Spike held his staff at an angle just before flames struck him dead on. He felt certain he could have weathered it without his magic that dispersed it in a wide semi-spherical shield that sprouted from his shield. Those behind him, on the other hand, would not have been as lucky.

"Get back," he ordered as he advanced, twirling the staff. He could feel the magic, flowing through his fingers and the staff, throwing aside the incoming flames. "Run." Get a little practice in, he had thought. Why bother everyone else, they were busy anyway, he had thought. A great club swung down at him, shattering his fire-aligned shield and sending him flying to the side.

He crashed into a rock in a cloud of dust, both it, and his own insides from the feel of it, breaking on impact. "Ow." It wasn't the worst time he slammed into something though, and he was already muttering words of a healing spell, green glow at his hands sweeping over his arms and across his body, banishing the worst of it just in time to roll away from the next club strike that pulverized what was left of the rock he had smashed into.

Spike could see the people he had been charged to protect fleeing, as he had told them. More immediately pressing at that moment, the great insectoid creature with clubs for hands was already facing him, its movements precise and too fast. "Don't suppose we could talk this out?" Turned out that monster was no exception to the general rule, lunging for him with a sweep.

Spike thrust his staff forward, a new shield appearing far more solid and hard to see through than the first, the strike cracking it and sending him sliding backwards with the impact. He could feel his head pulsing with the pain of the effort of turning that blow back. "Alright, new plan…" The thing's other arm was already coming in as if to squash him between the two posts and Spike jumped back, the impact of the two ringing out like two massive trees colidding. "New plan!"

He started running, trying to look around as he did. In short order, there was a corner, and he darted around it, and quickly found a rock to slide behind. He plopped down behind it, breathing heavily. The huge clubbed insect stomped by, looking like a praying mantis, but far more bipedal and clubbed. It swept its head around and he hid behind the wall.

Spike peeked out when it wasn’t looking towards him. Dangit all he could think about was how a party was better. If he could do more damage he wouldn’t have to heal. If he wore armor he wouldn’t have to be as afraid of taking a hit. If he had friends here, even just one, he wouldn’t have to worry as much. His nose wrinkled as he thought of Twilight briefly, but he shook it out.

He had taken on the job, and people were counting on him. He could mope later, when there weren't huge deadly insects after him. If he just huddled there, it'd find the others, and then… "Over here!" he shouted as he burst from cover.

The big thing immediately turned for him with a great screech, charging with great thuds towards him, but Spike didn't flee, even if every fibre of his body was screaming that running would be a perfectly valid idea. "Right here, play with me a little longer." He mutters under his breath, magic swelling up within him, not a shield, more of a buffer, granting himself more durability. "Just long enough…"

As the thing closed within conversational distance, Spike blinked, realizing… "I'm a dragon." He had become so focused on using the skills the world had given him instead of what he was born with. As the club came in, he was already darting back and up, flying up out of the way. "I have wings."

As if in reply, the clubbed mantis gave a watery cough before spewing a steam of green-brown gunk at Spike. He yelped with horror and jigged out of the way, allowing it to splash and sizzle loudly on the stone. "You have acid breath, nice, nice… I have a breath too!" He exhaled a great cone of flames over the thing's head and it stomped away with obvious pain. "And I know how to use it." He took a deep breath, flapping after the lumbering insect.

Now, though, it was lumbering away, not toward him, clearly being cautious now. Spike put the fear of flame in it. He smirked and blasted out the biggest blast of fire he could directly at it. It screeched a horrible noise Spike didn’t realize could come from living things, and it began to flail. Oh did it flail, swinging its club arms around chaotically. Spike smirked from his position above it, only to find “above it” was not actually good enough, as it sprayed acid, winging his--well-- wing.

As he fell down, the chaotic flailing of the thing's limbs sent shrapnel flying, redecorating the area with small holes and crushed features. Its hissing roar of pain and fear filling the area. Spike twisted as he fell, barely having time to call on his bolstering magic just before he slapped into the ground with a dull thunk, knocking the magic right back out of him, but he wasn't hurt.

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If one didn't count his frazzled wing. Spike tucked it in against its brother on his back. "Acid repelling, acid repelling…" His shield could deflect different elements, but each was a subtly different spell. Fire came natural, a fact that brought a smirk to his face. Dragons liked fire, what could he say?

The thing turned on him, smashing down both clubs, creating a new crater, shreds of rock flying off as it bellowed at Spike in renewed fury. "Alright, you aren't backing down, but neither am I." His wards were probably far enough away… probably. He couldn't check, he had to assume the insect could catch up with them if he gave it a chance. "Let's dance."

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Sandra shrugged softly. "What have you been up to? You get to dig into me, I at least deserve that. Were you doing a part-time job? We're not that hard up for cash."

Smolder rolled her shoulders. "What I decide to do is my business."

"You just finished explaining that wasn't true, so unless you're wrong, it is my business. We're a team, remember?" She crossed her arms, looking smugly victorious.

Smolder began to walk away from Sandra, headed for the exit of the alleyway. "I'll show you if you're that desperate to know, but not here."

"Alright?" Sandra trailed behind with a curious peering at Smolder from behind. "Though that does remind me, it's normal for most people, demi-humans included, to wear clothes. That sure doesn't seem to bother you at all."

"I am a dragon, not a human, or even kinda human, sorta human, demi human, halfsie human." She threw up a hand as she walked. "We don't do the clothes thing often, and can you blame us? One nice lava bath and those clothes are going to be gone. One little accidental sneeze, poof, your pretty blouse has a scorch mark that isn't coming out."

"Have you considered fire resistant clothes?" Sandra asked as if that weren't an unusual thing at all. "I'm pretty sure I remember a set that only takes damage if you do, so if you're basically immune to fire…"

"It would be too, huh…" She raised a hand to her chin, rubbing softly as she walked, her pace not changing. "Garble doesn't seem to care. I almost think he likes wearing hunks of metal around. I think he just likes the look." She smirked a little, glancing over her shoulder back at Sandra. "Suits the bad boy image he has goin' on."

"Maybe." Sandra didn't sound terrible convinced. "So, where are we going exactly?"

Smolder hiked a thumb. "There's a little kitchen in our room, right?"

"There is… Seriously, are you going to show me you've learned a new recipe?"

Smolder's smile turned into a grin. "It only starts there. You'll like it, promise. Speaking of that, I don't suppose you actually are hungry?"

"I… wasn't thinking about it," Sandra confessed, moving up to her side. "I was busy."

"Busy crying, yeah, saw that. But we're past that. It's time to move forward. Step one, get some good food in you. Then we're gonna go places."

"Places?" She furrowed her brow as they entered the building that was their home for the moment. "This isn't something fixed by a little grinding in the starter fields."

"Have you tried it? Really tried it?" Smolder lifted on her wings, dancing easily up the steps with a twirl at the top. "But, right now, food. We're going to do that." She produced the apron, tucked away as it had been wherever dragons hid such things.

"That apron doesn't… quite fit the aesthetic you seemed to be going for."

"What, this?" She produced a knife with the same ease, smirking. "I wear this so the blood and gore of my enemies doesn't get all over my scales. Seems pretty metal to me."

"No… it's definitely cloth," she argued, missing the reference entirely. "Is it enchanted?"

"Nevermind." Smolder threw open the door to their room and pulled something from in her apron, a paper-wrapped package. "Right now, it's time to cook."

"You were walking around with a hunk of meat?" Sandra was peering at the package suspiciously. "How long have you had that?"

"Since shortly before I ran into you. I was going to make it into a snack for myself later, but we can share." She set it aside for a moment and grabbed a pan. "Now, first trick." She seemed to just wobble the pan and suddenly fire erupted beneath it, holding it and caressing it as it grew hot quickly. Smolder released it and it floated in the air as if supported by the fire.

Sandra clapped softly, smiling at the trick. "I recognize the fire." She held out a hand, a flame leaping into being above it, the same color as the roaring fire under the pan. "But I never had it support something before. That's really neat. Is that an elemancer spell?"

"Eh, maybe?" She grabbed the package and gave it a hard wrench. The meat kept moving but the paper was caught in her hand, causing it to spill out into the pan. The room filled with the sounds of sizzling meat, the unidentified chop of significant size starting to cook. "Now just a hunk of meat isn't a meal, so…"

Sandra watched as other things began to join the meat of various shades. Some spices, some vegetables, and even a quickly diced fruit joined the riot of colors that began to waft delicious scents. "That… looks really good. Seriously, stop playing with me. You've been learning to cook?!"

"Among a few other tricks." She suddenly grabbed the pan and flipped it upwards, sending the food up faster than the pan itself. In that instant it hovered in the air, she swung in with her chef's knife, slicing through it in several straight lines. By the time the food recovered from its assault, it landed on two plates, her knife already put away and the pan back on the fire. "Lunch is served."

Sandra reached for her plate, or what she assumed was hers, one held out further than the other. "Thank… you, but this is only raising so many more questions. Like how you cooked this nearly as quickly as you did. Is this meat still basically rare?" She examined it intently, but it didn't have the look of still bleeding meat, and yet, it wasn't perfectly brown all the way through either. Was it done?

Only one way to know. She grabbed a fork and went to try some.