Chrono Cross Fellowship ch7

ooo

CHAPTER 7: A Question of Trust

Draggy woke up. As he opened his eyes, he saw nothing but concrete wall with shades of orange. He did not know what time it was now, but he did feel that he had slept so nicely.

Rising to sitting position, Draggy stretched his back and brought about an audible crack. Stretching was nice, especially after sleeping for quite a long time.

"Draggy has slept enough…" Draggy stood up. "Ari?"

No answer.

"Where's Ari?"

Draggy hunched and brought his snout touching the ground. He walked in circles whilst sniffing. He hoped that he could track Ari down, but he had no clue about it. The smooth stone floor smelled much different from a human boy. Instead of the salty odor of sweat, it only emitted the stench of cement.

Draggy stopped walking and raised his head. He sniffed the air, but nothing smelled like human. The only available scents were stone, iron, and a mixture of something salty, sweet, sour, and bitter…

But wait! Stones and cement created the wall of the shack, and the door consisted of iron bars. What about the other combined scents? Draggy just smelled like that, and it could be his friends!

"Everybody is around!" Draggy ran towards the fence-like iron door and jumped over it. Sure, getting out of the shed was a daring thing to do, but being alone was not fun for Draggy at all.

Airborne, he spread and flapped his wings, ready to look for his friends. Although Ari was seemingly absent from the group, Draggy could at least, play with the others.

ooo

Guile was still sleeping on the grassy floor, oblivious to his surroundings. Even with the blades of grass scraping against his body, he could still sleep so soundly. Why not? Since the day he emerged at the yard of Yoshino's villa, he had never had a comfortable slumber. It was not that he had to sleep outside, but the fact that he could rest only for a few hours bothered him.

But that was not the worst of all. If Guile overslept, Yoshino would scream directly into his ears to wake him up. However, that sometimes failed, and a pail of cold water to the face would introduce the morning to him.

"Hey, mister!"

Guile was still asleep, although the childlike voice was so loud that it managed to drive him into a lighter sleeping state.

"Wake up, mister!"

For Guile, the repeated shout was just as irritating as an alarm clock ringing early in the morning.

"Wake up!"

Guile raised his right hand and smacked whatever that created the noise. But as he did, he felt a brief, sharp pain jolting from his hand.

Snapping his eyes open, Guile glanced at his right side. Draggy was standing there, smiling.

"Draggy?" Guile asked, waggling his right hand.

Draggy nodded.

Guile let out a 'humph' and bellowed, "You were no different from Yoshino."

"Eh?" Draggy blinked. "What did Draggy do wrong?"

Guile gasped as Draggy asked such question. It sounded as if the dragon were still unable to differ between what was right or wrong.

A 'sorry' was Guile's only answer as he stood up and looked away.

"Mister, is biting someone wrong?" Draggy asked from behind.

Guile turned to Draggy, who was looking at him with head tilting to the side. "It is, if you do not have the right reason for that."

"Really? Draggy bit mister's hand because mister hit Draggy's face," Draggy replied.

"Either way, I have to apologize for my outburst," Guile said, his head bowing down a bit.

"Why?"

"I am not good at controlling my temper, do you not think so?"

"Draggy doesn't understand…"

"I am easily enraged. Small problems often infuriate me to an unreasonable extent."

"Not really! Draggy thinks that girl makes mister get angry so easily!"

Guile raised his head. "Perhaps you are right."

Draggy smiled, head tilting to the side. "Draggy just thinks that mister-"

Guile immediately interrupted, "Just call me Guile."

"Um, yeah, Guile." Draggy rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled. "Draggy just thinks that Guile is grumpy because of that girl, not mean or such."

Guile nodded and laughed softly. "Just grumpy, huh?" He was glad that there was someone who would comfort him.

All of a sudden, a cheerful childlike voice shouted from behind, "You're awake!"

Guile turned back to see Pip hopping towards him. "Where have you gone?"

Pip stopped on his tracks and said, "You snored so loudly… I went somewhere else to sleep."

Guile chuckled as the cheeks below his golden mask reddened. "Excuse me for my bad habit."

Everybody burst out laughing upon hearing Guile's statement. But soon, the laughter faded as a fog bank surrounded the area.

"Somebody is coming!" Pip called out.

For Guile, it could be a dangerous thing. Instinctively, he inserted his right hand into his left sleeve, but… "Where is my rod?"

"That evil guy earlier took it away. He said that you were weak without it," Pip answered.

"No, that is untrue." Guile shook his head and sighed. "That rod only enables me to fight better at close combat."

Suddenly, a circle of light appeared on the ground in front of them. A skinny shadow jumped out of it, shouting 'nyak-nyak-nyak' as it curled into a ball and rolled in the air.

Guile's eyes widened as he realized what it was. A skeleton in a purple pointy hat and other clown-like attire was none other but Skelly. He himself had heard several issues about the skeleton clown; most importantly, about how he died.

"Draggy, you must be careful with him!" Guile warned. He knew that it was a dragon that looked like Draggy who killed Skelly, and it was likely that the skeletal clown would like to revenge.

Skelly landed on the ground with both of his skeletal feet. "Good morning." Skelly clapped his hands rapidly. "Skelly the clown will show you something!"

"Wow, a clown!" Draggy and Pip shouted in unison, running towards Skelly.

"Draggy, back!" Guile shouted.

Skelly brought his hands clasping together, before pulling them back. Now, a solid ball of steel was visible on each of his hands.

"Nyak-nyak-nyak!" Skelly tossed the balls at Guile.

Guile ducked and dodged the attack. "Skelly, tell me. What is your reason to do this?"

Skelly bounced from side to side and giggled. "It's none of your business."

"But mister clown, there's no need to attack Guile, right?" Pip asked, placing a paw on his chin.

"Okay, I'll tell you why I attack." Skelly halted, before hunching to pick Pip up with both of his hands. "I don't like someone meddling with my plan!" He grabbed Pip's tail with his left hand and spun around.

"Pip!" Guile screamed.

Skelly stopped abruptly and threw Pip away to a tree. After hitting a sturdy branch headfirst, Pip fell into the ground like a falling feather. He remained motionless with a bruise on his head.

Seeing Pip's condition, Guile growled. He hated to see a child getting hurt. Unfortunately, this happened right in front of his eyes. And worse, it was his friend who suffered such thing.

"Why you…" Guile clenched his hands, bringing his fingernails biting into his own flesh. "Pip did nothing wrong to you!" he thundered, before jumping to the air and gliding towards Skelly. "Whoooaaaa!" He spun and kicked, bringing about a loud snap as his foot met Skelly's cheek.

"Nyak-nyak-nyak!" was what Skelly uttered as his head flew to the air and fell to the ground with a thud.

As the skull remained immobile on the ground, Skelly's skeletal body slumped. It seemed to be over… Wrong! Skelly's head suddenly bounced towards the skeleton. With a crack, the skull reattached itself to the other bones again.

"Surprising, no?" Skelly asked, standing up. "If you separate any of my bones from my skeleton, I can just reattach them."

Guile gritted his teeth. This was now serious.

Unbuttoning his garment, he roared, "If that is true, then I will destroy you to the point you cannot reattach your bones!"

He then threw his coat away, baring his ripped physique which he had constantly hidden under his garment. One would think he was a health-conscious individual due to his broad and perky chest, complete with a narrow waist and a flat, yet toned abdomen.

Hands clenched, he squatted a bit and pulled back his fists. Arches of purple electricity crackled and flowed from Guile's feet to his head quickly.

"Heh, do you think you can do it?" Skelly waved both of his hands rapidly.

All of a sudden, a swirling portal of purple light opened in front of Skelly.

"Nyak-nyak-nyak, take this!" Skelly leapt and pounded the ground with his hands.

Thousands of small solid orbs came out of the portal and stormed towards Guile. They pummeled him endlessly, bringing about a painful scream as each of them hit his defenseless body before vanishing.

After a few seconds of beating, it was getting too painful for Guile to cast his spell. Everything around him was twirling. He could also taste something like rusty iron in his mouth. He was sure that if this 'storm' did not stop, he would soon faint.

Suddenly, Draggy shouted, "Stop it!"

"Hmm?" Skelly snapped his fingers. The portal shrank into nothingness, and the storm of balls stopped. "Oh, yeah, I forgot about you. But first…" Skelly turned his attention to Guile.

Guile, with numerous pains stinging his entire body, stood limply and panted. It was too painful for him to move even a single finger.

"I guess I'll get rid of you first." Skelly dashed and rammed a fist on Guile's gut.

On impact, Guile groaned and winced as he tumbled backwards.

Seeing this, Skelly raised his right leg and…

CRACK!

The powerful stomp to the left rib cage forced Guile to scream and regurgitate blood.

Looking at Guile lying on the ground gasping for breath with his eyes closed, Skelly said, "Til we meet again!" He then walked away.

With blood trickling from his lips and stabbing pain jolting from his chest, Guile muttered, "Draggy… Please be careful…" Upon saying that, he could no longer feel anything. He had lost his consciousness.

"You're mean!" Draggy screamed, staggering backwards.

"Heh, that's because he's meddling with me… I've said that I hate it when someone intervenes!" Skelly said. "But don't worry, let's just forget about this and have fun, okay?"

"Fun…?" Draggy blinked.

A mischievous grin found its way to Skelly's face. It seemed to be easy to fool Draggy. "Yeah! You wanna eat and play?"

"Draggy wants to, but…" Draggy looked at Guile, who was seemingly dead.

"Forget about him. You can't have fun if you keep worrying about him," Skelly replied.

"Really?" Draggy asked.

Skelly nodded rapidly and uttered out 'yeah' several times.

"Um, okay…" Draggy said, walking towards Skelly.

Skelly chuckled. He had a plan to make Draggy's life a living hell.

Too bad that your mad mom is dead. I'll just mess around with you then.

As they walked away, the mist surrounding the forest vanished.

ooo

It was ten minutes away from eight in the morning now.

With a schoolbag on his back, Ari walked into his classroom slowly. Why not? It was still quite a long time before the class started.

Inside, the students had almost filled the entire class. Most of them were running around, but there were some sitting at the fiberglass desks. However, what drew Ari's attention were the two boys who were sitting at a desk further in front of him. He recognized both of them. The boy who was wearing all black was Akira Hayabusa, while the other one in dark blue t-shirt and jeans was Kotaro Kuwabara. The two had a Battle Board in front of each other.

After placing his bag on the table closest to the door and the wall, Ari walked towards the two boys.

"Yo! Ari!" Akira waved a hand. "You wanna help Kotaro?"

"Why?" Ari scratched his head.

Kotaro turned to Ari. "Ehm, I'm losing…"

Ari looked at the boards on the table. Near Kotaro's current position, there was a blue board with a picture of a swordsman in a blue outfit. He was holding a rose with a hand.

"Wow, Kotaro! You choose Pierre? Never thought of it!" Ari commented.

"Heh, he's a hero wannabe, and I like him!" Kotaro laughed. "He doesn't seem to have the skill, but I always appreciate that kind of spirit!" He then waved his left hand, which had only four fingers. It actually had five, but the middle and ring fingers were seemingly to be one with a thin membrane between them.

Ari nodded. He clearly understood why Kotaro said that. Kotaro, despite having one defective hand, always tried his best to keep up with the others. Even though computer and sport lessons often needed all the ten fingers in one's hands, he never complained about the difficulty. His marks for the two subjects were often below average, but he was never upset about it.

"Actually, I don't bring my Draggy board…" Ari replied. But soon, he bowed down. He did not know what to say. If he spoke the truth about Draggy, could he trust his friends to keep it as a secret?

Akira stood up. "Ari, I've actually heard about that board from some guys in the canteen. It's sad; I know that, buddy. But you can still buy another one, right?"

"If I were you, I'd not say that!" a girl's voice came from behind Akira.

Ari's, Akira's, and Kotaro's attention was now at a short girl with a black ponytail. In unison, they uttered, "Yukari?"

"There is always something good behind something bad." Yukari smiled.

"Um, uh…" Ari mumbled momentarily. Yukari was almost like a psychic. For sure, Ari was happy to have Draggy coming to life, and he actually did not really care about the board anymore.

Feeling that his friends were probably trustworthy, Ari asked, "Um, three of you… Can you keep this as a secret?"

"What secret?" Akira asked.

Without saying anything, Ari crept closer towards the three other students.

"Well, you can trust us. Don't worry," Akira assured.

"Actually, since that incident, the real Draggy appeared and became my friend," Ari said, his voice as silent as that of a mouse's.

"Really? Wow, I get to see the real Dra-" Akira shouted, but soon, a palm met his mouth.

With his right hand resting in Akira's mouth, Kotaro said, "Keep your mouth shut, Akira! You don't want to make Ari sad, right?"

"Um, it's actually my personal secret. I haven't even told my parents about this," Ari continued.

"Oh… Ari, that sounds good! Can you show him to us?" Yukari asked.

"Well, if you can promise not to talk about this in public, I won't mind taking you to Draggy's hideout," Ari answered.

"When are you doing that then?" Kotaro questioned, his hand was still covering Akira's mouth.

"I'm planning to visit Draggy after class," Ari whispered. "You can just follow me, and I hope that each of you brings at least two hundred yen."

Yukari took out a leather wallet from the pocket of her dress. After shuffling everything in it, she asked, "Well, I bring about eight hundred yen today… But why do we need that?"

"He's at Shinjuku Park," Ari simply said.

"Oh, so that's why!" Kotaro responded in excitement. "Well, I always bring about five hundred yen every day, so the entry fee isn't a big deal."

Unfortunately for Akira, he could not say anything as Kotaro's hand was still on his mouth. The only thing he could do was letting out some incomprehensible mumbles.

All of a sudden, a bass noise of a horn echoed. The class was about to start.

"Yikes! It's starting!" As soon as Kotaro let go of Akira, he picked up his Pierre board and stood up. "Bye!" He walked away to his seat, which was right behind Akira.

"Aw, geez, Kotaro! You made me nearly breathless earlier!" Akira grabbed his Leah board and hid it in the hollow space below his desk.

Ari smiled, before turning around and walking towards his seat. There, he unzipped his bag and took out a piece of paper. He had completed his essay.

Soon, a woman walked into the room with some books in both of her hands. Before heading to her own desk, she stopped and looked at Ari.

"Mrs. Satoko, can I submit my work now?" Ari asked.

"Oh, no need!" Satoko chuckled. "Just keep it with you."

Ari raised an eyebrow. "Eh?"

"Honestly, I only want you to learn more about attitude. For me, attitude comes first," Satoko whispered, before walking to her desk.

Ari's mouth was wide open. It was tiring to complete the essay, and Satoko did not even care about it.

Soon, Satoko had no more books in her hands. She was now standing in the middle of the class.

"Okay, now you all sit down!" Satoko commanded. "I have something important to tell you."

Ari smiled. His teacher might want to give a long speech about attitude…

Now, the class was silent. All the students had taken their seats and were looking at Satoko.

"Well, it's just a notice for everybody, but after school, go home at once," Satoko said.

All the students let out a 'huh', before chatting with each other. Slowly, the atmosphere of the class became like that of a market.

"Silence!" Satoko smacked the whiteboard, bringing about a bang. "This is important for your safety!"

Within a split second, the class was silent again.

"Since the monster incident at school, Shinjuku is not as safe as we think," Satoko continued.

Ari gasped. He suspected that Draggy had made a mess at Shinjuku. Why not? He left Draggy alone at Shinjuku Park yesterday, and it was more than possible that the dragon would cause some troubles.

"This morning, I heard that someone broke into a butcher near Shinjuku Park," Satoko said. "The investigation team said that some slabs of meat were missing."

Oh, no…

Ari was sure that it was Draggy. A dragon of course, loved meat.

"Anyway, that's just some information for you. Now, let's start our lesson… Oh, I have another announcement!" Satoko added.

Ari held his head with both of his hands. He no longer had the spirit to listen to what his teacher was about to say.

"The principal has organized an outdoor trip. This Monday, we will be heading to Yoyogi Park along with 6A and 6B," Satoko said. "Isn't that nice?"

At this, all the students shouted 'yay'. Some of them clapped their hands, while some began chatting with the others. However, only Ari was the exception. He remained still on his seat, looking at the surface of the fiberglass desk with teary eyes.

The only thing he could do now was waiting until the class ended. Then, he could see Draggy and clarify whether Draggy was involved in that incident or not.

ooo

Meanwhile, inside the forest of Shinjuku Park, Pip opened his eyes. Placing a paw on his head, he got up.

"It hurts!" Pip cried out as the throbbing pain on his head stung like hell. But that was not the worst of all…

Guile's body was lying on the ground further in front of Pip, immobile.

Immediately, Pip skipped towards Guile, but abruptly stopped on his tracks. His eyes widened in horror as he saw the bruises on Guile's body. Furthermore, he felt heavy on his stomach as he noticed the dried blood on Guile's lips and chin.

Pip gulped and took a few steps backwards. How could someone have the heart to beat someone up and leave him for dead?

Shuddering, Pip turned around. Looking for help was probably the only way to save Guile. Only if he knew who could help of course…

ooo

Draggy and Skelly were sitting on the stone staircase that led to a shed.

"Nyak-nyak-nyak, I had so much fun!" Skelly said, throwing the last small bit of a ham into his mouth.

Draggy's wing-like ears wilted as he watched Skelly chewing the meat slowly. Skelly had eaten everything they had stolen from a nearby butcher, and Draggy had not had the chance to eat. Skelly kept telling him to wait until he ate enough, but even until everything was finished, the skeleton clown did not say anything about Draggy's part.

Skelly swallowed, sending a small pile of crushed meat travelling down to the area within his rib cage. Soon, the minute mass disintegrated into a small mound of shiny molecules, and merged with Skelly's ribs.

"Sorry, it's all out!" Skelly lifted his hands, bringing the palms facing the sky.

"But you promised to share some!" Draggy screamed as his ears rose and tensed.

"A lesson for you: never trust other people!" Skelly stood up and ran away. "Bye-bye, nyak-nyak-nyak!"

"Come back!" Draggy yelled as loud as he could, but there was no response. Skelly had jumped over the hedge further in front of him and disappeared.

Getting up, Draggy sighed. He was sure that he could not catch an agile clown like Skelly. He would just let it go, return to his shed, and sleep… But he decided against it when he heard a childlike voice calling out 'help'. Immediately, he turned to the source of the voice and ran towards it. As he did, he met Pip, who was skipping towards him.

"Pip?" Draggy asked.

Pip stopped running and began hopping repeatedly. "Guile is badly hurt!"

Draggy's eyes widened. "Draggy almost forgets that! Where's Guile?"

Pip turned around and galloped away. "Follow me!"

Draggy ran all his way, tailing Pip into a wide opening between the bushes. After a few minutes of running, the two critters arrived on the spot where Guile's body was.

"There he is!" Pip turned to Draggy whilst pointing at Guile. "Can you help him?"

"Um…" Draggy placed a paw on his scaly chin. He wanted to help Guile, but he did not know what to do. He was just a young dragon, and needless to say, he had no knowledge about first aid and healing.

"Please?" Pip asked, looking at Draggy with teary eyes.

Draggy looked around, trying to find a solution. However, the only thing he came across was Guile's coat lying on the ground beside his battered body.

Draggy walked towards the garment, picked the robe up with his paw, and covered Guile's unconscious body with it. That might not do anything good, but Draggy thought that his coat would act as a blanket. And Guile might rest better until help came.

"Draggy hopes that Guile feels better with this…" Draggy said. "What if we just stay with Guile until Ari is here?"

"Oh!" Pip clapped his hands. "That sounds good!"

Draggy raised his head and smiled. That was the best idea he could think of.

ooo

The sun was now at its peak, brightening the surroundings. Cars and motorcycles were speeding along the road around the towering Tokyo Metropolitan Building as people were rushing for lunch. But soon, vehicles filled the entire streets and caused a traffic jam.

On the pavement across the twin-towered skyscraper, with their schoolbags hanging on their backs, Ari, Yukari, Akira, and Kotaro got off a yellow taxi. As they did, they could hear people honking their horns and screaming. Also, the stench of the exhaust gas from the vehicles entered their nostrils and stung them from the nose.

"Let's get into the park fast!" Ari screamed, cupping both of his ears with his hands. His nose was scratchy, but with only two hands, he could not do anything to stop it…unless he was willing to hear the noises from the busy streets.

"Okay, let's go!" was what Akira, Kotaro, and Yukari shouted out.

Together, the foursome walked towards a small stand beside the entrance of Shinjuku Park.

"Huh? Where's the ticket seller?" Ari asked, eyes widening as he looked at the empty wooden chair and counter.

Akira snickered. "Maybe the weird incidents around have scared her."

Ari gasped at Akira's remark. He turned around and walked. "Something bad may have happened! Let's enter the park now!"

Without answering, Akira, Yukari, and Kotaro followed Ari.

Soon, it had been five minutes since the foursome entered the park. They were now strolling along the stone path surrounded by trees and hedges. All of a sudden, everybody paused as there was something peculiar amidst the bushes on the left side; a wide opening that was very familiar to Ari.

"Whoa! I've never seen such thing!" Akira said, pointing at the aperture between the shrubberies.

"Yeah, but Draggy is not in here," Ari simply replied.

"Who created this?" Kotaro asked.

"Guile did it. I'm not quite sure about this though," Ari answered.

"What? You said Guile?" Yukari questioned, her eyes widening in excitement. "He is here too?"

Ari nodded slightly. "Um, but I'm not sure if he's still inside the forest…"

"I want to see him!" Yukari squealed gleefully, sprinting towards the opening and entering the forest.

"Yukari!" Ari called out as he ran into the tree-filled area to chase Yukari.

"Hey, wait!" Akira and Kotaro shouted together as they also rushed to follow the two other kids.

After running for a few minutes and passing a few trees, everybody halted. Draggy and Pip were standing beside Guile, who was still unconscious.

"Draggy, what happened?" Ari asked.

"Ari! Help us!" Draggy called out. "Guile is hurt!"

Ari let out a 'what' as he and Yukari walked towards Guile and knelt down.

Seeing the blood on Guile's lips, Ari darted off in retreat and stood up. "N-no! This…" He disliked the sight of blood as it always successfully sent chills down his spines.

After that, he quickly lifted the makeshift blanket, revealing a number of bruises on Guile's body. At this, he shuddered momentarily.

Yukari placed a hand on Guile's neck. "He's just unconscious. Don't worry about it."

"But Yukari, I think it's better if we try treating his wounds," Ari said, putting down Guile's coat before fanning himself with a hand. "I'm sure that it hurts if he wakes up like this."

Yukari turned to Ari. "I can help if we have a first aid kit."

"We don't have it," Ari muttered.

"Hey, don't forget about us!" a rough voice of a boy called from behind.

Ari turned to see Akira and Kotaro running towards them.

"No more jokes, please." Ari closed his eyes. "This is a serious problem…"

"By any chance you bring something that can relief pain?" Yukari asked Akira and Kotaro.

"Um, I don't," Kotaro replied. "Maybe Akira has something because he often ends up with sprains and bruises after playing soccer."

"You're really smart, Kotaro." Akira took off his schoolbag and put it down. After unzipping it, he inserted a hand into the bag and took out a dented white tube. "I bring my trusty ointment!" He tossed it at Yukari.

"You should be more polite to girls!" Kotaro complained.

Akira rubbed the back of his neck and guffawed. "It's my bad habit, so please understand." He then zipped and wore his schoolbag.

Looking at the tube flying over Yukari's head and landing a few millimeters away from Yukari's right side, Ari shook his head and sighed. Akira was always that rude.

Suddenly, Yukari called out, "Can you boys help me?"

"Let me help you!" Akira pounded his chest with a hand, before walking towards Yukari.

"Me too!" Kotaro joined Akira and headed towards Yukari.

"Actually I want to help, but first…" Ari turned to Draggy. "Draggy, what has actually happened?"

"There was a big bad clown called Skelly. He threw Pip to a tree. And then, Skelly beat and stomped Guile until that red thing came out from Guile's mouth," Draggy said.

"That's…" Ari shivered. "That's really m-mean!"

"After that, Skelly tricked Draggy…" Draggy continued. "Draggy and Skelly went out of the park and took some meat from a butcher, but-"

"What?" Ari's eyes widened. "You…went to the butcher?"

Draggy nodded.

Ari's fear came true. If everybody found out about this, Draggy was not the only one who would be in a serious trouble. Ari too, might suffer a severe punishment if people knew that he was the one who wished and brought Draggy to life. If this happened, how would his parents react?

Trembling, Ari clenched his fists and shut his eyes tight. "You…"

"Ari…?" Draggy asked.

"YOU IDIOT!" Ari screamed, his voice echoing across the silent forest. "DON'T YOU KNOW THAT YOU'VE PUT ME IN A LOT OF TROUBLES ONLY BECAUSE OF YOU STEALING THINGS?"

"But Draggy-"

"SHUT UP!" Ari yelled, snapping his eyes open. "NOW GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE!"

"But-"

Ari delivered a solid fist to Draggy's snout and bawled, "GET LOST!"

The wing-like extensions on Draggy's head wilted. Holding his snout with his paws, Draggy limped away from everybody.

At this, Pip questioned, "Eh? Draggy?" Then, he skipped all his way to follow Draggy.

"I don't care about this anymore!" Ari yelled and squinted.

Akira, who was kneeling beside Guile, said jokingly, "Hey, cool off, buddy!"

As tears began to fill his eyes, Ari remained silent. Soon, he scurried with a forearm rubbing against his eyes. "I'm going home!"

"Ari, but you seemed to be so excited about this earlier…" Kotaro muttered, watching Ari running away from them.

All of a sudden, there were several groans, followed with a weak voice of a man saying: "Be careful…with Skelly…"

Everybody turned their attentions to the source of the voice. It was Guile, who was awake now. His eyes were partially open though.

"Guile!" Yukari called out. "It's okay. We're here to help you!"

"Where is Draggy?" Guile asked.

"I heard that Draggy and Skelly had made a mess outside the park, and Ari was very angry at Draggy," Akira replied. "He scolded and even hit Draggy before leaving."

"No… Skelly was successful with his vengeance…" Guile put both of his palms on the grassy floor to help him getting up. Unfortunately, a greater force pushed him back to the ground.

"Hold on! You're still hurt!" Akira exclaimed.

"I don't care…" Guile shook his head, huffing. "Take me to Ari…"

Everybody let out a 'huh'.

"Be fast… I knew everything…behind this…" Guile groaned. "I beg you… Please take me to Ari…"

Akira said, "But-"

Kotaro interrupted, "We'll do it!" He lifted Guile's right arm and brought it encircling the back of his neck. "Akira, he's heavy! Help me too!"

Akira walked to the opposite side of Kotaro and did the same with Guile's other arm. "Good that I often spend my time for sport!"

"I'll accompany you," Yukari added.

ooo

Ari strolled along the stone path, passing the stone staircase that led to the shed where Draggy used to be.

Sobbing, Ari kept uttering, "You idiot! I'll be in a serious trouble!"

He was clearly upset with the incident. Sure, he had been dreaming of having a pet or a sibling-like figure with him for a long time. Draggy's appearance in the real world was what he wanted.

However, the dragon had made a serious trouble: stealing from a butcher. Ari hated to imagine what penalties he had to undergo if people found out that he was indirectly involved in this incident. He could probably end up in a jail. If this happened, his parents would be ashamed and upset for having a son like him.

Stopping on his tracks, Ari muttered, "I can't be with you anymore because you've done something bad. Now, I'm all alone."

Suddenly, he heard some people calling his name from behind.

Ari turned and saw Akira and Kotaro were holding Guile by his arms and dragging him along the way. Behind them, Yukari was following with a white coat in her hands. They soon came into a halt.

"Ari! Guile has something important to tell you!" Akira said. "It's about Draggy…"

"Nothing can solve that problem!" Ari yelled, before turning around.

"Listen to me…!" A rough gurgling noise followed the voice.

Hearing this, Ari turned his attention to the others. His mouth was ajar as he watched several fresh drops of crimson liquid dripping from Guile's chin. He could not stand seeing someone in such pain.

Ari rushed towards Guile, who was gasping for breath. "Guile! What do you want to tell me?"

"Skelly was plotting revenge on Draggy because a dragon that looked like Draggy killed him," Guile said softly. "In order to be successful, he exploited Draggy's innocent heart…so that he could watch Draggy suffer both physically…and emotionally."

"What?" Ari bowed down. He had just realized that Skelly deliberately did everything to make Draggy suffer. "Oh, no…"

"Ari, you should talk to Draggy about this," Guile suggested. "Both of you should apologize to each other."

"But Draggy has caused a serious problem," Ari mumbled. His voice suddenly rose into a roar. "Everybody will blame me if they know about Draggy and I!"

"Calm down, Ari," Guile assured, wincing. "I witness everything about this. If you are to be blamed, I shall stand up for you and Draggy."

Ari raised his head, tears brimming in his eyes. Right now, he believed that it was fine if he made peace with Draggy because there was Guile, who was still willing to help.

However, Ari had one more problem before approaching Draggy. "I don't think Draggy forgive me! I scolded him so badly earlier!"

"Draggy will forgive you. I am sure of it…because he is kind…" Guile muttered, before coughing several times and spitting out blood.

Ari could not help but shed tears upon seeing Guile's condition. The magician had gone too far only to help him.

"This morning, I scolded Draggy because of a small problem, and yet…he did not view me as a mean person." Guile added, closing his eyes. "That is why I am certain that…he will…forgive…you…" After saying that, his body went limp.

"Guile! No!" Ari screamed. At this, he believed that Guile was dead.

Immediately, Yukari placed a hand on Guile's neck and said, "Don't worry about him! He's still alive!"

"Yeah, now go find Draggy!" Akira urged.

"We'll take care of him while you're away!" Kotaro added.

After hearing those, Ari nodded and ran past everybody without saying anything.

ooo

With Pip skipping beside him, Draggy walked ahead, his gaze locked on the grassy floor below. "Pip, is Draggy wrong? Is stealing something from the butcher wrong?"

"I just know that stealing is bad," Pip replied.

Draggy whispered, "Draggy made Ari very angry…"

All of a sudden, a cackling laughter was audible.

Draggy looked around frantically, and found Skelly standing further on his left side.

Pointing at Draggy, Skelly laughed. "I'm so sorry that you have to suffer like this!"

"You're a big bad clown! Why do you laugh like that?" Draggy yelled. "You made everybody sad!"

"Sorry, but it's none of your business!" Skelly rushed and kicked Draggy on his chest, knocking the dragon away.

Draggy crashed into a tree, but due to his averagely thick scales, he was barely hurt. He usually did not want to attack, but Skelly seemed to be a threat for him.

Standing up, Draggy roared, "Cough Drop!"

He reared back his head, bringing arrows of fire gathering between his jaws and merging into a huge burning sphere. He then bent ahead, launching the fireball at Skelly.

Skelly raised his arms slightly and crossed his forearms, forming an X in front of his face. As the fireball collided with Skelly in his defensive stance, it diffused into tiny sparks of flame that soon disappeared without leaving a trace.

Skelly lowered his arms and snickered. "Too bad, but you need to hit harder." Clapping his hands repeatedly, he continued, "Well, I'll show you something nice." He pulled his arms back, and a steel ball was now visible in each of the gap between his skeletal fingers in both of his hands. "Take this!" Skelly threw one ball after another in rapid succession.

Draggy covered his head with both of his paws to defend, but still took a mighty pelting from the solid balls of metal. Bruises were now visible on both of his arms, and they stung him.

Waving both of his arms, Draggy said, "It hurts! Why you do this?"

Skelly simply let out a 'nyak-nyak-nyak'.

A loud voice shouted from somewhere, "Because he wants to revenge!"

Draggy looked around, and saw Ari running towards him with a red gadget in his right hand.

"Ari!" Pip and Draggy cried out.

Ari stopped beside Draggy. Huffing, he said, "Draggy, now I understand everything!"

Draggy blinked. "Ari is not angry at Draggy anymore?"

Ari tilted his head to the side and glanced at Draggy with teary eyes. Smiling slightly, he muttered, "Of course not. I'm sorry for everything earlier. Thanks to Guile, I found out everything about Skelly."

Draggy smiled widely. "Yay! Thanks, Ari!"

"Damn it, Guile! You messed up my plan!" Skelly bawled. "I'll find and kill you at once!" With that, he turned and ran away.

"I won't let you!" Ari shouted as he turned and rushed to follow Skelly. Guile had helped him a lot, and of course, he would hate to see him die.

But he stopped on his tracks when he heard a childlike voice saying: "Draggy will help!"

At the same time too, Ari's gadget glowed and shot out several burning strings. They flew backwards and headed towards Draggy. When Ari turned back, the threads were revolving around the dragon. Soon, they merged and formed a blazing orange orb that encased Draggy.

"Draggy evolves!"

The fireball bloated abruptly like a balloon being given a huge amount of gas.

"Draggy evolves? But I…" Ari staggered back. Draggy evolving was what he feared, but it was happening right in front of him now. "No! I don't want this! If Draggy grows, he'll run wild!"

Within a split-second, the sphere detonated and sent shockwaves of flame rocketing in all directions. But before they could hit any objects, they veered and flew towards Ari's gadget, merging with it afterwards.

With the fireball's disappearance, Draggy was now visible in his evolved form. He was standing about seven meters tall. His arms were large and brawny with three jagged claws jutting from each of his hands. His feet were rather similar to those of a carnivorous dinosaur; each had three muscular toes with sharp toenails on their tips.

Spreading his large, leathery wings, Draggy growled and shot wisps of smoke out of his nostrils.

At this, Ari turned around and ran away as fast as possible. Unfortunately, he did not see a knobby root due to his hastiness. He tripped over it and fell to the ground with a thud.

Before he could get up, he felt that the area around him was darker. He turned and saw Draggy glaring at him. The towering figure of the grown-up dragon was blocking the sunlight that was supposed to brighten the spot Ari was lying on.

At this, Ari closed his eyes and covered his face with an arm. "NO!" was what he screamed as he began to tremble.

ooo