Braving the Flames

Chapter 7: Waking Dreams

The flight back wasn't as pleasant. Inferno and Narumi take up more space in physical form then when they are water, and with both of them in the mouth at the same time they ended up filling the mouth up almost completely. Suddenly they saw light as they were dropped out of Summer's mouth and onto the ground in front of the others, all of which were much bigger to them.

"Inferno, Narumi!" Winger asked. "What happened? How did you get so small, and in Summer's mouth? And where were you? It's been almost two months since Oscar told us about you falling into the seventh stomach we thought you were dead."

"Instead we find you both are tiny!" Cutter said, poking them.

"That's what they're going to tell us," Summer said, slapping his hand away. "They said they would tell us back at the Roost."

"Okay, well after we ended up in Gludge's seventh stomach we found a problem." Inferno said.

"It had a valve to stop things from escaping," Narumi added with a small shutter at the memory. "We were trapped."

The others all gasped and stared at them in horror.

"So what did you do?" Dak asked them with a nervius expression on his face. "And how did you two escape?"

Summer slapped him over the head with her tail. "Be quiet and listen!" She hissed in an annoyed tone. "That's what they're going to tell us."

"We looked for over a week before giving up," Inferno added while blushing as she caught Narumi's eye.

"Why are you blushing?" Burple asked the two curiously.

It took a few moments for what Burple had said to register with the others, except for Summer, who already knew.

"Yeah Fern, why are you blushing?" Cutter asked her, deciding to tease the fire dragon a little bit. "Do you have a crush on Naru?"

That comment made Inferno blush even harder and Summer smacked the Razorwing in the head with her tail.

"After we gave up we thought we were going to be digested," Narumi said, deciding to step in to defend her mate.

"And we were already dating so we became full mates," Inferno added once she had regained her vouce.

"What?" Dak said in shock while Winger was just looking at the two girls, still a little bit confused.

"How does that work?" He asked, confused, only for Summer to wing slap him.

"Don't ask. It's rude." She said, giving him a warning look.

"Anyway, eventually I sat on a bag with a tablet from Valantis we had saved while going through the 5th stomach," Narumi said. "And it had a secret power of Water Furies on it."

"Water Fury?" Winger and Dak asked in unison. "What is that? And how do you two fit into that?"

"And while I am a Fire Fury, I have a Water Fury ancestor and unlocked those powers while me and Naru were trapped," Inferno added.

Silance fell on the group as the other Rescue Riders (aside from Summer) gapped in shock and stared at Inferno with wide eyes.

"Woah! That's awsome! Maybe you could show us sometime!" Dak exclaimed with a wide grin plastered on his face. "Isn't that awesome, Wing?" He asked his friend.

Winger just nodded his head in response. "Yeah, that does sound pretty cool. I bet Aggro woyld be impressed by that." He added shortly afterwards, not noticing the look shared between Summer, Narumi, and Inferno.

"Anyway...I picked up Narumi in my mouth and used that ability to turn us into water," Inferno said while blushing and staring down at her feet.

"We then mixed stomach acid as water," Narumi said to break the awkward silence that followed.

"Wait, you guys did WHAT?!" The others all yelled in shock.

"That sounds absolutely disgusting!" Cutter muttered with an uncomfortable look on his face.

Inferno and Narumi shared an uneasy look. "Yeah, it was really disgusting and very uncomfortable but it wss our only chance of escape." Narumi told them with a shrug and a nervious laugh.

"We passed through his system. Ending in the bladder where Gludge then..passed us on," Inferno said with a shake of her wings an a grossed-out look on her face.

"I think I've lost my appetite for the next week!" Cutter murdered dryly with a shake of his head.

The others shared similar words or nodes of agreement. But said they wouldn't be eating dinner.

"After we flowed away from that area and to the surface when we were about to change back when we were covered in darkness and ended up in what we now know was Summer's empty watersack," Narumi added while glancing over at the Fastfin with a kind yet nervous smile.

"But the last time my watersack was empty was almost a month ago!" Summer exclaimed in shock, as the others realized that meant they had spent half the time in Gludge's seventh stomach, and half the time in Summer's watersack.

The other riders just stared at Summer with wide-eyed stares before regaining tgere composure and turning back to face Inferno and Narumi.

"There wasn't enough room for us to turn back at first," Narumi hurriedly explained before the others could cut in. "But eventually we felt part of us leave when she must have performed a water blast, making us smaller."

"Sometimes more water would pull in, but while we tried to use it to replace our sizes we couldn't, it wasn't part of us." Narumi added. "This way we eventually became small enough to take physical form, where Summer then coughed us up."

"It was a massive surprise feeling my last two waterblast turn into the two of you!" Summer added, still a bit shocked to hear where her two friends had ended up.

"That sounds like it would be extremely unpleasant," Winger muttered with a shutter and a worried expression crossing his face.

"Actually we enjoyed being in her water sack," Narumi said with a slight blush dusting her cheeks. We didn't know where we were but there was a very soothing pulse through the water from her heartbeat going through our water form."

"It reminded me of a comforting mother," Inferno smiled, before looking up at Summer. "I would quite enjoy you carrying me in your watersack while I am water. My water form is only big enough for a single water blast so if you use it I can just reform and fly back to you. Heck after that soothing pulse I'd probably call you mom if you let me."

"Me too!" Narumi said as Summer blushed.

"That's not weird at all!" Cutter quipped with sarcasm dripping from his tone. "Am I the only one weirded out by that?"

The others all gave each other uneasy looks before slowly turning back to face the fire dragon and her rider.

That night Inferno woke up from another dream.

Like the ones before, a Fastfin named Riptide was mentioned by either Tempest, Sapphire or one of the other dragons but was never seen.

"You alright Fern?" Summer asked, having been sharing a nest with her and Narumi due to their size.

"I'm fine mum," Inferno said with a heavy sigh and a shake of her wings. "It's just a reoccurring dream that I've been having lately."

"Why don't you tell me about it?" Summer asked, getting a nod and an explanation, as she thought while blushing. "I've never heard of a Fastfin named Riptide, but if you've been dreaming about her being the mother of my children, maybe we'll meet soon. No matter what though I'll help you figure out your dreams."

"We both will!" Narumi added with a soft smile. "No matter what happens, we'll both be here to support you."

"Thanks guys," Inferno said before yawning and looking at Summer. "Can I sleep in your watersack? I want to feel that pulse. It was comforting."

"Me too!" Narumi said with a wide smile on her face. "I'd like to go in your watersack with Inferno!"

"Okay," Summer told them, blushing a deep red as she opened her mouth while Inferno grabbed Narumi and turned them both into water after climbing into Summer's mouth where she sent them to her water sack.