A Dreamer's Knight

Chapter 35 - Breath of Fire

No one moved: not One, not Mikaen, and not the dragon. As the seconds ticked by in silence, it became clear that no one was planning on being the first to break the ensuing silence.

Recovering from the initial shock, Mikaen whispered out of the corner of his mouth, "What happened to them not getting it working for weeks?"

"So I made a mistake. You can sue me if we live." Flashing a quick glance at Mikaen, One added, "Not that I have any money."

"You've got twenty-five shards."

"Fine, you can have my twenty-five shards when-" One rolled his eyes and said, "This isn't helping."

"Just trying to lighten a tense situation." Mikaen kept his eyes focused on the dragon. It was still watching them.

"Okay," One said, "I have a plan. I know exactly what to do."

The Dreamer took a few steps toward the edge of the pit. Striking what he must have assumed was an impressive pose, he raised his hands and shouted, "Deactivate Dreadnaught, authorization code Turbo Cheesecake!"

The dragon slowly moved its head toward him, a rumbling growl escaping its throat that made the hairs on the back of Mikaen's neck stand on end.

"I said authorization code TURBO CHEESECAKE!" One shouted again. There was a definite note of panic in his voice.

The dragon began to inhale large amounts of stream energy from the surrounding air.

"Please turbo cheesecake?" One said, slowly backing away from the dreadnaught.

Mikaen grabbed One by the back of his uniform and hauled him away from the dragon moments before it let loose a torrent of blue energy that melted the rock where the Dreamer had been standing.

"I said 'turbo cheesecake' you stupid hunk of scrap! You're supposed to shut down!" shouted One, still being pulled along by Mikaen.

The dragon crouched down, its massive wings opening until they seemed to fill the entire cavern. With a single flap, it was airborne, its gaze still focused on One and Mikaen.

Mikaen pulled One to the ground moments before the dragon flew over them, its talons missing them both by mere inches. To Mikaen's surprise, the dragon did not turn around. It simply continued flying forward, freedom presumably more enticing than either Mikaen or One.

Mikaen and One looked at each other, their faces only a few inches apart.

"Well, that was certainly interesting," said One.

"Get off me."

One rose quickly and pulled Mikaen to his feet. They ran toward the tunnel, the fresh claw marks gouged into the cavern walls and floor (a perfect match to the old ones, Mikaen noticed with a small amount of satisfaction) all that remained of the dragon.

Thinking through the most immediate questions, Mikaen chose, "What's turbo cheesecake?"

"Huh? Oh, the shut-down code. Yeah, we set these things up to go inert in case they fell into the wrong hands. Mikaen, you aren't going to believe this, but I got a good look at the circuitry in that thing before they shooed us away and the dragon's-"

"A Ranger dreadnaught?"

One looked slightly put out. "Yeah, the Breath of Fire. How did you know?"

"Other than you shouting deactivate dreadnaught?" Mikaen pulled the uniform away from his right shoulder plate so the Dreamer could see the symbols. Pointing to Crash's sigil, Mikaen said, "I saw this etched on one of the claws. Crash's symbol, right?"