TALES: Game

    Loose rocks fell down the deep, dark ravine. The snow leopard held onto the ledge for dear life. ‘Where the hell did this chasm come from!?’ She dug her sharp claws into the stone wall to find anything to climb onto. Fortunately, such a support existed, though not in the form of a natural formation; two webbed wings extended down to the cat, their little thumb digits both grasping the cat's fluffy arms. With their combined strength, the snow leopard was pulled back on solid ground. The helping hands, or wings, more appropriately, came from the two bats on this adventure.
    “Someone should be more careful,” the male, a fruit bat, said with his typical shit-eating grin that accompanied his per-usual upbeat attitude. The Cat grumbled back, annoyed with her mistake; even more annoyed that there were witnesses.
    “Shut up, Myst,” the Cat replied as she crossed her arms and turned her snout up in an almost childish manner. Myst's little grin grew even larger as he held his wings behind him and rocked his frame back and forth on the heels of his feet. The fruit bat stood close to six feet, not counting his tall ears that helped part his surfer-styled hair. His thin, slender body was covered in dark gray fur, and could easily be confused to be black in the right lighting. He was wearing blue jeans and nothing else, as was his preferred clothing preference. The other bat, a female brown bat, was an equally slender creature with light brown fur, but stood much shorter and had a much shaggier head of hair. She wore a fine fire motif poncho to cover her torso with loose flyer rags under it, with a worn pair of jeans as well. Both had forgone shoes to help take advantage of their environment. She was the only one who had to wear glasses.
    The leopard retracted her claws. She was just as tall and thin as the fruit bat, but her fluffier fur gave her a false appearance of heft in her size. She had long black hair the fell past her shoulders that sat atop a petite face. Unlike the bats, who seemed dressed for comfort, she was wearing the best tan traveler pants and green shirt she owned for this spelunking adventure. “Let’s go,” the Cat growled. Myst handed her her rifle that she had dropped before the fall. The prey was close, and they knew it. If they could take it down, they could eat for months! The thought of all that thick, juicy meat was making her mouth water. Sure, the bats would gain nothing from all this hard work, but that's what makes the game all the better for them.
    They had entered these caves over an hour ago. The air was damp and cold and the absolute natural darkness of the cave made it hard to see. Yet coupled with her good low-light eyesight and the flashlights they all carried, the path ahead was lit, or so she thought. Of course the path ahead happened to be a chasm, and of course the brown bat had the advantage of using friggin’ sonar! It would have been nice of the bat to give her a little warning for first. She may have been a cat, but she didn't have nine lives to spare.
    So they turned around, already tired of the fact they would need to backtrack until they could find a new path through these winding, dark corridors that all looked the same. Then the sound of claws scratching against rocks echoed through the chasm, and the smell of the hunt, and danger, grew strong. The three quickly spun around. There he was.
    The dragon was clinging to the ledge, right where the Cat had been hanging just moments ago. He was as big as a car, but definitely longer due to his elongated neck and tail with a fin at the end of it. He could easily stretch out to eighteen feet if he wanted to. His scales were a very light blue, almost teal, and the air around him felt even colder than it should have. Its body was scarred from past encounters, and, oddly enough, it was wearing a pendant around its neck. The group lifted their rifles, a funny sight for the two bats who had to maneuver the long weapons within the thumb of their wings, just as the dragon inhaled and exhaled a large breath. Frozen air flew towards the group, whom had abandoned their positions to run for safety. All that the dragon's frost breath had touched froze over instantly.
    The Cat had jumped behind a stalagmite just within the nick of time as frost enveloped it. So much for getting the drop on him. She looked around for the two bats. Hopefully they didn’t already succumb to the dragon. The thing had only just made its appearance, and she couldn't take it on alone! The scents in the air were conflicting. She could tell that...Myst was nearby. Not frozen based on the freshness of the smell: Fear. Same with the other bat, Twisty, but she didn't need her sense of smell to help her with that one. The brown bat had already made a run for the exit screaming the entire way. It looked like it was up to Myst and herself to take down this prey.
    She held her breath and peeked from her shelter. The other side was cracking from the sudden extreme
change in temperature and barely needed any more excuse to do so. For as long as she peered, she couldn’t see the scaly beast. Her light shined from dark crevice to dark crevice with barely a moment in each scene. Goodness her heart was pounding. How in the world could such a large creature just sneak away!? Cursing under her breath, her focus was diverted to a muffled cry of attention. She looked to the ceiling, shining her light up there. It was Myst, clinging to a stalactite for dear life. He looked startled, holding a wing over his mouth. He seemed to-‘Oh great, he dropped his rifle!’ she suddenly thought to herself. Then the smell came to her; from behind her. Slowly she turned around. His head was as large as her body. He was grinning, his teeth shining, or at least her brain added in that little mental image. She cursed loudly as she turned and bolted into a run.
    As the frost dragon inhaled to make an icy attack, a small rock slapped against his head, thrown by the bat who had dived to the floor to find the tiny piece of ammunition. Myst squeaked as he was now the center of attention to a growling, angry dragon. With a squeak of terror, he turned and flapped his wings as hard and fast as he could. This cave had enough space for him to fly in, but not enough for the dragon to do the same. He afforded himself a quick glance back and found his hiding spot now frozen, and an angry dragon dashing after him. Curse that beast for being a fast runner! He looked forward to discover a stalagmite was rising to greet him. With action that came quicker than thought, he veered out of the way, but the cave was not a friendly arena, and Myst fluttered out of control. His feet caught the ground first, which tried to turn his flight into a run, but an elevated stone tripped him, sending him painfully tumbling across the jagged rocks. So close to the exit, too!  The flashlight rolled to a stop and pointed its beam just at the exit; a small hole in the wall big enough only for the mammals to escape through. He groaned as the dragon stopped behind him.
    “I win,” etched the dragon’s cold voice. Yet before the beast could put the shaking bat out of its misery, a rock slapped him on the bridge of his nose. He roared in pain, yet mostly anger. “Why the rocks!?” he shouted. Myst sought the source of the attack, and found Twisty just feet away. Though that may have been inaccurate. She had already began running away, her wings flailing as she screamed in terror. Not looking this gift horse in the mouth, he scrambled to his feet and ran along with her. A sharp inhale told him of the danger present. This particular part of the cave was accessible from a small break in the wall, formed from either a collapse somewhere or concentrated efforts of the miners who used to work here long ago to keep something away. This was his goal line. As the ground behind him froze, he could actually feel himself running faster than he could see the ground moving. He rolled through the small slit in the wall like he was a hero in an action movie, and if he wasn't scared shitless at the moment, he would be taking a moment to revel in that fact. He made it. He was safe.
    The room they now resided in was the remains of an old mine chamber. A few ancient support beams still rested in place that supported the ceiling, while veins of resources the group paid little attention to still sat in the open. A mine cart track was built on the only path leading out of the room. The group had traveled through here earlier and had thankfully placed down a few battery powered LED lanterns to help with keep the darkness at bay, though even in this chamber it couldn't keep the entire room lit.
    Myst panted heavily. His hands and legs were trembling with uncontrollable fear. He had seen the jaws of a dragon and walked away. Twisty walked up behind him wrapped her wings around him in a warm hug. Even if the dragon's breath didn't hit him, he still felt cold. "You made it," she whispered into an ear that twitched in response. The Cat was sitting on a rock, disgruntled that such a hunt had turned sour so quickly. It didn't seem likely at this point that it was salvageable at this rate. “And you," she added, turned to the Cat, "could have helped out a little back there, Anna.”
    “Shut up,” she replied as the room shook violently. The dragon was slamming himself against the wall. Could he actually bring it down?
    “Come out,” he demanded, the fog of his cold breath flowing into the chamber the three were in. “No point in leaving so soon. We only just met.”
    “I think we should go,” Twisty stated as she released Myst and she took a few steps back for safety. “Maybe try another time.” Anna growled in response. This was not supposed to end this way. Myst grinned as he picked up a small rock and tossed in through the hole. The dragon snarled, letting him know it had found its mark.
    “Maybe there’s another way in,” Anna thought out loud.
    “Maybe you shouldn’t wonder that when the dragon can hear you,” Twisty replied.
    “There is,” growled a fourth voice from inside the room. All heads turned to see a previously unnoticed long red tail slide its way across the ground. “But don’t leave.” Rocks slid and fell as the owner of this tail lifted itself up, concealed in the shadows of the room. “I have plans.” The red dragon took a step forward. He was just as big as the frost dragon, but lacked the scars, fins, and accessories, but seemed to have plenty more spikes lining his body to make up for it. A row ran from his snout all the way down his back to his tail, with two massive horns on his head and three spikes on each side.
    “There’s two of them!?” Myst shouted as he turned to run. A bright flame lit up his path, stopping him in his tracks. He gulped loudly enough that everyone must have been able to hear him, or at least he thought as much. The red dragon moved to block the exit, his big grin showing off his sharp teeth. In front of them lay a fire dragon; behind them lay a frost dragon. Myst cursed at himself mentally for losing his rifle.
    “It’s not often dinner is served to me,” the red dragon said near giddily, never losing that disturbing smile. “Now who wants to be first? Don't be shy. I'm not cruel. It'll be painless, I promise.”
    A slam against the rock wall reminded them of the other dragon’s presence. “Don’t take all of them!” the frost dragon shouted with annoyance.
    “Do you see any way out of this?” Twisty asked Myst. He shook his head. With defeat, she lowered her head and sighed. “It’s over already?”
    A shot rang out, and the red dragon roared in pain. Anna lifted her rifle from her shoulder. “I’m still here, you know!” she shouted, aggravated that they would forget she was the only one who didn’t drop the rifle. He was hit in his right foreleg.
    "You missed his head," Myst declared in an aggravatingly obvious manner while pointing a wing at the dragon's leg.
    "I was making a statement," Anna answered as best she could to cover her mistake. Her flat ears gave away that lie. She charged another round and pulled the trigger. Click. “Oh, shoot, I forgot to bring more…” She said, trailing off as she stared at her empty weapon.
    “You forgot to bring ammo?” Twisty said as she giggled intensely. Her spirits seemed to be raised back well enough, at least until her laughter vanished when the fact of the matter dawned upon her. “Why did you only bring one bullet!?” Laughter could be heard from behind the rock wall. Apparently the frost dragon found this quite funny as well.
    “Shut up!” Anna growled.
    Myst bit his claws. Surely there was a way out of this. The dragon was distracted, but there’s no way they could get through. They’d need something else. Think, Myst, think! Wait! Yes! That was it. As the red dragon paid his attention back towards the group, a rock slammed into his right foreleg. Again, the dragon screamed.
    “Who throws rocks!?” the drake yelped in pain.
    “I know, right?” came the voice of the frost dragon.
    Myst grabbed the collar of Twisty’s poncho and pulled her forward, right towards the red dragon. Her eyes grew wide as she focused on the sharp teeth she was being led to. “No-no-no-nononononono!”
    “Fly!” Myst shouted as he extended his wings and lifted off the ground. Twisty followed suit. They went right over the dragon, with Twisty landing behind it, and darted straight towards safety. Myst had preferred to continue with flight rather than running.
    Anna had ignored the call to flee. She charged the dragon, striking its head with the butt of the weapon. It recoiled, and then snapped its jaws over the rifle, breaking it without any difficulty. Another slap against the rock wall created a crack along its surface. With the weapon gone, she decided to use her more natural abilities. Her sharp claws extended.

                                         -------

    Myst stopped to give Twisty a chance to catch her breath, landing next to her. “You know, you’ll do better
in the air,” he said, barely panting at all. While it was too dark to see, he could still tell exactly where she was. Not too hard to pinpoint her smell.
    “I don’t -huff- like flying,” she panted, taking a seat on the cold mine cart track rail.
    “You need to keep in touch with your inner self,” he said, folding his wings around himself.
    “I do -huff- keep in touch with -huff- myself!” she spouted.
    Myst cupped his wings over his mouth, laughing. “I got you to say you touch yourself.” Twisty coughed out a series of broken laughs. After watching her choke on laughter and catching her breath for a minute, the fruit bat sighed as the depressing realization of the brown bat's athletic habits were showing. They had barely gotten anywhere in their short run and she sounded like she was going to die. “Maybe we should work out more? Do some runs? Maybe fly?”
    “No,” Twisty answered sharply. She climbed her way back onto the abandoned mine cart track with some effort and proceeded to start walking sluggishly down its length. Myst followed behind.
    “Maybe just fly a little?”
    “No.”
    “What about when we get to the ravine ahead?”
    “No.”
    “Maybe we could just fly up it instead of climbing?”
    “No.”
    “You are a child!”
    “Both of you are children,” came a third, much older voice. A match was suddenly lit, lighting up the immediate area. Wooden pillars and mine cart tracks paved the way both to the dragons and the exit. A small, plump raccoon, wearing a blue dress shirt, tan dress pants, and a lab coat sat along the edge. He used the match to light the pipe he was holding.
    “Griffin!” Myst shouted happily, followed immediately by a quiet pause, “Wait, when did you start smoking?”
    “Why were you sitting in the dark?” Twisty added.
    Griffin waved their questions off.
    “The dragons will be coming! Or a dragon. I dunno!” Twisty shouted at the old man. The cave echoed her loudness. “We need to go.”
    He grunted. “I think I’ll stay. I’ve finally made myself quite comfortable here, and I’d hate to leave now just to play your silly little game.”
    “It’s not a silly game,” Myst said defensively with ears that fell flat under what felt like harsh criticism.
    “But the dragons-!” Griffin waved her off. She grumbled in annoyance.
    “You two go and do whatever it is you do. I’m staying put for the time being. I’ll be out shortly. Besides, I don’t really care much for the rain.”
    “It’s raining?” Twisty asked, cocking her head to the side. On the side of Griffin’s face grew the faint light of faraway flames. Twisty blinked before Myst shook her shoulders.
    “We need to go,” he whispered in a hurried rush. She waved goodbye to the old raccoon as Myst pulled her down the mine shaft. Griffin only took another puff of his pipe before leaning back against the chipped-away stone wall.

                                           -------

    The dragons had stopped when they got to the old raccoon. They both stared down at him, almost perplexingly so. “How soon did the two bats come through here?” the red one asked. Griffin took another puff from his pipe. “Tell us.”
    “Or what?” Griffin asked, blowing out smoke. “You’ll roast me? Freeze me?” The red one growled.
    “Are you going to be this stubborn? This of all times?” the frost dragon asked.
    “I think I will,” the raccoon replied.
    “Let’s head to the ravine,” the frost dragon stated. They had no time for this.
    “Good idea,” Griffin says sarcastically, his face not changing it’s tired expression.
“This mineshaft ends at the ravine ahead. All they have to do is fly straight up and find the hole leading out. Follow the rain and all. You two really should know that.” Both dragons growled in annoyance. The nerve of this mammal.

                                         -------

    “C’mon!” Myst nearly shouted. He was nearly running circles in the ravine, staring at Twisty dumbfounded that even now she would refuse to fly. The track ended at the edge of the cliff, the bridge to the other side broken many years prior. The underground ravine was wide. There was at least a twenty-five foot gap between both sides where the center faded deep into darkness. The rain was soaking into his clothes and fur. Above them sat a hole that guided the water down here, to where it fell into the void below. It was easily big enough for the dragons to get out of, so they had to move. Yet here was Twisty....

    “I don’t want to fly,” she said with her wings crossed, her nose up at the idea of it.
    “It’s the only way out!” Myst shouted, his irritation almost growing to the point where it could take physical form.
    “No it’s not. There’s the other exit for the mine.”
    “We’re not going back!”
    “Hrumph.”
    The noise of raging fire turned Twisty’s head. Where Griffin once was, fire now rested. “They’re right behind us! C’mon already!”
    “No.” She took up her crossed-wing stance.
    “You did it earlier!”
    “You pulled me into doing it.”
    Myst huffed. “Fine.” He landed on the ledge and grabbed her wing. Her eyes shot open at the realization. "You'll fly if falling is the only other option!"
    “No.”
    “Imm’a do it.” Before she could even protest, Myst pulled her off the ledge as a pair of red jaws snapped shut where she once stood. With great precision, he grabbed her right wing with his right foot and leaped into the air. Her squeak of terror made Myst wince, but even then she didn't open her wings. Myst had to give it everything he had to even remain level, much less rise above the jaws of the scaly beasts. “PLEASE!”
    Twisty stared with locked eyes at the teeth of the dragon’s maw not a foot away. Each tooth was as long as her finger, and as sharp as a knife. His exhales were warm, and not of the best smell. Quickly she extended her wings and flapped as hard as she could. She needed to get away from this!
    “Finally!” Myst shouted as he let go of her. “I thought you were just-AHHH!” The frost dragon had his jaws clamped onto the bat’s leg and began pulling him into the tunnel. Myst was powerless to stop it. His screams echoed and faded as he was pulled into the dark tunnels until eventually there was a loud crack followed by silence.
    The red dragon extended his massive wings and leaped after Twisty. He had a harder time moving his mass than the smaller bat did, and it was just the luck she needed. With the rain pelting her in her face, she rose out of the hole, quickly landing and turning around to see if the dragon could follow. First rose his head, then his long neck. As his body rose out of the hole, his claws clamped onto the ledge to pull himself out. His wings had to be folded to even manage through the hole.
    “I win!” Twisty shouted as she jumped up and down. “I win! I told everyone about the dragons and an angry mob came!”
    “We were close this time,” the red dragon said with a weak smile to hide his disgust at defeat. His imaginary leg wound vanished as he managed himself onto the wet grass.
    “You two fool around too much. That’s your problem,” Twisty stated with a matter-of-fact attitude as she waved a wing back and forth to gesture the point home.
    “I don’t wanna fly,” the dragon said, mockingly, swaying side to side. “Flying is scary.”
    “I’m not a flyer!” Twisty bemoaned defensively.
    “You’re a bat!”
    Myst slowly rose out of the hole with no visible leg wound, his feet holding Anna by the upper arms. “You killed me, Twisty! We both would have made it,” He said as he landed next to the red dragon. He threw his wings straight into the air as angrily as he could. “We were literally at the exit.”
    She crossed her wings, lifting her head as she failed to hold back a smile. “I had to make it fun.”
    “I can’t believe you two left me behind,” Anna stated as the red dragon extended a massive wing to provide everyone shelter from the rain.
    “We were clearly doing a ‘flee’ maneuver,” Myst stated.
    “It’s not fleeing when you charge directly at someone!” She responded with irritation.
    The frost dragon lifted himself out of the hole and huffed. “Sam!” Twisty shouted to the blue dragon with a big grin. “You lose!”
    “We need to amend the rules,” Sam said as he huffed in defeat. The wet grass in front of his snout turned into ice. “Only one of you has to escape to win, but both of us clearly survived." He stepped on the icy grass, shattering it. "AND took out over half the group,” he added as an afterthought.
    “I wish you guys would stop losing or destroying those plastic rifles,” Anna stated to the group.
    The red dragon clicked his tongue. “Speaking of that, I think I may have plastic shards in my mouth. Anyone want to fish those out?” Everyone ignored him.
    “I got startled!” Myst said defensively, holding his wings to his chest like he was an innocent victim.
    “Just don’t want them to get embedded into my mouth is all,” the red dragon whispered to himself at this point. He knew the routine.
    “You know they’re there!”
    “I was in character!”
    “Just don’t want it to get infected in there. I eat a lot of raw meat and such.”
    “Excuse me?” echoed a faint request from the ravine. “I would very much like to leave right now.”
    “Griffin needs you,” Sam said to the two bats. With a sigh, both of them hopped down the hole to retrieve the old raccoon. It took a minute before they could lift his hefty frame up to the surface.
    “Thank you,” the old raccoon said as he hobbled over to the red dragon’s wing. Fond of the rain he was not. He had an oak walking stick to help him with this task. “Why can’t you guys play your game systems or something like most people do?”
    “I don’t have thumbs,” the red dragon stated with a nod of agreement from Sam.
    The old man huffed and puffed from his pipe. “So naturally ‘Dragon Hunter’ is the first game you all decide to play?” They all nodded. “Children these days,” he said, shaking his head.
    “I’m not a child!” the red dragon said with an appointed heir of accomplishment.
    “Sanny,” Griffin said as he tapped the dragon’s snout with his stick, “in the grand scheme of things, you are a child. Now let's go home. I would love to go someplace dry and warm.”