttered a spell that caused a used gush of water to raise up from the sea and went straight down the dragon's throat. The dragon was slightly taken a back and Jake used this moment to use his powers to push the dragon into the water.
"That was easy," April commented. "Guess they're not that tough after all," At this the dragon rose out of the water along with several other dragons, griffins and a few sphinxes. "I just had to open my BIIIG mouth."
All the creatures raced at the ship at the same time. Jake put up a shield around the ship. The creatures hit the force field hard and Jake barely managed to hold up the shield.
"KEEP GOING!!!" Jake ordered as he continued to hold up the force field. "Amber April do something I can't hold it for long." Amber and April instantly sent an attack at one of the creatures, but the creatures remained unfazed.
"Shit!!" Amber muttered. April also muttered something ruder, but Amber had learnt to block out their curses.
"What now??" April asked. "How did the Hawk get past them?"
"He didn't mention it in his journal," Jake answered straining to keep up the force field while he tried to think of a way out of this one. Any time you want to have a chat just hold it up and say 'Lead me to Galaxy' and it'll teleport you to wherever I am. "Galaxy," he whispered to himself. "Amber put up a force field. I need to do something that might help." Amber nodded and put up a force field of her own.
Jake raced off the deck and into his cabin. Striker was on his perch looking out of the window. Jake had ordered him to stay there because he didn't want him getting hurt.
Jake pulled out the chain that Galaxy had given him from underneath his shirt. He always carried it, but had never shown it to any of the crew or even Amber.
"Lead me to Galaxy," he said holding up the pendant. Instantly a whirlwind started around him and in a flash he was standing in a cave. It was different from the one he had met Galaxy in earlier. Galaxy was seated in the center of the cave.
"Hello little one," Galaxy said looking at him. "What's wrong?"
"We're in the Ocean of Darkness and under attack," Jake said. "Those creatures that haunt it are attacking our ship. We're holding up force fields and trying to attack, but nothing works. We need help!!!"
"Right," Galaxy said. "Jake this is going to be difficult. One of you will have to dive into the water in the center of the Ocean. You'll have to swim to the bottom. There you will find a golden dragon sleeping in an orb." She paused and used her powers to bring a book across the room and land in Jake's hands. It was a spell book. It opened to a page with a picture of a dragon sleeping in an orb. "Use that spell to awaken it. Don't worry the book is waterproof. And just thinking the spell is enough. That dragon will be able to destroy the other creatures. But be careful little one only the Hawk has managed it."
"If the Hawk knew you and used this spell why didn't he mention you in his journal?" Jake asked.
"I told him not to," Galaxy replied. "Only the ones I choose are allowed to know of my presence and I sensed his journal would someday become extremely well known. Now go little one and be careful." With that Galaxy teleported him back to the ship.
Jake landed in his cabin and raced up on to the deck. He went up on the bridge where Amber was still holding up the force field. April was helping her by using some of her power to reinforce the force field. He ran up to Amber.
"Amber I found a way to stop them," he said. She looked at him. "It means you holding up this field a little longer and me going into the Ocean."
"What???!!!" Amber said staring at him. "You'll die!!!"
"It's the only way," Jake whispered. Amber stared at him for a while then sighed and nodded.
They shared a quick kiss and then Jake leapt back on the deck and stood near the edge. He took out a oxygen mask from one of his pockets. He put it on and waited for Amber to open a space in the force field for him to jump out of. Amber did so and Jake quickly and quietly leapt into the water.
Jake used his powers to swim downwards as quickly as he could. Before long he was in sight off the bottom. Luckily most of the creatures seemed to have headed to the surface. Jake reached the bottom of the Ocean and looked around. And then he saw the orb. It was exactly like the picture in the book. Jake swam towards the orb.
This is easy. He thought to himself. He had just approached the orb when he thought this and the instant his feet touched the ground it shook and a HUGE dragon that had been lying on the ground rose upwards throwing him backwards. Oh shit.
The dragon raced towards Jake. Jake quickly said hi chant to himself and sent a beam of energy at the dragon. The dragon staggered back a little. It raised it's tail and brought it crashing towards Jake who quickly put up a force field to stop it. The dragon roared and suddenly two energy beams came shooting out of it's eyes. Jake's eyes widened and he quickly started to swim away. The dragon moved it's head so that the beams followed Jake.
That's a trick. Jake thought to himself as he quickly ducked into a crevice.
The dragon headed at him and stuck as much of it's head into the crevice as it could and tried to grab Jake in it's teeth. Jake pressed himself against the wall of the crevice trying to avoid the dragon's teeth. Finally he raised a hand and used a mental spell to make a beam of energy clasp around the dragon's mouth. The dragon pulled back and tried to break the beam. Jake swam out of the crevice and started sending energy ball after energy ball at the dragon who remained unfazed and continued to try to break the beam surrounding it's mouth.
Jake looked around desperately searching for something to help him. His came to rest on an underwater rock formation. The rocks were huge and all looked a bit wobbly. He smiled to himself and swam towards it. He swam to the top of it. He then used a spell to release the dragon who looked around for him. Spotting him the dragon raced towards the rocks. Jake crossed his fingers hoping it would do what he wanted it to. Fortunately the dragon did exactly what he wanted and sent it's eye beams at him. Jake moved around avoiding the beams and causing them to hit the rocks. In a few seconds the dragon reached the base of the rocks and started heading upwards. Jake now sent his own ball of energy at the rocks and that was it. The rocks all started to collapse. Jake put up a force field and quickly and moved out of the way, but the dragon wasn't quick or lucky enough to avoid the avalanche and was sent hurtling to the ground and buried under rocks. Jake quickly swam back to the orb not bothering to look back.
He had attached the book to his belt and he opened it to the assigned page. He said the spell in his mind and looked up at the orb. At first nothing happened, but then slowly he noticed the dragon's eyes opening. The dragon opened it's eyes and stared at him. Then slowly the orb started to glow. The glow grew brighter and brighter until Jake couldn't even look at it. Then suddenly it exploded. Jake was thrown backwards. He sat up and saw the mighty dragon staring at him. It was bigger than all the others in the Ocean. It was golden in colour. It had huge fangs and claws. But it's brilliant blue eyes gave it away. It's eyes held a peaceful and caring air. It had an almost sweet expression on it's face.
"What's wrong little one? Why did you summon me?" a voice said in Jake's head. Jake realized it was the dragon. He spared a second to ponder whether Galaxy had told all dragons in existence to call him little one.
"My friends are in danger," Jake told the dragon telepathically. "They're under attack from the creatures here. A dragon friend of mine named Galaxy told me that you'd help us." The dragon nodded. It turned slightly so that it's side faced Jake.
"On my back," the dragon told him.
Jake swam on to the dragon's back and after being instructed to seated himself near it's shoulders holding on to it for dear life. The dragon spread it's massive wings and took off towards the surface. They reached the surface in a few seconds and the dragon flew into the sky. Jake took off his oxygen mask and looked around.
"There they are!!" he said pointing.
The dragon flew towards them. Amber and April were still managing to hold up the force field. Half the crew was working on getting the ship out of the Ocean while the other half was firing attacks at the creatures.
On the deck
Amber and April were still on the deck. Demetri came running towards them.
"Miss Amber look!!!" he exclaimed holding a pair of binoculars in front of her eyes. Amber looked through the binoculars.
"A giant golden dragon??!!" Amber exclaimed.
"Look at what's on it's back near it's shoulders," Demetri told her. Amber did so and gasped.
"Only you Jake could get a giant golden dragon to come and help you," she muttered.
Back to Jake
The dragon gave a LOUD and FIERCE roar as it approached the ship. All the creatures looked up. The dragon started to glow. All the creatures started to let out cries of pain and looked as if they were being tied up.
"Err…Mr. Dragon?" Jake began.
"Call me Sunrider" the dragon said.
"Sunrider, what did you do to them?" Jake asked.
"It's a special power of mine little one," Sunrider replied. "It causes creatures with great evil in their hearts to experience quite a bit of pain and to be partially paralyzed. But it's not enough to destroy them."
"How do you destroy them?" Jake asked.
"Hold on," Sunrider said. And without giving Jake a second to react he dove towards the creatures.
Sunrider formed a ball of energy in his mouth and sent it at one of the creatures. Unlike with Jake and others however when this energy ball hit the creature it went right through it. The creature roared in pain and collapsed. Sunrider sent attack after attack until nearly all the creatures had been destroyed. A few managed to get back into the water and swim away. Amber and April let down the force field. Sunrider came down so that he was level with the bridge of the ship.
"Hey guys," Jake called. "Have you met my new friend?" At this Sunrider raised a gigantic paw and waved at them. The crew slowly waved back. "Sunrider can Amber come up here?"
"Off course," Sunrider replied. Jake indicated for Amber to join him and she used the force to leap on to the dragon's back. "Now then follow me in your ship. That way the creatures here won't bother you." Sunrider told the crew, who simply nodded. With that the mighty dragon started to head for the Dark Isle.
"How??" Amber asked staring at Jake.
"Let's just say dragons seem to enjoy helping me," Jake answered chuckling slightly. He wrapped his arms around her. The two shared a kiss.
"I love you," Amber said.
"I love you too," he said.
Jake sat down on Sunrider's back and Amber sat beside him. She laid her head on his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her. The two sat and talked about anything and everything. Later on the two remembered even having a discussion on broccoli. Though how they started talking about it neither could remember.
About an hour later
Jake, Amber and the crew had reached the Dark Isle. They started to sail to the western side.
"Little one this is as far as I go," Sunrider said. Amber and Jake nodded. Amber said bye and leapt down on to the ship. Jake was about to go as well when Sunrider stopped him. "Little one round my neck is a chain. Do you see it?" Jake looked at Sunrider's neck and found the chain. "There are several pendants on it. Take one. Whenever you need me hold it up and say 'I summon Sunrider' and I'll come to you." Jake found a pendant and took it off. He attached it to the chain that Galaxy had given him.
"Well goodbye," Jake said. "It was nice to meet you. I hope we meet again."
"Goodbye little one," Sunrider said smiling at him. With that Jake leapt on to the ship. Sunrider waved goodbye and took off back towards the Ocean of Darkness.
"Right," Jake said after Sunrider was quite a way off. "Let's get going. We still have to sail to the western side." The crew nodded and set to work. Amber, April and Jake stood on the bridge watching them. "April?"
"Yes Master?" April asked.
"Could you just take charge for a bit?" Jake asked. "I'm feeling a bit sick. I think I should lie down."
"Sure thing Master," April replied. Jake nodded and headed towards his cabin. "Why's he suddenly feeling unwell?" April asked looking at Amber.
"I think it's the fact we're so close to his parents," Amber said after a while. "It has been a long time since he last saw them. And we are close to Draconis. I guess he's a little nervous. I think I should go talk to him."
April nodded and Amber also headed to Jake's cabin. Amber walked to Jake's cabin and entered to find Jake pacing up and down the length of it.
"Hey, are you alright?" Amber asked waking him up from his thoughts. Jake looked up at her startled out of his thoughts. He sighed. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know," Jake said sitting down on the floor with his legs crossed. Amber sat down in front of him.
"Nervous about facing Draconis?" she asked.
"No, not really. It's just…" he trailed off. Amber gently took his hand in hers and squeezed it. "I'm going to see them all again after five years!" Amber knew who he was referring to. "I've been gone sooo long. I mean sooo much has changed. When I last saw Ethan he was a baby. Now he's all grown up. And Opal is a well settled in teenager. And I'm a pirate. What will they think of me??" he hung his head. Amber leaned forward and pulled him into a tight hug. He wrapped his arms around her.
"Jake, listen to me," Amber said finally. He looked at her. "Your parents and your sister and your brother love you. And no matter what happens they'll always love you. Okay?" Jake nodded and smiled at her.
"Thanks" he said leaning forward and kissing her.
"No problem" she replied after they had broken apart. She moved so that she was sitting next to him. He wrapped his arm around her as she placed her head on his shoulder.
"I love you," he whispered as he placed a kiss on her forehead.
"I love you too," she replied smiling up at him. The two remained in Jake's cabin just talking and enjoying each other's presence.
Half an hour later on the deck
Amber and Jake walked up to the bridge of the ship. Striker was perched on Amber's shoulder. April was standing there looking ahead of them. They could all see the rocks that they would have to cross to be able to enter the Dark Isle. April turned to face them as they approached.
"Master, we're nearly there," she said. Jake nodded and stared out at the rocks as they grew nearer and nearer. When they were a few feet away Jake addressed the crew.
"Everyone readiiee…" before he could finish the ship suddenly lurched towards the rocks. "What the…??!!"
"Jake it's somehow pulling us in!!" Amber shouted.
"Demetri get the wheel!!" Jake shouted. Demetri grabbed hold of the wheel and desperately tried to steer the ship away from the rocks. Suddenly a mysterious wind picked up and began to drive them straight towards the rocks. The wind was soon equivalent to a gale. "The sail!!" Jake shouted. "Get the sail down and get out of here…"
"Jake it's pointless," Amber shouted over the wind. She was in the process of attaching a rope tied to her belt on to the railing of the bridge. April was doing the same. She also had Striker inside her jacket which was securely buttoned up. "We'll have to do this sooner or later." Jake looked at her, sighed and nodded.
"Get the sail down and tie yourselves on to something," Jake shouted and instantly the crew started to do so. "Now get ready to go past those rocks." Demetri prepared himself for the most difficult steering he would ever face. Kai stood near the tip of the ship serving as a lookout.
"Here we go" Jake muttered.
Sure enough at that exact moment the ship fell/flew off a small slope and was right in front of the rocks. The ship started to move through the rocks Demetri steering as best he could. The typhoon that had started up didn't help much either. It was obviously a magical one that guarded the Isle because the wind would conveniently change direction when they were near a rock so that it was pushing them towards it. The crew was clinging on to anything that was stuck to the deck to stop from flying overboard. On the bridge Jake could hear Striker's cries above the wind as April tried to calm him down. Suddenly a huge wave crashed into the ship sending the ship into a huge rock. The sound of wood being torn apart could be heard. The waves started to rise higher. Water from the waves swept over the ship. A few actually went completely over the vessel. The entire crew was drenched as they dodged rock after rock.
"Captain we're taking in water through the gap," Eliza shouted. "Not that much, but eventually…" she trailed off.
It wouldn't have made a difference if she had tried to continue anyways because at that moment a wave swept over the deck sending her across it. Jake scanned the area trying to think about how to get out of this one. There wasn't enough time to get to Galaxy or summon Sunrider. He pulled out a pair of binoculars from one of his infinite number of pockets. He held them to his eyes and looked around. He noticed a particular rock that looked like a giant ramp. He removed the binoculars.
"Bingo" he muttered to himself. "Demetri…"
But before he could finish his sentence a huge wave swept over the deck and crashed into Demetri sending him across the deck. The wind caught him and his life line tore and he headed over the side of the ship. Fortunately Jennifer was standing nearby and grabbed hold of his hand and pulled him back up. Demetri tied himself to the side of the ship. Jake quickly leapt off the bridge and grabbed hold of the wheel. The gale was getting stronger every second and it had started to pour cats and dogs. Jake steered the ship out of the way of the rocks with practiced skill. It was tough. None of them had ever seen such a bad storm.
"AMBER!!" Jake shouted. Amber leapt off the bridge and stood near him.
"What?" she asked.
"I have an idea," he said. "Can you control the ship for a while? You need to steer it towards that big rock that's shaped like a ramp."
"Right," Amber said talking hold of the wheel.
Jake had no doubts about her steering skills. The two had gone out sailing all the time when they were younger. In fact quite a few times they had gone after their parents to summon a magical storm for them to practice their skills against. Jake leapt back on to the deck and used his powers to grab hold of the rolled up sail and all the ropes used to control it.
"Jake, what are you going to do??" Amber asked as she pulled the ship away from a gigantic rock for what already felt like the thousandth time.
"Fly," he replied.
"What??!!" Amber asked.
"We're going to use that rock that's like a ramp," Jake explained as he organized the ropes. "The wind will be pushing us towards it. It actually already is. When we're close enough I'll use the sail to use the wind to give us a sort of push that will lift the front of the ship at least on to the rock. We'll then take off the ramp and we'll use the wind to soar over the rocks. Or at least as far across the rocks as we can go." (AN: I know that's impossible, but hey they're on a magical planet being pushed on to rocks by a magical wind) Amber nodded.
The ship started to head for the rock. Jake held on to ropes with his powers mentally making calculations. They were getting closer and closer.
"Amber you have to tell me when I should release the sail," Jake said. Amber nodded. They were getting closer and closer.
"JAKE, NOW!!!" Amber shouted.
At this point Jake released the sail and using the ropes turned it so that it was tilted upwards. The sail caught the wind and lifted the top of the ship on to the rock.
"Jake, we're on the rock," Amber shouted as she tried to keep the ship heading straight ahead. Jake nodded.
Jake lowered the sail so that it caught the wind and sent them full speed ahead up the rock. The ship went up the ramp and flew into the air. The win confused by the sudden change of area of the ship started to blow upwards. Jake turned the sail so that it was almost completely vertical, but tilted enough so that it moved forward. The entire ship soared over the rocks. The ship was slowly losing altitude.
"Jake we're almost over the rocks," Amber shouted. "But we're losing altitude." Jake nodded.
They got lower and lower until it was barely a few feet over the water. Then suddenly the wind stopped completely and the ship dropped on to the water. Jake looked around, let out a sigh and let go of the sail and it's ropes. The ship had landed just past the rocks.
"Jake you did it," Amber shouted abandoning the wheel and jumping onto the bridge.
"No, we did it," Jake said pulling her into a kiss. They broke apart when they heard April let out an awkward cough. They both blushed when they noticed most of the crew watching them with amused expressions. Jake kept his arms around Amber. "Right, we have to keep going. That way we can reach the shore, move our supplies inland and get a good night's sleep. Or at least as close to a good night's sleep as we're going to get in the Dark Isle."
The crew nodded and set about getting everything together most still with smiles on their faces. Demetri started to steer the ship towards the shore. Jennifer and Troy set about making food that would last for a few days, just in case it took them a while. Both had huge belief in the saying 'Better safe than sorry'. The rest of the crew set about getting together other such supplies and repairing the part of the ship that had been smashed. Jake and Amber remained on the deck.
"Well we're almost there," Jake commented as he gave Amber a slight squeeze. Amber smiled at him reassuringly.
"Everything's going to be alright," she assured him.
"I know, but what if…" Jake began.
"Jake everything's going to be okay," Amber said. "Remember no matter what your parents will always love you. And they will always be proud of you no matter what you do." Jake nodded slightly and pulled her into a kiss.
"What would I do without you?" he said rhetorically after they had broken the kiss.
"Without me around Angela would have probably driven you insane by now," Amber said with a slight chuckle. Jake laughed and gave her another kiss.
Well that's chapter 7
Next chapter's one of my favourites. It's one of the darkest ones.
I'll post it in a week or so
Until then.
Dragon. Out.