Zogg Githiom and Papaya then climbed on top of YX and then let the mech walk forward while they

were resting on top of the robot, Zogg then went and asked Githiom a question that had been on his mind for sometime now,

"How far is Illumia from here anyway Githiom?"

Githiom straightened himself out and stretched his arm towards the horizon

"we'll have to cross several mountains and even a great ocean since Illumia

is over on the next continent"

this surprised Papaya and Zogg as they did not expect the mythical kingdom to be so far away

"what?! why is it so far, and more importantly how did you travel so far away from your home?"

Githiom showed him a messaging crystal and explained"

I go where I make a difference, this crystal enables me to message home and recieve my missions"

this is why I was able to travel so far away from my kingdom"

Papaya then was impressed and then said to him,

"Githiom must miss his home very much to be so far away"

Githiom then sighed and said

"sadly I do miss home as you say, but now I have you people to guide there so I can come back"

he then turned to the horizon to briefly view the sky, they then see a large dragon flying

across the horizon and then looked at each other, to see a dragon is quite a treat as they

are powerful creatures but at the same time they were in caution as they had heard of the

great destruction one can cause.

Githiom then told them a story about how one dragon was able to raze down an entire kingdom

just because it's greedy king had stolen a piece of the treasure the dragon had kept in its

stash, even all four of them would not be able to put up a fight let alone fight one properly

**************************************

so Githiom signaled the other two to get down and keep themselves less conspicuous as they try to avoid the dragon flying dangerously near, but Zogg had other things in mind, bellowing out a challenge to the dragon the barbarian howled towards the sky

"what are you doing fool!"

but zogg did not pay heed, this will be a good battle he thought to himself as the large red dragon took notice and set it's eye out for them, the gigantic beast then soared towards them as the terrified paladin and amazon ran in opposite directions leaving the mech YX and zogg who was now clutching his axe in both arms awaiting the mythical battle that was to ensue, Githiom who was now hiding behind a boulder then watched and cried out to the barbarian,

"run away you fool this foe is beyond you!!!"

the paladin may be brave but not foolish enough to fight a dragon upfront unlike the more simple minded Zogg,Papaya then watched from afar and then offered a passing prayed to her goddess for she was expecting Zogg to be incinerated by the dragon or crushed to death. Zogg then chanted a spell under his breath and awaited the large dragon who was now doing a dive from the sky Zogg raised his axe and then with a bellow released an ice wall between the dragon and himself, the dragon bellowing out and breathing fire as it collided on the ice barrier melting it and releasing steam in the process

*********************************

the steam covered the entire area enveloping it with a smoky cover and hiding the barbarian from

the dragon, but the dragon merely flapped it's powerful wings and blew away the steam revealing Zogg once again, not that he was hiding, he then threw his mighty axe towards the dragon and cast a lightning bolt spell from his hand and threw it towards the dragon, he bolt merely bouncing off of the dragon's scale like armor, the dragon looked at the barbarian who tiny in comparison to itself and then inhaled, getting ready to breathe fire and incinerate zogg when Githiom intervened and grabbed Zogg away when the fireblast from the dragon fell,

"this dragon is beyond our ability to defeat Zogg, we must flee," said the paladin

Zogg did not want to go along with what Githiom had proposed and readied himself to face the dragon once more when Papaya came along and with a club had hit Zogg in the head, Zogg only seeing darkness and blacking out the two then with YX then ran as fast as they could fleeing from the large red dragon towards the forest and to safety, but were they safe? the dragon would only need to breathe fire and clear the forest with its destructive power and reveal them, nevertheless, the forest was their only option as it allowed them cover to escape from the flying beast, Papaya who was still carrying the unconscious Zogg with Githiom then turned to him and noted on how Zogg weighed.

"the Barbarian is as heavy as a boulder! and just as smart as one too"

Githiom then answered back

"he is isn't he, well we can't just leave him alone there can we?"

the three with YX the mech then reached to the safety of the forest and then were relieved that the dragon did not follow them perhaps it was not in the mood the chase it's prey but nevertheless, it not pursuing them was indeed very fortunate as it afforded them rest for a while in the forest, Githiom and Papaya dropped down exhausted from carrying the barbarian and sat in the shade of a large tree catching their breath, as they took turns drinking from a waterskin carried by Papaya,

"we safe now from flying lizard right?"

Githiom shook his head and contradicted her

"I'm afraid not.....dragons can sense scent from great distances, which makes us lucky it did not try and burn down this forest to find us...."

Zogg the woke up and then raised his axe ready to fight

"where is flying giant lizard? I was winning!"

"Its flown away Zogg" Githiom said

*****************************

Zogg then screamed to the skies with all his might

"noooooo!!! why Zogg was denied a great battle!?"

Githiom and Papaya then took their hands off of their ears and admonished the barbarian for being foolish

"if we did not drag you away you would have been a meal for that dragon, so you can thank us by getting on your feet and fleeing with us from far away as possible from here" said Githiom

the three along with YX the mech then regained their bearings and slowly and carefully walked off from the sight by now their mission was not of facing the dragon but that off escaping the place safely before the dragon spots and hunts them once again, fortunately the forest provided ample cover for them to be able to hide their presence for they were practically invisible from the air, an advantage they used to the utmost as the dragon was still howling in the sky, it was fortunate that they were able to escape unscathed by some twist of fate the dragon did not decide to burn down the forest along with them,

"where we go now?" asked Papaya, wondering what their next move now was,

Zogg then raised his axe and then proclaimed

"let dragon come! Zogg is ready for him!"

Githiom then countered him saying

"no you are not Zogg, our priority right now is to escape from the dragon without getting detected

the dragon is still flying around somewhere we have the robot here that can speed up our mobility,

we should take advantage of that"

Papaya nodded and Zogg grudgingly conceded, they then climbed on board the mech and then resumed their escape, several leagues later they came across a large expanse of clearing in the forest, Githiom checked their map to locate their bearings

"we've come across a large clearing here, if we go north there we will find the mountains and then cross the border of the dragon's territory all we have to do is avoid getting our bearings

located by that beast"

All seemed fine at the moment when they heard loud flaps and the wind violently getting churned by something they then all froze in place fearing getting located, Githiom and Papya had to cover Zogg's mouth to prevent him from calling out to the dragon for a fight, they then spotted the dragon above but were not spotted by the beast as it flew across them, Papaya and Githiom were as quiet as possible muffling Zogg's voice, the dragon flying slowly away not detecting them when Papaya without warning sneezed, getting a speck of dust in her nose, that brief sound was enough to set the dragon doubling back chasing after them as they scrambled away to hide from it, this time the dragon inhaled with all its might and breathed fire into the forest below, incinerating

the whole forest to uncover the running party, all except Zogg were fleeing

"come dragon!! Zogg is ready for you!!!

The dragon then descended upon them landing like a mountain from the sky, breathing pillars of flame, melting even rocks, Githiom raised his shield and with a defensive Holy element skill, cast a protective barrier against the flames of the giant lizard, Papaya could only hide behind him while Zogg could not be seen anywhere, YX meanwhile was under the two warriors also protected from the fireblast,

"where's that blasted barbarian? said Githiom

Just then Papaya pointed to him a speck in the armors back which turned out to be Zogg, the barbarian was slamming his waraxe repeatedly on the dragon's thick scales, every cut getting stronger as the barbarian's battlefury increased but the scales of the monster still proved to be too tough to pierce, so Zogg imbued his axe with the water element to counter the dragon's fire element affinity, and with one mighty chop managed to put a scratch on the giant dragon, this did not please the dragon one bit as it bellowed in anger against the human who dared to scratch it inhaling again and with full force the dragon then let its flaming fury spill out and exhaled a river of fire from its mouth, Zogg sensing danger then leapt with all his might and flew from the dragon and timely plopped besides Papaya and Githiom, Zogg raised his arms in the air triumphantly but was taken away again by the two to escape the raging dragon, YX following quickly behind

"why you carry me away? I was winning!!!"

Githiom then cried out "you have a strange sense of winning Zogg!!" while they were running away once more as the dragon was now following closely behind them, they then decided that running away from a flying dragon was useless then jumped on board of YX the mech who was now on hover mode and like a floating cloud was flying faster than their legs could carry them, all three were clutching each other onboard the flying mech escaping a dragon hot on their tails, as it reared its large head and then tried to chomp on them while they were escaping

Papaya then took her spear and then thrust with all her might against the dragon but she might as well be poking it as the tip could not pierce the dragons head, Githiom then cried out saying "We need to lose it! aiming his shield he then threw with all his might and hit the right eye of the dragon

temporarily blinding it as he said to YX "fly Golem!!! fly like you've never flown before!!!" YX then went into hyper mode, transforming

right before their very eyes

"Hypermode engaged! power limit exceed 110%!"

***************************

YX then began to emit an aura of power right before the three warriors eyes, transforming into its assault mode it then aimed it's blasters towards the pursuing dragon and fired off several blast shots into its direction, the dragon howled in the ensuing flurry of blasts and breathed off fire into the fleeing party, a firestorm blanketed the area where the three were and for a moment a cloud of flames buffeted the ground, but where the party was still moving and fleeing fast was YX with its shields protecting Zogg and company, still hovering and moving fast towards safety, YX then fired another volley of shots towards the dragon who by now flew higher to

avoid the blasts from the mech,

"It's working!" said Papaya as she pointed out to the sky and noting the missing dragon that was pursuing them.

Githiom scoped out the horizon as they were moving to look for any signs that the dragon may be anticipating them but did not find anything only patches of trees and the treeline of a forest that may hide them once more from their pursuer,

"look! a forest, we go there to lose the dragon"

then signalled to YX to confirm orders to go straight for the forest, the mech then blasted its thrusters forward speeding up even more the party was all jitters except Zogg "who was in a cranky mood, for not being able to battle the dragon" as they came slowly reaching the forest and cover as they were almost there a sudden howl from the sky could be heard as the dragon has come back to take another swipe at them it came so fast as if it had expected them to be going that way, Githiom recounts in his mind that dragons can reach a very old age, and in that time become somewhat sentient and wise especially in dealing with humans who for the most part always find a way to destroy the dragons territory leading to the dragon always chasing them away.

The dragon then stretched out its large wings and stopped right in front of the party blocking out the way to safety with its massive body, Zogg then gleefully brandished his axe and bellowed enthusiastically for the ensuing battle that was certain to take place, Githiom unsheathed his shield and sword and Papaya nocked her arrows into her bow and YX readied its blasters for shooting,

the dragon howled along with Zogg who was howling back at it challenging it to a fight, it was four against the dragon, with the odds in the dragon's favor.

Zogg then charged forward running with all his might swinging his axe and shouting a warcry as Githiom and Papaya followed with YX close behind. The dragon then breathed fire once more onto the charging party seemingly burning them alive, that was until an icewall sprouted onto the location where the flames were, a spell cast by Zogg as he was charging.

**************

Slicing his axe, Zogg cut a swathe of power as he swung his axe with great force but only hitting air as the dragon flew upwards to avoid his attacks . The icewall Zogg cast also served as protection from the dragons large talons giving him cover, Githiom and Papaya also hid among the ice pillars that Zogg cast, Papaya then took aim with her bow infusing her arrow with mighty force and releasing it towards the dragon, the arrow flew straight and true but only managed to bounce from the body of the dragon as it hit its armored body,

"it's scales are too tough!" said Papaya as she aimed another arrow and another, all meeting the same fate as the last.

************************

The dragon now was swooping directly on top of them beating it's large wings into the air as it breathed fire once more into the icewall that Zogg cast melting the wall into the ground with it's hellish flames, Zogg now cast a water spell that blasted the area with water weakening the dragon which had fire element but now so severely to disable it, Githiom raised his shield and concentrated while Papaya tool to her spear ready to fight the dragon head on as Zogg charged it with his axe, swinging with battlefury as both barbarian and amazon attacked the dragon's side, despite

Zogg's brute strength and Papaya's skill with the spear the tough armor like skin of the giant lizard proved too tough once more, Zogg then cast another spell concentrating for a second then arming his axe and Papaya's spear with the water element then attacking once more, but the dragon with

its sentience sensed danger so flapping its wings it flew away blasting the area with small tornadoes as it flapped away, Zogg and Papaya would have been shredded to pieces by the cutting winds if not for the timely arrival of Githiom and YX covering them with their armor.

"dragon is getting away!" said Zogg

Papaya pointed to the sky and then saw the bright red flame of the dragon heading towards them again.

"watch out! dragon is coming again to flame us!"

thus once again the party tried getting away, jumping on the mech which blasted it's boosters away to safety from the fireblast

**********************************

Zogg surveyed the area where they once were and only saw destruction wrought by the red dragon, stoking his battle fury in eagerness for another go at the lizard but his companions had other things in mind, as he raised his axe to the sky he cast another spell, Githiom and Papaya both looked at the barbarian and immediately surmised at what he was going to do once more. cast another large area super spell.

"we're almost to the border of the dragon's territory now!, we can lose it there"said Githiom

Zogg was silent concentrating his mind on the spell he was about to cast and then with one mighty bellow to the heavens he cast his mighty spell as if calling to the sky to obey him he cast a large lightning spell that summoned a large lightning bolt that hit the dragon chasing them, the dragon

howled in pain as the lightning bolt pierced it but yet amazingly it still was flapping its wings withstanding the blast from the sky, all three of the warriors widened eyes in disbelief at how the dragon was able to withstand the mighty spell. but the spell had done its work and delayed the

dragon enough for them to get away and put distance as YX blasted its boosters flying them across and out of the territory of the dragon, Zogg raised his axe to the dragon in respect for a strong opponent while Papaya and Githiom sighed in relief

"Next time when we go somewhere, let's not go disturb and get chased down by a 30-foot tall flying lizard from the sky, understood?"said Papaya.

Truth be told though their recent adventure did excite her but it would not be one she would be willing to go at again as the three sat and rested after their encounter with the dragon,

Zogg had asked Githiom about their location now as they veered farther away from the dragon's territory

"we should be reaching the kingdom of Alwen four days travel from here, faster now with this Golem's speed, referring to YX under them.