Chapter Twenty Six

Bethany was able to sneak a few mugs of warm drinks out from the castle and made her way back to the hide out, which was an old shed which Patricia crashed. The two reptiles were sitting next to each other, Patricia trying to get close to Hiccup only to be shoved away. The group of teens were sitting in a circle, Bethany handing out the mugs.  

            “So tell us everything.” Rylie urged.

            “Or just the dilemma.” Bethany countered, seating herself next to Brandt. As she looked over at him she caught him scratching at his arm, noticing how dark skinned he was till she spotted his black finger nails.

            “Just tell us the problem.” Bethany said, changing her mind.   

            “Well…when we got here, Yasmine and I landed in Edolas.” Sarah explained.

            “You’ve been to the dragons nest?!” Rylie asked.

            “More of…lived in the dragons nest.” Sarah clarified. “Yasmine was then, well forced into becoming the dragon queen.”

            “What?!” Bethany bellowed. “She nearly killed me!!”

            “Really?” Sarah wondered aloud, and then looked at her feet. “Sh-She’s been acting differently. The dragons are scared of her now…”

Hiccup whined, Sarah scratching him under the chin in order to calm him down as she continued “They still love her but are too scared to get as close then they used to. She was never up for the war.”

            “How’d you get Hiccup out?” Rylie asked.

            “Brandt and I went to Edolas to check on Yasmine ‘cause she hadn’t been sending messages to us lately.” Sarah explained. “When we got there, she attacked us and bit Brandt. Her saliva’s poisonous and appears to be turning Brandt into one of her own.”

            “Only vampires can do that!!” Bethany complained irritably. Brandt rolled up his sleeve only to reveal his whole right arm was a dark blue, his fingers replaced by claws and scales covering it. Rylie and Bethany looked at it in shock, Rylie running her hand over it, it felt reptilian.

            “The transformation will stop when I’ve lost all memory of being human.” Brandt explained. “But it’s a sacrifice to keep Cilan safe.”

            “Cilan?” Rylie asked.

            “Sarah’s boyfriend.” Brandt replied, Sarah’s face suddenly lighting red and Hiccup rumbling- sounded like laughing. Bethany and Rylie turned over to Sarah both asking “Hmm, boyfriend you say?”

            “N-No, its not like that!!” Sarah said. “H-He’s just a real good friend!”

            “Sure, that’s how all relationships work out.” Rylie said slyly. 

            “Going back on topic.” Brandt said, laughing behind his hand. “At the moment, we’re trying to get Jaya and Rachel free.”

            “This is all Monarchs fault!” Sarah suddenly declared.

            “Who?” Rylie asked.

            “Monarch is ruler of Pandora; she claims that she wants peace.” Brandt replied. “But she only wants a powerful army to overrun Toradora.”

            “Aka, the dragons.” Sarah finished. “She somehow manipulated Yasmine’s mind to control her and kill the king.”

            “So this is all Monarchs doing?” Bethany asked. “Well now that we know, we should go and accuse and behead the b*#@.”

            “We would’ve done that ages ago.” Brandt said. “But she has a whole organization behind her plus we have no proof.”

            “Yasmine’s our proof!” Rylie countered.

            “Yeah but think about it, Yasmine is now the Dragon Queen a being who went missing centuries ago and he first impression if killing the king of Toradora.”  Sarah said. “Everyone thinks she’s a deranged, flying reptile out for human blood.”

Bethany leaned back into her seat, Rylie massaging her head and trying to think up a solution.

            “Well, first things first.” Rylie said. “We need to get Rachel and Jaya out of prison, were gonna need their help.”

            “We’ll just make a strategy first but we need everyone here in order to save Yasmine.” Bethany said. “Agreed?”

            “Agreed.” Sarah and Brandt replied. They heard low rumbling, turning they spotted Patricia and Hiccup rolling around in the dirt. Hiccup tried escaping but Patricia only nipped his tail and pulled him back.

            “Now you see who the dominant one is.” Rylie said and a laugh. Hiccup then spun around and roared, making Patricia roar back. Sarah and Rylie raced over and covered their mouth, clamping down.

            “Shush!” They both said. The two reptiles pulled their heads from their master’s grip and walked in separate directions. Bethany rubbed the back of her neck, catching a quick glimpse of Brandt’s arm.

            “Did it hurt?” Bethany asked.

            “Hmm?” Brandt asked.

            “You know…Yasmine…biting your arm?” Bethany asked and Brandt looked back at his. Brandt only gave a side ways smile as he replied “Oh it was nothing, just felt like a beast biting down and tearing at your flesh while a searing pain starts to go through your veins.”

            “Gee, sounded like fun.” Bethany said sarcastically, Brandt only giving a hallow laugh. He rubbed his arm, the scales going up and down as if a shiver.

            “I’m sorry my friend bit you and all, I’ll be sure to scold her when this is over.” Bethany said.

            “Well, it wasn’t really her fault.” Brandt said. “Blame Monarch she’s the one who basically cursed her.”

            “I’m shocked you could put up with her though.” Bethany continued.

            “Well, at first she drove me nuts ‘cause she caused me all types of problems.” Brandt admitted. “But she was fun to be around; she brought life to my seemingly dead one.”

            “Talk about depressing.” Bethany said.

            “Well, you do a lot of crazy things for people you care about.” Brandt said then covered his mouth, his face red.

            “Ah, you developed a little crush on the savage beast that is the dragon queen.” Bethany said with a laugh. “Good luck.”

Brandt gave a chuckle till the two heard Rylie and Sarah screaming at the two dragons. They peaked outside, seeing that Patricia had snatched Sarah’s hat and Hiccup had taken Rylie’s crown. The two chased after, the dragons laughing as they flew up high and into a tall tree. Brandt rose up and chased after, soon jumping and grabbing onto the branch and tackling Hiccup. Hiccup soared through the air, Brandt maneuvering himself to be on Hiccup’s back as he flew; inching his way towards the crown. He snatched it but fell off. Sarah screamed, running towards him and seeing if she could catch him.

            Bethany raced out from the shed and ran towards them, Hiccup trying to catch him as Brandt tried getting in a better angle. He then felt a searing pain in his shoulder blade. With a cry of pain, a large wing that matched Hiccup and Patricia’s appeared, extending while its twin appeared out of his right shoulder blade. The wings flapped and soon glided him to the ground, Brandt landing on his knees. He tried gripping himself but the pain was bringing him in and out of consciousness.

            “Brandt, Brandt can you hear me?!” Sarah screamed. Brandt’s eyes were now reptilian and he slashed at Sarah but stopped himself with his still human hand. He bit down on his lip, trying to hold back the urge to kill.

            “I-I’m okay…” Brandt said, standing up. The wings on his back folded back and Sarah was at his side.

            “We’ll meet up with you guys tomorrow morning okay?” Sarah said.

            “Alright, at the harbor okay.” Rylie said. “Take Patricia with you.”

She grabbed Patricia by the collar and pulled her along, till she was beside Sarah. Sarah patted Patricia on the head, who looked up at Sarah with friendly eyes.

            “We’ll take care of her.” Sarah promised.

Bethany and Rylie then raced back to the castle, easily there and running inside. Kamui and Subaru arrived, soon asking “Where were you two?”

            “We went for a walk.” Bethany lied.

            “Yeah, thought we heard a dragon on the way.” Rylie continued.

            “Well enough relaxing, we received a letter!” Kamui said handing it to Bethany. Bethany opened the letter and scanned through it, her already pale skin growing paler. She closed the letter and said “It’s from Monarch.”

The twins flinched at the name and Rylie asked “What does she want?”

Bethany looked over at the twin and mumbled “Sh-She wants our blood…Says it’ll calm the dragons.”

            “That’s stupid!!’ Rylie bellowed, kicking over a vase which smashed to the floor.

            “Well the dragons do hate us.” Subaru said.

            “We’re not killing ourselves!!” Bethany said strictly. “We’ll get you two into hiding.”

            “What about the war?” Kamui asked.

            “I’ll lead it.” Rylie volunteered. Bethany grabbed Rylie and pulled her aside, whispering “You need to help get Rachel and Jaya back!”

            “You can do that with Brandt and Sarah, your lives are at stake here B-mel!” Rylie whispered back. “I’ll be fine; I’ve led the army more than once.”

            “And if you encounter Yasmine?” Bethany asked.

            “I’ll capture her.” Rylie replied. “I’ll be fine, besides the constructors all made underground hideouts so if we are overpowered, then we can just hide underground.”

            “…Okay.” Bethany said and they turned back to the twins. “Pack your things.”

            “Why?” The twins asked.

            “We’re going into hiding!” Bethany said and the three raced off to prepare their things.

Author's Note

plotting begins

Reviews

[Popble]

You know what would be pretty cool? Do a Dragon King and Vampire King like Ganondorf with the Gerudos. Once in a millenia type thing. Maybe that's just me, but that sounds like it could be interesting. Anyway, another great chapter. The plot thickens.

[PokemonFan#1]

Yay! Can't wait till next chapter! (Hopefully Cilan will be in it!) Keep it up!

[StillShorterThanYou]

haha. is it just me? or does it seem that in every story you just HAPPEN to meet some drop-dead gorgeous guys? But hey, i'm not complaining~ and great work :D