DRAGON IN THE SHADOWS - 1st book in the cat analysis trilogy

Chapter 13: A Brighter Night

     Bzzzz.
     A quiet buzz filled Peter's subconscious mind. His eyes opened and closed disobediently, his mind falling silent.
     Bzzzzzzz.
     The buzz echoed in his thoughtless brain and fell silent reluctantly.
     Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
     A dreadfully long buzz shot through his mind like an arrow through a balloon. Peter stirred, but did not budge.
     Peter......
     A single word broke Peter's sleep and he jumped up with his tail curving in midair. He inspected the room cautiously, silvery glints of fresh moonlight sparkling on his shiny scales, filling the room with the soothing scent of fresh magic.
     After a thorough check, he settled down again, confused, only to be blasted by another ear (or mind) piercing voice. He called with his mind and was surprised to find Midnight circling overhead.
     What, this is your brilliant plan? Sneak up during the night?
     Yes.
     Peter scowled. Alright, I'll get Lucinda.
     NO! The one word gave peter a headache.
     Why? He asked inquisitively.
     We can handle this ourselves.
     Ok.
     He trudged out the door and followed Midnight as he flew off into the night.

     When the two dragons arrived at The Shadow X's  lair, they found that the entry had been blocked off well.
     They circled around the large crack and attempted to teleport through it. They banged into the barrier with a bang and crash, and returned home with an impressive collection of fresh bruises. Lucinda was at the kitchen table having breakfast when they arrived.
     "Hmmmm. Hunting without me I suppose?"
     Peter transformed. "Oh, come on. How did you know."
     "Uh, maybe that." She pointed at a massive lump in the middle of Peter's forehead.
     "Oh. Why are you up so early?"
     "I heard you going out the door, and was going to follow, but you were already gone."
     "Ok. So why don't we try again now?"
     "We will, but I think you should eat first."
     "Good idea." He had a quick meal of cereal and followed Lucinda into the office to formulate a plan.
     "Right. We need a plan." Peter said as they sat down comfortably, "The Shadow X is still in the tunnel, but he has put up a barrier around it. This barrier doesn't seem to be made of simple magic, for I can no longer teleport through it."
     "Mmm. This magic sounds more complex, but there is always a weak spot in any magical force. If you push and nudge this spot enough, it should break the magic."
     "And if it doesn't?"
     "Then you're just a very unlucky person."
     "Wow. That really makes me feel better about everything."
     "So, are we going or not?" Lucinda asked, a smirk starting to twitch at the sides of her mouth.
     Peter glared at her and walked hurriedly out the door, transforming and calling out to Midnight.
     Midnight was quick to respond and even quicker to arrive, though his injuries would not suffice for the task. Peter inspected his wings and found two small holes in the left wing, dripping small amounts of crimson blood.
     "Sorry Midnight, but I don't think you can come in that condition."
     I agree. Said Midnight unhappily.

     Peter and Lucinda arrived at the crack and re-examined it.
     They struggled to see in the dark, so Lucinda summoned a light orb with her Magic, allowing them to see to some extent.
     After a short search of the area, they found a small hole in the barrier. Peter shot a jet of blue flame at the hole, provoking small fires to blaze all around them. The barrier seemed to simply melt away at their feet, leaving them unharmed and surprised by their success.
     They slowly entered the tunnel and made their way to the door. It was open and The Shadow X was standing in front of a bunch of computers and cables. Facing away from them, he said quietly:
     "I was expecting company tonight."
     "Yes, well, you got that part right." Lucinda said, a smirk appearing on her face.
     The Shadow X whipped around in a flurry of movement, stalking around the two trespassers.
     "That's why I've improved on my attacks. Shadow-bots attack!!!"
     A small bunch of golden, orb like robots flew at Peter.
     Each one had a set of golden wings and spinning blades ejecting from either side of their small, spherical bodies.
     Peter swerved from side to side as blades flew all around him. One blade succeeded and cut into his left wing, allowing hot blood to stain the earth's crust.
     He howled in pain and flung himself at the nearest orb.
     He smashed his head into the back of the robot and sent it spiraling into the wall.
     A wave of sound erupted in the air as the orb exploded, taking two other robots with it. Fire licked at the control panels around the room, attempting bust the electronics.
     The Shadow X typed furiously at the panels until at last he said:
     "Just try and catch me now, Peter!" He spat the last words furiously and slowly raised his arms.
     A few seconds later, the controls folded in on themselves and the room began to collapse.
     Peter and Lucinda ran down the tunnels as fast as they could muster, the roof collapsing behind them.
     When they got out into the open, a silhouette of a dragon covered half the moon.
     Peter flew up and up, until he reached the dragon. It was a large, red dragon with wings as large as Peter's lounge room and black horns spiraling out of his long, hideous snout. A small panel sat on top of it's massive head with a saddle mounted just below it and on the saddle sat The Shadow X.
     "You see, now I'm just as good as you. Actually, I'm probably better than you, since my dragon's actually a robot and can do much better stuff than you."
     He flew up and dived at Peter with extreme force. He veered out of the way at the last second and watched as the dragon flailed towards the earth. He pulled up angrily and followed Peter in his climb.
     He blew a jet of flame at Peter and slammed into him, sending him flying. Peter continued to climb and stopped as
     The Shadow X caught up, the dragon struggling to stay upright.
      "You may be skilled, Peter, but your no match for me!"
We'll see about that!  Peter exclaimed mentally as he plummeted towards the sorcerer.
     He crashed into him with a satisfying crunch and watched as the dragon fell to the earth, exploding against the snow.
     Light surged upward, filling the sky with a brilliant golden glow. Peter soared around the town, satisfied with his victory.
     He was about to fly home when he felt a strong tug on his front right leg.
     He pulled his head underneath his belly and was not surprised to find The Shadow X clinging to it.
     "You will not win!" He yelled into the wind angrily and pulled himself up his leg and onto his back.
     Don't you dare! Peter thought, anger surging within his very bones, but The Shadow X had already raised his staff and summoned a massive ball of fire.
    Peter remembered Lucinda's summery on a dragon's fire breathing abilities but instead, flipped himself over, letting The Shadow X fall to the ground. Never-the-less, he was able to fly with magic and floated to the ground carelessly.
     "YOU WILL NOT GET AWAY WITH THIS!!!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, disappearing into Frostvale.
     Peter would have celebrated his victory, but sadly, be had a massive fireball to deal with. He flew in a series of directions and found that the fire followed him everywhere.
     So that I can't land without destroying the town! Peter realized in shock.
     He thought about the ball of fire, and then his own fire breathing abilities.
     With the right amount of flame... Yes, that might work! He thought happily.
     Immediately he set work, working out how much fire to use from Lucinda's theory.
     After his calculations were complete, he flipped over and blew a wider, stronger blast of fire straight at the ball. For a minute nothing happened, then he noticed small amounts of blue appearing on the ball.
     He backed away as quickly as he could and watched as the entire ball imploded on itself, then filled the night sky with a massive sheet of blue fire. Peter flew through the firelight and found that it was not hot. The ball had completely disappeared and The Shadow X was gone. At least, for now.
     He quietly made his way back to the house, and found that Lucinda was already there. He transformed and glared into her blank face.
     "I thought you were helping, not just watching! And how on earth did you get here so quickly?"
     "One," She said, somewhat irritably, "I was helping by stopping that dragon from destroying the entire town. Two, Midnight came and picked me up when the ball exploded, for I could help no further."
     "You call that helping. I am sure you could have at least disabled him or his dragon, but no, you just had to sit back and watch me nearly get killed. KILLED!"
     "Yes, I do call it helping and I did try disabling your opponents, but it seems they had produced some kind of-"
     "Opponents?! You think that was a game!"
     "No, it just seemed like the right word to use at the time."
     Peter groaned, then said;
     "I'm going to bed, you coming?"
     "Yes, of course I am!"
     "Night," Peter grumbled and trudged into his room, bruises paining him as he settled down for the night.