Episode 8: Time for plan B.
Arc: "Devil's Deal"
Opening: Shiver – Gazette.

. . .

"DANNA?!"

Dipper barely had time to think twice before it happened: his wings had, somehow, appeared again, probably from his wish to now have them – this time he had full control of them. With a simple, but strong, flap of wings, he prepared to follow the wyvern and the girl/fox holding onto him. Dipper didn't know why he cared so much about Danna – she was just a girl, there were millions of them around the world. But Danna wasn't just a girl – she was his partner, and you don't leave your partners behind, no matter how annoying or stupid they are. Besides that, there was a high chance they needed all of their team members alive in order to be able to turn back into normal human beings. Not that he's calling Danna annoying or something, of course not… He just wish she would shut up sometimes, but that was beyind the point at this moment.

With the strength of the wind hitting his head, his hat fell from his head near Asaph.

Another high-pitched scream followed, this time it was because the dragon-shaped creature had changed its course and was now heading where Asaph and Daniel were – and Danna was either trying to warn them or was scared to hell — there was a strong chance it was both of the choices. Both of them were too shocked to move as they stiffened and their body froze; however, they could still talk. And their conversation wasn't one of the happiest – though it could be their last, of course.

"I-it's alive!" Asaph exclaimed; he was too impressed and scared to acknowledge the dangerous situation they both were in, seeing as both of them now were the wyvern's aims; that, and he couldn't move at all. They were trembling in fear, shock and many other mixed emotions they couldn't name. He felt like an old chair about to be sent to the dump, rotting and slowly being broken down and torn piece-to-piece. His fox-shaped partner, Daniel, wasn't that better, but still had that great sarcasm and passive-active voice of always.

"No shit, Sherlock!" Daniel piped up. Just when the wyvern was too close for their comfort and safety Daniel snapped and pushed Asaph out of the way. They landed on a bush, which was ironically soft enough for them to land without any harm. The wyvern, which had already prepared an attack, now couldn't find its targets and changed its course. "I'm sure you could've walked by yourself. Well, Daniel saves the day; again." Asaph rolled his eyes at his friend but let out a low chuckle. Daniel sometimes changed his attitude so much that it was hard to know his definite personality – maybe he was the 'normal guy'? Still, in that moment of terror he mantained his great sense of humor and sarcasm.

"That's a very important remark; however, Dipper is in danger. We should help him." Daniel nodded at Asaph's explanation.

"What do you suggest that we do?" He asked as they both stepped out of the bush.

"Remember the original plan? Let's keep doing it. At least it will buy Dipper some time." Asaph explained. However, Daniel still had one doubt.

"What if we hit Danna or Dipper?"

Everything went silent.

"We must stop asking ourselves 'what if' and go to battle." Grabbing Dipper's pine tree hat from the floor, Asaph used his own claws to climb the pine tree where Dipper once was – a tall one to his left. He had to continue Dipper's plan, because that was not only a good plan but it was the only plan they had, and the least they could do Asaph was too worried to focus on a plan, even if he was supposed to be the 'intelligent guy' or the group's 'leader'; at this point, he wasn't sure if he still wanted to be called that.

"Are you coming?" Daniel stopped for a moment. However, he smiled at his comrade and nodded – that would be exciting. He looked around and, after finally finding one spot he'd fit in, the fox jumped on a tree which was on his right; this tree was the opposite direction of Asaph's. Soon, the two of them were facing each other, ready to complete their mission. "Ready?" The young tiger-like apprentice asked, slowly sharpening his claws on the tree's bark.

"I was born ready." Daniel answered – if it was possible he'd give Asaph a smirk. They nodded to each other and, turning around, both started to run around the trees, no longer trying to use them as a camouflage. Dipper and Danna were in jeopardy; they didn't have any time to hide anymore. Their final mission was to defeat the wyvern – no matter what, at all costs. And they'd do this.

Daniel opened his eyes and focused with all his strength. A red sphere surrounded by energy formed, but it wasn't big enough. Daniel focused a little more and managed to make it bigger — he had learned that bigger was better, and more effective. Dipper and his sister would need all their strength to make it out alive from there. Daniel aimed – he couldn't risk hitting the two of them. Daniel was lucky he didn't have to wear glasses and that, after so many times practicing archery because of his father, his aim was almost perfect. Then, he let go, letting his attack cross the sky and go directly towards the wyvern.

Just then, he saw another sphere crossing the sky next to his. This one was completely white, with a few flames surrounding it. Let's shoot them together instead of one at a time; the spheres will become more powerful if combined! A voice rang through his mind. Daniel knew who it was from, and tried to reply. Running while focusing wasn't a good combination, but, somehow, the other apprentice managed to copy just fine, so he could do it as well.

Right! He nodded.

You're free to do your own thing if you want to, Asaph answered. Daniel smirked at that. He knew exactly what his comrade was talking about.

Quickly, but swiftly, the fox-shaped child jumped from one branch to another – disappearing almost completely from human sight – and then let his entire body glow in a glamorous yellow light that was almost impossible not to notice. Daniel was still running, but slower, until he stopped completely. Asaph frowned at first, but then understood what Daniel wanted to do with that.

"Watch out!" The wyvern had just shot a flame burst at a random direction, and it was apparently heading Daniel's direction, and he was still focusing on what he wanted to do. It was obvious that the light he emanated was attracting attention, maybe a little too much, but it would be worth it, wouldn't it? Suddenly Daniel opened his eyes in a heart's beat; both were as white as snow. The glow once surrounding his small body started to glow even more; Daniel was seemingly shining more than the sun itself, or that's the impression he left of Asaph who had to close his eyes as they were burning from the bright light.

When the burning beam was almost reaching him, his eyes started glowing yellow, with his body focusing its energy on that point, and then they shot a powerful beam that literally pulverized the small flaming orb and was aiming directly at the wyvern. Beatrice had taught him that trick when he asked for something else — he had practiced and perfected it for weeks in hopes to impress her, and he really did. He'd never seen Beatrice be prouder of him — hopefully that was a good thing. Dipper had already gotten Danna out of there, not surprisingly, and Daniel was glad because he wouldn't risk hitting his sister or him, at least.

At least, or hopefully…

Daniel closed his eyes when all they could hear was the painful, disturbing and agonizing scream of the beast before it disappeared completely within a mist of purple dust.

…

Dipper was forcing his wings to their limit, almost at the point of hurting — his backache had returned. He hadn't had them for too long, and without practice they were like useless branches. But he had to save his comrade, demon or not; human or not. At this point, Dipper didn't know if he was talking about Danna or himself. He still couldn't accept that deep down he was a demon, and that this information had been hidden from him for twelve years, especially by Bill. Danna, on other hand, had her eyes closed and was still screaming like a maniac; for no obvious reasons except that she was being kidnapped by a giant lizard. Well, that was a good reason.

It simply looked like she wanted to catch someone's attention with all this loud screaming, though she had other reasons to do so. Dipper closed his eyes and focused: Danna, stop screaming! I'm coming! He said, hoping that Danna heard the message. Because even if he screamed at the top of his lungs she wouldn't listen to him, and that was his best chance to calm her down.

Fine, just help me! I'm being KIDNAPPED here! The voice rang loudly through his head. Dipper wasn't surprised that Danna knew how to communicate by telepathy. It seemed like something common between demons; or between half-demons, at last. Dipper forced his wings a little more, and managed to reach the wyvern, right where Danna was. His back was already hurting and burning because of the pressure he was putting the wings into. Also, the wyvern's wings were bigger than his, which made it almost impossible to reach it; almost. The physics were against his favor, unfortunately.

Before he could say something, he noticed something attached to the wyvern's neck. It was a chip. Dipper analyzed it carefully, for one moment forgetting about everything happening around him. It was gray, but a dark gray, almost like a game cartridge, but different in a way. It could've been easily misunderstood for one of the wyvern's scales, but Dipper wasn't easily fooled — how come he hadn't seen it before when he attempted to kill the beast by slashing its neck? However, in a few seconds, he remembered his only purpose: save Danna. "JUMP, QUICKLY!" He shouted loudly, making the fox open her eyes. He didn't know why he had shouted, as he could telepathically tell that to her, but the heat of the moment was making the boy nervous inside. He was now forgetting how to do the most basic of things.

"Are you crazy? What if you don't catch me?!" Danna shouted nervously. Apparently, she also chose to shout instead of telepathically talk to him.

"You'll have to trust me." Dipper said sincerely.

Danna sighed, closing her eyes once more. Then, she loosened her grip on the wyvern's neck until she let go completely. Dipper didn't think it would be so easy to convince her; he thought it'd need a few more shouts or something like that. Everything happened quicker than both had imagined. He dove down to the clearing, trying to reach Danna. He had his wings closed, letting gravity do its job; though he was ready to open them at any minute.

He grabbed Danna's tail with his mouth, digging his sharp teeth into her flesh accidentally, though this was needed so she wouldn't slip out of his grasp. Dipper didn't bother being gentle, and didn't mind if it was hurting either. His top priority was to save her now. It was clear he was hurting her because of the multiple profanities she was screaming at this point and that he was trying to ignore. He opened his wings once again, and flew at the nick of time when they were almost touching the ground. Danna's nose almost touched one of the flowers; she was lucky that they finally flew out of there.

Throwing Danna to the air quickly so she was now on his back, Dipper flew to the ground just in time to hear a disturbing and agonizing cry, and turned around. Had Daniel and Asaph hit the wyvern or something while they were gone? Oh, yeah, he had almost forgotten about these two – which was weird since he had been gone for, like, five minutes. How did they beat the dragon so quickly? What had they done?

The wyvern was gone, and the clearing became surrounded by a mysterious purple dust that had a weird lavender smell – almost like the smell of the Adehnias flower, but sweeter and less… You know, venomous. But then something fell on his head, then on the floor. Dipper looked at it more carefully.

There, near his paws, was the chip that was once attached to the wyvern's neck; it didn't seem to have been damaged, even when Dipper hit the creature's neck in an attempt to kill it. Dipper narrowed his eyes to read what was written on it, because the purple dust was making it hard to see anything near anyone – even Danna and the pine trees seemed like mysterious shadows with this.

A. Cipher.

"Bill." Dipper growled.

A/N: Hi *avoids pebbles and anvils and all the shit* I can explain. Ok, I can't.

Actually I am doing well on my tests and so far no bad grades. Still, I can't enter that much on the internet because of the tests which are starting on june 15! Oh, my, I'm dead. And, yes, I'm horrible at describing action, but still, better than nothing.

FYI: The move that Daniel did before the wyvern's disappearance is called Infernium, and is an attack for newbies, but also used by masters and grown-demons sometimes. This moves consists in gathering the user's energy around its body, causing it to glow, and then focus it in one area of the body - most of the time, the eyes. Then the user liberates this energy in form of a beam that will shoot directly the target. The user shall become tired and unable to use the attack one more time after that.

Cool, huh? I made this up while in class out of boredom. It's good to know I'm using my intelligence for another purpose :) Well, I think this is all. Bye!

Awakened Niwana, off.