It's a me, Mario...*shot* Sorry about that. I was a bit random there. Anyways, I would like to apologize for what I said above the Prologue. I was talking about characters not being in my story and all and how I don't want to hear complaints about it. Well, I was on D.A. for more than a year. I had an account before the Blazer-X-27 account. I'm still thinking as if I was on D.A. People whining about how their characters aren't in my story or how I use them for one chapter and kill them (I don't do that). It's the honest truth. Anyways, I'll let you guys go ahead and read the next chapter. BTW, I fixed those words that I said in the Prologue. Anyways, enjoy.

CHAPTER 2

Twelve years have passed since the hurricane had occurred. Maria and Dairu have been able to cope with the loss of Sara's life; it was hard but they managed. It's because of her that the egg managed to hatch and grow.

One bright warm morning, Dairu was walking down the mountain path that led to the cave where everyone is living in. However, no one was inside at the moment and the green went to search for the kids; thus explaining why he's on the mountain path. He's been spending minutes trying to find everyone but had little luck and it was slowly starting to irritate him. After about ten minutes, he reached the foot of the mountain.

"I've searched almost every square inch of the mountain and I still can't find them." He growled. Dairu sat on his haunches and began to ponder where they could've gone to. He had indeed searched the entire mountain from top to bottom and found no one. Suddenly, he had thought of something and chuckled a bit. "Of course, the forest on the other side of Silver River." He slapped himself mentally. "Emerald Forest at this time of the year is a great place to be in." He stood up, unfurled his wings, and took to the air and towards Emerald Forest.

Somewhere in the middle of the forest was a medium griffin with the top half of the body being dark purple and the lower half being purplish-green and a well built body. However, this griffin is a female and she kept some of her feminine curves. She was lying on her back under the trees as the warm sunlight pierced through the canopy. She growled contentedly as it warm her fur. All was peaceful but little did she know that someone was sneaking up from behind. Only when she heard a twig snap did she realize this and quickly sat up. Before she had time to react, she was greeted with a bucket filled that was filled to the brim with muddy water, which shortly after, was followed by laughter. She growled angrily as she knocked the bucket off her head and with one swipe of her paw, wiped away the gunk and covered her eyes. Standing in front of her was a male dark green griffin that was probably between the ages of eleven or twelve and was wiping away a teardrop from his eyes. The unique thing about his eyes was that one was orange and the other was hazel.

"Hiya Maria. Wow, that mud makes you look good." he said.

"That was kind of a lame one liner don't you think?" spoke a calm voice from behind him.

The dark griffin slowed his laughing a bit. "True, but you have to admit, that was a pretty funny prank we pulled..." he was spun around and was facing the one who was talking to him. He was staring at a male dragon who had midnight blue scales, crimson underbelly, light blue horns, crimson crest that ran from the back of his head all the way down to the tail, a sharp tail blade shaped like a spade, and was glaring at the male griffin with emerald green eyes that seemed to glow under the sunlight. This dragon was a bit odd to the family. He had thought that he was actually...a griffin. A furless, beakless, and featherless...griffin.

"Seriously, that was a real dirty prank you did." spoke the dragon.

"Whose side are you on?"

"I'm with big sis." the dragon said bluntly.

Maria couldn't help but smile at this. As they were growing up, many pranks were pulled on her and the dragon. There were a few times that her brothers would team up and pull a good prank on her. However, there was one prank that wasn't really a prank at all.

"I'm guessing it's because of that little incident a few years back. Am I right, Blazer X?" Maria slyly asked. Blazer X clutched at his stomach and groaned a bit.

"Just thinking about it makes me feel sick." his face was green but he shook off the feeling and his midnight blue color returned. "So Maria..." he smiled evilly at the dark green griffin. "Any ideas on what we should do to Aeolus here?"

Before anything could be said or done, the sound of wings flapping caught their attention. They looked up and saw Dairu hovering over their heads.

"Hi kids." he greeted as he landed in front of them and sat on his haunches.

"Hi dad." they responded.

Dairu noticed that Maria was covered with muddy water. It took some willpower to not laugh at her. "Let me guess...Aeolus' little joke, right?" Maria and Blazer X nodded. Dairu simply sighed and said that he would deal with him later. "I was looking for you three. I had assumed you all came here to see Crystal Cave."

"Crystal Cave? What and where is that?" Aeolus asked excitedly.

Dairu chuckled slightly. "I thought you all knew." the kids simply shrugged their shoulders. "Come now, I'll explain as we go." he got up and walked deeper into the forest with the kids trailing behind. Along the way Blazer X was using his wing to try and brush off some the mud that was on Maria. As this was happening, Dairu was explaining about Crystal Cave. "Crystal Cave is basically what its name says. The entire cave is packed with crystals here and there. Every decade or so, the whole room would be lit by them.

"To get there, we would have to take Emerald Path. It's about an hour walk but it leads straight to the cave."

"An hour of walking? Why can't we fly there?" Aeolus complained.

"Because it can't be seen by air. The trees block the view of the ground." he stated. After that, they walked in silence. Ten minutes later, Blazer X broke the silence.

"Hey dad, exactly where in this forest is Emerald Path?" he asked.

Dairu gave a hearty laugh. No one could figure out why he was laughing like that. "I knew I forgot something." the kids gave him a confused look. "We ARE on Emerald Path."

Maria, Blazer X, and Aeolus weren't really taken aback by this and were looking at their father with a look that said, 'What the fuck, are you okay?' (this was their look- 0_o). Dairu noticed this and began to laugh some more. He finally regained control and said, "Trust me. Almost everyone would not notice it. Look at the ground." and so they did and their jaws fell open. Underneath them was indeed a path but not just any path. The ground looked as if it was made purely out of emeralds. "The interesting thing about it is" the young trio looked up at Dairu. "That it can only be seen in the day. Also, the trees here are so close together and the canopies are so dense that no light should be able to penetrate it."

"So what makes these so different?" Maria asked as she looked at the canopy of the trees as she walked. She wasn't paying attention and almost ran into a tree if Dairu had not given her a gentle tug on her tail.

"It has something to do with the leaves. They're incredibly thin and yet they have a solid color. I don't know the whole thing about them but I do know this. When the sun shines on it, the light passes through the leaves and they make the path that we're walking on right now. Emerald Path."

The group of griffins, plus one dragon, continued down the path in silence for an hour. Blazer X and Maria were carefully watching Aeolus, who was walking in front of Dairu with a smile, making sure he didn't play an unexpected joke on them. But he did nothing at all. The dragon then noticed that they were arriving at a large wall covered with thick vines. He barely noticed the darkness that settled behind them since his attention was mostly directed at a lone crystal that stood in front. Dairu watched as Blazer X curiously examined it.

"I'm assuming that we're here." Blazer X said flatly.

"Indeed we are, Blazer X," Dairu walked passed him and towards the vines. He pushed them to the side like a window curtain revealing a cave. "Indeed we are." he finished.

The kids peered inside but all they saw was darkness.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Maria asked. Dairu nodded with a small smile then walked inside. Aeolus, Maria, and Blazer X exchanged a quizzical glance then nodded and went in. Maria, however, paused in mid-step and examined her surroundings. To her it felt like something was out of place. She stared hard at the bushed and in the trees but saw nothing except the small opening in the canopy where the light beamed down in front the crystal. Her attention was disrupted when she felt her spine tingle. Someone was behind her. She turned her head slightly and out the corner of her eye, she saw Blazer X staring at her where he stood.

"Is something wrong Maria? You've been kind of tensed along the way." he asked.

"It feels like...like we're being followed." she replied in a flat tone.

"Relax sis. I don't think anyone would actually follow us. C'mon let's catch up with dad and that little rascal of ours." he said with a smirk. Maria smiled and walked up to him. She brushed her head under his chin and they both ran deeper into the cave. Little did the two know that she was indeed correct as there were shady figures standing at the mouth of the cave. Their bright green eyes piercing through the darkness...

So what do you guys think? Please review. Thank you. ^_^

Midnight out!

P.S.- This is the correct pronunciation for Dairu- D-eye-ru

Now I'm out. C YA! ;)