The Beast Underneath: A Yu-Gi-Oh! Fanfiction

Chapter Forty-Nine: Dragons

"Malice, too!" Kiria heard above her, turning around to see Malice rolling down the stairs.

"Kiria, are you- oh my god," Axel came walking down the stairs, head tilted back and jaw open. Malice bowling-balled into Kiria's legs, sending her flat on her butt, and then she rolled straight into Edna.

"Hi~!" Malice squeaked as she unrolled from her ball shape. "Kiria, will it-she bite me if I pet her?!"

"You could fit in one of her nostrils, if she bit you you'd- no, no, she won't bite you." I hope, Kiria thought.

"Okay! Hi! What's your name?!" Malice asked sweetly, as if the dragon could answer, petting the area around one of its claws.

"Kiria," Axel warned, standing beside her sister. "Who is that?!"

"Edna," Kiria whimpered, trying to smile. "She's a... a-"

"Sanpyrethyr," Yuuki explained.

"A big sweetheart!" sang Malice.

"Are you seriously treating this ginormous beast like a puppy?"

"She might as well be!"

"She is," Yuuki said. "Edna's actually pretty tame for a dragon like this. Most of them would probably be attacking you right now, but then again, the females are less hostile. Unless they have kids. In which case they are more hostile than the males, but passive-aggressive rather than aggressive like they are."

"Oh. So it's a nice one?" Axel replied.

"Nicer than, say, Thoracthyrs."

"Tha-nac-whas?"

"Thoracthyrs."

"What kind of dragons are those?" Kiria asked.

"Their alternative name would be 'Spider Dragons' and they're poison-types. They're caged for the very specific reason that they are almost entirely hostile to basically anything and will eat almost everything."

"Oh," Axel went ghost white. "I guess we aren't going there, huh, Kiria?"

"Just because that's what they are, doesn't mean we can't look at that."

"I'd have to be with you," Yuuki sternly added. "But it's their feeding time, so why don't we go visit them?"

"Can I stay with Edna?!" Malice squeaked, rolling around on the big dragon's forepaw.

Axel paused. "That... depends. She'll be alright without you, Yuuki?"

"Of course. Edna seems very fond of the love Malice is giving her. Just... be careful if she tries to roll over, okay, sweetheart?"

"Okay!"

The three climbed back up the stairs, wintry mountain wind whistling across the rock. The entire place looked natural, or at least that's what Kiria thought. Trees grew in abundance, and everywhere she looked there were all sorts of caves in a rainbow of depths and sizes, and nests with just as much variety. They eventually arrived back at the main circular platform, with the view to the water area and more nests and dens crowding all around. Kiria looked over and saw Taiyou languidly flicking his ears, watching her.

They walked past it all, heading to a moderate-sized doorway cut into the rock - one of two. It was much colder inside the tunnel, because of the icy mountain rock, and Kiria could finally see her breath puff out around her.

"Don't worry, we use fires to keep the heat in here. It'll get warmer through the tunnel." And it did, the temperature rising until it was slightly warmer than the outside.