AAAAND WE'RE BACK! YAY! I'm particularly excited about this chapter, as I believe it's rather climactic and kind of the centerpiece of the story. ( But don't worry-we still have awhile to go before the actual climax, so there'll be plenty more trite to come.) I will say that I wish I'd had more time to edit this portion of the fic, but I hope it still turned out alright anyway.

Well, since we're a little more than halfway through the story, I'm just gonna take the time right now to extend a huge thank-you to everyone who has followed, favorited, or reviewed this story so far. Honestly, every notification I get from any of you guys motivates me to keep going, and although I feel I don't make it clear enough, I really do appreciate all of you.

With that said, please enjoy!

The pain coursed through his body like a poison, half-paralyzing him as it reached to his farthest extremities. Every muscle in his body quivered against him, but nothing could dull the agony that racked him. He felt as though the bones in his legs had dissolved, that his limbs had turned to gelatin; he managed to walk with adrenaline and willpower alone.

Finally, a shaking Hakuryuu reached the table where Alibaba sat and collapsed into a chair with an exhausted gasp. While he attempted to regulate his heartbeat, the blond calmly drank a beer. "You really need to get in shape," he commented.

Hakuryuu lowered his forehead onto the table and did not have the energy to lift it up again. "I...hate cleaning."

"You should eat something."

The muffled voice pouted, "Not hungry."

"Aw, was carrying that big mop around too much for you? Maybe we should've started you off with a feather duster." Alibaba laughed. Hakuryuu's migraine intensified.

The ailing man lifted his head from the table just long enough to fix his companion with a glare. "Don't start blaming me for it," he grumbled. "I'm still not used to this weak body. I could do plenty more if I were still a dragon."

"Keep on making excuses," Alibaba chuckled.

Hakuryuu stared at the other boy for a moment longer before, with effort, he hoisted himself up from his seat. "Fine, then. I suppose I could just show you."

Alibaba rose to follow. "Maybe I should carry you. I don't want you breaking something."

"Oh, shut up!"

Together, the two walked up to the starboard side of the ship's deck. Gazing out as far as possible, Alibaba found the horizon to be barely distinguishable-in this night, the dark sea matched up with the starless sky to create a uniform blackness. He could imagine many things materializing out of such darkness, but at that moment, nothing that he could see seemed worthy of his attention.

"Hakuryuu, I can't see a damn..." He turned to face the other young man and found that only empty space accompanied him.

"Hey...where did-"

He did not finish his words. The air in his chest was slapped out of him all at once. A sharp blow had knocked him off his feet and sent him tumbling overboard. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of that which had struck him. Something scaly, something like a great fan-a tail.

He fell on his back, facing the unholy heavens. He then closed his eyes and waited to be seized by the cold, black ocean.

And he waited.

And he waited.

But the sensation never came. In fact, Alibaba did not so much as hear a splash as he hit the water. Instead, after nearly a minute, he cracked open his eyelids to find himself surrounded by water but somehow-miraculously-completely dry.

And then, in spite of the poor light, he saw it. The beast. The creature that he had been seeking for so long. The one-eyed entity that he had encountered on the day that he drove in to save a drowning friend.

The dragon stared at him pointedly. Though the serpentine being did not open his mouth, Alibaba heard Hakuryuu's voice, as before, not as though it had come from an outside source, but more so as an echo in his own mind. The voice said, 'Breathe.'

Alibaba fixed the transformed Hakuryuu with an incredulous look. Was the guy trying to kill him? Had he, in becoming a dragon, forgotten about human limitations? Whatever the case, at the mention of breath, Alibaba became suddenly aware of a dull burning in his lungs.

'It's alright. I've made it so that you can breathe, so breathe.'

Alibaba hesitated for a moment longer. Then, at last, he opened his mouth. Where he had expected the harsh sting of salt water, the coolest, cleanest air he could have asked for flowed into him.

Hakuryuu nodded his snakelike head. In spite of the transfiguration, the dragon'a single, soft, blue eye looked the same as it had while he had the form of a man. It remained intelligent, lucid...human. I took the oxygen from the water around you. Now you've got a sort of protective coating around you, so you can breathe and stay dry. He said all of this quite matter-of-factly, before swimming nearer to the shocked man. Hold onto my back...if you're interested in coming with me, that is.

This time, Alibaba did not have to be asked twice. He held tight onto one of the spiked plates that ran down the length of the creature's spine.

Hakuryuu sliced through the ocean at impossible speeds, but, to Alibaba, it seemed almost as though they were not moving at all. True, he could feel the rhythmic ripple of lean muscle between his legs as the dragon's body undulated. He, however, felt not that they were pushing through the water, but that every particle of salt and sea parted before them. Indeed, it appeared that the whole world moved around them while they, just the two of them, remained still at an epicenter.

While on the serpent's back, it felt as though hardly any time had passed. For that reason, the rider became startled when Hakuryuu's head suddenly shattered the water's glassy surface.

"Incredible." When he finally regained enough composure to speak, that single word was the first that came to mind. "Just...wow. I mean...incredible!"

Scaly lips curled upward to reveal moon-white teeth, apparently the dragon equivalent of a grin. 'I thought you might like it. Have you looked up lately, by the way?'

Immediately, Alibaba turned his face upward to see not the swallowing blackness of before, but instead a sky of jewels, so riddled with stars that there seemed to be more light than darkness.

"Wow..." Then, in a moment of realization, he looked around to find the ocean empty save for the two of them. "But where's the ship?"

'It's a ways off. I had to swim far away to find a clear patch of sky. But I can have us back before anyone notices we've gone.'

"I believe it," Alibaba breathed. "I think after tonight I could believe just about anything you say."

The beast shook his head. 'Well, I may seem powerful to you, but without the power to control the waves and the tides and everything else...to any other dragon, I'm infinitely weak.'

Alibaba stared at him. "You talk like a geezer sometimes, you know that?"

Slowly, the toothy smile returned . 'I am, by your standards. I'm over 400 years old, Alibaba.'

"Gross. I've been hanging out with an old man this whole time?"

'Shut up. By dragon standards, I'm hardly an adolescent.'

"Damn...hey, Hakuryuu, would you do me a favor?"

'Of course.'

"Turn back into a person."

The single eye blinked at him, wide and questioning. Still, after only a moment, the scale's began to fly off the long body and disappear, like startled birds. After they had all gone, what remained in their wake was the lithe, scarred young man, still confused as he stared at his human friend. The two faced each other now, on an equal level.

Immediately after the change had taken place, Alibaba felt his clothes become soaked and heavy, and instinctively he began to tread water. Hakuryuu shrugged helplessly. "See? My powers aren't nearly as potent in this form."

"Yeah, I got that. I don't mind much about that, though."

"No...I don't suppose you do."