Caught Between A Rock And A Hard Place

Ane stared at the dragon who glared back. "Why are you still here?" the dragon asked.

"I still need your help." Ane replied.

"GET LOST!" the dragon boomed. Ane bowed.

"Please lend me your powers, dragon." he pleaded.

"Why should I?" the dragon inquired roughly.

"I don't wanna die?" Ane stated as he stood upright.

"What does that have to do with me? Beat this guy with the amazing powers you possess." the dragon said. Ane clenched his palm and eyed it.

"Like my uncle said, hard work can't beat pure talent with any type of laziness. This Ron guy has been preparing for years but I haven't gotten one chance to train properly. There's no way my "pure talent" will be enough to beat him!" Ane yelled.

"That Conner's still a thorn in my side even after death." the dragon growled. Ane's eyes were shielded.

"Yo drag. What'll happen if I die?" he asked; eying the creature.

"The original Ane will be reborn." the creature replied.

"Original?" Ane inquired; raising an eyebrow.

"My fellow colleague who destroyed galaxies with me." the dragon explained.

"So exactly how will he return?" Ane questioned.

"When you die; your life force will sip into Jack's and he'll turn into the original Ane." the dragon concluded. Ane's eyes were shielded.

"What about you?" Ane queried. The dragon watched Ane silently before his energy began pouring into Ane.

Ron was stepping on Ane's head. "Yo!" he yelled. The crimson aura began to cover the teen and Ron jumped back as it burst from Ane. The teen then opened his dragon eyes and rose to his feet. "This power...it can't be. You bear the actual dragon!" Ron shouted; backing up. Ane cracked his fingers silently. "H-how could you even convince such a creature to lend you power!?" Ron inquired shakily.

"Bargaining Skills." Ane responded bluntly.

"That sounds easier than it was I'm guessing." Ron remarked. Ane nodded whilst closing his eyes and folding his arms. 

"Now then!" he yelled; opening his eyes to see the dragon's cage again. "The hell?" he thought as he saw both the dragon's cage and Ron in the desert at once. Ane turned in the dragon's seal to see a young man with smooth dark blue hair, green eyes, a lab coat, brown t-shirt and brown trousers sitting on the water in fright.

"What is this?" the young man bellowed; backing away from Ane.

"Who are you?" Ane remarked.

"He's the one who went into your body. When you activated my power it forced hos consciousness in here." the dragon explained.

"So can you explain how I'm feeling...no how I am in two places at once?" Ane asked.

"Your consciousness is partially both places." the dragon said lazily.

"Is that so." Ane said; holding his chin thoughtfully. Both Anes shifted their left arm and then grinned.

"Are you finished? You were speaking to yourself there." Ron asked.

"You should only be worried about yourself." Ane remarked.

"I am! I still wanna know what the hell THAT is!' the man in the seal yelled; pointing at thhe dragon. Ane sighed.

"Yo, Ron. Tell me; are you doing this because you need to?" he questioned.

"Ron? Could it be?" the man in the seal thought.

"You statement was accurate? How is that relevant to our current situation?" Ron asked while eying Ane closely.

"Well the same applies to me!" Ane shouted; clenching his fist readily with a grin. "I can't afford to die since I gotta help Eina take down that Elliot bastard!" he exclaimed.

"I'm correct." the man in the seal thought as he stood. "He's here and in the device simultaneously!" he continued thinking; frowning at Ane.

"Is that so?" Ron asked; eyes shielded as he faced Ane.

"This time we end it for sure." Ane growled as he flashed to both opponents and kicked them up.

"So quick." the man in the seal thought as he and Ron jumped back. One opponent landed on the right and the other on the left.

"I didn't expect to run into this problem so soon." Ane thought; sighing. Shifting was heard and Ane turned to see the dragon grinning at the fight.

"Come on! Entertain me!" it yelled. Ane eyed the man in the seal who was staring at the enormous creature in the seal in fright and Ron calmly looked at Ane out of the seal. Ane smiled and appeared besides the man in the seal but far across Ron. Ane stared at the man in the seal with the exact look the dragon had; terrifying the man into the exact position as Ron. Ane clenched his fist and pushed back his leg slightly. "Straight Forward Punch!" he shouted as he shot forward and fired his fist to his enemies' stomachs. Blood sprayed from their mouths and Ron's body slightly cracked. Ane kicked them aside to then barraged his opponents with punches that they futilely attempted to dodge. Ron went crashing into the ground and the man in the seal splashed into the water. Ane jumped into the air; holding his arm and clenching his biceps. "Ground Pound!" he exclaimed as he came soaring down; punching his enemies. Ron and the man in the seal's eyes rolled up and Ane then jumped back and summoned his dragon claws. "Dual Slash." he said as he slashed past his enemies; blood spraying from their bodies. Ane landed; exhaling steam slowly.

"Ane...Nickerson....huh." Ron remarked weakly drawing Ane's attention to his smiling face. "Don't mind Elliot...he's a good....kid." the man whispered before vanishing into dust. Ane silently opened his eyes to reality to see himself strangling Ene and Eina. He quickly let them go.

"I'm so sorry guys!" Ane yelled. Ene stepped back questionably.

"It's okay. It's Ane." Eina reassured

"You can't be too sure. He could be trying a trick." Ene stated. Eina shook her head.

"Why would our enemy let us go when he had a clear advantage over us and I was but a minute from passing out?" she inquired. Ene held his chin thoughtfully and Ane sighed.

"That battle was a drag." Ane complained; dragon eyes still activated. Smoke came from behind him and he sniffed. "What's burning?" he asked as he turned to see Hannah's hair spitting flames at him. Ane stood there with a blank expression as the flames didn't affect him. "I'm not burning?" he asked; tilting his head.

"Who'd have thought you were immune to flames also." Ene added; hand raised. Eina scoffed.

"Please stop it now Hannah." she then requested calmly. Hannah did as she was told but jumped back.

"It's okay. This the actual Ane." Ene said. Hannah squinted at him in confusion and then eyed Ane.

"I'm...sorry." she said bowing.

"It's okay." Ane said to then look around at the scorched room. "What happened here?" he asked.

"Fights." Ene replied bluntly; shrugging.

"How specific." Ane thought; sweat behind his head. Ene walked to Hannah; scratching his head thoughtfully.

"So, what now?" he inquired while watching the girl who was rubbing her hand; blushing slightly.

"I'm not sure what I should do now actually. M-maybe I'll just head off." Hannah answered.

"Why? You can always join our little clique." Ene suggested but Hannah shook her head.

"I'd love that but...I have to return to o-my home." Hannah answered; eyes shielded. Ene eyed her suspiciously but then smiled subtly.

"Good luck." he said.

"Thanks, Ene." Hannah said; kissing the boy on the side of his lip before skipping away. "Perv." she teased in the doorway before leaving. Ene stood there in shock and Ane eyed him; smiling.

"What's that Ene?" Ane teased; poking his best friend. Eina stared silently.

"You better go to Lana you jerk." Ene replied; looking away.

"Oh crap! She's gonna kill me!" Ane yelled.

"You ready to..." Ene began as he turned to Eina to be punched in the gut. 

"Let's hurry on then." the girl growled before walking off silently. Elliot was watching from a distance through a telescope. He smiled.

"I knew that wouldn't be efficient enough." he whispered; smile turning to a pleased grin.