Mamoritai 4 - A Llorumi story

12. The Maze of the Red Dragon

Words: 1587

"Down all of you!" Okino suddenly yelled, as we were running. I obeyed, stopped and kneeled down. A huge blade swooped over me! When it passed, we got back up and continued running. "Thanks again, Okino!" I thanked him. "It is my duty." He answered, glancing behind his back. "Run, fast!" He commanded. I sprinted as fast as I could, or as much as I had bought my swiftness points. I heard a giant rumbling behind my back, followed by a swift breeze. The walls were closing in on us! Okino turned right, so did we. "Leap!" He yelled as we turned. I took a big jump over a huge hole that just opened under us! "Roll!" He yelled next. I pushed my chin to my chest and rolled. "AHH!" I heard Cole yell. "Cole!" I yelled and turned around to find that his leg got stuck under a big rock. "Get this thing off me!" He yelled in pain. Jay took out his weapon and struck the rock, removing it off Cole. As Jay helped Cole up, Cole touched his shoulder. He still had one life left. "It's okay, it's not that bad. But I could use a booby-trap break." He said, panting.

"We can rest for a moment. It is safe here." Okino said. Oh yes! I collapsed down, next to Lloyd. I placed my head on his shoulder and he took my hand in his. "Are we getting close to the Keytana yet?" Nya asked. "Hai. The heart of the maze is near." Okino answered. "Can I ask you something?" He continued, turning his gaze to Lloyd. "Of course." Lloyd answered as Okino walked closer to him. We both scooted a little bit onto the right, so Okino could sit as well. "Why do you seek the Keytana?" he asked, sitting down. "We need it to stop Unagami. To free everyone trapped inside the game." Lloyd answered. "They are your friends?" Okino asked. "Well, not really. But they're innocent people and they're in danger. We have a duty to help them, you know?" Lloyd continued. Okino nodded.

"Should we continue?" Kai asked. "Do we have to?" Jay whined. "If you don't wanna be trapped here forever and possibly destroy our whole world, yes." I answered, getting up. We got up and continued onwards. "We're here." Okino said after about 10 minutes. We turned a corner and there it was. A big opening, with a floating, purple katana at the heart of it. "There it is! The keytana!" Kai yelled, pointing at it. "Shh!" Okino shushed Kai and covered his mouth with his hand. "Speak softly!" He whispered. Behind the Keytana was a big red tail, which belonged to an even bigger, sleeping dragon! I flinched as I saw it. "Could've been worse." Nya stated. "How?" Kai wondered. "He could've been awake! If we're quiet, we can sneak by, grab the keytana, and get out before he wakes up!" Nya explained. "That is a wise plan. But one of you must retrieve the Keytana. I can only guide a quest, not complete one." Okino said. "I'll go!" Kai said. "No! It should be the one with the highest stealth rating." Lloyd stopped Kai in his tracks. I glanced at Jay. He opened his panel and sighed. "It's me." He said. "I've been in the game the longest and upgraded my stealth the most." He continued. "But next time, I won't be the first to get sucked into a game, okay!" He said as he looked at us.

Jay took in a deep breath and started sneaking over to the Keytana, jumping from behind one rock to another. He was approaching the Keytana, as well as the dragon. Suddenly the red dragon shifted its tail, so that Jay had to climb over it. Jay carefully climbed over the tail, but in the middle of his journey, the dragon lifted his tail in the air! We all gasped, as Jay dropped himself off the tail, only to get crushed by it. "We have to help him!" Lloyd whispered. We put on our hoods and started running towards Jay. Kai, Cole and me lifted the tail as Nya and Lloyd pulled Jay out from under it. But doing so, we woke the dragon up! It rose on its two back feet, grew its wings and started firing at us with it's breath. Its health bar appeared on the top of its head, but I quite couldn't make out how much health it had. We split up around it. "Hit it!" Jay yelled. I started throwing my knives at the dragon, but I felt like what I was doing had no effect on it! It roared at us and charged! We quickly ran under its belly and I hit its belly, but I didn't do anything!

"Our hits aren't working!" Kai yelled. "There has to be a way to bring it down!" Nya yelled. We continued on hitting it. But then it knocked me over with its leg and I flew across the opening. God this thing is going to kill us! "Okino, there's gotta be a way to defeat him!" I yelled at Okino, as I got up and ran after the dragon again. Right as I was throwing my dagger at it, it just blocked it, like nothing! "Okino, help us!" Nya yelled. "I choose my own path!" He yelled right before he started running at the dragon. He ran up the dragon's tail and onto its back. He jumped up and struck something on the dragon's back. It lost health! It lost one of its 20 healths! "The scale! That's the dragon's weak point!" Lloyd yelled out. "Hit the scale in the middle of its back!" He continued. Copy that, now I have a target. We all charged at it at the same time. I jumped up and saw a triangle on the dragon's back. I stabbed it with my knife and it worked! It knocked me down, but I did damage to the dragon! I ran back up, up its tail and onto the back. Now I stabbed it with both of my knives and made two hits to it! Yes!

Then Jay ran up its tail, jumped up and took out the last of his five healths. FIVE! HE GOT THE KEYTANA!!! The dragon roared as it despawned and disappeared. We all ran to Jay, who now had a floating gear wheel before him now. "You have defeated the dragon. The amulet is yours." Okino said as he ran over to us. Jay touched the amulet and it disappeared into his inventory. "You are empowered to call upon the Dragon in a future battle. But once, and only once." Okino explained. "We did it!" Lloyd cheered. "We did it with your help, Okino." Nya said, glancing at Okino. "Thanks, Okino!" Jay thanked him as well. Kai patted him on his shoulder. "You did awesome!" I thanked him. "You should come with us Okino. You were a huge help to us." Lloyd asked. "I thank you. But, I must go my own way. For too long I have followed the ways of others. I shall seek my own adventures now." He answered. "Then you should do that." Lloyd said. "We should go now, thanks for everything Okino." I said as I hugged him. A cabinet portal appeared onto our right. The others said their goodbyes as well, and we stepped into the cabinet portal.

After a well earned rest, we woke up the next morning. Today's mission; Terra Techina where the second Keytana is located. It was a block on the main street, so we just had to walk over to it. "Welcome to Terra Techina. The second Keytana is here and the only way to win it is to be crowned champion in the Speedway Five Billion!" Jay explained, as we walked into a town square. The place looked similar to our home base. Big and tall buildings everywhere and little stores all over. The only difference. Every two seconds an incredibly fast car would go past us. "What's that?" Lloyd asked Jay. "Only the most dangerous race in Prime Empire! The track is lethal, the turns deadly, and the other drivers wild!" Jay explained with excitement and terror mixed in his voice. "Sound like a blast!" I joked. Jay laughed at my joke. "Good one, Rumi!" He said between his laughs. The others just looked at us. "Ya know... a blast... cause we're probably gonna explode?" I explained the joke. "Ooohh" The other's said at the same time. "Follow me!" Jay said, and walked off.

We did as asked and soon found ourselves in the middle of a car paddock. Next to it was a store, where you apparently signed in to the race. There was a robot standing at the front of the store. "Next!" It yelled at us. "We're here to sign up for the Speedway Five Billion!" Cole said confidently. "Uh, maybe we should start smaller! Do you have a Speedway Five Hundred, maybe?" Kai asked, with an extremely worried tone. "No." The robot answered blankly. "Nonsense, Kai. We will race at the Speedway Five Hundred." Nya said, letting her brother down. "Wonderful. The entry fee will be deducted from your account." The robot explained. "How much is it?" I asked. "Two hundred credits each. You must register as a team of six, which means you need a total of one thousand and two hundred credits." The robot answered.