OOC: Is it okay if I play Haley? If I can't, then you can forget about this reply.

At the moment he was looking for his little cousin Haley. His aunt asked him to get her when he arrived home from school, Jake had some dragon business to do and was unable to walk his sister home. It only took him a couple minutes to get to her school in his dragon form, but when he arrived she was nowhere to be seen and for some reason that sent shivers down his spine all the way to the tip of his tail.

"Maybe I'm worrying about nothing, she's a big girl and probably decided to walk home by herself. I'm sure nothing bad will to happen just because..." Alex said to himself before he was cut off by a scream that was from familiar voice. He sighed and placed his clawed hand on his head, carefully avoiding his horns. "I spoke too soon."

He then flew to a roof above the nearby alley he heard the scream come from and saw a sight that terrified him. The Dark Dragon was standing below him with Haley struggling in his arms. Alex knew he had to do something to save her, but he also knew that he was no match for the Dark Dragon. It only took a second for him to make up his mind before he jump off the building and glided down to ground below.

"Picking on little dragons is really low, even for you. Why don't you let her go and face someone a little closer to your size?" Alex put as much confidence behind his words as he could while he focused on the dragon that was nearly twice his size. If he could get the Dark Dragon to release his cousin then she could get to safety, he would worry about himself once she was gone.

Now he was on his way to Gramps' shop to report back (and probably train). He wasn't in any hurry. Jake was taking the time to just cruise around in the sky, taking in the sights of the NYC. It wasn't like he hadn't seen it before, but it was cool being one of the few to be able to get a true bird's eye view whenever he wanted. It felt good to be able to fly.

But as he was flying, Jake heard something not too far away. He stopped to listen, startling the flock of birds that had joined him in his flight. He hovered, concentrating intently on his dragon hearing. What was that? A scream? And did someone just call for help? Jake couldn't quite make out exactly what was being said, but it was quite apparant someone needed help, and fast.

Forgetting about going to the shop, he decided to make a detour and see what was up. It could be a magical creature in need, and if that was the case, he had to help. If it wasn't...well, he'd find something to do. He couldn't just leave someone in danger.

It wasn't long before he arrived at the source of the noise. But what he saw made his heart nearly stop. No, no, no, no, no! This wasn't happening! He had thought Alex and Haley would've been home by now, not here and especially not with 'the big, the bad, and the ugly'.

Wow. That was irony at its best.

With a growl, he flew down to the ground and landed beside Alex. He glanced at his cousin, relieved to find he was unharmed. Jake then turned his attention to his little sister. Other than being scared, he didn't see anything wrong with her. Satisfied his family was, more or less, alright, he turned his attention to the Dark Dragon.

She glanced up nervously at the DD, wondering what he would do to her if Alex and Jake didn't manage to save her. She shivered at the thought, but brushed it away. Jake WAS the American Dragon, of course!

Alex almost laughed at his younger cousin's enthusiasm, she must have thought the same thing or just assumed that Jake was strong enough to defeat the enemy dragon. He never did learn how much Haley knew about the Dark Dragon or her older brother's encounters with him.

"Well now you're outnumbered Dark Dragon, how about you put the cute pink dragon down and we all can go home without any trouble?"

Despite his words Alex was still nervous and he wasn't sure why. He was facing the strongest enemy he might ever see in his life and Haley was in his claws, but there was something else bothering him. Something just didn't feel right.

He then looked around the alley and saw that it was pretty empty, not even a non-magical person was waking pass the entrances to alley. They were lucky for that, but it was odd considering the time of day. Then he thought about something that his dragon master had told him about the evil dragon, on of the unique powers he possessed and that was when he realized what was so odd about the empty alley.

Alex turned kept his eyes focused on their enemy as he spoke to his cousin, "Jake, doesn't the Dark Dragon have some kind of shadow-like creatures that he usually send to fight?"

"Why don't ya just listen? Unless you wanna get the beat down...again," he said after his cousin, emphasizing the last word with a little smirk. Ah, good times. "But why not just save yourself the humiliation?"

Knowing the Dark Dragon, and the more than likely fact that he wouldn't leave, Jake took a fighting stance. Why they even bothered to give him the chance to leave peacefully when it was obvious he wouldn't was beyond Jake. Probably just a good-guy thing. Give 'em the chance and all that. What he would do when the fight actually began, he didn't know. But he had Alex here. They'd be able to think of something between the two of them, and his cousin was a more than able fighter. And Haley, although small, was capable of handling herself, and (he wouldn't say this aloud) could probably think up a better plan than he could. He'd hate to be the Dark Dragon when she was loose. The only thing he did know was that first, they had to get Haley away from the Dark Dragon. Then, he supposed they'd go from there. The Dark Dragon was strong, the baddest of the bad, and how they were going to escape with their lives was going to be a surprise. But it had been done before, why not again? Why not now?

Alex's last words brought his attention to the other dragon, and Jake nearly hit himself in the head. How could he have been so stupid to not have thought of 'the minions'? The one time he tries to think before acting the first time around, and he still messes it up!

"Uh...yeah. Shades." The topic made a shudder rush down his spine. They were pretty easy to fight, but they were creepy. He wasn't willing to take his eyes of their biggest problem to look around, though. "But only 'cause D.D. over there can't handle the AmDrag and crew alone." Perhaps it would've been wiser to not taunt, but what fun would that be?

When she was sure in her 8 year old mind that they weren't here, Haley tried to think up of a plan to get herself out of the grip of the Dark Dragon. She spent a couple minutes thinking, and when she was sure it would work, she gulped again, being very scared to do it, but getting all of her guts on her side.

Haley gave the Dark Dragon one of her death glares she uses on Jake when she's at her wits with him. Then Haley jerked hard, catching the Dark Dragon by surprise, and biting him hard with her small, dragon teeth. While she was biting for those maximum 10 seconds, she looked around for something to hit the Dark Dragon in the head with. Then she found it. A very nearby trash can.

Haley stopped biting him and leaned over for a half-second to grab the lid of the trash can. "Take this you big creep!" Haley shouted, having now pasted a devilish grin on her face. Then, the hardest she could with her tiny arms, swung the trash can lid at the Dark Dragon's head at full force.

It was then that he noticed, it was him. Lao shi's grandson, that had so narrowly defeated him last time. He shivered with anger... 'defeat', how he hated that word! Well, it was too early to implement his plan, so he had to distract them long enough to get away with the girl. Searching with his mind, he called up his minions, the shades.

As he summoned them, he heard the blue dragons comment. "Looking for these, weaklings?" he said, looking haughtily down at the two dragons. He was concentrating so ** their actions, that he didn't even see the trashcan lid flying towards him.

He roared so loadly, partly in suprise and partly in pain, that the nearby building shook, sending debrie, and behind it Shades, flying down towards the young dragons. Chuckling at the unnexpected affect, he smacked the small pink dragon, Jake's sister, with his tail, causing her to fall unconscious. "That should teach you to respect those more powerful than you, insolent child." He said as he swiftly turned and jumped into the sky to watch the start of the ensueing battle.

"I think you're right about him not being able to handle us alone Jake, why else summon over a dozen of these things to handle two young dragon?" The blue dragon then he heard a noise that sounded like something metal hitting something else. When Alex looked at the Dark Dragon he nearly fell over laughing, seeing the most dangerous enemy to the magical world being hit in the face with a trashcan lid by Haley was something that he would never forget. He only wished that he had a camera.

"I guess we need to remember not to anger Haley, or we might end up like h.." Alex had to cover his ears at the loud roar that was coming from their enemy, Haley must have hit him harder than they thought. He stood by Jake as many of the shades, among other things, flew down the alley toward them. If the little creatures were as weak as Jake said then they could be able to help Haley in moments.

When he glanced pass the on coming enemies Alex was able to see that Haley was released, but received a smack from the Dark Dragon's powerful tail for the pain she caused. The young dragoness barely hit the ground before going unconscious and Alex's anger grew. He barely noticed the shades closing in on him and Jake or the Dark Dragon hovering in the air, he was angry now.

Alex wanted to fight the Dark Dragon and make him pay for what that evil dragon did to his cousin, but right now he had to deal with the shades. He tried his hardest to calm himself as he ducked swipe from a shade and destroyed it with his claw. While he was crouching down three shades came running at him and he simply whipped his tail around to destroy them, but his eyes kept traveling to the pink dragon on the ground. The blue dragon hoped Haley had nothing worse than a few scrapes and bruises, but it was then that the rational part of his brain defeated his anger. Haley was hurt and defenseless now, not to mention out of the Dark Dragon's claws. She was their first priority.

Alex then blew a blue flame out of his mouth to destroy two more shades before turning to Jake, "I know you're mad and want to get him for hurting Haley, but we need to get her out of here and get Gramps to make sure that she's ok."

He was quite proud of his little sister taking on the Dark Dragon, and showing him what's what. But he wasn't really surprised. He'd seen in her in some of her worst moods, and when she fought, she really fought. Beneath that innocent exterior, she was a real brawler. And it would seem a resourceful one, too, as she found the trashcan lid and whacked the Dark Dragon in the head with it.

However, his pride was short-lived as the Dark Dragon roared. His hands were covering his ears before had time to even think about it, and he was gritting his teeth. 'Wow, this guy has serious volume issues,' he thought, while at the same time cheering Haley in his head for a good hit. That must have been painful for the bigger dragon to be howling as he was.

Again, his joy and cheering were fleeting, as debris fell from a building and more Shades joined their fellows. This was all soon forgotten when Jake saw the Dark Dragon's tail strike Haley to the ground, unconscious. Well, he hoped she was only unconscious. Near panic and close to fury, he desperately tried to break through the crowd of Shades, but was pushed back as they jumped on him. He clawed at them and whipped them around with his tail, pushing them away with his wings. It wasn't long before he realized he couldn't reach his sister with this many Shades around, and he couldn't leave Alex alone with the mob. While Haley was (more or less) being ignored, Alex was being attacked. Jake put all his concentration on the Shades for the moment, focusing on the battle and helping his cousin. Between the two of them, they could quickly dispatch enough of the Shades to be able to reach Haley. And then he'd turn his attention to the Dark Dragon.

Now, rather than trying to break through the wall of shadows, he attacked it. Clawing, whipping, breathing fire, everything he could think of. He was very tempted to yell to the Dark Dragon, "Coward! Fight like a real dragon! Bring it!" and anything else he had. But Alex raised a good point just then, and he resisted. Haley needed help, and they had to find it.

Glaring at the Dark Dragon, he nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Come on." The wall of Shades having thinned a bit, he again began clawing and batting at what was left to make a path to his sister. This time with Alex he was hoping it would go a little more smoothly.

He swooped slowly down, keeping an eye on the two others progress. Grabbing the girl in his back talons, he sent a last wave of Shades at the annoyances and started to quickly fly east.

Without looking back, he listen to the sounds of combat with pleasure. "Fools, you will never know what hit you until it's too late!" Rumbling with evil laughter, he flew more slowly, safe in the knowledge that he could easily outdistance the two puny dragons.

'How many more of these things do we have to destroy? There seems to be no end to them.' The blue dragon kept his thoughts to himself as he whipped his tail around to send several of the creatures in to a wall before destroying a couple more with his claws. Alex knew that Jake could tell that he was tiring, but he would push himself pass his limits if they could save Haley.

"I guess the Dark Dragon focuses more one quantity instead of quality." Alex tried to get his mind off his negative thoughts, but he could see why the Dark Dragon used the creatures. While the shades were weak compared to a dragon, they could wear down their opponents with their numbers.

It was interesting that he mentioned the Dark Dragon's mistake since he let his guard down just long enough for one shade to slash his arm, that shade met a swift end as the young dragon almost instantly destroyed it after receiving the slash. His wound wasn't too bad and was barely a scratch, but he already knew that he would leave with a few cuts and bruises. Alex could only hope that Fu had some good healing potions.

Alex's attention was diverted again when he heard Haley's voice once again screaming for help, but this time it was from high above them instead of on the other side of the shades. He looked up in time to see the Dark Dragon leaving and he was carrying Haley once again. The anger that Alex managed to calm returned in full force at the sight and he would have taken of after the evil dragon without thinking had he not been pinned to the ground by at least ten Shades the second he opened his wings. Despite being tired Alex was able to easily throw the creatures off his back and stand up. He then stood next to Jake again and noticed that there were no new shades appearing, but there were still many left.

"What do we do Jake? If we keep fighting like this there's a strong chance he'll escape and we might lose if we decide to split up."

Things were quickly going from bad to worse as, instead of gaining ground, they lost it. He could only grunt in agreement with Alex's 'quantity over quality' comment as Shades jumped at him, swiped at him and pulled at his wings. Jake, in return, clawed at them and incinerated them with small fireballs. They were replaced with more. Once he managed to shove them away enough to look towards his little sister again, he found her missing. Dread gripped him, and before he even knew what was a coming, an entirely new wave of Shades joined in on the skirmish. If he hadn't known better, he would've thought that he and Alex had made even the littlest dent in the dark forces.

Above the noise of those on the ground, he could hear the rumbling of the Dark Dragon. Much to his horror, Haley's shrieks soon followed. He tried to search the skies with his dragon eyes, but in his moment of distraction, he was tackled by Shades. It took a lot of effort, but he managed to turn the tide so he was on his feet again. He felt Alex standing next to him, asking what they were supposed to do. At the moment, he didn't have an answer.

'Come on, Jake, think! Okay, quick recap: Haley's been taken by the Dark Dragon, and we're stuck here in an alley with an army's worth of Shades. Can't split up, can't let him escape. Now, what've you got to work with?' he asked himself, and began looking around. There wasn't anything. It was just an empty alley, with a few old fire escapes, trash cans, the lid Haley used to hit the Dark Dragon...Wait. A proverbial lightbulb shone above his head as his eyes took on a glint. That's it!

"I got an idea. Hold on a second," he said in a rush, and dove into the crowd of Shades. He swiped out his arms (and, subsequently, claws), almost like he was doing the breaststroke in a swimming pool. Behind him, his tail lashed back and forth to keep Shades back, and his wings whacked at those who tried to jump on him. It was slow going, but it wasn't a bad idea. Every few steps he'd have to stop to deal with a few stubborn shadows, but, like those before them, they were weak. The only reason they would ever be able to overpower someone was through numbers alone, as Alex had hinted to only a few moments ago.

Reaching his destination, or as close as he could go with the time he was willing to use, Jake stretched out one of his arms and quickly snatched up the trash can lid. "Hey, Alex, you up for a game?" he shouted to his cousin, hurling the trash can lid with enough force to make it fly almost as well as a frisbee. It was also strong enough to cut through the Shades standing in between the two dragons. Using his tail, he knocked over a couple more trash cans and grabbed their lids. These he tossed to the sides of the buildings that made up the alley, having them cut threw Shades, bounce off walls, and destroy some more. A few he even served with fire to quicken the pace. Perhaps it wasn't a genius plan, but it was working better than their claws. Any lids that landed near enough, he rethrew. Heh, it was fun, too.

He looked down at the small dragon, and in a malicious voice, slowly told her his plans. "You, puny dragon, are going to be the bait in a little trap i've set up to get rid of that pesky American Dragon!" he chuckled. "That puny creature has gotten in my way for the last time!" He watched her face go from shock, to horror, to absolute terror.

She began screaming and thrashing wildly, but it made no diiference to him. He flew on, uncaring to the scene going on behind him. Their efforts against the shades were only a murmur now, if he looked back he wouldent even see them now. And they woulden't see him.

The blue dragon's attacks angered the Shades enough for many to take their attention off Jake and turn their backs to the red dragon. Alex then heard his cousin talking about a game before seeing a trashcan lid flying through the air and destroying shades that weren't fast enough to dodge it or were paying attention to the wrong dragon.

Alex easily caught the lid before hearing his cousin knock over a few more trashcans. It took him less than a second to catch on to Jake's plan, one of the things he liked best about his cousin was how he could improvise in almost any situation. "I'm always ready to have fun, you know I hate it when we can't enjoy what we do." That was true, but he was mostly saying that to get his concern off Haley for a few moments and focus on their current enemies, they couldn't help her if they didn't get past the shades first.

Alex then threw the lid at the wall and had them bouncing off the bricks like Jake did with two additional lids. He soon joined his cousin in using his fire to destroy the Shades that escaped the lids and threw any lid that fell near him like Jake. Soon enough there were less than a dozen left and they were easily destroyed by the two dragons.

Once the alley was empty of enemies Alex spread his wings and took off into the air high above the surrounding buildings, he was sure that Jake would right behind him. He looked around in all directions, yet he couldn't see Haley or the Dark Dragon anywhere. Even with his enhanced dragon sight couldn't pick up anything in the sky except bird. His eye did see a police car and what appeared to be an animal control truck coming closer to the alley they were just in.

"It looks like the Dark Dragon got away and our fight attracted some non-magical attention Jake! He took Haley and nearly got us exposed!" Alex was frustrated with the situation and it was evident in his voice, but he also knew Jake felt the same way. He calmed himself a little before speaking again. "I think we should start searching the city for them despite the condition we're in, but we have no clue where to start. You're better than I am with sight of the dragon, can you see them?"

He followed his cousin into the air. Sadly, as Alex stated, the Dark Dragon had seemingly escaped, and Jake, too, could see and hear the sirens coming there way. They had to leave and fast. He used his dragon eyes to try and track the black dragon, but he had had a lot of time to fly away, and Jake couldn't see him. At least, not from where they were. Then again, there were a lot of buildings in New York City, and he didn't have X-ray vision. To give himself more time, the Dark Dragon could've taken a few turns.

'Okay, no time to get Fu or Gramps. Well, time that we can't spar. What do you know about the Dark Dragon? Where would he go? Well, he obviously likes secluded places. I would too if I were that ugly. Anyway, we found him in the sewers before, so maybe he's going there again? But that's a lot of ground to cover. If he wanted us to follow, then he'd head somewhere easy to be found. Unless he doesn't want to be followed, so then he can't be found. Or maybe...' All these thoughts were frustrating him. They just went around in circles, and weren't any use at all. So, trusting his instincts and the direction he remembered hearing the Dark Dragon's voice and Haley's screams come from during the fight with the Shades, he started flying in that direction. He flew fast, hoping to maybe catch up with his enemy, or at least be able to see him. Or just bring them in hearing range. If only Haley would scream again, then maybe the two dragons could follow it. Anything to help them.

He hoped Alex wasn't too worse for wear to fly fast and for a long time, but Jake wasn't sure he wanted to ask. It would be good to know how long the other could hold on, but then again, the other's wellbeing could cause a distraction if it was at the front of their minds. But wouldn't not knowing be just as bad? Either way, they had to be ready for the worst. But he knew his cousin was prepared to do what it took to get Haley back. And so was Jake. Of course, that could also be a problem. If they were to tire themselves out, they wouldn't stand a chance against the Dark Dragon. Well, they'd just have to face facts if it came to that. And if he really became concerned, he'd just ask.

Jake turned his head slightly to look at Alex, and noticed the cut on the other dragon for the first time. He chastised himself for not noticing sooner. At least it didn't look horrible. He continued with what he was going to say, "It might be easier to see up higher. He's big, so he'll stand out. If we can't see him, that means he's probably hidden somewhere close." With that, he turned upwards and flapped his wings as hard and fast as he could without risking stalling. and perched on the tallest building nearest them. He tried his hardest to see with his dragon eyes, pushing his senses to the limit. Not just his eyes, but his ears as well. Anything that could lead him to his sister. There had to be something. Even if it were to start getting dark soon, night in New York might as well have been the day with all the lights on. A huge dragon couldn't be that hard to spot, if one was looking for him.

There! In the distance! What was that? Was that him? He pointed a claw where he had seen something. "Did you see that?"

"Let me go, you big swidiot!" Haley yelled, her eyes blazing with anger. It was either she fall, or get Jake and Alex possibly seriously injuried if she was going to be bait. "JAAAAAKE! AAAAAAALEX!" Haley screamed with all her might. It might give them a clue where she was. She twisted, turned, and jerked widely to get out of his grip, until she fell.

'Maybe I can fly..' Haley thought, though more hoping than thinking. She flapped her wings and grimaced at the pain in her left wing. It didn't make any difference. Haley couldn't fly. Only one thing she could do.

Haley screamed bloody murder as she kept falling, getting closer to the ground.

Amy was doing her usual duties, flying around her territory, making sure nothing suspicious was happening.

Ah, look, it's raining little pink thingies. Amy squinted, that was no pink thing, it was Hayliey! And she was falling faster by the minute! In a flurry of yellow feathers, she swooped down and caught Hayliey in her talons, being careful not to scratch the small, pink dragon.

"Hayliey, are you OK?"

"My wing hurts." She said, then her eyes widened, "Amy, look out behind you!"

"Jake, I know that look you gave me and I'm fine. I look worse than I feel. The cuts aren't too bad and now that I'm able to catch my breath I feel a lot better. Besides, you know I once ended up in worse shape before I joined you and was still able to finish my mission." That was true, but he was also too injured to leave his room for a week and Jake knew that as well.

When Jake said he saw something Alex instantly looked in that direction. "Looks like a dragon, but not Gramps or Sun. It must be him!" Alex didn't waste any more words as he flew from the build as quick as possible, he knew that Jake was right behind him. Alex knew that he would make it there first despite being in a worse condition. Jake was more skilled and physical stronger, but Alex was lighter and more aerodynamic than Jake. That allowed him to be faster than his cousin in the air.

Within minutes Alex was getting closer to the Dark Dragon,but was still too far away to be noticed or do anything. He glanced over his shoulder to see that Jake was still behind him, but then suddenly turned when he heard Haley yell for him and Jake followed by screaming. Alex didn't even think when he saw his cousin falling and began to dive at an angle after her.

Alex was moving so fast that he nearly missed didn't see a griffin appear in ahead of him and catch Haley. He was relieved that his cousin was safe, but then realized that he was still moving very fast and heading right for the two. He then opened his wings wide to use the air to slow him down and just barely stopped himself from crashing into the griffin's back, Haley's warning going unneeded.

"Thanks for saving her, I wasn't sure if we would get to her in time. I'm Alex and I can see that you already know Haley, but would you mind telling me who you are?" He had a feeling that he was forgetting something, but right now he was trying not to think about his sore wings.

"Thanks for catching me." Haley said to Amy. Then she got an excited expression when she saw her cousin approach. "Alex!" Haley shrieked with delight and jumped into his arms, hugging him. "The Dark Dragon was gonna use me for bait. I'm so glad you and Jake are okay!" she exclaimed.

When Alex took off towards the dragon they had seen, Jake quickly followed. He had never been as thankful and grateful that his cousin was faster than he was before this moment. Right now, it meant that if the opportunity arose to get Haley away, Alex could do it in a heartbeat. Of course, Jake would be slightly behind and, if the Dark Dragon didn't give up or wasn't defeated beforehand, one flight away from being the Dark Dragon's chew toy. But then he wouldn't have to worry about his family being in danger. And heck, since the Dark Dragon's big and bulky, and Jake was much smaller and slimmer, he was confident he could get away. No, it wouldn't be running away, it would be saving the fight for later, because he had a little sister to attend to.

His heart skipped a few beats for what had to have been the hundredth time that day when Haley screamed and fell. When he had semi-wished Haley would scream again, he didn't mean it to be because she was plummeting to her doom! And why wasn't she trying to fly?! He was beginning to reach maximum panic levels, and again followed Alex, this time in a nosedive.

He was surprised when Alex suddenly opened his wings to stop, and Jake quickly (and clumsily) shifted to fly passed the group so as not to crash into them. Then, he opened his own wings and used them to level out and then fly back towards the group, and followed as Amy lead them to a building.

"Haley!" he started, and began fussing over her as soon as everyone had landed. "Are you okay? Where are you hurt? You weren't flying!" and so on and so forth. After a moment, Jake took a calming breath, and remembered he had to thank his other cousin. "Am I glad you came when you did," he said with a big smile, putting all of his thanks into his words. Although he had every confidence Alex would've reached and rescued Haley, he was still very appreciative towards the American Griffin.

He hadn't yet forgotten the Dark Dragon, and had all his senses on high alert, waiting for the big black dragon to appear at any moment. Although he was willing to give everyone a moment to catch their breath, the party would have to be leaving and soon.

"Well as I'm a dragon you can tell I'm from their mother's side, though if you met Greggy he's not that good of a representation of the family or dragon." He decided to talk to her since Jake was fussing over Haley enough for both of them. When he heard mention of the Dark Dragon he realized what it was that he had forgot about and wanted to smack himself for forgetting.

He instantly looked around trying to see the evil dragon, but was could not see him. The blue dragon knew that just because he couldn't see their enemy didn't mean that he wasn't there. He listened as Haley talked about her wing and Amy saying the should get her to Gramps.

"We'd love to do that, but we need to make sure that a certain old as dirt dragon isn't around. He's about twice our size, really powerful, has killer breath, and can probably beat a lion in a roaring contest. We should find the Dark Dragon first if he's still in the area, then two of us distract him while the third flies Haley to Gramps as fast as they can."

He turned to the others, nodding as Alex explained the situation. His description was amusing, and Jake, not even trying to resist temptaion, added, "Don't forget he's uglier than an ogre's backside." Moving on to more serious matters, he addressed his Griffin cousin: "I wouldn't be able to tell you much, Amy. All I know is I'm checkin' out rumours that've been goin' around. Then I hear somethin' and there's Haley and Alex and the Dark Dragon. Which reminds me, I want to know how all this started when we have the time. Anyway, Alex is right. We can't just leave if the Dark Dragon is still around. No doubt he still is 'cause this dude doesn't just give up."

He glanced sadly and guiltily at Haley, who was hiding behind the three of them. She was scared, and he wanted to get her to safety and help. But he couldn't, not while he had a duty to do. And he wanted to make sure the Dark Dragon got what was coming to him for hurting his little sister. Jake was afraid to let one of the others take her, as well. It wasn't that he didn't trust them to take care of her. Quite the opposite in fact. He'd trust his life and the lives of his friends' and family with them, but...what if they ran into the black dragon? That would leave one defending two. If he could prevent it (to whatever degree), he wasn't going to let anyone else get hurt.

Yes, it seemed it would be much safer to do as Alex said and go as a group until they knew where the Dark Dragon was. In the mean time, all the young dragon could do was protect Haley until they could get to Gramps's shop. Jake just hoped he could do a better job at that than he had for the past little while.

"So...who's gonna take me home?" Haley asked curiously. Her head cocked slightly to the side when she said this, and shifted to her other side uncomfortably, still a little nervous knowing that the Dark Dragon could be hiding behind any corner now...maybe even sneaking up on them. Haley shivered at the thought.

Alex began whispering under his breath with his back facing the others as he continued to search for the Dark Dragon, he knew that only Jake would hear him since they both were using Ear of the Dragon in their search. "Her wing is just sprained, even without a potion she would just need a week or so to heal if treated right. She just can't fly for now and her back would be very sore if she changed back to her human form."

After that He raise his voice and faced the others. "Well Jake I didn't forget that, I was trying to forget. I know few dragons are as handsome as we are, but you would think such a powerful dragon would be less painful on the eyes." He smiled since knew that he might get a laugh out of the others and get them to relax. He then told Jake about why he was looking for Haley and arrived a little before Jake.

"Well I'm close to being in that number of survivors cousin. You three actually attacked him while I just fought his shades with you. I wonder why is he so interesting in our family?" That was one thing he wondered from the moment he heard about the evil dragon's return and attacks on Jake.

He looked down at Haley, then at Jake, and last Amy. "I would volunteer to take you since I think I need to have Fu and Gramps look at me too, but I think my thick scales might give me better protection the Amy's feathers. No offense Amy."

'That griffin, who was she?' Thinking hard, he remembered hearing about a comune between the American Dragon and the American Griffin, who were blood reletives. 'Maybe... maybe SHE's my knew target...' Slowly rising, he called one of his many minions.

"Find the American Griffin and keep tabs on her for a while... I want to know how strong her relationship with the American Dragon is!!" As the tiny creature ran in fear, the Dark Dragon took to the sky. It had been a long time since he had struck fear into the hearts of the magical population.

His cousin's comment on the Dark Dragon's ugliness (and, in turn, their handsome-ness) snuck a little snicker out of him, and he nodded his head in agreement. Alex's explanation on how he had found the Dark Dragon had the opposite effect. Jake glanced down at Haley, gathering she had tried walking home alone. Their mom (if she ever found out) was not going to like that.

If Alex was really curious over the Dark Dragon, Jake would tell him what he knew when they were somewhere safer. And Gramps could fill in the blanks. There would no doubt be a lot of those. Jake didn't know a whole lot about the Dark Dragon, only what he gathered from experience and what his grandfather had told him when they were at the Dragon Summit. Of course, Gramps had told him then that nobody knew where the Dark Dragon had come from, so maybe there wasn't that much to tell in the first place?

"Slow down, there, Haley," he started. "We aren't splitting up yet. I know you want to head home, but we've got to stick together for now. And I think Alex brought up a good point. He's hurt, but he does have better protection." Of course, that could come in handy if he were to go with either dragon, in fighting or defending against the Dark Dragon. The same could be said for Amy, too, though. She might not have thick scales, but she could handle herself in a fight. He felt bad not offering to take his little sister himself, but he figured the others understood. "What do you guys think? 'Cause I think we should get going soon, so we need to figure this out quick."

"Well I don't mind taking you and I'm not sure if the Dark Dragon's still here, but maybe we all should go together since there's safety in numbers. I think that he would have reacted to my comment on his looks, well unless he agrees with me." He laughed a little as he looked around them and still saw no sign of their enemy. "Haley, we're not going straight home just yet. I doubt that Aunt Susan will be too happy to know that either of us are hurt or that we ran into the Dark Dragon. I say we go to Gramps' shop, have Fu whip up some healing potions while we talk to Gramps, and then head home."

Alex could almost imagine how his aunt would react to knowing that Haley was hurt by that evil dragon, then again they all probably worry her on a daily basis with all the danger they have to deal with. That brought up another question, do they tell her the truth or make up a story? He didn't like lying to anyone he cared about, but sometimes ignorance is bliss. He felt a headache coming and knew it wasn't from the fight.

"This is going to be a long night. If Gramps don't give us a hard time, then Aunt Susan will since we're late and if we tell her what happened..." He stopped there since Jake and Haley probably knew, he had a feeling that they didn't really share too much information from their missions with their mother before he arrived. "Why do our lives have to be so complicated? Instead of just worrying about school and crushes we have hunters and evil dragons that want our heads. Some things just don't seem fair."

"All three of you have at least a few scratches," she said, "I can patrol for ol' DD and meet you back at the shop." she turned to Alex and smiled, "My feathers may not hold up against fire, but I'm pretty good at dodging."

Jake smirked at Alex. His cousin was quick with the abuse towards the Dark Dragon. "Sounds like a good idea," he said, agreeing with Haley and Alex. He was glad to have all his friends and family around when he was lost on what to do.

He shuddered at the thought of what his mother was going to say. First, of course, she'd be worried, but no doubt the anger would be far behind. 'Why didn't you get your grandfather?' she'd say, among other things that he could guess. Oh well, it isn't like he hasn't dealt with it before. And she didn't have to know the whole truth, now did she? No need to cause her any extra stress, or worry. And everything was going to be fine, so what's the big deal? Unless something happened that she needed to know about, don't ask, don't tell. But who was he kidding? Gramps would probably call her, and if he didn't tell her and she found out later, there'd be even more trouble. Jake decided to stop think there because he wasn't helping himself. They'd deal with that obstacle when it was in front of them.

"Okay, now that that's figured out," he started, "let's get moving, and add a bit of injury to those insults Alex's been dealing." He jumped up and flapped his wings to hover above them, almost as if to say, 'What's takin' y'all so long?' He shook his head at Amy. "I don't really think we should split up, Amy. Not yet. It's just...not safe. And I'm fine. Don't need to see Gramps or Fu yet. See? Check me out, totally perfect!"

"You know Jake, I think that insulting our enemies really does run in the family. I remember my dragon master said that I sound a lot like Gramps when we were on missions, so I think that we know where we get that from." He hovered next to Jake and turned his head to look at the griffin. He may not know her that well, but he was just as worried about her safety as Jake.

The blue dragon sighed as he looked serious. "Amy, I really think that you should take Jake's advice. We're not saying that you're weak, but there is a reason the Dark Dragon is the greatest threat to the magical community. Jake is in much better condition than I am because he fought the Dark Dragon and his Shades before, but I let my guard down one to many times and thought just because they were easy to destroy they couldn't get through my scales. If you underestimate the Dark Dragon or face him alone there's little chance that you'll escape or survive." He then turned to Jake, "We're ready to leave when you are."

Shudder. There it was again. Amy's sixth sense had never betrayed her before, somthing was wrong in the majical world.

It was then that he saw his minion, the one supposed to be tailing the American Griffin. Quietly swooping down behind him, he surveyed the scene before him. The American griffin, waving goodbye too the American dragon and his little blue friend.

"Well, well, maybe their closer than i thought..." Deciding on spur of the moment genius, he made his presence know to the previously ignorant minion, causing him to flee in panic. Chuckling to himself he watched the American Griffins every move. Soon, his plan would be put back into action, and his main obstacle would disappear, leaving the path to world domination wide open.

The blue dragon landed on the roof of the shop and heard Haley telling Jake bye. He glanced up in time to see the dragon and griffin flying away. Alex wasn't sure if that was because he was Jake didn't want to be yelled at or if he was worried about Amy, either way the blue and pink dragons were going to have to face the older dragon alone.

'Of course he decided leave Haley to tell Gramps about what happened since I'm injured too and will need to explain why. The only thing we did wrong was not contact him or Sun, but even he should know that we didn't have enough time and one of us leaving would have put the other in greater danger.' That what he thought as he felt Haley grip his horns tighter and even shiver a little, he assumed that she was still a little frightened by the earlier events.

"Haley, let's go inside to see Gramps and Fu. I'm sure Aunt Susan probably called looking for us and he'll be worried to, but I'm not looking forward to his lecture." Alex decide to let his younger cousin stay on his shoulders, after what had happened a little ride was the least he could do.

He knew he'd probably be in bigger trouble for not even taking a few minutes to tell Gramps what was going on. But did he really have that time to spare? Who knew what the Dark Dragon was up to or could be doing in that time? Jake didn't want to risk something going terribly wrong in the magical world. So really, his hands were tied in the matter. But, man, he knew he should be expecting the lecture of a lifetime after this was all over.

He waved good-bye to Haley and Alex as he and Amy continued on, slightly calmed with the knowledge that they were safe. Flying side-by-side with his griffin cousin, he searched up and down, left and right in the hopes of catching a glimpse (or sound) of the bigger dragon. Unable to find anything, his hopeful, optimistic side began to think that maybe the Dark Dragon had backed off for the moment. The other part of him scoffed at that, insisting the other dragon was being sneaky and trying to get them to let their guards down. With that thought, the silence surrounding the two became unnerving.

"So..." he began, not quite sure what he was wanting to say, only that he wanted to say something. "Any idea what we're gonna do if we find him?" He wasn't sure if he should've 'when' instead of 'if', but he thought that when it came to the Dark Dragon, the latter sounded better than the former.

"Jake, that's Jojo's screech!"

OOC: Jojo is Amy's little brother. A Griffin Screech is a form of attack (and somthines distres call) that griffins use in self-defence.

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