A veil of flame spread over the flat of the blade. The iron helmet seemed to tighten around Daniel's head and his meninges throbbed with an increasing rhythm.
The hydra opened its jaws, from which flowed a purplish smoke so thick that it seemed liquid.
Now!
"Get down, kid!" Daniel's sword swung above his head and a long flaming whip shot out. A hot wind rushed through the streets and the air sizzled like hot oil. He struck the hydra at the base of its three necks. A roar of pain arose from the sky, and the beast fell back. Claws screeched over the roofs of houses, where they left long deep grooves between the bricks.
A shiver of satisfaction ran down the boy's back. Draco's wings rumbled above his head. Mild jolts of understanding shot through their bond.
The next moment, the dragon's jaws closed on the jugular of the central head, and it screeched like a pig at the slaughter.
It wouldn't last long. Dan had to hurry.
He ran to the little boy, on all fours on the pavement. "Take it easy, baby. It's all right now. Come, I'll take you..."
"Preyas…" he coughed. Behind his thick goggles, his blue eyes had an oddly determined expression.
The woman from earlier ran up and took his face in her hands. "Narucho! Honey, are you hurt? What popped into your mind? Do not…"
"I have to help Preyas!"
Dan started to pick him up. "I'll handle that. Tell me where your friend is and..."
Narucho kicked hard and almost punched him on the nose, then ran into the street. Right towards the two bakugan facing each other.
The woman screamed in terror and then covered her face with her hands. Tears welled up from her eyes.
Damn!
"Run to the second square along this street!" Daniel ordered. "There is a detachment of Pyrrians who will take you to safety. I'm going to get the child."
He sheathed his sword and ran after the blond bob. Stupid brat. What was on his mind? And stupid himself too! He shouldn't have left a civilian alone. How was she going to get to the detachment?
His feet splashed in a pool of water. No, not a pool, a small stream flowing rapidly over the bricks. Daniel looked up and held back an exclamation. The water followed the child!
The dragon's roar burst into his ears. A sudden pain tore at his shoulders, like so many jabs that penetrated the flesh. He almost fell to the ground.
The red dragon was still clinging to the central head of the hydra, which he shook violently as if to detach it. The other two, however, closed their jaws around her shoulders.
Daniel's stomach twisted painfully. His bakugan's fear flowed thick as ink through their empathic bond. The hydra's claws tore at his chest and legs, perilously close to his belly.
He had to reach it! But the baby…
He ran faster, ready to drag him by the hair for even two blocks, but then the torrent of water reared up like a rabid snake. Daniel just had time to move away from being overwhelmed.
Narucho was standing in front of a pile of rubble, his plump little face set in a determined expression. At a movement of his hand, the water crept under the bricks and rubble.
A dominator…
A wave of water lifted the pile of debris from under it, creating a sort of dome. Behind it, a humanoid shape as tall as a house rose, with webbed hands and a long, serpentine tail that swung between the stone blocks.
He crouched on his legs, as thick as the legs of a draft horse, and leapt out. The bluish skin gleamed in the sun and the red eyes looked now Narucho now Daniel. The corners of her mouth were drawn into a playful smile that bared triangular teeth like a shark's.
"So? Did I miss something?"
He had an oddly high-pitched voice for a bakugan. Yet it looked like a male.
Daniel's head throbbed fiercely, as if someone were beating him. A blow to the stomach made him double over with a stifled moan. Draco's fear washed over him like a firm, dark wave; and blasts of alarm radiated through their bond.
He looked up above the houses. The red wing of his bakugan stretched upward, squeezed between the jaws of one of the three heads and bent at an unnatural angle. A roar of pain, all too familiar, erupted through the houses.
"Y-you two… Reach the detachment!" he ordered. "I must…"
"We don't take orders from you," the bakugan stopped him. "And I have something to settle with that beast."
"Preyas, this is not the time. We have to stay focused," Narucho said. He moved his glasses with his fingertip and looked at Dan. "You release your bakugan, we take care of the central head. If we hit that, it's over."
A surge of anger went through the boy. Who did that brat think he was to give him orders? Even if he had a bakugan he could only be a cadet!
Another roar from Draco stopped his thoughts. Damn! First she had to free him, then she would think about that insolent…
He drew his already burning sword. The hydra's black head swayed to block Draco's movements.
Draco had to stand still. Just a few moments. Stopped! He had to make him take aim.
Dan forced himself to ignore the throbbing pain in his entire arm. He bit his lip and continued to radiate calm across the empathic bridge. It only took him a few moments…
The wing of the red dragon stopped. The teeth dug deeper into the flesh and a thousand stabs pierced Daniel's forearm. He let out a cry and a fiery meteor shot from his sword.
The hydra's head lit up like a torch and exploded in a wild screech. The black scales crumpled like dead leaves, withered by the flames. He brought a paw up to his muzzle to snuff them out. Dense, semi-transparent droplets dripped from the eye.
Draco in turn spat fire, shrugging it off. Long bloody cuts furrowed his chest and shoulders, but otherwise he seemed fine. He nodded to Dan in confirmation.
"Damned Pyrrhans!" roared the hydra, the leftmost head had one eye swollen like a balloon. "We will kill you all!"
Again that black smoke flowed from his jaws. At the bottom of the three gorges a purplish light lit up.
A blue shape darted over the rooftops with the agility of a frog. In an instant he clambered over the body of the hydra and straddled the central head. The tail wrapped around his neck and squeezed like a python. "First we have an unfinished business!"
The other two heads roared indignantly. The light at the back of their throats went out, as if it were choking them too.
Dan looked around for Narucho. Two roofs back the boy was collecting more and more water, which gathered in a huge snake above his head.
"And who is that?" Draco said.
"A know-it-all child," the boy muttered. Surely, however, he was an excellent water bender. "He might need a hand."
He mounted his bakugan. The fire burned stronger inside both of them, as if begging them to be released.
"Ugh, you are boring!" grinned Preyas. He released his grip and leapt from head to head until he fell back into the street.
Dan didn't even look at Narucho. The flames and the jet of water went out in unison before the hydra had time to react.
The thud as it fell to the ground shook the houses.
Not a bad first battle!
Draco moved over the half-cracked white roofs of the houses. Their enemy coughed uncontrollably as if he'd nearly drowned, a big burn in the center of his chest.
"Let's not wait for him to get up and leave" said Dan. He looked at the ash gray sky. Other obscurials could arrive at any moment.
"Wait up!" Draco sniffed frantically, his snout aimed at the slumped hydra. Anger and worry surged in a wave that enveloped the empathic deck.
What had he smelled?
"What have you done to her, you filthy beast?" growled Draco.
The hydra's eyes darted. "What are you talking about, Pyrrian?"
"Wavern. I smell her scent on you. Where is she? What did you do to her?"
Dan felt the dragon scales burn under his palms. Shit.
