We Make it Work... Most of the Time?

Partner Swap

Gentle waves crashed against the sandy beach, chilling the unconscious body until he woke up. Jongup opened his eyes slowly, afraid the sunlight would blind him but was met with white. It took a few minutes for him to realize it was a wing attached to a pink dragon. Jongup crawled out from under the wing to get a better look at the unknown dragon. He stared at it in confusion; it looked like a, matoki but none of their dragons were pink. Walking around to the other side, Jongup spotted a white heart on the dragon's ribs. Taking a moment to think, Jongup looked over the dragon again. It really did look like Kekemato, but why was it pink now? He shrugged his shoulders and dragged the now pink dragon by the front legs out of the water and to shade.

"What should I do now?" Jongup asked himself outloud. "I should look around, but what if Kekemato wakes up?" He yelled out for any of his members, looking up and down the beach for bodies, but was met with nothing but sand and silence. Jongup didn't know what to do, so he sat down next to Kekemato. Maybe the dragon could figure something out when it woke up.

Shishimato woke up in an unfamiliar place. Not far from the dragon sat a grumpy Himchan poking at a camp fire. "Where is everyone else?" Shishimato moved closer to the human; seeing Himchan alone made the dragon feel uneasy.

"I don't know... I walked around the whole island and only found you." Tears stung the corner of his eyes, dread filled his gut and his mind raced with worry and guilt. This was the first time Himchan ever felt so useless, scared, lost, on a mission. Shishimato picked up on the human's internal struggling.

"I'm sure we can find them... Maybe someone is on the island over there?" Shishimato nodded its head towards the next small island. Himchan stared at the dragon then to the island.

"Is your best plan to island hop until we find everyone?" Himchan rubbed his eyes to wipe away the unfallen tears.

"Do you have a better idea?" Himchan shook his head.

"Can you handle it?"

"Of course." Shishimato was banged up from the fight with the kraken, but he could still fly with ease. Himchan jumped onto his back and the two took off to the nearby island.

Jokomato was curled around Junhong, napping, when the human started to stir in his sleep. After getting a hand shoved into its face, Jokomato nudged Junhong harshly until he woke up. Junhong looked around confused, slowly getting up to stretch his legs.

"Where is everyone?"

"Not sure, but everyone is probably fine." Jokomato got up to lead the human to the tallest cliff on the island.

"What do we do now?" Junhong looked out to the ocean, there were a few small islands surrounding them.

"We could sit and wait or fly to the nearby islands. Your choice." Jokomato looked at the human, watching as he thought about their choices.

"Someone could be hurt... We should find everyone fast." Jokomato nodded its head as Junhong mounted its back. The dragon wasn't sure if they would be able to find anyone but seeing as they both still had their marks, it must mean their partners were alive.

Daehyun woke up to something laying on top of him. At first he thought it was his blanket but when he went to grab it he discovered that it was a wing; that didn't belong to Kekemato. He opened his eyes and stared at Dadamato's face. Daehyun sat up to lightly shake the dragon. Dadamato grumbled something about five more minutes but the human just shook it even more.

"Okay, Okay. I'm awake. What do you want?" Dadamato peered at the human who wasn't Jongup. "Wait! Where's Jongup?" Dadamato looked around franticly for his partner.