by Jonathan 'Atima Weapon' The Wingless Hawk

"Draconis! Where are you?" The small blue Poogle walked along yelling. "Please come out. We have to get back. Our master will be mad if we stay away too long!" Still nothing moved.

"Please. I'm scared!" And the little Poogle began to cry.

"He won't be mad! And don't cry!" The little red Zafara said jumping from behind a bush.

"I'm sorry..." But the Poogle continued to cry. "I know you're young but c'mon Tergri!"

"I'm...I'm sorry...Can we please go back now?"

"All right. I'm getting hungry anyway."

So they began to walk north. They reached the Training Grounds, where they were supposed to meet their master, and were greeted by spears. The small coconut people stood with spears and said, "If you do not have a muntando fruit leave."

"A muntando? What's that?" The little Poogle asked with a confused expression.

"It's what you need to get in!" One of the coconut guards replied harshly.

"But our master is waiting inside for us!"

"Don't lie! Leave unless you have a muntando fruit!"

And again, little Tergri began to cry. Draconis stepped in front and said, "How could you be so mean to him! He's so young!"

"So what?"

Draconis turned to Tergri and said, "It's okay. Everything will be fine. We can find one of these fruits. Everything will be okay."

So the two turned and went back out into the jungle.

"Draconis?"

"What's wrong?"

"Ummm... How do we know he was waiting for us?"

"What?"

"I heard... I heard from other pets that some owners abandon their pets… Do you think that's what happened to us?"

"No. That can't be. Trust me Tergri everything will be all right. I promise!"

"Okay. I believe you."

Even as Draconis, who had been with her master quite a while, began to doubt herself. They walked through looking for the muntando fruit.

"Umm...Tergri?" Draconis said in a strange tone of voice.

"Yes?"

"Do you know what a muntando fruit looks like?"

"No... I thought you did."

"No..."

"So we don't even know what we're looking for?"

"I guess. We could go try the Trading Post. We could ask Jhuidah."

"Who's that?"

"The Island Faerie."

"Okay..."

The two thought they were going in the direction of the trading post but in reality they were going in the exact opposite direction.

When they reached the Tiki Tours Draconis stopped.

"Umm... Tergri... I think we went the wrong direction."

"What?"

"This is Tiki Tours. This is on the east side of the island and the Trading Post is on the west..."

"So what do we do now?"

"I guess we turn around."

So they did and continued in the exact direction they just came. They had to again trudge through mud and sand and dirt. Thus they didn't even look like themselves when the Shoryu appeared. A brilliant silver in color, he dropped from the sky. He had a pack on his back and said to the two, "Why are you two out here?"

"We got lost," Draconis replied

"We were supposed to meet our master in the Training Grounds but...we don't have one of those muntando fruits...," said Tergri

"Really? That's where I'm headed right now."

"Do you have a muntando fruit?"

"Well, yeah some..."

"Give them to us!"

"What! No! I'm looking for my master's other pets. I'm not letting you take them!"

"I'm sorry. We have to have them though!"

Yelling this Draconis charged forward at the Shoryu. She hit once but the Shoryu recovered quickly. She took a few steps back and stood for a moment. Then all the nearby rocks zoomed towards him. Each connected and caused considerable damage. Then the Shoryu fell...

"Draconis! Please stop! We can find another muntando fruit. Let's just leave him alone. Please!" The young Poogle ran in front of Draconis yelling. The Shoryu recovering asked, "Dra... Draconis?" The Draconis turned to look at the fallen Shoryu.

"Why'd you go and do that? I was looking for you."

"...AtimaOmega?" asked Draconis. The Shoryu gave a weak nod.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't recognize you! When did you get a silver paint brush?"

"Just recently."

"What?" Little Tergri asked confused.

"I take it you are the new one. Tergri I believe."

"Yes."

"You two look terrible! Have you been swimming in mud again Draconis?"

"It's a long story...," replied Draconis trailing off.

The two got AtimaOmega to his feet. They all walked together discussing what had happened on their way to the Training Ground to be reunited with their master.