Hunted

IX

They reached the beach, the volcano in sight. "There it is!" Phoenix said, her paw pointing to the volcano. "Yeah." Merf said, smiling. "C'mon, lets go!" Phoenix said, bounding off. She skidded to a stop when she reached some water. "Uh-" Merf was already jumping it. Phoenix did the same thing, bounding across the water. They started climbing the hardened rock. Merf was being careful not to get any lava on herself.

They soon reached the top. It was all magma up there. Merf was sweating, her scales cooling her off. Phoenix jumped into the volcano, warming up. Since Phoenix was a fire-shadow hybrid, the lava gave her energy. She could stand the heat. Merf yawned, tired from the long run. She lied down, deciding to rest for a while.

She woke up to yelling, her ears folding back. "What the smokes?!" Merf lifted her head, looking behind her to see hunters and Phoenix. They followed us here... She thought, getting up. Merf skidded down the volcano, roaring at the hunters. They shot arrows, one hitting Phoenix. A dragon landed beside them. It looked young, maybe still in training. He ordered the hunters to take Phoenix. "Move or try anything funny, she dies." the dragon warned, plainly. Merf tried stepping further but a blade from one of the hunter's swords lifted Phoenix's chin. Phoenix yelped, her eyes looking down at the blade. "Don't let them take me, Zodiac!" Phoenix's voice floated around Merf's mind like a feather. She sat down, glaring at the young dragon. "Take her then.." she said, a growl in her voice. The young dragon smirked, signaling the hunters to leave. "Don't follow us. It would be foolish." the young dragon snorted, flying off with the hunters. Merf let out a low growl. Of course she was gonna follow them. She ran off in the direction they had gone. She was going so fast it seemed her paws didn't even touch the ground.

The Ice Region, Hunters' Base.

Merf made it to the ice region. She was tired, falling to the ground to rest for a little. Regaining her energy, she got up and started running again. She looked up, seeing a cave. It was guarded with Six hunters, three on each side of the entrances. She growled, climbing up the rocky surface, careful not to make much noise. She took a loose pebble, throwing it off into the water below. She smiled, flying up. She saw Phoenix, unconscious, on the snow. Her eyes widened, seeing the fire unlit.

"Phoenix!" She whispered. Phoenix looked up at her. "No! Don't come!" she whispered back. "Why not?" Merf saw she was losing consciousness quickly. "It's a tra..." Phoenix's eyes closed. Merf ran up to her, ignoring her warning. Quicksilver flew in with some guards. They threw a net of dragon steel around her. "AH!" she screeched. The net weighed her down, making her fall to the snow littered ground. "Look what the cat dragged in." chuckled Quicksilver. He sat down, glaring into Merf's Black eyes. Merf was more concerned about Phoenix. She tried moving the net, but it was too heavy.

"She needs the warmth! Without it she'll die!" Merf growled, shooting a stare at Quicksilver. His body was red, just like Phoenix's, and had yellowish-gold stripes running down his neck. His wings were shaded from orange to black. The top of the wings were tinted with white.

He rolled his red eyes, and said, "I don't care if she dies. Dead or Alive her scales are worth a lot." Merf growled, hearing Phoenix's voice saying, "Zodiac, Don't do anything stupid!" Merf ignored it. "You can't let her die! You're so heartless!" she cried, a growl rolling through her words. "Guards, kill the plain colored one, she's getting annoying." Quicksilver ordered. Merf's eyes widened with fear and anger. She had to think fast. She reverted all the strength she had left to get up, and move the net slightly enough to blaze the fire. She shot a blast at it right as a piercing pain shot through her body. The fire went alight. The warmth spread through the air and Phoenix began to regain consciousness once again. Merf stumbled backwards, coughing up some red blood onto the white snow. She shook her head, and blacked out. Phoenix, who had regained her energy, went to Merf's side.

She used her mind to teleport to the volcano. In the blink of an eye they were gone. Quicksilver roared with anger and frustration. "You imbeciles!" he thundered.

Phoenix let go of Merf, going to the heat. The heat started sealing the wound in Merf's chest. She was still unconscious. Phoenix frowned. Even though the injury was sealed, the pain was still there. Phoenix thought back to the event. Weird.. I thought dragons have blue blood, but Zodiac's was red.. She put the thought aside and just then heard some footsteps. She pulled Merf up the side of the volcano. A silver big dragon appeared at the other side. A golden one appeared right next to her. It seemed younger. The silver one sat down, a strip of purple was seen on her radiant wings. Her tail tip was white, and her snout was purple. The golden dragon had a blade tail tip with tinted black wings. He had a silver snout that shimmered in the sun.

"Traitors! Hand yourselves over!" the silver female ordered. Just then Merf was regaining consciousness. "We have no quarry with you. We just wish to end Quicksilver." Phoenix said plainly. "That's what a Traitor would say!" the silver one said, a low growl tinting her radiant voice. Merf's vision was blurry, but she could see them clearly through the sunlight. Her heart almost stopped when she saw the two dragons. "What's happening?" Merf managed to whisper. "You know these dragons?" Phoenix asked, looking at Merf who seemed startled. "Yea.." she whispered. It hurt to talk, and her voice was cracked. She coughed, still feeling dizzy. "Merf, good to see you again. Not looking so well are you?" the silver dragon said, as if she were mocking her. "Yeah, nice to see you too, Platinum.." Merf whispered. The leader of the other last school. Platinum, was that her? Merf seemed to know her.. Supposedly, it could be her. Maybe she could help us? Wait no, she said we were traitors.. She doesn't trust us?! Hm.. Well, we can't run, Zodiac's too hurt for that. Phoenix thought for a minute. She raised her paws, a signal for surrender. "Zodiac, we need to surrender, we can't go anywhere." Phoenix whispered quickly to Merf. Merf raised her paws as well, but then put them down quickly as it hurt her to do so.

The dragons came to take them, dragging them to the Fairy forest.