TAW Tales: How to Train Your Shifters (#1)

~ Chapter 3 ~

"Um, WHAT!?" Zero cried.

"Erp, erp!" yapped the little dragon.

It was a tiny green one, with a pointed tail tip and thin, jagged spines along it's back and tail. It had a frog-like mouth and two swirly, crooked brown horns. It's huge, bulbous gold eyes looked around at us all as it chirruped again happily.

"Guys," Zero said, staying stock still. "Get it off me. Get. It. Off."

"I've got this..." Moon said, morphing into her cheetah form.

The dragon chattered with interest as Moon crouched, her short, golden pelt rippling as she stalked forward carefully. Her blue eyes watched the dragon's every move, and the dragon watched hers.

Then, all at once, she launched herself at Zero's head. The dragon yapped and leapt off just moments before Moon's massive paws slammed into Zero's chest, sending him tumbling to the ground.

As cheetah and boy struggled to untangle themselves, the dragon bounded towards us in a few short leaps and sprang up the trunk of the nearest tree, clearing our heads easily and scrambling up the wood.

It sat up on the lowest branch, looking pleased with itself.

"Erp, errr!" it chirped happily.

"Yeah, I don't think we're in our world anymore," Night said, hands on her hips as we stared up at the dragon in the tree.

"Guys!" Winter yipped in excitement. "It's a Terrible Terror!"

"Really?" Luna laughed. "It doesn't look so terrible to me-"

In that instant, the dragon flew off the branch and landed on Luna's head. It seized a mouthful of her hair and yanked as hard as it could, flapping it's little thin wings like some demon-bird.

"Yah!" Luna shrieked, flailing her arms as she tried to dislodge it. "Get it off me, get it off!"

I got it!

Moon pounced off of Zero's chest and knocked Luna over. The dragon jumped onto Night's head, then onto Winter's shoulders where it scurried across to the other side and sprang at me.

I morphed into a dog and tried to duck but it landed on my face.

I cried out in pain as it sank it's vicious little fangs into my ear, growling and pulling at it as if it were some sort of toy.

It hurts, it hurts, get it off! I barked, bucking and spinning around in circles.

At last, as my friends began to close in, the little reptile let go of my ear and went flying over the trees and out of sight.

"Whoa, good throw Willow," Luna commented.

"I didn't throw it," I replied, morphing back and rubbing my sore ear.

A sudden burst of sound, like a dinosaur's roar, echoed through the clearing, rattling the branches on the trees.

"Uh, what was that?" Zero said nervously. We soon found out.

"DUCK!" Night screamed as a massive, two-legged dragon with dappled green and white scales swooped down through the trees, talons outstretched.

"That's not a duck!" Winter shouted back as we all hit the ground. "It's a -DRAGON!"

We rolled out of the way as another dragon of the same kind - this time with dark purple and pink scales - made a loud squawking sound like a parrot and dove at us. Seconds later, a different type of dragon with crimson and black scales and a long neck swooped down at us.