Chapter 8

.

.

.

.

.

Serenity's eyes fluttered open and the world slowly moved into vision. She was facing the sky and could smell cinder and char. When lifting herself, she found her body was heavy and sore. She was atop the mountain plateau, surrounded by the Charmanders and other lizards and dragons. Her mind jogged awake as she remembered the rock slide. Kaiba...

She shot up and cried out as pain racked hr body. She tried to stand, looking towards the cliff that broke away, but immediately fell to the ground. Looking down at her legs, she found her ankle swollen and painful. It was impossible to walk on. She still tried to crawl along, fearing the worst, but before she could reach the steel decline, one of the dragons swooped down and intercepted her. It stared at her incredulously and refused to move as she tried to think of another way down to him. After a silent mental struggle, then a silent battle with the dragon, it proved too stubborn.

She was resigned to sitting on the plateau, waiting until the dragon deemed her healthy enough to be on her own. Of course... it did have a point. What exactly could she do in her state? Fall down the mountain and dig him out? It was foolish. She grabbed for her belt, removing the pokeballs and released her three pokemon. The little fox and Pidgy moved to Ember, who was still mostly unconscious. The little fire lizard faded in and out as Serenity stroked it and cuddled it.

One of the large dragons glanced over her and moved to the small Charmander. It looked between Serenity and the little lizard and glared, huffing hot air at her. She moved to the little one again, but the dragon pulled it away from her, keeping it's narrowed gaze on her the entire time. When Ember finally stirred it immediately crawled to Serenity, shocking the dragon, and curled in her lap. The dragon watched her and the little one interact with wonder.

Over the next week, her ankle's swelling went down and the pain had begun to subside. She spent a lot of time with the dragons and lizards and Charmanders, eventually getting close to them. Ember had been healing up as well. Serenity wasn't about to have her fight or do anything too stressful, but she was able to run around and play with the others.

Another tremor shook the ground and the dragons looked out to the ocean, towards the large pillar. The tremors happened infrequently, but enough to worry her, and the dragons response to it was scary as well. Finally, it was over and the larger dragon turned to her.

"What's the matter? Do you know what's causing this?" She asked, knowing whatever it's response was, she probably wouldn't understand. The dragon glanced back to the pillar, then lowered it's head, laying flat and lowering it's wings. "You... want me to get on?" She asked, but the dragon just watched her. She stepped over it's long neck and straddled it's shoulders. The dragon lifted itself, and her, and it's wings moved powerfully, raising the creature into the air. It started towards the pillar at amazing speeds and Serenity clung to it, her fear of heights taking over.

The dragon twisted and dove into one of the caves carved from the top of the pillar, landing swiftly and lowering itself to let Serenity off. She climbed down gently and looked around. The dimply lit caves were filled with large eggs. Guarding them were two more dragons that Serenity hadn't seen before.

She covered her mouth as she realized, these caves were the dragon's breeding grounds. Another tremor hit, causing two of the eggs to roll from a nest towards the mouth of the cavern. The dragon she rode quickly wrapped it's tail around on, saving it from the fall while Serenity rushed after the other, grabbing it at the last moment. The dragons watched her warily as she lifted the fragile thing gently and brought it back to the nest. After placing it inside she fluffed the next around it, giving it a secure place to sit and rose again, facing the dragon.

The beast slid the other egg over to her and watched as she did the same for it, making it so the egg wouldn't be shaken loose anymore. She smiled up at the dragon when she was finished and it looked at her curiously. She could tell it didn't get much human interaction, or if it did, it wasn't very good. She hoped it didn't think of her as an intruder or someone willing to hurt it.

"What's making these tremors?" She asked carefully, looking into the dragons eyes. It turned it's head to the mouth of the cave and looked down at the waters below. Serenity moved to get a better view and tried to see all the way to the waters below. After finding her focus she could see clearly three or four serpent like creatures rising from the tides and crashing down as another tremor started. The orange dragon leaped from the cave and swooped down, blasting a fiery breath down on them.

Now that the dragon had entered the same distance from her as the water serpents, Serenity could see the serpents were giant, longer and thinner than the orange dragon. It swooped twice more, blasting more torrents of fire down on the water, but the serpents ducked under, using the ocean's surface as a shield, popping up as the dragon passed and blasting their own torrents of water at it. The tremors stopped as the serpents disappeared and the dragon landed atop the pillar once more.

"I see." She said, looking away. She didn't know how to possibly help these creatures, but she knew she wanted to... if only there was a way to communicate with the pokemon...

"What the hell do you think you're doing over there?" Kaiba shouted as the large dragon aimed and blasted a jet of water at a swooping orange one. The fire dragon returned to the top of the pillar and the water dragon turned back to face him. He was getting sick of this rivalry or whatever was between the two. He had tried several times to move back to the mountain, but was sprayed by an angry water beast for even thinking of it. He sighed, glaring at the thing. He had gotten used to it being around, and could even yell at it, but the one thing he couldn't control was whether he was allowed to leave or stay. The dragon decided for him that he should stay with it.

He continued to strengthen his arm with the practice of helping the stupid orange fish back into the water when they decided to endanger themselves and "visit" him. He was almost completely healed, but was still stuck on the beach with the clingy water dragon. He marched into the tides and slapped the thing on it's scales. He was sure it could barely feel him, but it got the hint.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked it frustratedly. The dragon brushed it's head against his torso, pushing him slightly, and he just petted it. It nuzzled him a while longer then lowered itself into the water next to him. He looked at the beast with a cocked eyebrow, wondering what it was doing halfway in the water, and it brushed against his legs. "Giving me a lift eh?" he said to it, lifting one leg and placing himself over it. It lifted him into the air and began to move out into the sea.

They reached the base of the pillar and Kaiba turned to the sky, looking out for any fire breathing dragons that were still fly by attacking. The coast was clear and the creature looked up at him. For a moment he was confused, but the creature began to move under the water and he was forced to hold on and take a deep breath as he was dragged down. Once he was under the dragon moved quickly, showing him around the base of the pillar. Before they could finish, though, a great tremor shook the very foundation of the pillar and he watched as several opaque eggs at the base shook free and floated around in the waters.

He watched as more of the dragons swam through the water, capturing the eggs in their mouths and placing them back at the base of the pillar. His body twitched as it demanded air and he pulled at the dragon beneath him. As if it read his mind, the dragon raced to the surface, giving him the much needed air.

"So what's causing this?" He asked after catching his breath. The pokemon looked towards the pillar, as if staring through it and Kaiba glanced up the length of it. Finally the pokemon signaled that it was going to dive again, and Kaiba could do little other than breath deeply and hold on. They glided through the waters, circling the pillar rapidly and there was a large metal grate at the bottom of it. He watched as another of the dragons rammed into the grate, shaking the entire structure. Immediately, the pillar began to shake and move, as if in response to the assault.

They went back to the surface again, but once they emerged, the dragon's attention was brought to the shore. Kaiba was pulled back to the island and was able to dismount the dragon when close enough to land. The fire dragons had been traveling back to the mountain and the water dragons decided to follow them, keeping a weary eye on them as they moved.

Serenity rode the large orange pokemon all the way back to the plateau, but something seemed off. As she slid off of it, it turned it's head to the shoreline where she could see three large serpents waiting. But there was also something else. A small form on the beach, in front of the three. It was Kaiba. She was sure of it. Her eyes widened as the entire ocean drew back. A massive wave formed in the distance, gathering size and power, and right in it's path, stood Kaiba.

She raced down the side of the mountain, ignoring the twinges of pain her ankle still felt as she made her way to him. It took her longer than she had hoped, but she was able to make it in time. He was there. It was really him. He was alive and well, facing the massive water pokemon.

"Kaiba!" She cried, running to him and he turned, shocked and somewhat relieved to see her as well. "What are they doing?" She asked worriedly as the serpents moved back and forth, stirring the waters beneath them.

"I think they're trying to attack." He said, unsure of how to stop this. Before she could say anything else, the three fire dragons landed roughly behind her. They growled, ready to respond to the attacks from the sea and Serenity jumped out before them.

"Wait!" She cried, and amazingly enough, they did. Kaiba glanced back at her again and she gave him a worried 'what now?' look.

"The water dragons are upset because the pillar quakes are disrupting their breeding grounds." He explained.

"Same with the fire dragons... they think the water ones are doing it." She said back to him, and a thought crossed his mind.

"They're not, but I think I may know what is." He started marching into the ocean, the water rising to his waist and Serenity called out to him.

"But what about them? What am I supposed to do?" he paused, but only for a moment.

"Hold them off. Stall them. Do anything." He said, and called out to the dragon he had become familiar with. It went to him, glaring at the fire dragons all the way. "Take me to the cage." He said, lifting himself onto it's back. The dragon pulled him across the water's surface and when it got close enough, down to the grates below. Once in front of the metal, he swam away from the pokemon, taking a closer look at it. It was definitely man made. The bars were forged steel and there was a small lock on one end. He looked around until he found a decent sized rock and began hammering into the metal.

He had to take a small air break, but eventually the lock gave away and he was able to swing open the door. He swam inside, hoping he wouldn't get stuck and emerged next to a large blue creature. It backed away from him quickly, slamming into the hollowed out edge of the pillar and causing the entire thing to shake.

"All of this because of you?" He asked it. The thing looked terrified. It pulled away and wouldn't let him get close. He tried extending an arm out to it, but the thing only winced. "Hey, I'm here to help you. No one's going to hurt you." he tried to say reassuringly. The thing looked at him cautiously and he slowly swan up to it. "Here. See?" He finally touched the thing on the nose, gently petting it and soothing it. "You've been stuck here for a while haven't you? You're free now. Come on." He said, wading away from it. The creature jumped at him as he moved, almost as if it didn't want him to leave. That's exactly what he wanted.

Taking a breath, he let himself sink under the water and began to swim towards the hole. The creature, remained, though, unwilling to just move. He had to get it to leave. Had to stop it from thrashing about in the cave. It was causing a war, and it was going to get dangerous if he didn't do something quick. He reached down to his belt, pulling out a pokeball. He sighed, not wanting to do it, but threw it at the creature, trapping it inside. The ball sank below the surface and he dove under to retrieve it. The button was flickering red and white, and continued to do so. He had to get it out of the pillar before the pokemon broke free.

He swam for the cave's exit and finally made it through. The dragon was waiting there and helped him ascend to the surface. Once he could breath again, he instructed the dragon to take him back to shore. He could see that the large wave was now gone and Serenity was off in the distance, still moving and talking with the fire dragons. He leaped off the giant water beast and moved to Serenity, glancing down to see that the red button had long faded to white, and the water creature was his.

"What... happened?" She said, grateful that he had returned.

"I found the cause of the tremors." He said, gaining the attention of both types of dragons. He held up the pokeball and smirked. "It was this." He threw out the pokeball, releasing the water pokemon within it. The creature, now in the light of day, had four fins, a long neck and a large turtle like shell on it's back. It immediately tried to distance itself from the people, but ended up backing into the water dragons. "It didn't mean to do it. It was trapped and trying to get out. But that's done now. So you two don't have to fight anymore." He said strictly. The fire dragons, glanced at each other and decided to check on their eggs, leaving well enough alone and the blue dragons started back towards their watery home. Except one.

Kaiba turned to look the dragon he had become close with in the eye. It circled the new pokemon, and Kaiba could tell it felt more comfortable with the dragon then him. He sighed looking down tiredly. He was soaked and exhausted and just wanted to go home. After he found Mokuba of course.

"Maybe... you two should stick together." He said to the pokemon. The dragon swam to him, as he was still in the water, and circled him. It nuzzled him and swept up under his arm forcing him to pet it and he smiled. He linked eyes with the other pokemon and it slowly approached him. He reached out to it and it accepted his touch warily, but soon cuddled closer to him.

"Who'd have thought Seto Kaiba had a heart?" Serenity said, smiling behind him. He had almost forgotten she was there. He turned to her, smile fading and looked her over. Her shirt was ripped and her hair was a mess. She still had a few bruises from the fall and her left leg looked seriously beaten up. But she was safe. They both were. And what was better was now they had rides to the other islands.

.

.

.

.

.

Read, Review, Enjoy~Love ya!