𝑩𝒆𝒓𝒌

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑬𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏

An ominous growl was emitted from one of the cage-like room within the arena. The lanky brunet seemed to freeze upon hearing the noise, his eyes flicking over to the darkened area as the doors slowly started to open for the two beady, snake-like eyes that seemed to glow in the darkness. They were a bright yellow, just like the ones from that other Dragon.

Toby's breath hitched as he heard the creature's claws almost dig into the grey, concrete floor. It stepped out of it's cage, tall and proud. It was an aqua colour with dark grey markings on it's wings; and two long, sharp, black horns that protruded from it's long and intimidating face. Long teeth escaped it's bottom jaw; which was white, as was it's stomach. This wasn't just a Monstrous Nightmare, this was a Mountain Nightmare.

Mountain Nightmare's were a subspecies of the infamous Monstrous Nightmare. They were just as deadly. They typically and naturally live in tundras, or aleast colder places and enjoy being higher up, yet were still fire types. Kerosene gel and a flame jacket. It was just as deadly, and even more protective. It was a Stoker class, too.

Toby had researched these beasts for the majority of the past six years, as he did with the other Dragons; but with knowledge, came fear. He knew what they were capable of, and from having seen it first hand only made the whole situation more dreadful for him.

He tensed upon seeing the Dragon start to approach him, with narrowed eyes and a huff. When it got a few feet away from the brunet, his survival instincts kicked in, causing him to, unfortunately, back away until his back hit the firm wall behind him. This only seemed to intrigue the towering creature, that stalked over to him.

Tears started to prick his eyes; he felt his heart thump against his chest, as he closed his eyes as tightly as he could. Toby's breaths were rapid; he felt vulnerable, no one was here to help him, he didn't have his shield, his helmet or a hatchet- and he couldn't bring himself to scream like Brian had instructed; his throat felt dry.

His hair was pushed gently back by the moist breath that fanned his face. Slowly, Toby peeked an eye open, hesitantly. He was met with the image of the beast's snout, and it's two narrowed orbs. It let out another huff, causing Toby to flinch away again- his eye closing instantly.

The Dragon seemed to be investigating the male; it had witnessed the rest of the trainers and they never reacted like this. It took in another deep breath- as if trying to work out as much as it could from his scent. Fear. Well, it was obvious the boy was scared, the human had backed up into a wall crying.

Amongst the smells, the Dragon could pick up on the faint hint of iron; there was none on the boy, but the metallic stink came from the top of his head where his mess of hair was. It was faint to the Dragon, so it would be impossible to pick up on it as a human.

It was amused to say the least.

The Dragon leaned over, gently nudging Toby's chest with it's head- making sure not to impale him with one of it's teeth. A key detail Toby had forgotten about during his panic was that the Mountain Nightmares are more sociable and compassionate than their firey counterpart.

Toby's breath hitched, yet slowly became more stable as he peeled his eyes open to look at the beast in front of him. It looked up at him with a more friendly look; it's pupils had seemed to slightly widen, as if trying to assure Toby it wasn't going to hurt him.

Reluctantly, Toby carefully extended his arm out to it, to gently touch it's snout. The Dragon gently backed away, but didn't continue in doing so when the boy carefully stepped forward; with his hand still outstretched. The Dragon hesitantly stepped forward, putting it's forehead into Toby's hand.

It's scales weren't rough yet soft, they just had a smooth, silk-like texture. Even though Toby couldn't feel it, the Dragon was surprisingly warm too, as Mountain Nightmares were known to look after their young by using their body heat to keep them warm.

The Dragon immediately seemed to relax, humming softly with a small huff, closing it's eyes. Toby, too, seemed to relax, as he slowly pulled his hand away to wipe away the remainder of his tears- using the sleeves of his tunic. However, unlike the seemingly content Dragon, Toby's expression had immediately fell into one of distaste after realizing that he was safe.

The creature seemed to look up at him, expectantly, as it trailed behind Toby, who was already marching over to the exit. The male was clearly angered; his eyebrows were knitted together and his eyes had narrowed.

He had one thing on his mind, and that was confronting Jeff.