Territories part 1

Pearl recovers from Sheldon's water jet pretty smoothly by grabbing some clouds. 

"What was that for?" Pearl snarls as she gains some height with her clouds.

"You fell asleep on your watch! That forest dragon came back and was in our camp. He could have picked us off one by one with ease!" Sheldon is furious. She bares her fangs at Pearl. Olive and Dre wake up but get some distance from the commotion.

"Well sorry for not being perfect!" Pearl shouts with pain in her voice.

"You don't have to be perfect! Just do your job!" Sheldon attacks with another water shot. 

Pearl dodges this time. Tears form in her eyes as she blindly attacks Sheldon. Sheldon fights back with both water and claws.

I have to stop them and now!

Stopping myself before I place my bare hands into a dragon paper shredder, I grab glory stick. The shelter always told us to never break up an animal fight unless you are fully suited up or have something to place between them. Moving the branches on glory stick quickly and precisely, I'm able to scoop Pearl up and out of the fight. Then I stand between the two. If I pick the wrong one to correct first this could end badly.

"Pearl, falling asleep while on watch is very dangerous. If you can't stay awake you have to wake someone else up." I explain. Sheldon tries adding more but I snap my finger at her. "Sheldon," I turn to her, "we are fortunate that this dragon is kind. So it's fine for now but now we all know what's going to happen moving forward."

The girls let out a "hpmh" before sticking their noses up and walking or flying away. Sheldon slips into the water and Pearl goes the other way into the tall trees overhead.

I sigh from being overwhelmed. Now more things are being stacked on top of the potential death while facing a big dragon.

"You handled that well." Olive says breaking the silence. There is only reassurance in her voice. "Give them a little bit to cool down. I can take the next watch since you need to rest. We should reach that mountain tomorrow."

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"Yes. Dre get some rest too since you will be carrying him a bit. The terrain gets more rocky and the stream gets too strong for us to even swim it." Olive explains.

"Alright. Thank you Olive." I say with gratitude. 

I look to the smothered fire while Dre goes over and nudges Olive's head. Dre then comes over and curls up beside me. Wagging his tail as if waiting for me to curl up with him.

"You want me to?" I ask pointing to him.

He nods happily with a grin. He is a big guy so hopefully he doesn't roll onto me. I curl up with him and close my eyes, thankful for the warmth of Dre.

"Thank you buddy." I murmur. 

"Mmm mmm." Dre says acknowledging my words.

We drift to sleep.

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It's mid-day, we are finally at the base of the smoking mountain. The girls are separated and refusing to even talk to me. Olive is also refusing to take sides since they both could have handled things better. Also Dre is a bit tired from carrying me over quite a bit of ground.

"You can rest for now." I tell Dre. He nods and goes to lay down.

"You want me to go up with you?" Olive asks.

"I would feel better if you kept an eye on Dre." I tell her. Then I look toward Pearl. "Pearl, you want to meet your granny's friend?" 

It takes her a second before she heads up the mountain alone. 

"Oh come on." I say stumbling and climbing up the mountain side.

"Ragon!" Sheldon calls out to me.

I half turn to look back over my left shoulder at her. "Yea?" I shout back.

"Be careful! Come back in one piece alright?" There is a weariness in her voice.

"I will!" I shout back to her before starting my climb again.

The climb is rocky and difficult. And quiet. Very quiet.

"Sooooo Pearl, your granny, did she leave on good terms with fire guy here by chance?" I ask cautiously.

"No idea." Pearl replies.

"That's not at all comforting. Can you tell me about her by chance?" I ask politely.

"Granny was both scary and loving. She was over 500 years old and could still win a fight against any of us in the brood. The way she taught lessons was the best. I learn a bit different from the rest and she would pull me to the side afterwards and teach me in a way I understood." Pearl has a solemn look on her face. Then she flies over to my right. "You should head up this way. It's less steep over here."

"Thank you." I say out of breath. "Your granny sounds like a very caring grandma."

"Yes she was. She was always the first to defend us all against Tundra. She drove him away a few times but one day there was a thunder of them. She was in the middle of teaching me a lesson when they caught us off guard. She told me to take cover and it will be alright. I wanted to go out and help her but I was so little and scared." Pearl starts to sob. "I-i just... I wish..."

Setting glory stick down I turn to face Pearl. I'm on a decent enough ledge that I hold my hands up for her to come to me. She dives into my arms knocking me back into the rocks. My footing was just solid enough to keep us from sliding down thankfully. I'm not the best with words but I tell her it will be alright while holding onto her and running my hand down her back over and over till she has calmed down.

"I know you got into a fight with Sheldon but know we will do anything to bring down Gilton and Tundra. She lost her whole family to them too. And that's the only reason I am on this mountain right now. They hurt all of you and think it's alright. I can't stand by while that happens." I tell her.

"Thank you Ragon." Pearl tears up again.

I pat her on the head.

Her mane is SO soft!

I continue to stroke the fluff around her head. Eventually I end up scratching her behind the ear because it is even softer. I couldn't help myself.

"What are you doing?" She asks confused but also was leaning into the scratches.

"Fuzzy." Is all I could say while continuing to scratch.

"Not going to lie. It does feel good but we should make our way up the mountain." Pearl being the sensible one for once.

"You're right." I say pulling my hand away.

"But I do want more of what ever that was later though." She demands before taking flight.

"Scratches? Sure I can do that." I say grabbing glory stick before starting the trek up.

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We finally make it up the mountain side and it's getting dark. Everything on and in my body hurts. I stumble onto a decent ledge that leads to a cave, my lungs are laboring for air. Along with my hands are bloody and fairly certain my feet are blisted. Pearl is fine though, chatter box the whole way about playing games with her granny.

"Hello!? Mr. Eternal fire dragon? Are you home? My friend and I want to recruit you! Oh! And I want to know what your relationship was with my granny!" Pearl blurts out everything. Why? Because this dragon has no filter.

"Get off my mountain!" A very very large dragon comes charging out of a cave. 

All I can see is fire, red scales, glowing yellow eyes and teeth. I step back but there was nothing to step back onto. I'm falling backwards, in the air, down the side of a mountain. The only thing below me are sharp rocks. I see Pearl charging for me pushing of her clouds so she can get to me faster.

"Ragon!" She keeps screaming but I can't find my voice to respond.

Pearl gets below me pushing her back into me. There's no way she can save me. I try to yell at her to save herself but I get covered in clouds. We are no longer moving.

"Pearl!?" I ask in shock.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT JUST WORKED!" Pearl shouts after popping her head out of the cloud inches from my face.

"Ack!" I say falling backwards out of the cloud onto a very large boulder.

"Ragon get back in here! We're going back up to that dragon!" Pearl demands.

"Did you not see how big and scary that dragon is!?" I cry out to her.

"He's hurt!" Pearl states.

I sigh. "Very well."