All is not lost

First off, I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who had been reading this story and enjoying it. I am so thankful to you all and am so glad you all are liking this as much as I am writing it.

ShiningGalaxy: Thank you so much for your reviews, I truly appreciate it and that you love this story. I am so happy you are feeling better and hope your back to full strength soon. And yes, Iris is much like the mother of the group, so she tries to keep her brothers out of trouble when she can.

Let's go win some races!

It was a quiet night in Dragon-city, everyone was sleeping in their homes, dreaming peacefully.

Everyone except two.

(Warning, mentions of child abuse, if you wish to skip it, please do if needed.)

The whip came crashing down hard against her side as her owner screamed at her. "Lazy, good-for nothing monster!" He lashed his whip again, she screeched in pain, the chains around her ankles clinked together as she struggled to move away from the whip, but because she was chained down, there was no escape!

Her mother slapped her hard across the face with enough force to knock her to the ground. "You stupid, lazy, ignorant child! Why are you such a burden to me!" Ruby screamed to a 4 year old Iris, who curled up in a tight ball and sobbed.

Ruby grasped hold of Iris' upper arm in a tight grip and threw her against the nearest wall, she crashed into it. "Why did you have to ruin my life!"

Iris whimpered, covering her face with her hands as her mother continued to yell and scream.

"Why don't you just die!"

Her blue eyes snapped open and Iris sat up straight in her bed, breathing heavily and soaked in sweat as her body shook from the remnants of the nightmare that clung to her like sticky tar. She realized that the nightmares had begun again lately and wondered what had brought them on again after so many years?

She rubbed a hand over her face, hoping she hadn't woken her brothers with the nightmare, but when no one came in, she realized they must have not heard her.

Looking down at her sweat-soaked pj's, she changed into a pair of fresh ones, grabbed a pillow and blanket from her cupboard, and decided it was better to sleep out with Prisma than inside the house. She trudged down the stairs and exited the house quietly.

Prisma' eyes flew open and she lifted her head from where it lay on the ground by her front paws. She looked around, seeing that she was laying in her stall at Penn Stables. "It was just a dream." She grumbled, shaking her head.

She snorted, wondering why her nightmares had begun again when the sound of footsteps drew close to her stall. Growling softly as to not wake Beau up who was asleep in the next stall, she tensed as the door was opened and a shadowy figure stood in front of her. She relaxed when she realized it was not an intruder, but Iris, who carried with her a pillow and blanket.

"Iris, what are you doing here? Are you alright?" She asked, but since her friend couldn't hear her talking, all she could hear was soft growls.

Iris entered the stall. "Hey Prisma." She greeted, yawning as she rubbed her dragon's neck. Looks like it wasn't just her who was suffering from nightmares.

"Nightmares?" Prisma nodded her head, nuzzling her rider, who patted her neck before she headed to the storage shed and grabbing out a sleep mat so she didn't have sore joints. She laid out the mat, put the blanket down on top and then the pillow. She pressed the button on the wall and the stall door slid shut.

Prisma curled up around her rider as Iris laid down on her makeshift bed. The hybrid rested her head right beside her. Iris rested a hand on her snout. "I don't know why they've started up again, girl. But I might need to book another appointment with my therapist."

The tri-coloured dragon huffed gently. "That's a good idea, Iris."

Teen and dragon drifted off to sleep together, comforted by the fact that they were together and not alone in their struggles.

Beau roared as he mag-blasted a few Dragon Eye crew members off their dragon's backs and onto the street the next night, having come to stop a crime in progress. Watching from afar were Moordryd and Cain with their dragon's. It had been a week since the whole Dragon Booster clone thing at the compound and the teens had mostly recovered from the frights they got and were back to crime once again.

From above were Parm, Lance and Iris, who looked tired with dark bags under her eyes from lack of sleep. Her brothers could tell she was not sleeping much and had a feeling she was having nightmares again, but because she hadn't said anything to them yet, they didn't want to push her too much and she wanted to be with them tonight to give Artha and Beau support.

Looking through his binocs, Lance saw Cain and Moordryd running down a different street. "They're getting away!"

Parm, looking at his scanner, began to ramble about the directions and calculations of the street as Lance's face began to glaze over from the talking. "Parm, its a dead end, isn't it?" Iris grouched, in no mood for his insistent chattering.

Parm stuttered out an answer as Artha, as the Dragon Booster popped up on his screen. "Dead end it is." he grinned at his friend, who chuckled awkwardly.

Cain raced down another street when he suddenly found himself in… "A dead end!" he skidded to a stop as Moordryd stopped beside him. "Great!" he looked over at his friend. "This is your plan?"

"No… destroying the Dragon Booster is the plan… my father's plan!" Cain then took notice of some gear attached to the wall in front of them.

"Hmm… you father's vid-jacks, how exciting!" Cain grinned, this was perfect!

Moordryd looked up at the top of the building. "Use your white rappel-gear and follow me." he instructed, activating his rappel-gear that gave their dragons extra claws on their feet and they both sent three hooks up to the top of the wall, allowing their dragons to scale to the top and out of sight as Artha and Beau arrived at the dead end.

The teen looked around, confused as where Moordryd and Cain had gone. "Hey! Where'd they go?" he questioned before pressing his vid-com on his helmet. "Parm, Iris, Lance?"

On the rooftop, Artha's signal was coming through very weakly in their coms. "Something's interfering with the vid-signal!"

Iris felt her stomach drop with worry. "We need to get to him!"

She could feel the beginning's of a panic attack happening and she exhaled a breath to try and calm down.

"What's going on?" Artha questioned, when suddenly the vid-jacks activated with a bright flash of light, forcing Artha to throw an arm in front of his eyes to protect them from the light. The screens on the walls of the dead end then showing different roaring wraith dragons.

Artha was shocked. "Whoa, wraith dragons!" how could he take on that many?

The hatch cover that Beau was standing on suddenly opened downwards, causing the pair to fall down a large pipe, Artha screaming as they went. Word Paynn then appeared on the screens, laughing at his accomplishment at trapping the Dragon Booster.

"Artha!" Iris screamed as she saw her brother fall down the pipe, Prisma snarled and raced across the roofs, ignoring Parm and Lance calling her to stop.

Prisma raced down the streets with Iris in the saddle, trying not to panic. Her brother was in trouble and dang it she wouldn't lose him! Flashes of her nightmare from last night appeared before her eyes, Artha and Lance turning their backs on her, Prisma being hauled off by Dragon-city security, Beau rejecting her as his human sister, her brothers dying in her arms. The nightmares had been haunting her for a few days now and she wasn't going to let them take over!

The hybrid skidded to a halt in front of the pipe Artha and Beau had fallen down and without hesitation, the tri-colored dragon leapt down after them. "Hang on, we're coming." Prisma roared as she slid.

Parm and Lance arrived at the open pipe, the screens now back to normal. "He must have fallen into the pipe and Iris went after him!"

"We have to go after them!" Lance said, looking panicked, his brother and sister were somewhere down there, he wanted to know they were safe.

"Go after them where? That pipe connects with a hundred others! It could lead anywhere, and go twenty miles down into the Under City!" Parm explained before his eyes settled on the vid-jack on the wall. "Hello, what are these?" he grabbed the device off the wall. "Very interesting! Bypass interfaces." then he gasped. "Signal amplifiers!" that is why Artha's signal became to weak, he was close to the vid-jacks and that messed his signal up.

"Parmon! What are we gonna do?" Lance cried, begging for an answer, but Parm had none and that had the ten-year-old very worried about his brother and sister.

Meanwhile, way down below the city, Artha and Beau came tumbling out of the pipe opening, coming to a slow stop. Artha groaned, rubbing his sore head as he got to his feet.

"I don't know what's scarier, Beau, that stuff up there, or the fall down here!" he looked around. "Wherever here is!" he turned his wrist-com on and tried to call Parm, Lance or even Iris. "Parm, Iris, Lance? Can any of you hear me?" all he got was static.

"Scales! Out of range!"

Sounds of something coming down the pipe alerted the pair and they backed up as Iris and Prisma came flying out of the pipe, landing hard on the ground. Waving away the dust, Artha was shocked to see his sister and her dragon. "Iris, Prisma? What are you two doing down here?"

Iris picked herself up and once she saw her brother, she tackled him in a tight hug that knocked him to the ground. "Artha, thank the magma draconis!" Artha was just relieved she was okay and hugged back.

"I'm okay, Iris. But what are you doing? You can't be down here." Artha said as the siblings let go of each other and rose to their feet.

"I wasn't going to let you and Beau do this alone, Artha." her voice sounded just a little shaky as she spoke and Artha narrowed his eyes at her. "Iris, what's going on, why are you so worried?"

She looked at him, suddenly feeling stupid as Prisma walked over and nuzzled her hair. She opened her mouth to answer, but suddenly loud footsteps were heard and footprints began to form on the ground, coming closer to the siblings. Beau magged Artha into his saddle as Prisma did the same with Iris as two wraith dragons appeared, one bi-pedal and the other four legged.

"Wraith dragons! They must have followed us!"

The wraith dragons became visible and both shot green trapping gear at Artha, who deflected them with his blocking staff. "Dragon Booster, this way!" Iris called and Prisma galloped down the ancient road with Beau and Artha right behind them and the two wraith dragons chasing after them.

"Across that bridge!" Artha pointed out the bridge and both siblings and their dragons crossed it, halfway across, the whole thing began to collapse on them, forcing Beau and Prisma to leap into the air to get to the other side safely, which they did.

"That was close! At least the wraith dragons are over there, and we're over here!" Artha tried to sound optimistic, Iris sighed, loosening her grip on her handles slightly.

Then a loud roar unlike anything they had ever heard of before sounded from the near distance and then Iris took notice of a menacing shape hidden in the fog. "Go! Go! Go!" she urged with fear in her voice and both teens and their dragons raced off as Word Paynn was revealed to be sitting on top of the dragon that had made the loud roar.

Word chuckled to himself. "I am the least of your troubles, young hero. Keep running, Dragon Booster, keep running right into the cave of the Muhorta, right into my trap!"

While he was pleased with how his trap was going, he was confused about the rider and the unique dragon they rode, the dragon appeared to have the head, neck and body of a pack-class, but have the tail of a psi-class. Could the dragon be a hybrid of two dragons? And if so, he needed to know more!

Once they were far enough away from whatever had been chasing them, the teens and their dragons took a turn off the road and dismounted to give their dragons a break.

Beau and Prisma panted with exhaustion as Iris was leant against her dragon, stroking her side to calm her down. She looked over at Artha, who had spread out his food onto a small rock. "Okay, I think we lost them… It… uh, them!" he didn't know what to refer to whatever had been chasing them.

"Hungry, guys?" he asked Beau, Iris and Prisma. Beau nodded. "Starving, thank you, Artha."

Iris grabbed out her own food and fed a chocolate bar to Prisma, Beau, then herself. She held out the fourth one to Artha, who smiled at her and reached to take it when sound could be heard, seriously unnerving them.

"What was that?" Iris questioned, looking around.

"That better be your stomach… or mine." then a shadow of something passed them on the nearby wall. "Wait, did you see that?" Iris gasped.

"Huh? Where?" Beau asked.

The shadow ran past again and this time, Artha pointed it out to Beau. "And there!"

Prisma growled quietly, she didn't like this one bit and moved closer to her rider as Iris grew slightly afraid. Artha pulled out his blocking staff. "Oh great idea, Prisma! Let everybody else know we're down here!"

Then he started to shout. "Hey everybody! We're…" Iris slapped her hand on his mouth as Beau used the end of his tail to smack his rider upside the head for his foolishness. "Are you crazy, Artha! Who knows what's down here! We need to keep quiet!" she hissed to him. Her brother nodded and she released him.

Then he noticed that his food he had laid out was gone, along with the flash sticks. "Our flash sticks! The food! Gone too! This is really bad!" he sighed, great, just what they needed.

Iris handed him her remaining candy bar she had managed to keep hold of. Her brother smiled and took it, eating it quickly in case whoever was stealing from them tried to grab it.

A loud stomping noise could be heard and both teens poked their heads out from behind the boulders they had taken shelter behind to see the wraith dragons coming down the road. "And that is really, really, really, bad!" Iris gasped as Prisma snarled, magging her into the saddle. Beau and Artha raced out from the shelter with Iris and Prisma following them as they were once again being chased by the wraiths.

"It's like their leading us somewhere!" Iris noted as they ran and Artha had a feeling she was right. He noticed a deep cave up ahead. "Come on, guys, in here!" he directed the four of them into the cave as the wraiths ran past the cave.

It was very dark in the cave and Iris squinted her eyes, trying to get them to adjust to the dark. "I can't see a thing in here." Beau made his star mark glow brightly, illuminating the cave around them. "That's using your head!" Artha grinned as he hopped down from the saddle. Iris did the same, patting Prisma's neck.

The pair looked around, it wasn't much, but it would keep them safe for a little bit while they figured out what to do next. "This place isn't so bad, right?" he looked at Iris, who shrugged.

Beau then grabbed him by his armour, pulling him back. "Beau! Stop it! We have to hide! We're cut off from Lance and Parmon, it's ten miles up to Mid-city, and something or someone is after us, taking all our stuff! So if you've got a better idea, just say so!"

"My idea was making sure we were safe, that is why I was pulling you towards me, Artha. I'm worried." Beau grumbled, but all Artha and Iris head, as usual, was growls.

"Uh, sorry, I don't speak dragon." both Iris and Beau smacked him upside the head. "Ow, you two! Come on, I've already had that happen, please don't, its giving me a headache!" he rubbed his sore head as Beau and Iris laughed at him.

Artha looked at them with a deadpan look on his face. "Very funny, ha ha." reaching down to his gauntlet, he removed the star, transforming himself and Beau back to their civilian forms.

"Trust me, Beau… I think we'll be safe in here." above them, unnoticed, someone peered down at the teens.

Back in Mid-city, in the dragon temple below Penn Stables, Kitt, Lance and Parm stood with Mortis, recounting what had happened earlier.

"This is very troubling! Those pipes only lead one place; to the Wastelands of Loan!" Mortis explained grimly.

"The wastelands of what?" Parm questioned.

"You mean there's something you don't know?" the boy teased with a grin despite the situation.

Sighing, Mortis continued. "I believe Word may be attempting to drive Artha and Beau into the cave of the Muhorta!"

"The what?"

"Two things you don't know? Whoa, somebody give me a pen, I want to write this down!" Parm glared at Lance for his cheek.

Pointing his staff at the wall nearby, Mortis glowed a bright gold colour and an outline of a strange dragon's head was formed. "The Muhorta is an ancient dragon that feeds off draconium energy… like a vampire."

"Vampire?" Parm sounded freaked out by this point.

"If the Muhorta drains Beau, Word can easily take him, and then he'll become completely free to start his dragon-human war! And with Iris down there with them, she'll be in terrible danger as Prisma is a hybrid and Word may try to take her as well."

Kitt gasped, that sounded terrible, she had seen how close Iris and Prisma were with each other and knew that if anything happened to either of them, it would be very bad. "We have to do something! If Word gets Prisma, Iris will be inconsolable!"

It was true as Iris and Prisma bond was only growing stronger the longer they spent together, the dragon and human were so close now they almost acted like sisters. Kitt never wanted anything bad to happen to her friend, at all!

Mortis could see the determined look on Kitt's face. He knew her being friends with Iris had given the teen more confidence in herself. "The path to the cave of the Muhorta is full of creatures and traps! It is very dangerous!" Mortis cautioned that going there would not be easy.

"We're sticking together, Mortis! They're our friends and they need us." Kitt declared.

Lance decided to be cheeky and popped up behind Parm. "Like glue!" Parm turned his head to see where Lance was, but the boy switched to the other side before he could be seen, he did it again without notice, but the third time wasn't very successful and the only thing that achieved was them scaring each other enough to knock themselves and Kitt to the floor.

Kitt raised an eyebrow. "Oh, glue, huh? Well as long as the glue doesn't stick our butts to the floor!"

Back in the cave where Artha, Iris and their dragons were hiding, the teens had removed their dragons saddles and were laying down with their riders against their sides. Iris lay on her side, using her arm as a pillow.

"Tired?" Artha yawned, getting a nod from his sister. He sighed. "Iris, before we go to sleep, why did you follow me down here?" he wanted to know what was wrong, he already suspected, but he needed to hear it from her.

She sighed. "The nightmares have started again." she revealed, Artha's blue eyes widened, she was having those nightmares again, why?

"I don't know why they've started up again. But they have and I don't know why. Have I not been good enough?" Artha got up and walked over to her, kneeling down beside her.

"Hey?" he rested a hand on her shoulder and she turned to look at him, her eyes crystalizing with water as she struggled to not break down crying in front of him.

Artha reached out and drew his sister into a tight hug. "Don't think that you're not good enough, Iris. You're more than that!"

She sniffled, her emotions getting harder to contain. "I don't want to lose you or Lance, Artha. I'm-I'm… scared I'll be taken if my mother gets out." she started to cry as Artha held her close, rubbing her back in soothing circles as Beau and Prisma both curled around the two siblings.

"I-I keep dreaming about losing you and Lance, you turning your backs on me, dying in my arms! Prisma being taken from me, not having a home!" Iris recounted the various dreams she suffered during the last few nights. "My mother's abuse… I-I…" she broke down in more sobs as Artha held her close, all he could do was hold her, the two clinging to each other.

After a bit, Iris began to calm down and pulled back from the hug, wiping her red eyes. "Thanks Artha." She thanked him for being there with her. He gave her a smile. "We'll need to get you an appointment with your therapist when we get out of here."

Iris nodded, she knew it was needed and if her ptsd was surfacing again, she would need to see her therapist asap! Artha gave her one more hug before settling down on the ground, Beau curled around him as Iris did the same with Prisma, the siblings a few feet away from each other, but still within reaching distance if they needed one another.

As they fell asleep, Prisma and Beau spoke for a little bit. "Her nightmares have returned. This isn't good." Beau huffed softly, careful not to wake Artha and Iris.

"I too have been having nightmares about my former owner and the abuse I suffered." Prisma revealed, the blue and red dragon looking at her with sympathy in his gold eyes.

"I am so sorry, Prisma. I wish there was a dragon therapist for us to speak with." Beau nuzzled Prisma, who returned the gesture, the two dragons seeking comfort with each other.

"Me too, Beau. Me and Iris have both suffered a lot from people we thought we could trust. Now it's a mess and Iris is having a mental breakdown." The hybrid huffed, her claws slightly digging into the ground.

"Why didn't you wake me when you started having your nightmares?"

"I didn't want to wake you with my dreams, Beau. You needed your rest." Prisma looked down at her rider as she slept, lying on her side with her arm as a pillow.

Beau looked at his friend. "If you have any more nightmares, please let me know, Prisma. You don't need to hide them, I am here to talk if you need it." With those words, he laid his head down and closed his eyes, leaving Prisma to ponder his words.

Was it alright to wake him up if she needed him and Iris wasn't there? She knew that her rider would not always be with her at nights and felt alone in her stall. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to talk to Beau about her problems if he wanted to listen.

With that, she laid her head down beside her rider and closed her eyes, hoping to have pleasant dreams rather than nasty memories.

Sometime later, Artha was woken by Beau after he had a bad dream about his father and the night Beau chose him as the Dragon Booster. "Whoa, I had some dream, boy." he said as Beau nuzzled his head.

Hearing short labored breathing, both boys turned to see Iris, still asleep, but tangled in a nightmare. Artha crawled over to his sister and shook her shoulder. "Iris, wake up! Come on!" his shaking of her shoulder, gently mind you, was enough to rouse her from her sleep and she sat up with a gasp, face a bit pale.

She looked around wildly before Artha drew her into a hug. "It's okay, Iris, I'm here." he assured her that he was here with her and not alone. Beau and Prisma, who thankfully hadn't suffered any bad dreams, both nuzzled their riders.

"I thought…" she started but Artha hushed her. "Don't. I'm never leaving you, Iris. Nor will Lance, we're your brothers and we love you. Beau loves you and so does Prisma. Kitt and Parm care a lot about you. We're all here for you." he told her firmly, managing a small relieved smile from her that made him smile.

Releasing her from his hug, he settled for resting a hand on her shoulder to remind her that he was there with her. "You know, I had a dream that gave me an idea! If a Dragon Booster and a black and gold dragon like Beau stopped an entire war long ago, then all of us should be able to get out of this!" he sighed. "I just wish Lance, Parm and Kitt were here. Parm would know just what to say!"

Iris had to agree with him, Parm, when he wasn't rambling on about tech, was rather good when he needed to be. "I guess in a way, they are here!" Iris said and Artha nodded to her. "We still have each other and our dragons, right guys?" Beau and Prisma suddenly snarled quietly and Iris nudged her brother, directing him with her head and he turned to see an arm poking out from behind a boulder, reaching for his blocking staff and Iris's that were leaning against the rock along with her rappel gear she'd had with her.

Artha smirked, looks like they had found who was following them. "And as long as we do… we are not alone!" Artha sneakily got to his feet, reaching over and grasping the wrist of the would-be thief, pulling out a rather short and flustered little figure about Lance's height from behind the rock.

"Are you the one taking our stuff? Why?" Artha demanded as Iris got to her feet as the dragons snarled at the intruder.

"I, I want to learn! Yes, to be like you, you are the Dragon Booster! And his dragon Beau! You are trying to stop the dragon-human war! Yes, the war!" his gaze moved to Iris. "And you are his sister Iris, and her dragon Prisma."

The violet-haired teen shared a look with Artha, who narrowed his eyes. "How do you know that?" he released the short man's arm. "Who are you?"

The short thief stuttered. "My name… is Stewardd! And I am the leader of the Keeper's Crew!"

"The Keeper's? I've never heard of them before." Iris said as Artha came to stand beside her.

Steward nodded. "A secret undercity crew, we make new things! We collect what falls, and we make new things, yes new things!" the man nodded his head vigorously.

Artha looked a bit suspicious. "Hmm… I don't seem to recall my gear and food accidentally falling into your hand or pockets."

Steward shrugged his shoulders with an embarrassed look on his face. "Why is it we've only known about you now, though?" Iris questioned, hands on her hips.

"Oh, the Keepers know about the war, long ago we helped the original Dragon Booster, and were attacked by other crews! So now, we hide! We collect things that fall, and make new things… new things!"

Iris felt her heart go out for the little guy. "So you just stay alone? With no company?"

"We prefer alone." Stewardd admitted.

"Oh." Iris looked a little sad at that, she'd been alone before and never wanted that to happen again. Artha saw her look and rested a hand on her shoulder as Prisma rested her chin lightly on her other shoulder. The teen was grateful to them for their endless support.

Artha cleared his throat. "Listen, Stewardd, there is a man named Word Paynn, and he wants to start the dragon-human war again, and rule the planet. Right now, the Dragon Booster can use all the new friends he can get! And there's a lot of you and your crew can do!"

Stewardd suddenly looked excited. "Yes! Yes! Make new things, aha, yes!" reaching into his pack, he removed two candy bars that looked a bit different to the normal chocolate bars.

"Hey! My candy!" Artha grabbed them and studied them. "Sort of." Beau grabbed the other, flipped it into the air and ate it in one gulp. "I am sorry miss Iris, I only had two." Stewardd apologized for her and Prisma not getting one.

"Don't worry about it, Stewardd." she brushed his apology off, he didn't need to apologize for anything.

Artha took a bite of his, enjoying the taste. "Wow, this is great! Iris, you have to try this!" he broke off a small piece and handed it to her. She took it and ate it, finding it pleasantly good, better than normal candy. "Your right, this is great!"

As the brother-sister duo enjoyed the candy, Steward eyed their blocking staff's and rappel gear, grabbing them and taking off fast! The pair then noticed their gear missing. "What? Our blocking staff's, your rappel gear! He took our gear! Aw scales!" Artha cursed angrily.

"Scales, what are we gonna do?" Iris questioned, running her fingers through her hair in frustration. "This is just perfect! Steward! Thanks for the help, buddy!" as Artha was ranting, Beau was watching his hand with the candy. He went to tap him on the shoulder in an attempt to get it, but Prisma smacked him with her tail over his head.

She growled. "Don't you dare, Beau! That is Artha's and you will let him enjoy it!"

Beau huffed, looking like a scolded puppy as Artha growled in frustration. Iris patted his shoulder comfortingly and he broke off another piece, giving it to Prisma, who cooed at him and took the piece gratefully, sharing the rest between them. Beau swallowed the piece and burped rather loudly. Iris plugged her nose and waved her hand with a disgusted look on her face as Artha glared at his dragon while Prisma snarled and once again smacked him on the head.

"Where are your manners!"

At the pipe entrance in the wastelands, Parm, Kitt and Lance flew out of the opening, landing on the ground and groaning from the fall.

Parm held his sore head and gasped when he noticed something on the ground. "Loo!" he pointed to the prints. "Those are Beau's prints, and then there's Prisma's." he saw more footprints combined with Beau and Prisma'. "And something else! Wraith dragons! They were here!"

Kitt activated her wrist-com. "Artha, Iris, can you guys here us!?" she called.

Inside the cave, Artha's wrist-com lit up with Kitt, but the image was fuzzy and the signal was breaking up badly. "Kitt, is that you?" he asked as Iris looked over his shoulder.

"We're at the base of the aqueduct! Where are you located?" the image was constantly breaking up and they couldn't hear her very clearly. "You're breaking up, Kitt! Where are you?" she asked but the image fizzled out. "Scales, they're out of range, but they're here!"

Artha nodded. "Come on, let's saddle up and get out of this cave. We need to find them and figure out what's going on." Iris nodded and went to grab Prisma's saddle and she placed it on the back of her dragon's head, flipping the mag-locks into place, grabbed her helmet from the storage compartment and mounted the saddle, putting her helmet on as Artha did the same thing with Beau.

Word was seated atop his dragon on a cliff overlooking a strange looking cave. "The cave of the Muhorta…yes! Let us see if she is home." putting the binocs up to his eyes, he looked through them and zoomed into the cave where he saw a glowing, four eyed dragon head. He lowered the binocs with a grin and looked down at the two wraith dragons. "It is time, my wraiths. Drive the Dragon Booster to me and deliver the strange dragon as well." the wraiths cloaked themselves and ran off to find their targets.

Back at the cave, Artha, Iris and their dragons left the cave, being cautious just in case the wraiths were around. Beau swung his head around and noticed a dust cloud coming their way down a nearby road.

"Looks like we got company." Iris said and Artha nodded. "Iris, I want you to go somewhere safe, I don't want you to be caught up in all this."

She opened her mouth to protest, but Artha gave her a look. "Just go, please! I'll come find you!" he transformed into the Dragon Booster and Prisma raced off in another direction, leaving them alone.

The wraiths came closer to them. "Here they come! Hang on… hang on…" Beau snarled and the dragons split up, coming in front both sides. "They're attacking from both sides!" the wraiths moved in rapidly and Artha tensed. "Ready?" they got closer. "Now!" Beau leapt out of the way, causing the wraiths to collide with each other, painfully stunning them.

Artha grinned. "That's using our heads… and theirs!" the wraiths recovered from the hit and roared, clocking themselves again. He noticed one was looking around, like it was searching for something and his heart dropped, were they also looking for Iris?

"We're too exposed out here, Beau! Let's go!" they took off down the road with the wraiths chasing them, leading them straight to the cave of the Muhorta, where Beau skidded to a stop in front of the cave, his back to the opening.

Word watched from atop his clifftop, smiling. "Well done, my wraiths!" he then noticed the other dragon and rider he'd seen earlier were not with the Dragon Booster. "What? Where is the other dragon and rider?" he made his dragon leap down to the path a few feet away from Artha and Beau, who snarled. "The Dragon Booster! We meet at last."

Artha glared. "Word Paynn. So, you're the one throwing this party. Sorry I didn't bring you anything!"

"Oh, but you did! You brought me your dragon!" Beau snarled menacingly, backing up. "But tell me, where is the other dragon and rider?" he questioned.

"Artha's eyes widened in shock, so he had been right, Word was after Iris and Prisma. "They're gone!"

"Where?" Word snarled. "Somewhere safe, away from you!"

The Muhorta roared as Kitt, Parm and Lance arrived on a cliff not far from the cave.

Kitt covered her mouth with her hands in horror. "Oh no!"

Lance popped up on Artha's vid-screen. "Artha! Get out of there! There's a vampire dragon right behind you!"

"What?" Artha looked behind him, finally taking notice of the massive dragon as she snaked a large tentacle towards Beau, before he could get them to escape, the tentacle wrapped around his dragon, holding him down and began to feed on his energy. "What's happening?" Artha questioned in a panic as Beau struggled to free himself.

"It's gonna drain all of Beau's energy!" Parm explained from the screen. Word watching with a grin.

"Yes! Take his energy… finish them off, my hungry vampire dragon, and leave what's left for me!"

Beau struggled, growing weaker as his energy was being drained from him. "Beau, hang on!"

Word looked at his wraith dragons. "My wraiths… stand ready to grab the black and gold dragon!" Beau growled, becoming even weaker as Word chuckled. "You are mine now!"

Lance was horrified. "We have to do something!"

Parm noticed something. "Look!" he pointed and they all saw Prisma as she was racing towards the cave with Iris and Stewardd on her back, roaring loudly.

Iris held something in her right hand and she pressed a green button, it looked like her blocking staff, but was significantly different and coloured purple. She fired a rappel hook from the middle, it latched on a rock and she yanked on it, toppling the rock enough that made Word and his wraiths move out of the way as the boulders came crashing down.

(Her jakk-stick is much like Artha's just without the amplifiers and instead holds her rappel hook that can, when hooked onto something, can bring it down without much hassle and blue dragon star-shaped blades. It is coloured purple and can tune to mag-waves as well.)

Stewardd held out Artha's and threw it as Prisma raced past them. "Dragon Booster! Catch!" Artha caught it.

"Who is this insect! Take him!" Word commanded and one of the wraiths shot green trapping gear, Iris ducked, but Stewardd unfortunately got caught and was pinned to the rock. "Stewardd!" she cried, worried.

"I've turned your blocking staff into a jakk-stick!"

"A what?" Artha questioned.

"He found the jak-boxes that Parm brought and put them on the ends of the staff, Dragon Booster! Maybe you can use them to hack into the wraiths and steal their clocking patterns!"

Word growled, his wraiths fired more trapping gear at Prisma and Iris, the teen deflected them with her jakk-staff easily and pressed a button that sent two deadly small shuriken styled throwing stars at the wraiths, they flew in an arc, coming back and slicing off the green trapping gear from their chests, though it wasn't enough to make them visible.

Iris grinned at her accomplishment before Prisma ran out of view as Artha pressed a red button, extending the vid-jakks at the ends of the staff. "The green light, the green one!" Stewardd ordered.

Beau was becoming more and more weaker by the second and Artha knew that if he didn't get them out of this soon, they would be goners! He pressed the green button on the staff, which fired the vid-jakks at the wraiths, hitting them and making them visible.

"What?" Word hissed, his plans were going down fast!

The Muhorta noticed the wraiths and sent her tentacles out, trapping them and began to drain their energy as they screeched in pain. "NO!"

Beau began to shimmer out of view. "Parm! What's happening?" he asked.

"Beau and the gold draconium in your armour are picking up the pattern from Word's wraith gear! Beau is tuning himself to the signal!" Beau became invisible and the Muhorta was fooled as there was nothing for her to grab. She let go of empty air with a screech of rage!

Steward grinned. "The dragon of legend! Like magic!" he was suddenly released from the green trapping gear by Iris, who smiled at him and they ran off with the cloaked Beau and Artha, they picked up the others and got the scales out of there!

The Muhorta took notice of Word and his massive dragon. "What?" a tentacle reached towards him. "No! NO!" he screamed as the tentacle wrapped around his dragon and him.

Back at the pipe entrance, Artha, Beau, iris, Prisma, Lance, Kitt and Parm stood with Stewardd. "Friends of the Dragon Booster?"

Artha smiled. "Friends… just like you! Come with us?" he offered for Stewardd to come with them back to the city.

The leader of the Keeper's looked a little flustered. "Uh no, not yet. First, I must go back to my crew. We will return to Dragon City soon, the Keepers wil once again help the Dragon Booster!"

Iris smiled. She knelt down in front of him. "Thank you, Stewardd, for everything. The Dragon Booster will need all the friends he can get! I'm sure Word will be pretty mad once the Muhorta releases him!"

"Not to mention pretty tired!" Lance added.

Stewardd smiled and reached out to hug Iris, who returned the gesture. "I hope you like your jakk-stick, miss Iris."

She smiled. "I do, thank you."

"You have a jakk-stick too?" Artha questioned.

She grabbed it from where it was hooked to her belt, she pressed the button and it extended to its full length. "Wow." he was impressed.

"I have also added a flash-stick to it. May I?" Stewardd asked and Iris handed him the staff, he pressed a red button that revealed the flash end of a flash stick pop up from the left end. "Please shield your eyes." he directed and everyone covered their eyes as the dragons shut theirs. A bright flash, a heck of a lot brighter than a normal flash-stick, lit up the area for a few seconds before it died down.

Everyone lowered their hands from their eyes once the flash was over. "I have done the same with yours, Dragon Booster." handing Iris back her jakk-stick, he directed Artha where to activate the flash on his jakk-stick.

Once that demonstration was over, Parm couldn't help but smile. "I have to admit, we all did pretty well, by ourselves!"

"But better together!" Kitt added with a smile. Iris nodded as she deactivated her jakk-stick and clipped it back to her belt.

"Yeah, better together!" she agreed as Lance hugged her around the middle. She knew that she would need to let them know what was going on with her, but for now, she would just enjoy being in their company.

A little bit longer than normal, guys, but I hope you all like it!