Darkness Rising (fanfic) (4th book in Destiny series)

Chapter 12: Brawler

They walked through the over sized cave. They started to hear loud noises coming from up ahead. Then they saw a hole in the cave wall and two silhouettes of dragons fighting each other. "Are we sure about this?"Atom asked.

"Not at all." Ericka said as they walked in a medium sized cavern. The path led to a large drop-off and down below was a crowd of dragons cheering on two dragons inside a ring. One dragon was significantly bigger than the other, had purple shimmering scales and his whole body looked like a cutting board. The tiny dragon had bright green scales and yellow tipped wings and tail. His body was covered in scratches that were oozing blood. Then the tiny dragon aimed for the larger dragons eyes. The larger dragon moved out of the way and effortlessly pinned the little dragon down. The dragon tapped out and the large dragon tossed him out.

"I NEED A REAL CHALLENGE!" He bellowed, scanning the crowd. Then his eyes locked on them. "You." he snarled, staring at them with cold eyes. They tried to run, but a dragon from the crowd scooped them up with their talons and dropped them in the ring. "I'm going to teach you trespassers a lesson." The large dragon bluffed, taking an attack stance. Then he swatted them out of the ring and into the entrance of a dark tunnel. He growled and hopped over to them. "Are you ok?" He asked quietly.

"Are you going to eat us?" Comet asked.

"Why?" The dragon said, "my brother couldn't shut up about you."

"Posiontail has a brother?" Ericka said, helping everybody stand up.

"Yup," The dragon said, "my name is Brawler."

"You probably already know our names."Atom said.

"Can't forget," Brawler said, "now I gotta do something." He turned back to the entrance of the tunnel and bit his tongue so that it trickled blood. He stepped into the light so the dragons could see him. "We shouldn't have to worry about them now." He said. The dragons roared and cheered as Brawler turned back to them and lowered his head. "All aboard." He said as they climbed up onto his head and he flew them down the tunnel. They saw a light at the end of the tunnel and were mesmerized by how big this cavern was. It stretched for miles.Of course nobody has ever seen the land of the dragon, Ericka thought, it's inside a mountain range under the ocean! There were little caves in the walls that led to different dragons dens. Below them was a large expanse of water with little islands here and there. Brawler flew to the far side of the cavern and landed in a cave entrance. Another dragon was sitting in the shadows. He looked about the same size as Brawler, maybe a little bigger. About the same age as Brawler. He had emerald green eyes with spots of orange. He also had dark purple scales with a white underbelly. He was thin but muscular and his tail was long and whip-like with red scales. He stepped out of the shadows to show that it was Posiontail.

"Back so soon?" He asked Brawler.

"Your friends came to visit." Brawler said, letting them slid onto the ground.

"What?!" Posiontail said like he was surprised but angry, "how did they get in?!"

"Lets just say they got a little help from ol' Brawler." Brawler said.

"You know it's not safe here for them." Posiontail said.

"But we need to talk with you." Ericka piped up. Posiontail looked down at her and sat down,

"Go on."

"Strange creatures of darkness have infested where we live. We just realized that there is more than one, more like a few thousand probably, and we can't fight them all of." She said, her voice slurred a little bit, but she kept it together, "we need your help." Posiontail looked at them with a blank expression.

"I'll sleep on it."

"Whadda WHAT," She said, "WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YOU TO SLEEP ON IT!" But Posiontail had already laid down with his back to them,

"-Yawn- too late." After they accepted that Posiontail had changed, they decided to get some rest as well.

They all fell asleep, except for Ericka. She sat at the mouth of the cave with her feet dangling over the edge. There was a hole in the roof in one spot and the moon was passing by it, casting its glow on her. She looked at the setting moon, and jumped when someone touched her shoulder. It was Atom, and he looked desperate. "Please reconsider." He asked. At first she was confused, then she remembered her conversation with him earlier.

"Oooh no," She said, standing up, "you can't change my mind."

"Please! You can't leave me alone!" Atom cried.

"You aren't alone," She snapped in his face, "we're your friends, that is as close we're going to get."

"But..." Atom stuttered. She turned to look at him. His mouth moved, but nothing came out. She got closer to him. Then he moved lightning quick to pin her against the wall, "you can't say no to me." He snarled. She struggled to get away from him, but he had a iron grip, he was a tough guy. She looked him in the eyes and didn't see anger, but a longing. They were making quite a ruckus apparently because Drac woke up. Is vision was blurry so he rubbed his eyes.

"If I kiss you will you let me go?" She whispered. Atom leaned into to kiss her as she saw Drac starting to wake up. It was too late. Drac saw Atom kiss Ericka against the wall while running his hands over her frame. Drac's mouth almost touched the ground. Atom apparently didn't see Drac watching them because he started to get carried away. His mouth trailed down to her neck and she looked over at Drac.

"H.E.L.P M.E." She mouthed to him. He nodded and stood up silently. Atom was totally unaware and reached his hands up to the buttons on her shirt. Then Drac tackled Atom so hard they almost fell of the edge on the cave entrance.

"I KNEW I COULDN'T TRUST YOU!" He yelled, shaking Atom so hard he looked like he was going to pass out. This woke everyone else in the cave. Drac was practically strangling Atom on the ground. Ericka had to pull Drac back by his arms to keep him from killing Atom. "I CAN'T LEAVE YOU TWO IN THE SAME ROOM OR ELSE YOU JUST GO AT IT DON'T YOU?!" Drac yelled at Atom as he struggled to sit up.

"Calm down." Ericka said, tracing his face with her hands. He whipped around to face her.

"How could you let him kiss you?!" He asked.

"He had me pinned up against the wall!" She said. Atom stood up and walked over to them.

"We've kissed more than once." Atom said. Drac looked infuriated, but managed to keep his anger contained.

"You said what?" He asked.

"It was my fault the first time," Ericka said, "I thought it would be funny, but I didn't think it would escalate into this." Drac's gaze softened and he relaxed his muscles.

"Until this is resolved you two have to be five feet apart at all times." Atom looked ready to protest, but Drac's murderous glare made him think twice.

They all went back into the cave and tried to get more sleep. Atom slept at the very front of the cave, Comet, Posiontail and Brawler in the middle, and in the very back was Drac and Ericka. "I'm sorry about what happened." she said.

"It wasn't your fault," He said, "he is very clingy." He look at Atom sleeping at the very front of the cave, then he put his face right next to hers. "but we all know who owns your heart now don't we." She did a small giggle,

"Of course." She said. They then made-out for a few seconds. After that, they drifted into sleep.

The next night they woke up. "So are you going to help us or not?" Ericka asked Posiontail.

"I have nothing else to do so sure." Posiontail said, making his tail into a ramp. "lets go." He said. they hopped onto his back and they flew out of the cave and out of the hole in the roof. Atom was in the back, Comet was in the middle with Drac and Ericka in the front. Posiontail veered right and started to head south to Transylvania.