I continue flying over the misty land. I have been having second thoughts about turning back. Every time I think about my home, I think about my mom and dad. My mom is probably worried sick about me. And speaking of moms, what did Megan mean by her mom is dead? I feel like I need to go back for Megan and ask her, but we have come too far to go back now. I have to find the old man. And get home soon.

I am still flying and Timmy is riding on my right shoulder. “Daniel?” asks Timmy.

He tries to get my attention. I shake my head. “What is it, Timmy?” I ask.

“We’re at the misty land,” says Timmy.

I nod to respond to the brown toy dog. I fly right into the mist and I cannot see a thing. I cannot even see my hands as I raise them in front of my face.

I cannot see any tunnels on the ground. “I can’t see a thing,” I say.

Timmy claps his paws. It sounds like he has an idea. “Dragons have very special sightseeing,” says Timmy.

“Define sightseeing?” I roll my eyes.

“They can see through mist and fog and they can sense an enemy far away,” answers Timmy.

I gulp and then shut my eyes. I slow my flying down a bit, and then just levitate in the air. I open my eyes wide. Nothing happens. I still see the thick mist. “It’s not working,” I say.

“Hmmm,” Timmy thinks for a moment. “Try to think of something that you want most,” says Timmy.

“And how will that help?” I ask.

“Because whenever I am in a bad situation I think of what could cheer me up, or I think of what I want the most. I usually think of Spotty my sister when I want something the most. I want to have fun with her even though we sometimes argue. I know we sound like bickering chipmunks, but I love my little sister Spotty,” answers Timmy.

I nod, then shut my eyes again and try to think of what I want most. Then it comes to me.

“My Mom and Dad,” I whisper.

I open my eyes. I see red everywhere. I can even see through the thick mists. It looks like I’m seeing through red sunglasses and I can see through thick the mist. I chuckle with a smile. “This is awesome!” I laugh.

I continue to fly as fast as I can. Dodging rocks as I pass them by. Timmy feels like he’s starting to slip off of my right shoulder.

Timmy seems like he’s going to hurl. “Slow down! We need to go over the tunnels and call out for the old man! And besides, I think I’m a little air sick,” gags Timmy.

I slow down my flight speed and levitate over the tunnels. I clear my throat and start to call out.

“Hello!” I shout.

There is no answer.

“Let me try,” says Timmy.

The brown toy dog clears his throat. “Hello, hello!” shouts Timmy.

Still, there is no answer. “Old man we need to talk to you!” I shout.

I sigh and feel like I want to give up. Timmy pats my back.

“Now, now, now. We will find the old man before you know it. Let’s keep searching,” says Timmy, continuing to pat my back. I nod.

Megan is still on her way to Azent on foot. She runs fast and does not stop, does not rest, and does not eat or sleep. She is desperate to get to Azent kingdom and warn them about the Screaming Meanies army that might come.

Spotty runs after Megan. “Wait!” shouts Spotty.

Megan stops running. She is feeling very exhausted. She pants and kneels on the ground. Spotty makes it to Megan and stands by her. “You have to go back to your boyfriend,” says Spotty.

Megan quietly groans as if she feels embarrassed. “He’s not my boyfriend. We just go to school together,” says Megan.

“Really?” Spotty folds her arms. “Then how come I hear you talking in your sleep saying don’t hurt my boyfriend! Hmm?” asks Spotty.

Megan looks down at Spotty. “Since when do I talk in my sleep?” asks Megan.

“Um, when you sleep,” says Spotty.

“What does that have to do with anything?” asks Megan.

“It has to do with Daniel. And I’m pretty sure that he would be completely lost without you. And forgiveness is next to goodness. And I know that you are a good person,” answers Spotty.

Megan gets up and Spotty jumps onto her left shoulder. “Thanks, Spotty for the advice, but you don’t know about me and Daniel,” says Megan.

Spotty nods. “You’re right, I don’t, but I know Queen Kong’s teachings. She taught me that forgiveness is next to goodness. First, you forgive then you feel good about it. I do it all the time with my big brother Timmy. Even though we argue a lot, I love my big brother Timmy and I know that you love Daniel too,” says Spotty.

Megan smiles at Spotty. “You know, that’s exactly what my father would say,” says Megan.

Spotty chuckles like a cute little chipmunk, even though she is a toy Dalmatian dog. Megan continues to run, but not in the direction of Azent kingdom. She turns around and heads towards the Misty Land. Spotty chuckles.

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Timmy and I are still hovering over the tunnels. There is still no response from the old man or anyone. I’m feeling very impatient. I do not want to go into the tunnel to find him, not after what I read in the book about the dangerous creatures there.

“Old man, answer me please!” I shout desperately.

Timmy wipes his head. “Well, time for plan B.” Timmy jumps off of me.

He lands on the ground. I land on the ground next to Timmy and look down into the dark hole. Just staring at it fills my stomach with fear. Thinking about my stomach makes me want to step away from the dark hole. I take two steps back.

I look away and shake my head. “D-do we have to go in there?” I shiver and point at a dark hole.

Timmy scrunches his shoulders. “Now don’t tell me that you are having second thoughts after we’ve come all this way?” asks Timmy.

I look back at the dark hole. I shiver in fear. “You know what the book says,” I remind Timmy.

I open up my backpack, open the book, and turn to the page of the Scorpionos.

“They sting their prey,” I say,

I close the book and drop it by the opening of the tunnel. “And another thing, I don’t know how to breathe fire,” I say.

“Not yet, you don’t,” says Timmy.

“But how can I breathe fire? I mean, isn’t it like smoking a cigarette or something? Which I do not do,” I say.

I am so busy talking to Timmy that I am not paying attention to anything else. A large scorpion pincer slowly rises out of the dark hole. The pincer starts to sizzle as it comes into the sunlight.

I am still talking to Timmy about my fire-breathing condition. “How can I breathe fire?” I ask.

“It’s easy. Any Dragon can do it. Besides, I told you what to do to see better with your Dragon eyes. I can most certainly figure out how you can breathe fire. Even though we Toys hate fire, it might be our only way to be protected,” says Timmy.

The sizzling pincer touches my Dragon tail but since I am still talking to Timmy I don’t even notice it.

“And another thing…” I stop and sniff. “Do you smell something burning?” I ask.

Timmy sniffs and looks around. Timmy notices the pincer as it's ready to grab my Dragon tail.

Timmy points and wheezes. “B-behind you!” shouts Timmy.

I turn around as the pincer grabs my tail. I gasp, then leap into the air to get away from the pincer, but it is no use. The pincer pulls me down into the black hole. I use my Dragon claws to stab the ground. Timmy runs up to me. My claws slip out of the ground and I am dragged down into the dark tunnel.

“Daniel, no!” shouts Timmy.

The pincer continues to drag me down the hole. My Dragon claws try to grab the vines on the ceiling, but the vines snap every time I grasp them. I take a deep breath and hold it. “Please let this work,” I whisper.

I blow out a little breath. To my surprise, I blow out a little bit of fire and it touches the pincer that is grasping my tail. The Scorpion screeches in pain and releases my tail. I continue falling down the hole. My body hits a few branches and dirt on the walls. I feel my body slam to the ground. Dirt falls all over me. I cough and slowly get up. My back aches. “Ow, my back,” I groan.

I can hardly move. “Ok. One, two, three!” I bend my beck.

“Ok, that’s better. At least my backpack is still on.” I shake the dirt off of my Dragon body.

I gasp with open eyes and look around me. I am in the Scorpiono tunnels. There is lots of dirt and shiny rocks. I do not go near the walls. I look around and there are three tunnels ahead of me. I look up to see the hole that I fell into. I can see the light from above. I start to hover toward the light. Some branches move around like snakes. I move faster toward the opening. “No!” I shout.

I continue to fly up. I use my claws to cut the branches. Black liquid spurts out of the branches. I realize that those are not branches, they are bug tentacles.

I gulp in fear then lower back onto the ground. I start to whimper and shake. I look around to see if there are any Scorpionos. I don’t see any which is a good thing. I do not want to stay down here for very long. It is very dangerous and deadly. “I don’t want to be down here,” I whisper.

I kneel between my legs. “Please let me wake up, please let me wake up, I want to wake up,” I whisper.

I grunt and stomp on the ground. My fear slowly changes into bravery. “Enough!” I shout.

“I am not a human anymore. I am a mighty, strong, flying, fire-breathing Dragon! I taught myself how to fly. Timmy taught me how to use my Dragon sight. I taught myself how to breathe a little fire. If I can learn how to fly, see what Dragons see, and breathe a little fire, then I can figure out how to survive down here!” I shout.

I feel very confident. “I promised Megan that I would promise anything to her. So…” I stick out my Dragon chest.

“I promise that I won’t let any stinger touch me!” I shout.

I hover and fly right into the third tunnel. “Now to find the old man, and Timmy too,” I say.

Then I hear a noise. It sounds like a crackling beetle with a hint of a slithering snake. “If any Scorpionos come then I will just burn them,” I say.

I raise my hand and blow fire on it. The fire does not burn my hand.

“Cool, I can’t feel a thing,” I whisper.

I lower my right hand, and then feel a warm breeze behind me. My eyes widen with fear and then turn into anger. Something’s right behind me and it sounds very angry with its chittering noise. I sniff and smell something burning.

“Hey, that smells like smoke,” I say.

I do not panic. I take a deep breath, shut my eyes, and close my fists. I wait for the moment to strike with my fire breath. The Scorpiono chatters and I can hear it crawling closer behind me. I open my eyes and turn around very fast. I was going to burst out a fire, but it is too late. The Scorpiono hits me with its tail. I fly towards a wall. “No!” I shout.

I try to avoid the wall, but the force of the Scorpiono tail was too strong. I bump into the wall. I shut my eyes tightly because the bump hurts my back. Cracks begin to grow on the wall. I hear something moving in them. A scorpion pincer bursts out of the dirty black wall. The pincer grabs my right arm. I look to the right and growl. I’m about to slice the pincer that is holding my right arm when another pincer bursts out of the wall and grabs my left arm. I gasp and then turn my head. I struggle to try to break free, but every time I struggle the pincers squeeze my arms tighter. I grunt as I struggle. “Let go!” I bend my back.

I open my eyes wide. “Don’t stick out your tummy!” I shout to myself.

Two more pincers burst out of the wall. They grab my two Dragon legs. I struggle even more. The last pincer pushes my back forward.

I gasp as I stare at the large Scorpiono in front of me. The Scorpiono that hit me looks like a giant dark grey scorpion. It kind of looks half human, half scorpion. The stinger looks like a dagger. It has two pincer arms and six red angry eyes. It has six legs and one stinger. Its body is covered with dark grey scorpion skin. Its face looks like a spider’s mouth with thousands of sharp teeth. The Scorpiono’s right arm is burnt. My eyes widen with fear as I realize that the Scorpiono is the same one that I burned with my fireball. It screeches very loudly in front of me. I shut my eyes. The sound hurts my ears. I open my eyes. The Scorpiono lifts its stinger in the air and slowly crawls towards me. I struggle, but it is no use, the pincers that are holding me on the wall won’t budge.

The Scorpiono crawls faster toward me. I try to be brave and think of something to get out of this mess. The Scorpiono is right in front of me. It stares at me and I stare back at it. The Scorpiono stinger touches my Dragon belly.

I turn my head away and shut my eyes tightly. I feel goosebumps all over my scaly body. I peek to see what’s happening. I see the sharp stinger rising in the air. It is ready to sting my tummy, but I am not ready to give up.

“I promised myself that I will not let any stinger touch me,” I whisper.

I take a deep breath. I can feel the sharp stinger touching my tummy. Fire bursts out of my mouth and burns the stinger. The Scorpiono screeches as its stinger burns with hot blue flames. I grunt to break free. The claws that hold onto me finally release my arms and legs. I concentrate on what I want most. At first, I think of home, and then Megan comes into my mind. I start to miss her. “I want to see Megan again,” I whisper.

I land on the floor and growl. The Scorpiono continues screeching as it panics. The fire on its tail begins to spread all over his body.

“So fire is your weakness, I think that’s what Timmy meant,” I say.

The Scorpiono burns very slowly. Its black insect body slowly burns into ashes. I walk away from the Scorpiono and smile. “It is so cool to be a Dragon,” I say.

“Now to find the old man, Timmy, Megan, and Spotty,” I remind myself.

I shut and then open my eyes to release my dragon sight and senses. Everything looks red.