She leaned in and started soaring across the fields filled with small critters and monsters casually feeding at the grass. A goat creature woke up from a nap and nipped at twig with a small leaf on it, watching the rest of the field full of sheep and goat like monsters. The wind felt nice and cool across Rex’s face. He felt the jet stream Skye was creating with her sharp body. She passed by a small flock of birds and joined them right in the middle. Both the dragon and her said hello and soon Rex was carrying one on his head. It happily greeted him and then took off with the rest of the flock flying out of sight.

“They didn’t seem to mind us” said Rex watching the small shapes of the birds disappear out of sight. Skye nodded and rolled on her belly, taking the dragon to lie on top of her. She smiled as she help the dragon adjust his grip on her.

“I pretty much spend most of my time in the air. Most of my friends live up here practically. It’s just so nice and quiet” Rex sat up and adjusted the strap on his bag. “Of course” she went on. Her eyes shifted off to the left. “It’s nice to run into other monsters from time to time” she said looking back at him.

“What about the monsters in the forest?” he asked. She lifted a wing and touched her pointed beak.

“I really don’t go in there. Mostly because I can’t find my way out” she answered lowering a head like she was embarrassed. Rex looked back at with an agreed grin.

“I never really went in there myself. I guess if we have to we’ll get lost together” Skye’s eyes lit up and let a small reassured smile. She grinned her teeth trying to recover from her hidden embarrassment. She turned her head over and saw a small domed shape house with a domed chimney. Small vines climbed on one side of the house with a couple of yellow flowers starting to sprout.

“Nice little house down there” Rex said as he leaned over on Skye’s side. Her eyes turned to him.

“Thanks. Even thought I think it looks kinda silly” she began to descend slowly giving Rex a better look at the house and the close look at the forest entrance. It almost looked like a cave as it appeared to be almost pitch black once you get inside. “My parents are away right now and had me look after things”

“Until the thing attacking the monsters scared them into your house” Skye sighed and landed gently on the soft grass near some yellow weeds. She bent over and let the little dragon off.

“I might be grounded for awhile. It’s quite a mess, like I had an all night party or something. Of course I did the first night with them” she grinned her beak. “It was more of a ‘thank you miss scary looking bird lady for letting us stay’ kind of party” Rex walked with her to the forest entrance. Rex examined her she seemed to be more competitive than malicious. It seemed like she was honest with making mistakes and still self gloat about her abilities.

“Scary?” he started holding a tip of a wing. It was so smooth and felt like it could tear his scales off if he pushed hard on it. “More like scary pretty. I wish my claws were just as good as your wings” she stopped walking right as they were under the entrance. She took her wings back and let out an awkward laugh.

“P-pretty?! I’m not pretty! Pretty awesome! I’m the toughest bird in town! Me? Pretty? Good one!” Rex shrugged and walked in the forest. She followed behind and watched as the image of her home and light behind them slowly fade into trees and darkness. She stumbled a little trying to walk next to the small dragon.

“We should be careful for those monsters you talked about” suggested Rex holding out a blue and pink looking piece of vegetables. “Mom grows more than just plain veges. This one heals you a little while the other is in case one of us gets sick with a toxin or something” he placed them back in his bag and adjusted it on his shoulder.

“Well don’t worry about me. I bet these guys are all bark and no bite” she held out her held stoically. Rex just rolled his eyes. Looking up they could see small cracks of daylight from the leaves and branches. Small nests were built but looked like they were abandoned. The emitted small dust particles brimming with pollen from the mushrooms growing on the ground. Some were big as Rex even and wiggled as Skye nudged one. She walked closer to the dragon’s side. Her confidant face started to shift into a more worried look.

“This is the farthest I’ve been” she said nearly nudging Rex.

“But I thought you went far into here to look for the monster?” he said slowing down his pace. Skye stopped a foot in front of him and sighed a little.

“Yeah. When I fell in the middle of the forest looking for anything. There were some flying monsters that didn’t seem to happy with me” she looked further down the path. “So they attacked me without warning and thump I fell in the middle wondering around lost. So I just flew out and wanted some help”

“Well that’s not good” the dragon replied with a sigh of his own. He shrugged it off and poked the metal bird’s side with his elbow. “Come on. Nothing wrong with a little challenge right?” Skye smiled at him and followed right beside him with a her confidant stride coming back. She looked down at him trying to hide a more pensive look.

“Hey Rex?”

“Yeah Skye?”

“Thanks. For everything” he smiled at her and tried to imitate that same over confidant walk she was striding. Up head he could feel like something was watching them. He looked around at berry covered bushes. In the darkness between two thin trees a pair of silver eyes stared right at them.

Rex perked up and saw another pair of eyes watching them. Skye walked and didn’t pay attention to him as she looked up at he light filtering from the trees. The dragon slowly began to follow her from behind watching as the eyes followed him menacingly. He turned back and walked to Skye’s side shifting his eyes at the bushes to see if they were still there.

The forest did seem to get a little quieter. The shift of the winds seem to have died down and the ominous rustle of leaves went with it. Skye looked at the little dragon who had his head slightly tilted at the trees with numerous knotted holes. A few bug monsters barley squirmed of their holes. One was a caterpillar with small little horns from its head down to its tail. It perked up at the sight of the two and went right back inside. Another bug was quietly munching on a large leaf from a twig while sitting atop of a large mushroom.

“Well they’re friendly” said Rex adjusting his shoulder strap. Skye looked the other way and say what appeared to be a raccoon like monster eating a small berry in the darkness. It head at the sight of her as well.

“They’re acting kinda weird though. Like we’re ghosts or something” the metal bird replied. She pecked at the underside of one of her metallic feathers. Soon they walked to a large open area in the forest. Some of the trees had damaged branches and mushrooms looked like they had been chopped with a large object in different places. Rex ran over to inspect one of the large mushrooms. Several parts of them had been perfectly cut like a chef and a large knife.

“Whoa. Skye check this out” she fluttered over and looked at the cuts from the fungi. Her eyes widened at the sight of it and stood straight up opening her wings. “What’s wrong?” the dragon asked as he was startled.

“I remember this place. This is where I fell down after being ambushed from earlier” Rex stood up and clenched his claws on the bags shoulder strap. He slowly walked over to her.

“What does-” Rex was sent straight into a tree by a raging blow of dust. Skye leaped into the air and landed in front of dragon. She raised her sharp powerful looking wings and extended them, glittering to the tip. She let out an angry caw caw at least a half dozen creatures walking into the passageway.

“Not again” she said to herself. Out of the darkness leaped a large raccoon monster with several stripes of light and then dark brown. It ran right at her opening its mouth revealing its small fangs. Skye let out a piercing screech at the raccoon causing him to flail to the ground. She quickly ran up to it and let out a violent slash with a wing sending it straight into a tree and buried under a large bush.

Another raccoon and a larger gray bird charged at Skye. The bird let out a gust of dirt and hit her in the face. She let out an irritated caw and was then bitten in the talons by the raccoon. Rex soon found himself standing up and seeing Skye trying to kick off the monsters biting and pecking at her softer spots.

“Leave her alone!” he yelled and jumped to all fours. His nostrils let out puffs of smoke. From his side two other monsters appeared. One a small butterfly and the other was a dangling orange-red cocoon with unsettling black eyes. Rex huffed and let out a small barrage of fire balls at the cocoon monster. It tried to sway itself out of the way and was hit immediately. It let out an eerie screech and fell off rolling under a cut mushroom. The butterfly flew up into the air and let out a cloud of silvery dust causing Rex to cough and practically freeze. The bug swooped in and landed a hard hit to his head sending him backwards. Some of his vegetables fell out across the ground as he landed. Rex tried to stand up but felt like each muscle in his body was frozen in cold ice and too weak. The bug used a spore to paralyze him.

Skye kicked off the other raccoon monsters and stomped on its head with her talons. It let out a howl of pain and was kicked as hard as Skye. The monster rolled head first into a tree and let out a defeated sigh as it fell unconscious as it laid on its backside. The other bird tried tossing more gust of wind at her but it simply went right through her. She raised a wing which began to glow a bright white. The bird took one great shot into the air and began spinning right at Skye’s under belly. She waited for the bird to get close and swung her wing forward letting out a trio of sharp metal spiked blades right at her enemy. Two hit directly at the birds wings and sent it backward onto the ground. Skye flew up in to the air once more and fired another three blades from her wing. They nearly hit the gray bird’s wings and tail feathers. Out of fear it took off into the deeper part of the woods.

Rex with all his might took a hard breath of air and fire a small cluster of fire at the butterfly. The bug dodges the small embers and tackles right into the dragon’s head sending Rex into some bushes. Again it came in for another run and bashed the dragon’s spikes knocking him on his backside completely exposed. Skye ignored the last two monsters, a rat and a small spider monster, and ran towards the small healing vegetable lying in the center of the field. The spider leaped behind her and shot two strings of web at her wings nearly sending her to the ground.

“Let go of me! Rex!” she cried out as the spider started tugging on her. She fell to one knee and let out an angry caw. “I! SAID! LET ME GO!” her talons and wings glowed and lashed the webbing into the air with the spider and the bird with it. She jump right into the highest tree she could find and cut the sticky webs off sending the spider with it.

Rex slowly felt the spore fade a little and coughed by a small puff of smoke. The butterfly sneered and flew all the way up to the top of the treeline. Rex desperately tried to get up and held in breath for one last try. The butterfly stretched out a fist and dove straight at the dragon. Skye turned and tried to stop it but she knew she was too far away.

Rex felt every fire he could muster build inside him. His heart felt a little stronger from yesterday. He helped Whiskers find a new home. He fought in two battles and won them by himself. His fire just felt like volcano ready to erupt, but in a good way for a dragon. With the feeling of strength inside him he let two new words that he thought he would never say:

“Dragon Breath!” at the precise moment he engulfed the butterfly in a red, blue, and violet fire sending straight into the sky. It came back down covered in black and brown and sizzled to ground knocked out, twitching its arms and feelers.

Skye had shielded her eyes and lowered her wings and picked up the two vegetables. She picked up the little dragon’s head and gently gave him the pink one first. He chewed on it with a grin of its flavor and perked right up. He could fully move his body again and happily grabbed the blue one from her wing and broke it in half handing back to her.

“That. Was. Awesome!” exclaimed Skye eating her half of the food. Rex just sat down and took a bite out of his half. He was so very confused on what just happened to him. He never let out something so pretty but powerful before.

“Yeah that was pretty awesome. I’ve never thought of doing that before” Skye raised an eyebrow and helped the dragon up. It seemed the berry did more that heal her a little with a big confident smile on her face.

“Isn’t that something a dragon could learn eventually? I mean it has dragon in it” Rex cocked his head tapped a foot on the ground.

“Yeah I guess. I wonder if I could do it again?” he said letting out a puff of smoke from his snout. Skye quickly placed a wing on his nose.

“Just not right next to me!” she said with taking a step back. Rex let off a single violet colored breath from his mouth. He shrugged embarrassingly and picked up his bag. “So is that guy going to be alright?” she asked pointing a talon at the twitchy butterfly. It’s body looked like it had small sparks radiating all over.

“Probably. I think it’s just the same think what happened to me but with way more burning” he poked a small twig at it and it was still breathing normally. It was just badly knocked out. “She’ll recover soon” Skye nodded and soon the two were back on the path toward the very heart of the forest.