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'No!! Not this... anything but this, please...'

The dragon couldn't do much to stop it. Only moments ago, he had been fighting against a figure, a dark figure, one of immense evil, in a place that, if you could smell it, reeked of evil itself. The fight had been hard and difficult, and when it had seemed he could win, his opponent had wounded him greatly. He had been left crumpled upon the ground, upon his knees, wincing and hissing from the pain coursing through his injury, a great wound on his leg, and was left watching the dark figure, as they loomed over him.

'Ahh!! How?' he thought more, wincing again, the pain growing in his leg, as he looked to them, 'How, Flame... did he win?'

He continued watching, fearing that he would be dead, but the figure just walked away from him, and towards someone else, another, who lay still upon the ground. For Flame, it was sight that filled him with dread; the figure was approaching Rizna.

"NO!!!! RIZNA!!!" he called out, his voice filled with fear and panic, "RIZNA!!! RUN!!!!! GET AWAY FROM HERE!!!!"

But his voice fell on deaf ears. Rizna was still, but breathing, he could her body rising and falling, as he watched the dark figure loom over her. It seemed to look back to him, almost sneering, before it lifted their sword over her, holding it above her. Flame shook his head, not wanting to believe this was happening, wishing it was not.

"RIZNA!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!" he screamed out, knowing what was to come next, now only wanting to stop the figure, to not it happen.

The figure seemed to laugh at his torment, his suffering, as the blade came down upon the dragoness he loved....

".......NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" he screamed out, leap up from his sleep, almost jumping from his bed. The dragon breathed heavily, frightened out of his life, but the moment he registered he was in his bed, in his room, he slowly began to calm down, and breathe easy. "Huh?" he uttered, "I'm... in my room?"

He shook his head, rubbing his hand over his face, as he tried to think over what he had experienced. He guessed he was have slept heavy during his first night, and that whatever he had been through, must have been a dream.

'Was that a dream, though?' he thought, thinking over it, 'Or a vision?' He took a moment, to look over his leg, the one that had been wounded in that dream. 'It felt... so real...'

After looking over his leg once more, he shook his head. He glanced to a timestone in his room, his clock, and noticed that it was almost about dawn. He knew he would have to get up and be prepared for training; he was going to be meeting his training partner today.

Flame lifted out of his bed carefully, yawning a bit, before collecting his blade from the rack, his eyes glancing around his room again. He sighed, shaking his head.

"No... Don't think about it Flame," he said to himself. As He stepped out of his room, he noted it was quiet in the sleeping quarters; he guessed he was probably the only one up, as he locked the door, before making his way to the arena. 'I wonder who my training partner will be?' he thought as he walked along the hall. He shrugged his shoulders at the numerous guess his mind made, as he finally reached his destination, and stepped into the room that lay next to the arena.

When Flame entered, he noticed that knight was standing in the middle; his eye closed as if he was sleeping. It was what the dragon was thinking as he slowly approached him. "No, Flame," he heard being spoken to him. It was Knight's voice, answering the question in his mind, "I am not sleeping, my young dovah. I was merely awaiting your arrival here." Flame noticed that, although he spoke, Knight's mouth did not move at all when he talked. "Today," Knight continued, still not moving his mouth, "...we are going to train you in your mind and with patience. I hope when we finish, that your training partner shows up by then. I need to go and talk to the great power of this land, about everyone's sudden evil vision of late." Knight lowered his head, as he continued on, "I sense someone here, is in great danger, but I do not know who it is, young dovah."

"Great danger?" Flame asked, looking to him. He thought back to his dream, and what he'd seen in it. "What sort of vision has everyone seen?" he asked, checking over his blade with great care, making certain that it would be ready for his training.

"I can sense, young dovah," Knight responded, "...that you have had a dream, a bad one indeed. One in where you and your love were in great danger, with death in the background of it. That my dovah... that is a sign of evil magic," Knight seemed to shudder a bit, though Flame couldn't tell better. "I fear that evil is rising somewhere in this land and that it is a danger to us all. Even I had a dream like that, a vision in fact just like your dream, in which my love was also in danger, but this was the real thing. I... I... I saw my lover's death happen before me, once again." As Knight spoke, Flame thought he saw a little sadness within Knight's eye, even a tear form.

Knight however, shook his head, the tear wiped away, as he looked to the dragon. "Let us train your mind, first," he spoke, moving to the center of the room, "I want you to attack me, but do not let your heart or anything else, enter your mind, as I'm going to use some of my powers to fill your head with illusions and distractions, all to make you unable to fight properly. OK? Then, ready yourself, young dovah..."

Knight quickly prepared his blade, Trinity, the sword by his side, as he uttered to the dragon, "Go!!" before taking a defensive stance. Flame thought for a second about this, considering this to be a normal fight, before he prepared and launched a strike. But half way in to his swing, he saw Rizna, now standing where Knight was. The dream must have had quite an effect on him, for his heart, deeply affected by it, acted, and made him swing it down to the right, just missing her, as the power in the swing made it slam hard into the ground, the dragon knelt down close to the ground. "Rizna..." he uttered.

Before he had a chance to recover, he felt Knight's blade upon him, against his throat. "In a real battle against evil, such hesitancy, such distraction, would make you dead right now," he spoke, "But fortunately, this is only a practice, so try to think carefully, about what is real and what is not. Do right, and this illusion will be no problem for you." Knight removed his blade and reach out with his left hand to help the dragon up on his feet. "Let us try again, Flame."

Flame nodded, and prepared himself once more. "I'm ready," he replied, and once Knight had nodded and resumed his defensive stance once again with Trinity, Flame swung out for another strike. His own blade swept through the air quickly, but once again, Rizna appeared before him. His heart ached at the sight of her, but closing his eyes, he chose to ignore it, focusing on his strike, that when he heard metal crash into each other, his eyes opened, allowing him to see his blade up against Trinity.

"Good... Good," he pulled back his blade. "You did well. Now, let's practice another illusion trick, one you must also be prepared for."

Before Flame could ask what this would be, Knight did a quick, but forceful pouch, knocking Flame backwards, that he had to dig his toes down into the ground just to stop, wincing a bit from the blow. The dragon closed his eyes as he stopped, thinking about how strong and powerful Knight was. When he opened his eyes, he blinked them twice, before looking around himself; there in the room, was now ten versions of knight, all stood around him. Before he could ask what was going on, one of them quickly attacked him, but in the last second he was able to block the attack and strike back. However, when he did, that version of Knight vanished. Flame shook his head in disbelief, as it reappeared behind him.

"Flame," he heard Knight say, but now of those around him moved their mouths, as he continued, "Next test. You must pick the one here, that is the real me. But pick wrong and I will make you feel some pain for your poor choice. Don't they all look so real to you; be warned, such illusions like this are also just as bad. Make your choice, young dovah; who is the real me?"

Flame looked carefully, examining each one thoroughly. To him, each version of Knight seemed the same to one another, like identical siblings, it was hard to tell them apart. His eyes couldn't help him with this illusion, so after looking over all of them, he chose a different approach to finding the real one. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath, and focused, listening carefully, as he turned around upon the spot, his blade stretched out from his person. He continued moving around as such, until his ears picked up something, and his blade soon pointed towards one of the Knights; if it was a clock, and his sword was one of the hands, this one would be standing at six o'clock. "You," he spoke, opening his eyes, "You are the real Knight."

However, it shook its head. "You picked the wrong one, dovah," he heard being spoken to him, "I'm so sorry, but you'll have to try again. But as I warned you, here is your pain for your poor choice."

All ten illusions raised there left hand, and fired a blast of magic towards the dragon. When hit him, he felt incredible pain inside himself; his body did not take damage, only his mind suffered. After they had all fired at him, they pulled their hands back and, to his surprise, they all spoke in unison; the same voice saying, "Try again. But this time put your sword in the one that you believe is me."

This time round, Flame had an idea, one he believed would work. Instead of using his sense, he would focus upon the one that he felt in his heart, had the most evil inside of them. Once more, he proceeded to do the same thing as before, but this time, he tried harder to find the real one. All seemed to feel empty as his sword passed them, except for one, one his heart called out to the dragon. 'Him!!!' it cried out.

Flame did what Knight had instructed him to do, and pushed his sword in the one before him. His thought was that it was probably an illusion, but when he opened his eyes, he saw that his blade had passed through Knight's armor. What's more, his blade was now covered in blood. Flame was quite stunned by this, and left to wonder on his decision for a moment. "Did I... did I pick right?" he asked, though the blood upon his blade seemed to confirm that as to being correct. Now, only one thought crossed his mind. "Knight, are you alright?" he asked him.

Flame got no answer from Knight, nothing at all, no sign of movement, or a voice. But a female voice soon answered his question, "He will be fine; so do not worry. In fact he stands at the door leading back into the hallway."

Flame was not certain, but he listened to the voice; as he turned around he saw that Knight was leaving, but not before turning around and giving the dragon a salute (One of those modern ones like in Metal Gear Solid). He was puzzled until a voice spoke inside his head, Knight's voice, "Do not worry, you did fine in this practice, but I must now speak with the great power." As flame turned back round, puzzled as to how Knight was standing there, where he had been a second ago, Flame's sword was all that lay before him, with one notable detail missing; the blood on it. He realized what had happened, it had been a trick.

Flame blinked in disbelief at what had happened. "Illusions can really be tricky to deal with," he said to himself, before he shook his head. A realization had just come to him, one he hadn't taken in. "Wait!! Who just spoke to me?" he asked, trying to locate the source of the voice he had heard besides Knight's own.

His eyes eventually located the source of the voice he had heard, standing at the door leading to the arena. It was a green dragoness, dressed in a hide skin with hide panties and some armor plating on her, and two dual blades strapped upon her back. She giggled at his bewilderment at seeing her, before she spoke, confirming it was her he had heard before, "Hi Flame. I'm Kelly, your training partner."

Flame looked over, stunned by the beautiful female before him. He couldn't help looking her over, and admiring her form. He gulped, as he felt flustered; his eyes had been drawn to her chest like before, and he blushed once again, looking away. "Erm... er... Hi...." he managed to say in response, before looking back to her, keeping his eyes upon her face. "Sorry... I was... just not expecting this..." he smiled as best he could, in the hope of calming himself a bit. "I guess you must be skilled with those, right?" he asked, pointing to her blades.

"I can use them," she answered his question, though a sigh escaped her lips, one that, to Flame, felt burden with sorrow, "...but I'm training to be better with them. Knight says that I can't control my swings well. He thinks that if we two should train together, it would help me out greatly. I mean... if I had a partner in my last quest when I was supposed to slay some octopus creatures, they wouldn't have... erm... well... anyway, if I had, Knight wouldn't need to rescue me every time in my quests in this land."

Flame chuckled, smiling to her. "I guess it would be better to have a partner by your side," he replied. He thought a moment, before asking her something that, to him, was out of curiosity, "Do you get many male dragons come around here, to Dragonstone?" he asked, checking over his own blade. "I mean... most everyone I've met who are a dragon, have all been females... well, apart from Knight of course."

"Well, some years, the portals bring some people here," she began answering, "...and some years, they bring none. You, Flame, are the only one this year. We usually get some from Dovahreich, but not during early summer at the moment; they usually come over at mid-summer. However, I personally have not much interest in males," she continued, although she smiled to him, "Not that there's nothing wrong with you, I think you look great, I just have no 'interest' in them. Although, personally, I have no interest in some of the monsters that inhabit Dragonstone as well, either," she giggled, before continuing, "I mean, the snakes and the others are fine and alright, but sand leeches and spiders... ewww!! No thanks!!"

Flame nodded, smiling to her. "I agree with you; I don't like some of the monsters that live around here. Only yesterday, I was trying to get some sand leeches off of my love, you see," he replied. He looked and admired his blade once more; he nodded as he confirmed that it looked good to his eyes before continuing. "Rizna is her name... I hope I can see her again, soon," he added, "I couldn't stop thinking about her last night..." He sighed at the thought of her, before readying his blade to his side. "Shall we train, then?" he asked her.

"Yes, Flame," she nodded, beckoning him to the arena, "Of course we shall." Flame smiled, and the pair soon strode into the center, preparing themselves. Once ready, Kelly grinned, and soon wielded her weapons, "Show me what you've got!!" But as she said these words moving in to strike at him, her blades and his clashed against another; Knight had walked in and stopped the training bout.

"Both of you, stop immediately, and sheathe your weapons!!" he ordered. Both Kelly and Flame put their blades away and began to ask why he had stopped them. "I have returned with an important task for you two. As for why you two, it is because you two are the only ones up. And both of you I trust greatly with this."

The pair listened carefully as he explained, "I want you two to check out a cave that the great power thinks, hides an artifact within, a powerful one indeed. While I seek the Dragonstone to see if the great power is right, there was one other matter it warned me about. It senses that it is threat that evil will bring to us." Knight looked over to the dragon, "Flame... I leave you in charge of this task. Here is a map you will need to find it," he handed over a worn, but well-kept map over to Flame, rolled up in a bind of silk, "Before you go, though, pick an armor from the forge. It is better to have good preparation in this land. But do not take any risks, just grab the artifact and get the hell out of there? Do you understand? Even if there is no danger, I still want you to get it, understood?"

Flame nodded, understanding perfectly clear, the urgency of the task, and opened up the map, examining it. The map detailed the land, showing many landmarks and places, of which he recognized Knight's home, and the cave they needed to go to; it was marked with a circle of red around it. As he looked up to tell Knight he would do as asked, both he and Kelly, who had been reading the map as well, noticed he had gone.

Guessing that Knight knew they would do so, Flame led Kelly out of the arena, and soon moved before the forge, looking for some armor for himself. He noticed several pieces that were hung around it on stands, good pieces indeed to protecting not just himself, but others too, but out of these, he took only a few items of armor for himself; a pair of leather leggings, a chest plate with straps, and leather gloves. He put these on, making certain they were secured upon his person, before looking to Kelly, who nodded her approval at his new equipment. He looked to the map once more, and nodded, tapping the marked cave upon it.

"Kelly," he spoke to her, "Let us go and get this artifact for Knight. I do not wish to let this land suffer a calamity, if it is truly bad news for it." She nodded in agreement, as he led her out to the hallway, and soon outside, glancing up to the clear sky above, and then to his armor.

"I think I can still fly us there with this armor on me," he remarked quietly, before motioning to Kelly, pointing next to him. "Grab hold of me tightly, Kelly," he told her, and when she did, slightly confused as to why, he stretched his wings and launched them both into the air, soon flying them out towards the cave; the armor, indeed, was not hindering him and their flight to their destination....

Their flight was uneventful, except for one thing. Kelly was not use to flying in the sky like Flame was, and he did not know, until he felt her grip tighten on him. He soon realized, as he looked to her, that she was afraid of flying; she had closed her eyes so as not to look at the ground below her passing by.

Flame held her tightly, keeping her safe as they flew. "Do not worry, Kelly," he spoke, trying to comfort her, ease her fear, "Perhaps when you are used to it, you will see why I like to fly, and be up above the trees and such. But if it is still a problem, I will not make you endure this if it is uncomfortable for you." He smiled as he saw their destination soon loom into view, in the distance. "But don't fret over this much longer. I think the cave is almost close to us now," he spoke, getting lower towards the ground.

They soon arrived at the mouth of the cave, were upon Flame gently put Kelly down onto the ground. He laughed quietly, seeing her eyes were still closed, despite having landed. Of course, he felt how she was, and with calm and comforting voice, told her that she could open them. She slowly did, and realizing they were now on the ground, she breathed a sigh of relief, before the pair looked to the dark entrance of the cave.

"Let's go, Kelly," Flame spoke, pointing into the cave, and she nodded in agreement, both entering into the dark depths, with soft, cautious steps, trying not to make too much noise, not knowing what lay within, whatever creatures inside they might wake with their footsteps. It was like this for a while, as they pushed in deeper into the cave, not seeing anything as they moved through the natural passageways.

Whatever lay inside for them was about to be uncovered, for as they remained cautious in pressing on, they soon began to hear noise ahead, which as they got closer to, began to form into several voices, one of which soon became loud; a voice that was shouting.

"Stupid minions!!!" they could hear being shouted as they got closer, "I want that Dark Spark now!!! With it, it will grant us the power to make my uncle evil, once again!!"

Flame could hear that whoever was shouting, had a similar voice to Knight, only there's was more of a child's voice, but Kelly was more aware of who they were hearing, for she knew whose voice it was, "Flame!" she whispered quietly, "That is Arakabaki's voice we are hearing. What is he doing here?!?" She quickly stopped Flame from moving on before pointing to his left, "Let us get closer to them, to this edge over there, so we can spy on him."

Flame nodded, moving quietly with her, as they spied on Arakabaki. The pair watched from a high ledge down into a big cavern with several passages that led deeper into the caves; to where though, Flame didn't know at all.

"And find it quickly!!" Arakabaki shouted to his minions, a slight amount of frustration and anger in the tone of his voice, "We might get visitors come here, seeking it out as well." His anger was easy to see; he kicked one of his minions hard, who it seemed was too interested in rubbing his back than to pay attention to his master, the beast yelping and becoming startled when he was hit. "NOW!!!" he shouted out to them, before his minion scurried off, eager to avoid any further trouble with their master in the mood he was in.

"I thought so," Flame whispered to Kelly, the dragoness looking to him curiously, "Whatever it is will be trouble. But even so, what is this "Dark Spark" he was talking about, Kelly?"

Kelly shook and shrugged her shoulders as she whispered back, "I don't know, Flame. I've never heard of it before. But I guess Arakabaki does." Flame nodded, as they watched him more; it was hard to make out much about him from their position. Although Kelly knew of him, Flame didn't, and getting a good look of him was not as easy to do, as Arakabaki wore a hooded robe over himself, and faced away from them, so he couldn't see his face. Only the shape of spikes around the shoulders and something or some 'things', poking out of the back of the head were easy to tell.

What they didn't know, as they were spying him, was that two sand leeches had sensed their presences and had slowly got closer to them. With a sudden strike, the leeches had wrap themselves around Flame and Kelly. Both tried, but as much they did to struggle and get free, they were too strong, the leeches grip was tight on both of them.

As was customary in their natural behavior, they checked over they caught prey. The sand leech that was wrapped around Flame, felt over him for a bit, but did not touch over his manly parts; it somehow knew, sensed even, that it had a male in its grasp, and instead just held him tightly within its hold. While it was bad for him, it was worse for Kelly, for her one knew exactly what it had in its grip; a female, and one it could enjoy.

Without warning, it started to immediately strip her hide skin and panties and soon got to work on sexually assaulting her body, wrapping around her mouth so that she could not say anything other than to pant and gasp from the forced pleasure upon her pillows and within her love canal. After a minute of love-assault on her, and being bound and trapped for him, one of the minions that had been sent away on their task, came upon them. It grinned evilly, and picked up both, bringing them back to its master, who was standing and watching the passageways the others under his command had gone down.

"Hey boss!!" it called out with a gruff, male voice, "Look what two of master's sand leeches find, up in one of tunnels!! Visitors as he warned us!!" He was harsh with the pair, mostly in how he dropped them onto the ground, hard, with both crying out "OOMPH!!" as they landed.

"Really?" Arakabaki spoke, the hood turning slightly to the right, "Let me see," before he turned round completely to look at them, allowing Flame to finally see his face. He was able to see he was covered brown scales and had dark, devious eyes on him; the smile he gave complimented them. "Ah, good work, minion," he complimented his minion, "Now, who do we have here? Ohh!!! I know her, she is Kelly!!!" He grinned in delight as she struggled in the leech's grasp, "What a surprise to see you in the bounds of my leeches again. But who is your friend here?" he pointed to the dragon next to her, and cackled, "Hehehehe... take the female to my place, minion. I will interview her later, personally. But for now, I start with him."

"Right, boss!!" his minion sneered, grinning at Kelly, who went wide-eyed, looking to Flame, as she was picked up and taken away, the leech continuing to assault her body more.

"Now then..." Arakabaki began, standing over Flame, "Who exactly are you? Tell me your name... NOW!!"

Flame snarled, as Kelly was taken away, baring his fangs; the leech hadn't bound his mouth. He hissed loudly, attempting to get free from the sand leech's grip. "Leave her alone!!!" he called out, ignoring his captor's question; the dragon was far too concerned with his partner's safety, and even if not, he wouldn't answer.

"I only ask this again, before I get a little rough with you," he heard being snarled at him, "Tell me; who are you?!?"

Flame snarled even more, still struggling to get free from the leech. "LET HER GO!!!!" he shouted out, the leech soon struggling to hold back against the dragon's efforts to escape, that it could not stop his arm from becoming free, swinging out at his captor, only just missing him.

Arakabaki grinned, and with his hand, pulled off his robe, before a flash of light covered him; Flame watched as he morphed into, what Kelly had not been able to tell, was his true form, a large snake. Before Flame knew it, he had quickly overtaken the dragon's arm, holding it down. With it now secured again, Arrakabaki was able to use one of his unique abilities he had. The dragon watched as he started to grow longer, and once Arakabaki was big enough and holding Flame in his grip, the leech released its own, and slithered off into the cave.

Flame struggled in the snake's grip, but he could feel there was a difference with Arakabaki; he was much stronger than the leech, he guessed that his captor must have been twice as strong as the dragon was. As he struggled in vain to get free, his eyes closed, he didn't notice the snake leaning in close to his head, until he felt something staring at him, and opened his eyes, seeing the snake close to his face, and looking into his eyes.

"Okay then," he spoke with a slight slur in his voice. It was different to his previous one, and more sinister in tone, "You have chos-s-sen the hard way. If you don't want to s-s-say who you are then, then I will get it out of your mind instead!!!"

Flame had no way of knowing what the snake would do, but as he looked into Arakabaki eye's, he noticed how the outside of his eye, turned pink, away from its original color of white, and with a sudden flash from them, Arakabaki was now within the dragon's mind, scouring through his memories and knowledge.

"Let's-s-s s-s-see what we have in here then," he heard the snake's voice within his mind, making him wince, as he tried his hardest to keep him out of there. It was no good; the snake was able to get past his mental barriers. "Let's-s s-start with who you are... Hmm... You are Flame from... What? You are not from this-s dimension, now that is-s interes-sting to know, but what els-se? What els-se... Hmm... you are believed to be the one to s-stop a great evil force here, from Dragonsstone, and that is-s what my uncle belives-s in you..."

Flame winced as he heard the snake laugh within his mind, dark and evil it was, before he continued, "You?! You can't even s-stop a sand leech!!!" He heard the snake laugh more, "Lets-s s-see what els-se is-s in here... Hmm... Now what does your heart seem to hide from me?"

Flame was panicking, and he knew the snake would sense it. Knowing what he was about to uncover, Flame did his best to strength his barrier, to stop Arakabaki from reading about Rizna, about is his love for her. It seemed to work, as he couldn't pass them, but the laugh the snake gave in his mind showed he didn't need to do much, and Flame's efforts soon failed, as he felt the snake push them aside with ease.

"Ohh!! Now what do we have here??" Arakabaki spoke, Flame feeling his heart being breached, "You are in love with a dragoness, one called Rizna." The dragon went wide-eyed with fear, wishing he wasn't reading those feelings of his; it was wish that was not going to happen, "Hmm... And what I can feel about her? Well... s-she is-s a hot one to you, someone who you so attractive... and s-she lives-s in a hut not far away. Well," the snake grinned to him, his mouth soon moving, "Jus-st because-se I find her s-so hot as well, I might go out and capture her for myself, and pos-s-s-ibly play with her too, tonight. How do you like that, 'hero'?"

Flame winced, that last part the snake empathized with dark intent of tormenting him, the dragon trying hard not to picture what Arakabaki was planning to do with Rizna, as he laughed menacingly, and continued on, fuelling the dragon's disgust at those mental images by continuing on with lewd insults to him about what he would do with her. Neither noticed a minion approaching them.

"Erm... er... boss?" he nervously asked, the dragon first to notice him, somewhat shivering on the spot, but really nervous and scared of getting his mater's attention for some reason.

"Not now, minion," the snake uttered in anger, glaring at his minion, "Can you not s-see I am dealing with this-s dragon?!?"

His minion winced, stepping back a bit, before he spoke again, "But, boss... We have dug out the Dark Spark!! We just found it in these caves!!"

"Huh?!?" Arakabaki uttered, glaring angrily to his minion, "Why didn't you tell me that, you?!? Idiot!! Well don't jus-st s-stand there sniveling!! Get a rope and s-secure his-s arms-s!!!"

"Yes... erm... boss!!!" his minion answered, the dragon seeing him gulp, before he rushed off, and moments later returned. Soon Flame felt the rope bind his arms, wings and legs, along with his body, making him secure for his captor, who was delighted, in dark, devious way, knowing he was not going anywhere.

Although was tied up, he was not kept from hearing things. Arakabaki called out for his minions and gave out instructions; many were ordered to gather his army and to attack the Dark Dragon Knight's home. But he gave orders to one to stay behind to guard Flame and not let him go, while two others, who had not been summoned, were to remain and guard Kelly, though were they were, the dragon did not hear. Despite this, as Arakabai left the caves with those he ordered out, he found being left with one of the snake's minions was a good thing.

His mind was swimming in a mixture of emotions; fear about what Arakabaki would do to harm Rizna and anger from the insults he had been made to listen to. All of them made Flame feel an inner strength emerge, making him stronger and capable enough of break the ropes that tied him up. His guard did not have a chance to react; Flame's fury was so great that his weapon, which had been removed but not taken away from him, was quickly retrieved, and struck him down. Once his fury died down, and he took deep breaths, his mind began to focus.

His first priority, now that he was free, was to find Kelly within the caves. He could have gone off and protect Rizna from harm, and even kick Arakabaki's ass for all the hurtful, insulting words he said to him, but while his heart felt such a need to do so, a part of Flame couldn't bring let him go and leave Kelly behind to suffer more. His mind was made up, and he chose to find and rescue Kelly first, before Rizna; he guessed Kelly was probably still being assaulted by the leech. After she was free, he would fly to Rizna to protect her, save her if needed; he began to search for his partner.

The passages in the caves, though, were like a maze; it was not easy to find her within them. He searched down one passage but it led him to a dead end, then he took another, and another, and both led to the same place; a dead end. He growled in annoyance. 'Where is she?' he thought, looking down more passages, 'Come on, Flame!! We need to find her first. We're not leaving her here to endure that creature, like Rizna had to... Come on!! Focus...' He calmed down and began to focus, trying to find a clue for where Kelly was, before hearing something down one passage, and following the sound.

As he walked down the passage, the sound became clearer, until he finally could hear what it was, what he knew he would hear; forced moans and gasps of pleasure. He had found her; Kelly was still being love-assaulted by the same leech, in what seemed like a natural chamber, with two guards who were watching the scene, making lewd comments, sneers and jeers, enjoying it for the looks of things. Flame thought to get closer, but dislodged a few pebbles and stones, that made echoed noises, and were picked up by her captors.

"Hey!!" the first guard said, looking to the dragon nearby, "Who is he?!? Did the boss send him??"

"I don't know. Boss not sends us a dragon," the second guard said, sneering, as he went for his weapon, "But the boss said we weren't to let anyone get dragoness. He must be here to get her. Let's get him!! Boss will be proud of us doing so..." The pair laughed menacingly, both of them prepared there maces for battle. Kelly, despite being trapped and panting, moaning, gasping and struggling within the leech's grip, spotted him, seeing the dragon being approached by the guards.

Flame snarled, readying his weapon; this time, the fight he was in, it would be the real thing. "Hang on, Kelly!!" he called out, and watched the two guards carefully, hoping to remember his training from the other day, and what he had learned.

Each guard approached him, one at the time, but they approached him and stood before, he noticed that it kind of looked a lot like the accuracy training he had done with the bamboo stalks, but this time it was for real.

Flame noted their positioning carefully, and realized something. 'That move!!! The Gliding Cutter,' he thought, grinning; his opponents' positions made it perfect to use it for real. He waited for a moment to strike, parrying a couple of attacks from them, until they were lined up just as he needed. Quickly he dashed at them, giving them no time to react, as he slid under their weapons, and took down one, striking him down hard, and killing him, before lunging at the other, and taking that one down as well. With both dead, it just left only the leech to be stopped from its actions.

"Okay, monster!!" he snarled fiercely at it, glaring at the creature, "Let her go... or my blade will do it for me..."

The leech could sense the danger, and between a choice of continuing to force itself on the female in its grips or surviving, it chose the latter. It unwrapped itself from Kelly and slithered away to a hole nearby, disappearing completely. Kelly sighed in relief, panting a bit, as she smiled to Flame.

"I hate those things," she remarked, standing up, "But it was not an adult one; that was lucky." As she brushed her hand over herself, she realized two things. She was undressed because of the leech, and was quite aroused below; she was forced covered herself to hide her body and arousal while she looked around for her armor. She noted how they were laid out on a rock nearby; leeches often did that with females for some, odd and unexplained reason; and quickly started to dress herself, while Flame turned around, the dragon blushing at how he had seen her naked before him. "So, Flame. What do we do now?" she asked as she dressed, before soon being clothed in her armor.

Flame turned back round once she allowed it, and began to answer her question, "He took off with the Dark Spark once they found it, and then ordered an attack on the Dark Dragon Knight," he explained to her, "But worse though is..." He lowered his head, hiding his eyes; a tear had formed in them, before he spoke again, "He knows who I am, and... he's... he's... he's going after Rizna!!" He looked up to her, the fear easy to read in his eyes. "I can't lose her, Kelly, I just can't!!" he continued, "I love her deeply."

"Flame, it's alright. I go back to the castle to try to warn them about the attack," she spoke with reasoning and understanding, "While you can go to your love and help her. And Flame..." she smiled to him, "Thank you for helping me. But we must hurry with our tasks now, so we will talk later!!"

Flame nodded, her words were filled with wisdom. Quickly, both Kelly and Flame started to run back towards the entrance of the cave. Once outside, they split; Kelly running back towards the castle to warn them, and Flame leaping into the air and frantically flying towards his lover's home, hoping he would get there in time.

The dragon flew harder than his wings had ever done before, making his way quickly to his lover. His only thought on his mind was her safety, and he soon, he saw her hut come into view. 'Rinza...' he thought, 'Please be safe... Please...' He soon got near to her home, and landed, heading towards it.

As Flame searched in and around the hut for her, he heard a loud scream come from nearby, and quickly looked for it, soon hearing a shout. "Get off me, you snake!!!" he heard cried out, and recognized the voice. The dragon rushed towards the screams, only to find Arakabaki had wrapped himself around Rizna's body, the dragoness struggling to free in vain to get free from him.

Flame growled the moment he caught sight of him on her. "GET OFF HER!!!" he snarled loudly, readying his sword. "YOU WILL NOT HARM HER!!!" He looked to Rizna, his heart yearning that she was alright, "Rizna... hold on!!! Don't let him take you!!!" he called out.

"YOU?!?" Arakabki called out, looking to him, "How did you es-scape my guards-s in the cave?!?" He snarled in anger, before shaking his head, "Never mind about that!! Don't you dare move!!! Don't take one more s-step clos-ser to us or I will bite her with my venomousness fangs-s, which will kill her here in this-s s-spot!!"

Flame growled, snarling at him, as he looked at her, his anger growing considerably. "You kill her, and I'll make certain it's the last mistake you make," he shouted out to him. He wanted to taunt him more to do so, but his feelings for Rizna stopped him and reasoned with his mind that his anger was likely to bring harm, leaving him wondering how to free her from him. "You wouldn't dare?!?" he called out, baring his fangs.

"Really, now... you doubt that I would? Okay then, I'll do it," he replied, grinning evilly, as he opened his mouth wide, showing off his big fangs, before bringing his mouth down close to Rizna's neck as possible, without touching them on it, almost like a vampire poised to strike at its next victim.

Flame froze in fear at the sight of this. "NO!!!!!!!" he cried out; the fear of losing Rizna was great, but somehow, a great courage had come to him, urged on by something within him. "Don't let him win, Flame," he heard a voice tell him, "Don't let him win. You can stop him."

Flame's fear of what might happen, seemed to melt away, replaced by the anger he felt at the snake, as he snarled and hissed at Arakabaki. Before he knew it, his free hand had balled up and quickly punched at the snake in his head, pushing his mouth away from her. "YOU... WILL... NOT... HARM... HER!!!" he growled out, lashing out at the snake with such anger, that the snake didn't have much chance to react, until Flame pressed his sword against Arakabaki's face, the dragon growling in anger, "Get... off... her!!" He hissed at him his final, demanding word, "NOW!!"

But the dragon's anger was so great, that Arakabaki saw an opening he could use to retaliate. With a flash, Flame was blinded in his eyes. "Fool!!" the snake sneered in delight at the dragon, as he reeled back from the flash, "Did you think it would be that eas-sy to kill me, the great Arakabaki?!?" The snake grinned, "But I do respect your, how shall we call it, blind bravery. Such a feat to do that to me... it has made me consider something, interesting for you; an offer I have come up with, if you will hear me out." He grinned evilly, watching the dragon trying to recover, though noting how he stopped and was listening, "I will release your love, but only if you agree to fight me. One on one, knight to knight; if not, it is good bye to your love. What shall it be, 'hero'?"

Flame was still recovering from the flash, trying to regain his vision. He did however listen to his offer; even though he would prefer not to, he had no choice in the matter; he had to do this for her sake. "Fine!!" he shouted out, as his vision finally returned. "We shall fight." His thoughts, after all, were on Rizna and her complete safety.

"Good choice, 'hero'," the snake hissed in delight, "But before we begin, I think Rizna s-seems-s to be tired. I think she needs to s-sleep..." And with another flash, Rizna was dropped to the ground gently.

Flame watched in horror, as she did not move at all as this happened, before glaring at the snake. "What did you do, Arakabaki?!?" he shouted in anger.

"Take it eas-sy, 'hero'," the snake grinned, before explaining, "I jus-st s-stopped her from moving, as I don't want her to es-scape while we are fighting. But if you win against me, s-she will be returned to normal, and be all yours-s, 'hero'. Now... let me morph into something... more ideal for you..."

Flame watched, as Arakabaki changed, a flash of light forming over him, and the silhouette of the snake morphed into that of a knight. But this was a knight that people were afraid of; even Flame was a little nervous as Arakabaki was now taller and bigger than him, though his appearance was something more to him; it looked like something he had seen before. "Ha!! Much better," he remarked, his voice having changed again, much deeper and darker in tone, while he wore a dark, blood red armor, with spiked shoulders, and a menacing looking helmet, "Now we can fight properly. Let us see how good you really are 'hero'!!"

Flame stood at one end of a battleground that had been made for them by Arakabaki, his sword held tightly in his hand, ready to strike. "Flame... you can win," the voice once more spoke to him, "Don't ever give up for her... or all those who will count on you..." Flame growled to his opponent, "Actions speak louder than words, as they say," he called out, "And mine are speaking volumes, on what I will be doing here."

"Fine 'hero'!!" he responded, "Then I will let my blade speak for me!!!" Arakabaki took a strong grip on his blade and swung it towards Flame, who managed to block it with his own. But Flame found that he could feel how powerful the blow was. As the two blades pressed hard against each other, swaying them to the right, he watched, as Arakabaki moved his head back, and then slammed it right into the dragon's own, the force of the blow, made Flame move back in great pain, but as he saw Arakabaki quickly charge at him, he knew he had no time to feel it, quickly blocking this attack as well. The blow was as strong as the first, but Arakabaki pulled back quickly, and prepared a new strike, making a swing to Flame's left side, which he quickly blocked. It was apparent to him, that he couldn't take this kind of strength; he was starting to wear out pretty badly. He needed to do something, and quickly.

Flame quickly thought about what to do, scanning his surroundings, and a plan came to him. Before his opponent could stop him, he swept his hand over the ground, collecting up earth and dust, and chucked it at the snake's face. "AHHHH!!! MY EYES!!!" Arakabaki cried out, before he felt Flame's blade swing round and strike him upon the side, striking hard at him.

But the armor that Arakabaki wore was much tougher than Flame realized, and his opponent was able to remove the dust and earth from his eyes, quickly, before snarling in anger. "I will get you for that!!" he shouted, before he flipped his blade and drove it into the ground, causing huge tremors to start shaking the ground where the dragon was standing upon.

Flame felt himself being knocked off balance by the tremors, "AHHH!!!" But he managed to hold his ground, and his nerve, growling back at Arakabaki. "This won't stop me at all," he called out, soon charging towards him again.

"Maybe not, but this will definitely stop you!" he replied, pulling his blade out of the ground, and swinging it. The swing created a magic beam of dark light, which hit Flame hard, sending the dragon back into a tree, the impact so hard, that his back was harmed. Before he could stand up, groaning in pain, Arakabaki grabbed him by his throat and lifted him up into the air.

"This ends here, now!!" he remarked menacingly, before he threw Flame away like a rag doll to the ground.

Flame landed with a hard impact, and tried to move, but the fight had made him tired, and his muscle ached with great pair, by the sheer strength of Arakabaki's throw. The pain he felt, did not stop there, because before he could react, Arakabaki had pick up Flame's own sword, which had fallen out of his hands, and walked up to him and then plunged it into his leg; Flame screamed in agony as it happened, now unable to move.

Arakabaki sneered in delight, confident of victory, as he saw the dragon laid out on the ground, now helpless to stop him. He decided to speak out his mind at the sight. "Ha!! What a hero that you were," he spoke, grinning in devious delights, "But there is no shame to lose to me! In fact I'm not going to kill you; that would be a hollow victory to me. Instead, I will kill your love with your own blade, to make you remember who it was you were dealing with here!! Because your defeat came at my hand; me, the great Arakabaki, the snake who killed his father and his brother's father as well," he laughed menacingly, and with much darkness in his voice at what he was to say next, "... will now kill your lover, just as Knight's own lover was also killed, but not by my own hands, for a horrible creature did so when I was young. So tragic..." their seemed to be remorse in his voice, as he shook his head, but it was false, "I would have done so when I was old enough."

As he reached out to grab the sword out of Flame's leg, he certain it was agony for the dragon, making it hurt him as much as possible, before starting to walk towards Rizna. As he did, a realization came to Flame, one he now wished he hadn't made; everything before him was just how the nightmare he had, had begun. In fact this was exactly the way, Flame had dreamt.

The dragon looked on in horror. "NOOOOOO!!!!!" he cried out. With great effort, he tried to get up. The wound was extremely painful, making him wince and hiss in discomfort, but his heart's desire to protect his love, made him step towards his opponent, to stop him. "YOU... WILL... NOT... HARM... HER!!!" he spoke out between hisses of pain he felt, as the snake had his sword raised over the dragoness.

"And what will you do, huh? 'Hero'?" he asked, sneering at the dragon as he looked back to him, before turning to face him, his sword lowered to his side, "Perhaps it's better that I do end your life!!" The snake grinned pointing his sword to Flame, "TIME TO DIE BEFORE ME AND YOUR LOVE, 'HERO'!!!"

As Arakabaki raised the sword to strike at him, out of nowhere, a shadow flew right past Flame, just like before, and like before, it protected him, picking up the snake and throwing him towards the same tree Flame had hit, but before Arakabaki could get up, Knight grabbed him by his throat.

"How dare you speak ill of my dead sons!!!" he snarled in anger, "And how dare you speak ill of my dead love!!! And how dare you try to kill another's love!!!" His anger fueled, as he quickly started to beat the living life out of Arakabaki. But, like Flame, his anger left him open to be countered, and the snake grabbed Knight's fist and hit him back, causing Knight to fly back away from him.

"Ah, but it was destiny that made me do all that!!" Arakabaki sneered, as Knight began to recover, "Everything I am, all comes from you, my dear uncle!! Even that desire of yours to kill all who oppose you, which your creator instilled into you."

Knight shook his head in disagreement. "But Arakabaki, don't you see how I have changed my life around?" he argued the snake's comment, "If I can do that, so can you, my lost nephew!!! Can't you see that being evil is not worth it? You're brother, Arrancard, would not want you to walk down this path. Why not give up being evil?"

Arakabaki grinned, however. "Never!!!" he shouted out, "I like to be bad to the bone... and all of its powers that I have... They feel great!!! No, I would much rather stay evil, dear uncle!!!"

Knight growled in anger, "Then you are no nephew of mine!!! You will die by my hands, just as my master did before me!!!" As knight raised his blade, Trinity, above him, Arakabaki stepped back out of fear, the first time Flame had seen it, but as he did, he moved close to his own blade and grabbed it. The battle between them began, with both equal to each other; Flame did not know who would win but his thoughts were not on that. He managed to crawl towards Rizna, the real focus of his attention, to see if she was okay.

Flame winced a bit in pain with each move he made towards her, but once he was before her, he looked to her, cradling her in his arms. "Rizna... Please... speak for me," his voice was weak from the pain, but had strength enough from his heart, "My love... Please..." He tried to find a voice from her, a sound from her, as he looked back to Knight, praying that he would win. 'Knight... You came to our aid again,' he thought, 'Let it not be in vain!' He looked back to Rizna again, checking for a sign she was still alright.

"....Flame...." he heard her speak, seeing her eyes look around her, "Is that you?" she asked him, looking up to him. Flame smiled, and with a weak voice, answered her with a, "Yes". Rizna smiled back to him, before continuing, "I can't feel my body much. I remember a bright flash and then a knight raising a sword over me, to kill me. Flame... Tell me that it's over..."

Flame held her as tight as he could, his strength had weakened, as he answered her, "Soon my love, very soon, I hope." As he looked to the fight, he noticed both Knight and Arakabaki were charging, before they both penetrated the other's body with their swords.

For 2 seconds, nothing happened, before Arakabaki screamed in agony and pain, stumbling back in utter surprise. "What?!" he cried out in disbelief, "Can Trinity also damage me? But... how???"

Knight winced from his own blow, though not as much, "Do you not understand? We share the same bloodline. Therefore, we both share the same greatest weakness; my blade Trinity. It was the one thing that can kill us."

"You win this time, uncle!" he growled in anger, before it died down, and he grinned, a hint of knowing more than the others seemed to shine in his eyes, "But soon, you will join on the dark side again, as your master will return!! I swear on this!!!"

"What do you mean?!?" Knight exclaimed; Flame could sense something had unnerved him a bit, as he looked to his opponent, glaring at him.

"Oh! You will see in time, soon eenough!!" Arakabaki replied, laughing evilly, before making his escape, creating one last flash, and vanishing into thin air

"Wait!!!" Knight cried out, shielding his vision from the flash. After it died down, he began looking around. "Arakabaki!!!! ARAKABAKI!!!!!!" He growled in frustration, "DAMN HIM!!!" Knight sighed, annoyed that he escaped.

As his anger died down, he now remembered why he had come out here, and turned his attention back to Flame and Rizna, who had watched the scene, "Are you two okay?"

Flame nodded in response. "Yeah, I think so," he spoke, though his voice was weak, and getting weaker, before he winced, as he felt the pain in his leg grow, "I'll manage, but Rizna... she needs the help more... more than me..." He smiled as best he could, despite all the pain he had within him.

"Knight, please," he spoke as best he could, "Take her to safety... Take her away from here... please... She needs... needs... needs..." He never finished; the pain had become too much for his body to handle, and he passed out, everythingaround him soon became black and slowly silent.

The last thing he remembered was too voices that faded out from his mind.

"FLAME!!! Please!!! I can't... lose him... I love him..."

"He will... be alright... his good heart... will save him..."